Courage need not be remembered, for it is never forgotten.

“Do any of us really ever end up where we want to be?”

Yuri wasn’t the type to just blurt things out like that, but after taking a very rare day off of work- a necessity, due to a few repairs being needed at the bakery- he had decided to come to the museum, always having enjoyed quiet forms of entertainment the most, and found himself in front of the painting, somewhat captivated by it himself, just barely enough to not be paying attention to his surroundings

“Um… sorry, that…that was bleak,” he mumbled, rubbing his neck

“You probably weren’t actually asking either, I’m sorry,”

“No, it’s quite alright” she said smiling at him and took a breath as she thought about it, was she where she thought she would be? pretty much but was she where she wanted to be? That was a different question “I don’t know...I guess life is unexpected and it changed so much maybe you think you want something but when you get something else you see that you do like that too..does that make sense?” probably not “where would you like to be?”

***

“Sorry!” Hope took another step back and pushed her hair back with her hands still grasping her head with anxiety. “I don’t – Are you okay?” She let her hands down, but she didn’t want to give the girl any reason to think that she was going to hurt her again. Hope didn’t know what had come over her, but the other girl was right – she’d attacked someone unprovoked.

“Well technically I am fine” It had hurt a little when they fell but she wasn’t really hurt, and well the simple fact that she was randomly attacked didn’t help. maybe her father was right and she did need a bodyguard, even if it wasn’t a terrible attack. “I still don’t understand why you randomly chose to do that.” maybe she was a dangerous person and well she rather not do something that would make her attack her again.

Hope was jumpy these days. She couldn’t pinpoint why, but she was on her way back from her shift at the Lounge, the hair on the back of her neck stood up suddenly and she whirled around and tackled someone to the ground, fist pulled back to punch them in the face. She deflated as soon as she did it. “Shit, I’m sorry… I’m just… on edge,” she said with a sigh, before realizing her full body weight was still on top of the other person. Hope stood up and staggered a step back, hands up to show she didn’t mean any harm.

“What is wrong with you? You being on edge gives you no right to assault people that were just walking behind you” She said getting up “in what world is acting this way accepted.” her shoulder hurt, she glared at the other woman and looked around to see if there was some kind of security if not she may go to the police later herself. This woman was clearly unhingedl.

The museum was one of the quieter places in town that she liked to escape to when she needed to get away from the farm. The library was nice when she wanted to study, but in the museum she could wander for hours without being bothered. It wasn’t one of those that had constant tours and busses of children, except maybe once a year she supposed. Today, Imogen walked through the art exhibit, admiring the swirls of color and scenes of old. She almost didn’t notice the blonde girl in the room with her until the other girl spoke up. Imogen looked up at the painting with a thoughtful sigh. “I always thought bein’ a knight would be such fun when I was growin’ up,” she said. “And a princess too. Just depended on the day.”

“Well the knight does get to see more action but is more dangerous most of the time” she said thoughtfully “Unless there was no threat or anything then I would think being a knight could be very boring, the princess I assume is just more stressful..although if she isn’t ruling then she can probably can do whatever she wants. Maybe? “

    *”IT’S A duty.” Caitlyn said plainly, not sure why exactly she was talking to some stranger. “You choose to be a knight – but you choose it because you believe in what you’re protecting. And when you believe in something, really believe it, it doesn’t feel like a choice at all. It feels like a matter of course.” Caityln turned, smiling at the woman. “I’m more concerned about the princess, honestly. You don’t choose to be a princess - you’re born one. Doesn’t it sound terrible?”

She sighed and looked at the princess, honestly she sometimes avoided looking at her “I don’t know if its terrible... I’m sure she loves the people and wants to protect them and be the best, but is true that she just was born into it with all the responsibilities and expectations and she doesn’t feel she is fulfilling any of them not to mention she probably comes from a long line of rulers and she has to compare herself to them too... if he really chose to be the knight I suppose you’re right but what if he had to become one because of reasons bigger than himself, putting his life on the line because its said he must?” she chuckled “Sorry, i’m creating some story out of nowhere.”