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CHAPTER TWO

Kate was staring out the window as they approached the old fair grounds which the Festival had been set up on. She had on her well-worn jeans and her Black Knight T-shirt. She had her hoodie tied around her neck by the sleeves.

She opted for no real make up except for a touch of foundation to take away any shine. She let her hair hang loose and had made sure she had some ties if she needed them.

The day was bright and sunny, and luckily the breeze was a mild one. It looked like they would have a perfect day.

Rick was dressed similarly in an older pair of jeans and a light weight cable knit pull over. It was grey and Castle thought it looked a bit like the shirts that knights wore under their mail.

Kate had managed to talk him out of bringing along one of his swords 'for effect'. She convinced him that if he brought one, then he wouldn't be able to justify buying a new one. He liked her rationale.

As is typical for fair grounds, the parking was a significant distance away from where all the action was taking place, but Kate didn't mind. It was a nice day and it was just good to be able to be outside for a while.

Rick paid their admissions when they walked past one of the entrance ticket booths. Not knowing what to expect, she was ready for anything and everything, and that's exactly what she got.

There was already a good crowd walking around the grounds, but Kate was mostly surprised by how many people walking around were in period costumes. She was able to pick out those costumed individuals who were part of the Renaissance Fair. The roaming minstrels, the jugglers, and some wandering folks dressed as magicians and sorcerers performing bits of sleight of hand magic as the crowd walked by.

Kate had to smile at the all the bright colors in the costuming, and props that many of the street performers displayed. When she thought of the middle ages, her mind went immediately to the hard drab lives that most of the people had to endure. The much less fortunate who's lives mostly consisted of a lot of brown. Whether it be the simple clothes they wore, or the dirt they toiled in from sun up to sun down, there wasn't a lot of bright colors in their lives.

She shrugged. This festival was here to celebrate the fantasy of that era not the hard reality, and she knew that it was aimed at the 'big kids' like Castle. And she had no trouble with that.

They soon entered an area of small shops and stalls hawking various items from clothing and jewelry to interesting looking food items. There was even a small stage where different acts, from musical to theatrical, displayed their prowess.

Kate was not someone who wore a lot of jewelry. She had a few pieces at home that she liked to wear when she had a chance to 'dress up' for something. But she wasn't one who frequently wore bright shiny baubles as a necessary part of her wardrobe.

The one significant piece that she wore, her mother's ring on a chain around her neck, was kept under her blouse unseen.

The fact that Kate wasn't someone who wore a lot of jewelry didn't mean that she couldn't look at some of the pieces being shown and appreciate the beauty and skill in their making.

She flinched briefly when Rick came up behind her and put his arms around her waist.

"See anything you like?"

She turned her head and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "There's some really beautiful stuff here, but none of it is practical for a cop to be wearing." She let her gaze follow along the table displays. "Also, most of these pieces are too big for the kind of stuff that I'm drawn to."

He stepped up next to her and put his arm around her. "I've noticed. Even when we go out someplace fancy, you don't wear more than some nice earrings and maybe a pendant, or a simple necklace." He turned and put his lips to her ear. "You know, I have it on good information that the guy you are dating would have no problem getting something for you if you saw some bauble that interested you. I hear he's loaded."

Kate just rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Just because he can doesn't mean that he should. I'm more than capable of buying my own jewelry if I see something I like."

He raised his brow. "But what if he likes buying you presents?"

She shook her head again. "There'll be lots of opportunities for that." She began counting on her fingers. "There's birthdays, Valentine's Day, Christmas, Arbor Day…"

Rick put his finger to his mouth. "Oh, I think I forgot Arbor Day."

"Buy me a plant." She grinned at him and led them away from the jewelry. She nodded at one of the food stands. "Why don't we sample some of the foods? I'm getting a bit hungry."

He guided her over to where several food stands stood side by side. They had a lot of choices, not all of them were recognizable, but that would be half the fun.

After sampling several dishes, not all of them to their tastes, they continued their stroll through the grounds. They listened to the music, they watched jugglers, mimes, and even a small group who showed off the precise movements of some of the formal dances of the era.

A grinning Castle finally got Kate steered over to the fortune telling booth of a craggy-faced old woman who looked almost as if she was originally from the Middle Ages herself. She wore a dark purplish robe and her long straw like hair was white and was partially covered by a mesh cap made up of strings of various colored gems. Rick had to hand it to her, the jewels looked almost real to his uneducated eye.

She sat behind a simple wooden table in a matching wooden chair. There was a large wooden bowl sitting beside her which held several bills of various denominations.

Rick guided Kate over to the simple folding chairs in front of the woman's table.

"Hey Kate, do you want to have your fortune told?"

She was about to tell Rick that she had no desire to have her fortune told when she was interrupted by the old lady behind the table.

