seventeen. text.

[goryteller]

Once upon a time, there were two kings who lived in two separate kingdoms and sat upon two separate thrones; one kingdom was in a valley bathed in light and had bountiful harvests and green, green grass for all the livestock to live on, whereas the other was on a mountain bathed in darkness and suffered drought and famine and so forth, and many of the animals were sickly and the residents were poor. One day, after many weeks of rainfall, a powerful storm hung on the horizon, and the king in the dark kingdom offered the other king and his residents shelter on the mountain with them, for while life was difficult there, their height lent them protection from the dangerous flow of the river below, the same river that allowed the light kingdom to flourish so easily in better times.

"And why should I do that!" cried the king. "We are so comfortable where we are. How could you ask us to give that up, to live life in suffering like you?"

And when storm came, the river overflowed and swallowed the light kingdom, choking the life out of all those bountiful harvests and green, green grasses, and those who didn't drown succumbed to illness and starvation soon after.

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Comments

[dragony]

Oh.

What you meant by that, it was hard to tell.

[goryteller]

I know. I'm a little out of sorts. It's a good thing.

Anyway, none of them went to the mountains. In my idea.

[dragony]

In your idea?

[goryteller]

Stories should be more than the author.

[dragony]

I suppose so. That should be true of a lot of things.

[goryteller]

Like what?

[dragony]

Actions are usually bigger than the people behind them, aren't they?

[goryteller]

Yes. Yes, that's very true. We're at mercy of other people. Our very thoughts and ideas are at the mercy of other people.

[dragony]

At their mercy? How do you mean?

[goryteller]

At the mercy of their interpretations. Of the things you say, or the things you do.

Sometimes I wonder how much us is defined by other people.

[dragony]

We probably define ourselves in relation to other people, too.

[goryteller]

Yes.

That's probably the case.

[dragony]

How much of you is, do you think?

[goryteller]

I am my own person.

What about you?

[dragony]

I don't think I'm as independent as all that.