Chapter VI
"You met the Wizard?" Jester asked torn between worry and amazement at this new development in his best friend's already chaotic and hectic life.
Jane nodded her head slowly as she chewed on her thumb nail as she and Jester sat side by side under a tree in the Royal Gardens.
It was the following day and as Jester was not needed by the King or their little majesties he had sought out Jane, finding her sitting in the Royal Gardens, her back against a tree staring up at the Wizard's tower. It did not take long for him to get her to tell him what was bothering her and all that the old man, the old Wizard had said.
"Yes, and he was all very cryptic."
"Aren't Wizards' supposed to be?" Jester teased as a small smile played on his mouth causing Jane to give him a half-hearted punch to his shoulder.
"I just wished he had told me more of what he meant." Jane sighed.
"About Dragon? And you?"
"About Dragon being in danger."
"Jane…"
"What if he's right? What if there is someone who wants to use him for their own purposes and against his will?"
"We won't let them Jane." Jester said, taking her uninjured hand, the one that had just punched him moments before, in his and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"But what if…"
"Jane, it'll be fine."
"Do you believe that? Truly?"
"Yes Jane."
"He said that Dragon and I were bound together or… something like that. What do you think he meant by that?"
Jester looked out over the gardens to where Dragon himself was lounging on a battlement wall, fast asleep.
"Jester?"
"I'm not sure Jane." He said even though this wasn't wholly true. He had heard… stories. Old stories of men and dragons, working together as one and being a force to be reckon with against their enemies. Bonded together closer than blood, when one died the other was soon to follow.
He looked slowly between his two friends. The girl knight and the last known dragon in the whole world.
He had always quietly wondered if the stories of old spoke true for these two but had no way of testing his theory and from what he had heard from the old tales, men and dragons were bound together from the moment the dragon hatched. But in Jane's and Dragon's case, Dragon was well over three hundred years old when they had first met. And there was also the small fact that Jane was a girl and from what he knew, no girl had ever been bound to a dragon… though, it would be just like these two to break an age-old tradition without a single thought of the consequences.
"Jester?" He looked back her, her bright green eyes wide with curiosity and concern.
He forced himself to smile an easy-going smile.
"It's nothing. I was simply thinking over everything you've told me."
"What do you think I should do?"
"Honestly?" She nodded her head. "I'm not sure. Just… Keep your eyes and ears open. Have you told Dragon what you've told me?"
She shook her head.
"Well maybe you should, the more eyes and ears open about this the more prepared we'll be for the danger the Wizard spoke of."
Jane simply nodded.
Jester chewed on his lip before holding out his hand out in front of both of them.
"Jane."
Jane looked from his face before turning her puzzled gaze down at his hand which he closed into a fist. She looked back at his face in surprise when she heard him softly muttering something under his breath in a language that she did not know.
His fist glowed for a moment and Jane felt her eyes widen in amazement as he reopened his hand and a small red and orange flower now sat in the palm of his hand.
"How did you…" She started leaning forward eagerly as he held the flower out for her to take from him, ignoring his pink ears as she plucked the pretty flower from between his fingers.
"I've been – I've been practising. Only small stuff…"
"Jester you can do magic?" She gasped in delight at this new talent that her best human friend now possessed and was displaying for her.
"Only a little." He admitted shyly. "I've been teaching myself since you left a few months back. It's slow going and I can't do much yet, but I've been practising whenever I can."
"I didn't even know…"
"Yes, sorry, I wanted to tell you but as I said I've only been doing it for a little while, just as a past-time hobby. I thought, what with my voice now changed, I need some kind of back-up plan to keep in work around here."
Jane shook her head.
"The King and Queen would never be rid of you simply because your voice has changed." She insisted, shuddering at the thought of losing her best human friend simply because he could no longer sing the same way as he used to, it was far too awful to even contemplate.
"I know," Jester replied with an easy smile, "but I still want to have a little something up my sleeve, just in case."
