Desert • Flower | TaeJin || BOOK 3#

I. Lost and confused child

"The idea of such a young little boy working for me does not please me."

"I understand my lord, but we can't send him away and we can't give him our food either. He is willing to work to get it came to that."

The older man gives a sigh and looks to the side, he finds a seated boy swinging his legs back and forth, perched on the branch of a tree. His hair is loose, matted and partially covering his face. Small boy with scraped knees and very strange clothes. Stolen from some Japanese camp in the area. To some extent, he looks very cute and is deeply sorry to have to send him away, but at the same time he doesn't want to have children as employees. Especially children as young as he is. He looks no older than seven years old. The man in bulky, luxurious clothes approaches the tree, catches the eye of the boy who turns to see him.

"Hello, Sir." he greets with a thick voice, even for a child his age and a most charming square smile on his face.

"Hello, very good morning." he replies politely, touched by the boy's formality in speaking to him.

"Are you going to give me a job? Mom said that to get things you have to work hard and I need a lot of things: like a little house so I can have puppies." he tells his priorities with seriousness, at the same time with a certain smile on his face. It adds up to a lot of tenderness points, as if they were enough.

"And where is your mother? What she told you is very true." he states with a good-natured smile.

"I don't know where she is, I really don't know where my mom is. It was just a lady who took me into her house, now she's not there either, she passed away recently. I walked a long way."

"I see so you don't have anyone else."

"No, no sir."

"I don't like having kids working, you're not supposed to be working. You're still too little."

"Oh, I see, I'm so sorry sir."

The child looks chagrined and disappointed, he had hopes of getting something here. To the workers around who brought him to talk to the boss, they are no strangers. They all point to this territory as the best place to work, the family is not bad. On the contrary, they could be the best bosses anyone will ever have. And you can tell from the mere fact that they don't like to have children working; they don't think it's the right time for them. The youngest allowed is fifteen.

"What did you think you might work at?"

"I don't know" he admits swinging his legs back and forth, to the lord it seems strange that he has so much dirt stuck to his skin. It seems to come out of nowhere. "I really like working in the garden, I thought it might be something there or maybe moving sheep or those things playing with puppies." he counts in an increasingly low and embarrassed voice."

"I see..."

He thinks about it for a bit, feeling sorry for the kid. The children who lose their family make him feel very sorry for them. Especially because he hasn't been able to have children. To think that if he had had them and by chance this would happen to him generates sadness and empathy for him. The boy comes down from the tree and stands on the ground, shakes his head: a lot of dirt comes out, his copper-colored hair is a very beautiful shade and almost shiny in the sunlight that gives red reflections.

"Are you sure you don't have anyone else?"

"I have my dragon, but I don't think it counts".

"So you have dragon" says the lord with slight surprise. "Can you show me, what's your name?"

The dirt marks the boy had are peeling away from his skin. Turning into a sort of elongated snake, covered in scales that do not look soft and smooth but corrugated and rocky; along its back long scales and horns protrude instead of fur as seen on other dragons. It has amber eyes and its fangs instead of looking white are a very strange beige color. The more it moves, the more it seems to shake earth and the cleaner the child looks.

"It's an earth dragon or so I'm told." he hugs it at neck level affectionately pressing his cheek to the dragon.

The constantly purring creature with its eyes closed and moving its body with enjoyment; it has excessively large and strong legs. It gives the impression that it could not fly at all because of how heavy it is. The workers and laborers on the site are left muttering among themselves, An earth dragon! They had not seen one for years, not so much because of the war but because they were constantly being kidnapped to Japan. It may well be a miracle that this child is still here.

"Ah, my name is Taehyung, nice to meet you sir!"

The dragon awkwardly shakes half of its body and legs, it was unintentionally stuck the floor by Taehyung. A few people laugh, finding it witty and funny. The lord rubs his chin, thoughtfully.

~ * * * ~

"He's a lovely boy, I don't see why not let him stay here," comments the wife of the lord of the house, watching Taehyung go back and forth behind the workers, helping them in small ways. Carrying some basket with fruits, with seeds, carrying some chicken that they have to kill for dinner, nothing very relevant, but he has fun and it's cute how he smiles all the time. "Maybe we can give him a job that is not too heavy or too cruel for his age and he will evolve from there." she proposes smiling and affectionate.

"What worries me is that more children may come knowing that we employ one and they ask me for the same thing. I don't want to fill my house with small children."

"I know, I know; but it can be a secret. Children know how to keep secrets." She confidently assures while holding her husband's hand.

In the end Taehyung is left with a small position: being a helper to the people in the garden and the stables. It's feeding the chickens, making sure the sheep eat, helping to walk them and occasionally helping to harvest some of the crops that come up. More than a job, it looks like he plays and gets money, food and a place to sleep. No one feels guilty about the situation. The most remarkable thing about him is that from time to time he uses his dragon, whether it's for play or not. He hasn't been told to do it, he hasn't been told to stop, and the fact is that when he plays and the dragon hits the ground, it makes the soil much more fertile. Every time he does it, more plants grow, the sowing is much better and they can trade in a better way, it increases the income of the house.

For him everything is a game, it is clear that he does not even know the basic concepts of a real job. No one bothers to correct him, just teach him or point it out. He is a small child does not exceed six years and it was decided that they would do it when he turns ten, hoping that by that time he will have a better and more mature vision, at least enough.

And it is almost superfluous to say that everyone loves Taehyung, everyone in the house is very fond of him, even the mistress of the house. Taehyung often plays with her in the afternoon. The mistress teaches him board games, sometimes shows him some instrument she can play and tells him about her life before she was married or when she was much, much younger.

Taehyung listens attentively, smiling and amused, responding with encouragement to the conversation. The lord of the house observes these interactions with tenderness, he was never able to have children, either because of his own body or his wife's. What caused that doesn't interest him. What caused that doesn't interest him.

Taehyung wonders only one thing: why he cannot make flowers. With him it was possible to notice that many things grow when he hits the ground, when he uses his dragon properly for that; he learned it by inertia. A simple and beautiful accident. However, he has never seen flowers grow. He likes flowers a lot. The problem with them is that they are very expensive. When he tries to grow flowers, they never do! Only green grass comes out.

Apple trees, peach trees, banana trees, palm trees, potatoes, carrots, lettuce, watermelon, anything but flowers can come up. It's very disappointing. Taehyung dreams of being able to make flowers. The surrounding areas are not abundant in vegetation, it looks like a desert.

He assumes that's why it's not flowers because in deserts nothing can grow.