Undesirable

Chapter 2

The sun is on the verge of setting by the time the dockmaster decides to call it a day. The few of us that are left queue at the end of the dock, ready to receive our rations. I stare down into my basket, sad to see the wicker bottom still visible through my small collection of fish. My stomach groans in hunger as I calculate how many I'll be able to take home. My best guess is four - if we were lucky. At least there will be one for each of us this evening. Though, I doubt it will be enough to keep Larissa quiet. Even if it is better than the two or three I normally bring back, and we won't have to dice the fish up into tiny fractions to share out, she'll still find something to moan about. She always did.

The dockmaster wraps up my payment in a dirty rag - which is in need of a good washing - and sends me on my way. Since Kephia is a fishing village, we mainly eat fish. The only times that exceptions can be made are during the Harvest Festival, which happens once a year, or weddings, which are more frequent. On those days, we are allowed to eat vegetables, and sometimes even chicken. But in all honesty, we take anything we can get our hands on.

The streets always shimmer gold when the sun makes its descent, turning the white, paint-chipped orange under its final rays. For a short time, they appear as if the light has repaired them, bringing back the life that they once had so many years ago.

Before the reign of Queen Octavia's family, and the wars of the Old World, the Tiers didn't even exist. It was just a mountain sat in a forgotten country, untouched by a single human soul. When we were children, we were told stories about how we once used to live on flat ground, which was all separated by vast amounts of water, and each island had its own laws and different rulers. None of that exists anymore, the lands beyond the Tiers are barren and only invite death to anyone who dares to cross. Queen Octavia placed guards all along the Old World boards, not even allowing people from the Lower Tier to cross.

She has an entire army to push back any rebels who decide to make a break for it, and if we weren't allowed spears to fish, I'm certain they wouldn't be given any weapons to fight the guards, or the Hell Raisers that roam the Lower Tier. Hope doesn't exist down there. The second Queen Octavia catches a whiff of it, she sends down the skilled blade of her son, Prince Kanan, to deal with it. No one stands a chance against the snake prince.

Kephia is a small village built into the side of the Middle Tier, in the Eastern Sector. Essentially, we live on the edge of a cliff. Its land is owned by someone on the Higher Tier, who never comes to visit, and is under the supervision of Marcus Alexander, the owner of the small fishing company that hires and houses all of Kephia's citizens. We can either work as dockmasters on the docks, fishermen out on the boats, or land fishers in the sea. By all means, there are a few people who run their little stalls out of their houses, but you never made as much as you did if you worked for Marcus Alexander.

The houses run from the shore's edge, all the way up to the peak of the cliff. Ours is at the very top, a tiresome and difficult climb, mainly due to one of the staircases being broken and replaced by an unstable ladder. But the height gives us a great view of the boats in the sea below. We were lucky to have one of the bigger houses in the village too. It isn't huge, but my little sister and I have our own rooms, instead of sharing like most of my friends did with their siblings. Granted, mine has a massive hole in the ceiling that lets in water when it rains, but I would rather take the constant dripping than sharing a room with my hormonal sister.

I haven't even taken my first step through the front doorway before my mother and sister run at me like vultures picking at a dead animal carcass. Hunger rumbles in their eyes and aching stomachs, filling them with the hope that I have food to spare. I've done better today, four is the most we've had in a while, but they still won't be happy.