"She already knows what the future holds for her."

Both looked down at the old woman in surprise. She grinned, showing a few crooked teeth.

"What about you, sir, do you want to know the future?"

Rick took her tone of voice as a challenge so he sat down in one of the chairs. Kate stood behind him with her hands on his shoulders.

"Sure," he gave her his cocky smile." He waved toward her bowl of bills. "How much for my fortune?"

The old woman's smile didn't seem to be all that jovial. "You decide. Whatever you feel knowing your fortune is worth to you."

Rick knew he was being bated but he liked the old woman's moxie. He smiled at her as he pulled a hundred dollar bill out of his wallet and threw it in the bowl.

A slight turn of the corner of the woman's mouth appeared. "It seems the gentleman has a high opinion of his future fortune's worth?"

Kate rolled her eyes and chuckled. "You have no idea."

The woman smiled back at Kate, then turned her attention back to Castle.

She laid her hands out in front of her flat on the table. With a nod of her head she indicated that Rick should place his hands on hers. Rick looked over his shoulder at Kate and cracked a silly smile.

He placed his hands in the old woman's wrinkled palms. She closed her eyes and began to hum softly. Almost immediately a frown came over her face. Her eyes snapped open.

"For some reason I can't seem to get a complete picture of your future. There is something missing." The fortune teller looked up at Kate who was standing behind Rick. Suddenly her craggy face broke into a smile.

The woman let go of Rick's right hand, but kept her hold on his left hand. She looked up at Kate.

"Give me your hand sweetheart." Kate had a startled look on her face but she hesitantly gave the old woman her right hand.

As soon as the woman grasped Kate's hand a smile came over her face.

"Excellent, now I have both halves."

Both looked at the woman with concern. She ignored their looks and closed her eyes again and began to hum.

Rick and Kate looked at each other, then shrugged.

After a couple of minutes of the fortune teller's humming she suddenly stopped, then her eyes flew open. She gave the two of them a hard stare.

Rick looked over at Kate next to him now. "This should be good." He smirked.

"You have some terrible ordeals to overcome and alone you will not be successful. But with this woman at your side, the two of you can accomplish what your hearts truly want and need. It won't be easy and there might be some doubt along the way, but together you should be able to be successful in anything that is laid out before you."

The old woman let go of their hands and leaned back in her chair. She waved her hand in the air.

"You can go now." She got up from her chair. "I need to rest." Without another word she left Rick and Kate standing there with their mouths open.

Kate looked at Rick with one brow raised. "That was one of the weirdest things I've ever been involved in."

Rick, on the other hand, had a self-satisfied smile on his face. He put his arm back around her and led her away from the fortune teller's table.

"You know how it is. They pull you in with your curiosity and then give you a bunch of vague pronouncements of what your future will be, then they take the money and go. It's all about customer satisfaction."

Rick saw Kate nodding and he was sure that she bought into what he'd said. After all, that's what she would have expected from a 'fortune teller' anyway. But Castle wasn't so sure. Somewhere, deep in his chest, he knew that the old woman wasn't spinning tales for him to take home and have a laugh over.

When she pulled Kate into her vision, then Rick knew that she either knew something, or saw something that he had no problem believing in. It was what he'd been dreaming of for years.

Kate was initially quiet after they left the fortune teller, but after wandering around for a while she seemed to put what was said by the old woman aside. Instead they both immersed themselves with more of what the fair had to offer.

They watched an actual jousting match, only the lances had round rubber tips rather than a pointy one. Kate's method of choosing who would win annoyed Rick when it turned out that her choice had won. She thought her horse of choice had a more determined look.

They came across an archery shooting gallery. Castle immediately challenged Kate to a match. At first, she declined his challenge, but he was persistent and she finally relented. As it turned out, Rick should have let sleeping dogs lie.

She beat him, badly. Not just once, but three different matches favored Kate's shooting skill by a significant margin.

It had been years since she had picked up a bow and arrow, but it didn't take long to get back enough of her mechanics and her eye.

She chuckled and punched Rick in the arm when he grumbled something about being a 'ringer'.

After letting Rick pout for a short time, she confessed that the summer she had spent at that camp she had been drawn to the bow and really wanted to learn archery. She got pretty good at it, but like everything that predated her mother's murder. It was relegated to her lost innocence.

Finally they reached the highlight of the fair for Rick Castle. He spied what he'd been looking for since he saw the ad for the festival in the paper. He grabbed Kate's hand and dragged her over to an open, rather large booth. It had tables, and racks of bladed weapons.

"I knew they would have one of these here!" He was literally jumping with excitement. Kate just rolled her eyes.

