Scarlett looked up to the stage as the flags fluttered in the heavy wind. She had no idea how in the Gods' names dragons had enough patience and creativity to create a flag. All the stories she ever heard was of them being fearsome fire-breathing monsters that would kill anything and anyone. Scarlett wondered briefly if Dragon's used their human forms a lot. She also wondered if that would make them susceptible to normal attacks that would normally just bounce off a dragon's armour. She shook her head to clear her thoughts as the Queen stepped up onto the dais.

The Queen was one of the only people that Scarlett couldn't seem to get close to... at all. She had an innocence about her that gave her the feeling that she didn't make a lot of the decisions for the realm. According to reports from the palace the Queen seemed to dote over her little brother but she made Scarlett feel that she was more of a puppet and a figure head than an actual leader.

As she reached into the bowl and withdrew the first name from the bowl a small girl stepped forward, Scarlett could only see the back of the girl so she didn't know what she was thinking but she could see the girl trembling. Her short brown hair swayed in the wind as the crowd remained silent and Scarlett gave a disapproving tut. She preferred it when there was a little drama, the girl could of at least broke down in tears or tried to run to her parents. She reminded her of a younger self, she thought with a small smirk. The only difference is that young Scarlett had abandoned pink before she was seven, it made her look to innocent. After the next names were drawn Scarlett realised she wasn't going to get a lot of drama so she set about busying herself with her hands, slowly pulling her hair up and gradually running the pin through it.

Her world seemed to slow around her, the Queen's words slowing to an almost stop as "Scarlett..." was read out. Surely there had to be other Scarletts, it couldn't possibly be her, she had paid off the highest of the highest. There was no way her name could be drawn from that bowl. Her name wasn't even there she initially thought but changed her mind as the world around her sped up again, "...Thornhammer." The name reached her but she wasn't thinking straight, there was no way her name could be drawn, no way in hell. She cursed aloud as her pin pierced the skin of her finger. Ignoring the pain, she continued and quickly finished pinning her hair up before stepping out of the crowd with a leap of her heart. She wouldn't give the bastards who out-bidded her the satisfaction of seeing her in pain so she put on a mask of carelessness as she fell into step behind two little creatures that looked remarkably like foxes.

She stood with a mock smirk on her face as they all assembled behind the Queen. Her mind quickly thought about trying to run but she knew she would be blocked and she would look like a craven little fool so she banished the thought. It didn't take the Queen long to draw to a close as the guards came up and led them of. Scarlett had lived through being a slave for most of her life, a little fire-breather wasn't going to end it all. So she plotted and planned some sort of escape, knowing all too well that she wouldn't be able to escape.