For a better future

„For a better future“

Written by: David Maze

 

Chapter 1: What fate tells you to do.

 

There is a small village that resides in the empire of Ainolybab. A country that is an absolute monarchy run by an emperor and the high lords.

It is a world of magic called "Niekas". Where beasts, mages, knights, and many other figures exist. But this story is not about the world itself or the political structure of the empire. This is a story about a girl from the village of Mušau. 

 

“Ahhh...”

The girl scrubs her eyes waking up from her slumber and then after staring at the ceiling for a couple of minutes contemplating whether she should get up or not. She decides to take a quick nap right after waking up, and so she falls asleep again.

“Aarunya! Wake up and come eat breakfast!”

“Uahhh!” *boom*

Just a few minutes later after falling asleep Aarunya gets woken up by her mother which startled her to such a degree that she fell out of the bed.

“Auuhh...”

“Goodness gracious child, be careful. You could’ve gotten hurt pretty badly. Are you okay?”

“Ahh, yes, mom. I'll come over just let me get dressed.”

“Okay, you be careful. And also, there's something important I and your father have to tell you as well.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“We'll tell you when you get dressed and come to the kitchen.”

The mother steps out and walks to the kitchen.

Aarunya didn't like hearing that her mother and father have something to tell her. Her mother though seemed to have a smile while saying they have something to say to her. But Aarunya felt something wasn't right.

“Khrista, I can't even get a few more minutes of sleep on a Sunday...”

Khrista is the god that the people of Ainolybab worship. And as such the people in these lands tend to blabber out his name whenever something good or bad happens, which in actuality shouldn't be said without good reason as dictated by the religious rules. 

But the people of the land don't care too much about that. And the guards will not punish you for that in general. If you're visiting a church and you say his name there for no reason, you will most likely just get yelled at.

Aarunya, who was sleeping naked was putting on her tunic that was made by folding over a long piece of fabric and cutting a hole in the center of the fold for the neck. 

The sides of the fabric were sewed. Only two holes from both sides for the arms to fit through weren't sewed. The tunic was long, it went down to her calves which made it out to be a dress and a tunic at the same time. 

A dress that a peasant would wear. Aarunya was not of a wealthy family.

Aarunya herself was a short, petite girl. Around 162 centimeters tall, with long yellow hair that went down to her upper back. Maintaining long hair is not easy with the recourses they have but Aarunya treasures her hair and refuses to cut it short.

Her hands were the least beautiful part of her body because of all the farm work. The villagers think that it's almost a waste to have such a beautiful girl do the farm work and that her parents should send her to a bigger town to give her an education. She could then get a proper job where her beauty wouldn't need to get damaged so early in life. But at the same time, they know that her parents couldn't afford such an expense. The other villagers were just in the same boat as well. 

Aarunya, after finishing getting dressed up headed out of her room and went to the kitchen. 

“Morning father”

“Morning Aarunya” Her father replies just like on any other morning.

“What's for breakfast?”

“Cooked salmon, bread, and some water to gulp it all down.”

“Just like always eyy...” Aarunya makes a sad but at the same happy confused face.

There is a river that runs through the village, so fish is the main dish for most families here.

Aarunya sits down on the chair and her mother comes in bringing in the fish, bread, and water for everyone. 

Her mother is a short woman just like Aarunya. She has short blonde hair without any particular hairstyle. Slight wrinkles have already started forming on her face. She wore the same style of rags as Aarunya.

“So, mom you said you and dad have something to tell me, right?”

“Yes, dear,” said the mother.

“You turned s more than a month ago”

“Right...” Aarunya replied awkwardly

“So, me and your father umm, have been going out looking for a certain someone for you, you know? Hmm, how can I say it better for you”

The mother who just a couple of minutes ago was smiling saying she has something to say to Aarunya is now acting a bit more flustered in saying what she wants to say to her daughter.

“I'll tell her,” says the father calmly.

Aarunya‘s father was a tall, 182 centimeters man who had short black hair. He had more of a muscular figure compared to the other villagers and he was also wearing a tunic. 

“We've been looking for a husband for you Aarunya”

Aarunya's mind slightly went blank but it quickly returned to her. Her heartbeat though, increased substantially as she was feeling her heart pumping faster in her chest now. 

“You're serious, aren’t you?” 

