Twelve Realms Ch. 07-08

"No, My Lord. I don't mind you being here." Fiona smiled. "It'll be good to have someone to help clean up afterwards!"

"I'll be happy to," he smiled back. "But only if you stop being so formal. Just yesterday I remember you saying my name. Have you forgotten it already?"

Her lips turned up in an impish grin and she raised her eyebrows but said nothing. She moved back to her corner of the dojo and started moving through her forms again, each movement precise. Jacob moved away from her and went through his own warm ups, but soon realized that her presence in the same room was more than enough to bring up his body temperature. As he went through his own sword forms he found himself distracted by watching her movements. The way her breasts moved under her tight shirt enticed him. The way the soft cloth of her leggings formed around her thighs and ass mesmerized him. He kept telling himself that Ed expected him to treat her as a sister. His body was not at all on that page. He worked up a sweat going through his workout and was not nearly finished when he noticed Fiona had started her cool down. He decided to skip past the remainder of his work out and join her for stretches. She smiled at him as he faced her and they worked through upper body stretches and then sat on the mat facing each other for leg stretches.

"I think of these stretches as my reward for the workout," Fiona said, breaking their silence.

"Have you tried yoga? You can get a workout, the stretches, and meditation all together."

"I haven't, but that sounds wonderful. I'll look into it.

"By the way, Jacob... You can NOT under any circumstances tell my mother that you saw me here. She doesn't think it's appropriate for a Lady, let alone a Royal Princess, to be seen dressed like this. She'd have an absolute fit."

"Ha! Princess, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've spoken to your mother voluntarily. She is terrifying!"

"She is not!"

"I have been certain since I was a little boy that she could turn me into an ice statue given very little provocation!"

"She wouldn't! Well, she probably could... I mean her magic has affinity to water. She wouldn't do that, though. You have no reason to be afraid of her, Jacob. She likes you. I heard her tell papa that she wishes Edward were more like you."

"That is... good to know, I guess?"

Fiona laughed in delight at his incredulity.

Jacob and Fiona cleaned the dojo together in silent companionship. When they finished they found themselves in the close confines of the supply closet, putting away the mops they'd used to wipe up their sweat. They were so close that Fiona could feel the heat of the Jacob's body. Without thinking, she stepped into him, pressing her sweaty body against his. He looked down at her in surprise while he felt his cock twitch and start to grow in his shorts. Her inhumanly large eyes were dark with arousal. His eyes fastened on her parted pink lips.

"Jake?" Fiona whispered. "Kiss me, Jake. I like it when you kiss me."

Jake leaned down and captured her lips with his. His hands fell to her waist and his fingers caressed the bare skin where her shirt didn't quite reach her leggings. He wanted to touch more of her, to slide his hands down to her firm butt or to move his hands up to cup her breasts, but fought against it, knowing he could not breech that boundary. One of her hands circled around to the back of his neck while the other pushed up under his shirt, her palm flat against the hard muscles of his stomach. It was clear she felt no qualms about touching his skin.

"Fiona," Jacob moaned her name. "Oh, Gods... ."

"Mmmm. Jake," she sighed.

"This is a really bad idea," he murmured but fell back into the kiss.

"This is just a kiss, Jake," Fiona smiled against his mouth.

The sounds of boots stomping into the dojo broke the enchantment that held them together. Fiona stepped away from Jacob and again cast her eyes down in embarrassment. She followed him out of the storage closet and hurried away to get cleaned up and start her day as Jacob stood and chatted with Maester Lennon.

Fiona went to meet her Maesters for her lessons after having breakfast with her mother. The magic Maesters had her working on healing abilities while the more prosaic Maesters had her learning history, science, mathematics, and law. All of her instructors agreed that she was an exceptional student with a remarkable intellect. And they weren't just saying that because she was Princess Royale, they always assured her parents.

"Princess, the king sent a message down asking that you join him for lunch in his study," Maester Phillips informed her as she packed up her notes.

"Thank you, Maester."

When she got to her father's study, lunch was already there and Jacob was in the process of serving the king.

"Do you want iced tea, princess? Or lemonade?"

"Ah... Iced tea, My Lord," Fiona said, flustered at seeing Jacob after her behavior with him that morning. She hadn't been prepared to see him again so soon and was caught off-balance.

