Story: Dragonia, the Kingdom of Dragons (all chapters)

            Somewhere in France at a city fair in full swing, a small group of people grows with every passing minute. At the end of this evening, many people are waiting in the same place. Men, women, children, grandparents and grandchildren are all waiting impatiently for the same thing. They have heard about a marvelous show. There is a rumor in town lately that this show is supposed to be the best you will ever see and should be seen at least once in a person's life.

            You see, it's about a storyteller, one who will tell a story of a few hours duration to people wanting to hear and believe it. The stage decoration is almost ordinary for this kind of show. The benches look like tree trunks and are laid out in halfr09;circles along several lines. There is also a heap of branches that will be used to make a campfire during the show and also the caravan's wagon to supplement the circle. The wagon is made of wood, as it was some centuries ago when the gypsies didn't have modern trailers and campers. A few meters further, you can even see the horses that would be used to pull the caravan's wagon. They are splendid and totally black horses and their coats shine when reflecting the light. Close to the horses, one can see someone, a dusky figure looking rather female from afar.

"Say mom, when is it going to start? I'm hungry. Can we go and eat first?" a small voice asks.

"I don't know Romain. I remind you that you're the one who insisted coming here as fast as possible to be sure not to miss the beginning. You didn't even leave me time to see when the show starts."

"Buuuuut..." the little boy starts whining.

            When hearing the voices of the woman and her little boy, the shadowy girlr09;like figure approaches the two. Once in the light, it becomes rather obvious that the figure is a girl of age twenty. She's wearing worn blue jeans and an old red tr09;shirt, clothes she uses when she takes care of her horses. 

"Excuse me," she says, smiling first at the little boy, then at his mother. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I couldn't help hearing the question of this nice young man, and I think I could be able to help you. The show Dragonia, the Kingdom of the Dragons starts in about one hour and a half. So I think you have time to go and eat a little something."

"Great!" the little boy exclaims with a huge smile, happy to be able to have his meal.

"Calm down, Romain," his mother says, frowning at him a little. The young girl listens to the amusing though typical conversation between Romain and his mother. Turning to the girl, Romain's mother asks with a shy smile, "Thank you very much for the information miss, but I'd like to know something. If that show starts only in one hour and a half, why are so many people already waiting to see it?"

            The girl grins at Romain's outburst, then turns again to his mother, who is a very pretty woman with brown hair and green eyes. She's wearing a light green dress which emphasizes well the color of her eyes. Her maker09;up is so sheer that in the weakening light of the evening, one would almost think that there's none of it. Looking into her green eyes and answering the smile with her own, the girl replies without any hesitation.

"Quite simply because they want a good seat. I should even say they wish only to get a seat. You see, this show is a huge hit. We attract more and more people with every passing day. And some people come back a second or perhaps a third time, even if the story doesn't change.

            There was no hesitation in her answer, and in spite of its content neither was there any trace of arrogance or boastfulness. The girl is only very happy that the show has so much success, testified to by the great smile she's showing now, a smile looking incredibly like the one Romain had a few minutes earlier, when he learned that he was going to be able to eat. She talks again after glancing to the young boy. "I think I won't keep you here longer. Your son looks famished but he would also like to have a good seat for the last show today."

            She turns to Romain once again and grins.  "Am I right, young man?"

"Yup!" Romain exclaims before starting to turn around while pulling on his mother’s hand to make her go faster. "Come on, mom, hurry or there won't be anything to eat or a place to sit anymore."

"There, there, we'll go," the little boy's mother says, rolling her eyes and sighing softly. She then turns to the girl a last time. "Thank you very much miss, you've been a great help. I wish you a good evening."

"Thank you ma'am and no problem, I am here to help visitors too. Good evening to you and I hope you'll enjoy the show." The girl replies smiling.

            The woman catches up with Romain who has stopped a few meters further awaiting her. "You could at least thank the nice lady who informed us, don't you think so?" she says frowning at him.

"Thank you!" Romain shouts waving to the girl.

