Luna

Chapter Ten

We were not far from Kyma and arrived before noon. However during the first delivery I was trying to make I spotted a poster on the wall outside with a picture of me and in bold letters on the bottom of the page it read: LUNA PIERCE, ENEMY OF CHORA PROVIDE ANY INFORMATION TO THE NEAREST BORDER TOWER
    I couldn’t believe it. I ran back to the cart and waited for Kip to return from his delivery. He of course seemed puzzled when I was still carrying my parcel. 
    I whispered into his ear, “I am now an enemy of Chora and there are wanted posters.” he looked around nervously.
    “How detailed was the picture and were there colors painted?” I feverishly tried to remember.
    “It was black and white, but I knew instantly that it was me.” I sighed and as I was freaking out until I watched the store keeper come out of the building and tear the wanted poster into bits. She replaced it with something else. Kip had seen it as well. We both walked over and the new poster read: THE KATAIGIDA HAS ARRIVED! WE WILL BE SAVED! 
    “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it. Fidi must be the Kataigida!” He put his hands on his head and his expression was pure joy. “There is an end in sight! You can save us all!” I was so confused. The only other time I had heard the word Kataigida was when I had overheard some boys talking about some force of destruction.
    “Wait, I thought that the Kataigida was bad?” I grabbed Kip's arms and tried to calm him so he could explain this to me.
    “The Kataigida as it is explained by the Araki is the breaker of tradition, the one to destroy our way of life.” He paused to make sure I was keeping up and I nodded for him to continue. “But as us Paidi describe it, the Kataigida is the one that will bring back a balance to the world. Save us all from the oppressive force of the Araki. The dragon that controls all elements and…” 
    “Woah woah there, slow down. Fidi only controls air, that’s it. And even if he did control all of the elements there would still be no way that the two of us could take on the entire Araki tribe. They have warrior dragons, dozens of them.” I looked at him like he was crazy, “I couldn’t even defeat one with that power. The only thing we need to take away from this is that the Kyma are on my side and even if they do recognize me, everything will be fine.”
    “Wrong!” Kip was yelling even more and was going to draw attention to us. “I don’t think they tied you to the Kataigida, somebody must have seen Fidi.” How often must the Araki nation order executions if he didn’t think there was a connection? “There are always wanted posters, don’t worry about that nobody will turn you in. Everybody hates the Araki tribe.” Well at least there was that. “You didn’t tell me it was an Araki poster before is why I was nervous before, everything is fine now.” Kip now had a new pep in his step, it was as if I hadn’t told him that it was impossible to go against the Iget with one dragon even if Fidi was what they said he was. Which he wasn’t… he is just a normal, red, sometimes invisible, talking dragon. Maybe Kip was onto something. I would have to meet with Fidi tonight. 
We finished the deliveries and I tried not to think about what Kip had said. We were in Kyma, now all we had to do was get to the ocean. I was probably only a month away from finally being able to just relax. Well, relax, and try to learn how to change everything… Was I, not Fidi, the Kataigida? Ever since I found out what was going on I knew I had to make a change. Maybe I could learn to control other elements. Maybe I was the one, the only one to make the change necessary. Maybe we together made up the Kataigida, as a team. A team who had an impossible mission. Maybe I was nobody. There was only one way to find out.
“So I asked around and I got some more information from the people around here, as well as a copy of your wonderful photo.” His grin was still going from ear to ear, as well as all of the villagers around us, a little hope really went a long way for these people. “Your wanted poster includes your red dragon, so people might recognize you… they will probably recognize you. We haven’t seen hope like this in such a long time.” My face must be expressing my extreme shock at this news. “It’s okay, you are a hero, not a criminal to them.” He let out a huge sigh. “A hero to me too.” 
“That is all well and good, but it could draw attention to me and danger to these people if the Araki come searching here and see these posters and someone says something. I don’t want anyone to get hurt on my account.” My shoulders fell and I started studying my shoes, they already started showing holes in them and were very worn from the hard work I was doing and their cheap construction. “I can’t be responsible for harm coming to any of these innocent people.” Kip’s calloused hands rested on my shoulders.
“You have brought so much hope to these people, and the Araki never come to the Kyma lands unannounced, everyone here will know how to be prepared and what to hide.” He gestured to the calm field littered with livestock all grazing peacefully. “They need these animals to survive, and not be running into fences and hurting themselves if they want to feed their dragons.” I looked at the beasts meandering and remembered how the horses reacted in the Fotia town when Fidi came near. It would be total chaos if a dragon came near here.
“What do you suggest? Do you want me to embrace this or should I attempt to stay hidden?” I was drawing circles in the dirt with my well worn shoes. “Nobody seemed to notice me today.” Kip locked eyes with me and laughed a little and shook his head. 
“I am a simple merchant, I have no idea how one takes on their role as the Kataigida.” My heart sank and he must have seen it in my face. “But! I do know these people. They will protect you fiercely and If they know about you they may put themselves in danger. For their own good you might want to stay hidden or at least not seek it out.” He shrugged, “I don’t think somebody finding out will be the end of the world either though.” His words settled into my mind as I thought about this. Staying hidden would be easier, because I know how it is to be recognized everywhere and that was never easy.
“I will stay as hidden as I can. There is no need for me to be known, and it will only bring more danger to these people.” I gestured towards the coast. “If we make it to the coast before the news does and I get somewhat settled, maybe people won’t think of me when the posters arrive.” Kip let a small smile settle on his lips.
“I bet you that the news is already there, but we will see. The Arakai wanted posters to travel quickly, and then of course usually disappear just as quickly. Your poster with its descriptions of that red dragon are bound to leave a similar impression on everyone though. The hype of just having found out, however, may have faded by the time we get to the coast.” A small wave of relief washed over me, hopefully the excitement would in fact fade. 
We had made it to the outskirts of the town and made camp. I was longing so badly to see and talk to Fidi, but with all of the livestock surrounding us I had no idea how to meet with him. I looked around for a path I could take, but every path led to yet another field of cows or sheep. “Kip, do you know of any way that I could meet with my dragon? I need to talk to him about what we saw today.” My eyes pleaded with his and The only thing I got in return was pity.
“Luna, there are far too many animals this close to a town. It would take hours to get far enough away for it to be safe.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “You may just have to wait until we reach the coast to speak with him. I am sorry.” Disappointed I let out a sigh and went back to tending to the fire, getting it ready for making our nightly meal.
“I thought the answer would be something like that. I will wait.” The coast now seemed further away than ever. This was such a big secret to hold from Fidi. I closed my eyes and focused as hard as I could. I sent him an image of that wanted poster next to the Kataigida poster with question marks surrounding it and then followed that image with one of what I thought the coastline would look like. Since I had never seen it I hoped that it was at least somewhat accurate. Sending images to Fidi was becoming easier every day, but with him being as far away as he was I was drained from that. I received an image back, but it was only question marks, I then felt bad for confusing him. I didn’t know what to do. I mustered what strength I had left and sent him an image of all the livestock surrounding me and hoped that he at least understood that I wanted to see him. 
Kip was staring at me after all the effort I had just used, I shrugged and explained what I had been doing. He smiled and handed me a bowl of food. I ate it quickly and retreated to my cot for the night.
Sleep did not come easy as all the thoughts of today were spinning around in my head for hours and every now and then Fidi would send me images of the sky or us flying. He must miss me as much as I missed him. I slept so soundly that no dreams came tonight.