Guard of Laughter

Chapter Eight

 The next day Jingle had jested for the queen at lunch, and stayed with her for about two hours until her Royal Adviser had taken her away to do Queen stuff. But, rather than a job, it felt more like two friends hanging out. The both of them actually shared the same interests. The Queen liked things that Jingle didn't think nobility would care for. 

 It was all good fun, really, there was even sandwiches there. But the meal that Jingle really looked forward was dinner. When she wasn't talking with the Queen she yearned to talk to Sir Ryan who had made her have these strange feelings. Which reminded her, when they played detective she felt a sort of... familiarity. Like she had always known Ryan. 

 With the Queen, there was still a lot of awkwardness between them unless they had a topic going, but somehow it seemed that wall was starting to come down.

 Jingle spent the rest of her time in the library. Reading some books and drawing a little in her sketchbook until it was near dinnertime. 

 She went back to her room and put on a simple dress since she wasn't on duty anymore. Although she loved her uniform it could be tiresome to wear. Also, she got a lot of stares when she wore it. Not that surprising since it seemed that she was well-known for making the queen laugh until her stomach hurt. Even when they werent together she was caught laughing to herself. 

 The jester walked into the dinning hall. It was crowded, making her wish that she arrived earlier.

 Jingle's eyes scanned the tables until she caught sight of the knight who invited her. Ryan noticed her almost immediately afterwords and motioned her over with a smile. To her disappointment, he was not alone. In fact, she felt a little foolish that she had somehow expected him to be. Of course the dinning hall was be filled with workers. They wouldn't get a table to themselves. But why did she think it would be like that? It was only dinner. N-Not a date or anything. Jingle took a seat across from him, and inbetween two men. One of them was the grouchy guard, and another she did not recognize. Her knee's brushed against Ryan's again, but neither of them could turn away or they would hit the legs of the people they sat next to.

 Jingle could live with that.

 "These are my friends, Bruce," He pointed over to the grumpy guard who just grunted, "and--" before he could introduce the other man, he spoke up. "I am a shadow." His voice was quiet. Soft, but not without agression. He was dressed up in a nice attire. Something similar to that Royal Adviser's clothes, but not with as high of quality fabric. "I am beyond the age of pain and sorrow... just rage." He dragged out the last word, until it was just a whisper.

 Jingle didn't want to sit by him.

By the look on Ryan's face, she wasn't even sure that they were even friends. Maybe he just said that to be polite? "... He's Remmie. Anyway, feel free to dig in."

"Thank you--" Jingle started, only to be interrupted by the strange man. "Food. Substance to the soul. It almost fills the dark hole that replaces mine."  Ignoring him, Jingle started digging into the food in front of her. Which she soon realized that Ryan must have got it for her, because other people were lining up in front of the kitchen to get a plate full. 

 "So, who are you?" Remmie asked, leaning strangely close to Jingle. "U-Um, Jingle." "Ah, I see... the jester, right?" she nodded, glancing at Ryan for a moment who appeared very apologetic.

 Unlike how she imagined dinner to be, Remmie had talked to her the whole time. Mentioning how he was so much like a shadow, and how he had so much pain inside himself.

 It was a pretty depressing conversation. Afterwords Ryan walked her back to her room, saying how they should get together again to have a better chat. He also complemented how she looked in her dress, which shocked her because of how plain she thought it to be. It didn't seem like flattery, but whether it was or not the words made her happy. She was glad she went to dinner with him, despite not having much of a chat.