Heroes of Darkness

XXVII

ELIZABETH

The boy took the chunk of bread from Teryn's hand suspiciously. Elli marveled at just how round his belly was compared to his skinny arms. These people were starving here, on the Lillycove city limits.

She turned and looked in the distance at the large stone lighthouses around the keep where her family lived- in a part of town she had never left until she took the voyage to Sootopolis to be a part of the First Generation. Now, as she looked around at the crowd of starving kids pushing and shoving their way up to the cart where Teryn was handing out but meager portions of bread, her heart broke.

"I just don't understand," said Elli. "Every night when I was a child, I watched cartloads of food leave our palace. Surely those rations were enough to feed the children." She mentally tried to recall just how full the carts were when they wound down the Lillycove hills by the shore and down into the city.

"That's not surprising," grumbled Teryn. The Draconid girl had not taken kindly to being Elli's watchdog on the way into the city. In the last few days, however, they learned how to get along slightly better. "The first people that get to the carts as they leave the Chiefs and Lords' homes are her majesty's soldiers- the royal army. They take their fill, as much as they want, and leave the scraps for the smallfolk."

Elli felt that her whole world view was shattering before her eyes. This wasn't what she had learned during her schooling in Sootopolis under the Empress's guidance. Her majesty protects the people of Hoenn from those that would exploit them, she remembered it said. Now, however, she began to consider what if it was those that promised protection that were those exploiting the smallfolk?

She was taught the virtues of equality, of everyone receiving their fair share, of how the Empress and her wise council in Sootopolis oversaw the production of food and sustenance, and distributed them in such a way that no child was left hungrier than any other. That much is true, she thought. For the most part, all these children are equally starving.

The Draconids had made camp that night on the outskirts of the cities, in the slums. They were far away from any Imperial quarters or patrols. Occasionally, Elli tried to remind herself that she was a captive. Sometimes she wanted to run into the city, shouting for help, and that her father or a guard would recognize her and bring her back to her castle amongst the lighthouses. She wanted a proper bed, and her mother, and Luvdisc, and Jessi...

"There's no more," Teryn had to say to a little boy who had come back for seconds. Elli saw his eyes in the torchlight, he was still hungry. She wanted to reach back down into a basket in the cart and toss him another slice. Teryn must have caught her eye and understood. The Draconid girl spoke to the boy, but Elli knew the words were for her. "We must save some for tomorrow night."

Teryn lightly slapped her Doduo on the side, and it began to pull the cart. Elli followed behind as they made their way back through the slums and tents to find their way back to the Draconid camp. The torchlight was faint, and the lights of other fires in the slums of Lillycove looked like a night sky on a cloudy day. Still, Teryn confidently knew which alleyways to pass through, which to avoid, and caught Elli off guard as they changed direction again and again.

"Do try to keep up," she said, lightly unnerved at Elli's pace. Elli tried to walk as she was taught, ladylike with proper posture, but the clothes she was given and the muddy soil made it difficult. "I'd hate to have to feel like I've lost you and alert our friends in the city to your presence. They're less forgiving than I am, and don't share our Commander's grace and wisdom. They may not bring you back in one piece."