Dragonchild

Astraton

My beauty sleep was cut short when soldiers barged into our room carrying a big pot of grub for us. We weren't eating like kings. Still, a free breakfast is better than no breakfast at all.

As the children gathered themselves around the pot, I too got up and dressed myself, yet Leslie still seemed fast asleep. I gently shook her,
"Come on Leslie, time to wake up." Leslie gave out a slight gasp as she woke, she looked at me with shocked eyes, perhaps Leslie wasn't used to being awoken like this.

I made my way to the table and sat opposite Bren who waved at me as I approached.
"Good morning Tiber, how was that extra hour?" I detected some sarcasm in his voice for cutting him off earlier.
"Quite well actually." I equaled the sarcastic tone.

Breakfast was served, it was a mix of oats and milk, slightly warmed up, just good old mush. Bren and I talked a little bit over breakfast, he came from a nearby village but unlike me, he was chosen from a select few from his village. Leslie got out of bed a bit late and there were no free spots left anywhere near us. So, during breakfast, I kept a side-eye on her as she sat with strangers.

She is older than I am she should be able to take care of herself, still, I could not help but feel bad as I watched her sit at the table with a frown and stealing glances at me, her eyes pleading to come to sit with her. "

So, what is the deal with her? Is she your girlfriend or something?" Bren's voice ripped me back from staring at Leslie.

"What? No. We barely know each other." I spurted out. Luckily, outside earshot of Leslie as she did not seem to notice.

"The way you look at her tells me something different." Bren laughed. "But I digress, I wondered if you wanted to walk around town before we get taken away."

"Taken away...you make it sound so comforting." Bren laughed at my remark,
"Are you sure don't want to take your girlfriend with you?" He nudged my arm, it was a light-hearted pestering.

"I'll ask if she wants to come along." I got up from my seat and walked down the table towards Leslie, who was just poking away at her bowl, barely having eaten anything.
"Hey, Leslie. I was going to walk around town with Bren and wondered if you wanted to come with us?" I sensed some nervousness from Leslie who looked up from her bowl with a look in her eyes of diminutive betrayal but nodded and got up leaving three-quarters of her breakfast behind.

The three of us left the barracks from atop the hill, we were allowed to leave by the soldiers but had to be back before the ceremony. We decided that we wanted to walk along the shipyard, as from atop the hill the views were breathtaking, the morning sun shone over the Starsea, where within bobbed a few fishing boats and even some mercantile vessels and military ones. Painting a powerful picture of the liveliness of the port.

As we made our way onto the actual port we noticed that it was bustling, people offloading goods and fish, we even came across one of the biggest fishmarkets in the land, according to the locals. 'The Leviathan's Bounty' they called it, and as we entered it might have been indeed so, a multiple-story building selling all kinds of fish. It must be easy to breed fish if you have an inland sea like the Starsea.

Ships sailing into port always had a magical effect on me, I would often stand by and watch in awe as a monstrosity of a ship was carefully anchored, and today was no exception.
The three of us watched as a private vessel entered the harbor, though it was not big by any means, it looked well-maintained and like an expensive thing to own. From it came an elven lady accompanied by two aides.

Taljanava, as the lady was referred to by the two aides was notified that they should hurry as the ceremony in the fort was about to begin, which made us realize we were also running late.