what are my duties!?”

Chris asked me if I was comfortable standing to which I nodded a yes, then he went ahead with the story. "Its a story I'll start, so don't interrupt me as I will say it in one go. AND I'm not repeating it again so better pay attention!" His eyes went a bit big as he said that and it made me chuckle, "okay chris I'll pay attention!"

Chris ignored my laughter and continued, "cortonia is a small island now, long ago it was said to be the most richest land in the world; so rich that all the kingdoms had their investment and relationships with cortonian royalties. But as the good lies so does evil! Cortonia had a law which was to be abided by no matter the circumstance - the king's oldest child descends the throne, and rest all are bifurcated into a branch family. Well ofcourse the branch family got all the royal privileges but their kids didn't. This waged a war internally, there was a lot of sibling feud that resulted in decades of war."

"During the war the main family was completely lost and so was established a new rule - the very next oldest child and their entire generation to come will be declared the main family; this created more ruckus! branch families were fighting for their children's right before but now, it was about the crown! Everyone wanted to be the main family. The elders who governed the laws are still old-fashioned sticking to old beliefs and turned their blind eye to all this. The crowns who descended the throne kept changing but none of them bothered to make things right! Afterall everyone who has every been the crown has acquired it by wrong means."

I couldn't hold myself and interrupted chris, "umm...sorry but do you mean the wrong means are to wipe out entire generation of your siblings?". Chris Clicked his tongue with a very irritating expression answered, "yes exactly idiot! Listen properly and you'll understand everything! Now don't interrupt me!". I just nodded yes and pressed my lips together.

Chris waited for a while and then continued the story, "Cortonia on the outside was still the rich country but the ever changing rulers messed all the political relationships with the world...After some time into the war the elders finally addressed this issue, and to correct it decided to put up security for the crown from the family itself. The plan was to nullify the immediate threat to the throne, that was the immediate next heir if the king or queen dies!"

"That was when the crown's moon and the crown's shield came into existence. It was not long ago just 2 centuries old hence our parents are the 4th generation of moon and shield." Chris waited and looked at me if I had any questions, but I pressed my lips looking at him and he just rolled his eyes.

"Okay the rest of the war is a history for you to discover, let explain how moon and shield works...The then ruling crown was a very eligible, smart, kind and a prefect ruler- Alexein. His generations still hold the crown rights. Now Alexein had a twin sister- Alexandra, she was equally kind but her expertise was court diplomacy and war strategies. As the immediate sibling Alexandra would be the crown in case her brother died. When the elders released the rules, it said the immediate next sibling would be the crown's moon - they will receive equal sitting, equal right in absence of crown and and generational heritance just like the crown; BUT the crown's moon could never be the crown because it their duty to serve and protect the crown even at the cost of their own life!...That is where the oath comes in, LIVE FOR THE CROWN, PROTECT THE CROWN AND WHEN TIME COMES DIE FOR THE CROWN!"

"Doing this the fueds stops, but only for some time. Alexandra was a very dutifully and truly a capable moon to have ever been, the twins completed each other and never in her entire tenure as the crown's moon Alexandra ever let the war or any assassin near the crown. Alexandra had two sons and she trained them to be equally capable, she could never discriminate and hence raised them both with all the training for the crown's moon... But when her tenure ended she couldn't give one name so she turned to her brother, the crown for the solution. Alexein was a smart ruler and a good uncle, instead of choosing he left the choice to both her sons."

Chris stopped and turned to me, "did you understand why he did that aphie?" He suddenly asked me a question about something I myself was confused about. I started working my brain up, it took me some time but I got the answer. I replied to chris, "If the kids had as good bond as alexein and alexandra they would find a way out to do things together or one might back away...BUT in case the kids fought each other for it, that would still be better scenario as the better one survives and becomes the moon!". Chris smiled at my answer and said, "exactly!"

Then chris continued the story, "After Alexein set the conditions, both the kids took around a year to come up with solutions. They never fought! And one day they went to the crown with a proposal- they had observed the familial feud now possessed a threat to heritance of both the crown and the crown's moon! So now a position that protects them to be introduced!...And instead of hierarchical inheritance, there should be strict selection and training for the post so no discrimination is observed"

"Alexein was so impressed, He asked who came up with this idea? The oldest son replied, He was the one who did but his younger brother was the one who observed and brought up this issue. Alexein happily accepted their proposal and that is when crowns shield came into being...The duties were divided accordingly, the younger brother who addressed the problem was made the crown's SHIELD; And the older brother who came up with the solution was given the post of crown's MOON... This was the inner circle of 3 that formed back then"

"As per the duties- Crown's SHIELD, always is aware about the internal feuds and calamities to come, they have their personal battalion for war as and when required, they are to always report to the Moon about the problems to come and protect the MOON and the CROWN at all cost!" Chris pointed at himself saying, "I'm the shield and these are my duties"

I looked at him pointing at myself, "So you report to me? And all of these sound like my duties... If they are yours, Then what are my duties!?"