"Your Highness, please. It's 'Jacob'," he told her. "Or if you are feeling familiar, your brother and father call me Jake. When you were a little girl, you always called me 'Jake'. Before we left on the king's Royal Progress, you always called me 'Jake'. Why have you decided to be so formal?"

"Mother insists that I practice proper protocol, My Lord," Fiona responded, her cheeks acquiring a pretty pink tinge.

"Häschen, if he wants you to call him by his given name, call him by his given name."

Fiona rested her big eyes on her father and pursed her lips, tilting her head to one side in thought.

"Okay, Jacob," she met his eyes and smiled shyly. "And you may call me 'Fiona'." Then she looked at her father, her brows creased with worry. "Is that okay, papa? Mama says I must not be too familiar with anyone. That I must learn to be a proper lady now."

"Jacob has known you since you were a small child. If there is anyone in the Twelve Realms who has the right to call you by your given name, it's Jake.

"Bear with us, Sparta," the king said to him with a conspiratorial wink. "My daughter is caught between being the little girl she was and the woman she will be. It's a difficult road for her. Her mother disapproves of her tom-boy ways. I enjoy my little bunny's rough edges."

"Papa! Please don't embarrass me!"

"I assure you, Häschen," the king said, his eyes twinkling, "our dear Jacob already knows you and likes you. If he wasn't bothered by you as a street rat covered in mud, he's not going to be bothered by your attempt at being a lady."

"The mud thing only happened the ONE TIME!" Fiona reminded them indignantly as Jacob snorted in an attempt to suppress a guffaw.

"It's not funny, Jake! Besides, it was entirely your fault!"

"I just dared you to do it, princess. It was your choice to try to cross that creek in the Wilds. Ed and I both knew your legs weren't long enough to make it without jumping."

"But the iron in the water stained my hair! Mama made me wear it that ugly rust color for days before using her magic to get it back to normal. And she told Elsa to throw away my play clothes rather than spend any time trying to get the mud out. As though having to be rescued by you wasn't punishment enough, I had only dresses to wear for WEEKS. Until Ed took pity on me and gave Elsa some of his old clothes to cut down for me."

"You see, little bunny, Jake and you know each other too well and for too long to stand on protocol."

"I suppose, papa," Fiona sniffed. She glared at Jacob when she saw that he had tears in his eyes from trying to hold in his laughter at the recollection of the story.

"I am sorry, princess," Jacob said, finally wiping his tears of mirth away with the back of his hand. "Some of my best memories are of times when you were playing right alongside Ed and me. And some of the funniest were when your mouth declared something your body couldn't deliver!"

"Enough talking, you two," the king told them, a pleased smile on his face. "It's time to eat."

After lunch Fiona excused herself.

"I am meeting Lady Melissa Swarthmore in the music room this afternoon, papa," Fiona told the king. "Mistress Camilla is teaching us a duet."

"Ah... Lady Melissa...? Is she debuting at court before the season starts?"

"Yes, papa. She's been here for a few cycles. She told me her mother wanted her to have time to get used to Terra before the beginning of the social season. I am not sure why. Surely Terra isn't very different from Steading? In any case, we've become good friends. She likes the same kinds of books I do. And she sings and plays guitar. We are learning to harmonize, which is great fun."

"Ah, Häschen! I like to hear you have a good friend. It is good for you to have a young woman near your own age to have as a companion and confidant."

Chapter 8: The Bazaar

Over the next days Fiona fell into a new daily pattern since her father was home. Jacob started meeting her nearly daily in the dojo so they could work out together. Fiona appreciated having a skilled sparring partner. Jacob praised her for her steady improvement as a fighter.

Without talking through what they were doing, they started their day just a little earlier so that they were sure to have ten or more minutes alone together after their cool down and clean-up to just kiss and caress each other. It took weeks for Jacob to work up the nerve to touch her below or above her waist. He was emboldened by her sighs and moans of appreciation as he caressed her through her clothes. But always, always they were interrupted by Maester Lennon starting his morning in the dojo.

Jacob was both disappointed and relieved in equal measure. He worried about them going too far while trying to convince himself that they hadn't already. For her part, Fiona was so innocent that she had only had the vaguest idea what came next and did not try to push for it, being content to kiss and touch each other. She avoided touching his groin with her hands, but was well aware of his hardness against her stomach when they embraced. She seemed to have the instinct that using her hands on him would be a step too far for them.

