Part 18: link


    “Thank you, Gemma, that will be all,” Arthur tells the serving girl when Gwen comes out from behind the changing screen in her dressing gown, heading for the large tub filled with steaming water.
    “My lord?” Gemma furrows her brows, confused.
    “You may go, dear,” Gwen says gently intercepting her husband. “I do not require any further assistance this evening.”
    The girl hesitates another moment, then her eyes widen and she flushes scarlet. “Thank you, my lady,” she curtseys hurriedly and almost runs to the door.
    “There is going to be some serious gossiping amongst the servants in Cornwall tonight,” Gwen says, looking pointedly at Arthur, who is already shedding his clothes.
    “I don’t care,” Arthur says, pulling his شرٹ, قمیض off over his head. “I wish to bathe with my wife, and bathe I shall.”
    Gwen looks down at the tub. “This is a very large tub indeed,” she observes, cocking her head at Arthur as he shucks his trousers and tosses them on a bench.
    “Mmm,” he agrees, stepping in and holding his hand out to Gwen. She removes her روب, چغہ and takes his hand, climbing delicately into the tub.
    Arthur sits down and she follows, sitting opposite him. He scowls at her. “Why are آپ over there?” he pouts.
    “I don’t know,” she shrugs, running her slender foot up his thigh beneath the water. He inhales sharply and catches her foot in his hands. He starts massaging it gently, and she leans her head back with a sigh. “Ah, that’s why,” she smiles, closing her eyes.
    “You could do mine as well,” he offers, sticking his foot up out of the water. Gwen opens one eye and looks at it disinterestedly. “Or not,” he chuckles, dropping it back below.
    “I’ll take it under advisement when آپ are carrying my child,” she tells him. Arthur laughs, kisses the sole of her foot and then takes up the other one, giving it equal treatment.
    “They are a little puffy, aren’t they?” Arthur observes, noting some slight marks where her shoes were fitting a bit snugly.
    Gwen just sighs, wiggling her toes while he rubs. He kisses each one as he finishes, then sets it gently back into the water. “Come over here now,” he beckons softly.
    She moves then, swishing the water slightly as she comes over, nestling herself between his legs, her back against his chest.
    “I think King Marke was very impressed سے طرف کی آپ today, my love,” Arthur says, kissing her ear.
    “Do not underestimate yourself, my king,” she answers, running her hands along his thighs while he absently caresses her stomach above and below the water.
    “Yes, well, obviously I was in سب, سب سے اوپر form,” he gloats, teasing, and she splashes him. “But, آپ really showed him that آپ are so much مزید than just a beautiful face that caught my eye. He got to see your kindness and wisdom for himself, and he will help allay any rumors that might be floating around the land about the serving girl who has been made Queen. Merlin was quite impressive, too, I have to admit.”
    “We do what we do to aid you, Arthur. If we prove foolish, it reflects poorly on you.”
    “Well, then, I’m glad that I have not surrounded myself with fools,” he says, grinning down at her. He reaches for the soap and the cloth and starts to gently wash Gwen, her back, her breasts, her stomach.
    The baby kicks, and Gwen giggles. “Baby likes آپ taking care of me.”
    “Daddy likes taking care of you, too,” Arthur mutters, his lips on her neck.
    “Daddy?” she repeats, amused.
    “Well, yes,” he answers, peeking around at her and pecking her lips.
    “I’ve just never heard آپ refer to yourself that way before,” she says, kissing him back.
    “Mmm, if this is how I am rewarded, I shall have to do so مزید often,” he comments, diving back into her lips, reaching up to جھولا, پنگورا her head to help support its awkward position. The soap and cloth drop from his other hand, forgotten.

xXx

    “Thank you, King Marke, for your hospitality,” Gwen bids the king farewell, Smith wagging his tail at her side.
    “It was an honor and a privilege to have آپ both,” Marke answers, kissing Gwen’s hand before clasping arms with Arthur.
    “Perhaps اگلے time we shall have to keep closer tabs on Fergus and Gwaine,” Arthur comments, as both knights look quite bedraggled this morning.
    “Och, we jus’ got a bit jaked, ’tis all,” Fergus protests, “an’ ye dinna have tae shout like tha’.”
    Gwen bites back her laughter.
    “Yeah, no harm done. The tavern is almost completely still intact,” Gwaine mumbles, his eyes bleary. “And Elyan here held his own as well—ow!”
