Book 1. Genesis (North and South Ed.)

CHAPTER III Meet and Greet

CHAPTER III

Meet and Greet

"But work grew scarce, while bread drew dear, and wages lessen too; For Irish hordes were bidders here, our half-paid work to do." - Corn Law Rhymes

The Crampton Keep resumed its idyllic pace. Margaret and her grandfather would wake up early and ride Maisie to the Light Monastery of Crampton Crescent where the brotherhood of the light, in the order of the dragon, and the caretakers of the light continued their work to restore all the light creatures lost in the dark wars. The Bell Clan were the protectors of the Dragons and were long ago granted with extensive lands near the border by Outwood Station, 40 miles from the Decapolis, Milton's Central City. This brotherhood of monks are pledged to the Bell Clan and are sworn to serve the Clan faithfully caring for all light creatures under its domain. The brothers of the order of the dragon are the caretakers of the dragons, ensuring their breeding grounds are fertile, that feed is abundant in the land, and that the valley, river, lakes, streams and ponds are sufficient for the upkeep of dragons. Since there are only 2 dragons left in existence, the main focus of the dragon brothers at the moment is to heal the land and ignite the now dormant Prometheus Kiln, the volcanic Dragon Mountain, where dragon eggs incubate until hatching and settling on Dragon Valley, they remain there until a bond with a human rider could be forged. Prometheus Kiln is also home to many fire elementals which can be useful for creating illumination and warmth in the winter months, among other useful tasks.

Under her grandfather's watchful eye, Margaret, a very curious girl, studied all she could about the land. She truly cared about the land and all creatures, man or beast. She saw how it pained her grandfather to see Milton so devoid of flora and fauna. She had long ago resolved to do all she could to help. She knew a lot about farming, being from agricultural Helstone and she devoured books about gardening, soil treatment and anything she could learn about healing the land. Her parents, in an attempt to make sure they got enough fresh produce when they stayed in Milton, brought all types of potted plants, soil and seeds, and had them placed in greenhouses in the back lawn of the keep. It was on Helstone's first Sankin Kotai, nine years ago that Lord Bell discovered that (then 8 year old) Margaret was an Earth Hedge, a specialist, one who has no active magic ability but has a magical affinity. In Margaret's case, it seemed that Earth elementals were very attracted to her voice and could be coaxed by her to perform earth-related healing. This talent was, of course, kept a secret to protect Margaret, as all hedges in Milton were pressed by the Crown to do work for the state. To date, there were no earth hedge in Milton who could make earth elementals do, what Margaret asked them to do in the scorched valleys and plains of Milton. It still amazed Lord Bell, how such a powerful, coaxing voice, could come out of such a gentle and kind creature as his granddaughter. The earth elementals were so attracted to her voice, they would willingly do her bidding (or as Margaret put it, her requests.) and happily too in exchange for a song or two sung by the beautiful Margaret. "A full fledged Earth Siren, my Margaret is." Grandpa Bell used to tease as he saw with his own eyes the miracles she could perform on the land through these earth elementals. Her power has grown such that some water elementals are also responding to her and have actually began "cleaning" the lakes, rivers and ponds on the Bell Estate. It took a lot of patient effort but the land surrounding the Bell Estate was beginning to yield fruit. Lord Bell sometimes felt guilty about keeping his precious pearl, a secret from Milton; she had been telling him that they should do more to help, perhaps going to the neighboring estates and helping there. Margaret was always insisting how she could do so much more and that they should do more to help. But seeing how atrociously hedges were treated by their mage brethren, stops Lord Bell from revealing her power to his fellow mages. His gentle, innocent, youthful and kindly granddaughter would never survive a Hedge Impressment.