Lost in Glory

Jaddo the peasant was very excited. He had never been so excited in his entire life. Well, maybe excluding that one time when he found a shiny rock, and that other time he saw a baby bear, and a time soon after that when he almost got eaten by an adult bear, and also that one time... In truth, Jaddo was a very excitable peasant. It didn't change the fact that he was unusually excited this time. There were changes. Big changes. He had to share them with his wife.

"Dara! Dara! You won't believe that!"

"What will I not believe this time?" Dara asked. She was much less excitable and much more down to earth than her husband.

"We are no longer the Empire!"

"Ah. So what are we now?" she asked, calmly.

"A Kingdom!"

"And the difference is...?"

"The Emperor is no more! There is a King now!"

"That's nice..."

"Arthaxiom is his name! He fought and won a glorious battle! He duelled mages and orcs and monsters and demons!"

"Good for him."

"He did it for us!"

"For us? For you and me?"

"No, silly! I mean, yes, for us two too, but for all the peasants!"

"He fought a glorious battle for the peasants?" Dara was somewhat confused by what Jaddo was saying, but she was used to it. Her husband often had trouble with expressing himself.

"Yes! For our freedom! We are no longer slaves! We will no longer be oppressed! No more servitude! We are free now!"

"Ah. So... What you are trying to say is that some other guy now rules in the capital and that everything will be better for us now?"

"Yes!"

"So, I no longer have to milk the cows every morning?" she asked, cautiously.

"Well..." Jaddo hesitated. "I think you still have to do that."

"And you no longer have to feed them?"

"I think I might have to do that too..."

"No more pulling out the weeds, then?"

"We still have to do that too I guess..."

Dara gave her husband a look. "So, did anything change, really?"

"Well, when you put it like that..." he shook his head sadly. "I'll go pull out some weeds."