Before Nurse had quite run out of steam for her monologue, Una leapt up and fled the room, deaf to Nurse’s cries of, “Where are you going now, Miss Princess? If you go off in that Wood of yours and come back a mass of burrs, just see if I’ll – ”
The door shut, and Una hastened down the hall, hardly knowing where she went. For all the grandeur of Oriana Palace, with its hundreds of rooms and sweeping corridors and pillared halls, she felt trapped like a bird in a cage. Not even the gardens seemed welcoming once she got out into them, for rather than enjoying the summer beauty, she felt aware only of the walls rising all around. So she gathered her skirts and made once more for her beloved Wood.
Five weeks had passed since Prince Aethelbald had taken himself away, and summer was bursting with full glory, including gnats and bugs. But as soon as she stepped into the shadows of Goldstone Wood, the insects disappeared and the heat of the sun passed into coolness. She followed familiar landmarks down to the Old Bridge.
The Duke of Shippening?
All romance seemed to have vanished from life in one fell swoop. She might as well give it all up now and begin preparing herself for the role of spinster princess of Parumvir –
“Ouch! That was my foot.”
Una screamed and leapt back. “Oh, Leonard! It’s you!”
Sitting in the shade of a spreading oak was the jester. He was propped with his hands behind his head and his feet spread out before him, facing the stream and the Old Bridge. He drew back one foot and rubbed it.
“Did I step on you?” Una asked. She felt the blotches leaping into their accustomed places and self-consciously covered her face with her hand.
“No,” said the jester. He rose politely, dusting dirt and bracken from his trousers, then bowed with all the courtesy of a lord. “You kicked me. Hard. Like unto broke the bone!” But then he saw the distress on her face and shook his head. “No, m’lady, you scarcely touched me. You appeared so set on your path, I feared if I didn’t speak up, you might walk right on into the stream and drown without noticing.”
“Without noticing you or without noticing drowning?”
“Both, probably.” He grinned. “Do you come here often?”
Una nodded. She found herself reminded suddenly of her meeting with Aethelbald in this same spot, many weeks ago now. But she shook that thought away. Aethelbald was gone, and if all went as she expected, he’d never return. She folded her arms and regarded the jester. “What are you doing out here?”
He inclined his head. “You mean, of course, don’t you have a certain amount of mopping or sweeping, or some such menial task you could be attending to as we speak?”
“I didn’t – ”
“But in fact, m’lady, this humble riffraff has already completed his quotient of demeaning labor for the morning and was given the afternoon off to practice his foolishness. And he needs the practice badly enough, for he is beginning to fear that he shall have to give up this brilliant career.”
“What? Why?”
“Why? She asks me why?” Leonard picked up a handful of acorn caps and started juggling them as he spoke. “Three times,” he said, “three times I witnessed the princess yawn last night as I sang. Not once, not twice, but thrice! And yet m’lady asks me why.”
“Don’t be silly,” Una said.
“Can’t be helped. It’s my job.”
“But I didn’t yawn when you sang, Leonard!”
“Then why did you cover your mouth with your handkerchief? I saw it with my own eyes!” He bowed his head, the picture of dejection, but continued juggling the acorns at lightning speed.
“I was trying to keep from laughing too hard!” Una said, her eyes darting as they tried to follow the progress of the acorns. “I was. So you see, you must continue your brilliant career, jester. Where would my amusement come from if you abandoned it?”
He looked up. “Do I indeed amuse you, m’lady?”
“You amuse me vastly.” She shook her head. “Silly, how could I not be amused? Why, you’ve gone and tied bells to your elbows and knees. Just when I thought you couldn’t look more ridiculous!”
“I am droll, though, am I not?” With that he tossed the acorns up in the air with feigned clumsiness; a trick which he must have practiced a thousand times, for it took skill to make each one, though they appeared to fly at random, land on his head, one after the other. He made a different face as each struck, and Una had to laugh.
“You snicker at me,” he said, shaking a fist at her, “but I know that you are secretly jealous. ‘Ah!’ the lady sighs, ‘if only I could wear bells upon my elbows, then my life should be complete!’ ”
“Heaven forbid,” Una said. “Oriana has room for only one Fool, I believe.”
“Especially so great a fool as I,” the jester replied without a smile. “And what brings you down here, Princess Una?”
She sighed. “Suitors.”
“You make it sound like the descending hordes. How many this time?”