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Jester woke up late. She had stayed up most of the night in her art studio, trying to get the right shades of blue to capture the beauty of the waves in the reflection of the moon. This meant that she was almost- but not quite- late for work.
She hurried into the bakery with a cheerful wave and a smile. Luckily they hadn’t opened yet. She liked the early-morning shift. That meant she had the afternoons to wander, or paint, or a dozen other things.
A floral apron went on top of her bright yellow dress. She really loved working in the bakery. Firstly because the employees were allowed to take home the leftover pastries from the day. And secondly because she got to interact with so many different people. Jester had lived a lot of her younger life alone, and she loved being able to just be around other people now.
This particular day, around lunchtime, a very interesting man came into the shop. He looked distinctly out of place in the bright, cheerful interior. Dressed all in black, his dark auburn hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail at the nape of his neck. His face looked sunken and tired. He adjusted the long sleeves of his coat over his wrists as he approached the counter.
Jester grinned broadly at this serious man. “Hello and welcome! What can we get you this fine, fine, afternoon?”
He winced at her cheerful greeting. Maybe he was hungover. “Um, ja,” he stammered, looking up at the chalkboard menu of Jester’s own design. “Just a, just a black coffee. And something to eat. I’m not familiar with Nicodrani foods.”
“Oh my gosh then you HAVE to try the bear claws, they are the best!” Jester said, pulling one out of the case and wrapping it neatly in brown paper. “Leme get that drink for you, just black coffee, really? Iced or hot?”
“ Eh was? Why would you buy coffee cold?” He looked distinctly confused. “Why not just leave it out for a while and let it get cold on its own?”
“No, no, no! It’s so good! It’s stronger than hot coffee and it’s much nicer in the heat! I can’t even imagine having a hot drink in this weather, much less while wearing long sleeves like that!” Jester eyed his coat. It looked well-made, but too warm for the day. He was a thin man, too. Maybe she should convince him for a bear claw and a sandwich.
“Well, you have convinced me. I’ll try your weird cold coffee, then.”
Jester smiled. “Yay! Give me just a moment.”
She turned to prepare the drink. “By the way, where is your accent from? It is super cute!” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a slight flush creep over the man’s cheeks.
“Oh, um, I’m from the Empire. Rexxentrum.”
“Isn’t that where the king lives? And all those weird wizard people?”
He smiled at that. He had a nice smile, Jester noticed, as she added a few more ice cubes to his drink. “Plenty of places other than Rexxentrum have weird wizard people. You even have one in Nicodranas yourself, I have heard.”
“Oh, that tower in the Open Quay! Yeah, I don’t know much about that guy. He owns like half the Quay though, so he must be preeetty rich and powerful.”
She handed him his drink and pastry, and he gave her a gold piece in return. Her eyes widened. “This is way too much! It’s only like three silver for this, you know!”
“The change is to see if I can get you to escort me to this tower. I am interested in arcane curiosities and am not sure of the direction.”
“What? Why me? There are guides for the city! Plus the Open Quay is like, really easy to find!”
He looked at her, head tilted, eyes narrowed, like a cat contemplating a fish. “Hm, you interest me. I like interesting people.”
Jester blushed at that. “Well, I am working right now, obviously, I can’t just leave! But I’ll be done in like half an hour. Maybe that’s too long to wait. But we have outside seating and there’s a great view of the harbor!” Jester hoped he would stay. She enjoyed walking through the city. She liked people thinking she was interesting. And honestly, the more she looked at him, the cuter he got. He had a dimple in his chin, just visible underneath a bit of scruff over his jaw.
“Ja, I will wait. Half an hour, you say?”
—
In exactly half an hour, the man stood up, closed his book, and looked expectantly at Jester. She finished with her last couple customers, exchanged a last bit of gossip with her coworkers, and then skipped out the door to where the man— wait, who was he?
“You know, it is very rude to ask a lady out on a date and then not even tell her your name.”
He blinked. She had caught him off guard, and his confusion made her grin.
“My name is… Caleb. Caleb Widogast.”
“I mean, that kiiiiind of sounds like a made-up name, but sure!”
A small crease appeared in Caleb’s brow. “Who are you, then?”
“Oh, I am Jester Lavorre! Artist, Pastry Afficionado, and High Priestess of the Traveller!” She spun and offered him a small bow.
He chuckled a dry sort of laugh at her elaborate introduction. “Now, if you’re giving me grief about made-up names, yours surely must be fake. Who names their daughter Jester?”
