Calm
Red Square, Kiev - October 29
“Come on!”
“For what?”
“You know! The evil Hassan is about to summon the dragon of darkness!”
“A dragon? I love dragons!”
“But this one…is a SHADOW dragon!”
“Oh no, it’s evil!”
“And it’s going to plunge the world into an endless night!”
“What does that mean?”
“It means…it is bedtime…forever.”
“No! We have to stop him!”
“Come on and help me reclaim the legendary sword Enonon so I can stop him!”
“Why do you get the sword?”
“Because I'm the hero!”
“Why can’t I be the hero?”
“Uh…because I already called it!”
“You just called it now!”
“Did not!”
“Did too!”
“Grandpa!”
Vasily looked up from his Kleinvenedig crisis briefing.
“Yes, Ilyana, my dear?” he said.
Five-year-old Ilyana Romanova, a small girl with curly black hair and a beauty mark under her left eye, ran over to him.
“Friedrich’s not being nice to me!” she said, pointing at five-year-old Friedrich von Hohenzollern.
“She wanted to hog all of the fun!” Friedrich complained, putting his hands on his sides.
“No fair!” Ilyana said. “He hogs all the fun!”
“Grandma!” Friedrich said.
Wilhelmina, sitting on another bench playing Persona Emblem, looked up.
“Not again,” she said.
“Sometimes, I wonder why he always calls for you before me,” Joseph said.
“Or me,” Franz said.
“Allow me to help,” Sophie said.
“I’m not sure you can,” Wilhelmina said, “That Ilyana is a real handful.”
“Reminds me of someone I knew when she was 5,” Sophie said.
“You were there back then?” Wilhelmina said.
“I was there when you punched the Ecumenical Patriarch in the face during your baptism,” Sophie said, “Now sit back and…I don’t know, stop relying on Yukiko too much. I don’t care if she got stat blessed, if the AI gets a lucky crit and you gave her all of the experience...”
She walked over to Friedrich.
“Friedrich, why are you doing this?” Sophie asked.
“Ilyana always keeps trying to take the fun out of the game!” Friedrich said.
“What game are you playing?” Sophie said.
“Shadow Dragon and the Sword of Light!” Friedrich said.
“Oh, kids still play that playground game, huh?” Sophie said.
“Yeah!” Friedrich said.
“It’s the one where you have to fight Hassan and the Shadow Dragon, right?” Sophie said.
“Yep!” Friedrich said.
“And this hero…what do you know about them?” Sophie said.
“They wield the Sword of Light to slay the Shadow Dragon and defeat Hassan!” Friedrich said.
“Is there anything saying the hero is a boy?” Sophie said.
Friedrich thought for a moment. “Well, the only other person is the princess.”
“Who could easily be a prince too, right?” Sophie said.
“That would be weird!” Friedrich said. “Boys don’t need saving!”
“Believe me, they do, and it’s okay,” Sophie said, “It’s nice to have friends to save you.”
Friedrich continued thinking. “Yeah, it is!”
“So how are you going to play this game?” Sophie said.
Friedrich took another few seconds to think. Then his face lit up.
“I know!” he said. “We can have TWO heroes! The princess is ALSO a hero! Nothing saying she can’t do that!”
“Good idea!” Sophie said.
“You like that, Ilyana?” Friedrich said.
Ilyana thought it over, and then she broke into a smile.
“Yay!” she said. “Let’s fight the dragon together!”
The two kids ran off to continue playing. Sophie triumphantly walked back over to Wilhelmina.
“See?” she said. “I seem to have a way with kids.”
“I can’t believe that worked,” Wilhelmina said.
“I never thought of playing it like that,” Joseph said.
“Did you even play it?” Franz said.
“Not that I recall,” Joseph said.
“No, I definitely remember you playing that game,” Wilhelmina said, “You always insisted on being the knight.”
“Hey, I like knights!” Joseph said.
“So…” Vasily said, walking over.
“Hello, Vasily,” Wilhelmina said.
“Usually Ilyana either gets her way, or the other kids just stop playing with her,” Vasily said, “I’ve never seen anyone try something like this. She is very…forceful and willful.”
“Well, I didn’t expect Friedrich to say that,” Wilhelmina said, “Make a compromise.”
“Neither did I,” Vasily said, “But somehow, he hasn’t either been overwhelmed or driven away, like so many other kids. I was beginning to fear she would not have anyone to hang out with.”
“Well, she has a friend now,” Wilhelmina said.
“I hope it lasts,” Vasily said.
“Yeah, that they stay friends,” Wilhelmina said.
“I was thinking more about the world remaining peaceful for them,” Vasily said.
“Me too,” Wilhelmina said, “Me too.”
They watched their grandchildren playing happily across the park, using sticks to stab crudely drawn pictures of dragons pinned to trees.
“I have to apologize,” Vasily said.
“For what?” Wilhelmina said.
“The Hohenzollern succession issue when the news leaked,” Vasily said, “I was overreacting.”
“You were only doing what you thought was right,” Wilhelmina said, “You thought I wasn’t up to the task and it was up to you to do it instead.”
“I underestimated you,” Vasily said, “Dismissed all of your achievements based on your blood. It ran contrary to Friedrich the Great’s ideals. I’m sorry, Wilhelmina. Let me tell you…I’ll keep doing everything in my power to support you. Even if we’re not related by blood, we’re still family.”
“Thanks, Vasily,” Wilhelmina said.
They kept watching Friedrich and Ilyana.
“They really do get along very well,” Sophie said.
“Really?” Wilhelmina said. “Didn’t seem like it at first.”
“Give it time,” Sophie said, “If you plant a seed, you won’t know what it will grow into until you water it.”
“And the brave Friedrich and Ilyana, together wielding the Sword of Light, banish the darkness and put an end to the Shadow Dragon’s reign of terror!”
“The evil Hassan and the dark magic protecting him are powerless before the Sword of Light and its goodness!”
“The world is saved, thanks to these two brave heroes!”
“And with peace returning, it’s time for the heroes to go home. They return to their kingdom, and they get married!”
Friedrich suddenly stopped. “What?”
“Yeah, the two heroes get married, and they rule as king and queen, and their kids are heroes too, and their kids are heroes, and so on!” Ilyana said.
“Uh…” Friedrich stammered, his face beet red.
Ilyana stopped. “You don’t like it?”
“No, uh, it’s fine,” Friedrich said, “Yeah…”
Ilyana giggled. “You’re a funny boy, Friedrich.”
