Chp.16: Opportunities in the tragedy

"I don't like it"

"Me too. I'm completely against it!"

"I'm not leaving the cave to silly brats!"

Haku sighed deeply. He had expected a similar reaction from his siblings when he reported Zamor's decision to them. Indeed, he had been rather surprised that the protests were so few: only Jatara, Glausar, Kialandì and Keita were firmly opposing the idea, while instead Tikka, Finiar, Rhaegal and Corgorin were just remaining silent and having an annoyed look, and Teramon, Serengal, Darbi and Maleficial didn't even look too sorry. "Guys... I don't like it either... but I gave my word that I would respect the provisonal leader's wishes..."

"Well, we understand that your gesture was dictated by necessity" Rhaegal said, who was aware of what had happened in the days leading up to the Council and therefore guessed why Haku had promised this. "But you could have at least warned us..."

"I didn't think Zamor would make such a choice!" Haku exclaimed mortified. "If I had imagined it, I would never have brought it up! I was convinced that he would have been satisfied with a few buildings and a couple of certainly non-infected guardians, not that he would decide to unload the task on us!"

This was true. When Zamor had asked Haku if he could send all the children and young people to the dragon cave, he had thought of a prank or an unsuccessful joke. Come on, what madman would put children inside a cave full of dragons? The villagers would never accept such a thing. When he realized that the lizardman wasn't joking at all Haku tried to change his mind, and for once he and Tzegorn found themselves on the same side as the tigerman also tried to dissuade Zamor. However, their new provisional leader had not wanted to hear reasons and had retorted with more than valid arguments: to begin with, the cave was quite far from the village, and therefore the disease could hardly have reached it; the dragons couldn't get sick, so they could take care of the children without any risk of contagion, and could possibly also act as a link between them and their family members; the dragons were also the best guards that were in the oasis, since they would have noticed immediately if something dangerous had tried to approach them, if some children had tried to escape and if any of their family members had tried to reach them, and they would have stopped it immediately. They were all very valid reasons, and Haku himself had been forced to admit that actually entrusting children to dragons was the wisest choice... but still he had tried to remind Zamor how angry people would be about that. However, the lizardman had in turn reminded him that in the following days he would have to make many decisions that people might not like, and that indeed he had been elected provisional leader for this very reason. In the end, Haku had given in: after all, he had assured the members of the Council that he would respect the will of the provisional leader, whatever it was, and now he couldn't go back on his word. So he had agreed to welcome all the children into his and his siblings' cave. He had hoped that as soon as Zamor had communicated this decision to the people, they would have opposed it and this would have made him change his mind... but he had underestimated the rhetoric and the charisma of the lizardman, who after a long speech had managed to convince everyone to accept his decision, because it had been taken with extreme care and studying every possible scenario, and that, however absurd it might seem, sending children into a cave full of dragons would have been the safest choice for them. Albeit with extreme reluctance, the families had eventually nodded; they hadn't cheered, of course, but they had accepted it. Perhaps their mentality would change after a few weeks of separation... but for now, Haku was now forced to take all the children of the village and host them in the cave. And this obviously didn't please his siblings much.

"So we should sleep outside?" Glausar grumbled. "This is our cave! I'm not leaving it to stupid children!"

"There's enough space in the cave for some of us to sleep inside" Haku replied trying to make the situation less unbearable. "We'll just have to take turns. Every night someone will stay out here at the entrance, so they can immediately notice if something tries to get in and out, while everyone else can continue to sleep inside. Since it's my fault, if you want I can stay out here all the time... but someone else will have to stay with me"

His siblings let out an annoyed croak. They didn't mind sleeping in the cold, after all they were used to it and in the middle of the desert they didn't risk being disturbed by the rain... but the thought of having to share their cave with someone made them feel as if their territory had been usurped by someone else. "And then? What else should we do?" Jatara asked. "Take care of them during the day? Are we supposed to entertain a bunch of loud, whiny, silly kids?"

"Hey, hey! Kids aren't that terrible!" Darbi intervened trying to mediate. "I assure you, I dealt with them when I freed the beastmen from their captivity. Sure, they don't exactly shine with intelligence, but they aren't mindless beasts either. I can take care of them if you want, I don't mind a bit similar task..."

