A Letter Lost
“My precious,
I write to you with a heart full of serenity, for the mere thought of you stills my otherwise bustling day. Countless clouds have gone past the sky since I last breathed in the aroma of your company. And what charming days were those spent walking beside you along the silent stream of spring.
I have missed you with each morning and every sunset and would do all in my power to see you again and to speak with you. Tomorrow, I shall send you my royal escort to cordially bring you to me. I sincerely wish that you would oblige to my humble request.
Yours,
Lucius Psellus”
Princess Celina finished reading the letter and gazed down the vast corn field spread across the horizon shimmering in the golden sunlight of the drowning sun. The evening wind blew across the field and rattled that piece of paper in her hands. A smiled lingered in her eyes and a song of joy and contentment started whistling on her lips.
She had met Prince Lucius a few months ago at one of the Gala of Spring in Provence . From the moment they laid eyes on each other they fell in love. Spring in Provence brings clear blue skies with spotless white clouds, a calmer ocean and a melodious air. Intoxicated in the beauty that surrounded them, the prince and the princess spent many a days and nights strolling along the silent shores; conversing about each other and falling in love ever so more deeply.
She felt the soft but firm touch of his hand on her hand as she glared down at the letter once again. She started smiling again. It was a beautiful evening. Tomorrow, when the sun loses its pinch, she will leave for Greece , the land of the Prince Lucius.
“ Nicaea Ducas,
I write to you with a heart full of distress. I believe somewhere in my heart I always knew that one day I shall write this letter to you. It has been three years since we had been together. You have been kind and amusing. But I guess my heart always desired for more; something that I have found in another man, an escapade of a life. By the time you read this letter, I would already have departed to Greece . I am going to follow my heart; I hope you find it in you to follow yours.
Thaleia”
The jester finished reading the letter and laid down an idle gaze on the dusty road that vanished into the hazy evening that was spreading across the horizon. There was an unwanted silence in the air; for once he wanted to hear a human voice, any voice, any words.
Nicaea met Thaleia during one of his performances in a town some 100 miles away; she was a theatre student and apparently had loved his performance. For the first time, he had strayed away from his regular comic acts and played a lone musician whose work is continuously stolen by his closest confidant. From the moment they met, they felt a spark, a strange energy between them. He could feel her presence on him physically whenever she was around; but he never physically felt her. With all the chemistry between them, there was always a hint of a distance between them.
The jester stared down at the letter in his hand; the silence had finally broken, in the distance he heard the sounds of horses’ hoofs getting closer and closer.
The prince had read the letter over and over again, reliving all the memories of her moments with the prince. The royal wagon was rolling up and down the countryside as the shadows started stretching themselves and the sun lost its battle against time.
As the cartwheels hit a ditch in the dusty road, the jerk caused the letter to slip from her hand and fly out the window. The princess ordered the escort to stop and stepped out of her wagon to look for the letter herself.
The jester saw a shadow lurking around in the haze; a wave of jasmine fragrance wavered along with the evening breeze. As the shadow got closer and came out of the haze, he saw the princess clad in a white and blue dress, hair tightly tied on her back, with a lost look on her face, approaching him. Before he could stand up, the princess had approached him and was staring at the letter in his hand.
“Excuse me sir, that letter would be mine and I would like to get it back” she said with a straight but firm tone.
“Pardon me my lady but I believe you are mistaken; this letter belongs to me” he said while standing up.
“How dare you claim such preposterous claim? I demand the letter be given to me. Guards!” her guards approached him and took the letter away from him and gave it to the princess.
As the princess started reading the letter she realized it didn’t belong to her; a soft smile appeared on the jester’s lips. The princess looked at him and gave his letter back to him, “Please accept my apologies”.
He smiled and looked at the princess’s worried face; he offered her to look for her letter, which she approved without paying much attention to it.
“A special letter/” he asked while searching for the letter in the haze of the departing evening.
“A matter that does not concern you” she replied with a stern tone.
He smiled again and kept looking for the letter.
After a while the letter was found but by that time the night had opened its wings; her royal council advised her to stay overnight just outside the town. Once the station was made for the princess, she occupied her seat beside the fireplace and started reading the dirt-ridden letter again. The jester, who was offered a meal in favour of his efforts to search for the letter, sat at the farthest corner and stared at the princess.
Her face glowed in the shimmering flames that rose from the burning pile of wood; a lock fell down on her shoulder and a faint smile rested on her lips. She felt his eyes constantly staring at him; she looked at him with lost eyes, and while thinking of something else, kept staring at him.
“I have seen you somewhere, from before” she finally said to him.
“I was the court jester” he said with a painful smile.
“Was?” she needed explanation.
“I wasn’t funny anymore” he said with a wide smile appearing on his face as he enjoyed the statement.
“Not a good trait for a jester” she said with a smirk of satire.
“Most definitely” he said.
