Desert's Elegy

"Once, Jurgana was not desert, but plains as far as the eye could see."

The woman spoke with a voice so clear, so loud, it resonated throughout the cave filled with treasures that the nobles of Mondor yearned for. It commanded the attention of several dozen people, all eyes on her. Golden bangles jingled across her wrists as she spoke, gesturing as she became the dancer on stage, words never enough to tell the story.

All eyes were on her. Some captivated by her beauty. Some just too bored and paying attention just for fun.

And then, there was the foreigner, with eyes blue as star sapphires, hanging on every word.

"It was ruled by a Queen who loved her people dearly. She went through the effort of hosting parties with them, and learned the names and faces of her people, so that when she would go out, she can speak to them on their level, speak as freely with them as she wished. She would go to the gatherings of the elderly and knit with them, listening to the tales they spun as easily as thread on a spinning wheel. She would go and aid the men as they made homes and buildings, lending her strength so that their creations were as sturdy as their wills to carve a better future, a better place for their children and grandchildren. With the children, she would play games alongside them, praise them, love them as if they were her own, so that their smiles would be as bright as the sun, and that the weights on their hearts, the sorrows of life, would be lifted.

She loved them dearly, she did. She smiled when they smiled, cried when they cried, and laughed when they laughed. She took on the burden of Queen so that they would not have to make the terribly difficult decisions she had to make. And all was well, for a time.

A drought came upon the land, and their crops were ruined within the year. A drought so intense, the river they relied on so much dried up to a trickle. Her people were hungry and thirsty, forced to ration out and preserve their food and water. The Queen, concerned, had to address this issue, and she did so by using an emerald-topped scepter she created with her own hands. With a single wave, she ressurected the crops, and enchanted them so that they could survive with little water. Next, she conjured beasts that survived on the grassland and could handle the heat, mighty beasts that would yield meat that could easily be preserved. And finally, she used her own power to dig out a well that reached deep enough into the earth to strike that reservoir of water.

It took many, many days for her plans to come to fruition, but in the end, it paid off: her people had food and drink, happy as could be. And she smiled upon her handiwork, and celebrated with her people.

While the drought did not affect them as harshly due to their Queen's actions, other countries were not as fortunate to have as kind a Queen. Bandits raided Jurgana for their food, desperate to feed their families. They took all that they could carry, and killed all who opposed them.

The Queen was horrified to know of their plight, and vowed to stop them. She drew another scepter she created, one topped with an amythyst, and guised herself as one of her people as she set off into the night. She waited for the bandits to approach her, and she spoke to them. Asked them if they were hungry, and if they wanted to join her for a feast. They declined, saying that their hunger could not be quelled by a mere feast.

"What if I held two feasts?"

"Not even two feasts could quell our hunger!"

"Three?"

"Nor three, nor, four!"

And then she smiled, and said, "Then how about a feast every time you visit? I see that you take all the food my people have, and while I do not like it, I understand your reason why. I want to end your worries like I do with my people, and if that means I must hold a feast every day, so be it."

The bandits looked among themselves and frowned.

"But we have killed your people! Would you truly hold a feast for murderers?"

"I would, if they would hold it in their hearts to repent, and make our land and your own a better place."

Moved by her words, the bandits relented. And she was glad, for she did not want to use the terrifying power of her scepter against them. She had used it once in a war waged against Ortho over land, and it had left them with many bodies to mourn and bury and her with a heavier heart. She had brought it just in case they could not be swayed and prefered to fight.

And so, they held feasts worthy of kings for everyone who came. The once-bandits spread the word amongst their families, their friends of the kind Queen who fed them. Many people migrated to their kingdom and lived in prosperity, happy with a Queen that cared for them. And of course, the Queen learned each of their faces and names, as she had done many times before.

The Kings heard of this. The cruel kings that cared little of their people, merely taxing and taxing and taxing until all their gold was his. They were angry at those who left, angry that Jurgana was more prosperous during the drought than they, angry that the Queen waste her power on mere commoners. They demanded their share of food- no, more than they could afford to give. And demand demand and demand they did, and while the Queen could give to an extent, she would not give more than necessary, for if she did that, then her people would starve.

It did not soothe the pigs that lived outside. No, they wanted more, and more, and more. And if the Queen would not give it to them, they would take it by their own hands.

War came to their doorstep. The Queen prepared, but not well enough. In a month, her kingdom was raided, her people slaughtered. It was not by a gang of bandits, but armies from neighboring kingdoms, those who swore loyalty to their king, regardless of their nature. Her wish to parlay fell on deaf ears, as they took everything away: lives, crops, water.

Even that was not enough for one King. He wanted Jurgana for himself.

This was the last straw for the Queen. Full of anger and sorrow, she stepped out into the city overtaken by the rats of other kingdoms... and held up the amythyst scepter.

Dirt amongst their feet became sand.

The soldiers who slaughtered her people turned into monsters and attacked one another.

The river dried out completely, and so did the well.

The sun blazed hotter than ever.

What was once grassland became desert from the Queen's actions, for she was taken advantage of by other kingdoms, her generosity tossed in her face. Her people killed by pigs who could not, could never be satisfied, until they had everything in their porky hands.

Her heart was heavy now, and she left them to suffer in the harsh heat. She brought her scepters along and wept as her feet carried her far away from her home, deeper into the desert she made. Places where she stopped, she wept so hard, she made an oaisis, so they say. She could not save her people, could not save their crops and their dreams. All she could do was have vengance, and even then, her heart was heavy from all the death that would and could occur, now and forever. She had misused her powers, and she felt herself unworthy of the life Mother Earth had given her.

And so, she sealed the scepters away, deep within a temple, but not before using the Emerald Scepter to conjure beasts to protect them from anyone who would abuse them. Only those with good intentions, those with a heart of gold, could ever live to see the scepters with their own eyes.

And then she let Mother Earth take her spirit away to wherever it belonged.

Such is the story of Jurgana's greatest and only Queen, and of the scepters of life and death, the elegy left behind in desert sands... as one might call it."