Quest 195
So last week it was equivalence, and this week it's pain, is it? It rather makes me wonder if there's a pattern to the words the deities are giving us to write about, and especially so since both words seem to describe an aspect of life in the City. Or perhaps I'm simply reading a bit too much into it, just the same.
Pain is...something I don't like to think about very much, honestly. And it's something that comes in so many different forms and shapes and varieties, and each one hurts a bit differently in its own way, but they all hurt. It's not a very pleasant subject, pain.
I've known a few different kinds of them, I suppose. I've felt the pain--and had the marks left, too--from when a witch grabbed at a necklace of mine and broke it off against my neck. I've felt the horror of realization of certain death, like a painful wrenching in the pit of my stomach, when I was stealing a hen that lays golden eggs out from under the nose of a sleeping ogre, and the hen squawked and the ogre woke up. I've felt the dull ache of hopelessness, sitting in a locked room in a tower, trapped waiting for dawn to come and knowing that the deaths of two people I cared about would come with it. And they're all terrible in their own way, of course.
I think...I think that pain makes people do foolish things, at times, to try and relieve it. I was just recalling a story this past week about the king that ruled Daventry before my father did, and how he very nearly brought his whole kingdom to ruin because of the decisions he made. He died long before I was born, so I never knew him myself. But in all the stories my father has ever told me about him, he never once made that king out to be a bad king--just a kind, sad, and lonely one. He was a king who sometimes made poor decisions because he thought it would take the pain away. I think everyone rather knows what that's like, to make a decision like that just for the sake of alleviating the pain.
But I think that pain also helps people to make the right decisions, too, because hard choices are hard for a reason, and if escaping pain can lead people to make bad choices, then enduring it can sometimes help them make good ones. It hurts, the first time a little girl falls off her horse, but it also presents her with a choice: will she cry, and sulk, and curse that mean old horse for letting her fall, and vow to never go near one again? Or will she cry until she learns that eventually the pain fades, and get back up and try again, and slowly but surely learn how to avoid making the same mistakes until she never falls again?
Though I must say, it's a bit harder to get back up from emotional pain than it is to recover from the physical sort. That's...rather what I'm trying to do now, I think. I'm afraid I'm still not very good at it, either.
I really am so very sorry to everyone I might've--menaced when I thought I was a pirate the other day. Even without the fact that I went around calling myself "Morgan the Lurch" the whole day, I do hope it was quite clear that I really wasn't myself, and didn't know any better at the time, and if I had I certainly wouldn't have done some of the things I did. I really am so very terribly sorry, and so absolutely mortified, too.
There was a silver lining to the whole ordeal, though, even though I admit I didn't discover it until I, er, tripped over it on my way home. Duo, are you settling in well so far? When you feel you've slept your fill, do let me know, and I'll make you anything you like to eat when you're ready for it.
Oh, and Neil, I finally finished your story! I do hope you like it; I'll send it over in just a minute.
[Attempted Private to Neil | Accidentally Viewable to Friends]
Once upon a time, in a bright and prosperous land called Daventry, there lived a kind and just king named Edward. The land was flourishing and the people were at peace, thanks to the help of the three magical treasures the kingdom possessed: the Chest of Gold that never emptied; the Shield of Achilles that, when held, had the power to protect the bearer from all harm; and Merlin's Mirror, which always told the future and told it true. However, as prosperous as the land was, the king and his queen were very unhappy, because they were childless.
One day, while King Edward and Queen Maylie were walking in the gardens, a sorceror appeared before them and told them he had heard of their plight. "I will cast a spell that will grant you a child, O noble Queen," he said with a deep bow, "if you will grant me the gift of Merlin's Mirror in return."
The king and queen were very startled by this request, and so they decided to consult the mirror to see what it foretold. And there within its depths, they saw a young man with a golden crown on his head. Believing that this young man was the son they had so longed for, the king and queen agreed to the sorceror's request.
But alas, the sorceror had lied, and the kingdom lost its mirror but gained no heir in return. Soon, with no forewarning from Merlin's Mirror, plagues and disasters began to strike the land, and famine swept through the kingdom. Queen Maylie herself became very ill, and faltered on the brink of death for many days, while her husband the king kept vigil at her side and wept.
Then, one day, a dwarf came to the castle and told the king of a remedy with the power to save the queen. "And all I ask in return, great King," the dwarf said, "is the Shield of Achilles as my payment."
The king was quite upset at this request, for the shield was another of the great treasures of the kingdom, but he believed that no treasure, even a magical one, could equal the value of his Queen's life. So he agreed, and the dwarf took the shield in exchange for a magical remedy of roots and herbs.
