Sorry, Sorry. I had Finals to write. Although It really has not been that long at all. I still feel like I should apologize for taking a bit longer then I wanted to to get the second chapter out.
Now I write this one, while watching Kitchen Nightmares. :P Hopefully It is alright.
I do not own Jane and the Dragon. Martin Baynton and the company(s) Nelvana and Weta Productions.
Chapter Two,
Major Choices
"Wait, let me get this straight." Jane whispered looking at Jester with shock in her voice. "Your parents want you to go home?"
"Yup. Home." Jester replied back looking at the table, his hands wringing the letter that he still hung onto. Tears starting to ruin the letters and the words that where written elegantly, like an artist drawn each letter to represent a masterpiece. Looking at the letter, Jane made the choice that she had to see it for herself, to have that final confirmation to what Jester had said.
Reaching out to grab the letter, Jane was surprised when Jester held it out for her to retrieve, his hand shaking and tears almost falling freely. She could tell that he was holding back as best he could, but as for what exactly he was crying about was unknown to her. Was he crying because he might have to leave, because the King would not give him permission to leave, or was it because he hasn't seen his parents since they left him here when he was seven, and the prospect was unimaginable to him. She would have to find out later as Jester was grunting for her to read the letter for everybody else to hear.
Clearing her throat, Jane held up the letter and began to read:
My dearest son,
It has been awhile, this I know. Messengers have been hard to find, but when Koulto was willing to run my letter over to you, I was over-joyed! I started writing almost immediately and now it is in your hands. We all miss you terribly, the entire caravan included. I do wish that you could see your sister, shes a splitting image of you. Its only a little relief as I do wish that you where here with us. I hope that you did noticed that I have not used your true name. I got that warning in your last letter. Why wont you tell them your name? They all sound like such caring and trustworthy friends, I would love to meet them one day. Perhaps we will come by again, and we could perform a lovely play, or maybe a musical for your wonderful King Caradoc. (Did I get his name right? There are so many Kings in England I find, very hard to keep together, I'm always double checking with your father who we are preforming for.)
Our last few plays went well, your sister's voice is really catching, I'm not sure how she does it, but she can change it. One minute she has a high, soft voice. The next minute, her voice can be so terrifying, that even I have the shivers for awhile, and I would have had the opportunity to hear her lines or song at least a hundred times in the rehearsals. How is your voice doing? Has it changed yet? Any budding romances? I'm bouncing all over the place again aren't I?
Well... Let us stop beating around the bush then. Your father and I want you to return home. Not forever, you can return to the castle if you wish after the play. Yes, the play.
Your father wants you to be part of his most recent play, working beside your sister. I wont tell too much now as we plan to perform it in front of your King when it has been completed and perfected. To tell the truth, I don't know all that much about it now, your father wont tell me. Something about how I might inform you what is happening in my excitement, and if you are anybody like me you have probably handed off this letter to a good friend to read, or you are reading out loud to start off with, Hence why your father wont tell me much, that way I cant spoil it for your friends.
Back to the point. We want you to return home. To be a part of this play of your fathers. It will be a musical so we are hoping that your voice has finished changing so that your father can compose the songs around your voice, unless its the voice of angels, then there would be no worry. We will be arriving in the kingdom of Kippernium within two months so I do hope you have received this letter before then. It would give you more time to make your decision. Yes. Decision. It is completely up to you if you want to help us out. You do not have to if you do not want to, or if you do not want to leave the castle. Your father does have a perfectly good backup just in case. We also have out into consideration that the King may not be too willing to allow his Jester leave without any guarantee that he will return. But we shall discuss this when your father and I arrive into the kingdom.
We shall see you shortly.
Much love.
Mom.
Jane was in disbelief. Everybody was. The letter started out like a simple "hi, how are you" letter. then out of the blue it transformed into a, "we have a major choice for you. Its A or B. You have X amount of time to pick. Love!" It just did not seem fair to Jane that her best friend was faced with such major decision. She knew that Jester loved his family, she heard it in his voice every time he received a letter. And he kept everyone of the letters he received in the top drawer of his desk. He also would try to write back as often as he could, started every letter with a story, one that he wrote just for his sister.
