The Bravery of Prince Graysen.....

Once upon a time there was a young Prince named Graysen. He lived in a lush green kingdom, with his royal family. Young Prince Graysen was born into this world with the ability to see things in a way that others miss. He was always wrapped up in details that others didn’t notice, and rarely paid attention to that which was important to the other subjects of the kingdom. Some people in the kingdom saw his view of the world as a defect, but really it was just a difference and they were missing the magic of the world through his eyes.

Prince Graysen was born into the world with a destiny to tame the many worry dragons that swarmed around him. To most of the subjects in the kingdom, these dragons were invisible, and so they did not understand his quests. However, to those that did see his battles, they knew he was a great, and brave warrior.

On this particular day, the worry dragon “Rides-a-bike” had been circling with more intensity than in all the past years combined. It was a dragon that his parents, the King and Queen (yes Queen, momma wears a tiara driving the royal minivan on the royal carpool), had pushed to the side, choosing instead to focus their young son on other more pressing battles. At long last though, the time had come for the young prince to face down this dragon and conquer it, once and for all.

Prince Graysen was afraid and cried as he jumped on his wheeled steed. His mother, hating that she had to send her son into this battle, wanted nothing more to run into the castle with her boy and lock the dragons out forever. She knew though, a dragon ignored, breeds more dragons, and no locks could keep them out. Her job was to support him through these battles in childhood, so that he held the tools in his adult years to walk this world along side his dragons as old friends.

Prince Graysen also knew that it was time, but with fear holding tight, the dragon had the upper hand and the young Prince found himself forgetting where his weapons for battle were.

His parents, the King and Queen, realized that he needed to be reminded of the rewards that come to those brave warriors that tame their worry dragons. They told him of the great trophy, Minecraft for Xbox 360. If you don’t know about Minecraft, the royal princes have declared it akin to kittens, sliding down a rainbow at Christmastime. Anywho, the trophy Minecraft for Xbox 360, would be his if he made this dragon his pet.

This was a truly great trophy. Prince Graysen had known it was being made available to the royal trophy cabinet on May 9th, as he had been tracking it’s release for about a year. He had also been talking at his mother, the Queen about it, most every waking second, for that same amount of time. The Queen explained that while it was available, the only thing that would unlock the royal credit card was Prince Graysen taming this dragon and adding it to his collection of dragon pets.

Prince Graysen was unhappy with the rules of the kingdom and stomped around decreeing that someone should lose their head. He fell into an invisible hole on the sidewalk, melting down into a puddle of frustration and futility. Thankfully Prince Graysen was not yet leader of his land, because it appeared that it would have been the Queen's head on the chopping block.

In time Prince Graysen understood that the terms of the quest would not change and he helped the Queen create a plan to tame this dragon and win the trophy. The queen suggested 18 battle days for this victory, knowing secretly, that the young prince would not need nearly that many.

On the first day of battle the young Prince went out with the wise Lady Tracey of the tribe ‘life coach’.
Lady Tracey was a great trainer of young Princes and Princesses, who held the same world views as Prince Graysen. She understood the quests that the young prince was required to challenge in his life, and she was another voice of support and training for the Prince. She joined him on the battlefield, the young prince took deep breaths and he was very brave. He wielded his great power and managed to make six definite blows against Dragon “Rides-a-bike”. Three times lady Tracey coached these blows and three times, Prince Graysen told her, “I’ve doth got this.” While the blows were short, they were strong and steady.

Prince Graysen came inside the royal castle victorious and encouraged that this dragon would soon be among his beautiful menagerie of dragon pets. Inside, he told his mother the Queen of his great battle, unaware that the queen had proudly looked out the castle window and watched him face that dragon head on. She had watched, her heart bursting with joy in seeing that the young prince was discovering what she had known all along, that he had the power to do great things in his life.

The young prince and the queen sat around the royal dining room while the cooks worked on dinner in the kitchen. (Okay, so there aren’t any royal cooks and the queen was actually the one doing the cooking, but a girl can dream, can’t she?) They stood over the battle plan, writing down the details of the day's successes, and planning for tomorrows epic clash.

That night the young prince slept uneasily, concerned for the next day. Upon waking, he spent most of the morning bargaining with the Queen, attempting to circumvent the terms of this battle. The queen held fast, knowing that the dragon “Rides-a-bike” was only a small part of a larger life quest. That quest being the young prince learning to trust in himself, in his brave heart and to take chances.

That morning, Prince Graysen went to the royal school to learn from the royal awesome teachers who understood his view of the world and his quests. When he shared with them, the battle that was required later that afternoon, they affirmed that the power was within him, and that they believed in him, and that he should to.

