The fire that was blazing under the hot stove made the atmosphere of Naya's little hut a little warmer. Her blue eyes melted with the orange-yellow color of the fire. Her hands were busy poking wood, piling up new wood to keep the fire out. While the boiling water on the stove was boiling, she got up and poured Yera leaf soup into the bowl.
Yera leaf themselves are commonly used for neutralizing poisons. She got the leaf around the Bluelit forest. Fortunately, Naya used to often play in the small library in her grandfather's cottage in the Celena Forest. She came to know which types of plants and fruits were useful for the Elves. For Naya, Celena Woodlands is like a warehouse where all plants have their benefits and it is very useful for all living things out there.
"Mom, here is the medicine." Naya handed a wooden glass containing Yera leaf soup. In the past, this leaf was always eaten with turkey and chicken, for herbal plant workers, they were obliged to eat it every day. Because no matter which corner of the forest, there is always a mysterious poisonous plant.
Naya's mother coughed once while trying to sit leaning against the wall of the hut. Her face looked haggard and her eyes limp. He took a sip of the soup and then sighed softly.
"This afternoon… I saw someone coming to our hut. Are those people looking for you?"
Naya took an empty wooden glass and took a sip. "No."
"Then who is he?"
Naya's hand that was spooning soup into the glass stopped for a moment.
A boy with silver hair, blue eyes, and a warm touch of his deepest kindness. The man was very similar to his old grandfather.
"Dragon child," said Naya calmly.
Her mother gasped for a moment. "Dragon Prince? What is he doing here? Wasn't the news a few days ago about the Folix attacking their castle just now?"
"I don't know mom. I do not ask. After all, they are too respectable, I don't deserve to be acquainted with them for too long."
Mother coughed once. "Did he help you?"
Naya nodded. "They helped me find wood. That bastard wood peddler doesn't want to pity me anymore." Naya's chest felt tight. Whereas in the past the carpenter always asked for her help if someone in his family was sick.
A few days ago, before Naya's expulsion from Lune Temple, people appointed Naya as the owner of an illegal herbal shop. The reason is, Naya knows that she has a lot of unnamed plants that has high healing properties. But since the plant has not been recorded in the Official Temple book, then Naya is considered to have poisoned everyone without a proper prescription.
Naya's herbal shop is suddenly closed and Naya and her mother are exiled to the border of the Bluelit forest. With a guarantee, if Naya can stay there for a whole month living with her illegal herbs, then she is allowed to return—but still can't open a shop until she gets confirmation from the Minister at Lune Temple.
This news may take years to reach the ears of the Ministers. Naya knows that she and her mother are just poor people who depend on their herbal knowledge. If it wasn't for her father who used to always teach Naya, maybe Naya herself wouldn't know what she would become unless—
"Naya, what's wrong?"
Mother's question woke Naya from her daydream.
"Nothing," Naya always covered her worries. She felt that all the problems that had happened—which made her mother so miserable were also because of her. She who carelessly entered the herbs without reporting to the Minister for fair approval in the Book of Lune Temple. Sometimes, Naya, who is only eight years old, normally sounds like a child. But the herbal lessons she received from the age of three made her understand very well what happens to adults and what makes them do it.
"Did you steal again?"
Naya is silent. "No," she raised her head and looked at her mother who was waiting. "Just now I gave the Lunar Crystal to the Dragon Child. And now I am afraid that they will report this to the Minister and increase my sentence."
By law, Lunar Crystals were precious objects that were mysteriously scattered throughout the forest. It is said that whoever gets it can make a wish in the Celena Forest and pray for ten days to the Moon to make it happen. Naya knew about the crystal since her father introduced her three years ago.
Father said the crystals were the tears of the Moon Goddess frozen in time. The story of the Moon Goddess who fell in love with the Sun God who was forbidden by the Universe Gods because they had never met at the same time. And the crystal is proof that the sacred story brings good luck to the creatures who live in this Newtra land.
The crystals themselves are scattered throughout the Celena Woodlands. All the elves know this. They study the history of Celena Woodlands at the Elves Academy which everyone goes to when they are old enough.
"Why did you give that precious crystal, Naya?"
"That's because I... have little faith in his kindness. But when I thought about it again, I found myself having doubts."
Mother gave a faint smile. "Believe me, Naya. Anyone wise will use the crystal with good intentions. Moreover, he is a noble dragon child. You should have known he wasn't going to report that to anyone, right?"
"That's a crystal that father gave me personally. They can take my herbal shop, but if the crystal is also taken, I will not stand still. I will fight."
"With what, Nana? You can't go against the law of the Minister and the Book of Lune Temple. We would be exiled longer if that happened."
Naya's blue eyes directed her gaze to the corner of the room. The place where she had put that shiny thing there. The only holiest thing that her father gave her for the last time and she never used it at all.
"With that arrow," Naya muttered quietly. She got up to pick it up, but before that, someone could be heard walking over. The sound of the wind blowing from an object was also heard landing in front of her hut.
Naya's gaze shifted to the window beside her, then saw a golden white dragon. His scales glistening in the moonlight made him slightly dazzled. And at the same time, a step was heard approaching.
"Naya? Are you inside? It's me, Han Zhong. I want to ask you a few things. Can I?"
The dragon prince.
Naya turned to her mother who nodded. She don't know what the boy wanted to talk about but Naya's feelings, which had been restless for a long time, suddenly disappeared.
***