“He's the boy who you've played a lot with when you were younger. The merchant's boy, Pasloe.”

“Him? Yes, I know him but...”

“We discussed everything with his parents and they accepted our proposition as Pasloe himself has said that he likes you in the past.”

“He does now, does he? I've thought so...”

Pasloe‘s father was a merchant which meant he wasn‘t home most of the time. Currently, he is home though visiting his family. Also, Pasloe‘s father isn‘t what you would call a wealthy merchant, but they are living modestly. They don’t have to worry about not having the money for food during the winter. Which is better than a big portion of the village. 

Aarunya wasn’t answering and just kept being quiet. 

So, her father decided to break the silence

“So, it seems like you're fine with it and we can give them confirmation that you accept right?”

 “You're making me marry him because he's the son of a merchant and their family is the richest family in the village with the highest chance that will accept our marriage proposition from something like our family, right?”

Aarunya didn't answer his father clearly at first because she was putting the situation together in place. Analyzing in a situation like this. She has a sharp mind.

“You probably don't even care whether I accept it or not you just need the money!... Pasloe himself probably doesn’t even want to marry me. He never showed any type of romantic interest in me”

But of course, even if she was analyzing and understanding the situation her emotions did run quite rampant.

Aarunya’s response seemed to tick her father off, but he was trying to compose himself as well.

“We can't lie to that, yes we are forcibly sending you to marry Pasloe. But at the same time, we chose their family because you and Pasloe used to be such good friends and so we taught it would just be easier for you to marry him. And yes, what you said is true, we do want bigger finances in our family. But at the same time, we do look at the benefits for you as well. With the help of their family, you could get out of this village and actually get an education. You wouldn't need to work on these farms. You never seemed to like working in the fields so this would be better for you.”

“Do you think I care about that?! Oh, and also how long have you been planning this marriage in the first place?!”

Her father answered: “We’ve had the idea for a couple of months now and we went to Pasloe‘s family just three days ago with the proposal. We came to a conclusion very quickly by ourselves, in just two days. And now, we’re giving you the word about it. Which is just the next day”

“And so, you couldn’t have given me the heads up those couple of months ago?”

“It’s because we did expect this reaction from you. So, we didn’t want you to retaliate against it so early. We do know you quite well darling”

“Clearly, you don’t...” Aarunya murmured that quietly.

Her father caught her saying that but he didn't answer. He only had what seemed like a disappointing grin on his face.

“I'd rather marry a poor man by my own desire than marry an emperor forcibly!” Aarunya proclaimed that fiercely

Neither the mother nor the father expected Aarunya to say a retort like that. To them, she always seemed like a good and obedient girl. Never truly got into fights with her parents. They did expect that she would retaliate against that decision at first, but only slightly for a short while, certainly not like this. Now here she is fighting back at full force for the first time in her life against her parents with such ferocity. She thinks that it's absolutely necessary though.

“Do you have something against the boy Aarunya? Do you hate him? Is that why you haven't been playing together? In general, you haven't been spending much time with the kids. You're going out somewhere but you're not spending time with the others. So, where do you go these days?”

“No, I don't hate him but I don't love him either. And I haven't been spending much time with my friends because, well”

“Well, what?”

“I've been busy working on my own dreams,” Aarunya said that slightly blushing.

“Ohh that's amusing, well what are your dreams Aarunya?” Her father said it clearly getting more irritated.

“I want to become a female knight...”

Both Aarunya's parents clearly froze for a moment. Then a smile came forth on the father's face.

“Hahaha, Aarunya that's a laugh ahh... but you're serious, aren't you?” From a smile and laughter, the father quickly changed emotions to now being full-on serious.

“I am” she replied straight to his face with pride.

“You do realize that first, you need to afford the opportunity of even beginning knight training. And you're a bit old now to start training for that.”

Knighthood training starts mostly when kids are 10 to 14 years old in Niekas. You don’t have to be a noble or have a family lineage of knights to get accepted. There are even sayings of people who started their training in their 20's and still became knights.

The biggest problem for Aarunya was, of course, the money that you need to get accepted as a Page.