Tears. He could feel them on his eyes. See them as they filled over and fall onto the letter in his hands, smudging the letters and the words of his mothers elegant writing. He wasn't sure if what she was asking of him was fair or not. Or if he should leave or not. He could leave and spend some time with his parents and younger sister, but at the same time he would have to leave the castle. The castle. His home.
Jane was starting to hold out her hand for his letter, for as much as he didn't want anybody else to know the contents of what was in that letter, he held it out for her to take. Grunting that she should read it.
Grunts. Is that what he has been reduced too, talking in grunts like a caveman.
Shamed, Jester looked at the table he was sitting at. The gentle whorls and knots of the wood, winding their way along the slab like water. Jane's voice reading the letter out sounded calm, almost soothing to Jester as he sat their pondering his way thru another dilemma, stay or leave. And what of Jane?
He knew that his other friends would miss him, but would Jane?
Shaking his head to himself, Jester knew that she would miss him terribly if he where to go. His father could be quite persuasive so he knew that the King would allow him to go once his father got talking to him, it was a survival strategy that his father had. "Talk you way out of everything first, before you resort to violence." Was something his father made sure to ingrain into his head before his parents left him here to gain a better education. "Better with the King then with us if you want to become any smarter" his mother had told him when he questioned why they where leaving him behind. "Your father has persuaded the King to accept you as the Royal Court Jester. You should be proud. You father and I am." She was crying, that was one thing he remembered. Her tears.
After that he only heard of them through the letters his mother would send and the words of the messengers. Last he heard they had returned to Italy to celebrate a birth. Then he received the letter today. They had to be out of Italy if they wanted to return to the castle in two months. But his mother never said in the letter where they where, just that they where coming.
Jane was finishing the letter now, It was strange to hear her say the last three words in the letter, "much love. Mom." Why would she not say something close to that to him... He cared for Jane, much more then a friend. Jester wasn't sure if he could say it was love yet, but he did know that Jane meant a lot to him. And it would hurt him to see her hurt because of his departure.
"Wow" gasped Smithy. He was the first to say anything since Jane had finished reading the letter to everybody else. Half way thru the reading even Dragon came down to find out why everybody was all gloomy to find Jane reading a letter. Lucky he was smart enough to realize that it was not the right time to make any of his smart remarks. Unfortunately, when Smithy spoke, Dragon had to pipe in.
"So... Floppy hat. Your parents are coming?"
"Dragon..." Jane warned looking at her giant friend with a warning.
"What? I thought it was a good thing to have parents coming for a visit?" Dragon spoke has he hoisted himself up onto his hind legs, looking at the entire group with a childish gleam. Jester was looking at the table with such concentration, If he kept it up, a hole would burn into it. Princess Lavinia standing their looking not so proud of herself for bringing the letter. Smity, Pepper, and Rake all sat around the table looking at Jester waiting for any clue that he would be okay. Jane was busy re-reading the letter, scrutinizing it like there was a secret message between the lines.
"I'm sorry Jesta" Lavina apologized, "if I knew it brought you such sadness, I would not have brought it." Lifting her hand to touch the Jester's back, Jane was shocked to see Jester look straight at the Princess then gave her a hug. "Do not worry my little Majesty. You have not brought me sadness. You have just brought a letter. It is my fault that I see such sadness in it folds."
Lightened, the princess nodded to Jester then wondered off into the castle, probably to go play with her dolls.
"What a nice thing to say Jester" Jane complemented. "I think that should be enough to brighten her up."
"You only need to convince her with the truth. Nothing more, nothing less. And the truth is all I gave her." Jester retorted back grabbing his letter from Jane and storming off in the direction of his room.
"What is the matter with Jingle Boy?" Dragon questioned looking into the direction Jester went.
Jester wasn't sure why he stormed off like that. The look on Jane's face as he took the letter out of her hands with such force, put an arrow through his heart. She hadn't even done anything. Just complemented on how he handled the princess. He always had such trouble with knowing what to do at what time. It was like a continuous test. "Oh, how I shall fail when I have children of my own. That is if I have any..." Jester mumbled to himself.
