Today was the day! Today was the day that Quasimodo would finally go outside and enjoy the Festival of Fools, and it was all because of her. That 'her' would be Quasi's younger sister, Charani. Although Charani lived in the convent while Quasi lived in the bell tower, they were virtually inseparable – except for when Judge Claude Frollo reared his ugly head – than the girl would escape down into the square bellow. When Charani was very young, the archdeacon, her adoptive father, told her to stay away from Frollo, but never gave a real reason as to why, simply saying that he was a bad man with a guilty conscious. For the most part, Charani heeded her father's words, but she still remained curious as to the real reason why she wasn't to be seen be him.
"Quasi, look! They're setting up for the festival!" Charani called down from where she was seated high in the rafters, peering out over the square bellow. Quasimodo smiled happily and made his way through the rafters to join his sister on the ledge.
"Do you really think that we can do it, Chari? Hide from my master?" Quasimodo asked, nervously toying with the end of his shirt.
"Of course we can!" Charani said as she stood up, balanced on the wooded beam, and walked towards the bells. "I've managed to evade his sight for nearly 20 years now, I think I can handle avoiding him for a few more hours."
Quasimodo just smiled at his sister before climbing back down to his balcony.
"Good morning" he says to a baby bird that is perched in a nest on the railing of the balcony. He gently nudged the bird with his finger, coaxing him awake and into his hand.
"Will toady be the day? Are you ready to fly?" he asked the bird. The bird shakes his head in refusal.
"You sure? Good day to try. Why, if I picked a day to fly, oh, this would be it! He Festival of Fools! It will be fun – the jugglers, and music, and dancing..." Quasimodo exclaimed wistfully, trailing off as the bird began to flap its wings and fly.
"Go on! Nobody wants to be cooped up here forever!" he moved his hands and gestured to the flock of birds outside. The bird tweeted and flew off with the flock. Quasimodo smiled longingly before retreating back inside to find his sister. He looked around, but caught no sight of her
"Chari, where are you?" he called. He got his answer after he heard a yelp and saw Charani begin to fall from one of the lower rafters. Quasimodo quickly ran and caught her in his arms before she could hit the ground.
"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly as he set her back on her feet.
"Yeah," Charani fell into him once she was set on the ground, "I just rolled my ankle," she said with a sheepish grin up at her brother.
"Here," he said as he helped her over to a chair, "let me help you." Quasimodo quickly found some bandages and started to wrap up Charani's ankle.
"You have to be more careful when you're up there," Quasimodo chided as he finished wrapping up her ankle and helped her to her feet.
"Thank you, Quasi," Charani said as she enveloped him in a hug. There was a gasp from across the room.
"Impossible," Frollo said as he looked with a mixture of fear and horror at the woman before him. Charani quickly gathered up her skirts and ran out onto the balcony. Frollo and Quasimodo followed quickly behind her, but before they could catch up she jumped off of the balcony and slid down the sides of the bell tower and cathedral until she landed safely on the ground. Charani spared a moment to look up and her brother and the man that should have never saw her, before sprinting across the square and ducking down an alleyway.
"Who was that woman?" Frollo demanded, as he stood tall over Quasimodo's quaking form.
"J-just a f-f-friend, master, she w-wants me to go to the f-f-festival," Quasimodo stuttered out.
"Lies!" Frollo roared, making to strike his ward, but stopped when he saw Quasimodo shaking in fear. He had made his point.
"I didn't mean to upset you, master," Quasimodo knelt at his master's feet.
"Quasimodo, can't you understand? When your heartless mother abandoned you as a child, anyone else would have drowned you. And this is my thanks for taking you in and raising you as my son? Secrets and lies?" Frollo sat at the table in a high seat, motioning for Quasimodo to come sit on the lower stool.
"I'm sorry, sir," Quasimodo hung his head in shame, as he sat on the stool across from Frollo.
"Oh, my dear Quasimodo, you don't know what it's like out there. I do... I do..." Frollo moved to stand at the balcony once more, "The world is cruel, the world is wicked, it's I alone whom you can trust in this whole city, I am your only friend. I, who keep you, teach you, feed you, dress you. I who look upon you without fear. How can I protect you, boy, unless you always stay in here, away in here? You are deformed"
"I am deformed," Quasimodo agreed solemnly.
"And you are ugly," Frollo stated without hesitation.
"And I am ugly," Quasimodo agreed once more.
"And these are crimes for which the world shows little pity. You do not comprehend," Frollo looked out over the square as Quasimodo moved to stand next to him.
"You are my one defender," Quasimodo supplemented, the feeling of loneliness beginning to overwhelm him.
"Out there, they'll revile you as a monster," Frollo gestured to the square below them.
"I am a monster," Quasimodo muttered to himself.
"Out there, they will hate with scorn and jeer," Frollo looked to him, feigning sympathy.
"Only a monster," Quasimodo repeated.
"Why invite their calumny and consternation? Stay in here, be faithful to me," Frollo looked at him with accusing eyes.
"I'm faithful," Quasimodo pleaded.
"Grateful to me," Frollo continued.
"I'm grateful," he pleaded once more.
"Do as I say. Obey, and stay in here," Frollo commended, leaving Quasimodo alone on the balcony.
"I'll stay in here," Quasimodo said as Frollo makes to leave, "You are good to me, master. I'm sorry."
"You are forgiven. But, remember, Quasimodo: this is your sanctuary," Frollo said over his shoulder as he began to descend the stairs of the bell tower.
"Sanctuary," Quasimodo replied, his head heavy with sorrow.
