The next morning I awakened to a cool breeze coming into my room. I tried to remember what had happened the evening before and sighed when I saw the half empty parchment sitting on the desk. It was the poem that I had started to write last night. I frowned seeing the empty bottle beside it. Apparently I had managed to find some alcohol to sate my thirst. I sat up in my bed, pulling one of the firs up and around my bare shoulders, and rubbing my temples to help alleviate the headache that I could only assume was coming from all the drink the night previous. It throbbed in my head sounding like war drums being beaten inside of my head. It was quite chilly in the room. I looked over at the window and saw that it was open. I shrugged my shoulders and walked over to the window, looking out at it and taking in the fresh air. It was tinged with the scent of a morning rain. I looked and saw the Prince walking across the courtyard below with a lovely young lady. She had her dark hair pulled up in a lovely array of curls, and had a lovely white dress on that was decorated with leaves in the color of a red rose. Then she laughed, and her face shown. At that moment I knew that this lovely lady was our dear Kate. I could not believe my own two eyes, and had to call Wat into my room for confirmation. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he walked into my room, running his fingers through his hair, and scratching himself before looking out the window. His eyes became wide and a look of shock showed on his face. "Oy!" He yelled out my window. I winced at both the loud sound and at Wat's lack of couth, and pulled back from the window as to not be seen. "What is it Wat?" Kate yelled up from the courtyard. "Why are you all fancied up? I thought ye'd be working on some new armor for William," Wat yelled in return. I sighed... at least he wasn't saying 'Geoff want's to know...' or something like that. She replied that she needed to rest her hands for a while, and that William was fine with it.
Wat closed the window and smiled a knowing smile at me. "Good enough for you?" He winked at me. "I don't know what you're talking about." Wat was no fool he had noticed the looks of infatuation that had I had sent to her when she had her back turned to me working in her forge. Her hair back in a loose braid, coming out and framing her face. Her hands working knowingly with the metal and tools of her trade. She would pause and wipe her forehead with the back of her hand, pausing before putting the metal back into the fire making it more and more flexible. It seemed like during this time she was not only shaping armor for knights, but also the shape of my heart. It seemed like her roughened hands held my heart, but she didn't even know it. When I came back to myself, Wat was heading out the door. "You won't say anything will you?" He turned and shook his head in a silent agreement. I knew that he would keep his word by the very honest look in his eyes. He knew that the only one that Kate would believe would be me. He continued to walk out of the room, probably to get dressed for lunch. I looked back over at the desk and sat down to see what I had written on the parchment. It was pretty much what I had written the previous night. Except for the addition of another stanza. I read it slowly trying to make out the scrawl of the pen marks that I had written in my drunken state:
I desire to run my fingers through her raven hair,
To feel her lips touch mine,
My body longs to feel her next to me.
She is the object of my desire.
I shook my head and crumpled the piece of parchment into a ball and tossed it over at the basket the maid had put in my room for such purposes. I missed the basket and succeeded in hitting Kate as she walked into my room.