“In the town of Pazzio, they annually hold the swordsmanship tournament in which the winner of the tournament can get to become a Page without paying any acceptance fees. You can prove yourself there that you might have what it takes to become a Knight. I wasn’t planning on going there this year, but tomorrow, late in the evening they are actually holding the event.” said Aarunya

A Page is a person who reaches the first step to become a proper knight. You would go to live in the household of a knight, there you would serve the knight as a page. As a page you basically act as a servant for the knight, performing tasks such as serving meals, cleaning his clothes, and carrying messages. While working for the knight's household, the page also learns the proper way to behave and good manners.

The page also begins to train to fight. You would practice with other pages using wooden shields and swords. They also would start to learn how to ride a horse using no hands, carrying a lance and if possible, magecraft. Many, especially the children from aristocratic families fail this beginning stage. Only a few, in general, get to become proper Knights. 

“So, for the last year-plus, you've been seeing your friends less and less because you were...”

“Practicing my swordsmanship yes”

“With what?” her father asked confused

“I've found a blade lying by the river outside of Mušau about like 5 years ago. I never showed it to anyone though. I've always hidden it underground”

“5 years ago, eyy? Hmm, the battle of "Sun Storm" happened there between the military and the rebels south from our village a few kilometers from here. It must have come from there.”

“Yeah, I think so too.”

The atmosphere in the room became much calmer. Even though what Aarunya told her parents was like a ludicrous teenager's dream.

“How good have you gotten with the blade?” the father asked 

“Well, I'm not sure. I haven't actually fought with another person, but I think I'm more than pretty good.” Aarunya said that with a smug on her face.

A smile came across the father's face.

“Very well my dear Aarunya. You are obviously not happy with the whole proposition of your arranged marriage. So, I'll give you a chance.”

“Huh?”

“Dear, what are you...” 

“Silence woman!” 

The mother instantly shut up.

“Aarunya, duel me.”

“Huh?” confusion engulfed Aarunya 

“If you win against me then you don't have to marry Pasloe. I will allow you to go and try to chase your dreams. Heck, I’ll even get you to the tournament myself in time. And I'll refute the marriage proposal. But if I win, you will marry him without any excuses. Do you understand?”

“... Okay sure. I'll take your challenge.” She said that with what seemed like confusion and confidence, but deep down there was refusal as well. Because for a slight moment she did want to refuse his proposal but still accepted her father’s challenge. 

Then, Aarunya got off her chair and looked at her father directly 

“I accept,” she said it with what seemed to be a determined look in her eyes

“Good. I don't know if you know Aarunya but I used to be a soldier when I was younger.”

“Huh?” Aarunya for a moment couldn’t comprehend what her father just said.

“Yes, I took part in a total of 2 campaigns for the empire until the war ended. I fought many glorious battles but times changed, I got older and my ideologies changed as well. As the empire went to piece, I decided to come back to my parent's old house and raise a family here.”

Aarunya never really talked with her parents about things like that so she didn't know about that and none of the villagers ever mentioned to her that her dad was a soldier once. Right now though he works as just another farmer. 

She quickly realized something when her father mentioned that he was a soldier, so she asked him: 

“But wait, hold on. Does that mean that you can perform some spells father?” This would greatly affect their fight if that were the case. Her father calmly replied:

 “No no, I can’t perform any magecraft. I was only a soldier and never a knight. And I don’t have the potential for it either.”

Aarunya, of course, knew that basic soldiers are never trained in magecraft. Simply because magic users are extremely rare. Those who show potential in it are transferred to become pages and begin their training in the arts of magic, if they wish so that is. They also do not need to pay any acceptance fees because of their rarity. Not anyone can use spells even if they wanted to in the first place. 

But there are also cases where unqualified/self-taught magic users teach others with potential in magecraft outside or inside of the military.

“For a moment you probably thought I was trying to trick you into this duel and then I would unleash some type of spell on you for a quick victory, right?” He looked with sly eyes at her daughter. 

“You’re full of surprises today so I was just trying to make sure.” 

“Hm, I guess I am… So, what do you say? Do you accept?”

Aarunya was thinking about this whole situation for a brief moment. Then she took a deep breath and said: 

“... okay.” She said it calmly, with a blank expression on her face. 

“Great. We'll duel tomorrow at 8 o'clock in the morning, in the woods west from here. Can't have any people witness father and daughter fighting with each other using swords now, can we? And that way if you win, you could get some rest before we get you to the tournament”

“Do you have a sword?” Aarunya asked already expecting a “yes”.

