Water Touched - A Dragon Tribe Origin

Chapter Twenty - Darien

It felt like every pair of eyes in the arena was glued to Darien's every move. He knew that wasn't true. There were plenty of more interesting things to look at in the Great Hall. The weight of his people especially bore into him, though. Darien gazed about the room at the other young men sharing the spotlight with him.

Over with the Aero Great Lord, the young man sat casually in his chair like there were five million other places he'd rather be. Darien relaxed a little knowing he wasn't the only one unsure about sitting up front and center. The Terran Great Lord sat with a man who looked to be in his thirties, not one of his sons. Finally, over with the Inero Great Lord was a set of identical twins. Darien had never seen a set of those before. He tried to not gaze that way too much even though his curiosity was getting the better of him. People watching was one of his favorite hobbies. The meetings would be a chance to do a lot of it.

The session began with an opening prayer led by the collected priesthood of the tribes. Each nation brought its own members of the faith. They lead by example, having no priest outrank another, and made all their decisions based on a vote. It was supposed to be an ultimate show of unity. Unfortunately, Darien didn't see many embrace the idea and follow in their footsteps. From what he understood, the Great Lords barely managed the task themselves.

A hymn was sung, and then the Great Lord of the Aero addressed the room. Since he was the oldest of the Great Lords, he got the honor of starting the discussions.

"The first session of the new dragon year may now begin. I'd like to welcome you all, old friends and new, to the meeting. As always, it is a joy to see so many young faces in the crowd. I hope we can all leave as a stronger people than when we came in."

Darien noticed the young man sitting by the Aero Lord roll his eyes and put his feet up on the table. In his notebook, Darien started to sketch out the scene, drawing in balloon bubbles what the guy might have been thinking.

Next to speak was the Great Inero Lord. "As much as I would love to say that is possible for my people, I know for my people it will be difficult to do. Our pride is about to suffer."

Orion leaned in his chair. "What's going on?" Darien knew his father well enough to know he only asked to be polite. Oceina's intelligence probably already put together a report about everything the Great Inero Lord was about to say.

"I am in need of your assistance with my nation. Our resources are low, poisoned even. As you will see when we go over the statistics, things are not well," the Inero Lord said coolly.

Darien glanced up at Orion, trying to get a read on what his father might be thinking. He seemed completely unfazed by the news. While Darien had expected to not see surprise, he was amazed by the lack of concern or compassion present on Orion's face. Was that part of the act of being a Great Lord, or did his father truly lack sympathy for the Inero people?

The Inero Lord continued. "Things have been like this for some time. For so long, I have been trying to deal with the problem on my own. I am ashamed to admit this disaster, this plague, which is causing my people to suffer. My pride did not want me to call upon your help today. Still, I know it would be unwise of me to continue to live in denial. My nation is suffering." He exhaled deeply, his eyes squeezing shut. "It started with the food. We are not growing enough to meet the demands of our population. The farms have been working five times as hard to feed the people. We do not have enough livestock to go around. Many are starving. To make matters worse, the water is unclean. The humans especially are becoming ill, and the vegetation is not growing into healthy produce. As you know, my country is mostly made up of desert. Naturally, our farmland is limited and precious. I beg you to do the right thing and help me care for my people."