After their time in the dojo, they would go their separate ways. Jacob would go to the king and whatever tasks were in store for him, Fiona would go to her maesters and study with them. Once Fiona finished her lessons with the maesters she would call down to the kitchen for lunch and then meet Jacob and her father in the king's study where the three of them would eat companionably together.

During the Royal Progress Fiona had spent part of her afternoons with the Masters studying and the remainder practicing her music, painting, or sewing - all appropriate pastimes for a princess, often with Lady Melissa Swarthmore at her side. The social season did not start until the king's return and Melissa was left to learn how to fit into the royal household when more than half the household was gone. Fiona, left behind while her father and brother went on their own adventures, had been quite lonely until she ran into Melissa in the Kype's library where they discovered their shared love of adventure novels. Then Melissa learned that Fiona was a musician and they became fast friends and nearly inseparable.

After her father's return to Terra, Fiona stopped going to the Masters in the afternoon and could instead be found in the king's study doing her embroidery listening in on the work that went into running the Realms or helping Jacob do research in the library. She did still meet in the music room with Melissa to work on songs together. But she liked best helping Jacob in the library as it gave them a chance to be alone together. She knew the computer systems that held the royal records of the past millennia better than anyone other than the librarian, so her service was invaluable to Jacob. She seemed to always have the information he was looking for at her fingertips. Her efficiency just gave them still more time to explore each other, touching and tasting, but always wanting more.

***

"We missed you yesterday afternoon, princess," the king said to her as she settled in to lunch.

"Yes, Fi, we definitely missed you," Jacob said, grinning and serving the king his lunch. "It took me all afternoon to find the information your father was looking for. Hours in the dusty archives getting covered with spider webs only to find out that what I was looking for was already in His Majesty's study!"

"Oh, Jake! I am sorry about that," Fiona responded, her lips quirked in a lopsided smile. "Although it is good to be needed!

"But Mistress Camilla gave us a new piece to learn last week and I wanted to practice. Melissa and I nearly have it perfect. But I'm struggling with a few measures. Well, I was struggling. But now I think... ."

"Do you think you can play it for us, Haschen?"

"Do you want to hear it, papa?"

"I would love to hear it. Perhaps the day after tomorrow? In the afternoon?"

"Of course. We'd love to."

"Perfect.

"Tomorrow I am declaring a free day. The two of you deserve a day of rest after how much work you've done for me over the past four cycles."

Fiona clapped her hands in delight.

"Thank you, sir," Jacob said, a broad smile on his face.

"Send a message down to the Merchant's Guild to let them know, would you Jake? They like to start setting up their bazaar as early as possible. They will inform everyone else."

"Of course, sire. I'll do that right away."

"It can wait until after lunch, Jake. I know you're anxious for a rest day, but let's enjoy a meal with the most beautiful girl in the Twelve Realms."

"Papa!" Fiona admonished, scandalized.

"What?" The king's eyes twinkled with boyish mischief.

"What about mama?"

"Your mother is the most beautiful woman in the galaxy. Or so this old man contends. Ask me again in fifty cycles. At that point I expect the competition to be fierce. With me the winner, regardless."

Fiona couldn't help but giggle.

"In any case, let's eat!" the king commanded them.

***

Late the next morning Fiona stood watching jugglers on the street just outside of the gates to the Kype while licking a chocolate chip mint ice cream cone. She wore a knee-length light summer wrap dress embroidered with violets and ivy, on her feet she wore fine leather sandals. Her enormous straw sun hat shaded her pale skin per her mother's command. It also covered her hair and ears, giving her some anonymity.

"Good morning, princess," Jacob said, sidling up next to her.

"Good morning, Jake," she responded, eyeing him up and down. He was dressed casually as she hadn't seen him since he was elevated to squire. He wore light cotton shorts in Citadel's red and blue plaid and a knit shirt that stretched tightly across his broad chest. His wavy hair shone gold in the bright sunlight.

"Have you been through the bazaar yet," he asked her.

"A little. I started with ice cream and then I saw these mummers and had to watch."

"Would you mind if I join you?" he asked her, afraid to meet her eyes.

