The Dragons of Undari

Chapter Two - Phrase of the Chosen

Days went by and Mera struggled to sell any dragon-nip. Every night, she walked home and avoided her parents' hopeful gaze as she walked in the door. Her feet hurt. Her boots were worn from the walking, and her arms ached from carrying the bundles of dragon-nip back and forth from the center to her house, and vise versa. It didn't feel like the load was getting any lighter. Other than selling a bundle to Zeff, only two others came to her stand, interested in buying. Her gold pouch was still relatively empty, with only ten gold pieces bouncing around within.  She sat, day after day, waiting for something to happen. For someone to come to her stand. Anything. Unable to leave due to the fear of thieves, she watched the festivities around her, rather than joining them herself.
    She hadn't encountered the large dragon with glowing yellow eyes since the first day of the Golden Week.  Her curiosity grew with every passing day, wondering if the wild dragon and the royal dragon were one in the same.  Why was it interested in her?  How did it change colors?  What happened to it that day that made it need help to begin with?  She also hadn't seen Zeff or his dragon since the first day that she arrived.  Where was he at?  Every day, she waited to see him.  Whether it be walking past, or coming to get more dragon-nip, she considered him a friend. She was also just wanting someone to talk to, as the days felt longer than they actually were when everyone was having fun, and she was stuck sitting behind a stall watching. No matter what, she thought, she would not miss the Hatching Event, especially now since there are only two eggs in this clutch. Tomorrow. On the seventh day, the Hatching Event would take place, and two people would have their lifelong companions chosen right in front of their eyes, if, they were there, of course. Mera hoped that both hatchlings would make it out of their eggs this year. Although both life and death were celebrated throughout the kingdom and Undari, it still made her sad.
    Twisting her long brunette braid through her fingers, she looked up at the sky, and shivered. She should have brought a shawl or an extra piece of her mother's stash of potato sack to throw over her shoulders to keep her warm. The weather at this time of the year was undecided. On one day, it was warm enough for shorts and short sleeved shirts, and on the next, it was chilly and required a coat or shawl of some sort. Weather that was easily dealt with for the middle class, or the royals. But, for the low class people - your farmers, homeless, unemployed - it was tough. She looked down at her knees that were pushed behind the stall, trying to keep her legs out of the cold breeze that occasionally blew through the center. Up until now, they had made enough for her mother to be able to buy cloth so that she could make them cold weather clothes. However, the profit of their crop had decreased enough to only be able to afford bread, and the occasional vegetable.
    The sun had started to fall from the sky, and the small amount of heat that it created followed closely behind. Mera, along with the other merchants, started cleaning up their stalls, and packing up their wares. As she was picking up her bundles, it seemed to feel more real to her that tomorrow was the Hatching Event. Her parents had told her not to go, because she had duties at the stall that were more important than seeing people she didn't even know receiving a dragon egg, but she refused to listen to them. She had waited pretty much her whole life to see it in person, and maybe, just maybe, it would be her receiving the dragon egg. Chuckling to herself, she set foot for home, hungry for the barely edible bread and water soup her mother made every other night.
    When she finally made it home, the moon was just cresting the tops of the trees. The birds had quieted down for the night, and the night creatures had awoken. Mara, carrying the bundles of dragon-nip in her left hand, and shivering more frequently now, opened the door with her free hand, and stepped inside. It was dark, as usual at this time of the evening, with only the warm, but dim glow of the fireplace illuminating the faces of her parents. She set the bundles down by the door, so that she could easily grab them before leaving again in the morning.
    "Hello Mum, hello Dad, how did the chores go today while I was gone?"
    "Oh hush," her mother said as she pulled Mera by the hand to sit down across the table from her and her father, "we want to know about your day. How did the market go? Did you sell any bundles?"
