Growing Older and More Foolish

My future self was standing anxiously at the door. At least I was pretty sure it was my future self because I would have remembered traveling to the future and meeting myself now. Time travel was not common enough that I forget trips. I...he banged on my door a second time before I shrugged and opened the door. I was regretting opening it already, little good could come from this.

"There better be a meteor or a robot uprising coming." I said to the future me. His hair was cut short and seemed a bit harrowed. There were no new lines and no red beard flecked with gray. He couldn't be much older than me.

"There's no need to be snippy." He walked right past me and moved quickly towards my bedroom. "I have to find grandma's necklace. It's still in the dresser right?"

"What?" I ran up behind him and watched as he ruffled through my sock drawer. "You came from the past to steal my stuff?"

"You're going to lose it anyway. Always misplacing things, but I can actually put it to use. It will show Shawna I'm serious."

"Shawna?"

"You'll meet her next year. She's amazing and we love her...I love her, whatever. We had a fight and I was going to give her the necklace to show her I'm serious about this. But it was gone. I looked everywhere so I must have lost it...you must have. So I came back here." He growled in frustration, throwing the last of my socks on the ground and not finding the necklace. He moved to the next drawer.

I figured trying to overpower my future self would cause real damage so letting him throw clothes on the floor was a lesser evil. "And you think giving her a necklace is going to save things? This sounds a lot like the webcams to try to sustain my relationship with Nguyen. I don't really like the idea of starting up another nightmare relationship. Are you sure I will know what I'm doing when I'm you?"

He looked back at me with an expression I recognized from the mirror many times and I could almost imagine that tight pain like a hand squeezing around his heart. "Shawna...I just have to be better, I'll show her I'm better, that I'm not messy or childish. The necklace is important, it will help her understand."

I felt that sensation now too. Shawna was a stranger but Nguyen could clamp around my heart still when I wasn't careful. "And you figure I lost the necklace so you'd come get it first? Isn't it obvious? If you couldn't find it and come back to take it from me now, then you're the reason you couldn't find it in the first place.

He paused, fist around the jewelry case that housed our grandmother's necklace which I'd tossed in my shorts drawer after Nguyen returned it. "Oh. That does make sense. But I hadn't come back yet. Maybe I lost it for real at first and this becomes the new reason. I'll have to ask Brandon." He shook his head. "It doesn't matter, I can't risk not finding it."

He tapped his chrono band and vanished to the future along with the necklace.

I surveyed the area. My sock and underwear drawers were savaged and the necklace apparently wouldn't exist for at least a year. But my future self's words about Shawna worried me the most. Nguyen on the whole had left me devastated. Was I really going to make all those same mistakes?

It wasn't necessarily certain. It could be some potential future or it could be set in stone. Brandon could cite some tensor equations to explain but that wouldn't do much good. All I could do is try to avoid anyone named Shawna, or maybe she was worth it and all I ever wanted. Either way it doesn't seem like I'm getting wiser with age. He could have at least given me some pointers or a 'good luck' before he blinked back to the future. I hope I don't actually become that rude when I'm in his shoes.

**************

I had this random idea of a person stealing from their past self and not understanding the irony at work today and it sort of fleshed out into this short bit and I really need to actually start putting these things somewhere. I was thinking at first I would only put Winter Melody related things here but that sort of fell through and I'd like to stretch out a bit more.

This became a mostly self contained little blip and is far too short to even call a short story. The term flash fiction is used sometimes for things less than 1000 words. The story feels a little bare bones but padding can be disadvantageous too.

The Two Princes

Once there was a kingdom that every year was forced to give ransom to pirates so their ships would not be attacked. The king despaired at handing over the people’s wealth each year but saw no way to stop them. The king had two sons, both strong and brave and one day the eldest brother came to him and said, “Why must we pay tribute year after year? Let me take our ships and go forth and fight these pirates who grow lazy receiving gold and not blood. They would not be prepared for my resolve.” The eldest son was gifted in his words and the king was excited and ready to act. But the youngest son urged caution.

“The pirates are a scourge and not to be underestimated. Are these not the same pirates who demand tribute from the kingdoms to the north and south? Alone we are weak, but let me find allies and we will sail as one.”

The king’s mind was tempered by the words and bid him to go seek out allies to the north and the south. The eldest son, however, could not wait and sent forth the twelve finest ships and sailed to find the pirates and defeat them. The youngest son mourned his brother’s decision but had no choice but to proceed on so he could bring ships that would match the pirates.

