Twelfth Knight

by Alexene Farol Follmuth

My swagger is built on a foundation of adoration and envy. Hers is a flat-out refusal to let anyone tell her who to be.

“Nah. Never meet your heroes.” “Seriously?” “People are always disappointing in real life.” She shrugs. “They never live up to what you want them to be. This way, he’ll always be interesting.”

“I think the best thing we can do in this life is take care of each other,” I said. “Which doesn’t have to mean marriage or babies,” I added quickly. “I just think maybe happiness isn’t crossing a finish line, or finally meeting the right person or getting the right job or finding the right life. It’s the little things.” Like finally seeing your contributions valued at a tabletop game of ConQuest. “It’s the thing that happens to you while you’re wide awake and dreaming.”

It makes perfect sense just then, that little lightning bolt of understanding that I can spot in moments of clarity. It’s not just about the endgame, you know what I mean? The game isn’t the dice. It’s who’s with you at the table.