Responsibility Ch. 30

Author's Note: I'd like to warn the reader, there will be a scene of a minor trying to act inappropriately, but there will be NO graphic content involving any minors. Even if Literotica allowed that, I don't do that. I don't want to do that. I simply chose to write about this sort of stupidity because I've actually seen some minors actually try it, and I've even heard of minors doing much worse. I think we all have heard of that, actually. I felt kind of weird writing it, but it's okay. There won't even be any kissing or rude touching. Nope! None of that! It will be very G-rated in terms of what this minor will actually do. Another warning, there will be a scene involving corporal punishment. That might be even more troubling to some.

***

He was a tall man, and as thin as a twig, or that's what people claimed.

His appearance was the first reason why he'd attracted more attention than the rest of the entertainers auditioning to become one of the court jesters. The second reason was simply because he was more than funny.

He had tricks and moves. He could dance like a drunken fool, but he could also be suave and graceful, reminding some of grasshoppers or spiders, perhaps even of a blade of grass bending for a strong yet still benign wind. He could make small objects appear from seemingly nowhere, and sometimes he'd seem to make pretty light appear from only the air, making them follow his limbs' movements.

With his calm and gentle voice, he assured everyone that he was only a performer. He didn't know how to use magic, wasn't even certain what magic even was. He'd only said that when a guard had called him a fairy. He'd even showed a few bottles of trapped fireflies that he kept in his pockets, to help people understand he held no magical threats.

Yet there were still terrible concerns! This tall man boldly claimed he had no family, that he was only a traveler looking for coin, and the Imperial Court was a place full of coin. Was that so? That had some worried that he could be a spy for whatever dangerous source, perhaps even an assassin. After some more time, in which the performer seemed to listen to these whispered complaints, he left the castle with a friendly smile that soothed many hearts.

Around two days after that, he arrived again. There were little bells on his shoes and colorful sleeves, and he danced for many once more. Then he became the musician, taking a flute from his pouch and playing a sunny song. Then he told a few jokes and had most people laughing.

Eventually, the Emperor himself had heard about the entertaining man and said he'd watch him for a time. While his favored Borys spent time teaching little Zorig some basic wrestling moves, that mighty ruler sat at a table on a veranda while the performer danced before him, with a few other musicians seeming to challenge him with foreign tunes.

That tall man improvised well. He spun and bounced as if nothing could ever hold him down. Then, once the music was gone, the performer bowed ...

And he bent his long legs in such a way that led him to fall flat on his face, right on the hard floor. He didn't cry out. His face hadn't even held a look of shock. He only fell, his limbs suddenly awkward and limp.

Silence.

Then light popping and cracking.

And the man seemed to leap back into an upright position, so quickly and casually that His Majesty tilted his head and narrowed his eyes as he saw it.

His nose only a bit red, the performer curtly announced, "I do that sometimes."

As if his mind only then realized something funny had happened, the Emperor suddenly blushed and grinned. Then he started laughing, even shaking a bit from it.

A few moments later, once he'd calmed himself, His Majesty said to the performer, "I'm certain you must. It's how you feed yourself."

The performer held His Majesty's interest for a few more minutes. Dancing, tiny light shows, and occasionally falling over with seemingly little care for his safety. Then, the Emperor finally said, "I'll have your name."

Bowing, the tall performer said to the Emperor, "I'm known as Leran."

"Then Leran, I'll have you as a jester. If you can amuse the Empress Consort you'll even have a raise in your salary."

Leran the Jester bowed again. "Your Majesty, you have my gratitude."

Close to three hours later, once the Jester had been given some time to rest and prepare his thoughts and body, he was allowed to perform before the solemn Empress Consort. She sat on a chair with a freshly purchased cushion. Her attendants sat on similar chairs and her bodyguards stood by. While the attendants were smiling with innocent excitement, and the bodyguards tried to push their smirks away, the Empress was cold.

Not discouraged, Leran bowed and politely greeted the Empress. Then he put his flute to his lips.

It seemed louder than it should've been, but not painfully so. It was as if all the audience members could hear the music in their minds, as natural as thought. The littlest attendant, who had her hair in ribbon wrapped braids, rocked in her seat and giggled. The tallest attendant seemed to grow a peaceful aura. The attendant with pretty blonde hair kicked her feet a little.