            She waves back to him then looks at them leaving towards the nearest snack bar. She can't help smiling at the freshness and the innocence of the little boy. He must be about six years old, seven maybe, but not much more. "If only they could be all like this one," she thinks, smiling as she turns around to take care of her horses once again.

            One hour later, the purple curtains on the windows of the caravan's wagon are still tightly shut, but you can hear some noises if you listen carefully as you pass close. Inside, the same girl from earlier is getting ready. The show will start soon and she's still in her underwear, having just come out of the shower. She needs to put her clothes on and do her maker09;up.  She doesn't rush though; she knows she will be ready in time.  She always is. She takes out black jeans and a white satin shirt from a mahogany closet and sets them on her bed, a little bigger than a single bed but not too much bigger. It's only a small wagon after all, not a mansion. There are two pillows on the bed with little dragons on them. Only one of them looks like it's used frequently. With a closer look you can see that the other pillow seems ancient even though not used for a while.

            Beside the bed there is a little table with a mirror hanging on the wall. Sitting on the chair facing the mirror, the girl starts to apply her maker09;up carefully. She's the storyteller of the show and in less than twentyr09;five minutes everyone's eyes will be on her. She must be perfect.  She will be perfect. First she draws some lines on her face. She doesn't want to look too much older than she is, but she wants to look like she really had travelled through the whole world and saw so many things that she matured faster than most people. Then she puts some eyeliner and eye shadow to make her azure eyes stand out. Finally she combs her long blonde hair and sets them in a loose braid. When free, her hair can easily reach below her waist. They're down to the middle of her back when braided.

            Looking at herself in the mirror, she smiles being rather happy with the result. She glances at the clock seeing she has only fifteen minutes left now. She puts her clothes on, tucks one side of her shirt in her jeans and lets the other side hang free. She's going to play the role of a traveller, just back from a very long journey. And travellers don't really bother to tuck their shirt in their pants, do they? She leaves the two top buttons of her shirt undone to show her necklace, a dragon pendant that she always keeps on her, no matter what. She only has ten minutes left now. She walks to the other side of her wagon to the little kitchen and pours herself a glass of water. She smiles a little, thinking about the surprised look people have when she allows them to look in the caravan. From the outside it looks like an old wagon , something from three or four hundred years ago, but inside she has some comfort. Not too much room, certainly, but still it's nice for only one person.

            Stopping her musings, she glances at the clock once again to see she has only five minutes left to finish getting ready. She puts her glass down in the sink, then takes a lighter from a little cupboard and grabs a bottle of water from the fridge. Then she slips her boots on and takes her cape. The cape is rather big, allowing her to wrap herself totally in it and has a hood that she folds up on her head. Then she walks to the door of the caravan.

            Every time before a show, she takes a peek by the window just beside the door to see how many people are on the benches and as usual, every seat is taken. She looks around the public, her public, and spots the little boy from earlier. Romain was his name. He's sitting on his mother's lap. The girl grins when she sees him wriggling a little to get comfortable, impatient for the show to begin.

"Just a few more seconds young boy," she whispers to herself smiling. "It won't be long now."

Just as she says that she hears some bells ringing, announcing to everyone that the show is about to begin. Taking a big breath and letting it out slowly to calm herself, she opens the door of the wagon slowly then goes out under a round of applause from the public.

            She smiles a little and mysterious smile. The play is started now, no time for being flattered by an ovation like that one, only time to go on with the show. She sits on a little stool in front of the heap of branches and puts down her bottle. Then, using the lighter, she starts a big campfire. She moves her hood back to show her face and the upper part of her hair to the public, and looks at them from the left to the right and back again. She pauses at some of them still talking with each other until everyone becomes silent. Happy she has the full attention of her public now, she looks in the fire and starts to speak.

