Jonathan Toews sits down at a table in a public area. He is finishing up drinking from a keg. He leans back, just as the blond Prince from Valencia stomps over to him and takes a seat across from him.
"Jonathan, please, I'm begging you to listen and help me out!" the man states.
Jonathan makes to get to his feet, but Patrick is faster than him. He grabs his wrists and forces him to stay sitting in place. The brunette knight looks at him and sighs, "Look, Patrick, I'm not interested...I'm out of shape. I mean what good could I do?"
"You're Jonathan Toews, the kingdom's greatest knight and...my parents used to tell stories about you--"
"Val, fetch me a drink, please," Jonathan orders.
"See, when he tell me to fetch, those my favorite moments!" Val exclaims, smiling at Patrick, before he frowns and gives Jonathan an unhappy glare, but does his duty.
"Thanks for the drink."
"Drinks."
"Well, still, thanks again."
"You know my father used to tell me stories of you, your skill in battle, your heroism, your goodness, your--talent and love for the sport of hockey! What happened to you? I mean, eh...oh, come on, I've come a long way, surely I deserve some kind of backstory."
Jonathan sighs and then chuckles, "Alright. My parents were people of massive, massive appetites, they loved everything, their food, their drinks, but most of all they loved each other. Ironically though, they also hated each other and they fought, violently everyday...didn't have time for much else in fact. So at the age of eight I swore off love, devoted myself to doing something better with my life than wasting it on love, so I played hockey. While men my age were out chasing girls, I was bettering myself, having fun, but I come from a family of lovers - you can't fight genetics. So what inevitably happened when I fell,"
"You fell hard."
"I fell hard."
"And her?"
"Eh, HE fell softer, as it turns out."
"He?"
"Yeah, turns out, my love was a little different...but...still, I fell hard for the man of my dreams. Look I'd love to help, really I would, but I'm sort of out of the whole "damsel in distress" business at the moment. Damsel being male in this case. So..."
"I listened from below as he ordered my parents to their death and after coming all this way, your advise is for me to just turn a blind eye and watch Queen Taylor destroy my kingdom and everyone I've ever loved?...What?"
Jonathan is looking at him funny, studying him almost like he is going to crack another joke or say something sarcastic. He leans toward Patrick, before saying, "Did you just say Queen Taylor?"
****
FLASHBACK
"No!" Patrick screams from his hiding place in the cellar of the castle.
"Ah! Come here!"
"No, let me go--Ah!" He is grabbed immediately and lifted from the floor by some of Queen Taylor's guards and shoved to the middle of his parents, where they stand before the queen.
"Patrick!" his father cries, hugging him.
"Father!" Patrick cries in his arms.
"Huh, maybe this is what we're looking for?" Brad exclaims, as he finds the bag with the priceless golden hockey puck in it. He tosses it to the Queen who empties the bag's contents into his hand.
