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If there was one thing Jester never had to doubt in her life, it was the fact that she was loved. After all, in her five year old mind, the world consisted of nothing but one beautiful, hardwood decked hallway in the Lavish Chateau, and every person she met there loved her without the shadow of a doubt. Her Mama, the Traveler, and even the few servants that were allowed up there, no one had ever so much as raised their voice at her.
But even a child realises at some point that there is more to the world than they know. Jester could see the people passing the street outside her window, even though she had to stack five books on top of the little bathroom footstool to reach the window sill. When Nadine lead her past the stairs to get ready for bed, she could hear voices sometimes, and her Mama's beautiful voice singing for someone else, singing songs that sounded so different from the lullabies she usually sung for Jester.
And Jester loved her Mama, so much, she loved Nadine, but... what about all these other people? What would she find if she walked down the stairs, all by herself, without Nadine of Mama holding onto her hand or telling her to come back? She had so many questions, and none of them could be answered by being nice and staying in her room all the time.
She knew who she could ask though.
She was sitting in her room again one day, colourful hand prints all over the floor and the canvas she'd been supposed to paint still empty, when she heard him arrive. Her door didn't creak, there was no telltale sound of footsteps, but she heard his laughter. Clear as bells, chiming through the hallway before he materialised in front of her, seemingly out of thin air.
“Traveler!” She let out an excited shriek, before he could press a finger to his hooded face to signal her to be quiet.
But she knew he was smiling as well, could all but hear it in his voice when she spoke up to greet her. “Jester! It's so good to see you again. I have so many plans for today!”
“Me too,” she whispered back, wiping her hands on her dress before reaching for his hand and dragging him over to her bed. The Traveler wasn't always with her, at least not always with his body and stuff. Jester was sure he was always with her in another sense though, like when her Mama apologised for not being able to be there but she tapped the little spot where her heart was, and promised that she was always with her anyway. Maybe it was like that. Anyway, when the Traveler wasn't in her room, he had to be somewhere else. And 'somewhere else' was exactly the space she had so many questions about.
“Okay okay, what do you want to do?” the little green cloak asked, scrambling up on the bed with her. As they got comfortable, his fingers ran over the little symbolic doorway Jester had carved into one of her bedposts, and she was sure he was smiling at it.
But again, there were more important things than asking him if he liked the carvings and paintings on her bed, even though she really wanted to ask that right now. She held back though, instead getting his attention by giving the cloak a gentle tug. “I want you to tell me about outside,” she told him, resting her face in her hands as she gave him an expectant look.
“Outside?” he asked back, almost sounding confused. “Everyone knows about outside. The sky's blue, grass is green, blah blah blah..”
“No!” she interrupted him, something close to indignation in her voice. “I don't know about the outside, and you can't make fun of me for that. I mean, I know pictures and stuff, but that's not like the real thing. I wanna know about the real thing.”
The figure in front of her stilled for a moment, before she heard a quiet sigh. “The real outside, huh? Well, okay... I'm not from around here, but I'll tell you what I know.”
Jester settled in, lying on her tummy now and feet kicking in the air as she listened to him talk. The Traveler had always been great at telling stories, and he didn't disappoint this time. He told her about the beach, a seemingly endless mass of water stretching out until it reached the horizon, soft sand to bury your feet in, and the sky turning beautiful colours when the sun went up and came back down again. A hundred different shades of red, orange and yellow, more even than she had in her colour palette.
He told her about the market in town, with countless rows of booths and stalls all jammed together. One big place packed so full that it seemed small again, filled with all kinds of smells and weird sensations. More food, toys, and candy than anyone could ever dream of.
He told her about people, bustling on the streets. Adults pretending to be important and children knowing they didn't have to yet. Running, mingling, sticking their nose into things that were none of their business.
Jester loved every second of it. With every story, she discovered a new place she wanted to explore, another person she would have liked to meet one day. With each story, her own little world seemed to become a little bit more gray and boring.
An idea started to form, one of those that came with the slight thrill of doing something forbidden and just a little bit dangerous. “Hey,” she interrupted him, just as he was telling her about a big tree, a relic from the Gods somewhere far off in a country she had never heard of. “Hey, Traveler?”
He stopped, finally giving her his full attention. “Yeah?”
“Would you run away with me?”
There it was again, that- weird pause. Where he seemed to freeze for a moment, not moving, not even breathing. Jester stilled as well, her smile slowly slipping as she wondered if she'd said something wrong.
“Why would you want to run away?” he finally asked, the hood of the cloak tilting in her direction.
Jester shrugged slightly. “All the things you told me, they sound so wonderful. And none of them are in here, I want to see them.”
“Oh, but you would get bored so quickly,” he replied, and Jester couldn't help but feel like he was writing her off a bit. It hurt, it wasn't something she was used to. The Traveler almost never disagreed with her plans, usually he just found a way to make them better. “And look,” he continued, before she could voice any of that. “Wouldn't you miss your Mama? And even, what's her name, Nina?”
“Nadine,” Jester corrected him quietly, still feeling a bit pouty.
“Right, Nadine. You would miss them terribly. Some of the things I told you about are so far away, Jester.”
“Not the beach though,” she insisted. “You said the beach is right here in the city, we could totally go there!”
The hood started to shake from side to side, and she heard another huff from her friend. “I suppose... but the beach is still terribly far for someone as little as you.”
Jester wanted to argue that he was just as little as she was, but then again, he could do all kinds of fantastical things she couldn't do. Maybe size didn't matter as much when you could do so many magic tricks. “So you're not running away with me?” she asked, the disappointment still obvious in her voice though.
“Well, not to the beach at least,” he told her. “How about... we start a little bit smaller? Build you up for the big thing?”
She raised her eyebrows at that, definitely intrigued again. “Smaller like where?”
“Like down the stairs,” he whispered, his tone taking on a conspiratorial nature. “Don't you want to see what's down there? Or hell, even just in some of the other rooms up here! Or upstairs, for that matter.”
“You think that would be interesting?” she asked with a smile, feet kicking again as she started to think about all the possibilities just beyond her little hallway.
“Of course!” He sounded excited again now, like when he'd first come in. He liked it when Jester agreed to his plans, and so far they had never disappointed her either. “You know what Jester, first thing tomorrow, I'll make sure to show you around the house a bit. It's going to be so much fun.”
She nodded eagerly, but had to ask. “Why tomorrow? We could start right now.”
“Actually,” came the hushed reply, as he lifted a finger to his hood again, “We can't. I'll see you tomorrow, Jester.”
The last part was nothing but a whisper as he disappeared again, as suddenly as his entrance had been. A second later she understood why though, hearing her Mama's footsteps coming closer. With a bright smile she jumped out of bed, falling around the Ruby's legs as soon as she opened the door. “Mama Mama, guess what happened today!”
Marion chuckled softly and leaned down to pick her up, cradling the child close to her heart. “If you're that excited about it, little Sapphire, I'm sure it must have been something wonderful. Why don't you tell me all about it during dinner?”
“Okay.” Jester snuggled in, wrapping her little arms around her Mama's neck and enjoying the wamrth that radiated off her skin. It seemed like the Traveler had been right, actually. She would miss her Mama, terribly.