By Jenn Moffat

Meanwhile, Angel had returned back to the Kingdom of Clouds and noticed that no one had really wondered where he had gone.

He confronted his roommate, but the Angel of Knowledge just shook his head and said. "It didn't really matter. You are back now and all things are as they should be. Just leave things well enough alone." Angel was a little peeved at the seemingly lack of care from his roommate and the other Angels. So he did not tell the other Angels where he had been for such a long time.

It took a while for Angel to get back into his old routine, of reading in the grove where the lavender and holly grow, because, even although Angel did not want to admit it, the grove now reminded him of Fool. Reading a normal book, and not hearing a made-up story from Fool, just didn't seem that interesting anymore. Shaking his head, Angel forced himself to read, telling himself that he should be happy. He was home, and surely being home was better than being with Fool. Wasn't?

However, over time Angel couldn't stop wondering if Fool was keeping his word. Angel started to watch in a magical silver pool of water located near the grove, looking for any tricks or fooling done by Fool. But Angel was surprised to discover Fool was keeping his word.

Fool had given up his castle and was living in the Domain of Mortals. He had made himself a little home far away from other people, and was living very honestly. He had even grown a little garden and had taken in a poor wounded little red-winged black bird, that would chirp to him as he pulled weeds. Angel was completely shocked by this sight, for Fool no longer looked like his normal self. He did not wear his hat or use the tools of his tricking trade. Now Fool's long hair was pulled back into a braid so that he could work, and his hands and nails were caked with dirt from the garden. Angel could even see that Fool had gotten a splinter in the palm of his hand. But Fool kept working while listening to the wounded, but free bird, while Angel's eyes could only watch in puzzlement. His chest even started to hurt again.

Angel gave up trying to read and would stare all day into the pool and often into the night.

Months passed and still Angel watched and still Fool kept his word. "Not only does Fool not really look like Fool," thought Angel to himself, "but he doesn't act like Fool. In fact, he seems a little boring, and Fool was never boring. I wish he would..." But suddenly he stopped and scolded himself for his line of thinking.

More time passed and Angel checked the date. Angel was very surprised to discover that half a year had gone by like it was nothing, and still Fool had kept his word. "I should have said five years," thought Angel. "One year was clearly not enough." Angel began to worry. "What if Fool keeps his word and does no tricks and Fools nobody?" Did that mean that Angel would have to return to Fool? "No," thought Angel. "I can't allow that...can I?"

Angel cheated a little and told his tale to the Angel of the Gate; about how Fool had tricked him and stolen him away. When Gate found out that Fool had entered the domain under his protection again and stolen one of his people, he was very angry. However, when Angel told Gate about the promise between Fool and himself, Gate agreed that this promise must be broken. "Never will an Angel be forced to live with the Trickster." The Angel of the Gate summoned some other Angels and they started to plan on how to get Fool to break his promise.

The Angel of Memory suggested, "We could steal the Trickster's memory of the promise, so that he would surely revert back to his old self." But when Memory went to steal the memory, the red-winged black bird, which was finally healed, attacked the invisible angel and chased him away. "We need a new idea," said Memory, pulling out a broken feather. The Angels started to plan again.

"What if we sent someone disguised as a human, to the Lord of Fools and asked him for his name," said the Angel of Names. "Surely, the Trickster would not give his true name. And thus he would be lying to the person?"
So Names disguised itself as a poor beggar human and went to visit Fool. "Hello," said the Beggar, knocking on Fool's door. "I have lost my way, might I beg for a glass of water." Fool opened the door and welcomed the Beggar in. He then gave the Beggar some water and even offered some vegetable stew. The red-winged black bird seemed to watch the Beggar closely. "Thank you," said the Beggar. "Might I beg for your name?"
"My name is Fool," said Fool. "It is quite a strange name around here, but it is the name I was given." "You're kidding," said the Beggar. "You won't be trying to trick me would you?" "Never," said Fool. "It is my name and I will only give the truth." And so the disguised angel having failed in trying to trick Fool into lying went home.

"It didn't work," said Names on returning to the Kingdom of Clouds. "We need a new plan." So the angels planned some more. They tried several other tricks, but none of them worked, for the bird seemed to always be watching them and even chased them away from the protesting and surprised Fool. "Maybe," said the Angel of Messengers, "we should tell the Lords about their missing Fool and where he is and also about the Promise. Surely the other Lords wouldn't mind also playing tricks on the Lord of Fools to get him to break his promise." And so the Angel of Messengers sent a messenger to the Lords to tell them about the promise between Fool and Angel. Surprised by the fact that Fool had been gone so long without their noticing, almost ten months, the Lords agreed to help the Angels.

