White Dragon Stories

Those little things

Every now and then Hakuryuu asked himself all these "important" questions about life. Why were their born? What was the purpose of their lives? Why did they strive for happiness so much? What was happiness? How could one maintain it in a world like theirs? Why were they working against each other? And so on and so on. Of course, he hadn't found an answer, not for himself and not for others. However, he had found out what made him truly happy – so he may have found an answer at least for the question, what made one happy.
It was easy to be happy about a gift or a compliment – although Hakuryuu had the terrible habit of doubting any kind of praise or kindness directed at him –, because it was easy to remember how happy one had been when one got it. But how often did one get a gift, especially one without a specific reason besides to make one smile? How often did one get a compliment? Yes, there were also other reasons why someone could be happy, however most of the time one could only think about the "big" things or the "rare" ones that made them happy. Yet Hakuryuu had found out that he was often happy due to ordinary things.

It was a wonderful feeling to return to his private chambers and be greeted by a small and happy little sunshine. When he had visited Judar's home village the two of them had adopted a girl, because why not – and Judar was not even aware that they had done so. The girl needed someone to take care of her and save her from her horrible family. Without thinking at all Hakuryuu had taken her with them to the palace. Now he tried to be a good parent for her. Her smile mad him happy.
Since she had no clothes, they took the old ones of Hakuryuu's sister Kougyoku, who had a lot of fun dressing the little girl up. But it was somewhat impersonal and he wanted her to have her "own" clothes, so he started to learn how to make dresses. It was hard work, but he gave his best and was really proud of himself when he finished the first one – not a masterpiece, but not bad either – and the little girl loved it as well, which was the most important part. Another thing that made him happy, was remembering how Judar, the girl and he thought about a new name for her. Strangely he could not remember why they wanted to change her name in the first place, but they did. She liked her new name a lot.

Besides her he also was happy when he had time to cook. Thinking of new recipes and try new dishes out was great, especially when others praised his meals. However, the process of creating the meals was already enough to make him happy. It was even better when Kougyoku joined him – Judar was not a good addition in the kitchen, because he would cause more chaos than he would be of any help. "Unfortunately" Judar loved to join him in the kitchen and try out anything Hakuryuu prepared – the Magi was too impatient to wait for the meal to be finished and Hakuryuu's meals were too good, even when they weren't completed.
Consequently eating with his family also brought happiness to him. As child he often had eaten with his mother, father and siblings – at least when all of them were at home. But even when it was just his mother, sister and him it was still a nice memory – a nice memory that also hut, because now he knew that his mother had just pretended. Now he had Kougyoku, Judar and his adopted daughter to eat with him. One could learn so much about others by just listening. Judar mostly complained about all his duties and how everything was so exhausting, while Kougyoku couldn't stop talking about all the great achievements of the empire and what she had contributed to it. Her self-esteem was growing as well and Hakuryuu was happy to see his sister becoming more and more confident in abilities and started to be happier, just like him. They were more similar than he had thought and one on hand this made him happy, while on the other hand it also made him sad, because he knew about her pain, since he had felt it too. Just a wonderful person like Kougyoku should have experienced so terrible things. She deserved only the best and he hated himself for hurting her with the civil war.
Also it was great to talk about oneself without being judged, because they all knew about his past and pain. Judar understood him the most and Kougyoku, after they had talked things out, understood him as well, even when she did not agree with his past actions, she did not judge him without knowing more about the subject – but even then she often just stated her opinion and wouldn't criticized for his, because this was how things were: Everyone was allowed to have their own opinions and one opinion did not say whether a person was a good one or a bad one.
In the end their dinners were filled with laughter and remembering them made him feel warm inside.