But wait! You almost forgot to look at the knight's face! You remember now, and do so. You are shocked by what you see. One second the face appears masculine, and the very next second it appears feminine. Which is it? You think you have it, and then it changes again. You squint, to no avail. It merely changes yet again. You tear your eyes away from it and glace back quickly. No change. Then you hear a chuckle from behind you. It is Alan.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. I'll drop the illusion."
Immediately after he speaks those words, you turn your attention back to the face of the dark knight, and are once again shocked. It IS a woman! It is obvious now, even when you move around to the back. How could you have missed the clues before? It must have been the height. This woman is clearly worthy of the sword and armour, and a very beautiful woman, by whatever standards you pick. Amazing. You are even more curious about the origins of the statue now.

As if he was reading your thoughts (perhaps he was...) Alan speaks:
"The statue was carved, at my request, by the greatest sculptor ever to live. After doing this masterpiece, he retired to the mountains to live out his life. This statue took him 5 years to carve. And yes, I could have done it by magic, but that would be cheating. As for the knight, which you are no doubt wondering about, I instructed the sculptor to make her a woman. I did this because I am a firm believer that women have gotten a bum deal over the years, unfairly. It is my hope that those who see this statue will possibly come to understand that women are every bit as courageous, tough, or whatever as men, and therefore should be treated with every bit of respect that men have been treated with historically, and in so doing make the world a better place for not only women, but all people. This is why the knight is a woman."
"And as for the dragon," he continues, "yes. Such things do inhabit this realm. Fortunately, I have a deal with them whereby they do not attack my castle or people, and I declare them to be off limits for my people to attack. The arrangement works very well, and no dragon has ever been killed or killed any of my people."

After this speech, you have even more respect for Alan than you did before. You continue to look around the courtyard, and note that the fountain you saw before is rather large. The centerpiece of the statue is a jumping dolphin, with water coming out of its blowhole. The trees are tropical looking. At this point Alan gestures for you to re-enter the throne room. You take one more look at the statue and go back inside. "Any other questions," he asks. There is still the maiden, to ask about.

Thou mayest leave a message here which will get to the lord of this realm, via e-mail. You get an odd thought as you stand here: "This is all somehow related to or provided by Geocities."