"Brother Claude, Brother Claude!" The squeaky voice and thundering footsteps made Claude wince. He tried to remember his place in the religious text he'd been poring over, but before he could find it, the door to his tower room had burst open. "Brother Claude, guess what's happening!" The eleven-year-old boy's rosy face was even more flushed than usual; his sapphire eyes alight with excitement below his golden curls.
"Jehan," replied Claude irritably, snapping the tome shut. "Why do you think I seclude myself in this cell?" His brother's jubilant expression didn't change; he only bounced faster on his heels. "It is to focus on my studies, free from distraction by the likes of you!"
Jehan waved a dismissive hand. "Study, study, study. Tell me, brother, do you ever have time for fun?"
"Tell me, brother," snapped Claude, "do you understand how vital it is to—how dare you mock me!" Jehan stood stock still all of a sudden, the innocent expression on his face nothing short of angelic. It wasn't quite enough to look as though he hadn't just been mouthing over the lecture he'd heard countless times over his childhood, but it was very, very close.
"Gosh can spare you for a moment," he said impatiently, with the sort of roguish grin that only an eleven-year-old can pull off. "Now, come on, I have something to show you!"
Claude rolled his dark eyes, knowing full well how futile it was to ignore Jehan when he was in such a frenzy. "Very well. What do you find so vitally important? Mind you choose your words carefully, boy. If I hear a word about those cretins you consort with—"
"So little trust, my brother!" laughed Jehan. "But you'll be pleased to know it's nothing of the kind. Luc the stable boy just told me that the old mare is having her foal right now!"
Claude's eyes hardened exactly as Jehan's lit up. "This is what you considered a worthy interruption to my work? Be gone, and leave me in peace."
"But Claude!" wheedled Jehan. "Don't you want to come say hello to it? It's just come into this world, after all—it needs a friend or two alongside it, I think!" Claude opened his mouth to protest, but Jehan had already started tugging on his voluminous sleeve. He was pulled from his chair, towards the door.
"I'm sure you're perfectly capable of rising to the occasion," groused Claude. He wrenched his arm free as they descended the spiraling stairs.
"You need to get out of that stuffy old room once in a while," Jehan retorted, throwing open the door that led to the courtyard. He darted towards the stables, glancing back every so often to make sure his brother was still gliding morosely behind him, scowling as the sunlight hit his pale face.
"Luc!" Jehan sang out when they made it to the shade of the stables. He skipped up to the stable hand, a lanky youth with shaggy brown hair. "Look, Luc, my brother the recluse has descended from on high to bless the new life in this stable with his presence!"
"Good day, my lord," said Luc quietly. Claude gave a sharp jerk of his head, but otherwise didn't acknowledge the boy's greeting.
Jehan pulled on his brother's sleeve again. "Come on, Claude, you must see it!" Claude glowered, but followed his brother towards the stall where their glossy black mare lay, exhausted, by an equally dark foal still struggling to get on its legs. Luc darted in front of the brother's to clean the newborn and help it stand.
"He'll grow into a fine stallion, my lord," Luc murmured with a smile. "You will be proud to ride him."
"Do you have a name for him, Claude?" Jehan piped up, bouncing on his heels again.
"It's a mere animal," Claude said derisively. "There is no need to baptize it was we would—"
"I'll call him Snowball!" Jehan announced. "Because he's black, and snowballs are white! Isn't that funny, Claude?"
"Of all the idiotic—" Claude began, but the foal whinnied happily. Jehan laughed and rubbed its neck.
"Snowball it is!"