"Could you teach me?" She asked eagerly, leaning in closer to him, the flower that he had conjured still twirling around her slim, callous fingers.
He smiled a slow, teasing smile.
"I don't know, can I?"
She thumped him in the shoulder with her good arm, an annoyed scowl painted over her features.
"Jester!"
He chuckled as he plucked the little red and orange flower from her fingers and stuck it in behind her ear. Instead of clashing with her own vibrant fire coloured hair, it somehow managed to hold its own against the brilliant colour.
"Do I look pretty?" Jane asked sounding a tad dry and he knew he wasn't completely forgiven for his cheeky jibe.
He simply smiled back her, not saying what he truly wished to say, which was that she was always pretty, no matter what she wore; dresses, armour or her usual tunic and breeches. Whatever she wore, whatever she did, she was always pretty, always to him.
He tried to teach her the very basics of magic, the first lessons that his mother and members of his family had taught him when he was just a small boy.
It ended with them both giggling over her struggles with even the simplest and most basics of magic.
"Maybe I should just stick to swords." Jane laughed, throwing her hand up in defeat before collapsing into a pile of hopeless giggles.
Jester smiled down at her, fighting to keep his own laugher under control.
It was good to hear her laugh. Her laughter had become something of rarity since she had returned with the Knights.
He knew why this was, so he tried to make a point of spending every free moment that he had by her side so that she wouldn't felt left out. Only he knew that since she had been back, she had spent a great deal of her time by herself, as everyone was too busy preparing for the Ball and she was unable to help due to her injured arm.
Jester opened his mouth to say something in retort when he suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on ends and he felt a cold shiver ripple down his spine.
"Jester?" He heard Jane ask him in concern but he wasn't looking at her now, instead searching for the source of the unpleasant sensation that he was still feeling.
He soon discovered it walking through the gardens towards them and felt his heart immediately sink when he heard Jane give a small exclamation of delight beside him as she called out, "Lady Regina," before he could tell her not to.
"Jane." Lady Regina called back to her a wide smile painting itself across her beautiful face.
Jester felt another strong sensation of unease settle into his gut as he watched the beautiful woman draw nearer to them.
"And young Jester." She added smiling widely at him, though her eyes were cold and all Jester could manage in return was a weak smile before dropping his eyes to his lap while beside him Jane scrambled eagerly to her feet.
"How are you today, My Lady?" Jane gushed smiling widely up at the kind and noble woman in front of her.
"I am very well, thank you Jane. Much better now that I am in your company. I've been quite lonely without it." Regina said smiling kindly back at her. "How is your arm today, my dear? Improving I hope."
"Oh, a little." Jane said with a small shrug of her shoulders, careful not to jostle her arm with her movements.
"Poor dear but I'm sure that it will improve in a few days. I have heard that the worse days are the ones before a wound truly heals, so do not be scared or worried if your arm hurts more than usual in the next couple of days."
Jester frowned in his lap at that. He wasn't sure why, but for some reason, it worried and irritated him to hear Regina speaking about Jane's injured arm. And something about what she had just said sounded… off?
"But afterwards I suspect your arm will be as good as new again, maybe even better," Regina laughed, "you never know."
"I hope so. It is my fighting arm after all." Jane said, before giving an exasperated sigh "It has been quite frustrating not being able to do anything because of it. I look forward to simply being able to eat without it paining me or making a fool of myself." She felt herself start to blush from her babbling and kicked Jester when she heard him let out a small snort of amusement.
She smiled a wicked little smile when she heard his small yelp of pain only to wince when he gave the back of her knee a hard flick with his finger.
She scowled down at him only to receive an equally cross look from him in return.
What was wrong with him of late? He was just fine a few minutes ago, but now he looked positively surly. He couldn't be upset about her kicking him, could he? It was hardly something new.
While she never hit him with the strength that she would hit Gunther with, she still used a deal of force, which he would promptly return.
