Nicholas Taylor - Legon Awakening

They didn’t break for lunch until two. When Legon walked into the house he saw Sasha sitting in the kitchen looking put-out and talking to their Mother.

“Mom, I’m okay now. Everything is fine. Let me help you,” she said.

“No no, dear, I can do it myself. I have been making meals without your assistance for some time now and I can do it today. Besides, you need to rest,” protested Laura, waving her arms and hands in a dismissive manner.

“Hey Sash, how do you feel?” Legon asked sitting next to her at the table.

“I’m feeling fine. I can help mom, but you know how she is,” she said, shooting a look at her mother and folding her arms.

He chuckled. Laura placed a plate of food in front of him. She’d made chicken and some flatbread for lunch. He began to eat his food with delight. He was very hungry from the day’s work, and they ate fast since they didn’t have much time.

“Ey ash ii,” he began with food in his mouth.

“Swallow,” Sasha said flatly, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. “Boys they can be such animals,” she thought.

Legon swallowed and began, “Sorry Sash, but if you’re feeling a bit useless you can always get me some water. You know, if it will make you feel better.”

“Put the food back in your mouth. I liked it better that way,” she said, giving him a stern look, but she got up and brought him some water. Legon nodded in thanks.

“Are you going to go over to Kovos’ today?” she asked.

He began to talk with food in his mouth again but he realized what he was doing, swallowed, and began again. “Sorry, no. We have too much to do. You know how it is- either we are bored to tears or there’s not enough time in the day.”

“I’m sorry I made you late this morning.” She sounded mournful.

“Don’t ever say that, it’s not your fault.” He was serious. He hated her thinking that things like this were her doing.

“It’s not you, its dad, because he’s such a slave driver!” Legon said in an elevated voice to Edis.

Edis gave him a wicked grin. “Ha! Wait until this afternoon!”

“I love you too, dad.” At this, Edis nodded his head and took another bite.

It was a hard afternoon, but it wasn’t the work that weighed on Legon. The work was nothing to him; he was in good shape and his dad had been training him to be a butcher from the time he could hold a knife. In fact, Legon would be setting off in a few months to start his own shop. He was turning eighteen this year, which meant that he would be a man. His family would keep him around for a while since he was a help to them in the shop, but the problem was taxes.

In The Cona Empire, the queen had decreed that all should be taxed fairly. This meant that families who pooled their resources together were treated as though they were trying to put themselves above their fellow men, or at least this was the queen’s public stance on the matter. Therefore, a house consisted of two adults and however many underage children they had. If a child grew to be eighteen and still lived at home, you had to pay considerably more on your taxes, and if you could not pay that amount, the member of the family that was the cause of the increase went into the queen’s care. The queen’s care was slavery; people could rent you for a price from the empire, or you were sold to Iumenta for their own uses. This exact thing happened just a few months ago to Sasha’s friend when her family couldn’t afford her. When it was time to pay the annual taxes, the queen’s tax collectors took her into the queen’s care and she had not been seen since.

The problem now was not Legon; he made the family a good sum of money and his mother, who was the town healer, did decently enough. The problem was that Sasha was overage already and the family would have to pay a lot for her again this year. Because the townspeople didn’t care for her, she had a hard time making any money, and her condition prevented her from becoming a certified healer. This coming January when the collectors came, the family would now have to pay for both Sasha and Legon, and they could not do it. In fact, Legon was going to be forced to leave solely due to the fact that the town was not big enough for two butchers. The family’s best hope was for Legon to make as much as he could and bring it to his family to continue paying the taxes for Sasha, but he couldn’t see how it could be done. “I will not allow them to take her,” he said to himself. He could feel his face flush with anger as he thought of Moleth’s comment that morning.

Something of his thoughts must have shown on his face, because Edis said, “Son, we’ll find a way. We won’t let her go.”

“I hope so.”

As if in answer to their conversation, the door tinkled again. Legon turned to look at the newcomers and he felt his heart drop just a bit. Because of the type of work their family did, they were subject to quarterly tax appraisals and inspections. These were, in short, a chance for the government to come in and make sure Edis and Laura were fulfilling their requirements as a healer and a butcher. The inspections and appraisals weren’t pleasant, but not that bad either.

The two men stood side by side, and Legon could tell who was who right away. The one on the right had greasy hair and a bent nose that looked to have been broken on several occasions. This man was the collector; it was his job to secure payment. His deep blue robes were slightly disheveled, showing the slightly physical part of his job. The other man’s robes looked brand new. He was shorter than the first and had a round face. It looked like he took the time to part each hair on its own every morning. This man was the appraiser. The collector spoke first. His voice also sounded greasy and unclean.

“Edis I take it? We are here for your quarterly appraisal.”

Edis spoke. “Oh, I wasn’t expecting you for a week or so…”

The appraiser cut across him calmly. “Sorry, do forgive us, we are running a bit ahead of schedule. If you are not ready for us we could come by tomorrow.” There could not be more of a difference in the two men, as Legon knew. He liked the appraisers for the most part; they had the personality of bricks, but they were a lot more polite.

The collector looked scandalized. “I have things to do, Harper. This is only a quarterly, anyhow. Do you really need to look at their books and all that stuff?”

Harper looked irritated. “Fine, but we have more to cover this time than normal.” He pulled a piece of parchment from a shoulder bag. “This says here that you have a son coming of age this year?”

“Yes, my boy Legon here,” he said as he patted Legon’s arm.

Harper went on. “Very well. We have a bit of paperwork then. May we sit down somewhere?”

Edis took them into the house and with the rest of the family sat at the table. Laura looked flustered at the unexpected visit.

“I have records of treatments, if you would like. It shouldn’t take me long to get them.”

The collector, who still hadn’t introduced himself, spoke. “Won’t be necessary. Harper here has agreed to the short version.”

Harper took out a large stack of paper. “In years past there has been no denying your ability to pay for your daughter…,” he paused, looking at the sheets, “…Sasha. This year it is unlikely that you will be able to pay for her and your son, so I have some paperwork to do with her.”

A very unnatural silence filled the room and the appraiser looked up at Sasha. “May I ask you a few questions?”

“What for?” she asked

“Because you are going into the queen’s care girl, that’s why,” said the collector, taking Sasha in with hungry eyes.

“But I… I thought we had until…”