The morning came in a chorus of birdsong and whispering leaves.
It seemed he was the first one awake this time.
Samuel creaked open his eyes, allowing them to adjust to the bright, white light that filtered in through his lashes, before opening them fully.
The weather was better this morning. The sun had already dried the droplets of rain from the thick, animals hides and warm furs that had sheltered them from last nights chill. Lucky too, because the fire had long since died out judging from the stale smell of woodsmoke in the air.
It was only when he started to shift that Samuel felt a weight on his torso. He looked down to see a head of green hair resting beneath his chin. He hummed contentedly as he identified the princess' sweet scent from the collection of others around him. Despite being on the road for two days and two nights, she still smelt like the perfume she often wore at court. He couldn't say which exotic flower it was, but he only ever smelt its tantalising scent when she was near. His hand went to the back of her head to stroke her soft locks. Gradually, he allowed himself to slip back into a lucid dream state.
In his fantasy, he pictured the princess laughing as she danced under the glow of a chandelier. She was barefoot and her moss-green hair fell loosely about her as she spun.
Breathless and dizzy, she falls into his arms. He's smiling down at her. She looks so beautiful.
Her hands are at his face.
She pulls him closer; Her eyes closing and her lips parting.
She means to kiss him.
He craves it. Oh boy, does he crave it.
He leans down to meet her, his mouth dry. His tongue swipes across his eager lips.
Calliope pulls a seductive grin. Her fingers lacing though his hair as he cradles her lovingly beneath the chandelier.
He takes her by the chin and begins to close the little distance left between them.
She yawns.
Loudly.
Samuel blinked, his eyes once again adjusting to the bright, white light of day. Beside him, Touya stretched his long arms widely til they popped at the joints, the last of his obnoxiously loud yawn ending with a gruff, 'morning, Samuel." He turned his drowsy stare on the jester and smirked at the sight of Calliope's arms around him.
The jester merely frowned, internally cursing him for ruining his dream, only to feel the shame of it once Calliope raised her head from his chest to look at them both.
"Good morning, boys." She murmured, leaves in her hair.
In Sam's fantasy, her eyes were twinkling pleasantly and her hair was flowing like a satin curtain. Under the morning sun, her eyes were still squinting sleepily and her hair was messy like a badly bundled bale of hay. Still, he found her quite lovely nonetheless as she sat up beside him and began to remove the stray foliage from her now loose plait.
After taking the time to slowly wake up and remove the pieces of forest floor that had managed to make their way into their clothes and hair, the trio set about re-stoking the fire and making breakfast.
As they sat and ate their cured fish and brown bread, Samuel couldn't help but feel a peculiar sense wash over him. Without mentioning it to either member of his group, he silently wondered if he was still feeling ashamed about his dream about the princess.
No, surely that wasn't what was making his spine tingle and the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He tugged at the collar of his tunic and rolled his shoulders, trying to shake off the strange sensation. In doing so, he promptly became aware of the fact that he didn't smell too great. How he hoped Calliope hadn't noticed...
He cast her a swift glance and saw that, she too, was fussing with her appearance. She was vainly attempting to finger comb her tangled locks and was also grimacing anytime she lifted her arms too high.
"Boys..." she eventually called, her shoulders slumping as she gave up her battle with a knot in her hair.
The young men turned to her, Touya with a mouthful of bread. "Hm?"
"I'd quite like to find somewhere to wash our clothes..." she paused and rearranged the sheepish look that had graced her features momentarily to one of indifference, "and preferably myself also."
Touya lifted an arm and sniffed at his pit as he chewed on his bread roll. "Yeah. I didn't wanna be the one to mention it, but we could probably all use a bath."
And just like that, the undeniable sound of running water could be heard. The trio exchanged bewildered glances.
"Can you hear that?" Calliope asked, her eyes wide.
Samuel nodded, getting to his feet.
It sounded close by.
Filled with curiosity and disbelief, they wasted no time in following the sound, carrying their bags and leading the horse that had been acting peculiar ever since the sun came up. Perhaps it too could sense an odd aura about this place. Or perhaps it was merely spooked by the sudden sound of a waterfall.
Only a few meters away from where they had set up camp did a clearing seemingly materialise before their eyes. There, in the centre, was a crystal clear lagoon.
It was like the forest had been listening to them. But no, that was impossible.
"How did we not notice this was here?" Samuel queried, eyes roaming around the idyllic setting with a look of nervous skepticism.
"Surely we walked right by this place last night?" Calliope mused, frowning deeply as she too took in the beautiful scenery.
Inviting pools and hanging ivy. Glittering rocks and swaying flowers.
"Yeah! Look! There's the cart!" Touya quipped, pointing a finger towards his trinket filled mode of transport. Not a single thing seemed to be missing from the back.
Samuel continued to peer nervously at their surroundings. "Wait, didn't we leave the cart at the edge of the trail?" In fact, he was sure of it. Touya had even been the one to suggest leaving it behind and venturing further into the forest so as to avoid being found by the knights. They had walked for a good 30 minutes before stopping to make camp. Yet, how come the cart was only a few meters from them? Sat in a patch of bluebells with no sign of the trail nearby. And how had they not noticed the distinct sound of a waterfall?
Though the situation had Samuel and Callie still staring in utter confusion, Touya didn't seem to give the bizarre situation a second thought as he began to pull his tunic over his head and step out of his trousers.
Calliope gave a small gasp and averted her eyes just as the last of his clothes hit the forest floor.
"Dunno what you guys are waiting for!" He called, bounding up to the glistening pool. As he reached the clear water, he walked right in, hissing as he reached waist-deep. "It's damn cold but it sure is nice!" He exclaimed, splashing his face before bravely dunking his head beneath the surface.