But the remedy did no good, and the queen soon worsened and died. And as the years passed, the security of the kingdom worsened greatly, with no magic shield to protect it.
Many years passed, and now the king had no queen, no heir, and a weak and dwindling kingdom that was only a shadow of its former glory, and he was very sad and terribly lonely. And one day, while walking in the wood, he came upon a young woman that had been trapped in a tree by a pack of wolves. And though he was an old king, he still possessed a noble and courageous heart, and he leapt to her rescue and drove the wolves away. The young woman was so grateful that she thanked him again and again, introducing herself as the Princess Dahlia and begging leave to accompany the king back to his castle.
And the king was quite charmed by the princess, and took her back with him, and in due time he asked her to marry him, and she accepted. And the people rejoiced, because they had been so long without a queen, and the company of Princess Dahlia had brought a new spirit and resolve back to their lonely king.
But on the night before the wedding, just after the clock struck midnight, the whole castle was awakened by Dahlia's laughter, which soon changed into a hideous witch's cackle. And when the king and the guards rushed to investigate, they found that the door to the treasury had been forced open, and both the Chest of Gold and the Princess Dahlia herself were gone. Then the king wept with despair, because all his hopes had been dashed, and his kingdom was now deprived of all three of the treasures that had kept it secure and prosperous for so many years.
More years passed, and soon poor King Edward found himself very old and terribly weak, with no heir and a kingdom on the verge of ruin. Fearing that the land he loved would fall into disorder and chaos upon his death, he summoned his favorite knight--a young lad of nineteen years, by the name of Sir Graham. The knight approached his king's throne and bowed deeply, waiting to hear his liege's commands.
"Sir Graham, you are my bravest and truest knight," poor King Edward said. "This shall be my final command to you: for years I have searched for the three treasures that once belonged to our kingdom, but all my efforts have been in vain. I am old, and Daventry is on the verge of ruin. Find the three treasures of our kingdom, Sir Graham, and return them to me, and you shall be king! You are this kingdom's last hope. When you leave, the castle doors shall be locked, and they will not open again until your triumphant return. Find the treasures and save Daventry, Sir Graham! Now, go! I have spoken!"
And so, with nothing more than his clothes, his wits, and a simple adventurer's pack on his back, Sir Graham left the castle and set out to carry out his king's last command. And his adventures were very long, and rather silly at times, and a few of them were far too scary for a bedtime story for a little girl. But he found Merlin's Mirror at the bottom of a well, guarded by a dragon, and defeated the great monster by throwing a bucket of water at its snout and putting its flames out (so, perhaps, it wasn't so great of a monster, after all).
A friendly condor carried him across the River Fools to the land of the leprechauns, where he found the Shield of Achilles in the possession of the king, and played the fiddle for him, and the merry music charmed the king so much that he allowed Sir Graham to take the Shield in exchange (and Sir Graham made certain to thank the leprechaun king very kindly, which helped to open diplomatic relations between the two kingdoms in later years, and also led to Sir Graham's daughter learning how to dance a marvelous jig). And so Sir Graham had two of the three treasures.
His search for the third took him to the gingerbread house of a witch--the same witch Dahlia that had tricked poor King Edward so many years before. And so Sir Graham pushed her into her own stewpot and rid the kingdom of her menace once and for all, and also found a valuable clue to the whereabouts of the third treasure. He crossed a troll bridge with the help of a goat, and met a gnome by the name of Ifnkovhgroghprm, and when he successfully guessed that name, Ifnkovhgroghprm gave him some magic beans as a reward. (And again, Sir Graham thanked the gnome very kindly, which began a friendship between the knight and the gnome, and also led to Sir Graham's daughter receiving many gnome-made toys on her birthdays in the future.) And Sir Graham planted the beans, and they grew into a beanstalk, and he climbed it all the way up into the Land of the Clouds, where he found a giant guarding the Chest of Gold. And he hid behind a tree until the giant fell fast asleep, and then Sir Graham took the Chest of Gold from him while he lay sleeping unawares, and rushed back down to the ground before the giant had even the slightest chance to wake.
And along the way, Sir Graham also helped many of the residents of the kingdom, befriended people in need, and helped to restore a bit of hope among the otherwise desolate people of Daventry.
Then at last, with all three treasures in his possession, Sir Graham returned to the castle, and King Edward was so relieved to see him that he cried tears of joy, gathering all his strength to embrace his favorite knight one last time before his frailty and age finally took the better of him. With his dying breath, King Edward thanked Sir Graham for his service, commended him for his success, and pronounced him king of all Daventry.
