Ruth had spoken her piece and believed she’d done just enough to be an adequate knight. So it came as a great surprise, when, in the land of dreams, Ruth found herself a Great Knight.

For what great deed or for how long, she never learned because she immediately woke in a fit of side-splitting laughter at the sheer absurdity.

Eventually, the raucous laughter dissolved into quiet sobbing.

Sleep did not come to Ruth again.