Still curious about the odd sequence of events and still unable to shake off the strange sensation he had been feeling all morning, Samuel cautiously approached the mysterious lagoon.
It sat against a rocky cliff face, which wasn't exactly high, but tall enough to surely not go unnoticed. Had they really just walked past this last night? Even if they hadn't seen it, they would have definitely heard the water that was gushing across the smooth rocks that staggered down from the top of the cliff and into the sparkling pool below.
As his feet reached the waters edge, he stopped to eye it warily. But before the suspicious jester could voice any of his concerns, two hands gripped his clothes and dragged him in with a loud splash.
When he resurfaced, spluttering, with clothes soaked to the skin, both Touya and Calliope were laughing.
"See? I told you the water was nice!" Touya grinned.
Samuel cursed the merchant as he staggered to make his feet find the bottom. Being far taller than him, Touya could easily stand where Sam simply could not. He was almost a foot taller than him, for goodness sake.
Once Sam's boots hit the sandy bottom, he decided there was no better time than to strip out of his clothes. If the mysterious pool possessed some sort of magic, then it hadn't seemed to have done anything malevolent so far, other than give him goosebumps from the sudden chill of its crisp waters.
With Calliope still giggling at the waters edge, he peeled off his soaked tunic and tossed it onto a nearby, sunlit rock. He did the same with his boots and trousers.
"You not coming in, Callie?" Touya called, floating near the bottom of the lazy waterfall.
The princess shook her head.
"I'll let you boys bathe first. I'll tend to washing our clothes while you're at it."
"You sure?" Touya tested, watching as she began to gather up their garments, including Samuel's already wet ones.
"Indeed." She insisted, taking the bundle of fabrics to a shallow part of the lagoon and dropping to her knees. "You boys make sure to wash behind your ears now!"
They returned her smile while Touya made a crude joke about other parts of his body needing more urgent attention than the back of his ears. The princess gave a disgusted scoff while Samuel snorted a laugh.
There was something about the cool water that made all his worries slip away. And why did it smell so familiar? Like flowers from a distant land. Strangely, the merchant seemed to think the water gave off the scent of gold coins and hot wine...
By the time he and Touya had washed the dirt and grime from their skin and hair, Calliope had already hung their clothes to dry on the various branches that reached over the bluebell covered floor. The midday sun was casting its rays in streams of bright light through the canopy now. Their tunics and trousers were sure to dry quickly.
In the meantime, Calliope handed them their riding cloaks as they stepped out of the water. She kept her eyes fixed on the treetops until they confirmed they were no longer in just their wet undergarments.
"Thanks, Callie." Samuel said with a smile and a nod towards their cleaned clothes.
"Yeah, thanks." Touya seconded, reclining back in the sun-soaked moss and making little use of his cloak to hide his semi-nakedness. "Sam and I will fix dinner this evening."
And Calliope nodded whilst fighting to keep eyes from his bare torso.
Eventually, after some gentle convincing and repeated promises not to look, it was the princess' turn to bathe. As Samuel and Touya turned their backs to the water, Calliope undressed.
"Want us to wash your clothes for you?" Touya called, picking at his teeth with the tip of his knife.
"No, thank you! I'll do it!" They heard her call. The soft sploosh of a body sliding into the water came next, followed by the sound of it wading deeper.
When Touya's glinting eye caught Samuel's, the latter slowly shook his head. They'd both promised not to look. Despite not being a knight like his younger brother, chivalry was still something the jester tried to adhere to. The charlatan, Touya, however had his own code of conduct. Sure, he was for the most part respectful towards woman, but that didn't mean he didn't like to dabble in harmless fun from time to time.
He rolled his eyes and snickered at Samuel's frown and then shrugged a shoulder as a 'suit yourself' kind of expression graced his features.
The men prepped some food to the gentle sound of moving water and Callie's vague humming.
At one point, Touya had lifted the blade of his knife and began to turn it this way and that before his eyes. Initially, Samuel thought he was merely checking it's sharpness, but the sly smile on his face revealed he was searching for the princess' reflection instead.
Samuel clicked his tongue and snatched the weapon from him, but not before both of them caught a flash of golden skin, bare shoulders and an elegantly sloping spine by the waterfall.
Touya bit his lip, a chuckle rumbling quietly in his throat while Samuel hoped the smoke of the fire masked the blush that had formed on his cheeks. He stabbed the weapon into the earth by Touya's bare foot, narrowly missing his toes, causing the merchant to cease his smug snickering.
"Considering half your jokes at court are so vulgar, you're quite the prude without your silly hat, aren't you jester?" He murmured through a smirk, removing his knife from the forest floor and wiping it on the bottom of his cloak.
Samuel clicked his tongue. "It's called having some decency." He shot back, keeping his voice low so that Callie wouldn't hear.
"Adorable. All dimples and good morals. No wonder she likes you." Touya teased, stabbing a chunk of ham and popping it into his mouth as he winked an eye.
The jester smirked as he shook his head.
As he opened his mouth to joke back, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise again. The peculiar sensation was back. Perhaps he wasn't the only one that had been experiencing it after all, as the horse began to splutter and stomp.
Touya was rubbing at the goosebumps on his arms.
A scream had both their heads snapping up. They dropped the cheese and ham they'd been slicing and jumped to their feet. As they spun to face the lagoon, they spotted the princess, waist deep in the water, with her arms clutched firmly over her bare chest.
On the bank in front of her stood a woman, who's only attire seemed to be flower petals that swirled over the pale skin of her ample blossom and across her hips and buttocks. She had long hair in the gentle shade of periwinkle, the tips of which lightly touched the water's surface as she learnt forwards to peer at the startled princess.
"Hey now! No need to scream! I only wanted to help!"