Usually it was playful thumps, sometimes, like before they would get a little bit more physical where they would cause a small amount of pain to the other, but it was usually laughed off or a returning thump would be delivered. It was all usually quite playful. So why…
He looked at the ground once more, picking idly at the grass that grew around the tree roots that were sticking out of the ground.
Why is he being like this? She glanced back at Lady Regina who was watching them with an amused and interested smile.
"Would the two of you like to join me for the midday meal?" She asked them sweetly.
Jane nodded before looking expectantly down at Jester not overly surprised when he stood up and politely declined his eyes forcefully trained on the ground, meeting neither hers or Regina's eyes before he stalked off.
"Odd boy." Regina commented lightly.
"He's not usually like this." Jane replied quickly, desperate to defend her best human friend. "He's usually quite social and friendly. I really do not know what has gotten into him." Especially when he was fine just a few moments ago, she added silently to herself. It was only when Regina appeared that he started to act strange… Jane shook her head forcibly.
No, Jester wouldn't act this way simply because he didn't like Regina. And how could he not like her? She was a lovely and kind person, what reason did he have to dislike her?
"Maybe he's jealous because I am stealing you away from him." Regina replied gently and Jane felt her cheeks blush.
"Hardly, my Lady."
"Really? You two seem… close."
Jane felt her cheeks turn an even more furious shade of red, clashing, she suspected, horribly with her fiery hair.
"He is my best friend, my Lady. And I am his. I've known him all my life, from when I was a very small girl and he first came to the Castle."
Regina looked interested at this and motion for Jane to come and walk with her around the gardens.
"Jester was not born here?"
"No my Lady, he was born a gypsy. His family are travelling players."
"A gypsy." Lady Regina said her eyes looking far off into the distance, "that would explain it."
Jane frowned.
"Explain what, my Lady?" Regina turned back to her with a wide smile as she took Jane's uninjured arm in hers, so that they now walked arm in arm around the gardens.
"Oh, nothing much, Jane dear, just his odd behaviour now makes some sense to me, that is all."
"Oh?"
"Did you know my dear, that gypsies have many strange superstitions?"
"Oh?" Jane felt confused, not sure where this conversation was going.
"One of their many superstitions," Regina continued, obviously not noticing Jane's confusion, "is that to give out ones name, ones true name, means that whoever knows it then has absolute power over them."
Jane looked up at Regina blankly, still unsure as to what to say.
"Haven't you ever wondered, Jane dear, why your young Jester has never told you his name, his true name, I mean."
"Um," Jane blinked for the moment realising that this was true.
This small detail about Jester had come up, oh a year or so ago now, that no one knew what Jester's real name was and him refusing to tell them what it was, leading for Gunther to assume that it must be something truly embarrassing. In the end everyone simply gave up trying to convince Jester into revealing it to them for no one kept secrets quite so well as Jester. If he didn't want to tell you then you would never know.
"He says that he will tell me it, one day." Jane finished after explaining how she and her friends had tried to get Jester to tell them what his name was.
Regina looked at her with an interested expression.
"He must be fond of you to promise you that." She said with a soft chuckle.
"What? He's only promised to tell me his name, nothing more." Jane replied rather hotly her face once more flushed. "And it wasn't even a promise," She added when she saw Regina's eyes fill with mirth, "it was more of a – of a…."she trailed off not sure what it was. All she knew was that he hadn't exactly promised to tell her, only saying that he would tell her some day. That wasn't a promise.
"Promise or not, he still said he'd tell you someday, which for his kind," for some reason Jane didn't like how Regina said 'his kind' like he was something different, separate from her, "is quite something."
"Why?" Jane asked, her curiosity getting the better of her
"Well, usually only close family members know one another's true names. And outside their families, they usually only tell those they completely trust, with their very lives, because you see for them, their true name is their life and they guard it to their graves. For knowing one's true name means power over them forever. To know the true name of someone means that they are giving you their lives for you to hold in your very hands, their very heart and soul. In fact, usually outside their families, Gyspies only tell their true names to their true loves…"
"I'm not…" Jane broke in her face once more exploding with colour. "I'm not Jester's… I'm not! We're friends, best of friends!" Jane insisted.
