âSo, fathers be good to your daughters. Daughters will love like you do. Girls become lovers who turn into mothers, so, mothers, be good to your daughters, too.â
My dear friend @burnsoslow had a birthday in February and I told her she would get her present when she finished her fic Heavier Things (which she did last week). @burnsoslow leads the charge when it comes to making people feel special on their birthdays, and I wanted to give her something fun that would celebrate her and her work. I emailed this to her yesterday and sheâs asked me to post it here.Â
if youâre stumbling across this post, it will make no sense unless you read Heavier Things : )Â
The Ballad of Heavier Things
There is a well-known fable that is sweet although it stings
In Cordonia they call it âThe Ballad of Heavier Thingsâ.
Itâs a story about a young girl with a winning smile and heart
Who confronted certain evils that ripped her life apart.
 It started at a statue when the King asked for Alyssaâs hand
(Alyssa didnât react well to that unappealing demand)
The King was quite bewildered at our heroineâs rejection,
But missed the opportunity for careful introspection.
 Instead, he served her up a threat which caused her heart to break:
âMarry me immediately or else Iâll punish Drake!â
She didnât think it over, she answered with conviction,
âYes,â she said through gritted teeth (he overlooked the contradiction).
At first she kept him at a distance (with Hana and Maxwellâs aid),
But he was a vile impatient King that would not be delayed.
Our heroine evaded him with jaunts to places yet unseen,
Sneaking in some tenderness, some moments in between.
 Yet at a ball with fireworks the world exploded fast.
Drake took a feral gunshot wound as guests were left aghast.
But in the quiet of the safehouse, a vow was made anew,
âNo matter what they throw at us I will end up with you.â
 On a Unity Tour in Fydelia there was further folly
As Madeline grew reckless and dosed all her guests with molly.
Oliva banged Liam and the other guests got high.
Maxwell confessed he loved Savannah (while drugged he could not lie).
 Back in Michaelâs chambers, Madeline had her own jig,
Seducing crazy Michael in a cheap âAlyssaâ wig,
The wig fell off, but Mike decided not to steer off track
And back at the party Hana became a pyromaniac.
 Maxwell woke up with Adelaide (the memory was uninviting)
Alyssa woke up with Drake (who sheâd spent the evening biting)
The Unity Tour soon went awry with everyone feeling poor
And Madeleine spilled secrets to the tabloid rag âThe Coreâ.
 Then Justin moved in for the kill (he saw a chance arise) -
When a group is full of secrets you can weave a web of lies.
He wanted to remove the King and the weapon picked was Drake
But it was the heroine Alyssa that this villain tried to break.
 Yet from the ashes of brutality, Alyssa only grew,
From little wolf to phoenix, she made herself anew.
But Drake was over everything, was well and truly done.
âItâs time to leave,â he told Alyssa - but they walked when they should have run.
 Tragedy befell his family and he rushed abroad on Alyssaâs orders
And at that time, Michael pounced and swiftly locked the borders.
No one in and no one out, Cordonia isolated.
But our hero and heroine had a love that endured and waited.
 The following days were torture: endless, raw and rough.
Drake missed Alyssa (and Olivia and Madeleine were up the duff).
Michael did do one thing right (although not motivated by purity),
He hired the indefatigable Enrique to oversee Alyssaâs security.
 Leo fell for Olivia, who rebuffed him at every turn
But the more that she protested, the more his heart did yearn.
Hana fell for Enrique who excelled in protecting and serving
(His precision and intensity was really quite unnerving).
 While Michael was an evil King, he wasnât very smart
(and Maxwell had persuasion down to a perfectly fine art).
Young Beaumont convinced the King to relax the laws that plague us
And let Alyssa party as a bachelorette in Vegas.
 Drake drove across the country, his heart awash with hope
as he met up with his lady love and asked her to elope.
Leo officiated and the ceremony was a delight.
Everyone got jiggy on the special wedding night.
 Drake thought the wedding ended an ordeal that had been gory
But Alyssa said: âNo freedom âtil I can tell my story!
I want to know itâs over and that I donât have to hide,
So weâll make sure we live stream it so we get the world onside.â
 Alyssaâs voice rang loud and true, it soared across the nation
(Drake jumped and shouted âThatâs my wife!â with pride-filled pure elation).
Madeline went crazy and tried to shoot Oliva Nevrakis
(but she was a clumsy shot and instead snagged Michaelâs carcass).
 Finally our heroine and hero could stop and breathe easy
Gone were all the villains that had served to make them queasy.
Then began a time of peace and weddings and fluff we crave
All because a sunny girl decided to be brave.
 So in fair Cordonia they still sing this lengthy tale,
To remind us that when things get rough, goodness can prevail.
At times they might be heavy, at times there might be pain,
But beyond the trials and suffering thereâs love and light to gain.
 ***
Happy birthday @burnsoslow Thank you for being such a kind and loving friend who is there through good and bad times and has a heart of gold. xx