The Empress Consort might've allowed an eyelash to flutter. Her fingers might've loosened only a bit. Her spine might've softened. Still, she seemed uncaring. So, Jester Leran paused to twirl his flute in his fingers, tossed it in the air, and caught it. Then he began a completely different tune, one so fun and bright that he needed to add a light dance to it, his feet wiggling and springing about.

In the middle of this happier song, the Empress Consort seemed to give into her more human side, and she smiled. She hid that smile with her sleeve, but before that the Jester had caught a flash of it in his eye. That might've given him more courage, and he chose that moment to fall down, only stopping the music when contact with the floor forced his instrument out of his grasp and his breath out of his lungs.

Lightly, like a tiny pet bird, the Empress Consort tittered behind the back of her hand. She even trembled from it.

The Jester's fate was sealed right then.

He was the most favored entertainer from then on.

He was the boldest too.

He even strutted through the bathing chambers, where people sat in tubs as if they were in the most expensive bathhouse. He juggled colorful cloth spheres and sang rather lurid songs. He made many people gasp, but many others only laughed at him or remarked at how clever he was with his spheres.

Eventually he dared to walk into the section for women only, not for mixed gender bathing or men only, but he'd tied a blindfold over his eyes. How he managed not to walk into anyone wasn't explained. He paused at the tub that Princess Tuya and her favorite lady-in-waiting happened to be soaking in. Then he stepped into a puddle, slipped, and fell, all his little balls dropping and rolling around.

The lady-in-waiting giggled into her wet palm while her mistress seemed incredibly bored, but not offended.

On another day, Jester Leran played a little prank. With the Emperor's permission and supervision, he switched out some salt for sugar, only once the meal in question was already prepared. The diner's surprised expressions all had the Emperor laughing. Then he returned the salt to them and apologized, although his face was too flushed and giddy to suggest that he had any regret.

***

That girl was following him again. She wasn't supposed to. She was supposed to be on an errand for the Empress Consort, essentially delivery work.

Assuming she was being discreet, she was sliding her back against a wall just before the hallway would turn to the right, where Tarmo Ammas, the Empress' favorite bodyguard, was walking.

He didn't have much free time, but what he had he tended to cherish. Yet this little girl with honey hair was on his heels, making him feel highly uncomfortable. If she'd been a adult, he'd be annoyed. Since this was still legally a child, he was almost frightened.

What gave him comfort, though, was the fact that the Empress was stern, always demanding the most righteous of behaviors from the girls she fostered. This girl was plainly inappropriate.

Ammas increased his speed, not enough to be running nor jogging, but enough that he heard Miss Oksana panting behind him. Foolish child! He found his private bedroom and locked himself inside. He stood at the door for a moment, and he heard the girl's footsteps and disappointed huff of breath. Rolling his eyes, Ammas went over to his dining table to munch on some sweets.

The next day, as Ammas had expected, Oksana followed him around again. She had a package for the Empress, but she had a smaller one on top. Ammas wanted to think that was also for the Empress, but he had an unpleasant supposition lurking in his mind, and while he didn't want to be curious he almost was.

At one point, that girl managed to catch him in a corner. With a huge grin she held the smaller package out for him to apparently take. Ammas didn't reach out. He only stared at the thing.

With a snorting giggle, Oksana put the Empress' package on the stone floor, which had Ammas raising an eyebrow, and she unwrapped her smaller package. Inside, there was a handkerchief that had also been wrapped up. Basic but colorful embroidery had been put on the edges, along with stitched words of romantic love, even with his name. Inside the handkerchief's wrapping, there was a small bar of soap of a pretty rose pink color. Simple but darling.

Before Oksana could dare to say anything dangerous, Ammas pointed down at her face and angrily told her, "No. I will slap your face and beat your backside with a paddle if it means protecting our reputations. I refuse to let a stupid child try stupid things with an adult, especially not me." Then, as the girl's smile fell away and her body trembled, Ammas pointed at himself. "I don't prowl to children, and you shouldn't be trying to get anyone to prowl to you." Back to her. "You haven't finished your fostering. Stay the fuck away for me. If you don't, I'll have no choice but to tell the Empress, and you'll definitely be beaten then."