"Oh Jane," Regina laughed, "Calm yourself, it's only a silly superstition. For all we know his family might not even believe in such a superstition anymore and the reason he has not told anyone his name is as simple as your fellow squire put it; that he finds his name embarrassing and is happy to go about his days being known as 'Jester'. I am sorry if I have upset or embarrassed you, dearest one. I know, for me to say such things about you and your best friend. You are still just children, and of course you are both of very different social status…"
"I don't care about that!" Jane snapped because she had heard time and time again from her mother and others nobles that she should not spend her time around commoners and that she should spend more time with young ladies of her own class.
"I know dear." Regina said sounding sympathetic all the while her eyes moved over Jane's head to where Dragon was lounging on the Castle wall.
When they had start their walk around the gardens he had been sleeping but now he was awake and watching them closely with his golden eyes.
"Please forgive me, dear Jane." She added as she tucked a stray of fiery red hair behind Jane's ear.
"Of-of course, My Lady." Jane stuttered now feeling quite silly for getting so upset over childish things.
"Now," Regina said as she gave Jane's arm a squeeze, "shall we have our mid-day meal? The Queen and your mother are surely waiting for us in the Queen's chambers."
"As will the Princess most likely." Jane added with a smile.
"You two are very close." Regina observed with a smile.
Jane blushed, knowing full well that not all were thrilled with her close relationship with the young Princess.
"I am an only child; Princess Lavinia is like a little sister to me in some respects. I seem to be one of the few people she'll listen to, can calm her down and make her happy." Jane shrugged her shoulders.
"You're a very special girl, Jane. Don't let anyone tell you any different." Regina said and Jane smiled shyly back at her, a bright and happy blush gracing her cheeks.
oOo
Jester didn't like to think that he was sulking, except that was exactly how one would describe what he was currently doing.
He was sitting in his room, staring moodily up at his ceiling – counting the cracks in the stone – and pondering how he was going to explain to Jane – the next time that he saw her – why he had been so rude toward Lady Regina and had left so abruptly.
He had seen her hurt and confused look when he had stomped off as well as the annoyed look she had given him when he had flicked the back of her knee.
He hadn't meant it to be so hard, but her kick to his thigh had been harder than usual and he wanted to get something of his own back against the red headed girl squire. Also his irritation over Jane's obvious favouritism toward Regina over him had gotten the better of him.
It was silly to feel jealous over Jane's friendship with Regina. Jane didn't make friends with girls – Pepper being the obvious exception but honestly the little cook could make friends with a rock if she so wanted – especially girls of high birth like her, that it really had caught him, and everyone else for that matter, by surprise at just how easily she got on with Lady Regina.
Gunther – in those few moments where the squire actually bothered to have a conversation compiled of something other than rude insults being thrown between them – had even said that during the journey home Jane spent most of her time in the Lady Regina's company, more so than she had in his or even Dragons. Though with that said, Jester still knew that Dragon was the person/creature that Jane spent most of her time with. He doubted very much that anything could come between their friendship, even Lady Regina. But what of his and Jane's friendship?
Was he hurting it with his obvious dislike for Regina? He couldn't help it, he didn't know why but he really didn't like or trust the beautiful and mysterious woman. Everyone else in the castle seemed to be head over heels for her, speaking only of her great kindness and beauty, inside and out. Even those who hadn't formally met her, like Rake, Pepper and Smithy, all spoke highly of her.
It seemed that he and Dragon were the only ones who didn't like her, and between them– in their few conversations with each other. Jester had been avoiding him since that embarrassing first night after he and Jane had returned to the Castle – neither could actually come up with a reason as to why they disliked her so, only that… they did.
Something about her disturbed both of them deeply and both felt that the sooner she left the better. Except that that looked like a long time away. She seemed to have gotten herself quite comfortable and leaving was far from her mind.