“Sure, I do. I was in the army after all. Not only that, but during a war, you get to snatch a lot of things. And I just happened to decide to keep a lot of stuff with me if you know what I'm saying ahaha”

“...” Aarunya

“...” Father

A deadly silence fell into the room. A type of silence in which the family could hear a child getting a spanking in the house next door.

“So tomorrow it is Aarunya.” the father said, slightly embarrassed

“Right...” 

“Ahh look at this! The fish got already cold from all of our talking. Quickly eat!”

And so, everyone started eating their breakfast. For Aarunya this was her chance to get out of here but at the same time finding out that her dad was a soldier didn't put her mind at ease. He participated in 2 campaigns and came back alive. That is something praiseworthy. All she could do now was eat, train and plan on her strategy for tomorrow...

That is of course what her father thought.

 

Chapter 2: Man is a slave to fate.

 

After finishing breakfast Aarunya went outside to do her daily chores working in the fields. Most of the day she spent just pulling out the grass in the fields. Aarunya‘s family-owned quite the average-sized work fields for your basic village family. No one in the village owned any slaves as well. Simply because almost none of them could afford to keep one around. And those that could choose not to do so. There was one villager who bought a girl once. The poor creature couldn’t stand her master so she took her own life. That villager bought a female to keep her as a sex slave. The other villagers, of course, knew how she was treated but even if some people wanted to help her there was nothing they could do. He was her master and she was a slave and slaves didn’t have any rights. It’s as simple as a structure as that. That’s all you need to know. If you tried to be a hero you could have been the one who could get punished and no one wanted to risk their own safety that much when they could barely sustain themselves as it is now. So, all the people did was watch, watch how she was treated. Hear her painful moans in the night and eventually find her hanged in her tiny room. The man himself who owned the slave was condemned by the villagers and after her suicide, he himself disappeared.

The military police believed it to be a village conspiracy. The body was never found and they couldn’t get any evidence that would support their theory though. And so, the case was very quickly closed and the search for his body ended. It ended very quickly mostly because the military police didn’t care about solving a case about a villager in the middle of nowhere.

Most but not all of the villagers never really saw much of slavery in action because most of them grew up in this village and never really left. So, after seeing something like that they were, of course, shocked. Especially the children of the town. Aarunya was one of those kids.

“Is my situation though any different from slavery?”

While working today Aarunya‘s thoughts always started to drift off about the man who had a slave in this village. She wasn‘t thinking much about what the man did to the slave but rather that she couldn‘t help but feel like her situation is fundamentally similar.

“I know that parents, of course, have to raise you, give you food, clothes, and a shelter. And in return, you have to help them with chores and different kinds of things. But does it give them the right to just choose who I should marry?”

Aarunya of course always knew that a lot of women get married off by arranged marriages. But now since it’s happening directly to her it started to make her really think about her situation in life. Before, she always just thought something like that won’t happen to her since she is just a basic village girl. She didn’t expect her parents to make this type of a political-style move. 

“Of course not! I have the right to choose who I should marry. I’m not like some type of slave or anything… Or is there really that much of a difference? Again, I understand the chores part but when you force something on a person when he tries to reject it with all his being then there really isn’t much of a difference…”

Aarunya pauses while pulling out the grass from the moist dirt. Taking in the feeling of a warm wind breezing through her skin. Looking up at the big blue sky and trying to calm herself down. 

“Bahh my thoughts are all over the place I need to calm down and just focus on work. And start to think more in-depth about tonight’s plans.”

After finishing work, it was already starting to get late. It was 6 p.m. Lunch with her parents passed awkwardly. Aarunya‘s father didn‘t say anything about the marriage or the duel. He just went on talking about how the harvest this year will be great. While the mother gave some awkward looks which Aarunya did notice. All in all, Aarunya liked lunch because no one brought up the subject. It almost felt like nothing happened. She even wanted to believe that was the reality.

“That would be a wonderful thing indeed, but I can’t think that way. If I’m going to do this, I need conviction and motivation”

That’s what Aarunya thought while finishing lunch. 