"I would mind if you didn't," she responded and he finally met her gaze and smiled. "I'm supposed to meet Melissa this afternoon. But I was hoping you would... be my date? Until then?" Her smile was shy and Jacob felt his stomach flutter.

They watched the mummers and laughed at their antics and then threw in some coins as the juggler passed his hat. Fiona passed Jacob her half-eaten ice cream cone and then held his elbow so he could lead her further into the bazaar. He dropped his left arm around her waist and guided her into the roiling crowd, licking what was left of the cone.

Fiona meandered from stall to stall making purchases. The fingered bolts of fabric and bought several to be delivered to the castle. The merchants that did regular business with the royal household recognized her and she was greeted by many with an exuberant "Good morning, Your Highness." She bought jewelry and clothes, a bag of candy for later, a silk scarf, some interesting-looking sheet music. Jacob was soon laden with small packages. He purchased lunch for them and they found two seats at a long table and sat together to eat. They playfully fed each other off of their plates, giggling and giving each other quick kisses under Fiona's floppy hat between bites.

"Sparta!" a voice barked out just as Fiona and Jacob pulled away from a kiss. Jacob leapt to his feet and turned to face the newcomer.

"Good afternoon, uncle." Jacob said, his lips wrinkled in mild distaste.

"Are you going to introduce me to the young lady you can't seem to keep your lips off of," the man asked, leering.

"Of course," Jacob responded, offering Fiona a hand up and holding her close to his side. "This is... ."

"Uh... Lady... Sophia of White Cliff... Harbor," Fiona introduced herself, awkwardly dropping into curtsey.

"Lady Sophia, this is my Uncle," Jacob introduced. "Andrew, Earl Southshire. My mother's brother."

"A pleasure to meet you, My Lord," Fiona said cheerfully, but Jacob could feel her fingers dig into his arm.

"The pleasure is mine, I assure you," Andrew said, making no attempt to hide his appreciation of her body. Fiona blushed at his frank appraisal and Jacob moved himself so that he stood between her and his uncle.

"It is good to see you, uncle. And I'd love to stay and chat, but Fi...uh ... 'Fia and I need to be going."

"Of course, nephew. I won't keep you and your lady."

Jacob watched his uncle wander away before pulling Fiona after him in the opposite direction.

"I can't believe he didn't challenge your name," Jacob hissed to Fiona out of the corner of his mouth. "White Cliff Harbor?"

"Subterfuge has never been my best subject, Jake," Fiona responded, her eyes wide.

"It would be bad for both of us if he says anything... ."

"I know," she moaned. "I'm sorry. I panicked."

"It's okay, Fi. We'll deal with it if he gets curious."

They walked down toward the arts district north of the Kype and stopped to watch a puppet show that set them both to laughing. They watched dancers. They listened to musicians.

They stopped to watch a play that told a story of a good and kind king who had a beautiful wife and son. The wife died in childbirth due to the machinations of an evil fairy. When Jacob saw the evil fairy, he tried to pull Fiona away, but she was rooted to the spot captivated by the unfolding story. She watched as the evil fairy, her hair like blue flames, seduced the good king. She wanted a child, her child, to be the next king. The crowd hissed and hooted at the fairy queen when she tried unsuccessfully to kill the young prince.

"Fiona," Jacob whispered urgently into her ear, "there are so many other things to see. Let's go." Fiona silently shook her head, her eyes glued to the scene before her.

The evil fairy birthed a child and flew into a rage that the child was a daughter instead of a son. The doll used to represent the child was malformed, her head much too large for her body, her ears like a bat's, her nose like a pig's, her mouth full of sharp fangs, her eyes grotesquely huge and purple, her head full of silver hair. The crowd hissed and shouted even more than before. The play showed the king doting on the child, but only because her mother enchanted him. The evil fairy used her glamour to trick the king into thinking the child beautiful.

Fiona looked up at Jacob, her eyes glowing almost white hot. He glanced to the sky, suddenly realizing there was a dark storm cloud gathering above them. He could see tears gathering in her eyes as huge heavy raindrops fell from the sky. He shook his head at her, his face a mask of sorrow. He tried to pull her into his arms, but she pulled away from him. She took a step away, and then another. Then she turned and ran, the thunder cloud dispersing as quickly as it came, Fiona's floppy hat falling off behind her, her silver hair shining, conspicuous in the return of the bright sunlight.