She might even want to take Jane with her, Jester thought dully and his heart restricted at the very thought of Jane leaving again, and with Regina.
He fell back on to his pallet and threw an arm over his eyes and groaned.
Why couldn't he just shake off this feeling of distrust and suspicious that he felt whenever Regina was around? The woman had done nothing to deserve it and he just knew that if he kept acting the way he was towards her, Jane would get mad at him and an angry Jane was a very scary thing indeed.
Speaking of Jane…
"Jester? Are you in there?" a light rapping could be heard on his door.
"Ah…" He sat up bolt right at the sound of her voice.
"Can I come in?"
"Um, of course, come in." When did Jane ever ask if she could come into his room? Usually she just barged in, even in the very early hours of the morning when he would much rather be sleeping.
She opened his door slowly and Jester immediately started to worry that something may be wrong with her. Her eyes didn't look all that focused and it seemed to him that she was having trouble staying upright.
"Jane?" He asked cautiously; swinging himself off his sleeping pallet and moving to the girl's side and taking her uninjured arm in his.
The moment their skins touched, Jane seemed to break out of whatever trance she had been in before and looked up at him in confusion.
"What am I doing here?" She asked more herself than him but he answered her anyway.
"Coming to see me?"
"Well, I was thinking about coming and seeing you but…" she frowned slightly, "I don't remember coming here."
"Tired?" he suggests though this was only to cover his worry. Jane was usually a fairly alert person. Yes, she daydreamed, but never to the point where she walked somewhere without even realising that she had. And she had knocked on his door and asked for him, but she didn't seem to remember that.
Worry gnawed at his insides but he kept his face bright and cheerful as he sat her down on his sleeping pallet and chattered about some nonsense or other, anything to return them to the normality that they had had only that morning.
"Jester, what is your name?"
His chatter immediately came to an abrupt halt with her question and he couldn't help but look at her a tad sharply but forced himself to smile an easy grin as he answered her.
"Jester… of course."
Jane rolled her brilliant green eyes, looking far more like her usual self than she had when she had first come into his room.
"You know what I mean. Your real name, the name you were given when you were born."
"How do you know I wasn't born with the name Jester?" he asked her teasingly while his heart thudded madly against his ribs. Why was she asking him this, now?
She gave him one of those looks that he just knows she's learnt from her mother. As much as Jane tried to deny being anything like her stiff and proper mother, she certainly knew how to dish out one of her mother's 'do-not-lie-or-try-and-fool-me' looks.
"Because that would be just silly and from what little you have told me of your mother, she hardly seems like the kind of woman who would name her child 'Jester'."
"Something wrong with the name 'Jester'?" He was stalling and it was annoying her, he knew, but he had to deflect her, get her off the subject of his name at whatever cost, even if it did mean her being angry at him for a time.
"There's nothing wrong with the name 'Jester'. It just that…" she picked at his bed covering, "you know my name and we know all the birth names of our friends even though they hardly ever go by them, but none of us know yours."
"Jane, it's not quite that simple as simply knowing my birth name, it's complicated."
"Like how knowing someone's true name means you have power over them?" she asked and he once more looked at her sharply.
"Who told you that?"
"Regina."
Of course, he thought a little bitterly.
"And what else did she say, since she is supposedly such an expert on this topic." He asked, rather harshly and he saw Jane once more frowning up at him, her eyes searching his for the reason behind his odd behaviour.
"Just that, there are some people who guard their true names with their lives, taking it to their grave with only their close family members knowing it." He felt himself relax a little. Well, he guessed, that wasn't so bad.
"And that," she continued slowly her cheeks taking on a rosy glow as she did so, "outside their family they only tell those they truly, trust with their lives and – and their true loves." Jester felt his own cheeks heat a little at that and felt a strange warm sensation in his chest.
"Yes, that's true too." he said looking away from her and out his window at the evening sky.
"Does-does your family have these superstitions?" Jane asked quietly.
