“Um… ah… forgive—” Hadrian started when the man cut him off.
“There you have it. The cause for the slight is that the knight has no tongue! You are a knight, are you not? Please tell me you are. Please tell me you were some bucolic farmer that a drunken lord jokingly dubbed after you chased a squirrel from his manor. I couldn’t stand it if you were another illegitimate son of an earl or duke, who crawled from an alehouse, attempting to claim true nobility.”
“Let the man try to speak,” the lady said. “Surely he suffers from a malady that prevents his mind from forming words properly. It’s nothing to make light of, dear brother. It is a true sickness. Perhaps he contracted it from suffering on the battlefield. I am told that placing pebbles in the mouth often helps. Would you care for some, good sir?”
“I don’t need any pebbles, thank you,” Hadrian replied coolly.
“Well, you certainly need something. I mean, you are afflicted, aren’t you? Why else would you completely ignore me like that? Or do you delight in insulting a lady, whose only offense is to ask your name?”
“I didn’t—I mean, I wasn’t—”
“Oh dear, there he goes again,” she said with a pitiful look. “Please send a servant to fetch some pebbles at once.”
“I daresay,” her brother began, “I don’t think we have time for the pebbles. Perhaps he can simply suck on one or two of these pinecones. Would that help, do you think?”
“He doesn’t have a speech problem,” Sir Murthas said as he approached, thumbs hooked in his belt and a wide grin on his face.
“No?” the prince and princess asked together.
“No, indeed, he’s merely ignorant. He has his own tutor, you know. When I first met Sir Hadrian—that is the lout’s name, by the way—he was in the middle of a bathing lesson. Can you imagine? The poor clod doesn’t even know how to wash.”
“Oh, now that is troubling.” The princess began cooling herself with a collapsible fan.
“Indeed. So at a loss was he at the complexities of bathing that he threw his washcloth at Sir Elgar!”
“Such rude behavior is inherent in him, then?” she asked.
“Listen, I—” Hadrian started, only to be cut off again.
“Careful, Beatrice,” Murthas said. “You’re agitating him. He might spit or drool on you. If he’s that uncouth, who knows what degradations he’s capable of? I’ll lay money that he’ll wet himself next.”
Hadrian was taking a step toward Murthas when he saw Nimbus rushing toward them.
“Princess Beatrice, Prince Rudolf, and Sir Murthas, a wonderful Wintertide to you all!”
They turned to see the tutor, his arms spread wide, a joyous smile beamed across his face. “I see you’ve met our distinguished guest Sir Hadrian. I am certain he is far too modest to tell the tale of his recent knighting on the field of battle. A shame, as it is a wonderful and exciting story. Prince Rudolf, I know you’d enjoy hearing it, and in return you can tell of your own heroic battles. Oh, I am sorry, I forgot—you’ve never actually seen a real battle, have you?”
The prince stiffened.
“And you, Sir Murthas, I can’t recall—please tell us—where you were while the empress’s armies fought for their lives. Surely you can relate your exploits of the last year and how you fared while other goodly knights died for the cause of Her Eminence’s honor?”
Murthas opened his mouth, but Nimbus was quicker. Turning to the woman, he went on, “And, my lady, I want to assure you that you needn’t take offense at Sir Hadrian’s slight. It is little wonder that he ignored you. For he knows, as we all do, that no honorable lady would ever be so bold as to speak first to a strange man in the same manner as a common whore selling her wares on the street.”
All three of them stared, speechless, at the tutor.
“If you’re still looking for your seat, Sir Hadrian, it’s this way,” Nimbus said, hauling him along. “Once again, a glorious Wintertide to you all!”
Nimbus directed him to a chair at the end of a table, which so far remained empty.
“Whoa,” Hadrian said in awe. “You just called those men cowards and the princess a whore.”
“Yes,” he said, “but I did so very politely.” He winked. “Now, please do try to stay out of trouble. Sit here and smile. I have to go.” Nimbus slipped back through the crowd, waving to people as he went.