            "Good evening everyone. I suppose you're here because you want to hear my story." Looking up again, she can see little Romain nodding his head vigorously with a captivated look and a smile on his face. "Well, you're here just at the right time, I'm in the mood for sharing what I have lived on my journeys." Looking down in the fire once again, she continues talking. "I'm going to tell you about a Kingdom that no one has ever heard about. You think you know this planet and every place on it?" She looks up again suddenly as she asks her question. She doesn't really want an answer but some people nods anyway. She talks again. "Well, you're wrong. There are many places in this world that you can't imagine even in your craziest dreams. And I'm going to tell you how a young girl discovered one of these places." She looks in the campfire once again and doesn't talk for some long seconds. Her eyes take a dreamy look as if she was really in her own memories, then she starts talking again. "Everything began about two years ago in another French city, a town rather far away from here besides..."

            It was a day like any other summer day, hot and sunny, in the little town of Aytre. Buildings and little houses could be seen side by side. Some trees grew here and there on the side of the road. Little parks dotted the landscape for people wanting to walk. It was five minutes to seven in the morning but many people were already passing, walking or driving their cars to work. In one of the houses, a clock was ticking its way to 7 A.M. and when the little hand reached the number, an alarm sprang to life trying to wake up two sleeping figures cuddled together in bed.

            "Mmmhhrfff...," one of them mumbled and snuggled closer to the other one. The other figure switched the bedside lamp on and the alarm off, then disentangled itself from the first one and kicked the blanket to the end of the bed showing that the two figures were girls. The still sleeping girl had black hair cut rather short. She was wearing only a tr09;shirt and boxers. The other girl had shoulder length blonde hair. She was wearing a tank top and panties. She sat on the edge of the bed and yawned rubbing her eyes, which were still closed because of the bright light from the lamp. When she opened her eyes, you could see she had beautiful azure eyes.

            She went to the bathroom, then came back in the bedroom to see that the other girl hadn't moved yet. "Rise and shine sleepy head!" she said to the other girl. "Time to get ready or we'll be late."

            "Mmhh..., five more minutes pleeeeeze," the other girl mumbled still half asleep.

            The blonde girl kneeled down on the bed straddling the other girl's thighs. She leaned forward and brought her lips to the blackr09;haired girl's left ear. "If you don't get up right now, I'm going to tickle you," she said grinning, and poked the other girl's side lightly to emphasize what she said.

            "Noooo!" the other girl opened her hazel eyes immediately. "No tickling, please," she said as she sat up on the bed.

            The blonde girl got up grinning at her girlfriend. "I see you're finally awake. It was time."

            The blackr09;haired girl looked at the other girl blankly needing some time to process the new information then opened her eyes wide. "Sophiiie! Did you say that only to make me get up?"

            Sophie grinned more, showing a perfect set of white teeth. "Mmh... let me think..." She closed her eyes pretending to think, then looked at the other girl still grinning. "Yup...?"

            "You..." the blackr09;haired girl said frowning playfully, "come here and I'll teach you to want to wake me up with tickles." She started walking towards Sophie wiggling her fingertips in front of her.

            "Uh oh..." Sophie said, starting to walk backwards. "You wouldn't do that, huh? Besides we don't have time to plaaaaaaaayyyyy...!" She yelped as the other girl tackled her to the floor, starting to tickle her sides. "Hahaha... Al... Alex... Stop! Please stop it!" She laughed squirming under her girlfriend.

            "Will you try to tickle me again in the morning, hmm?" Alex asked grinning.

            "No... I promise I won't try again, now stop tickling pleeeeeeeeeeeeze..." Sophie replied, laughing so much that she had tears in her eyes.

            "Good," Alex said as she stopped tickling Sophie. "Try to remember that promise next time you'll want to tickle me, hehe," Alex chuckled then stood up and reached out to help Sophie to stand up as well.

            Once they were up again, Alex went to the bathroom as Sophie started to browse her closet to find what she was going to wear that day. They had planned to go to the city of Tours to check the university where both of them would go later that year in September. They wanted to see the campus and visit the town a little, so they had decided to take the first train that day and spend the whole day there.