He knew that in a heartbeat under any other circumstance he would have accepted his parents offer for him to go home and learn a new play. But as he had a 'blooming romance' as his mother would call it, he was unsure of what to do. Jester had not seen his parents for such a long time, and he knew that it would be good for him to see them again. But his mother had not put in the letter how long he would be away for. It could be as little as a month, or as long as a few years. And if it would take a few years, would his parents replace him with a temporary Jester, or would the King have to find a new one himself? All these questions bounced around in Jesters head until he had to sit on his bed and take a deep breath. Maybe he would go. It would give him a chance to visit with his family and get reunited with his younger sister. It would be a grand time. He hadn't done a play with the Gypsies for a long, long time, and it would be good to show the King what kind of magic can be formed with the Gypsies, when given the chance to show their art to the world.
The only thing stopping Jester from making a final decision was Jane. If he where to go, he would not be able to see her lovely face everyday, to be her best human friend, and a good one at that. He would not be the first person she would go to when she needed help with a decision, or just help in general. Or even just somebody to talk too. Slowly standing up out of bed, an idea had come to Jester and in a blink of his grey-blue eyes he was out the door, running, trying to find the messenger that had brought his mothers letter to him.
*****************
After about ten minutes of running around the castle, and just about giving up Jester spotted the messenger just as he was about the leave the castle. Running up to him was easy as a couple of hellos which got the messenger to stop walking and turn around looking to see who was flagging him down. Some excitement on his face.
"Yes?" He asked with a deep even tone, he looked to be in about his early thirties with a salt and pepper colour starting to grace his hair, cut short and simple, probably to help cool him down in the warmer spring months. "What can I do for you younger Jester?"
"I just have a question for you... when I catch my breath that is... " gasped Jester "and how on earth did you know my name?"
"Jester is your name?" The messenger enquired, I was just calling you by your job title, I had no idea that was your name."
"That's fine, that's fine" Jester whispered, the breath finally coming back to him, so that he was able to stand up and look into the deep brown eyes that the messenger had. His clean, trimmed beard matching his head with just a touch more grey in it then the deeper brown.
"Was that your question? Or did you want to enquire about the letter you have received today?" The messenger joked helping Jester steady himself out on his feet.
"How did you know that was what I wanted to ask about?" Jester looked at the messenger and realized at that point, either he was wise in age, or this was something that was asked quite often.
"From what I know about messengers, they are usually asked where the letter came from, so that the receiver can send a reply back. I know it would have been one of the first questions I would have asked if a messenger had handed me a letter on my front doorstep."
"You mean your not the messenger?"
"No." Laughed the man, he had a deep, jolly laugh, one that rolled off his stomach and could lighten any mood. "I got this from a messenger that I found passed out on the side of the road, on the way into the village from my farm. He said that it was of strong importance that it reached the Royal Court Jester before sun down tonight. The poor lad. Looked like he had been to hell and back. Must have been attacked by wolves judging by his injuries." The older man then sighed and looked at Jester, "I put him under the care of Judia in the Inn just past the old bay if you what to go talk to him. He may be of more help to where the letter came from. He went unconscious before I had a chance to ask him. You may want to make it snappy as his injuries looked bad. I'm not even sure if he would last the night."
"Thank you" Jester smiled, "It means a lot that there are still kind people in the world."
The older man smiled back, "It does help that was have 'old softy' ruling. When you go to the inn, say Micheal sent you. You wont have to explain a thing, Judia will know exactly what you are looking for."
"Thank you again for your kindness." Jester shook Micheal's hand just before he had turned around and departed back down the road that led to the village square. Standing there watching his back, Jester made his choice that he would go down to the village tonight.
Hopefully Koulto was still alive.
Ta DA! A new chapter has been completed!
Thank you to the one person who has reviewed! At least now I know more then my family is reading them. :)
Hopefully I'll get another chapter up very soon. :D
