The Legend Of Elenore

Chapter 2: Stop thief!

  "Peter!", Kay slapped his hands down making the plant drop, "hey Gerald, erm..."

  "Welcome Ger", Raya immediately jumped in to save the situation. "I see you've met Peter, he's a friend of the family"

  "He's a wielder", Gerald whispered as if it wasn't obvious.

  "Oh that, he hardly ever uses his powers, he practically a norm", she smiled waving her hands, "isn't that true Peter?", She barred her teeth with a promised threat if he said the wrong thing.

  "Yes, yes, I'd just go and get the wagon now"

  Gerald freaked out again, "he's coming with us?!"

   "Don't worry you won't even know he's there", she turned to Peter, "would he?"

   Peter swallowed, no he won't, "stealth is my middle name"

  "No it's not, it's Oliver", Kay said trying to cut the tension.

   Gerald looked at her as if just seeing her, "how long have you been here Kay? You're looking well". With that he turned to go wait outside

  Peter and Kay both burst out laughing. Gerald was such a dry fellow. She had no idea what Raya saw in him. Honestly the guy was like a walking broomstick. Stiff and ordinary. The only unusual thing about him was his extraordinary fear of everything.

  "Behave yourselves please", Raya pleaded as she followed him out.

  "You heard your sister Kay, don't spoil this for her", Lily said and equally took her leave.

   "Well that's settled, for today, we behave. Can you handle that?, Kay asked raising her brows

  "Me? You should be telling yourself that. You're the bad influence. Come on, let's go"

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   A famous person once said, the market is a perfect place to get killed....ok so maybe it was Gerald that said that.

  He wasn't wrong. The market place was usually filled with cutthroats, psychos and theives. A lot hungry people here, ready blame someone for their misfortune.

  Gerald clung onto Raya in the name of her needing his protection. Though seeing them together like that it was evident who needed protecting.

   It was going to be hard to find a spot to display their goods in this crowd. The market place was jammed. The cleansing came just before the festival of equality. Since no one sold on the festival, today was the best time to prepare for both events.

   The cleansing always took place in the evening. A bell would be rung to mark the start, by then all forms of trading would have ended. Everyone would be expected to be in their homes, no one should be seen out on the street. Anyone who defaults would be punished accordingly.

   Guards from the palace would be allocated to different parts of town. Each family would place an earthen vase by their door and in it would be flowers coloured according to their magical ranking. Red flowers for the shifters, green for the nature charmers, purple for the elementals, blue for the witches and wizards and white for the norms. It could be a mixture of all depending on those living in the house.

   The cleansing was a tradition that had been upheld in Elenore since the revolution. It was to checkmate the distribution of powers, ensuring that no one was more powerful than the throne. It was also used catch illegal black magic wielders, only those close and loyal to the king were allowed the gift of corrupted magic.

  During the cleansing the guards would go round with magical crystals and perform a test to ensure that the inhabitants of a house correspond with the flowers.