Rick was excited as he engaged the proprietor of the stand. It turned out that he was a longtime sword smith who traveled around the country to various fairs and festivals showing off his wares. Castle quickly showed that he was more than just a fanboy when it came to swords and other medieval weaponry. Kate just smiled and let herself look around on her own.

In one corner of the booth she found a large barrel that had all kinds of canes, walking sticks, and larger staffs. She imagined that some of the canes and walking sticks probably had hidden blades in them, but she was drawn to the larger and longer walking sticks and staffs. Most were just long hefty branches with some interesting twists and a nice polished finish to them. Some were beautifully carved staffs with lengths up to six or seven feet tall and polished to a gleaming shine.

She was drawn to a fairly large walking stick. It was nearly six feet tall, about an inch and a half around, and was elegantly carved along its length to showcase several natural knots. Including a large knot right at the top of the staff. It's was mostly black in color, but the carvings exposed streaks of different colorations along the length of the stick. It gleamed brightly with a high polish.

"Kate, you have to come over and help me make a choice." His voice across the width of the stand interrupted her appreciation of the particular stick she had been admiring.

She walked over and Rick was standing there holding a sword in each hand. Both appeared to be well made examples of the swords you'd see a gallant knight using in the movies. She looked closely at both of them. They both were very similar but the one in his left hand seemed more ornate. It had some extra jewels in the guard, and the handle was wrapped with a fine wire.

The sword in his other hand was very similar only a bit less showy. There was some intricate carving in the sword's guard, but no jewels. And the handle was wrapped in a black leather rather than the fine wire.

Kate looked up at his look of expectation. "They look pretty similar to me."

He nodded. "They are, but it's a knight's sword that I want, I just can't decide which one."

Kate had to hold back a smile. "Well, since you are right handed. And you chose to hold that one in your right hand when you displayed them to me." She pointed to the sword grasped in his right hand. "I'm thinking that you subconsciously like the feel of that one more than the other."

Castle frowned for a moment, looked at each sword, and then handed the one in his left hand back to the proprietor of the booth, who laughed out loud.

"Seems the little lady knows you pretty well my friend."

Castle shrugged. "You might say that."

The vendor nodded his head. "It's said that a sword chosen by your true love will never let you down."

Kate rolled her eyes, but Castle grinned like a kid with his hand in a candy jar.

"How could I walk away from it then?" Rick smirked.

The man gave Rick a grave look. "You shouldn't."

The vendor slid the sword into a leather sheath and handed it to Rick after Castle gave him a stack of bills. Kate wasn't able to see how much he paid but he obviously thought it was a good price. Castle was rich but not foolish with his money… unless he was buying something for a loved one.

Rick had a big grin on his face as he threaded the sheath through his belt and rammed the sword into it with satisfaction.

The sword vendor glanced up at Kate with a smile on his face. "I saw you were eyeing my collection of walking sticks and staffs. Perhaps you saw something that caught your fancy?"

Kate waved her hand in negation. "Oh no, I was just looking at stuff."

The vendor laughed. "You looked pretty intense while you were fondling those walking sticks."

Rick smiled at her. "Did you see something you liked?"

Kate just shook her head. "It was nothing. I was just looking." Even as she denied her interest their steps took them over to the stash of canes and walking sticks

The sword maker had a big smile on his face when they stopped by his barrel of staffs and such.

Rick looked them over. "These are pretty cool. I know you told me you were pretty good with the police batons and staffs." He glanced up at her looking for some betrayal by her eyes."

Both men stared at Kate in silence for several moments. Finally she broke.

"Okay, fine. I thought this walking stick was really beautiful." She touched the one that she had spent the most attention to."

The vendor let go a big chuckling laugh. "You have very fine taste my lady. That is based on an Irish Shillelagh. It's a little longer than a normal Shillelagh which trend more to cane sizes, but they make longer ones too, as they were often used as weapons."

He pulled it out of the barrel. "Just like the originals, this piece is carved from Blackthorn, a very dense hard wood which made it a good weapon. You can tell by its tight grain and generally black color." He handed it over to Kate. "In the hands of someone who knows what they are doing it can serve as both a simple walking stick, and serious weapon if the situation demands."

"How much?" Rick stepped up and ran his hand over the highly polished wood.

Kate put her hand on his arm. "No Rick, you don't have to buy it for me."

"But I want to. You're here because this is something I wanted to go to, so just accept this as part of my gratitude that you agreed to come with me." He turned to the vendor. "How much?"

The vendor smiled. "Less than the sword." He chuckled as he quoted a price that had Kate dropping her mouth.

The money exchanged hands and with a big smile on his face he presented the classic walking stick to his love. She took it in both hands, then lifted her face up to his and gave him a sweet kiss.

The sword vendor smiled as he watched two very satisfied customers leave his booth.

They spent the next couple hours just wandering around the fairgrounds, seeing what they could see and eating food that they didn't always know what it was before they tasted it.

