The Fool (spoilers for all RotE books, including LST)

[Farseer]

I can't STAND it anymore! What's with Fool and apricots? He drinks apricot brandy and then asks for apricots in FF (when Fitz brought him back plums to Aslevjal instead)?!

Are they just something he likes or is there some significance to them? There HAS to be some significance doesn't there, particularly as Fool hadn't had a hunkering for them while at Buckkeep the first time around? As far as I have been able to find, nothing of apricots is mentioned in the Farseer books, let alone connected to Fool.

Amber and Althea shared apricot brandy in LST (EDIT: apparently these two only shared 'brandy', not specifically 'apricot brandy' END EDIT), as did Fitz and Fool from their very first reunion meeting in the TM series. Fool later mentioned somewhere (I think?) that he'd had the bottles shipped from Bingtown or thereabouts, using his wealth to purchase them as they were ridiculously expensive?

Fitz also liked the brandy, and he and Fool even shared some from a flask while within the Elderling city.

The colour of apricots seemed to fairly well match Amber and Lord Golden's colouring for a while there....maybe that's something?

Fool also always complained of being cold. Maybe he drank the brandy for its spreading warmth, to counteract that cold feeling? Fitz recalls the brandy as "Apricots and the heady warmth of a summer day flooded me."

Did you know there actually is a 'golden amber' type of apricot ?

Well, I thought I was on to something with this but now, after realising that apricots don't have hairy seeds, I am not so sure! Here's what I mean...

I got to thinking about the ancient tapestry that Reyn used as a backdrop for a dream he had shared with Malta (it was one of his favourite tapestries and I think it was the second dream-box dream they'd shared, when Tintaglia first showed herself to Malta, and not the first). The tapestry depicted a nature scene that consisted of black, leafless trees that bore yellow fruit (the black trunks also jump out at me but I will ignore them for now!). At one point, when Tintaglia appears with them in the dream, the fruits ripen and fall from the tree, with one falling and splitting near Malta's feet. The smell of the nectar from this fruit was described as being 'decadent'.

What got me really excited is that Fitz also describes apricot brandy as being 'decadently good', so I instantly connected the two and thought, 'Ah! Apricots are the fruits depicted in the tapestry and must be important as they are featured in the tapestry and dream. They are also from the region of Kelsingra and are connected to Fool who is similar to the tall, golden-skinned beings who Fitz and Reyn etc have described as inhabiting the city and area." I know this is a whole other conversation re Elderlings etc but I will have to come back to it!

Now, given that Reyn and Malta are dreaming via the dream-box (which is, as we know, made to work by the use of wizardwood and therefore of dragon/Elderling origin, and/or make), I gathered that they are within the Skill in some way with other dream-box users (other lovers who also appear in their dream) or in the vicinity of Kelsingra as possibly depicted within the tapestry.

In Dragon Haven, Thymara and Tats found yellow fruits that were 'fat and sweet' however Thymara couldn't remember their name as they didn't commonly grow near Trehaug (they were nearer the vicinity of Kelsingra at the time they found them). Whatever they were, they were different to the sour pears she had found much earlier and also the red fruits, or apples, that Jess had supplied. Carson, too, had previously found a yellow, sweet fruit that could have been the same as those found by Thymara and Tats.

While apricots are more often said to be orange, they do tend to range in colour from yellow through to partially red, depending on ripeness or exposure to sunlight HOWEVER...Thymara mentions that her fruits had a 'fuzzy seed', which apricots don't have!

So, I thought I was on to something with the significance of apricots (I can't believe Fool just 'likes' them!), but it seems I wasn't. Darn you, unfuzzy apricot seeds!!

EDIT: Of course, RotE-type apricots could have fuzzy seeds! *begs Robin Hobb*