i keep having this mental picture of fitz and the fool having to participate in some feast to welcome some stuffy delegation or other to the six duchies and fitz is so miserable because his collar is too tight and he is so tired of politics and he wishes he could be anywhere else in the world for that evening and the fool watches as his shoulders droop more and more and his face become wearier and wearier and so by the third course he tugs his gloves off and lightly puts his fingers on fitz’ hand the way they’ve learned they can sometimes converse and he starts to run commentary on the Distinguished guests further down the table, his face giving nothing away, that grows more and more ridiculously outrageous the longer the evening goes on and the more wine they consume, the likes of “do you see lady Feather-Hat over there, chatting to lord Inebriated? I heard from a reliable source the hat is a product of a long standing feud between her and lady Questionable Wig over a goose gifted to her cook from lady Wig’s cook, on a summer’s day twelve years ago-”, and fitz is dark red in the face from trying to keep it expressionless but during a very solemn and heartfelt speech from dutiful he accidentally snorts wine up his nose and is close to choking to death a few chairs down while dutiful glares at him and the fool thumps his back with innocent concern written all over his face and their evening is not that bad anymore..