And so the Lord of Dreams and the Lord of Birds got together and made a plan. Birds would distract the red-winged black bird and Dreams would come upon Fool while he slept. Then when Fool dreamed the Lord of Dreams would try to trick him into tricking someone from the Land of Dreams. Since this was an existing domain then Fool would be really tricking someone and they would win.

One night, close to midnight, the Lord of Dreams and the Lord of Birds snuck into Fool's home. The red-winged black bird instantly dove at the Lords' heads, but Birds snatched the bird out of the air and put the bird in a cage where no noise would come out, no matter how hard the bird cried. Dreams went over to Fool's bed and whispered gently into the his ear. "Dream now," said Dreams. "Dream of what you want to do."

In Fool's dream, he found himself wandering around a crowded park. And there on a path, with her mother taking no notice, was a baby with the biggest lollypop Fool had ever seen. "Hmmm," thought Fool, "Like taking a candy from a baby...hmmm...." And he started to reach for the candy, but suddenly stopped short. "What am I doing," mumbled Fool to himself and he walked away. "How could I even think that," he thought and then he slapped his own hand. He did not seem to notice that the slap did not hurt.

He continued walking and passed a man who was running in the opposite direction. Suddenly, the man dropped his wallet but did not notice and kept running. "What an easy break," thought Fool as he picked it up, but then he shook his head and ran after the man.
"Sir," he shouted. "You dropped your wallet." And he gave back the wallet and continued walking. "What a strange day?" thought Fool. Meanwhile Dreams was watching Fool behind closed eyes and was becoming very frustrated.
"There has got to be a way," Dreams thought to himself.
"You need to hurry up," said Birds, for the red-winged black bird was fighting in its cage, almost forcing the cage right out of the Lord of Birds hands. "I don't know how much longer I can hold him." Dreams thought for a moment, while Fool continued to walk through the dream. Unexpectedly he got an idea and sent it into the dream. Meanwhile, in the dream Fool suddenly started moving uncontrollably.
"What's going on," shouted Fool. But he noticed himself moving towards a set of swings where children were playing. "Oh no," cried Fool. "I don't want to do that!" For he knew that his body was going to push one of the children out of the swing. And Fool started to struggle with himself, trying to force himself away, but he kept walking. "Oh stop!" Shouted Fool. "I don't want to break my promise. I don't want to lose my lovely Angel." And then his hands moved up to push the child off....
But just as Fool was reaching for the child, the red-winged black bird whammed itself against the side of the cage, causing the Lord of Birds to lose his grip. The birdcage went crashing to the ground, rolling and bumping the table, which caused a mug to fall off and smash on the ground. With all the noise, Fool bolted upright and blurry-eyed stared around the room. "What's going on!" mumbled Fool. The Lord of Birds and Dreams dove for the door and were out of sight before Fool could wipe the sleep from his eyes. "Red-wing? Is that you?" Fool got up and noticed the cage with poor bird inside. "Red?" Fool rushed over and forced open the now bent birdcage. He reached in gently and pulled out the bird. "Are you okay?" asked Fool. Red gave Fool a reassuring nip on the thumb and tried to move its wing. The bird squawked and Fool nodded. The wing was clearly damaged again. "Oh poor Red-wing," cooed Fool. "Your wing is hurt again." He bandaged up the wing again and spent the night talking softly to the bird while it nibbled on seeds from his hand.
"Drat!" Yelled the two Lords, having failed their first attempt.
"I think he saw us," said Dreams. "I don't think we should try to trick him anymore."
"He might get really angry," added Birds.
"Well, if we can't try to trick him into a trick, is there any other way for Fool to break his promise?" asked the other Lords. And so they sent a message to the Angels, who replied,
"If Fool were to see Angel before the designated time then the promise would be forfeit."
"Ah!" Thought Lords and Angels together, if we can only get Fool to SEE Angel, then it would be over.
Now back in the Kingdom of Clouds, Angel had been watching Fool throughout this period. Angel was very shocked about how honourable Fool was behaving and how valiantly Fool was trying to not break his promise. He started to wonder, "Maybe Fool really does love me." Angel continued watching the Lords and angels in their attempts his chest hurting more and more painfully at each of their attempts. He also started to notice how devious the others were and how cruel, for Angel knew about the Dream and the control they had forced over Fool's body. "Maybe it would have been better if I hadn't told the other angels," thought Angel. "It wasn't so bad with Fool. Except for that one time, he never mistreated me. I wonder what it would be like to live freely with him." And so Angel stared into the reflection of the water, unknowingly stroking Fool's reflection.

The Lord of Reflection and the Angel of Sight joined forces to make a magical mirror that would be brought to Fool allowing Fool to see Angel without bringing Fool to the Land of Clouds - which the Angel of the Gate had refused to permit. A small mirror was forged, made of diamonds and red steel. It was small enough that it could be held in both hands. The designs along the edge were of phoenixes swimming through clouds and when someone looked into the mirror it would show the person one wanted most to see.

