Page 45 of May Queen: May Day

“A maple? As in tree?” she asked, confused.

“Aye,” answered Dayton. “Our fool brother, Ricard, is sending us to the forest to get one.”

“Why?” she asked, with a giggle.

“The villagers are going to cut it down,” Lang explained. “They are going to use it in the May Day festivities. Dayton is trying to tell me they’re going to hang laundry on the tree to dry.”

“Well, I’m sure they’re not using it for the whores to lean on,” growled Dayton.

“Oh, do you mean Maypole?” she asked, holding back a laugh.

“Oh,” said Dayton with a bewildered look on his face.

“I knew that,” said Lang, trying to pretend he did.

“It’s used to dance around,” she explained. “The branches are cut off and it is just a pole. Ribbons are woven around it and the dancers hold on to them. It’s part of the May Day celebration. Didn’t you two ever see one?”

With blank looks on their faces, their attention wandered and they stared at the ground.

“I knew that,” said Dayton, waving his hand through the air and faking a laugh. “My idiot brother spends too much time in taverns or he wouldn’t think it’s used for whores.”

“You did not know it, so quit lying.”

“Yes, I did.”

“Nay, you didn’t, so just admit it. Neither of us has ever attended a May Day celebration before. We always avoided things like that as if it were the plague.”

“You never attended the May Day festivities?” she asked in disbelief. While her uncle wouldn’t let them celebrate, Flora and her mother would often sneak away to other castles to celebrate May Day and other festive holidays. She cherished each one. “Do you know what kind of tree makes the best Maypole?”

Dayton and Lang both answered together.

“Maple.”

She giggled again. “Nay, a birch. I’ll tell you what. I’ll go with you to the forest because I know what trees are good for making Maypoles.”

“I don’t know,” said Dayton, not sounding like he liked the idea. “I don’t think Ricard would approve.”

“Why not?” she asked. “He’s the one who put me in charge of the May Day festivities so I should be involved in all the decisions.”

“She’s right,” said Lang, moving a little closer. “I think you should come along with us,” said Lang. “I’ll tell the stable boy to saddle your horse, as well.”

“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” warned Dayton.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Ricard forbade you to leave the castle without him,” answered Dayton.

“Nay, he said I couldn’t leave without being escorted. You two strong, brave knights will be with me, so what could possibly happen?”

Lang smiled and stood up straighter. “She’s got a point,” he told his brother. “We’ll be there to protect her.”

“I still don’t think Ricard will like it,” complained Dayton.

“Stop being a worried old hen,” snapped Lang, taking her by the hand. “We need to hurry, since it will be getting dark soon.”

“Oh, all right. I’ll call the stable boy,” said Dayton.

“No need to do that, since I can saddle my own horse,” Flora told them. The fewer number of people to report back to Ricard the better. If she were lucky, she’d manage to sneak away from them in the woods and, hopefully, find her father and talk with him once more.