Having met her mother and had lunch Char returned to her room.
'I can finally get out of the castle... I can finally get out of the capital.'
She laid on her bed. Sun shone in through the window as it lit up her bright red scales that covered almost the entirety of her body. She looked in the corner of the room where an expensive looking mirror stood. Getting up, she walked towards the mirror and she examined herself. Except for her chest, neck, and face her scales were everywhere they were smooth and hot to the touch.
In her mind she saw a girl who was younger reflected in the mirror. To her, she hadn't aged much in her mental age. All except her anger that had constantly increased from what it was in the past. When she was young, she had many aspirations and dreams. Unlike now, she was happy.
Turning around Char walked back away from the mirror and jumped onto her bed.
Her silky red hair drifted momentarily and fell onto the sheets beside her. Hiding her face under her pillows she yelled loudly in frustration. 'Why did I do that so long ago?' she thought to herself as she ran through the chain of events that happened in the past.
...
It was a bright and gentle morning back then. She observed the various mountains around her as she looked through the window of her luxuriously decorated carriage.
She was 13 back then. And she had way more freedom to go where she wanted. From the age of 7, she chose to travel with kingdom envoys on their trips as she observed the different environments and towns of her mother's matriarchy. She loved this aspect of her life and loved to explore because of it.
Their destination at that time was border town known as Haven. The border town had a unique topography as it was situated between two mountain ranges and used to act as a fort in the times of war. Unfortunately the town lost the previous war and had been taken over by the dragons.
When she had arrived at the town that eventful afternoon, all the citizens of the town had left their homes to meet her envoy. The arrival of the envoys was was a biannual occurrence as envoys would visit the border town to collect food, weapons and other local specialties for the sovereignty. This time, she had tagged along which made the event even more special. The town was decorated in bright colors and signs. There was a festive mood in the air as the townspeople anticipated their meeting with one of the royalty.
Among the events that were planned that day, she was forced to attend the collection process and thank the locals as directed by her retainers. She despised that she had to do this. She hated sitting in one spot for long periods of time. Instead, she'd rather explore the town or find things to play with inside the town.
Despite her reluctance, her retainers had promised that she would be able to spend time in the town for the rest of the week after they had finished their event that day. And so she promised to attend the collection ceremony.
She was soon sat down on an extravagant gold plated throne in the middle of the town as the townspeople and those who had travel led far from the surrounding areas had arrived and lined up. Having done this process before, she knew that for the next eight to ten hours she would be stuck doing something she hated.
"Hello." She said as she smiled and greeted the first town person in line.
"Hello your highness." The woman beaskin replied as she bowed and placed a pile of linen sheets in her and the envoys.
"Thank you for your kindness, please speak with the envoys behind me and they'll take down your information. May you be blessed under the matriarchy." She said back to the beastkin with a smile. She had practiced this line over and over again just like her faked smile.
She looked up from the woman and into the crowd that spanned nearly down the entire central street ahead of her. 'This is going to be a long, long day.' She thought.
The crowd that had lined up to greet her was full of different races. The only dragons that were present were her and her retainers. No one could guess that twenty or so years ago, the entire town was wrecked to shred from the war. The war had occurred not because of disputes. The war had occurred because the dragons needed resources.
Although the dragons were basically using the people as slaves, the people of the land had learned to live with it. It wasn't a one sided relationship though. As a town of the dragon sovereignty, the town received many benefits in return. The dragons dealt with all threats within their land. If there was a newly established bandit camp, it'll be destroyed within the month. If there was a new monster infestation, it would be dealt with within two weeks. Thus it was actually quite safe for the residents of the dragon kingdom.
The dragons also welcomed all races and didn't discriminate between them. This was because they couldn't mate within their race so they tried to maintain good relationships with all the races within their kingdom.
Due to there unique structure of governing their kingdom and the benefits they provide for their citizens, many residents felt like they were in debt to the dragons and graciously supplied the kingdom with food and resources. It was a mutualistic relationship as the townspeople were protected and the dragon race could continue to exist and grow the population of the kingdoms people and ultimately the population of the dragon race.
The relationship wasn't so grand as it was on the surface. In the case that a nearby township misses a collection or brings little to no resources for collection, an envoy would depart for their towns. In the darkness of the night, all the resources that the town had would be cataloged. If the envoy discovered that the township had been holding back, the town would be looted and destroyed within a week. Thus, in fear of the dragons rampage, most towns complied to their demands.
Hours passed as she continued to greet the citizens of her kingdom who came with carts of food, weapons, and armor. With every person, she would smile and thank them for serving the kingdom.
The line continued to shorten as more time passed by. With each collected item, the envoys that stood beside her crossed down names and inspected the number and quality of goods for their records.
Finally finishing the last of the collections, she stopped and got up to stretch her body and tail. Her bottom had created a dent and on top of the seat and the entire seat had darkened. She had tried her hardest to control her own temper, but it didn't work. Her scales had heated up occasionally and her darkened seat was the result of it.
Now that her duty was completed, she knew she could finally go have fun and explore the town.
Her excitement was doused as she heard something shouting at her from a long distance away.
"WAIT!"
She paused for a moment and stared in the distance where a cart was slowly approaching her. The cart was pulled by a strange boar-like creature that was larger than the cart itself. Looking closely, she saw the source of the voice. In the distance she could see and outline of what appeared to be a boy.
This intrigued her. 'Why was a kid on the cart? Shouldn't an adult be driving it?' she thought to herself.
As the boy approached closer, more details about the boy and his cart came into view. The cart was definitely one provided by the sovereignty for the purpose of resource collection. One of its six wheels had been darkened and looked damaged.
The boy himself was quite eye-catching. He was human and was slouching. His clothes were torn all over and a tired look was spread across his face. Through his clothes, stains of blood had spread through and it look like he was about to fall over out of the cart. Clearly something had happened to the boy during his journey.
When the boy was a few meters away, he jumped off the cart and began sprinting towards her. He almost stumbled and fell in the process.
Although the boy looked like he was in pain, the She laughed on the inside as he approached. 'What's with him?' She thought.
Although the boy looked harmless and looked like he had been injured from his trip. Her envoys instantly reached the boy and stopped him by pinning him to the floor.
Struggling, the boy looked up at her.
"What should we do with him?" Asked on one of the envoys who looked at her in wait for a command.
She stood up from her seat and said gently "Release him. Let's hear him out first."
The envoy released her hold on the boy and walked back to stand behind her.
"Speak." She said as she faked her most mature voice.
"I..." the boy stumbled as he cleared his voice. His wounds had opened up. The boy winced through the pain and stared straight into her eyes and spoke once more.
"I come from a village... a village beyond outside of the mountains. I am here on behalf of my father to d.. deliver the our offerings."
She replied instantly. "We accept."
One of the envoys walked to inspect the good within the cart and another questioned the boy further. "From what village and what's your name?"
"My name's Main."
"Main from the village in the plains beyond the mountains."