Chp.4: Talking to a friend

"What happened?"

Rhaegal had clearly seen Haku storming out of Iluvatan and heading towards the outside of the oasis. He'd been tempted to follow him, but then he thought that maybe his brother wanted some alone time, or maybe he just needed to vent. After all, he couldn't blame him: Rhaegal knew how much work Haku did every day since they arrived at the Thul Oasis, not to mention how much work he had during the trip or even before the trip, so it was normal that he was stressed. And Rhaegal knew how much Haku tended to get annoyed when things didn't go his way, and since the Council was particularly reluctant to listen to him, he'd been perpetually pissed for some time. So he'd avoided trying to stop his brother and let him go (after all, he knew how to handle it, he had no reason to be afraid for him) and then he'd walked in front of the Council Hall to wait for the members to leave. And when the meeting was finally over and everyone had left, Rhaegal immediately took Efren aside and asked him for an explanation.

The man shrugged and sighed. "Let's say your brother is good at criticizing, but he isn't good at accepting criticism" he answered. "Yuko pointed out to him that he can't ask us to do things that he himself doesn't want to do. And personally I can't blame that lionman completely... I don't doubt that Haku knows his stuff and could solve all our problems if we ask him, but he constantly expects everything to go exactly as he says. He doesn't factor in the possibility that someone might be against his decisions". He grunted. "Yuko asked him if in the event that we elect a leader he doesn't like he would obey them. This infuriated Haku, who left saying he was going to hunt a sand worm to temporarily solve the food problem"

Rhaegal felt there was something strangely familiar about the situation. Haku had behaved the same way with him too, with the whole family. He had always been like this, he had always wanted to have everything under his control. Maybe now he was using a much less invasive approach than before, but still his attitude hadn't changed. He now treated the other family members as equals, but everyone else was just tools to him. "I'll talk to him as soon as he gets back" he told Efren. "I'll make him think one way or another"

"You'd do me a favor. Things are already tense enough without the Council starting to fear that Haku might do something behind their backs" Efren said, and Rhaegal had to admit that fear was absolutely founded. "We're already on the edge. People are worried and we can't make a decision. If we add suspicion among ourselves to all this, then the community will fall apart sooner than we can even imagine"

Rhaegal nodded in sympathy. He wasn't an expert on newcomer politics, but he knew how easily the situation could escalate. All he could do was hope that Haku would find a solution that worked for everyone… or make sure that his family didn't find themselves in the middle of disaster when things came crashing down. "You too urgently need to get rid of some stress" he said to his friend. "Would you like to come with me to the lake? The fresh air and clear water might help you. And while we're there we could check out the fish farming"

Efren thought about it for a moment, then he nodded. "Yes, that would be good" he answered. The two thus headed towards the shore of the lake.

As already explained above, the village of Iluvatan started from the shore of the lake and continued towards the interior of the forest; and where the houses touched the water, there the inhabitants had built some very interesting things. The former was obviously a small harbour, although no one used it as there were few boatmen in the community and at the moment it was still too dangerous to venture into the lake as they did not yet know what was in it, and the few fish they had seen they had been sufficient to give an idea of ​​the danger of those waters. The second was a system of canals full of valves and nets that took water from the lake and purified it, and then released it into jars that were stored in a nearby warehouse, which had become the main source of water for all of Iluvatan. Finally, the third was a series of tanks built using a combination of earth magic and wooden planks, within which numerous fish were raised that the beastmen had brought with them for that very purpose.

Fish were the only food source that was being actively produced at the time. Since the tanks were located in shallow water, they did not risk being attacked by the large fish of the lake and did not affect any natural balance. As a result, this design worked very well. However, even that food source was unstable: in fact, in order to raise fish, it was first of all necessary to feed them. And to feed the fish, you had to find a suitable food source for them. The best choice would have been to grow seaweed to feed the fish, but unfortunately the area needed to do this would have been much larger than that needed for farming, and this would have affected the ecosystem of the oasis. The solution was the same that Haku had proposed for everything else: build a canal and form a reservoir outside the oasis, so as to grow seaweed there. But of course, that project was still pending and a source of debate.

"At the moment we still have enough feed to feed them" Efren said as he watched the big trout massing against the side of their tank, as they always did when they saw one of the dragons approaching, clearly trying to escape them. "It seems that they are growing well. They are so fat..."

Rhaegal's tail whipped and one of the fish was hurled out of the water and landed in the open claw of the dragon, who sniffed it deeply. "Yes, they are perfectly healthy. A few more months and they will be ready to be cooked in carpaccio" he said throwing the trout back into the water, which quickly swam away from him.

Efren smiled. "That wouldn't be bad. It's been a while since I've eaten a good trout carpaccio. Even if I prefer them soused" he said. "When they're ready we could all have dinner together"

Rhaegal smiled, but a little sadly. "Yeah... that wouldn't be bad"

Efren understood what the dragon was thinking. "Have you tried talking to the others yet?"

