任由風月

風來浪迎

風去浪退

月近潮起

月遠潮歇

心似滄海

與天競寬

奈何還是

不抵心寒

風風月月

來去近遠

浪浪潮潮

迎退起歇

曾經滄海

無怨無悔

怎麼還是

任由風月

Chapter 4. -- The Knight And The Princess

Chapter 4. The Knight And The Princess

I had been the guarding knight of Katerina, since Ms. Blendy told me so.

“You should never let the other people talk to Katerina, or you would fail the task I give it to you, and I would have to relieve you from the position of the KNIGHT.” Ms. Blendy leaned down and looked straight into my eyes with a serious tone that made me tense, followed by a pause which seemed to be waiting for my respond.

“But my position of the night is my room. My mom doesn't allow me to leave my bed even for a glass of water.”I felt difficult to comply, and found that Ms. Blendy was still looking into my eyes without blinking, we looked to each other for a silent moment, then Ms. Blendy exhaled a deep breath.

“Do you know the story of the dragon?”Ms. Blendy asked me.

Suddenly Katerina interrupted and said, “The dragon was huge and evil. It captured the princess in the tall tower in an island far far away. The princess had to wait for a knight on white horse. The knight would kill the dragon and rescue the princess, and then they got married and lived happily forever.”

“Oh! Oh! The Dragon! It can fly and blow the burning flame from its mouth,...”I recalled that I had heard the story and became excited, until Ms. Blendy stopped me by holding my cheeks with her cold palms, forcing me to face her straight look again.

“Yes, the dragon story, and you, young boy, you will be the Knight,...” , before Ms. Blendy could finish her sentence, Katerina interrupted again: “And I am the princess!”

Ms.Blendy turned to Katerina and said: “Yes, my little princess!”

When Ms.Blendy tried to resume her far sharp glassy blue look to me, I really had to ask:

“And you are the Dragon?”

After a halting moment, when Katerina turned to Ms.Blendy looking upward, Ms. Blendy cleared my doubt, “No, I am the Queen, and now this Queen appoint you as the Knight to protect Princess Katerina. Will you protect Katerina from the spells of the Dragons? ”

“Yes! Ms. Queen!”, I replied firmly.

I did feel the spirit of “honor” rushing to my head, yet hadn't even known what the word was. I almost knelt down beside my four-wheel ride. When a grown-up has enough patience to clear the children's doubts, even it's just a fairy tale, with a no-blinking, eye-to-eye look, in a serious steady tone of voice, she or he can really win the faith of the pure, determinate spirits.

Initially I misunderstood the task and rudely blocked some warm greetings for several times, and got punished by my mom after some complaints in the neighborhood, eventually I was so smart that I found all I had to do was to answer the greet for my Princess Katerina, and then grab her running away ASAP. Unlike her, I was immune from the spells, which I believed it's from the well training to bear Ms. Alexian, and sometimes my mom in the mood. From then on I stopped playing soccer with the other kids, I was the knight on the ride, it was my obligation to save my princess from the curses of the “dragons”.

But sometimes, OK, very often, I would forget my role as the knight. When there were no “dragons” beside, I would be a great speaker having the most faithful audience. Katerina was curious of every gossips from my school and the neighborhood. On the other hand I would be the magic mirror as well, since she didn't talk to her classmate at all, I was the answer, or the tool to dig out the answer for her daily observation. Katerina's genuine happy reaction was an enchanting magic to me. It did make me feel I had protected her in some way, until her 7th grade, when her pretty face started to appear temporary confusion once in a while, and during the waiting period for the end of her silence, I found the autumn on her face was even more beautiful than the Lake Visione.