    Elyan smacks Gwaine on the back of the head when he receives a death glare from his sister. “I was never as bad as that lot,” he protests, trying to paint himself in a better light.
    “Hmm,” Gwen says, glancing at Gwaine and scowling at him as well.
    “I told ye we shouldna ha’ brought your queen’s brither, ye daft scunner,” Fergus mutters to Gwaine.
    “Shall we be off?” Arthur says, sighing despite the fact that he and Marke had been chuckling over the knights.
    “Safe travels, Arthur,” Marke says as they mount up and Arthur assists Gwen into her cushioned wagon. Arthur swats Smith lightly on the rump and he leaps up beside his mistress, curling up alongside her.
    Instead of heading north, toward Camelot, they head southwest.
    “Sire, Camelot is the other way,” Leon points out, though he knows full well that Arthur is aware of this.
    “We’re not heading directly to Camelot, Leon. Guinevere wanted to return to Lyonesse, and so we will be paying our دوستوں there a visit since we are so close.”
    “Heh,” Leon chuckles. “If Bors and I had continued on the road from the inn, we would have run ذائقہ, مارنا into you,” he muses.
    “And what would آپ have done had آپ found us?” Gwen asks, looking up at the tall knight.
    “Stayed in your barn,” Leon answers, laughing.
    They reach the town just before noon, approaching their old house on the fringe. They see Fleta’s younger brother Justin out in the field with their old ox, guiding the beast easily along the rows.
    “Why does that thing behave for him?” Arthur grumbles. “He never could be bothered to walk two steps in a straight line for me.”
    Merlin laughs as Fleta steps outside, shaking a rug, snapping dust and bits of twig from it. Her eyes widen as she sees them approaching, and the rug falls into the dirt.
    Gwen waves, smiling, her eyes dancing, and Fleta takes of at a run.
    “Goldie!” she yells, excited. It is only then that they notice that Fleta appears to be just slightly less pregnant than Gwen.
    The party stops outside the house and Arthur dismounts quickly to help his very excited wife down from her seat.
    “Look at you!” Fleta exclaims, clearly indicating Gwen’s swollen stomach.
    “Look at you!” Gwen shoots back, pulling the girl to her for a tight hug.
    Fleta pulls away and finally looks at them, and confusion clouds her face. “What…?”
    “We’ll explain everything, I promise,” Gwen says, turning to see Justin approaching.
    “Justin, fetch Mother and Father, quickly,” Fleta says, “and Radley and Bartley and…”
    “Yes, I got it: get everyone,” Justin moans. He looks right and left, not knowing which way to go.
    “Come on, Justin,” Merlin beckons, holding his hand down. The boy climbs up behind him and they ride off.
    “I was so pleased to get your message, Goldie,” Fleta starts. She spots Gwaine, furrows her brows at his armor, but waves anyway.
    “Hello, darlin’,” Gwaine says, winking at her.
    She blushes, her eyes darting to the other two.
    “Fleta, آپ of course remember Gwaine,” Gwen says. “This is my brother, Elyan, and this is Leon,” she introduces.
    “Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Fleta says. Somehow she feels she should curtsey. She glances at Arthur and smiles warmly, but the compulsion to bend her knee is even stronger.
    He smiles kindly at her. “May we go inside?” he asks.
    “Oh! Of course, I am sorry…”
    “No, it is we who should apologize, barging in unannounced like this,” Arthur answers, bending to retrieve the dropped rug for her and giving it a shake before draping it over his arm.
    Leon stares in disbelief.
    Fleta serves some wine to her guests and puts down a bowl of water for Smith, who curls up at Gwen’s feet after drinking his fill, politely not spilling much.
    “Forgive me, Goldie, but I’m very confused,” Fleta says suddenly, “you look so… different.”
    “Can we wait until everyone else arrives?” Gwen asks kindly. “Just so we do not have to explain twice, آپ see.”
    “Of course. When is your child due?” she asks instead, changing gears.
    “About midsummer,” Gwen smiles. “And yours?”
    “Late summer,” she giggles. “It seems the gods favored both of us early in our marriages,” she says, blushing slightly.
    “It does seem so,” Gwen agrees.
    Merlin and Justin come bursting into the house now, followed shortly سے طرف کی a crowd. Radley greets his wife warmly, his grey eyes twinkling as they look into her deep brown ones. He is followed سے طرف کی Sherman and Myla and, finally, Bartley and his wife, Hazel.
    There is much noise and hugging, and finally everyone finds a corner to sit in.
