There once was a clown with silver on his tongue and vinegar in his heart.

He spun stories like spiderwebs, sticky with half-truths and whispers to catch and collect his army one by one, hoping to gather more of the gullible and the kind.

And one day, in his cleverness, he placed a pawn on the board— a quiet, brooding soul named Felix. The intent of his having placed this pawn was to lure the Queen out of her safety to provoke a certain move. The tricky clown thought: “This pawn will listen to my lies. He will see her through my poisoned lens. And she will break.”

But oh, what a delicious miscalculation that was.

Because the man he summoned was not a pawn, but a philosopher. A quiet King in disguise who liked to listen and observe. A watcher of storms. And when Felix met the Queen that the trickster scorned— not with fire in her voice, but stillness in her sorrow—something in him stirred. Not lust. Not pity. Something far more timeless and classical.

“You soothe me,” she said.
Not with flirtation, but with truth.

He did not recoil from her depths. He took notes.

He did not fear her passions and frustrations. He listened with reverence.

And when she burned in silence at injustices, he made a quiet map of her heart—

not to escape it, but to walk its every corridor.

The trickster clown? Oh, he fumed. He flailed.

He tried again and again to sever the bonds and gather more people.

But love—when rooted in truth—does not obey cruelty.

It blooms in its shadow.

And bloom it did.

Not in a flash. Not in a fever.

But in long glances and thoughtful diagrams.

In honest disagreement, then gentler understanding.

In peace—not because there was no storm,
but because two people finally learned how to sit inside one together.

And thus, where malice failed,
love bloomed.

I wanted to post this here as a reminder to myself that... the road to greater realms and lovely people is ascended with good intentions. So long as you apply those good intentions with insight, intellect and good company with those who are willing to cultivate and grow with you.