Chapter 3 – Let Me Hear More About You
It’s always good to make new friends. My wounds are healed, and I’ve finally managed to eat enough. I haven’t had a full belly in God knows when. My wounds are healed thanks to the supplies my friend has, so I don’t need to worry about dying anytime soon. The daughters of my friend attentively watch my daughter as she rests with their mother behind them and with her hands their shoulders.
I ask them, “Have you ever seen a little girl like mine?”
“No,” one of them shyly says.
My daughter wakes up and notices all the attention she’s being given. She giggles and reaches out towards us.
“I’ve never seen her frown at anyone. She loves everyone she meets.” I hold her out to the girls. “Go on. You can hold her.”
Their mother gently smiles as her daughters carefully hold my daughter. My daughter makes a sound that sounds like she’s saying hello. This makes the girls and I smile.
“Hello, friend, how about you let the girls enjoy their time together while we talk. I want to know more about you and your daughter,” my friend says.
“Sure. I’ll be right up.” I then tell the girls, “Have fun with my little princess.”
They say they will as I climb the stairs. When I get to the top, I sit on the roof and admire the view. There are a few destroyed buildings out here. It looks like a lot of people went this way to get to the top of the world. That must mean we’re on the right track.
“I’m sorry I don’t have any spare chairs for you, my friend.”
“It’s no trouble for me. I’ve been walking for days. It doesn’t bother me that I have to stand for a little while longer.”
“So, tell me. Where do you come from?”
“Way down south.”
“That must be rough. The south is close to where most of the fiends reside. I haven’t heard good things about the people there either.”
“There are more than you think.”
“I believe it since I know you. Do the southerners think the same of the northerners?”
“Most do, but I don’t and neither did my wife.”
“Speaking about her, where is she?”
“She died a little while ago from the same disease my daughter has.”
“That’s a shame. How did you meet your wife anyway?”
“She was on a trip with a few friends when she stumbled upon me. I had just tracked down a group of people who were working with the fiends. They were going to attack my wife and her friends, but I caught up to them and beat them all up. Unfortunately, I was badly injured after the fight. It was like the Heavens brought us together since my wife was there to save my life. After I explained what happened and we got to know each other better, we got married.”
“You said she was on a trip with a few friends? Was she with her father?”
“No, just a couple women and men.”
“Was she royalty?”
“You could say that.”
“No wonder why you call your daughter, your little princess. What’s her actual name?”
“I never gave her a name. My wife never got the opportunity to approve of her name no matter how she struggled to talk. I don’t think it’s appropriate to name her without my wife’s approval.”
“Makes sense, but you’re eventually going to have to give her a real name.”
“I know. I don’t even think it’s appropriate for me to be riding with you. You can let us go at any time and I won’t mind.”
“It’s no trouble to me especially since you said the top of the world is not going to be too far from here. I thought the same weeks ago when my family settled down in that settlement.”
“What stopped you from going all the way?”
“Fatigue from the long journey and challenges, but now I feel bad for doing so. You’ve been traveling from the south. Have you ever stopped to rest for a while?”
“I don’t rest for more than a day in one place.”
“That’s what I feel bad about. You’re much stronger than me despite not having as much.”
“I have my daughter. She’s alive and still smiling and laughing. That’s all I need.”
“Don’t forget to take care of yourself as well. Your daughter can’t survive without you.”
“I keep myself moving. If I die by the time she reaches a proper healer, then I’ll die happy.”
“Do you really want your daughter to be an orphan?”
“No.”
“Then stop thinking that way. I’ve seen dozens of orphans in this world who are alive because of their parents’ sacrifice. Not many survive on their own.”
“You’re right. I’ll try to make sure I’m healthy enough to take care of her.”
“Maybe you can even find another wife?”
“No. My queen was my one and only. There is no other.”
“It’s till death do us part, my friend. It’s okay to get another.”
“I’ll think about it if the time ever comes.”
“Alright. What is your vocation?”
“I’m a farmer, but I’ve also done guard work.”
“So, a lowly farmer and guard married a queen? Isn’t that a fairy tale I could tell my girls?”
“It could be if you put in more story details.”
“I’m not much of a storyteller.”
“Nonsense. All of us have a writer within us. We’ve been exchanging parts of our story to each other, haven’t we?”
“Exchanging stories with a friend is different than making up your own.”
“It’s less different than you think. Can you come up with songs then? What about a poem?”
“If I can’t come up with a simple fairy tale, then what makes you think I can come up with an original song or poem?”
“I’ve made a few of my own that I sing to my daughter.”
“Let me hear one.”
“You got it. I call this one, A Knight’s Service.
This love is a love that can set the world on fire
Your will is my desire
For my life is yours
You are the one the world will adore
In your service, I fight
From dawn until midnight
Your knight will never fall
For you, I will give it my all”
The girls come up from downstairs.
“It looks like you got an audience. Well, don’t stop. Give them a show.”
There is no threat I cannot defeat
Without you by my side
Not even Hell’s heat
Nor the Devil’s pride
In your service, I fight
From dawn until midnight
Your knight will never fall
For you, I will give it my all
When the battles are won
And the day is done
I will rest at your side
You who are so beatified
The girls cheer and clap. Even my daughter and my friend claps and cheers.
“You’re quite the poet, aren’t you?”
“That poem? It was a song I sang to my queen. She thought it was really cheesy, and I have to admit it is too.”
“Hey, girls like that kind of stuff.”
An explosion is made in the distance.
“Did you hear that?” I ask.
“Girls, get back inside,” my friend says as he slightly alters his path.
“What’s going on?”
“Use the binoculars I have downstairs.”
I get the binoculars and look into the distance where I see a battle happening. Massive fathers carry siege weapons on their backs as they attack a castle town. The town sends their forces to meet their attacks as the two forces clash in battle.
My friend says, “I knew there were tensions around these areas, but I didn’t think it would escalate into war. The north is supposed to be more peaceful than this.”
“Sometimes the best of people are actually the worst underneath. You know I heard a saying that the sinner who is sorry for his sins is closer to God than the just man who boasts of his good works.”
“It’s true. We should keep going and let those ‘good’ people duke it out among themselves. We can’t help them now.”
“May the Heavens have mercy on their souls.”
My friend and I continue on our way to the top of the world as a battle rages behind us.
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