"Safe behind these windows and these parapets of stone, gazing at the people down below me. All my life I watch them as I hide up here alone, hungry for the histories they show me," he moved to his worktable, where a miniature replica of the square was carved out of wood, including figurines of all of the townsfolk.
"All my life I memorize their faces, knowing them as they will never know me. All my life I wonder how it feels to pass a day, not above them... but part of them..." Quasimodo walked quickly to the balcony before climbing the walls of the bell tower onto the roof.
"And out there, living in the sun! Give me one day out there; all I ask is one, to hold forever! Out there, where they all live unaware. What I'd give, what I'd dare, Just to live one day out there!" Quasimodo stood, running across the rooftops of the cathedral onto the bridge that separated two of the bell towers.
"Out there among the millers and the weavers and their wives. Through the roofs and gables, I can see them. Ever day they shout and scold and go about their lives, heedless of the gift it is to be them. If I was in their skin, I'd treasure ever instant. Out there, strolling by the Seine, taste a morning out there, like ordinary men who walk about there! Just one day, then I swear, I'll be content, with my share. Won't resent, won't despair, old and bent, I won't care. I'll have spent one day out there!" Quasimodo shouted to the skies as he stood, arms raised to the heavens, silently praying that his dream would come true.
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
In the square below, Charani stole a glance over her shoulder, to make sure she was not being followed, only to run into someone, knocking them both over in the process. She quickly stood, dusting herself off.
"I'm so sorry, I was running around and I wasn't paying attention to wear I was going, and I—" Charani gasped in surprise at just who it was that she had knocked over. It was a gypsy man wearing Sprawled on the dirt floor of the alley before her was none other than the story teller from the market square in front of the Cathedral. She and Quasi had listened to his tales many a time from the safety of Notre Dame.
"Here, let me help you," Charani said, extending her arm to help pull the story teller out of the dirt.
"Thank you, mon cher," he cooed as he took her hand in his much larger one and stood up.
"You-you're the Story Teller from the square, right?" Charani pulled her hand back as soon as the man loosened his grip.
"Oui, mon cher, allow me to introduce myself," the man dusted himself off before removing his hat and bowing before her.
"My name is Clopin Trouillefou, Story Telling extraordinaire," he looked up at her with a smile, "And what is your name, chaton?"
"M-my name is Charani," Chari said is she curtsied to the man, blushing slightly at his terms of endearment.
"Charani," he tested the sound of her name on his tongue, "Such a beautiful name for an equally beautiful woman." Charani's blush grew once more, before the sound of galloping hooves broke the gentle silence of the moment. She gasped before making for a quick escape.
"I'm sorry monsieur Trouillefou, but I must be going," Charani curtsied slightly before running down and out of the alley, leaving Clopin staring after her, utterly dumbfounded.
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
Across the city of Paris, the gates opened to reveal a troop of officers returning from war. Leading the pack was Captain Phoebus de Châteaupers, donning a suit of golden armor, and riding his white steed, Achilles.
"Huh, ya leave town for a couple of decades and they change everything," Phoebus said as he glanced around the street. He noticed a pair of guards walking by, "Excuse me, gentleman, I'm looking for the Palace of Justice. Would you—" the passing guards ignored him, "I guess not." Then, Phoebus noticed a troop of gypsies playing music while a gypsy woman and her goat danced along to their songs. Phoebus stared at the mysterious woman, completely entranced by her dancing. He dismounted his horse and dropped a few coins into a hat on the ground in front of the troop, his eyes never leaving the dancer.
Suddenly, a boy, poised on the wall above the troop, blew his whistle and took off running down the street. The other gypsies grabbed their instruments and ran after the boy. The goat made to grab the hat of coins but ended up spilling them on the street. The dancer quickly bend down to put the coins back in the hat when the guards from earlier returned.
"All right, gypsy, where'd ya get the money?" the first guard questioned, making to grab the hat from her hands.
"For your information, I earned it," the gypsy said, pulling her hat back.
"Gypsies don't earn money," the guard accused.
"You steal it?" the second guard chimed in.
"You'd know a lot about stealing," the danced accused in return, trying to escape the guards.
"Troublemaker!" the first guard called, trying in vain to regain control of the situation.
"Maybe a day in the stock will cool you down," the second guard threatened, trying to help his partner. The dancer fought the guards until she was able to make an escape. As the guards went to chase after her, Phoebus and Achilles blocked their way, causing one of the guards to slip and fall into a muddy puddle.
"Achilles, sit!" Phoebus ordered his horse. Achilles obliged immediately, sitting on the guard.
"Oh, dear, I'm sorry. Naughty horse, naughty! He's just impossible! Really, I can't take him anywhere," Phoebus said sarcastically, tsking and shaking his head at Achilles in mock disapproval.
"Get this thing off of me!" the guard yelled as he struggled under the weight of the horse.
"I'll teach you a lesson, peasant!" the second guard yelled, drawing a dagger and charging at Phoebus. Phoebus was quicker, however, and drew out his sword.
"You were saying... Lieutenant?" Phoebus said with a cocky smirk. The second guard finally seemed to recognize him.
"Oh, Captain! At your service, sir!" he said, saluting the captain, only to hit himself in the head with his dagger. Phoebus ignored the second guard and bent down towards the first, still underneath the weight of his horse.
"I know you have a lot on your mind right now, but... the Palace of Justice?" Phoebus asked pleasantly as he pulled his horse off of the guard. The guard quickly stood and started clearing a path down the street, making way for the war hero.
"Come on, boy. Achilles. Heel!" Phoebus said, following after the guards on foot.