Louise

  "We are not allowed to see him... Our boy..." Her father shook his head sadly. He didn't cough anymore, but he still didn't look healthy. His skin was grayish and he had lost weight again. Louise was worried. He didn't look good.

  "Not for the time being", she tried to reassure him. "At least not in the mountains. But at the river. I think so. It's out of town." When she brought the terrible news the day before, her father had retreated into the bedroom and wouldn’t come out. Nina was silent and her mother made tea from the st herbs they had.

  Louise had stayed overnight.

  Now they had only stale, bnd-tasting water, which their mother had boiled. "I'm going to the market and buy something...", Louise murmured. Apart from some wheat and water, her family had nothing left in their supply.

  "Herbs for tea?" Her mother looked at her hopefully. "We have no more herbs."

  "We have nothing!" growled Nina and tugged at her brown tunic. The fabric had tiny holes. When Louise st saw her, the holes had not yet been there.

  They sat at the kneeling table and ate wrinkled figs that a compassionate neighbor had brought them. One for everyone. There was also some cooked porridge made from wheat. It wasn't much. Breakfast would not satisfy them all.

  There were plenty of figs and dates in the city. And yet the poor had little of the rich harvest of the delicious fruits. Very few could afford a tree or had enough money to buy the fruit at the market more than occasionally.

  They grew in the magnificent, sacred garden of the temple. These fruits were reserved for the Wise Men and priests. Outsiders were not even allowed to approach the garden. The better-off families also had their own trees, which grew in their small gardens. And outside the city, close to the river, they grew abundantly. But these trees belonged to Remy's family. Picking there was considered theft.

  Remy's cousins now took care of it. Mainly Ross and Logen, as far as she knew. The two had doubled the pntations and employed many residents of the city. Dinah, Remy's second youngest cousin, managed the money. Louise had spoken to her from time to time. She found her to be much more arrogant than Remy. Dinah was pretty, but she had a very dirty mouth whenever she cursed at her cousin Ross. Ross was probably not a particurly hard-working person. He had many ideas, but never implemented them himself.

  Louise smiled a little. Harper's brother was also called Ross. Presumably, the dragon would not like to share the name with a human.

  The rge family hired people to collect the fruit and sell it at the market. However, Louise had watched a dragon help itself to the trees. Since dragons were carnivores and rarely ate fruit, she assumed that the fruits were for Lou.

  And what annoyed Louise the most was that as soon as she returned to the temple, a rich array of delicacies would await her. Although the priests lived more modestly than the Wise Men when it came to their meals, Louise lived like a queen compared to her family. Even the pntations outside the city, whose fruits were usually sold at a high price, did not make her this angry.

  "I'm going now..." Louise cleared away her empty bowl. She always carried some money with her. Especially when she visited her family. "The market is about to open."

  "I'll come with you." Nina stood up. "I have to go anyway. Maybe I'll sell something today!"

  "Good."

  "Don't forget the herbs!" her mother reminded again.

  "Herbs!" her father grumbled. "Meat would be nice. We haven't had some for a long time."

  "Meat is too expensive..." her mother replied quietly. “We shouldn’t ask our eldest for that. Herbs, flour, maybe a few eggs... Olives would be lovely! And some carrots. They are usually very cheap. Oil."

  Louise nodded and decided to definitely buy some meat.

  While their parents were arguing, the girls set off. Louise helped her sister carry the ceramics. The basket in which everything was stowed was incredibly heavy. When they reached Nina's usual location, she helped her set up her modest stall. It was nothing more than an old sheet on which Nina sat and spread out her goods.

  "Are you buying some meat?" her sister asked. "Do you have enough money?"

  "Of course. Do you have any other wishes?"

  "Let's see..." Nina smiled sheepishly. "A few nuts and roots. Not just carrots. For soup. I'm sorry that you have to finance our lives." She looked at the simple pottery in front of her. The household goods were pretty, but the material was inadequate. "Hardly anyone wants our bowls, mugs, jugs, and ptes. Others offer better quality."

  "But the cups are not as pretty as these ones!" Louise winked at her. "Nina? I have enough with me to buy you a new tunic." She pointed to one of the many holes.

  Nina smiled. "Thank you. Don't buy anything expensive, okay? Otherwise, I feel all the worse."

  Louise nodded. "But you deserve the most beautiful robe I can find!"

  "You brought me one of your old robes! That's enough."

  "You never wear it."

  Nina grimaced. "I wore it. One of the older girls was jealous. She said it was surely stolen and tore it up while I was wearing it. She said that someone like me would never be allowed to own such a thing. The others ughed."

  "Oh."

  "Buy me something simple, okay? Then they leave me alone."

  Louise sighed. "As soon as we're allowed to visit Lou again, I'll ask Harper to teach this girl a lesson!"

  That made her sister ugh. "Good. Do it!"