            Alex came back in the bedroom and saw that Sophie was still trying to choose between a light blue dress and some navy blue shorts with a pink tank top. Shaking her head and sighing, Alex walked over to her girlfriend and took the dress. "And you were telling me that I'm the one putting us behind," she said, setting the dress on the bed. "That one is better, I think you're prettier in a dress. Now get ready and let me get my clothes too." She grinned at Sophie, who stuck her tongue out at her. Chuckling slightly, Alex took some black jeans and a white sleeveless shirt from the closet. She would never know why some people needed so much time to choose what clothes they were going to wear.

            Alex took off the tr09;shirt and the boxers she used for sleeping and put clean underwear on. Turning around to take her shirt from the bed, many scars could be seen on her back. Most of them were small and showed only a pinkish mark on her white skin, but there were two that were bigger and looked like furrows on her back. The scars were a cruel reminder of her past in an orphanage, before Sophie's parents saved her life and brought her back to their house for her to live with them for good.

            Alex was deep in her memories of that time and didn't even notice that Sophie was done putting on her clothes and staring at her.

"Alex... Alex?"

Alex came back to reality when she heard her girlfriend calling out to her.

"Hmm...?" she said.

"Are you gonna put on that shirt, or maybe you prefer to go topless?" Sophie asked. "Not like the last one would bother me, if you ask me," she added with a grin.

            Alex blushed and put her shirt on quickly. "Sorry," she said, "I was deep in my memories."

"Really? And can I ask which ones exactly?" Sophie asked while she went behind her girlfriend and hugged her.

"When you changed my life for the best," Alex replied with a loving smile, as she turned around to hug Sophie back.

            They stared at each other for a few minutes, then kissed lovingly. They parted slightly, looking at each other again and smiled.

"I love you Sophie," Alex said softly.

"I love you too, Alex." the other girl replied, their smiles even bigger than before.

            They were about to kiss again when they heard a voice from the first floor.

"Girls! Hurry up and come down here, breakfast is cooling down and you're gonna be late!" a woman's voice said loudly.

They parted after a few more minutes, then left their room holding each other's hand.

            Alex and Sophie came into the kitchen hand in hand, thus making the woman already there smile.

"Good morning you two. It's about time. I almost threw what's left of breakfast away," she said, still smilling at the girls.

"Mom, you should be ashamed. When I think that there are countries where children are starving, you shouldn't even think about throwing away a good breakfast," Sophie said while diving on the pancakes.

"Good morning Marie," Alex said pouring herself some hot chocolate. "Sorry to be late, I just had a hard time getting up," she added, slightly embarrassed.

"That's not new," Sophie replied, "I always thought your middle name should be sleepyhead."

"You're mean Sophie. After all, I'm not the one snoring all night long," Alex said, trying to stay serious.

"Not true," Sophie replied with a pout that made Alex and Marie laugh.

            They kept going at it back and forth during most of breakfast. Marie Plantier just watched the little morning ritual. The two girls couldn't help teasing each other about their little quirks, showing how close they were feeling.

            After they got quiet, Marie decided to find out about their feelings concerning the rest of the day.

"So how do you feel now you're about to see the city in which you'll spend the next years of your life?" She asked them.

"Kinda stressed out," Alex said. "I've never been to another town and Tours is really bigger than Aytre. I'm glad Sophie is with me, else I'd give up immediately," she added, taking Sophie's hand in hers.

"I'm a little stressed, too, but it's ok. There's no reason it should go bad, right?" The blonde girl said, squeezing Alex' hand gently. "Besides, it's only for today, we're not living there yet."

            After they had talked a while longer about the girls' schedule for the day, Marie glanced at the clock.

"I think you should hurry up girls, else you'll miss your train," she said.

Alex and Sophie looked at the clock, too, and saw they were almost late.

"Ooops..." They said together.

            They finished their breakfast quickly, and took their bags before running out of the house.

"Bye Mom!" Sophie shouted.

"See you tonight!" Alex added as Sophie was closing the door.

            They took their car and drove to the station as fast as they could, hoping to catch their train. Luckily, there were not too many cars on the road now. The hardest part was to find a place to park, then run to the station and find where their train was. Once they were finally settled in the train, they breathed with relief, knowing they were about to spend a very nice day together.