He stopped on a construct about two feet off the water, looked at her, folded his arms over his chest and cocked his head to one side. After a moment, he smiled.
"I'd be a fool to say I've never been one in reality. I can't even say I confined it all to my youth..." He straightened his head and narrowed his eyes, studying her, thinking briefly of all the fools she's likely to have made herself.
"I suppose I am admitting that, yes. Not always as strategy or with any malice, sometimes it's just fun to play the fool. Sometimes the clown is just the best part in the circus! Would you rather I be a true fool? Or a true learned scholar through and through?"
He made a few more constructs, so the bottom of the last one just touched the top of the water's edge. But he remained standing on it, looking at her, not ready to jump in.