Draikan: The World of Dragons

~ 12 ~

~ Chapter Twelve ~

Ruby and I ended up leaving as quickly as possible from the rest of the women who continued to wash clothes. I had completely ruined the mood. But at least I got back at that blonde chick for humiliating me. How dare she insinuate something so crass about me without really knowing who I am.

Ruby was currently leading me outside of the cave. She had said that we're going to speak with the seamstress. Who I have a strong feeling is the woman I met the night before. The one with two mates.

As we walked I decided to ask Ruby some questions about the way things are done here. "So.. Do you guys have a monetary system?"

Ruby tipped her head to the side. "Monetary?"

"Uh.. It's a form of trading. It could be anything used as money in order to buy, take, things from others." I explained.

I somewhat feel very intelligent compared to these dragons. I use terms that they don't know and whenever I explain it, I feel like the smartest person around.

But only things from my world. I'm completely oblivious to things around here.

Ruby snapped her fingers in recognition. "Yes we do! We use gold or jewels of any kind to buy things from other creatures. We don't need it here in the tribe with one another. That's.. Money in your terms, yes?"

I nodded. She's quick to learn.

"Everything is categorized," she continued. "Bigger jeweles will get you the more important, and bigger, things that you would want."

I nodded in understanding. So they used gold and jeweles as money. How interesting. I wonder how I can get some? And what I can buy. She mentioned other creatures. So they must trade amongst other beings with more valuable stuff that they can't produce here.

Whatever here really is.

We both stepped out of the cave. The tables from last night were still out. A few people sat around them, eating their breakfast. Looking at them, kinda got me hungry.

"Want some food?" Asked Ruby after she realized that I was staring at the weird looking food.

I nodded quickly, afraid that if I open my mouth, I would end up drooling.

Ruby guided me to a seat and then took off to get some food on the far left side of the open field. I didn't realize last night that the meals were being prepped over there. They had different piles of rocks with their version of kitchen pots and pans sitting over the fumes.

I looked up, and noticed how beautiful the morning day is here. Everything seemed a lot brighter than inside the cave. I even spotted a few dragons flying up in the air.

From where I was sitting, those dragons looked tiny in the sky. They must be very high up as they circled the territory. Are they looking out for something? If so, is it for something dangerous?

Libelle had mentioned warriors and when I had asked about why they're needed, she never gave me a proper answer. It's like she was hiding the real reason from me. Maybe this place isn't as boring as I first thought.

Ruby suddenly plopped down a plate full of fruits in front of me, effectively snapping me out of my thoughts. The fruits were something I've grown accustomed to. They were weirdly shaped, but it was juicy and somewhat sweet. Although they weren't as delicious as a mango, my favorite. I looked down and noticed something else on the plate. Is that bread? It was golden brown, and held the shape of a ball. I grabbed it and squeezed it a bit. It was soft! I tentatively brought it to my lips and carefully took a bite of it.

My eyes widened in surprise. It is bread! It tastes simple but it holds the similar consistency of white bread.

The bread actually got me thinking. I wonder if Libelle had ever taught these dragons something from her generation of our world. Like this bread for example. Because how else would they have invented this?

As I ate, I noticed that Ruby didn't get anything for herself. "You're not going to eat?" I asked, tad bit worry for her lack of appetite.

She smiled at me. "No. I ate earlier this morning. Hurry up so we can head over to Tiana's work place."

I quickly ate the rest of my food, forgetting about everything else.

~***~

We had left the open field in front of the cave and ventured out into the forest that surrounded us. At first I was nervous and anxious because it's the same forest I encountered that ugly ogre. But Ruby guaranteed that the area I was found in was far from our current position. That I was found at the edge of the forest on the other side.

It was hard to believe her words because I distinctly remember running for the entire day and getting absolutely nowhere. I still shrugged her words away and walked very close to her. The large trees had blocked the sun considerably, therefore it was a bit colder and scary to me.

"Why are we going into this forest?" I asked as I pushed a large leaf out of my way.

"Because Tiana likes to work with the titan worms. They produce the best cotton threads."

I stopped abruptly. "Titan worms?" I nearly screeched the words as I thought about what kind of creatures they were.

Ruby rolled her eyes at me and grasped my hand. "They're not scary. They're harmless."

For the rest of the way, she dragged me while I thought about how nasty this creature could be. A worm who produces cotton? I don't think that's right. All I can think about are green slimy things with many tiny legs on either side of its body.

My body trembled in disgust.

I really hated bugs. As a kid, I was traumatized by a centipede crawling up my arm. A kid had brought it with him to show everybody in class that he had a bug as a pet in our show and tell presentations.

He was my middle school desk partner. So after his presentation, he sat down with that thing and shoved it onto my hand. He wanted me to see it up close before all the other kids.

Unfortunately, for him and the bug, I disliked the feeling of its tiny legs. I jumped out of my seat screaming and waving my arm around, hoping to get rid of the thing. The centipede ended up hitting the floor, hard, and being squashed by my frantic teacher who was running towards me.

Since then, I've avoided all kinds of insects.

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A/N

Posted: 6/16/19

Happy Father's Day!

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