“So what do you do now, except for sitting on a deserted road outside the town at the dying hours of the day?”
“I perform at theatres” he said with an unintentional pride in his voice.
“Are you any funny there?”
“Tragedies only” he said while the smile still accompanied his words.
“Interesting” she had nothing to do to kill time, so an interview seemed like a good thing to spend some time before she would retire to her tent, “The letter you were holding in your hand, is that a part of it?”
“The beginning and the end of it” he said.
“Why did she leave?” she realized she shouldn’t have asked that question but then waited for an answer.
He looked at her, smiled with a squint in his eyes and said, “I wasn’t funny anymore”
She smiled, “What’s your name?”
“ Nicaea Ducas”
“Strange name” she said.
“Yeah, it was supposed to be funny”, he replied.
She smiled again and then rose up to retired to her tent. He stood up as well.
“Goodnight Nicaea. You shouldn’t need to travel back to town at this hour, ask my staff and they shall arrange a place for you to sleep”
“Thank you your highness and good night to you” he said.
He could hardly sleep that night; the moon month had lost twenty of its days and could hardly light the night through the roaming clouds that travelled through the night. He didn’t want to think about Thaleia so he started thinking about the princess; and her letter. The night finally landed onto his eyes and he fell asleep.
Next morning he woke up with the sun and was about to head out toward the town when one of princess’s staff brought a message that the princess had sent for him. He was surprised that the princess was up this early.
As he received permission to enter the royal tent, he stepped inside. The princess sat in her chair, dressed in a serene shade of green.
“You send for me your highness” the jester stood at the door.
“Yes. I have a proposition for you” the princess said without looking at him.
“I am all ears your highness” he said.
“Accompany me to Greece” she looked him with a slight tilt of her head, a sine in her eyes, a smile on her lips and utmost confidence in her voice, “as my royal jester”.
He smiled a big smile and politely said, “I believe you have a very short memory your highness, I am not much of an entertainer”.
“I am not convinced of that yet” she said, “prove me wrong, prove me right, either way, I command you to travel with me and entertain me”.
“Your wish my command” he had a feeling there wasn’t much of a point to continue arguing over a decision already made.
As the journey began, the jester, in his head, started roaming through his old tricks and comic skits. All he remembered were scenes and dialogues from the classic tragedies he had been playing lately. The comic skits he used to perform as a jester, all seemed lame. Still, he tried.
The princess herself had some tricks up her sleeves; so it wasn’t as difficult as he had earlier imagined. She hardly ever laughed at his jokes; and whenever she laughed, he couldn’t tell whether it was on the quality of his joke or the lameness of it.
The journey to Greece lasted for nine days and during that time, the jester found a different person in princess than what he had imagined. For one, she worried a lot; were they travelling fast enough, had the horses had enough rest, was there enough food, was the cabin cleaned or not; she would obsess about everything. It was a relief for the jester; since half the time he didn’t have to try to be funny, he just had to listen and console and more importantly, agree.
“Why do you worry a lot?” he asked her one day while strolling along the hillside as the escort had stationed itself for the night.
“I don’t worry” she said firmly.
“Well, you obsess about things” he adjusted his statement.
“I care about things, there is a difference, you won’t understand” she said with a mischievous smile.
“Oh please, I can tell the difference between caring and obsessing” he said with a frank choice of words.
“So you are using this opportunity of travelling with me to pass judgement on me?” she asked with that tilt of head and a smile.
“No. But admit it, your ride wouldn’t have been fun with this boring escort of yours” he said, hoping to hear an agreement.
“Oh, so that’s what you think? I believe it’s the other way around” she said, “you were all lost, now at least you are going somewhere; learning things on the way”.
“I don’t think so. I am the one offering good company here” he said knowing that a retort was coming his way.
“Do you want me to leave you here? Because rest assured I will and will bid you the longest and slowest possible farewell while going uphill”.
“No you won’t. You can’t. I am the only interesting thing happening in your journey right now …”
“Blah blah blah …” the princess brisk walked away.
He smiled and walked after her.
Nine days had passed very quickly and they had reached at the palace of Prince Lucius Psellus . At the Gates, the jester got off the wagon to leave. The princess followed him out.
The jester stood in front of the princess and stared right into her eyes; a smile still on his face. The princess looked back with a hint of smile.
“It’s been a pleasure” the jester said.
“I know, I am a joy” the princess said.
He laughed, “You are”.
The jester leaned forward a little, still staring into her eyes. The princess realized what the jester was going to do.
Her smile fainted and a sober look appeared on her face. “Don’t look for another tragedy” she said in a tone which was nothing but a loud whisper.
The jester stopped; his smile vanished and then reappeared again. He took the princess’s hand in her hand and kissed her cylinder fingers. They exchanged a smile and the jester turned around and left.
As he walked down the road; he realized, he had long lost Thaleia’s letter.
Category: Short Stories