Aarunya‘s daily schedule looked like this:

Wake up at around 5:00 a.m. Get dressed and go eat breakfast somewhere at 5:10 a.m. She finishes eating breakfast and after that, she has around 30 minutes of free time to do whatever she wants. Then, she starts to do certain types of chores that her parents ask of her. Work for her starts at 6:00 a.m. But unlike her parents who work for around 12 hours, Aarunya is allowed to take breaks and go ask to play with the other kids if she so desires. She’s still young so her parents don’t really ask her to work as hard as they do. But Aarunya noticed something peculiar throughout the years of her work. That is that she never gets tired from working.

This is something she never brought up to her parents thinking if she would say that they would put her to do more work. And so, she never did. She kept noticing that other people normally get tired from the many hours of labor but not her. This, of course, puzzled Aarunya. But after a bit of thinking, she came to a simple conclusion. And that is that she must just be “a really strong human being”. This was actually one of the few reasons why she wanted to become a knight. If she is superior to others then she must be destined for greatness. But she never started doing any actual training until she found the sword by the river. While training, she was actually going all out and doing her best. And that was the first time when Aarunya started to get tired. Many hours of hard labor didn’t match her training swordsmanship all out for just one hour. And so, as time passed Aarunya continued to gain more confidence in herself. She never told her parents nor her friends about her training because she always had a feeling if she were to tell them, then at least one of her friends could snitch the information to her parents and they would stop her dreams right there and then. She believed she knew her parents well, but what happened today gave Aarunya a new perspective on her parents, at least on her father. An ex-warrior who will allow her daughter to try to become a knight if she wins a duel against him. That was certainly a surprise.

“Aarunya come to eat dinner.”

“Ok, mom, I’ll be right there. Hmm. Let’s see how this will go.”

And now dinner time came. Again, just like lunch, during the whole dinner, nothing eventful happened. The father complained about back pain. Aarunya thought he might start talking about that. He is getting old now and he would like to see some grandkids, but he didn’t bring anything like that up on the table conversation. Which of course pleased Aarunya. Her mother herself seemed to be more cheerful now as well breaking a smile quite frequently.

Everyone finished eating dinner, the mother continued her sewing session she does every night before going to bed. She was sewing pairs of new socks for everyone. That included Aarunya. The father, after dinner went into the shed. He likes to do carpentry during his free time. He makes kitchen utensils like spoons, forks, etc. And then sells them to other villagers to make some extra coins. Aarunya herself went outside to the nearby forest of course to practice her swordsmanship skills. She spent more than an hour training and then headed back home.

Not too much later everyone went to sleep. While in bed Aarunya kept thinking:

“If not for that conversation everything would be like any other day”

To Aarunya it felt like her conviction had started to waver. She started to think that maybe it would be better if she would just accept the marriage proposition, then this whole struggle would go away. Pasloe, of course, wouldn’t accept her going away to try to become a knight. If she stayed, she would get to live a cozy life, studying then working, raising a family, not having to worry too much about finances. It really seemed nice to Aarunya and she felt like she was about to give in to the proposal. But then her true dreams started coming into her head.

“That’s right I want to become a knight. Serving the empire is something I wanted to do since I was little, about 8 years old. Just hearing the stories about knights and their heroic deeds always got me thinking how great it would be to become one. Is it bad to want to serve your country? Of course, I never thought I would have any chance to become one. But then one day I heard that the swordsmanship sparring tournament became an event held in Pazzio. The winner would get to become a Page. And the best part is that they decided to hold the tournament annually since its inception. I’ve heard it was because the empire wanted to recruit more knights since a lot of them died during the last major war many years ago. And so, because of the success they were having, tournaments in towns became widespread, thus reaching Pazzio. It felt like this was my chance. It even more felt like fate was on my side when I found a sword just laid beside the river. That was years ago and ever since then, I trained myself hard to get to where I am now. The problem is I don’t actually know how truly good I am. For all I know I could be just trash ahh... But I at least I really want to compete in the tournament and test my strength. If I get my butt-handed then I always thought I could just train more and try again next year and so on. I would be working, training, and living independently. Or if I turned out to be a monster against other’s I would just become a Page, rise through the ranks and become a knight in no time. That’s what I thought at least. But now it's do-or-die.”

Aarunya‘s plan was quite simple. She didn’t want to fight her father. Not because she was doubting herself or anything like that. It was because she just didn't want to duel her own father. Even thinking about it left Aarunya‘s mouth in a bad taste. So, to avoid that she had three options: just accept the proposal, duel her father or run away from here. Aarunya chose the latter. 

