The Market was crowded, but the noises Marika and Veit heard, were not the usual, pleasant and discussing ones. Sounds of discontent and a very tense atmosphere was apparent. Marika, sensitive to the atmosphere, went quiet, and stopped humming. Veit, oblivious to the atmosphere, but paying attention to his sister, watched out more vigilantly, if she was tricked while making deals.<br/><br/>Usually, the siblings would not allow themselves some extravagancies, besides coffee for Veit and some cupcakes or sweets for Marika. This time not even those were available, and what is more, they went for supplies that would last a long while, and not easily spoil during a possible travel.  Buying a little here and there, they slowly could stock up for their supplies, and even buy a little bit more.<br/>Veit did not know how she got it, but Marika even managed to get some dried persimmons and apple slices from one of her usual vendor ladies. Later, the two siblings strolled the market, until they were tired.<br/><br/>Turning back, they were on their way out, as some unrest hit the market. Two customers wanted to buy a last piece of something, and started to get violent about it.  Veit grabbed Marikas arm, as she tried to move forward to help and pulled her back. He knew it was better not to get involved in such things, and ignored her accusing glance.<br/><br/>The fight started to escalate, and some government guards finally appeared to settle it.  Sighing, Veit relaxed, and tried to lead the sulking girl out of the Marketplace as another announcement rang.<br/><br/>Wanting to regulate the trading and the unrests about food shortage, they would start to distribute food only in limited rations, soon.<br/><br/>Marika blinked a little, and looked at Veit questioningly. The boy had a dark face, and just murmured "I'll tell you later.", urging her to go faster.<br/>While half the people were still confused about it, the people who understood it, started to rush to the shops, storming off just to buy anything they<span style="font-style: italic">could</span>need before they could not buy anything anymore.<br/><br/>Waves of panicky grabbing and pushing occurred, and Veit and Marika were still swept up in that.<br/>The hasty movements spread onto everyone, and the two youths felt like a pair of floats on the rocky ocean waves during a storm.<br/>Veit grabbed Marikas hand tightly, as they tried to resist the wave, but they could not escape.<br/>Finally, at an intersection in the Market,  Veitinari tugged on Marikas arm, and they toppled and plopped down next to two almost empty stalls, behind the counters. At least, there were not as many customers here, and they had a little bit of space to move.<br/>Sighing, Veit brushed away the sweat on his pale forehead, while Marika apologized to the owners of the stall behind the counters.<br/>But, for now it was impossible to leave the place, because waves of people were pushing forward, grabbing and fighting for the last ressources.<br/>Even the guards could not stop the flood of people, they were lacking seriously in manpower.<br/>Looking at the unrest , the frown on the boy's face deepened.<br/>"It finally toppled over." Veitinari murmured darkly.<br/><br/>"What do you mean?" Marika turned around and whispered to her brother.<br/><br/>"The fragile balance...of this world." her brother explained, then went silent from the curious stares of the two vendors closeby.<br/>"Balance? .. you mean that food shortage, right?" Marika wanted to get something out of her brother, but he went silent.<br/>After a while of waiting in silence, Marika asked again.<br/>"Will we be able to go and apply to the exploring today...?" she tugged on one of his sleeves, as if she was the younger sister, and he the older brother.<br/>Veitinari still kept his silence, but just before his sister could ask louder and again and again, he sighed and replied.<br/>"We will be called." He shook his head. "They call it an application, but in truth, its already decided."<br/>Marikas mouth formed a little "O" Shape before she hugged him.<br/>"You applied for me, right?" she sounded excited.<br/>Patting his sisters back awkwardly, the boys face only slightly softened.<br/>"Its not anything like that."<br/><br/><span style="text-decoration: underline">Veitinari Rylais </span><br/><br/>I hope Marika retains her innocence, even if it might lower her chances of survival.  I will be responsible for that. Thinking that, as my excited sister hugged me closely, I thought of the dangers yet to come. But even then, the exploration would maximize our chances of survival. Staying here, as two orphaned siblings, even though I worked for the government and they would feed me, they would not do that to Marika. Sending off the weakest links to work in mines or fields was a common practise. With the food shortage, they would protect the 'valuable' people first.<br/>Scrunching my face a little, I looked around, just to catch a stare of the vendor girl next to us. By now, most stalls were empty, and the people were trodding away from the market, after emptying it nearly completely. It was still quite full though, so we would have to wait a little more.<br/>Soon, a call would come, for those who were selected. Of course lots of people would apply as well, and they would check over them. But the main people would be contacted for this.  Grabbing Marikas hand, I set my sights onto leaving the market as soon as it cleared up a little more.<br/><br/><span style="text-decoration: underline">Marika Rylais</span><br/><br/>I saw that Veit was overthinking things again. He was a worrywart after all, so I just hugged him tighter, in spite of his noticeable embarassement. He was long out of the age where he would enjoy my hugs in public... But, growing up with him, I could see his worries written on his face. It was nothing I could solve, so the only thing I could do, is console my little brother a little.<br/><br/>It would be hard to leave our place that we worked hard for, but we had pulled through even worse situations. As Veit tried to prepare for leaving, I once again apologized and thanked the vendors who had no choice but to harbor us, since we could not even go back because of the sudden flood of people.