Then, once completed on a fine and beautiful day only one week before the deadline, the Angel of Messengers sent the mirror as a present to Fool with a note asking Fool to forgive all the tricks played by the Lords and Angels. When Fool received the wrapped gift he was very happy but confused, for he still didn't know that it was the Angels and Lords who were trying to trick him. And while standing with his door still open and waving at the leaving messenger, he started to open the present with the red-winged black bird, which was still wounded, sitting on his shoulder. Fool saw the mirror and the reflection started to swirl and take shape.
But suddenly the red-winged black bird was no longer on Fool's shoulder; instead the Lord of Illusions stood behind him and placed his one good hand and his long sleeve over Fool's eyes.
"Do not look, my friend," said Illusie, "for it is a trick that could be your undoing." Within the mirror was Angel who was looking into the reflection of the pool. Angel was suddenly very startled to see himself reflected in the mirror and abruptly held his breath as the Lord of Illusions noticed and gave a tiny smirk. Then quickly Illusie took the mirror from Fool and wrapped it up in his silk scarf. Fool opened his eyes and turned to his friend.
"How did you know I was here?" asked Fool. "I never told you."
"I have been always watching my friend; I was the red-winged black bird who chased away the other tricksters."
"But why," asked Fool. "Why were the Angels and Lords trying to trick me?"
"They found out about Angel," said Illusie. "And they don't want you to fulfill your request."
The Lord of Fools looked very sad when his friend told him of all the tricks the others had tried to play on him. However, Illusie omitted the details concerning Angel.

Up in the sky Angel watched all of this and also felt very sad. He no longer wanted Fool to suffer for him. In fact, Angel was secretly starting to fall in love with the kindness of Fool, even now missing Fool's stories and jokes. Three days before the deadline (which just happened to be April the First) Angel stopped watching Fool and started to prepare to leave the Land of Clouds.
It was on this third last day that the Angels and the Lords made their last-ditch attempt to ruin the relationship between Angel and Fool. The group of them went down to the place where the Lord of Fools lived. They knocked on Fool's door and the Lord of Illusions opened the door.
"What do you want now?" inquired Illusie. "Haven't you done enough?"
"We're here to tell Fool the truth," said the Angel of the Gate.
"I don't think he wants to talk to you," said Illusie.
"We don't care!" shouted the group and they all started to yell through the open door.
"Fool!"
"Fool!"
"Lord of Fools."
"Joker! Trickster! Hear us." Shouted Gate. "The one who told us about the promise was Angel. Angel never wanted to return to you, so Angel told us to help break the promise. You have fooled yourself, Fool! You have fooled yourself into believing Angel, who only wanted his freedom from you! And you have fooled yourself into believing Angel would return to you!" Hearing this, Fool came to the door and peered out at the group of Lords and Angels. "Ask your friend," they shouted at Fool. "He knew the truth."
"Is this true?" asked Fool to his friend. The Lord of Illusions could say nothing, but Fool knew it was true and fled into the woods beyond his home.

And Fool ran and ran and started to cry and cry. He tripped over fallen trees and ripped his cloths, but up he went and ran and cried again. "Why?" cried Fool. "Why is this true! I am Fool who has fooled Fool. Now I'll never see Angel again. He hates me." And in his misery Fool ran on and on and cried some more.

Finally when Fool could run no more, he fell to the ground and pounded the dirt. "No! No!" he cried, his hands like claws tearing at the ground. "I'll never see Angel. Never See! Hates Me!" And in a moment of moaning loss Fool tore out his own eyes, fulfilling his promise to never see Angel again.
Now the world was dark to Fool and he cried from empty sockets, his tears indistinguishable from the blood oozing from his ruined eyes.

A week later, Illusie finally found Fool muttering to himself.
"Come home, Lord of Fools," said Illusie. "Come home. It's time to move on." Illusie took Fool home, cleaned him up and put him to bed.

However, one year to the day the promise was made Angel left the kingdom of the Clouds and, still not knowing about what had happened with Fool (no one bothered to tell Angel, they just thought they had won), Angel arrived back at Fool's home. There, waiting for Angel, was not the Lord of Fools, but the Angel of the Gate.
"We have finally tricked Fool," said Gate. "You don't have to go to him."
"How did you trick him?" asked Angel. Gate told Angel what they had told Fool.
"You told him that!" protested Angel in shock. "How could you?"
"But it's true," said Gate. "You did not want to return to Fool."
"Yes," said Angel, "at the time, but now I mean to keep my side of the promise. So it isn't true now. I will keep my word and return to Fool, because he didn't trick himself! Where is he?"
"Not here! Not here!" said Gate. "He ran off into the woods when we told him."
"Then I will wait for him," said Angel, "until he gets back."
"Don't," said Gatekeeper, who didn't want to lose.
"Why not," said Angel. "I watched all your attempts to trick Fool and it didn't work. And I now know that all of you are very horrible people and I don't want to be with any of you." And as Angel went up and pulled the door to the castle closed behind himself, he whispered low, but Gate heard him. "Who is the Fool? The Fool? Or the Fools who trick the Fool?"