And so Sir Graham of Daventry became King Graham of Daventry, and under his kind, wise, and just rule, the kingdom returned not only to prosperity, but to glory.
[/Attempted Private]
Pain is...something I don't like to think about very much, honestly. And it's something that comes in so many different forms and shapes and varieties, and each one hurts a bit differently in its own way, but they all hurt. It's not a very pleasant subject, pain.
I've known a few different kinds of them, I suppose. I've felt the pain--and had the marks left, too--from when a witch grabbed at a necklace of mine and broke it off against my neck. I've felt the horror of realization of certain death, like a painful wrenching in the pit of my stomach, when I was stealing a hen that lays golden eggs out from under the nose of a sleeping ogre, and the hen squawked and the ogre woke up. I've felt the dull ache of hopelessness, sitting in a locked room in a tower, trapped waiting for dawn to come and knowing that the deaths of two people I cared about would come with it. And they're all terrible in their own way, of course.
I think...I think that pain makes people do foolish things, at times, to try and relieve it. I was just recalling a story this past week about the king that ruled Daventry before my father did, and how he very nearly brought his whole kingdom to ruin because of the decisions he made. He died long before I was born, so I never knew him myself. But in all the stories my father has ever told me about him, he never once made that king out to be a bad king--just a kind, sad, and lonely one. He was a king who sometimes made poor decisions because he thought it would take the pain away. I think everyone rather knows what that's like, to make a decision like that just for the sake of alleviating the pain.
But I think that pain also helps people to make the right decisions, too, because hard choices are hard for a reason, and if escaping pain can lead people to make bad choices, then enduring it can sometimes help them make good ones. It hurts, the first time a little girl falls off her horse, but it also presents her with a choice: will she cry, and sulk, and curse that mean old horse for letting her fall, and vow to never go near one again? Or will she cry until she learns that eventually the pain fades, and get back up and try again, and slowly but surely learn how to avoid making the same mistakes until she never falls again?
Though I must say, it's a bit harder to get back up from emotional pain than it is to recover from the physical sort. That's...rather what I'm trying to do now, I think. I'm afraid I'm still not very good at it, either.
I really am so very sorry to everyone I might've--menaced when I thought I was a pirate the other day. Even without the fact that I went around calling myself "Morgan the Lurch" the whole day, I do hope it was quite clear that I really wasn't myself, and didn't know any better at the time, and if I had I certainly wouldn't have done some of the things I did. I really am so very terribly sorry, and so absolutely mortified, too.
There was a silver lining to the whole ordeal, though, even though I admit I didn't discover it until I, er, tripped over it on my way home. Duo, are you settling in well so far? When you feel you've slept your fill, do let me know, and I'll make you anything you like to eat when you're ready for it.
Oh, and Neil, I finally finished your story! I do hope you like it; I'll send it over in just a minute.
[Attempted Private to Neil | Accidentally Viewable to Friends]
Once upon a time, in a bright and prosperous land called Daventry, there lived a kind and just king named Edward. The land was flourishing and the people were at peace, thanks to the help of the three magical treasures the kingdom possessed: the Chest of Gold that never emptied; the Shield of Achilles that, when held, had the power to protect the bearer from all harm; and Merlin's Mirror, which always told the future and told it true. However, as prosperous as the land was, the king and his queen were very unhappy, because they were childless.
One day, while King Edward and Queen Maylie were walking in the gardens, a sorceror appeared before them and told them he had heard of their plight. "I will cast a spell that will grant you a child, O noble Queen," he said with a deep bow, "if you will grant me the gift of Merlin's Mirror in return."
The king and queen were very startled by this request, and so they decided to consult the mirror to see what it foretold. And there within its depths, they saw a young man with a golden crown on his head. Believing that this young man was the son they had so longed for, the king and queen agreed to the sorceror's request.
But alas, the sorceror had lied, and the kingdom lost its mirror but gained no heir in return. Soon, with no forewarning from Merlin's Mirror, plagues and disasters began to strike the land, and famine swept through the kingdom. Queen Maylie herself became very ill, and faltered on the brink of death for many days, while her husband the king kept vigil at her side and wept.
Then, one day, a dwarf came to the castle and told the king of a remedy with the power to save the queen. "And all I ask in return, great King," the dwarf said, "is the Shield of Achilles as my payment."
The king was quite upset at this request, for the shield was another of the great treasures of the kingdom, but he believed that no treasure, even a magical one, could equal the value of his Queen's life. So he agreed, and the dwarf took the shield in exchange for a magical remedy of roots and herbs.
But the remedy did no good, and the queen soon worsened and died. And as the years passed, the security of the kingdom worsened greatly, with no magic shield to protect it.