Try as he might to stall the march of time, the young prince soon found himself back at the royal castle. It was a warm, beautiful day in the kingdom. The young prince’s older brother and younger sister eagerly grabbed their horseless, wheeled, contraptions and spilled out into the street.

The young prince went to his mother, making a feeble protest or two. He looked his mom clearly in the eyes (or close enough) clarifying, “How do I know that the rules won’t change if I am victorious over the worry dragon “Rides-a-bike”?”

His mother smiled and confirmed, “When you ride your horseless, wheeled contraption around the street, just like your older brother Prince Caylen, the trophy will be yours.”

The young Prince watched his big brother effortlessly glide and swoop up and down the road. He stood still for a moment. The queen watched him processing the task at hand, wondering what he must be thinking, wondering if the battle it was too soon for this quest.

Slowly, the Queen saw a change come over the young prince. For the first time she saw determination, growing in his eyes. She saw his body grow still, and he seemed to dig down deep within him, reaching for weapons he had stored away for just such an occasion. The Queen followed the young Prince onto the battlefield. She held the back of the horseless, wheeled contraption, but almost instantly upon entering the great arena, the young prince cried, “Let go!”

He peddled, wobbled, wavered, and stopped. He scrambled to gain his footing as the dragon circled around for another pass. Again, the queen started with him, and again, he pedaled, wobbled, wavered and stopped, this time finding his footing a little faster. The dragon, circled again, blowing fire, and roaring at the young prince, yet the great winged creature could not touch him. The young prince’s determination had created a shield that the dragon could only slam up against. Desperate to avoid the leash the young prince was carrying, the great dragon continued to hammer away at the shield, trying to build on the boy's shakiness.

The battle waged on and on. The queen watched as her son fought with all his might, stopping, starting, over and over, each time finding his footing faster than the last. No longer was he allowing her to help him back onto the field when he stumbled. He pressed into the battle, alone, and with each new attempt the Prince fought back faster than the last.

The queen, watching him charge head on, steadfast, knew, today was the day that this great dragon would fall.

The dragon, raged and slammed against the shield, one last time with all his might. The young warrior fell hard to the ground. The shield closing in close against the young prince, so that even the queen could feel the vibrations from the wings of the great beast, and the heat from it's firey breath. The queen felt the waiver in her son's resolve. Getting back up, he turned to her and whispered, “I really, really want that trophy mommy.”

The queen wanted to hug him, to tell him that from this day forward, she would slay all his dragons. She was conflicted; wanting to use her veto power to negate the rules of the land, but her heart told her with one last push this battle was all but won.

She whispered back, “Are you going to let your worry dragon get in the way of your Minecraft trophy?”

“No.” He replied.

“Then tell your worry dragon, ‘Go away. I want the Minecraft Trophy.’ ”

“Go away worry dragon, I want the Minecraft Trophy. I want to ride my horseless, wheeled contraption!” The young prince’s voice slightly shaky, but there was a steadiness bubbling from deep inside.

With that, he put his feet on the pedals, once, twice, three, four times; the dragon roared, each time, with less ire, less strength. Slowly, the gap between the young prince and the dragon closed, as the great beast circled, closer, and closer, calmer, and calmer. With one final push of resolve, Prince Graysen was suddenly riding his horseless, wheeled contraption, and the dragon was trotting along side him, feisty, but leashed.

“That’s how it’s done.” The queen softly cheered as she watched her young boy circle, victory lap after victory lap. He fell in line with his older brother, exploring the road in front of the castle. The dragon, while still spirited, seemed so much smaller now, as it padded alongside the young prince. The queen was hit with a ‘heartbust’ of joy as she watched her young boy settle into his new skill.

After, all the victory laps, after the royal family and assorted villagers passing by cheered, the young prince turned to his mother and father and asked if the trophy was now his. With a smile, his parents took him into the castle, retrieved the royal credit card and unlocked the Minecraft for Xbox 360 trophy.

As the royal Internet was downloading the trophy into the royal Xbox case, the queen took her son upstairs to record his victory on his battle plan. The prince drew confetti on day two of the plan, and his mother spoke to him softly, “Do you see now, that you had the power to do this all along? The only thing that stood in your way was you believing in yourself. You can do anything in this world Prince Graysen, if you just trust and believe in yourself.”

He hugged her and disappeared into the royal gaming room to discover his trophy with his older brother.

 The queen let the events of today's battle wash over her. She found herself grateful that having a young Prince born to these quests, meant that she had the perspective to celebrate these battles in a way that she might have missed without this destiny. She reminded herself that in time, all battles will be won. In his own time, her young prince will rule his world with courage and strength. While his reign might look different from that of his royal siblings, it would be right and beautiful all the same.