The day Fool was returned to the castle by Illusie, Angel stayed very quiet, even though Illusie knew that Angel was there. He just nodded Angel out of the way and put Fool to bed. The next day when Fool woke up in his bed, still blinded, he felt something soft lying beside him. "Hmmm...Illusie?" He called, not knowing whom it was. The form moved and the weight shifted and finally it spoke.
"I am not the Lord of Illusions."
"Who are you," asked Fool.
"Have you forgotten me?" the voice asked. "It has only been a year."
"Angel?" Fool said his voice shaking.
"Yes, it is I."
Fool put his hands to his empty eyes and would have wept, but he had no tears left. His hand now searched the air until he felt Angel's face.
"I have kept my promise," said Fool. "I will never see you again. But can I...can I at least stay near you and love you as no one with eyes can." Angel could take no more; he grabbed Fool and kissed him. "Of course," said Angel. Then Angel rocked the blind Fool back and forth for a very long time.

A few days passed and Angel got a brilliant idea. He took Fool to visit the Lord of Healing to see if the Lord would give back sight to Fool. But the Lord of Healing turned them away. "I was the victim of one-too-many jokes and now that the year is over, who's to say this isn't another joke. In fact, the whole year could have been a scheme between you two." Angel tried to reason with the Lord but to no avail and so they went away.

Angel then tried taking Fool to the Angel of Sight. Maybe the Angel of Sight could give Fool magical sight. But like the Lord of Healing, the Angel of Sight turned them away, saying that Angel had betrayed the others and that they should never have helped Angel, because Angel had been strange from the beginning.

Very sad, the two started to leave the Kingdom of the Clouds, Angel leading the blind Fool, when Angel's old roommate came up to them.
"I told you," said the Angel of Knowledge. "You should have left things as they were, then you would have ended up with Fool and been happy and Fool wouldn't have been blinded."
"You knew," said Angel surprised.
"Of course," said the Angel of Knowledge, "I've always known. But I will help you now, even though you didn't take my first advice. For you see there is a way for you to get Fool to see again. However! There is a sacrifice. Fool can't simply put back his own eyes. They are gone and dead forever. But if someone were to give him eyes then he would be able to see again."
"I have only one friend," said Fool, "and the Lord of Illusions has already done too much for me. His arm might never heal right."
"And I am afraid that I need both my eyes," said the Angel of Knowledge. He turned to Angel, who was strangely smiling.
"He wouldn't need both eyes right? One could do?" asked Angel.
"Yes," said the Angel of Knowledge. "One could do."
"No!" shouted Fool. "Not You!"
"It's my choice," replied Angel. "And I..." Angel placed its hands on both of Fool's cheeks. "...I choose to share my eyes with you. You will have one and I will have one...and we will be apart of each other because..." Angel paused. "...because I love you."
"You love me?" asked Fool.
"Yes," said Angel. "I do."

And with that the Angel of Knowledge placed his hand over the empty left eye socket of Fool and over Angel's left eye and with a flash of light the Angel of Knowledge then removed his hands. But now Fool wore Angel's eye in his left eye and he stared at Angel and started to cry.
"I can see you," said Fool. "And I love you so much" And with that he lifted Angel up and swung him around, as happy as ever before.
And so they left the Kingdom of the Clouds and returned to Fool's castle and together started drinking tea with Illusie everyday and were very happy with each other.

One day a letter arrived from the Kingdom of Clouds, addressed to Angel. It simply said, "You are hereby hailed from this moment on with the title of Angel of Forgiveness, the one who forgives all and causes the same in others." The Angel of Forgiveness turned to Fool and pulled him close so that the Angel of Forgiveness might kiss him. "I have a name!" whispered the Angel of Forgiveness. Fool happily nodded and swept Forgiveness into his arms.
"I am going to be naughty real soon. I hope you will forgive me."
Forgiveness giggled and replied, "I think I can arrange that."

And so they loved each other forever and ever and that is all that really matters.

THE END

Ending Poem
Love is a Fool who is blind to all others,
hopeless and wanting and desired by lovers
Love is an Angel who can forgive any sin,
nameless and smiling to friend and to kin.