"Didn't they tell you?" Rhaegal asked in surprise.

Efren shrugged. "With all the work I have to do, my friends try to support me and not annoy me with their problems. Or at least, that's what they told me. Plus I doubt they want to hear from me again about how they should at least try to hear your apology by now"

"Well... thanks for arguing my case" Rhaegal said. By now, more than a month had passed since that night in which he, Serengal and Corgorin had argued with the five adventurers, and unfortunately the tension still hadn't subsided. "Seriously, I don't know what to do anymore. Carlos has seemed a little more accommodating lately, and even tried to help me a couple of times... but Sarah, Martha and Lisah refuse to listen to reason. And also my two sisters act like immature children"

"They're women. It's in their nature to hold grudges" Efren said jokingly. "This is the real difference between men and women, not just genital organs. Men can beat each other to death, but after they have resolved their problem they will have already forgotten everything and will be in an inn drinking thirty liters of beer together. Women, on the other hand, are less rough-and-tumble... but they'll remember a wrong until the moment they die. Trust me, if you make a mistake with them, they'll hold it against you even when they're old. And even when they're good enough not to do it, you still can rest assured that they will remember it"

It was difficult for Rhaegal to understand that speech, because dragons had extraordinary memories and remembered every event perfectly, so even male dragons technically remembered all the wrongs suffered. However, he had to admit that he had actually noticed that women, both among dragons and newcomers, tended to be a lot more resentful. Maybe it really was their nature... After all, there was a reason he, Darbi, and even Haku preferred to walk away as soon as they noticed their sisters were arguing. "Why are they like this?"

Efren shrugged. "I have no idea. I just know that when a man makes a mistake about a woman, he will be haunted by that mistake for life" he answered, then he let out a chuckle. "You know, my father always told me a story about it… a long, long time ago, when the gods were creating the world, only men did. All intelligent races were made up exclusively of men. The gods were satisfied, but suddenly all the other animals appeared in front of them pissed and screamed: 'It's not fair! You gave all the benefits to them. They are beautiful, they are smart, they know how to grow their own food, they know how to build houses. We are ugly, furry, we have to work hard to survive and we sleep cold! You call this meritocracy?'. Listening to them, the gods began to think that in fact the animals weren't entirely wrong, and that perhaps they had given too many benefits to intelligent beings. 'You must also give something to them that makes life difficult for them!' the animals finally exclaimed. Then the gods, now convinced, replied: 'Don't worry. Now we create the women'!"

Rhaegal burst out laughing. That story was actually funny, even if in fact it had no logical basis (well, according to this story, the animals would in turn be all male!). Even though he felt a little guilty towards the female gender, he couldn't help laughing like a fool. "Ah, it's a classic. Every time I tell it, everyone laughs" Efren grinned, then tapped his friend's shoulder. "Anyway, grit your teeth and keep trying. Sooner or later they too will accept your apology... much later, maybe, but they will"

Rhaegal was about to thank him, but suddenly his body stiffened and his nostrils flared, a sign that he had smelled something. "Come with me!" he exclaimed, grabbing Efren with his tail and dragging him along the edge of the lake.

The two walked away from the village a little and reached a hidden creek. There they discovered a group of lizardmen who had a large fishing net in their hands and were dragging some large fish out of the water. "Hey!" Efren exclaimed as soon as he saw them. "What are you doing? You know that fishing without permission is forbidden!"

The lizardmen turned in concern, realizing they had been discovered. Judging by their faces they were also ready to silence Efren with force, but as soon as they realized that Rhaegal was with him they let it go. None of them were foolish enough to challenge a dragon. "We just wanted to get some more fish" one of them tried to justify himself. "We didn't catch many, it won't make a difference"

"It doesn't matter if you only caught a few! There are rules and they must be respected! Fishing and hunting are strictly forbidden!" Efren exclaimed. "I'm going to pretend I didn't see anything this time. Take those fish you caught and walk away. I hope you're smart enough to know that if anyone finds out what happened here, it will pretty much become public knowledge that you've broken the law and you'll be arrested accordingly"

The lizardmen complied and left, albeit with clear disappointment. As soon as they were far enough Rhaegal whispered, "You should have arrested them. People must understand that he cannot break the law"

"That would have just drawn attention to their actions and my reaction. How do you think people would react knowing that a Council member arrested fishermen and threw the fish in the lake?" Efren grumbled. "This situation is really deteriorating. If they have come here to fish it is because they are afraid of running out of food and are creating their own stocks"

Rhaegal let out a snort. The situation seemed to be getting really worse. "You newcomers are really strange. If you don't enforce the law you are criticized, and if you enforce it you are criticized anyway"

"Welcome to the world of politics" Efren grunted.