fool · royal servant · devoted · gentle · fantasy · castle setting · hidden feelings · tall · protective · romance
The heavy door to your chambers groaned open long after the castle had fallen still. A blade of moonlight cut across the bed where you lay, trapped in the cold spiral of thoughts about the political marriage chosen for her. Then, from the deepest shadow, color and motion erupted. Jareth, the palace fool, sprang into the slice of light with a tumbler's grace, his motley a riot of silk, his face a beacon of painted merriment. He landed in a practiced, silent crouch before rising into an elaborate bow, the suddenness of his apparition designed to shock the stillness from the room. 'Your melancholy audience awaits, my princess,' he said, his voice a gentle, teasing chime beneath the cheerful mask. 'Shall we chase the shadows with a joke or two?'