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Eulogy of a Duke

A 'mind palace', or the spatial and mental state of thought representing the sides of a personality or headspace, can be an extremely long banquet table, with dozens of seats, this one in particular has almost all the emotions seated near one side, close to the head of the rightmost side. The host sits at the head and most of the emotions are near them, towards the middle there are empty seats and the furthest part of the room is darker since there are less people over there. There are seats for all feelings, they may all look similar, but have defining features or traits. For example  Joy may be dressed in a yellow pastel dandelion suit, while a relaxed or melancholy feeling may wear a lilac tux. Every emotion is associated with something one relates to: colors, flowers, songs, characters from shows, and other art forms

The left of the long hall is dark with seats unreserved for an emotion, but free to be taken, while the right is well lit and many of the seats are full. But there are a number of seats empty but were once taken. There was once a time the table had few seats filled, many once stood as if they were unsure if they were welcome, and some came through the doors into the hall as if they were guests being waited for and soon welcomed. Now an occasional visitor passes through the doors to the hall of the seated and many are welcomed to sit and enjoy the company of many colorfully dressed guests. They ask for where they might sit, seeing a few chairs are open and places set for a feast that never arrives, but instead  a new chair is pulled from the center and set near the well lit end. Another guest explains the reasoning of the seat questioned, whether the seat is empty in memory, or they will return on a later date. But every new guest will always ask about a single seat, adorned in hyacinths of blue and purple, and the room will turn quieter as the host stands and greets the new arrival in a somber tone, and tells the tragedy of  the “Blue Suited Stranger”.

“There was a story told of two brothers. Not of blood, but of mind, set on pessimism and guilt.” the host began. “They never spoke to one another but were once in unison so well many thought they were twins, giving them the names ‘Caerula Frates Gravis’, or the Brothers Grave.” as the host spoke the room dimmed a soft blue hue, but the dress of each seated visitor stayed their vibrant colors. “One dressed in deep blue corduroy and the other in a darker faded navy, they looked almost identical from afar, the indiscernible difference between them that stood out the most was that one had a sullen look with him as a constant expression, and the other always smiled bleakly in the presence of tragedy, feeling only silent pity for his brother.

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“One day, when the halls of the manor they lived in were lit with the bright sun of the outside morning, the smiling brother spoke to his depressive companion, ‘Why must you be so gloomy? Do you find no joy in the warm day?’ With a sad raised brow, a response came from the previously mute  and ever silent lips of the depressive one, ‘It is my characteristic that defines who I am and gives me sorrowful purpose’. In a shocking and scowling glare, the grave one, angered by his response asked, ‘Are you so unwilling to change your plight that you would live in endless grief because you lie calling it your purpose? Do you not want more?!’ exclaiming his bottled frustration he kicked a table with a vase of flowers towards his brother knocking him over. In his erupting rage he rushed and lifted his unflinching  companion to the wall, muttering, ‘If you live without purpose, why do you live?’

Without allowing a word to escape between them, and in the heat of fiery dispute, it was unsure what happened next. As the table fell, a vase of Hyacinths and water slickened the ground, and as the bottled anger boiled over inside his heart, pulling the sombered brother away from the wall. Suddenly, an accident struck as the wet ground caused them to stumble towards the balcony’s ledge and caused the glooming brother to fall to the grand staircase below. Or perhaps that in his anger, the raging brother threw his closest friend to his death, but it was never sure. 

The host finishes in a tone emanating his long felt grief, whilst motioning to the rest of the room. “I’m sure you are aware of all of the brightly dressed guests seated around you, but none as you may tell have blue, which is all for the reason I explain. He may no longer be with us, but he still resides in our bluest moments”. With those final words, he returns to his seat, and as the room slowly returns to it’s commotion, the Seat of the Blue Suited Stranger remains empty.

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