The Beast and the Sword Book 3: A Koi's Journey

Page 32: Mending Family Bonds

-Diamond Kingdom; Years Ago-

It didn't matter what time of day had been in the Diamond Kingdom... The air had always been suffocating. Many of the people within Diamond didn't know how they were surviving with the mines constantly ongoing.

The ones that seemed to have been doing alright had been the royals. They had plenty of resources though no one had seemed to have wanted to share.

Only one seemed to have.

A young girl with scarlet red hair had been wandering the streets with a large sack of food and water, inside of a wheel barrel. She had ventured into an area, where the streets had been in ruins. Men and women had been sitting in the streets, in matted clothes. Young children had been huddled to each other for warmth.

The young scarlet haired girl---Feodora took a deep breath before she brought the cart down the road despite her size.

The people along the streets soon took notice of her and they began to chatter.

"It's that girl from the Helmet Family!"

"A Royal? Down here?"

"Why is she here?"

"Don't tell me she's come to mock us?"

Feodora soon spoke up, sounding nervous as she did, "Um---I don't mean any harm. I brought some food and water for the coming summer. I don't know if it's enough but please---Take as much as you want."

The people's eyes widen in shock as they couldn't believe their ears.

"F-food and Water?"

"Is this a trick?!"

Feodora shook her head before she said, "it's not. I really feel bad that my aunts and grandpa don't help you so---I snuck this out of their secret reserve. Just promise not to tell you got it all from me."

Many of the people gathered and looked in the cart. Without hesitation they started to grab the first items they could their hands on as Feodora made room for them. "Bless you child." A middle aged woman said, giving her a pat on the shoulder.

"Thank you so much." A man had said, giving her a pat on the head.

"... You're welcome." Feodora said as she soon took her leave, leaving the people to ration the supplies amongst themselves. Though just as she turned to leave---

"Well lookie here! It's that red haired brat from the Helmet Family!"

Feodora flinched as she noticed a couple of kids bigger than her. She shrunk at the sight of them.

"Look at you, miss teache'rs pet!" The other said, "Playing in the dirt like the rats here?!"

"D-Don't call them that!" Feodora said as she stammered, "T-They're not rats!"

"They look like Rats to me!" one of them said. "Hey how about you play with them?"

One of them pushed Feodora to the ground. She landed in a puddle of mud as it stained her dress; the boys laughed as Feodora looked ready to cry.

"Hey!"

The boy's this time flinched as they looked over to see a girl who looked to be thirteen---She had long pink hair and a pair of red eyes, as she wore a simple white dress. They didn't even know what to say until she shoved them off her.

"Alex!" Feodora exclaimed with relief.

"What do you think you're doing?!" The Girl---Alex said, "You think that's funny?! How would you like it if I shoved your face in the mud?! Huh?!"