He only dared to touch her so he could shove her out of his way. Then, careful not to step on the other package, Ammas stomped away, muttering his frustrations out.

Stupid child!

To Ammas' irritation, something similar happened the following afternoon. That Oksana girl had started following him around again when she apparently thought nobody had noticed. His teeth ground a bit as he stopped at his bedroom's door, and he turned around to face the approaching maiden.

Holding up a tiny, recently plucked group of flowers, her eyes and nose quivering with what might've been sadness, that girl whined up to him, "My feeling are earnest, Sir Ammas. Won't you consider taking this maiden as a bride one day?"

Never caring much for her feelings, and certainly fed up with the issue, Ammas snatched the flowers up from her grasp. He slapped them down onto the tiled floor and stomped on them. Then he unlocked his door, stepped inside, slammed the door closed, and locked the door back.

Some time later, he overheard someone mentioning that Oksana was crying in one of the gardens, hiding behind some rose bushes. She must've been there a long time, likely making the Empress Consort wonder where in the world she was.

Ammas couldn't stand this insult, let alone the girl's behavior. He decided then and there that he needed to tell the Empress about this nonsense.

***

Her face suspiciously pink, Oksana entered the Empress' bedchamber with a slow pace. Yana didn't question her about her absence. She only lowered her head and sighed. Little Gabi was nervously tapping her hand with the other hand's fingertips. Some of the maidservants were avoiding looking any higher ups in their faces. The female bodyguard was noticeably gone, as if she hadn't want to witness something.

Rahela rose from her seat. She'd been reading up until then. She set her scroll aside and calmly asked Oksana, "Where have you been resting your feet?"

"Ah!" Oksana looked away and put her hands behind her back. "Madam, I'd tripped and hurt my ankle. After some time, the pain has gone, and so I've returned to you."

"I'd imagine, then," Rahela said as Gabi seemed to retreat from her, stepping behind a chair as if she wanted its protection, "that if we were to have your ankles examined, then one of them would have signs of a minor injury."

Her mouth tightening, her eyes wide, Oksana didn't offer any word to that.

"Yana," Rahela said, still looking at Oksana with a blank expression, "bring that ridiculous thing to me."

Yana had it in her Madam's hands rather quickly, but she didn't seem proud of her speed, or of anything, really. Rahela opened the wrapping up to reveal a certain handkerchief and a pink bar of soap.

Oksana suddenly had a cough.

Rahela didn't wait for the girl to stop coughing. She merely raised her voice enough to be heard. "I was told you've been harassing Tarmo Ammas."

Oksana's eyes shut and she clutched her own throat. Then, she squeaked out, "He ... he's threatened me ... forced me!"

Rahela folded the handkerchief over the soap and put her thumb over a particular name that had been sewn in. "Oh? Within a moment you've forgotten you could be examined? Impulsive, foolish child! We truly must have a medical examination done, but I wonder how much evidence of force we'll find, since you've clearly stitched the man's name in."

Oksana's instincts apparently told her to flee, because that's what she tried to do.

Sadly for her, two of the bigger maidservants and even Yana all caught up to her and held her down. They all waited for the physician to be called, and for her to arrive.

Then Oksana had to be examined.

Absolutely no signs of injury.

That meant she had to be beaten.

Harassing someone, risking placing under possible accusations of being a predator.

Then lying once refused, truly attempting to put that person under those accusations. These were awful crimes.

If Oksana had been an adult, she'd have been put in a cell. Falsely accusing someone of sexual assault, even rape, was a crime that couldn't be forgiven. She was still considered underage, and so the mercy granted to her would be a beating that had her screaming, crying, and begging for forgiveness.

She was allowed to rest on a pallet on the floor, where she could be monitored.

***

That Jester Leran was doing something nobody else had ever seen him do on this rainy morning. As stiff as a pole and obviously as tall as some, he was standing on a veranda and staring out into the distance, perhaps at the treetops peeking over the walls in the distance, since the Hunting Grounds were in that direction, while all the other roads led to the city. His face was stony, lacking the sprightly nature it normally held.

At one time, during which Leran changed little or not at all, Empress Rahela and her now incomplete entourage happened to walk down that veranda. That Empress paused, leading her group to pause too, and she looked up at Leran with a very light twitch in one of her eyes.

