Trouble in paradise...

The customer and Sealen exchanged several friendly, good-natured remarks before the old man began a ten-minute tirade on the rising taxes in the city “to pay for those young squanderers and their frivolous feasts and parades.” Sealen merely nodded understandingly as he continued to knead dough on the long counter. Finally, the man asked for a loaf of oat bread, which the baker gave him, and left the shop after dropping a few coins in Sealen’s big palm. “Don’t know as I’ll be able to come as often anymore, my friend, if all of my money starts going out in taxes,” he said on his way out the door.

Sealen shook his head and kept on punching the dough with the heel of his hands, speaking more to himself than to Daelia, “My taxes are as high as anyone’s, but what can a man do? My sales continue to drop; my friends cannot afford to buy as much, even to feed their families. But our people have no voice. Someone much higher than us makes the decisions and it does no good to stir up trouble...only disaster will follow.”

Chapter 4 of Daelia is up! Yes, I know it's short, but I couldn't resist posting what I had :)