FOURTH VERSE ☯ VIDEO;

[problematical]

[ River is sitting on her bed opposite the console in her suite, the soft blues and greens of the Water Sector highlighting her. Even though it's obvious that she deliberately activated the video feed, it still takes her a moment to begin speaking. ]

I have a story.

"Once upon a time there was a Queen in her castle, who had a very strong Knight. But in a distant land there was a Dragon, and the Dragon was even stronger and cruel, and the Queen worried about it coming to the castle and eating all the people who lived there. One day she said to the Knight, I will teach you how to battle the Dragon, so if it comes to our land you can protect all the people.

But the Knight refused and claimed that no one could fight the Dragon, and so they should send all the people away. The Queen was very angry, because she wanted the people to be safe. It is a terrible Dragon, she said. You must learn how to protect the people from it. But still the Knight refused. The Queen asked, don't you want to protect the people? And the Knight said, if you were a good Queen, you would fight.

One day the Queen died and the Dragon came but the Knight didn't send the people away. He didn't fight and he didn't send all the people away. The Queen is dead, long live the Knight."

[ River frowns very pensively at the screen for a moment, as if silently repeating to herself her own story. Finally she asks: ]

Which one is the terrible one?

Comments

[fearlessherosheart]

What happened to the people?

{Tazendra knew what she would do, but she also knows she has the subtlety of a brick (on a good day), and that others might try alternate things.]

No doubt, the Knight has a duty to his lord, but both have a duty to shield their subjects from outside threats, or there would be no reason for a subject to swear fealty to them.

But some lords and knights are diplomatists or sorcerers.

Bah, my friends are better at such puzzles than I.

[A slight pang, given what she had learned in the library; that at least one friend had not lived long after the spell had transported a dying Tazendra here.]

[problematical]

The people started to get eaten.

[fearlessherosheart]

Then the knight has a duty to act, in some fashion. If he does not wish to fight, he may try sorcery or diplomacy, but one should not permit people to be eaten, especially one's subjects.

Were it me, I would fight.

[problematical]

But what if the Knight won't listen?

[fearlessherosheart]

[Tazendra considered this]

Back home, it would no doubt lead to someone attempting to take the Orb. That is, becoming Emperor or Empress.

[iwannabeadragon]

They all sound like idiots to me.

[problematical]

It sounds like here... the story lines up.

[problematical]

So it'd be bad if they had power.

[iwannabeadragon]

Idiots with power are always bad, but at least they're something I'm used to dealing with.

And there's one in particular that I would love to talk to right now.

[fearlessherosheart]

Then it is a metaphor?

[problematical]

The Knight.

[problematical]

Metaphors are just true stories with different characters.

[iwannabeadragon]

Got it in one, but I thought you might.

[problematical]

I don't want you to get eaten.

[iwannabeadragon]

[He smiles, hoping to reassure her.]

You don't have to worry about that. I'm too good looking to be eaten.

voice;

[duelkatana]

[A story he's never heard before. And something bothers him about it, right at the very end.]

'Long live the Knight'... [It's contemplative; more of an echo than a question.] So the Queen and their people died, but he was spared?

[problematical]

But the Dragon--

Re: voice;

[problematical]

The people are alive but they're being eaten.

Re: voice;

[duelkatana]

So now it's up to the Knight to stop them from being eaten... as King.

[this one is a question, slightly.]

Re: voice;

[problematical]

[ She sounds sad. ]

But he isn't, nothing's happening. Always a Knight and never the real King, the Dragon knows it.

[iwannabeadragon]

Will get slain. That's how every story ends.

[problematical]

But what if the Knight lies?

Re: voice;

[duelkatana]

[a pause, and then:] Sounds like he didn't make a very good Knight, either.

[raavashing]

And the people? What of them? Does the Knight protect them with the Queen dead? Does the Knight become the new leader of the people?

Re: voice;

[problematical]

But then there aren't any more heroes in the story.