  Louise wandered between the stalls. She had already bought some salt, herbs, meat and, root vegetables. Small, white, elongated tubers that tasted sweet, as well as the desired carrots. Now she was on her way to buy whole wheat, flour, a jug of milk, and eggs. At the same time she was looking for a new tunic for Nina, she saw a pretty tunic made of blue fabric when Dinah came towards her. The twenty-one-year-old wore a beige dress embroidered with golden shimmering thread. She looked beautiful, as she always did when Louise saw her. Light blonde hair, almost bck eyes, and fwless skin.

  When Dinah spotted Louise, she waved happily to her. "Louise!" They weren't friends, no. But she had taken care of Louise when she arrived at the temple for training. At the time, Dinah was working there. Not as a servant. No. Dinah was very clever and learned everything about mathematics, history, astrology, and the storage and sorting of the important parchment scrolls from the brightest in the city. In the great library of the temple, where all the visions were collected. And she often helped to teach the young priests and priestesses.

  At that time, the Wise hoped that Dinah would work as a schor in the temple. But instead, she devoted herself to her family's pntations.

  "Louise! Dear! I heard that you are free again!" said the beauty. "How nice to see you well."

  Louise nodded and grimaced. She didn't like the fact that a person could be so beautiful. Of course, Nina thought she was ugly when she compared herself to beauties like Dinah. Or was compared to her. "Hello, Dinah. How are you?"

  "Me? Good. I borrowed some interesting scrolls from the library. None of the prophecies, of course. Do you know? They asked me for help when it came to reviewing the visions. I missed the library very much. So I thought I should come there more often. To broaden my horizons."

  "How nice. Could you help?"

  "Of course." Dinah shrugged her shoulders. "I was looking for you in the temple earlier. It's a good thing I'm meeting you here."

  "Why is that? Is there anything I can do to help you?" Louise asked, surprised.

  "No, but I have something for your brother. Well, I don't know if you'll be able to give it to him someday, but..." Dinah held out a neckce that looked familiar to her.

  "That's..." Lou wore such a chain until it was taken away from him. As far as she knew, the neckce had been a gift.

  "Ross, my stupid cousin, had the neckce." Dinah snorted angrily. "Me, Maddox, and his family were invited to his pce. The neckce was on Ross's desk. Maddox recognized it immediately. He was there when Remy sharpened the pendant. It is a custom-made one-of-a-kind piece! And our mine has long been exhausted. Since we haven't found any more stones, it's closed. So the stone could not be new. Especially since the dragons don't let us dig any further for stones. And our stones were not of as good quality as those that the dragons watch over. They are rather pretty sparkling pebbles with a few precious speckles." She looked at the neckce sullenly. "Ross didn't want to say how exactly he got it. He mumbled something about a good deal and his wife's birthday. Maddox has taken the chain from him. A stolen neckce! As a birthday present. A scandal. Will you give it to your brother? Should you get the opportunity?"

  Louise accepted the neckce. "Of course. Thank you very much. This neckce meant a lot to Lou. But, what about..."

  "About Ross's wife? He will have to find something else for her. Or she just goes away empty-handed!" Dinah snorted. "I'm sorry. I read many records of visions as I helped sort them by relevance. One thing is certain, your brother is just a boy. There were old visions that resembled the newer ones. Almost resembled. The newer ones have obviously been changed. I was stunned. Strictly speaking, I was only supposed to look through and sort the visions. Not evaluating them, but... It was the first time that a simple citizen was allowed to see the visions. I was very excited."

  Louise wanted to contradict her. Dinah was not an ordinary citizen. But the young woman continued to speak before Louise could say anything. "And then I found a record of our old legend..."

  "The legend?" Louise frowned. There was only one Dinah could talk about. And there was officially no written record of it. "It was written down?"

  Dinah nodded. "The document was not completely legible. Some of the paper was lost. Time is the worst enemy of our records. The ending was missing, but... I think the story has also been changed over time. Probably while it was told over and over again."

  "Yes?" Louise frowned. The young woman in the legend sacrificed her life to protect her city. And her description equals Lou's appearance. The Wise Men and citizens based their faith in the curse on it. To this legend. And to CHANGED visions. "Are you sure?"

  Dinah shook her head sadly. "I can't be sure. Maybe the end was always the same. She sacrificed herself. However, the document ended with the young woman leaving the city to find happiness outside the walls. Happiness and wisdom. A clever woman who wants to help her people. After that, the text was no longer legible and the paper was damaged. The end of the legend may have been torn. The paper also showed burn marks. But the legend once had a name: The Way of the Wise. And that meant only this woman. Not our Wise Man. Whether it's a true story or based on one, I don't know. Maybe it's nothing more than a legend. A fairy tale."

  "Thank you."

  "Not for that. Just bring the neckce to your brother, okay? When you see him. It should’ve never been taken away from him."

  "Thank you. Also for that, Dinah."

  The neckce felt heavy in Louise's hands, and Lou now had a new chain with just as important a meaning to him as this one. Perhaps even more important. Lou loved the dragon. She could see it in her brother's eyes. Even if he only referred to Harper as a 'friend'. The two had long been more than just friends. "Lou will be happy."

  sasi