Jester scrunched her nose at him. The nerve of this man! He hadn’t even asked about who the Traveller was! She should give him wrong directions and skip back to her art studio for the rest of the day. But this was more fun than matching blue shades. At least for the moment.
“You haven’t met many tieflings, have you?”
He shook his head. “Your kind is… not so plentiful, in the Empire.”
“Well, see, the thing about tieflings is we get a name when we’re born, right? From our parents or whatever. But as we get older, we can take a name that’s more meaningful to us! Like my mama, her name was Marion but now she is called the Ruby of the Sea because she has the prettiest red skin and she lives on the coast, see?”
“Your mother... is the Ruby?” He sounded amazed. Awed. Overwhelmed! As he should be, really.
“Yes! You’ve heard of her? She’s the best!”
“I have.”
Jester was so proud of her mama. Even this weird Caleb guy in his long coat from the place where the king lives has heard of her.
They walked in silence for a block or two, each observing the other but not trying to be too obvious about it. Caleb wasn’t as old as she had first thought. He had very pretty hair. And eyes that were the sort of blue-gray that the ocean took on right before a storm.
“So what was your name?”
“Hmm? I just told you? Did you forget already?”
“ Nein, your… your birth name. Before you were Jester.”
Oh, her name sounded nice in his voice. His accent gave just the littlest squish to it- Chyester.
“I’m not gonna tell you! I don’t tell anyone that unless they’ve seen me naked, so unless you’re proposing we go somewhere a little more private…”
He went red to the roots of his hair. “I- I didn’t- I wasn’t- I mean, that’s- ah, ah-“
Jester took pity on him and laughed, crinkling her eyes so he knew it was just a joke. “Come on, Caaaayleb, the tower's just up this way! In fact, you can see it now, there, see?” She pointed ahead and slightly left. “This tower is sooo creepy, it looks really tall now but when we get close to it, it looks really tiny.” She bit back the dick joke she desperately wanted to make.
Caleb squinted and nodded. “I can see it. Standing erect… Though it’s really the girth that makes the difference.”
She stumbled a step. “Did you just make a dick joke ?”
“ Was , am I not permitted to make a joke?”
“No, I mean, you can, I just wasn’t wasn’t expecting it, you are so serious!”
He had a very cute smile. It only just lifted the corners of his mouth, but it was nice to see. Maybe he wasn’t so stoic as she thought.
They had reached the tower. It was about three or four stories tall, though if you caught it out of the corner of your eye, it was maybe five? Or eight? There were no windows and no doors, only big gray stone blocks that made up the walls.
Caleb had his lips pursed. His hands were on his hips as he contemplated the tower. After a couple long moments he walked all the way around it, quickly. Then he placed his hands tentatively on the tower, his long fingers probing for… something.
Jester had settled herself a little ways away, sketchbook on her knee, watching Caleb’s quiet ruminations. He was surprisingly easy to draw.
He did a few slow circuits of the tower, his fingers moving and skipping over the stones. Completing his examination, he rubbed the back of his neck in frustration. He walked to where Jester sat and sank onto his heels next to her, still staring at the tower as though he could burn a hole in it.
“So… what are you trying to do, exactly?” Jester asked.
The man tilted his head up. “Just trying to talk to the owner of the tower. It is said that he has many arcane objects and spells… hm. Call it… professional curiosity if you like.”
“Are you a wizard, too?”
He huffed another small laugh. “Why the tone of surprise?”
Jester felt a small flush on her cheeks. “I dunno, I thought wizards were like, old? With long beards and pointy hats? And super ugly too, with warts and stuff.”
An eyebrow raised. “Sorry to disappoint you. Pointed hats are not quite in fashion, at the moment. However... I am pleased to know that you think I am not ugly.”
“I never said that!” Her flush was much bigger now. Caleb had the audacity to grin at her. He was making fun of her! “If you want into the tower, why not just knock?”
Jester stood up quickly, pulling Caleb up with her. She was evidently much stronger than he was, since they both stumbled as she over-compensated the strength she would need. “Damn, you’re skinny,” she commented, before skipping her way to the wall and rapping smartly on it with her fist.
“Hellooooo? Mr Powerful Wizard Guy? Are you hoooommme? We want to talk to youuuu!”
Caleb was once again red to the hair. “Jester, Götter in Himmel , stop it, that’s, that’s wildly inappropriate, just-“
But he stopped talking as a door appeared suddenly under Jester’s hand. A panel about halfway up the wooden door opened and a small face peeked out.
“Yes, can I help you?”