    Mera sighed. It seemed as though all they cared about were the bundles, and how much gold she earned for selling them. She couldn't really blame them though, it was important. "Oh, the same as yesterday and the day before. No customers. It seems as though my most busy days were the first three. One per day.  Two medium bundles and a small bundle".
Her mother looked at her husband, and then she patted Mera's hand gently, "You are doing your best.  It has slowly been getting worse every year.  But, every year, we try to think positively, like it will pick up again.  You'll have one more day to try and bring a few in, so keep your chin up".
Ah, one more day, Mera thought.  It was more like half a day, if that.  She was not going to miss the Hatching Event to sit behind a stand that was lacking of buyers.  Even more so, because everyone would be getting their seats for the event rather than buying for the seventh day in a row.  In her opinion, the buying part of the Golden Week was the second part of the festivities.  People just walk around buying things as they wait for the main event; for their chance at a destiny filled with glory, and a dragon companion by their side.
She didn't reply to her mother's statement.  She knew where her thoughts were on going to the Hatching Event, and there was no changing her mind.  Instead, she stood and walked to the fire, where bread and water soup was bubbling in a pot.  "Have you guys eaten yet?  I'm starving.  Sitting around all that food makes a girl hungry".
"Eat, eat," her father said, placing a gentle, but firm hand on Junsi's shoulder, "you know that you are not allowed to go to the Hatching Event tomorrow, right? You are to stay at your stall until dusk, and then come directly home. It is a waste of useful selling time, and there will more than likely be people still roaming the shops".
    Mera finished making her bowl of soup and sat down again at the table, "Yes, Father, I know. I know I can't change your minds on the subject either, so I'm not sure why we are still having this conversation about it," she put a spoonful of soup in her mouth, chewed the slimy wet bread, and swallowed.  It wasn't the best tasting by any means, but it was something edible, which was hard to come by sometimes.  That, and she grew up eating it so she had gotten used to the bland, cardboard-like taste, and the squishy texture of the wet bread.
"Excuse me?"
"Exactly what I said, Dad.  I can't believe I have waited pretty much my whole life to see the Hatching Event in person, and you would rather me sit behind a stall and sell dragon-nip that hardly anyone even wants from us anymore.  Don't you see?  Once the machines started growing and harvesting it, it was over for us.  We can't compete anymore.  We need to change to something new, something that people would want.  Not their dragons."  Her green eyes locked with her father's hazel eyes, and she felt conflicted.
"Mera!"  Her mother slammed her fist on the table and stood up sharply, "I will not not have you speak that way to your father and I while you sit there and eat food that I prepared for us.  You don't realize what this family has gone through just to make that meal possible for you!"
"Now, Junsi...," her father began.
"No, Sethen! Can't you see? She is making a mockery of our family, of our farm. She sits there and eats the profit of our hard work while spitting on everything that went into it." Junsi's green eyes burned through Mera's. They burned with anger, with passion, and with pain.
    Mera picked up her bowl, and held it out for her mother to see, "You're calling this a meal? It's bread that is boiled in water! We have never had a true meal, Mom! Never! We need to grow food, not a silly dragon treat! We need to have livestock that can provide food, not two nags that can't even do their work anymore!"
    Junsi gasped and broke down into tears, while Sethen held her close, quietly consoling her, "Mera, take your food and go to your room. If you weren't already eating it, you wouldn't have eaten at all. Our farm flourished on dragon-nip at one point, and it can flourish again with time."
    Sighing, Mera stood and headed for her room, which an old horse tack storage closet that was repurposed into her room when the barn was built. It wasn't very big at all, and her bed, which was practically two hale bales pushed together with a blanket on it, touched the walls. Mera sat on it and finished her soup, then placed the bowl to the side, and laid down. Tomorrow, she would go to the Hatching Event, and see for herself, now as an independent woman, how amazing it was. She would think of an excuse as to why she was late home tomorrow on her walk, but, for now, she needed her rest. She closed her eyes, and drifted off into a broken sleep.