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31_days2006-08-20 09:35 am
seta-suzume.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2006-08-20 09:35 am
[Aug. 20. 2006][original] In Alywin's Life
Title: In Alywin's Life
Day/Theme: Aug. 20, 2006 "I have tasted the bitter and the sweet of affairs /And walked over the rough and smooth path of days."
Series: original
Character/Pairing: Alywin, Michaelis, Li
Rating: G
"I am a pretty old man, Michaelis," Alywin laughed as the boy urged him to take part in their ball game.
"You play croquet!" Michaelis insisted stubbornly in the way only a small child can.
"Yes, indeed," the priest general answered calmly, shuffling over to sit on a gray, stone bench between the lilac bush and a row of potted orange trees. "I used to play highball and swing a stick with the best of them, but I've also played croquet and I know very well which is the better sport for a man of my age."
The blond boy paused, mouth hanging open, as he thought. He put down his flattened stick and came over to sit beside his caregiver. "How old are you, Uncle Alywin? As old as the Holy Mother? As old as the White Castle?"
"As old as the hills?" suggested Li, with a twinkle in his eye as he came across the grass to see what Alywin had said to distract Michaelis from the game.
"No," Alywin dismissed their comparisons with a toss of a gnarled, calloused hand, "I'm old, but not as ancient as any of that!"
"Should you be calling the holy mother 'ancient?'" Li murmured teasingly as though he were merely thinking out loud.
Alywin ignored the red-haired knight and straightened his skull cap. "In my life...I have seen war and peace and ceasefire and every other condition in between," he declared sagely.
Michaelis nodded for him to go on.
"I've fought and I've prayed, and I've found I like peace and praying best of all. I can walk the rough path if I have to, but that doesn't mean I like it."
"When did you become a priest?"
"Before you were born." Alywin patted Michaelis' head, ruffling his hair.
"And when did you become a general?" the boy prompted.
"Oh, sometime before- no, I think it was after, that," Alywin scratched his head and adjusted his spectacles. "I was a Holy Knight first, you know. Everything else came after the break in the warring. I was training Seif and Li and Ran then. We had a peace treaty with General Alzeta. When he died and was succeeded by Pohscratt there were skirmishes again, but now we have all out war...Ah, what I'd give for a longer peace."
"I'll force it on them for you, Uncle," Michaelis said strongly.
Alywin put an arm around the boy's shoulders, "Thank you for that, my son."
Day/Theme: Aug. 20, 2006 "I have tasted the bitter and the sweet of affairs /And walked over the rough and smooth path of days."
Series: original
Character/Pairing: Alywin, Michaelis, Li
Rating: G
"I am a pretty old man, Michaelis," Alywin laughed as the boy urged him to take part in their ball game.
"You play croquet!" Michaelis insisted stubbornly in the way only a small child can.
"Yes, indeed," the priest general answered calmly, shuffling over to sit on a gray, stone bench between the lilac bush and a row of potted orange trees. "I used to play highball and swing a stick with the best of them, but I've also played croquet and I know very well which is the better sport for a man of my age."
The blond boy paused, mouth hanging open, as he thought. He put down his flattened stick and came over to sit beside his caregiver. "How old are you, Uncle Alywin? As old as the Holy Mother? As old as the White Castle?"
"As old as the hills?" suggested Li, with a twinkle in his eye as he came across the grass to see what Alywin had said to distract Michaelis from the game.
"No," Alywin dismissed their comparisons with a toss of a gnarled, calloused hand, "I'm old, but not as ancient as any of that!"
"Should you be calling the holy mother 'ancient?'" Li murmured teasingly as though he were merely thinking out loud.
Alywin ignored the red-haired knight and straightened his skull cap. "In my life...I have seen war and peace and ceasefire and every other condition in between," he declared sagely.
Michaelis nodded for him to go on.
"I've fought and I've prayed, and I've found I like peace and praying best of all. I can walk the rough path if I have to, but that doesn't mean I like it."
"When did you become a priest?"
"Before you were born." Alywin patted Michaelis' head, ruffling his hair.
"And when did you become a general?" the boy prompted.
"Oh, sometime before- no, I think it was after, that," Alywin scratched his head and adjusted his spectacles. "I was a Holy Knight first, you know. Everything else came after the break in the warring. I was training Seif and Li and Ran then. We had a peace treaty with General Alzeta. When he died and was succeeded by Pohscratt there were skirmishes again, but now we have all out war...Ah, what I'd give for a longer peace."
"I'll force it on them for you, Uncle," Michaelis said strongly.
Alywin put an arm around the boy's shoulders, "Thank you for that, my son."