“I know it seems very unknightly of me to run from a duel. Of course, if it would be any other duel, I would definitely not run from it. But because it’s my father I just can’t. I know the next morning they won‘t find me and they‘ll very quickly realize where I went. They will go out to look for me and try to bring me back. Well, my dad will. He will go to Pazzlo to look for me but that means that I just need to head to the second nearest town in which the tournament is held. And that would be Holo. The tournament is happening yearly in a few towns and cities around the empire at about the same time. I should be able to make it in time to Holo before the tournament starts with some time to spare and rest a bit if I head out early. I won’t be able to get any sleep today and I know I won’t be a hundred percent in the tournament but I want to try it either way. By the time my father realizes I’m not in Pazzio the tournament in Holo which happens a day later than the one in Pazzio should already be finished. If I win, I become a Page and I start to live my life how I wish. If I lose it... well then, I’ll return to the village, explain to my father why I ran away, and just accept the proposition. That would be righteous right? Haha”

Aarunya waited in her bed for a couple of hours until everyone in the house was surely asleep. Then she got out of her bed, put on her clothes, and took some money she had saved up to buy some food in town. She didn’t need anything else because either she becomes a Page and starts her training or just comes back home after a defeat the next day.

After Aarunya finished getting dressed up she opened her window, leaped through it with almost no sound, and then dashed straight for the woods. While doing that she started to feel almost like a silent warrior of some sort. She tried to get some type of joy from what she was doing. 

“I’m chasing after my dream father,” she said it to no one but herself

At the same time images of herself, her mother, and her father started popping up in her head. Thinking about when they used to take baths in the river together, go mushroom hunting with her father, even work in the fields. She started thinking about the simple things she did together with her parents up until now. There was one absolute truth that Aarunya knew since she decided to run away. If she wins the tournament under these types of family circumstances, she won’t be seeing them for a long time. If she fails, they will treat her more cruelly since she did something like this.

Her vision started to get blurry. It was tears forming in her eyes. 

“No... I can’t hesitate, can’t hesitate. CAN’T HESITATE DAMN IT!!!”

There was still a chance for her to return, but Aarunya brushed her tears away and kept on running. During the whole day, she kept telling herself to stop hesitating so that she would not just fall and crumble down. Although at that moment, for Aarunya it felt like if she had stopped running, she would have just crumbled right there. But alas she didn’t stop. She persevered and continued.

She got to the forest, picked up the sword she had hidden in the bushes. A place only she would know where to look for and then, after getting her surrounding in check she dashed forward to the direction of the town Holo. 

The moon was fully out, no clouds obstructed the sky so Aarunya had a pretty good vision in the forest and saw exactly where she was going. 

“...This is it eyy. Well, warriors from Holo and other villages you better watch out, Aarunya is coming for you woo!”

And so, she dashed forward, towards Holo. Hoping for a new type of tomorrow to come for her. Fighting against her fate and chasing her dreams.

Of course, this little girl absolutely has no idea what this world has in store for her. The universe has infinite routes as a whole. But a single person has only one fate and one fate only.

 

„For a better future” Short story

     The End

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Authors note:

 

Hi, David here! As you may tell I wrote this story recently after I finished reacting to “Spice and Wolf” lol. This story was a test for me. A test for a few reasons: 

1. I wanted to see if I could actually write something long enough to be actually called a short story. Well, the story has over 5,500 words so, I succeeded on that one.

2. The ability to write characters that you do not fully agree with. That’s something incredibly important and something a lot of people can stumble on. I believe I did not bad on that one.

3. Write a story I don’t have much interest in. Doing something like that can be important. You can learn how to write stories and side stories that can please others even if your tastes are different. And it can get you more prepared for some bigger, more serious works.

I do feel like I could’ve written a few more perspectives in this short story. Mostly the fathers, but again, I was only writing a short story, not a fully-fledged light novel. 

Personally, I always wanted to write a few long stories in my life. Whether I’ll ever do that is unknown though. Well, I hope you enjoyed this short story even if slightly. I personally have some parts in this which I liked, but that’s about it. Feel free to use your imagination and think about what happened to Aarunya after this. Did she actually succeed in the tournament and become a page? Did she fail and go back home? Did something else happen? Headcanon can be the best thing about a story sometimes. Well, see you, bye! 

 

-David Maze