Heroes of Dreamland, Book 6: Kirby and the Fountain's Fate (OLD)

~Other Time~ Every Path Has a Trailhead

Fuller's POV:

Another night where I just can't fall asleep. This has happened a lot, ever since I was quite a small lad. It seems like almost every night, I find myself staring at the ceiling rather than actually sleeping. My mother used to jest sometimes that maybe I'm not actually a Star Warrior, but maybe instead a changling or some other sort of faerie folk that doesn't actually need sleep. Of course she didn't believe in such things, but sometimes I do. Sometimes I wonder if there's not more out there beyond what we can see, or what we consider 'normal.' Maybe some of those creatures that seem to only exist in stories and fairytales are actually real somewhere out there, in the far reaches of our Galaxy...

That's a big reason of why I didn't want to be trapped being a stupid blacksmith. My parents liked the idea of just staying in our small village, which barely even a blot on a map, even on a map of just Chivalry Province, but that wasn't good enough for me. I wanted (and still want) to see the whole Galaxy, every single bit of it. All the knowledge out there... I want to know it. Some people argue that maybe knowing everything isn't a good idea, and that's why no one does, but I want to prove that rule wrong. I want to know everything, and always have. And that certainly wasn't going to happen in that tiny speck of dust called River's Bend Village.

On the other hand, I never wished any ill against the place... It was a speck of dust, yes, but also a harmless one. It was a place to call home, I suppose, even if I hated it. Because of this, I have mixed feelings about the way I came to be a student here at the Academy. In a way, the day I came here was the best day of my life. Finally, I was more than a poor blacksmith's son and apprentice. Finally, I had a chance to become a proper gentleman and fill my mind with knowledge actually worth something. Yet, at the same time... Perhaps my mother and father would be little more than poor fools when compared with me now, and speaking to them these days might have been awkward because of that, but they were still my parents. Even back then they thought that speaking to me was amusing and silly, since I used a style of talking that my kind abandoned long ago. Most people quit saying terms like 'ye,' 'thee,' 'thy,' and such long before the modern calendar's years began, but not I. Such words are the words of gentlemen, and therefore they are the phrases I employ. Anything is far better than that poor, pathetic, and paltry pronoun that is pronounced as no more than the letter U.

Even with their non-gentlemanly, simple ways of speaking, my parents still cared for me, and I cared for them (to some extent) in return. For them to disappear like that, without any sort of warning... I have to admit that it was awful, even painful. And so to this day, I can't decide whether more good or bad came of that day a couple of years ago... All that I know is that whoever caused that attack must have been extremely powerful, and in my most humble and gentlemanly opinion, power is something that is always to be respected.

Now, I roll over again and sigh at my bedside table. Today, like every day, I spent several hours in classes, more classes than any other attendee of the Academy. It was a productive day of knowledge-gathering, and I should be happy, but I'm actually rather a bit put-out. Used to, Petal (the one who brought me here and who has since been my closest friend and best tutor,) would give me a sword lesson and some extra tutoring in whichever subjects I found most interesting every day. But ever since this 'war' was declared a couple of weeks ago, she's never to be seen; always off prepping the infirmary for some disaster I'm certain will never come. After all, there's been a 'war' on for a couple of weeks now, but not a single battle, or fight, or even a skirmish. Well, other than those between the former Officers over what sort of rules we should follow now, that is.

All I know is that if there ever really is any fighting, I can't wait until the last few months pass before I'm eighteen and can sign up for the new army. If I go out and help to win a few battles before the whole thing blows over, why, I'd be remembered as a gentleman and a great soldier. Not bad sounding at all, hm?...