Rick was happy feeling the weight of his sword and sheath slapping against his left hip while Kate was content using her new walking stick to navigate the uneven ground. A couple of times it saved her from a stumble over an unseen gopher mound, or rogue rock in her path.

The sun was getting fairly low in the sky when it appeared that the two of them had reached one end of the grounds. There were very few tents, or booths out this far.

Rick put his arm around Kate's waist. "Well, I guess we should head back toward the front gate. We can decide on the way home if we want to order some take out that we can pick up on the way back to the loft."

She laid her head against his shoulder. "Yeah maybe, after all the crap that we ate, I'm not sure I'll be able to eat anything." She reached over and patted him on the cheek. "But if you can still eat something feel free to pick up something."

"We'll play it by ear." He dropped kiss on her hair. "I'm not hungry right now, but who's to say how I'll be feeling in a few hours."

Kate lifted her head and smirked at him. "Well I'm guessing that in a few hours, you are going to be flat on your back completely exhausted."

They stopped. He gazed at her with 'that look' in his eye. "I'm thinking we should head back right now. Maybe we can beat the traffic."

She laughed. "I think we are a little late for that, but I'm all Renaissanced out, so it sounds like a good idea to me."

As they made their move to turn back the way they came, suddenly Rick stopped in his tracks.

"What was that?"

Kate looked at him, then toward the direction he was staring.

"What was what?"

Castle pointed toward a small copse of trees about twenty yards away.

"I thought I saw a flash of light coming from over there."

Kate gave him a shrug, but followed him as he moved toward the trees.

When they reached to small group of foliage they both stopped.

"What the heck?" Castle shook his head as they moved under the cover of the canopy of trees.

They were confused by what they had come across. In front of them was a large free standing mirror. It was easily six foot high by four feet wide and was wrapped in an intricately carved wooden frame. It looked like it was just stuck into the ground.

Kate stared at her reflection in the mirror as Rick walked around behind it and back next to Kate.

"There's nothing behind it, but why would someone stick a large mirror in the ground at such an out of the way place?"

Kate shook her head. "Maybe it was supposed to be part of something that never got finished?"

Castle nodded. "That sounds logical… whoa!"

Suddenly the mirror seemed to fog over and it no longer reflected the images of Rick and Kate.

They watched as the fog seemed to dissipate and soon a clear vision was able to be seen. But it wasn't a reflection of them and their surroundings. It looked like a picture of some bucolic countryside. There seemed to be some sort of grasslands growing up against the beginnings of a wooded area. Off in the distance could be barely heard the sound of a fast flowing creek of some kind.

As they looked toward the wooded area the trees seemed to thicken like the beginning of a forest. It was confusing since there was nothing anywhere around where they were standing that looked even remotely like what they were seeing in the mirror. And even more confusing was the fact that the scenery seemed to be moving, like a movie camera panning across a landscape.

They both wondered if it was some sort of movie, but the apparent three dimensional depth to the scene they were seeing was way beyond any technology that they were aware existed.

Rick walked right up to the large former mirror.

"Do you notice that the sun is nearly at high noon in this vision? Do you think it's some sort of high tech movie screen? And if it is, why have it out here?"

Kate took a couple a steps forward. "Come on Rick, let's get out of here. This doesn't make any sense."

He looked over his shoulder at her. "Aren't you curious?"

She glared at him. "You know what happens to curious cats."

He chuckled as he took another step closer.

Kate didn't like this at all. "Come on, Rick. Let's go back. We'll tell someone at the front gate about this. Maybe it's just something they put out here to mess with the minds of visitors."

Rick shrugged. "Okay, I can't see any reason for this. It's obviously some kind of preprogramed movie or something, but this seems like a really poor location for any sort of attraction."

He turned to go back to where Kate was standing. Unfortunately, when he made that move, he happened to step on a fair sized rock which caused him to stumble.

"Rick!" Kate watched as Castle was thrown off his balance and stumbled toward the giant mirror. She was afraid it might break and shred him as it fractured when he hit it.

Instead of seeing her lover crash into the big mirror and get cut to pieces. Rick hit the surface of the big mirror then seemed to disappear.

"Castle!" Kate stood there frozen in horror staring at the huge mirror that had just eaten her lover.

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All Readers are Appreciated, Review if you wish

A/N: Another confession I have to make. I have four walking sticks which range from four and a half to about six feet in height. Three of them are pretty pedestrian and are nice but mostly functional. But I have one that is special. It's a beautifully carved piece of Hawaiian Koa that I acquired back in the mid 80's at the Uptown Art Fair. Even back then the walking stick cost me $50. When I was walking home with it in hand some kids across the way shouted out, "Hey Gandalf!". So I turned them into toads.