    “I must say we were all surprised سے طرف کی your sudden departure, Aldwin,” Bartley starts. “Then Fleta read us your message, and the mystery only seemed to deepen,” he chuckles.
    “Fleta is the only one of us who reads well enough,” Radley explains, his voice tinged with pride.
    “I’m learning!” Justin pipes up.
    “Yes, Love, we know,” Myla says indulgently.
    “Can we let our guests speak, please?” Sherman steers them back, eager for information.
    “Guinevere?” Arthur says, inviting her to begin.
    “First,” she sighs, “when the three of us came here, we were fleeing. The two of us,” she nods at Merlin, “for our lives, in fact.”
    She waits until the gasps die down.
    “The names سے طرف کی which آپ know us are not our true names. My name is actually Guinevere, though most people call me Gwen. This is Merlin,” she indicates the wizard, and he gives a small wave. “And my husband,” she turns and smiles at him, “his true name is Arthur Pendragon.”
    The silence is deafening.
    “So you’re a king?” Justin is the first one to speak up. Quietly.
    Arthur nods. “Well, when we came here, I was still just the prince.”
    “Just the prince, he says,” Sherman chuckles. “What’s your real name, then?” he asks Gwaine.
    “My name is really Gwaine,” he chuckles. “Though I was acquainted with the three of them before I came here.”
    “If you’re nobility, then why were آپ fleeing Camelot?” Radley asks.
    “Ah, but that’s just it,” Gwen says. “Arthur is nobility. Merlin and I, well, Merlin was Arthur’s manservant. I was the Lady Morgana’s handmaiden. Before she… turned.”
    “And he got آپ with child and آپ fled?” Sherman asks.
    “Certainly not!” Arthur shouts, insulted that such a thing should even be suggested.
    “Forgive me, my lord, it is just the first thing that comes to mind, is all.”
    Arthur nods and looks to Gwen.
    “Uther had sentenced me to death. He believed I was a sorceress who enchanted Arthur with some kind of love potion.”
    “She didn’t need any potion,” Arthur تبصرے dryly.
    “And I am not a sorceress,” Gwen continues, looking sideways at Arthur.
    “King Uther would not see that his son could love a serving girl,” Myla says quietly, understanding. “So he naturally assumed that magic was at fault.”
    Gwen nods.
    “I could not watch Guinevere be burned at the stake, I could not face the prospect of life without her,” Arthur says quietly. “So we fled. Eloped, and landed here.”
    “So how does Marden – I mean, Merlin fit in?” Sherman asks.
    “Well, Merlin helped me escape,” Gwen says. “Because while I am not a witch, our Merlin is a wizard. And a very good one, at that.”
    “Really?” Justin asks, eyes wide. “Do something!”
    “Justin,” Myla warns, but Merlin just smiles.
    “It’s all right, Myla. Here,” Merlin holds out his hand, palm-up. His eyes flash and a flame dances in the middle of his palm.
    “Whoa,” Justin says, impressed. Merlin closes his hand around the flame and extinguishes it.
    “We married the دن we fled,” Gwen says, “and met Sherman and Bartley on the road the اگلے day.”
    “And the upheaval in Camelot, with the Lady Morgana, that sent آپ back,” Bartley finally speaks again.
    Arthur nods. “We were victorious, but it was costly.” With some prompting from Bartley and Sherman, he tells them of the battle while Fleta, Myla, and Hazel bustle about preparing food.
    “It is a very romantic story, the prince and the handmaid,” Fleta says wistfully.
    “Though not without its hardships,” Gwen sighs. “But in the end, it was worth it.”
    “Was your father really a blacksmith?” Sherman asks her.
    “That part was true,” Gwen nods, smiling. “He was a blacksmith, as was my brother,” she nods at Elyan. “Before he became a knight.”
    “See, that’s what I can’t get my brain around,” Bartley says finally. “You were a maid, now you’re the queen. Gwaine there and your brother are knights. I suppose you’re a commoner as well?” he asks Leon.
    “No, Leon is actually noble-born,” Gwen smiles, explaining because Leon has his mouth full of stew.
    “Gwen’s mother was actually a maid in my household when I was a boy,” Leon adds once he swallows. “We used to play together, us and Elyan, before any of us knew any better,” he chuckles.
    “Arthur is unusual in that he values people based on their character rather than on their birth,” Gwen says.
    “Something I would have never seen had it not been for Guinevere,” Arthur smiles. “And Merlin,” he grudgingly admits.
    “Love will do that, make آپ see the world in a whole new way,” Myla sighs.
