Author's Note: I'm back! No more snow! Anyway, enjoy the new chapter, please review!

That morning Sir Theodore required duty of all of them, even the two year squire Prince Cuthbert. Jane and Gunther were practicing fighting on horseback in full armor with real swords, whereas the Prince and his partner were sparring with padded staves. Jane was quite easily defeating Gunther, as he was not near as skilled a horseman as she. Besides that, Gunther was fighting half-heartedly, not wanting to injure the woman he loved, even though it felt as though she had been using him for a whetstone.

When Sir Theodore finally called for a break, Jane went to the kitchens to help Pepper a bit before lunch. "Hello, Jane."

"Hello Pepper." Jane walked over to Pepper to help her peel potatoes.

"So, has Jester talked to you yet?" Jane stopped in her tracks.

"Talked to me about what?"

"Well, I shouldn't say..."

"Out with it, Pepper!"

"Well, Jester had been asking Rake how it was that he had talked to me."

"Talked to you about what?"

"Well, Rake and I are betrothed. He asked me about two weeks ago. We'll be married on the night of the new year."

"That's wonderful, Pepper! Does that mean you won't be able to keep working here?"

"No, I talked to the Queen about a week ago, and she said I could stay on until I had my first little one. Rake and I are planning to save up after the wedding and open up an inn."

"And the finest inn in Kippernia, I'm sure. It'll be different without you here, though. But wait, what was that about Jester talking to Rake?"

"Jester would have my hide. I'm sorry, I've said too much already. You won't get another word out of me." To emphasize this, Pepper closed her mouth with sound still coming out, as though she wished to keep talking but was unable to do so.

"I'm sorry Pepper, but I have to go." Jane quickly turned and made her way to the sound of gentle strumming beneath the cherry tree.

When Jester first saw Jane coming towards him, his heart leapt. Then he noticed that her eyes were managing to out flame her hair, and three thoughts repeatedly ran through his head. One, why is she enraged? Two, is she enraged at me? And three, what is the quickest way out of the castle? Questions one and two were swiftly answered, but three soon did not become an option.

"You! You liver-headed, weevil-brained, lily-livered," Jane ran out of adjectives, "Augh! Did you think that this half-baked, stupid plan of yours was a good one? No, and I can tell you why! All of the knights, including myself, are trying to catch a regicide, and you think it's a fine time to go a courting." Jester had long since dropped his lute and retreated to find himself between the tower and the wall. "And, if that wasn't enough, even if I wasn't doing that, you're the second person, at least, who has had thoughts of courting me. So even if I wasn't too wretchedly busy, it would be too late and I would still be having this conversation with you!" Jane then found herself screaming at her best friend in front of a score of knights, just inches from his face. She turned an about face, and marched herself up to her room, where she then let loose, and cried until lunch.

At that point, she was forced to see Jester, but she was careful not to see her tearstained face. They ate in silence, until Jane was finished, at which point she marched back to the practice yard to beat the stuffing out of Gunther.

After practice, Jane felt more than ready for her weekly bath, and made her way to the bathhouse. Jane vigorously scrubbed at every inch of her body, trying hard to get the cloying smell of betrayal off of her. But no matter how hard she scrubbed, she still felt as dirty as when she had come in. Her mother, who was also taking her bath, began attacking her hair with gusto. Jane settled into the hot water and took the frontal assault of the hair brush until her mother gave up. Jane quickly dressed and made her way back up to her room where she read over some of her studies until she heard a knock on the door. She stood up to get the door, and found Smithy standing outside her door.

"Oh, please, not you too!"

"No, I'm not here to petition for your favor, I'm here to tell you you were too hard on Jester," stated Smithy rather bluntly.

"He told you too?"

"No, I surmised that you yelling at Jester meant one of two things, and since he wasn't taken to the dungeons afterward, it must have meant that he had tried to pour out his heart."

Jane sighed and sat on her bed. "I was very harsh."

"And Jester was just trying to tell you he loves you, which I know he does. He didn't have to tell me that. I've known since I came to the castle, ten years ago. When he performs, he immediately searches you out, and performs better if he finds you. Half the songs he writes are about a mysterious red-haired love. Now who could that be?" Smithy pretended to think really hard on it, at which point she punched him playfully in the arm. Unfortunately for Smithy, Jane punching halfheartedly was like Jester putting all his weight into it.

"Why me? I don't really care about my looks, and I have more lovesick puppies following me than Rake has dung!"

"That might be a bit of an exaggeration. You have two puppies, and Rake has a lot of dung!" They both laughed. "Anyway, just know that if you need to talk, I am not a lovesick puppy, and I also do not have a giant mouth."

"Thank you, Smithy. I'll try to keep that in mind." Smithy walked through the door and to his own quarters, leaving Jane with her thoughts. Jane tossed and turned all night, not sure of what to do. Sometime after the moon had set she decided not to deal with it. Just to let what happens happen, and to try to catch the villains who murdered an innocent young woman.