The Dragon Chronicles, Part 3

I find myself spending much time lately pondering the quest log of my life...the challenges I wish to pursue and the dragons I wish to slay. The rewards and experience to be gained for such questing are obvious motivations for sallying forth, but there are other motivators as well. People, to be precise.....

...There are those I find myself desiring to protect, damsels in distress and so forth. (My family is chock full of damsels in distress!)

....There are those who provide my means of warfare: armorers, patrons, serfs, stablemasters, and the like. (My employers and resourcers are absolutely obligatory in my questing after dragons!)

...There are those who are my progeny...those who wish to have me mentor them into glorious copies of myself. In them I see my greatest strengths...and most dismal failures. (Teaching and exampling are the ultimate way of learning!)

...But the most intriguing are those I meet upon the road...those who, like myself, are questing after life's dragons and the concomitant rewards. Many are on the selfsame quests, eager to have aid in resolving their quests handily and avoiding the slow and arduous path of soloing their dragons, especially the elite ones. They intersect my life, solicit my aid and move away again, with various levels of expressed (or unexpressed!) gratitude. Some return from time to time as they learn to know my strengths and how those fit their needs. Some even become firm acquaintances, eager to lend me aid as well as asking for it, and ofttimes desirous of my company for its own sake.

......But the most truly valuable (and intrinsically satisfying!) persons are those precious few who embrace me as part of their own life's questing. They are those who understand fully the depth of my need to quest and intentionally infuse their own need into mine. We live, and love, and sweat and bleed side by side throughout the journey. We are guildmates, fellow knights and companions, pledged to go the distance together and to act as one in conquering our quests and subduing our collective dragons. They encourage my strengths and actively hone the rough edges off of my weaknesses and solemnly plead for me to reciprocate in kind. It is they, my brothers, who are the true motivation for the quest and the only sure way to defeat the greatest dragons....