    “Well, actually, I didn’t know I loved her when she started changing my point of view,” Arthur says. “I probably did love her, but I just didn’t know it yet.”
    “Arthur, آپ hardly noticed me before that week,” Gwen rolls her eyes at him.
    “Oh, is that what آپ think?” he raises an amused eyebrow at her.
    “That’s what I know,” she shoots back.
    “Hmm,” he smirks. “So, then, آپ know that when آپ came to bring me food when my father had put me in the dungeon and I gave آپ that پھول to save Merlin’s life that I thought آپ were an angel sent سے طرف کی the gods in a golden dress? And آپ know that when we went to Ealdor I was very nearly distracted سے طرف کی آپ with your bravery, not to mention in your little trousers and riding boots? And I suppose آپ also know that it was your voice that gave me the will to fight for my life when I was very nearly dead?”
    Gwen flushes dark scarlet, opens her mouth to speak, but promptly shuts it again. “I stand corrected,” she finally says. He remembers what dress I was wearing that night? she finds herself thinking.
    “Sounds to me like your king there was smitten already before either of آپ were aware,” Sherman chuckles.
    “In any case, she started yelling at me,” Arthur says, grinning devilishly. “Every time I…”
    “Acted a prat,” Merlin fills in.
    “Thank you, Merlin,” Arthur mutters. “And each time she challenged me to be a better person, it just made me love her more. She made me see that the worth of a person is مزید than just his name یا title. I knighted four commoners before this latest battle, and they are four of the finest knights I have ever seen.”
    Gwaine coughs softly, looking at his shoes, the wall, the dog, avoiding everyone’s eyes.
    “Gwaine?” Arthur asks. “You have something to add?”
    “No,” he says, but he still looks troubled.
    “Gwaine, tell him,” Merlin pushes.
    “Thanks, mate,” Gwaine says sarcastically.
    “Tell me what?” Arthur asks.
    “I’m actually a noble. Well, my parents are nobles. I disowned them and renounced any claims to anything. But I am noble سے طرف کی birth.”
    “What?” Arthur and Leon chorus, both stunned.
    “This, of course, was before I discovered that there are nobles in the world who are actually worthy of the title,” Gwaine adds. “I would serve none but Arthur,” he tells the group.
    Arthur smiles. “And I am fortunate to have آپ as one of my knights.”
    “Of course, King Marke didn’t seem too bad, either…” he muses.
    “Oh, no,” Gwen cuts him off. “You and Sir Fergus should be kept far apart.”
    “Ah, my lady, but Fergus and I are brothers now,” Gwaine says, smirking impishly, removing his gauntlet. He pulls up his sleeve and reveals a very fresh-looking blue swirled tattoo, similar to the ones that Fergus has all over.
    “When did آپ do that?” Elyan asks, stunned. Gwen bites back her chuckle and Arthur just rolls his eyes.
    “Must have been after آپ passed out, lightweight,” Gwaine says, pulling his sleeve back down.

xXx

    Fleta invites them to stay the night, but they decline politely, wishing to return ہوم as soon as possible. She and Gwen hug warmly, promising each other to correspond, especially when their respective children are born.
    “You are sure there is nothing آپ left behind that آپ need?” Fleta asks one last time.
    “No, Fleta, I کہا in my letter that everything in the house is yours, and I meant it,” Gwen answers.
    “Of course, you’re a queen, آپ can surely have whatever آپ desire,” Fleta says, smiling kindly.
    “There are positives as well as negatives,” Gwen shrugs.
    “I still can’t believe it,” Fleta says.
    “Neither can I,” Gwen whispers in reply.
    “Guinevere,” Arthur says, holding his hand out for her.
    “Thank آپ for your hospitality, Fleta,” Gwen says once she’s settled in the wagon, her dog at her side.
    Arthur shakes all the men’s hands and kisses the women’s hands as if they were ladies of the court. Myla and Hazel fuss over him, giggling and simpering like girls.
    “You are all always welcome in Camelot should آپ ever feel the desire to make the trip. Justin, you’re a little old to start training, but if آپ fancy being a knight…”
    “Thanks just the same, my lord, but I’ve discovered I’m a much better farmer than I am a shepherd, and I do rather enjoy farming,” Justin smiles.
    “Thought I’d offer. آپ should always do what makes آپ happy,” Arthur says, swinging into his saddle.
    They bid a final farewell to their friends, and head north, for Camelot.

Part 20: link