Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from KA. I am just borrowing them for the story.
Please review, but don't flame me. Just saying 'this is rubbish' does not help. Constructive critism welcome. If anyone sees any spelling mistakes, tell me and I'll correct them. Now, on with the show.
I Do
Prologue
"What was he like?" the little girl looked up at her mother.
"What was who like?" her mother asked as she continued patching old clothes. For a second or two, the girl sat and watched as her mother drew the needle in and out of the fabric, trailing the thread behind it.
"King Arthur, of course," the girl answered when she could drag her eyes away from her mother's work.
Her mother stopped working and placed the torn garment on the small table beside her. She reached out her arms and her young daughter climbed up onto her lap. The woman sat quietly for a few minutes stroking her daughter's dark hair before answering her question.
"You know your grandfather, Bors, fought with him, don't you?"
"You mean Papa's papa? Really?" the girl's eyes were wide with amazement and grew even wider when her mother nodded.
"The very same. Your grandfather rarely had a bad word for him, so he must have been as good as the stories say."
"Tell me one of the stories, Mama, please," the girl looked up at her mother, making sure her face was at its most endearing.
"Seren, it's getting late. You should be getting ready for bed," the girl's mother looked pointedly at the open door, where it was possible to tell that night had almost fallen.
"Please, Mama. I'll be up early tomorrow, I promise. Please?" Seren looked up at her mother and laughed when she saw the stern expression fall away.
"Fine, but first you have to know something. Lancelot, Tristan and Dagonet did not die in those dark days."
"They didn't?" the little girl looked up at her mother in confusion.
"No, they didn't. They came very close, none more so than Dagonet. But somehow they pulled through. I won't claim to know how. But I do know they took a long time to recover and they were never quite the same afterwards. But you are too young for that. You want a happy story so that you dream of happy things. So what to tell you?" the woman looked down at her daughter, exaggerating the expression of thought with brows furrowed, lips pursed white, eyes squinting. Then all of a sudden, "Ah ha!"
"What Mama?"
"I will tell you how your grandparents finally got married."
It was a story the little girl had heard before, but no matter how many times she heard it, she always wanted to hear it again.
"Now, don't be fooled, little one. It is a long story, and not always funny,"
The words came easily, as they always did when her mother told stories. Seren closed her eyes and rested her head on her mother's shoulder and listened to her mother's warm voice as she started to tell the story.
"It was two years after the called Arthur King. Your papa was still a boy, but he was the one who told me. It all started with an argument between your grandfather and your grandmother, Vanora…"