ROYAL FOOL (‘ROUND THE COURTYARD)

With AURORA MORTIS dropping tomorrow, we continue with our backstory of the album with Royal Fool.

“In his travels, long after Ivar had returned home, Erdinus came upon a merry settlement known as Dirnwich. The reason for the town being so merry was Mirthful Mark, the jester who performed there, in the city square, daily. Mark was a drunk, Erdinus observed with a sliver of pity. But the warrior had time to kill—not wanting to return to the mess of duties and the tangle of civilization that awaited him at home. So he approached the jester, and they spoke, and Erdinus glimpsed considerable depth beneath the fool’s façade.

Each had a past of loss and pain, and each saw in the other’s story the same spark of recognition: in our trials, we are one. Erdinus had read that in a book once. Maybe one his father had read to him. How long had it been since he’d laughed? He’d summoned a smile for Ivar, but this was something else. Mirthful Mark’s tale of redemption, a tale in its second act, warmed Erdinus’s heart; he had been quick to misjudge the jester. As daylight fled and the moons took its place, the two souls parted.

And yet—they would never truly part. Erdinus clutched the auld amulet at his chest, the dreaded Duskheart, and reflected that Mark’s strength, his gift, had come from knowing how to conjure laughter, joy, in the fullest dark.”

Peace,

-Sam