"Jester?" she said, "What has you in such anticipation?"

Leran had the good sense to turn his body and give a bow, but then he returned to his previous position, gazing out the window. "I'm admiring the Empire's glory, Your Majesty."

"I agree that there is much beauty and accomplishment here," the Empress said as her hand rose to somewhere below her chin. "Do you need more time to tire of it all so you may better fulfill your duties?"

Not looking back, the Jester said, "Your Majesty must have tired of it all long ago, for you are truly a devoted member of the Imperial Royal Family." There was a delicate little pause, and then he abruptly asked, "Don't you normally have another lady-in-waiting with you? One with blonde hair?"

"Why is this paid fool asking of my personal affairs?" Rahela smoothly asked Yana, as if Yana could've given the correct answer.

Shrugging, Yana was quiet for a small amount of seconds. Then she gave her slow words. "He ... mmm-may be ... curious."

After a firm nod, Empress Rahela asked the Jester, "Do you have any curiosity for that child?"

"Not her, not specifically." He was still looking out the window. "I was only curious about my fine Empress. If I was too bold, then would Your Majesty educate me on how to be less so."

"I suppose you haven't sinned," the Empress said as she gestured to her group to continue moving. Of course she moved too. As the group walked off, she gave one last statement. "Continue living honestly, Jester."

He didn't respond at all.

***

Finely roasted nuts had been crushed into powder and mixed with creamy cheese for a paste. This paste had been spread on several slices of toasted white bread. There were small bowls of bean and pork soup with poached eggs. A sweetened rice dish was there too, along with a few tarts. The beverage was a dark wine with a mild aroma. It was a lovely little dinner to have while sitting in a pool of heated water.

This time, there were only savory herbs dusting the bath, no flowers.

With her long hair wrapped up, with her sighs long and heavy, Rahela used a spoon to flick beans around. Beside her, her tall husband's voice only just barely touched her mind. "Little Empress? Has your heart dipped low?"

"I'm thinking of that Traveling Tall Maiden."

"We haven't heard from her, and that could be more frightening that having her stand before us."

Rahela put some beans into her mouth. As she chewed, His Majesty patted her shoulder. Water from his hand dribbled and slid onto her skin, gliding down her arm.

"You should still be comforted, for no other option is secure. A distraught consort of mine could easily destroy my half of the world."

At that point in the world's history, Rahela wasn't sure if that was an exaggeration or not. Even she didn't know everything that was in the world.

"Your Majesty is correct, but I must warn you. That task is difficult. There are far too many plots against this Empire, and we have a fairy with a nearly random set of whims that we can't capture, no matter how many people have claimed to see her."

"I've heard one constable in Afrograd had her for a day." Afrograd was a city. "Then she disappeared after one of the officers disappeared. If I was told the truth, that Maiden had been obsessively staring at the officer beforehand."

After swallowing and sighing, Rahela said, "She might stalk her victims on occasion, perhaps for even the most trivial offenses. A spontaneous creature."

Her free hand, which was underwater, was suddenly held firmly. "Yes," said the Emperor, "but I had considered how to use her for our advantage."

"She can not be used, can not be controlled." Rahela had to silently remind herself not to shake her head. "She's too wild, too uncaring. I still wonder how she can want to bless anyone. Is she not already lacking in empathy?"

"She might be capable of empathy, but she might also be too cruel to care for it."

Looking down to one of her tarts, Rahela's brow furrowed and she quietly said, "She's made far too many enemies. What are the chances of her having made an enemy that could be a challenge?"

"Ah. Do you suppose I'm not a challenge to her?" His voice was thick but brittle with laughter.

Obviously, but Rahela didn't say anything like that. She picked up one of her tarts to see if she could figure out if the filling was made of berries or something else. "I wonder who else has the Tall Maiden on their mind, hoping to catch her by her frightening eyes?"

***

The rebellions and riots in Testoa had seemingly been crushed, although a bloody conflict that happened near the Vaina River had taken more lives than might've been necessary. There were always at least a scattering of such rebellions Yahsin's territories, for there were many separate cultures made to submit to Yahsin and multicultural societies disagree on many things.