Many years passed, and now the king had no queen, no heir, and a weak and dwindling kingdom that was only a shadow of its former glory, and he was very sad and terribly lonely. And one day, while walking in the wood, he came upon a young woman that had been trapped in a tree by a pack of wolves. And though he was an old king, he still possessed a noble and courageous heart, and he leapt to her rescue and drove the wolves away. The young woman was so grateful that she thanked him again and again, introducing herself as the Princess Dahlia and begging leave to accompany the king back to his castle.
And the king was quite charmed by the princess, and took her back with him, and in due time he asked her to marry him, and she accepted. And the people rejoiced, because they had been so long without a queen, and the company of Princess Dahlia had brought a new spirit and resolve back to their lonely king.
But on the night before the wedding, just after the clock struck midnight, the whole castle was awakened by Dahlia's laughter, which soon changed into a hideous witch's cackle. And when the king and the guards rushed to investigate, they found that the door to the treasury had been forced open, and both the Chest of Gold and the Princess Dahlia herself were gone. Then the king wept with despair, because all his hopes had been dashed, and his kingdom was now deprived of all three of the treasures that had kept it secure and prosperous for so many years.
More years passed, and soon poor King Edward found himself very old and terribly weak, with no heir and a kingdom on the verge of ruin. Fearing that the land he loved would fall into disorder and chaos upon his death, he summoned his favorite knight--a young lad of nineteen years, by the name of Sir Graham. The knight approached his king's throne and bowed deeply, waiting to hear his liege's commands.
"Sir Graham, you are my bravest and truest knight," poor King Edward said. "This shall be my final command to you: for years I have searched for the three treasures that once belonged to our kingdom, but all my efforts have been in vain. I am old, and Daventry is on the verge of ruin. Find the three treasures of our kingdom, Sir Graham, and return them to me, and you shall be king! You are this kingdom's last hope. When you leave, the castle doors shall be locked, and they will not open again until your triumphant return. Find the treasures and save Daventry, Sir Graham! Now, go! I have spoken!"
And so, with nothing more than his clothes, his wits, and a simple adventurer's pack on his back, Sir Graham left the castle and set out to carry out his king's last command. And his adventures were very long, and rather silly at times, and a few of them were far too scary for a bedtime story for a little girl. But he found Merlin's Mirror at the bottom of a well, guarded by a dragon, and defeated the great monster by throwing a bucket of water at its snout and putting its flames out (so, perhaps, it wasn't so great of a monster, after all).
A friendly condor carried him across the River Fools to the land of the leprechauns, where he found the Shield of Achilles in the possession of the king, and played the fiddle for him, and the merry music charmed the king so much that he allowed Sir Graham to take the Shield in exchange (and Sir Graham made certain to thank the leprechaun king very kindly, which helped to open diplomatic relations between the two kingdoms in later years, and also led to Sir Graham's daughter learning how to dance a marvelous jig). And so Sir Graham had two of the three treasures.
His search for the third took him to the gingerbread house of a witch--the same witch Dahlia that had tricked poor King Edward so many years before. And so Sir Graham pushed her into her own stewpot and rid the kingdom of her menace once and for all, and also found a valuable clue to the whereabouts of the third treasure. He crossed a troll bridge with the help of a goat, and met a gnome by the name of Ifnkovhgroghprm, and when he successfully guessed that name, Ifnkovhgroghprm gave him some magic beans as a reward. (And again, Sir Graham thanked the gnome very kindly, which began a friendship between the knight and the gnome, and also led to Sir Graham's daughter receiving many gnome-made toys on her birthdays in the future.) And Sir Graham planted the beans, and they grew into a beanstalk, and he climbed it all the way up into the Land of the Clouds, where he found a giant guarding the Chest of Gold. And he hid behind a tree until the giant fell fast asleep, and then Sir Graham took the Chest of Gold from him while he lay sleeping unawares, and rushed back down to the ground before the giant had even the slightest chance to wake.
And along the way, Sir Graham also helped many of the residents of the kingdom, befriended people in need, and helped to restore a bit of hope among the otherwise desolate people of Daventry.
Then at last, with all three treasures in his possession, Sir Graham returned to the castle, and King Edward was so relieved to see him that he cried tears of joy, gathering all his strength to embrace his favorite knight one last time before his frailty and age finally took the better of him. With his dying breath, King Edward thanked Sir Graham for his service, commended him for his success, and pronounced him king of all Daventry.
And so Sir Graham of Daventry became King Graham of Daventry, and under his kind, wise, and just rule, the kingdom returned not only to prosperity, but to glory.
[/Attempted Private]