Once Upon a Faire {Excerpt}

Chapter 2

The sun peers through the trees as everyone in the entire shire, patrons and employees, head to the arena for the final joust of the day, and the closing event. I find a seat in the stands reserved for employees. The King's Players have their own covered stand and the best view of the arena and the crowd.

The day wasn't as bad as I expected, but I'm still in no mood for faire foolishness. I was wonderfully content to aid my mom in running from one problem to the next, but now there was nothing left to fix. Everything closed down for the final joust so all of the patrons would gravitate towards the arena and soon after the exit.

Cat soon finds me and plops down to my right. She's in a mood judging by her scowl and folded arms.

"Freya the Fawn is a terror," she says. Cat is dressed as a fairy with gossamer wings and beautifuly drawn whorls and gemstones placed around her brown eyes. Her normally dark hair has been dyed silver for the faire.

"What was it today? She has the best real estate in the fair."

"She's still as territorial as always. The Fawn's Hollow dominates the center of the kids area and she said my bubbles were distracting the kids and pulling them away from her zone."

I scoff and it comes off as an undignified snort — just another reason why it would be a bad idea for me to try to be a member of the queen's court. "She knows there are no zones. Performers are supposed to go wherever the crowds go. You were doing your job."

"Tell that to her. Apparently, she only sold ten copies of her picture book, when she can normally move at least twenty."

"She has a picture book now?"

"And she just celebrated one hundred thousand followers on instagram."

The thought of that many people with their eyes on me makes my skin crawl. "Insane."

"I mean..." Cat lifts a shoulder. "I have to admire the hustle. Is it sad that I want to find a character that people love as much as The Fawn?"
"It's not sad," I say as trumpets blare and two knights in full armor ride into the arena. "This is what you want to do with your life. If you had Freya's reputation you could book any festival of the year."

Cat heaves a dramatic sigh and sets her head on my shoulder. "That's the dream."

I get it. The renaissance faire is escape for many people — like my parents. For the luckiest among us, it's the chance to play pretend every weekend for nine months out of the year. For the average patron who comes once a year, it's the one day where we nerds can dress like a total slut and no one can say anything about it — I saw that on a t-shirt once.

The pageantry of it all is what I love. We've lost the rigidity and customs of the past in our modern world. There's no heralds and no letters handed down with the seal of royalty. Now when they kick you out of college they just send an email.

I've seen the final joust hundreds of times, but it's always different. The King's Players follow a "script" but they improvise and play with things so it's always fresh for us and the people who come back year after year.

The knights dismount, and though I've missed their previous bouts, it is always Sir Valiant and The Black Knight who meet at the bitter end. Sir Valiant offers his hand, but the Black Knight slaps it away. The crowd gasps on cue at his show of unsportsmanlike conduct. It's all play, but I can't help but get swept into the dramedy.

"Thou art a sore upon this noble competition," Sir Valiant cries.

The Black Knight turns his back on his competitor. "And thou art a mockery of honor, a villain most foul. If I were to shake thy hand I would soil mine."