"If you will do it, we all will" Maleficial said. It wasn't fair that his brother had to do all the work. "Guys, let's stop complaining. That's how it went. After all, we've faced far worse things than some brat. Let's accept this situation, divide the tasks and wait for the epidemic to pass. At that point everything will be back as before. We'll have to wait a few months at most... it's not such an unsustainable thing"

"Yes, actually, it's not a horrible situation" Teramon said back. "I don't see what's so terrible about it. We'll just have to keep a group of kids in the cave and prevent them from leaving or anything or anyone getting close to them. We can do it without even having to get up from where we're lying down"

Their siblings let out a few huffs of annoyance, but eventually everyone nodded. In fact, compared to other challenges they'd experienced, this one was nothing short of ridiculous. Other than having to swallow their pride and accept someone else entering their cave, they had nothing to fear. So, even if with great reluctance, they began to tear up large quantities of grass in the surroundings in order to make the floor of the cave less hard and suitable for sleeping. Haku breathed a sigh of relief to see that everyone had been convinced; knowing his sisters' temperament, he had expected much more resistance.

While he too was working, Rhaegal approached him. "I don't deny that I would have preferred you to tell us about it first, but I admit that this could be a good idea" he said. "Darbi told me how on the way back from his mission some children had ended up approaching him without being afraid of them. Bringing all the children of the village here could teach them not to be afraid of us. We could completely change the mentality of these people in just one generation"

Haku nodded. In fact, he too had thought about it. After convincing her sisters, she had immediately started thinking about the benefits she could get out of that situation. And indeed the best way to convince the people of Iluvatan not to fear the presence of dragons was to focus on the younger ones: their mentality was much more open, much more malleable than that of adults. Bringing all the children of the village to one place and having them stay in the company of his family for a few weeks or months would make them learn to see dragons as friendly figures, not as the monsters in stories and tales that killed people and they sacked cities. Once the epidemic subsided, the children would return to the village and talk to their parents about what they had experienced, and many of those parents might become more accepting of the dragons' presence. Maybe someone would be in favor of making friends. As the circle of friends widened, more and more people would be 'infected' by the new mentality. In just a few years the common thinking of the village would have changed and in just one generation probably all fear of dragons would have vanished. Of course, this assumed a very specific chain of events... but Haku was good at planning events and he was sure he could move fate in the direction he wanted it to go. "Yes, this situation could prove very profitable" he admitted to Rhaegal. "Not only can we win the trust of the new generation, but we can also earn the gratitude of many of the old. And now that there is a leader, even if a temporary one, we can finally start many projects that have been hanging for too long… "

"Do you talk about your plans for farming?" Rhaegal asked confused. "Excuse me, but isn't the provisional chief prohibited from acting in matters that are outside the epidemic?"

"Sure, but that can be worked around" Haku answered. "Zamor now has a lot of power and can exercise respect and charisma much more strongly than before. Both the people and the members of the Council will be more willing to listen to him. And the more his actions bring positive results, the more his word will carry weight major. All we'll have to do is play our cards right... and have an overwhelming proof"

"An overwhelming proof?"

"I talked to Darbi about it just a few hours ago. If we can cultivate even a small piece of the desert, then no one can deny that our plan can work. This plan would have had a very good chance of succeeding before… but now that Zamor is the boss, even if momentary, he will be able to use that proof to convince practically anyone. And so we will be able to push the Council to approve our project"

Rhaegal reflected that his brother, as usual, was right. It was just typical of Haku: even where everyone else saw nothing but a tragic situation, he saw opportunities and benefits. He was someone who did not lose heart when faced with the unexpected, but rather studied how to transform disadvantages into advantages. "So, what should we do?"

Haku shrugged and sported a knowing and mischievous smile. "For the moment, nothing. Let's just play the part of good hosts and take care of those brats... you know, I confess that it's still difficult for me to accept that at their age those newcomer puppies aren't self-sufficient. I mean, we are more young than most of them and we have to babysit them... however, let's keep a low profile. It is likely that many will try to get close for fear that we have eaten their children, so let's just push them away in a quiet and gentle but firm way Then we wait. The epidemic is just starting, and pushing too much at the moment would be counterproductive... but when it reaches its peak, that's when we can take full advantage of the situation. Zamor has already banned everyone from leaving the village, so it will not be difficult to create our irrefutable proof on the sly and reveal it only at the right time. And the worse things get, the more we will have the opportunity to shine and earn their trust and gratitude. I also have Isaac's list of remedies with me; I'll study it and evaluate if it's possible to apply some of them with our abilities... it wouldn't be bad if someone risked dying and was saved by a dragon... there are many possibilities, and as usual I want to seize them all!"