Technically she was still under eighteen, technically she could be pulled from that stupid bowl they used as some sort of sick play at random chance. Of course, Scarlett didn't believe in random chance and technicalities. Her name simply wasn't [i]in[/i] the bowl. Scarlett had realised long ago that with enough money anyone could be paid off. She had went to the officials and paid them a large amount of money. She wasn't going to spoil all the fun she had planned for the rest of her life to be taken off and eaten by some dragon, she had a lot bigger plans than that. It was a curious thing to see when she first came here, initially she held fear at the very thought of it but as she hardened she simply didn't care until the point were she decided the risk, although small, was still a risk and needed to be dispatched.

She pushed through the crowd of grieving parents at the back, it sickened her. Their children had more chance of surviving than actually dying but still they wept. Scarlett wouldn't of wept for a child unless the child's name was drawn, though to be honest Scarlett herself doubted if she would weep at all. She shouldered aside a mother with wet cheeks as she looked, dumbfounded at Scarlett. It must of looked a weird sight for anyone, Scarlett looked a good few years older than she actually was, she already carried herself like a lady instead of a teenage girl. Placing a firm hand at the back of her head, she removed the shining hair pin, letting her almost raven-black hair cascade over her shoulders as she took her place in one of the rows facing the queen.

Scarlett had decided to wear one of the silk dresses that made the young ladies of the court blush at just how revealing it was. It wasn't particularly that bad but they had a weird idea here that a woman might as well be naked if she exposed any skin above her knee. From where Scarlett was from and the places she had been passed around this was a stupid idea, someone could wear whatever the hell they liked without the pestering of anyone else. It was however, entertaining that they still withheld the idea of innocence here. Innocence was a stupid idea for a stupid people but if it made them forget the cold, unforgiving world then they could worship it all they wanted.

Her eyes flashed over the soldiers and she suppressed a small grin as her eyes averted back to the Queen, perched up on the stage in front of them. Most of them were as they looked to be, simple soldiers but Scarlett had the unique ability to see past the lies people tried to push on others. She could see the fire in their eyes, the long dark hunger as they knew they would be well fed by the day was done. She had never seen a dragon before but she had heard rumours; that they could pass of as any normal human and only a very trained eye could spot them. If they wanted to they could hide but their hunger seemed to get the better of them.

Scarlett, unlike most other people had a large respect for the dragons and their intelligence. Most people would have shunned it off as stupid if the dragons preferred to only take forty children instead of whole towns and villages. Scarlett however saw the intelligence behind it. Humans bred like wild fire and if dragons were truly immortal then they would have a stable amount of food long into the forseeable future instead of wiping out the whole population.