Four weeks of sailing led the eldest son to the home of the pirates where his twelve ships were set upon by fifty. First one, then two, then four were left sinking into the water and he was forced to retreat. As he did he passed by the Pirate King Arrick’s vessel, spying a young blonde girl at her father’s side and she took notice of him. Leaving only eight ships, all damaged, the king’s son fled to scattered islands and formed a new plan.

The youngest son soon found allies in the north and south, and had assembled a fleet of seventy. But he feared it may already be too late for his dear brother. He journeyed to the coast and found the goddess Wind dancing out on a cliff. She showed sympathy for the king’s young son as he explained his fears and she handed him a small arrow with quick-finch feathers. “Strap this arrow to the mast of your ship and whichever way the arrowhead points, so will I follow. But be careful for the shaft is thin and brittle.” The youngest son placed the arrow on his mast and the winds favored him, carrying them in but a week.

Among the islands the youngest son heard of his brother’s defeat and retreat. He searched further south and the two found one another. They were both joyous seeing each other again, but the eldest son was filled with fear. “Not even your fleet of seventy may match our foe. But there may be another way. For in the heart of the battle I spied the pirate Arrick’s daughter and she would know his weaknesses. I have heard she lives on an island to the west of the King’s fleet. I will go to her.”

The youngest son was unsure of the plan. “We can wait but three days. We will bring the fleet close but hidden. Go to her and return in the morning and let us know what you have learned.”

So the eldest son sailed to the nearby island and snuck into the daughter’s chambers at night. There she doted upon him and gave him a golden ring for each hand. He returned and reported the daughter has given these gifts and would soon tell what they needed to know.” His brother was unsure and said, “Go then, once more, but I urge you brother, have her tell you how to defeat her father.”

So the eldest son sailed again, and crept into her chambers. She welcomed him and gave him a necklace of pearls and told him stories of the vast treasures she had discovered. He returned and told the people of her wealth and so very soon he would have the answer.

His brother was displeased and said, “You have sailed twice and received gifts from her but not received what we need for victory. This is the third night we may wait and in the morning we will sail into battle with or without what the princess knows.”

The elder son was worried and sailed to the princess one more time where she gave him a crown of gold and gems and spoke of his beauty. The morning came and he knew his brother would be sailing to fight. He turned to the princess, confessed his love and did not wish to see her harmed. He told her of his brother’s plans, their numbers and approach, asking that they could be spared.

As the ships sailed to the island they found to their horror the enemy waiting on both flanks and they sank twelve ships before the youngest brother had no choice but to surrender. He was brought before Arrick, the princess and his own brother. The eldest son tried to explain but the youngest yelled in despair. “I curse you and your betrayal.” He held out the arrow given to him by Wind. “All I have left is this gift given to me so that I could save you, but you have doomed us instead. I should cast it in two.”

The Pirate Arrick saw the arrow and could tell it was an item of power. The youngest told him what it did as he held it between his hands. The King saw he was ready to break the item to curse his brother but stopped him.

“You have suffered from betrayal but perhaps what you hold may lessen the sting. I will take it as you and your allies’ tribute for a generation.” The youngest son agreed, handing the arrow to Arrick. His remaining ships were allowed to leave and return. The youngest son returned to his father who celebrated his return and mourned the betrayal of his eldest. “Your brother always believed he was the source of the kingdom’s strength. Because of that he saw his own benefit as the kingdom’s. You, my youngest son saw strength in allies and the people and will rule wisely.”

And so the youngest grew became one of the greatest kings of his day, and when the generation ended his people were strong and the tribute was never paid again.

editor's note-

Some versions of the story discuss the fate of the elder son but diverge greatly and the earliest versions do not contain these lines so they were removed. Some later versions have him marrying the pirate King’s daughter while the majority speak of him being cast out from the pirates as well. It is presumed these later lines were added to enhance the morality play featured in the story.

Wrote this as a lil filler for the Winter Melody winter break. The story is set as a fairy tale in the Winter Melody world, told centuries after the time period of the web comic. It was fun to play with more world building and stretch out the prose legs some. The prose can be a bit awkward because I was trying to make it sound and flow similar to a fairy tale, but a decent start, especially with uberlentil deciding to illustrate it some ^_^

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