Day 203 (181st)

Day 203 (181st): 5 days until wedding
We had no guests for breakfast. Set was learning his wings and returned with a pigeon and some "ouches". A plate was made for him and I tended him as he ate. New scales were forming where his skin was showing his growth spurt. The new ones were less gray and more green than the old ones. They still looked like weathered stone with moss on them, but the change was noticeable.
The centaur cleric arrived after breakfast to go over specific wording. Kendar took several soldiers and the rider cleric to assign positions around the stage and seating. Many would be masquerading as ushers so as to not frighten our guests.
We did receive a few complaints from some of the guests about the "horrible" conditions of their guest quarters. The ones in the castle complained about drafts, not enough blankets, and other pittance. These were easily fixed. The ones in tents, however, had bigger complaints.
Two kingdoms, not actually at war but very hostile to each other, demanded the other be barred from this event and declared an enemy of Selvis. First, we had to find them on a map as none of us had ever heard of either kingdom. We found they were both island kingdoms just south of where the river running through Selvis met the ocean. Second, we told both of them that no official alliances other than the Stone race below Selvis Prime and the races of Brimgrove had been made. That soothed a few ruffles. Third, we assured them, and showed them, that their tents and seats were far enough away from each other as to avoid each other nearly completely. That helped even more. We worked with both to keep the conflicts to a minimum.
Two young lords had to be detained for harassing a young centaur maiden. They each weighed more than she yet, since she was "just a horse", they kept demanding she carry them. This caused their parents to seek "official action" against the soldiers who caught them and the centaur maiden for "scandalously provoking human males to mischief". Neither action took place and the boys and parents paid fines for their activities and were moved from assigned seats to the general seating of the citizens of Selvis. When the parents asked why we were siding with a "stupid beast who's only purpose is for labor and uncivilized carnality", we informed them that she was a citizen of Selvis and Selvis Prime and entitled to all rights as such. They never even thought to see her as a sentient being. All they saw was a horse and a whore.
We found ourselves dealing with a lot of different attitudes towards other races, genders, kingdoms, and professions. Coming from a small village, I never realized there could be such outright hatred between people solely based upon where they lived or what they did to earn a living. People actually fought over who's tent was closest to the seating, as if that made them special. We didn't have the heart to tell them it was by random lots that they were set where they were. Some of the squabbles were funny, like measuring the lot of land to see if, by some luck, one had an extra inch more than the other.
We got pulled into one argument when they saw us walking with Set. Screams erupted and four groups came running at us. It took a moment to hear each clearly enough to understand that four opinions were being hurled at us. One thought he was some weird dog and wanted to discuss breeding rights. One thought he was a servant demon and tried to expel him from us. Two knew he was a dragon. The first wanted to skin him for "dragon kid-skin" items. The second just wanted to kill him before he got "dangerous". The first two left when talk turned to killing and skinning dragons. The last two we talked with for some time. They were both from lands where wild dragons roamed in "large numbers" and many goods were made from dragon hide, scales, teeth, and claws. While talking, we called Leo to come speak with them. It surprised them that dragons were intelligent sentient beings not just vicious monsters who eat their cattle. They learned that they were causing the attacks by killing dragons. Plus, they learned some of the "dragon hide" they had was actually from swamp dwelling lizards and large snakes, so the "hoard of dragons" was greatly exaggerated.
When that was cleared up, Leo escorted us back to the palace as it was getting dark and difficult to see, even with the magic lights. Leo told us as we walked that wild dragons did not congregate like riding dragons and enough dragon hide and materials to supply any industry would make dragons extinct in a matter of a few years.
"Even the rider's queen only clutches once every ten years. Wild females only clutch every twelve to fifteen years. The rider queen has large clutches from twenty to sixty odd eggs. Up to a third of those may never hatch for one reason or another. Wild females only have six to ten eggs. All of those rarely hatch. So, to keep a dragon hide industry running, every egg laid would have to hatch, every dragon would have to reach full growth in less than a decade, and every female would have to lay over one hundred eggs, which, again, all of them would have to hatch. As you can see, a dragon hide industry is impossible to maintain."
We agreed. Gretta suggested she and Greed examine the dragon stuff the next day to find what was actually dragon and what was from some other source. All of us, Leo included, decided that would be a good idea. We spoke of this to the others. Gavin gave us the names of merchant guild leaders to take with us for this inspection. He also sent messages to the merchant council about this matter. Mara said she would push to outlaw trafficking dragon goods without permission or official license or something. Leo and the riders told us dragons shed and lose scales, claws, and teeth all the time. Also, shells were cast off after hatching. These, too, could be sold without a loss of any kind. We left this for the morning as it was very late.