Okay… here I am with another story, this just came up out of nowhere so… I plead you to forgive me if it's bad.

Chapter 1- Suitor Talk

It was annoying. It was so annoying for Jane. She was now 18 and her mother wanted her to choose a suitor. Jane desperately wanted to get away from her mother, Gunther, and Jester. Just for a bit.

"Dragon it is so annoying!" Jane exclaimed waving her hands up in the air. "Well it is nice that you have someone." Dragon reasoned. "Dragon…" Jane said warningly. "What?" Dragon asked looking up from his claws. "Oh Dragon…" Jane said. They were in his cave; Jane had asked him to take her to his cave so she did not have to deal with two men and her mother.

Jester looked for Jane everywhere; he just could not find her anywhere. He sighed heavily and shook his head making the jingling bells ring. "Where is she?" he thought, but he did not realize that he was speaking out loud. "She is out in Dragon's cave." A voice replied. Jester turned he saw Smithy standing next to him. Smithy was slightly taller than Jester. Smithy pulled Jester up to his feet and said, "Do not worry, she will be back soon."

Gunther lifted the barrels of salt as his back ached with severe pain. Salt…is too heavy. Gunther thought as he lifted the last of the barrels. The Merchant stood next to his son watching him lift the barrels. I could use a little help. Gunther thought as he grimaced at the pain. He had been lifting barrels since dawn broke, and his feet went numb. He lost all of his strength, and fell. The barrel of salt fell on him. He moved the last barrel that was on his feet and with his father's voice scolding him harshly, Gunther walked away with pain filling each step.

The Lady-in-waiting needed a chat with Jane. She was more than old enough, and she wanted Jane to choose a suitor. They had talked a day before and Jane's voice was sharp as it came to her as if it were trying to stab her. Her daughter was mad with fury yelling that she did not want a suitor. She remembered Jane's rage; she decided that it would be best to wait a few more days until Jane settled down.

Her father wanted her to be happy, but he did not know which man Jane wanted. So whoever Jane chose, he would approve. His daughter looked like she was absorbed in her thoughts, she often was absent-minded, and he could definitely tell that it was more than a tiny tinge of annoyance.

Jane sighed and looked at the castle down below she had loved the place where she grew up, she loved the people that she worked with, she had everything that she needed, what else could she ask for? Jane repeated her mother's words through her head, "You must choose a suitor Jane." Then she remembered her own rage that had come out like a fire out of nowhere.

Jester shifted from his position on the bed, he was tired of Prince Cuthbert making mischief while he tried to teach the Prince. He had not only been tied to the chair but he had also hit Jester so many times he was sure that he had a lot of bruises. The prince is 14. He should know better by now. His own back ached. But as he lay on the bed he wondered, he had heard the whole conversation that Jane and her mother had. He was not supposed to be there, he just happened to walk by when he heard it. He remembered Jane's sharpening words, "I do not want a suitor!" It cut him deeply but he ignored the open wound the best he could and went off to find Pepper for a little help.

Gunther was back at the castle on sentry duty when he fell asleep again. He was so tired and ached then he felt a sharp whack. He looked up to see Sir Ivon towering over him. "Get up lad!" Sir Ivon's voice said sharply. "You will be working in the stables if you keep falling asleep!" Sir Ivon's comment made Gunther get up. His memories went back six years ago when Jane had to do menial chores because she had left her post from guarding the Queen's portrait. And when she had left her post and a vandal had struck. He remembered that he had been teasing her about Sir Ivon's socks. He shivered at the thought, he did not want to be dealing with the Sir Ivon's socks, and he would have to endure the same teasing he did to Jane, except this time that Jane would be doing it to him. Or would she?

While Gunther had been sleeping and had been caught by Sir Ivon, Jester had been in the kitchens with Pepper trying to figure out what to do.

"You see…the Gunther problem" Jester trying to explain to Pepper who just stared at him in complete confusion.

Jester now 20 years of age still struggled for the right words to explain to her. He still laughed at the thought that he called Jane a kid when he said he was a young adult. She was pretending to be mad at him, but they both knew that it was a joke.

Pepper snapped him out of his thoughts and said, "Oh…you mean Gunther is trying to take her away from you."

"Yes! Exactly!" Jester said.

"Does she know how you feel?" Pepper asked. Pepper knew, she knew that Jane knew that Jester loved her, but she also knew Jane tried to ignore all of it. She wanted her knighthood, she was determined she did not want to be distracted by boyfriend issues.

"I think so…" Jester stopped himself and said, "I do not know." He muttered in frustration.

"Well then do you think you should ask?" Pepper suggested as she put the bread in the oven.

Jester kept his silence, he did not want to say yes, or no. because he truly did not know what to do, if he asked he would get a yes or no. he would ask if he had to, if he got a yes he would be more than delighted and ask her if he got a no, what would he do? He'd be rejected. He did not like the feeling of it, and he was only thinking about it.

Pepper heard no response from Jester and came to him said, "It is your choice. You make your choice if you want to ask or not, then if you need help from there, I can help."

Jester left in silence thinking about Pepper's words.