Chapter Four
To Take A Stand
Just then, Nina reached the top of the stairs. She grabbed Starre's arm, and pulled her trembling daughter down to the ground again. Starre moaned her disgust at what she had just seen. Her wings were limp and shaky beneath the sweater she wore, and her forehead was warm.
"Oh, Starre," Nina said gently, hugging her mortified daughter. "Sweetie, it's okay."
"No, it's not!" Starre shouted, pulling away. "Mom, why didn't you tell me about this?"
"I tried," Nina said quietly, "but you ran away."
"I mean before!" Starre cried furiously. "Nina. You were telling me about how horribly the Kin are treated here, but could you tell me that they were murdured by lions in these sick 'DF' tournaments? Apparently not!"
Starre stormed away, her eyes closed tightly to hold back tears. Suddenly, she bumped smack into someone else. She fell down onto the gravel road, and opened her eyes wide. The person she had crashed into had a magnificant sheet of long, white hair, matching her pale skin. She wore a long, green robe, tied with gold bands. She had a backpack over her shoulder, and a look of surprise on her face.
"Sorry," Starre said, sniffling as she stood up. "I didn't mean to --"
"You here for the protest?" the girl asked quickly. "You don't look like someone that would go to one of those horrid Dragonfights."
"That's what they're called!" Starre said, brushing herself off. "No, I'd rather die than be at one of those. Of course, I probably would die. I'm Starre."
"I'm Amaryllis," the girl said, shaking Starre's outstreached hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too," Starre said, smiling her white-toothed smile. "This is my mom, Nina. We're visiting Saxvistan - I was born here, but Nina adopted me, so I've spent most of my life in America."
"I'm from an, erm, foreign place, too," Amaryllis said, "but I live in my own little place now. I come here every year for the big DF protest. I coordinate it. I think it's horrible, what they do to the Kin. I have some good friends back home that are Kin. Like you, eh?"
"Yes," said Nina, hoping that Amaryllis could be trusted. "Starre had never heard of the DF until today. She's mortified, as you probably noticed earlier." Starre nodded.
"Well," Amaryllis said to Nina, "the protest starts in about half an hour, if you two want to help out." Starre nodded enthusiastically, bouncing on the soles of her feet.
Amaryllis smiled. "It's always good to have some extra voices, I suppose. By the way...." Amaryllis unzipped her backpack, and dug around before flourishing some papers. She handed them to Starre, who looked at them with interest. On the top was a picture of a lovely, dragon-like being with glistening, golden flesh, silver horns down its back, and three pairs of wings.
"Gorgeous, eh?" Amaryllis asked Starre, who nodded. "That's The Mighty Gratira. Tell me, Starre, have you ever heard of The Bishen Realm?" Starre shook her head, and Amaryllis, who didn't look surprised, continued. "It's a nice little place. Few have heard of it. The Bishel Dragons live there."
"Bishel...dragons? Some kind of lizard?"
Amaryllis chuckled. "No, no lizards. Dragons. Like the one you see there. Indyana runs it. She cares for all of the Dragons, but she's got her hands full with them, so she's started adopting them out into safe homes outside the Realm. I'm giving her a hand in spreading the word, so that she can find the best homes for the Dragons. The protesters here get one each today, since they all are probably good enough people. We might find some good adopters here, eh?"
Starre glanced over at Nina. Nina gave Starre the old 'don't you even think about it' look. Starre sighed, and turned back to Amaryllis.
She was still taking in the whole concept of adopting out Dragons, when Amaryllis turned around. "Ah, there are some more of the regular protesters. They are here every year to give me a hand in setting things up. Here, a sign."
Amaryllis thrust a large banner into Starre's hands. It read; TAKE AWAY THE WINGS AND TAIL, AND WHAT DO YOU HAVE? Starre decided that the phrase could be more creative, but that it was true.
In about 15 to 20 minutes, a massive crowd of protesters had gathered. Some were carrying signs, but some had nothing. Starre noted that many were wearing shirts bearing a pair of wings and a tail.
"The Bowl is over in 10 minutes," Amaryllis whispered to a few of her friends. "Get ready!" She gave Starre a quick thumbs up, and began a spirited chant.
"NO MORE DF! NO MORE DF!"
Starre joined in, waving her sign. Her young voice joined the chorus of thousands of people that believed the same thing she did: the needless killing had to be stopped.
Several minutes later, the crowd in the stadium was released. The orange-clad supporters of Saxvistan looked happy and cheerful; apparently Saxvistan had won. No one seemed startled at the presence of the protesters. In fact, the crowd completely ignored them.
"Remember," the announcer called from inside, "ignore those crazy protesters. They're just trying to take away your good times! Come back next year, and cheer Saxvistan on to another victory!"
Starre was outraged. She screamed 'NO MORE DF!' with all her might, right in the ears of the crowd passing by her. Some of them cringed, and one man, dark-skinned with ice blue eyes, tried to push her away. That only made her scream louder.
Meanwhile, Amaryllis had climbed onto a platform, smack in the middle of the protesters. Over quieted chants of 'No more DF,' she began a speech.
"My fellow protesters," she shouted through a microphone. "Look at these people. They just witnessed murdur at its worst, and do they seem even a tiny bit disturbed?"
"NO NO NO!" the protesters chanted to the crowd filing out of the stadium. No one seemed to pay any attention.
"Not unless their team lost!" Amaryllis yelled. "They are happy. They consider seeing over 20 innocent beings murdured a wonderful passtime. Is that right?"
"NO NO NO!"
"No, it is NOT!" Amaryllis continued, shaking her hands in the air. Starre marveled at the fact that they weren't in fists. "Innocent lives were just taken, and no one tried to stop it. You foolish spectators who just cheered for death, if you take away the wings and tail from the Kin, what do you have?"
"YOU YOU YOU!" the protesters screamed, shaking angry fists and pointing fingers. Signs waved high in the air, making their bold statements clearly. The whole time, Starre was yelling and sign-waving with the best of them.
"Exactly!" Amaryllis said passionately, stamping her foot. "Not quite how you thought of it before, is it? Well, then, let me clear things up for you. Should the DF be shut down?"
"YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!"
Amaryllis began the passionate rally all over again, for the benifit of the people just emerging from the stadium. The protesters were now visited by police, attempting to control the rally with barricades and handcuffs. The protesters complied, but kept up their furious ranting.
Starre wore an elated smile on her face. She jumped up and down, waving her sign high in the air. Nina was right beside her, waving her hands in the air and shouting. She was proud. She could help make a difference.