"More like beliefs than superstition, but I suppose to some they can be looked upon as the same things." Jester shrugged. He could feel her eyes trained on his face, watching every expression that crossed it, trying to understand him.
"Why?"
"Ah," he wanted to tell her, he really did. He wanted to tell her everything about his family, about their beliefs and their superstitions, the stories that were told from generation to generation around the great campfire. There was so much he wanted to tell her about the world he had left behind to grow up here in the Castle with her, but today was not that day.
"It's complicated. Far too complicated to tell all in just one sitting, and right before dinner."
Jane face immediately became one of disappointment, but she nodded and did not press.
"Alright. But will you tell me one day?"
"Yes Jane. I promise."
"And your real name too?"
He hesitated for a moment before nodding his head slowly, still finding it hard to look into her face, into her eyes.
"I wouldn't tell anyone what it is or laugh or whatever you fear I might do with it." She insisted earnestly, her bright green eyes wide and imploring and Jester was reminded just how young she truly was.
He felt his lips twitch slightly into a smile.
"That's not what I'm worried about Jane. In fact I'm not worried about any of that at all, it's just that…" He hesitated and she waited with patience that sometimes surprised him to remember she had.
"I –I don't really remember my true name." This was a lie. Well, half of one but he couldn't tell her the real reason as to why he didn't just tell her his true name right there and then.
He trusted her with his life, yes, and he knew he could trust her with his real name, to not use it against him or to abuse it any way, shape or form. But they were both too young for the real reason still and he did not wish to burden her with it.
He would tell her, one day, he knew he would because it was her, he just knew it. At least he hoped… no, he knew, but the very idea still made him feel shy and awkward. He didn't wish to make her feel the same and for their friendship to possibly suffer.
So for now – and he just hoped that this wouldn't come back to haunt him – he would tell her this half lie and hope that when the day came that he could tell her everything she would forgive him for all the questions he left unanswered and all the lies he had told to protect them both.
"You don't remember your true name?" she looked so unbearably sad for him that he felt his heart once more pick up an unnatural pace.
He shrugged and gave her one of his infamous smiles.
"I've been Jester for so long; I guess I don't think of myself by the name I was born to. Jester is the name of who I am. I don't mind," He added quickly when he saw that she looked even sadder for him, "I'm proud of this, Jane. I'm proud of who and what I am. A name is simply a word; it doesn't say who I am. It is just a word."
Her tackling hug seemed to come from nowhere, but even though he wasn't expecting it, his own arms were wrapping themselves around her without even a conscious thought from him.
"Easy now, watch the arm." He warned her fondly as he tucked his chin over the top of her head. She made a humming noise before simply settling her weight against him.
He closed his eyes, trying not to think how unbelievably good it felt to hold her, even with her injured arm being stuck between them.
"I promise you Jane, I will tell you my true name one day. I promise."
"When you remember it, you mean." She giggled against his throat and Jester felt himself crack a smile against her hair.
"Yes, then." Was all he said in reply however even though he felt a strange feeling of lose which disappeared as quickly as it had come.
They stayed in their embrace for a time, until both their bellies started to growl and they both suspect that the evening meal would soon be served for eating.
Author's Note: Hello, I found this story again on my usb and thought it might be a good idea to post all the chapters I have written. I've already broken them into chapters, so I might as well just post them so that the lovely people on here can read them.
I know Jane/Jester is not really the fandom favourite pairing, that Jane/Gunther is. And normally I ship this type of pairing, but Jane/Jester... I can't help it I adore these two, right from when I used to watch the show in the afternoon. So, I'm sorry to all the Jane/Gunther shippers but this is/will be a Jane/Jester fic. I don't know if I'm going to lose readers because of this, keeping in mind, Jane/Jester is only an element of a much larger story, but so be it, can't be help. You don't have to read what you don't like.
With that said, reviews are appreciated. The first 18 chapters of this fic are written and hopefully I will feel inspired to write more soon.
Thank you for reading.