Arthur would be turning 20 in a week's time. It was another year and another feast, one that the royal officials have planned for months ahead of the actual celebration. This year, they've decided to out-do last year's feast, adding quaint and exotic food to go together with the Crown Prince's favourite dishes and inviting well-renowned performers to entertain the royal family and guests of King Uther at the castle.
The town and castle were buzzing with activity and through the castle gates went in baskets and cart-fulls of various fruits, meats and spices as often as one sees entourages of people of different colours, shapes and sizes traipsing across the grounds every of them eager to display their skills of tricks, music and dance.
Merlin was staring at one particular group of entertainers who passed by, all of them attractive in their own individual beauty when a young woman from the entourage noticed him looking and impishly gave him a wink. Merlin's pale face reddened with shy delight and was about to wave at her when an annoyed voice called to him from behind.
"Merlin! Stop gawping and get those herbs into the storage before it dries up completely!" Gaius snapped at him. The white haired man was busy wiping the sweat from his brow and his face was already flushed from the day's heat.
"Sorry Gaius! Right on it!" Merlin said at once, jogging towards the castle, afraid of Gaius' ire as he was of ruining the herbs that he spent hours to find.
"This is not fair! I'm supposed to dance with Illya this time round. Guivret had his turn at Mercia and Northumbria!" complained a dark-haired man to a red-haired woman who was seated at the end of the bed inspecting a swath of bright orange coloured cloth sheer enough for her to glance through to see another man with a shaved head roll his eyes in annoyance.
The bald-headed man, Guivret, explained in a suffering tone, "You twisted your ankle back at Northumbria that I had to cover for you, you dolt. And don't you dare say you're mended now, because I saw you rubbing your leg when you thought I didn't see."
One of the woman dancers with golden curls giggled but quickly smothered it when the dark-haired man scowled at her before protesting to the troupe at large, "My leg! Not my ankle!"
"And that was because you twisted your ankle that you foolishly put too much weight on your leg that it's strained now. You should've used a staff to ease your muscles but you were too proud," Guivret pointed out.
"But-But... Vivace!" the dark-haired man implored to the red-haired woman because she already knows why the dancer, Fredric, was so insistent. Their troupe has always been rewarded handsomely considering how newly established their group was compared to other performance groups and the main dancers are normally given special presents from the host of the celebration in appreciation of their talents. Guivret has been dancing for two performances and in both of them he was given the rings from their hosts' fingers and Vivace has made it a habit to give the main performers an extra portion from the equal share of silver and/or gold as soon as they sold off any valuable gifts.
Vivace sighed, looking around the room as she tried to gather her thoughts. The blond woman, Illya was still trying to hide her grin while the other female dancer with long dark hair tied high on her head, Sebille, merely gave Vivace a shrug. Olivia, another female performer, quietly continued to take out the various coloured costumes from their bundle of clothes for inspection, not eager to get into the argument between their troupe leader and Guivret. The two older people in their group who has been charged with playing the music for their dance performances only shook their heads in amusement as they busied themselves with unpacking the instruments to check for any damages that might have been brought about by their long travel to Camelot.
When Vivace turned towards her two male dancers, Guivret was taunting Fredric again while the other man was still trying to persuade her to make him the lead for the prince's celebration. The red-haired woman rubbed at her temple, a headache starting to form when she snapped at the squabbling pair, "Enough! If both of you cannot compromise I should just get another man to be the lead dancer."
"Here? In Camelot? Right now?" scoffed Guivret, "You can't be serious!"
Vivace narrowed her eyes at him. "You think I can't do it? Teach someone new before the prince's feast?"
Other than being a good dancer and singer, Vivace was the one who mainly plans out their dance routines, songs and music and was proud of her ability to organise a perfect performance as well as training her dancers into achieving their highest potential.
Guivret and Fredric may think themselves as good dancers in their own homeland, but it was Vivace who was the one who polished their talent to stand at par with performers more veteran than they were.
Fredric looked worried but Guivret refused to back down and glared back at their dance leader bravely. Even with the man's height and bulk, or despite it, the rest of the troupe knew that it took courage to challenge Vivace face-to-face. Just as Guivret was about to open his mouth to either say something mildly apologetic or stupidly damning, a knock came from the door and a head peeked in before any one of them could say a word.
"Hello," said the gangly youth as he stepped fully inside to give each of them a beaming smile, instantly blushing when he saw Sebille who gave him a mischievous wink. "I'm just here to tell you that the meals will be served at the servants dining hall three times a day - sixth hour of the morn, noon and the hour after the king's meal at night. Here are some drinks and fruits for now. I'll just - Yeargh!"
A feat that the graceful dancers found impossibly ungainly, the young man suddenly tripped on his own feet, sending water spilling out of the pitcher he was holding and splashing onto Fredric's face and the front of the dancer's shirt who had the misfortune of standing closest to the door.
"Aargh! You clumsy fool!" Fredric yelled at the flustered servant.
As the young man stammered a string of apology while wiping the squawking Fredric down and at the same time trying to pick up the fruits that fell out of the basket, Vivace, Guivret and the rest of the troupe stared in shock before breaking down in uproarious laughter.
"You said you can teach someone to take over Fredric and I? Then I choose him!" challenged Guivret to Vivace.
For a short moment, Vivace scrutinised the harried servant before turning to face Guivret's smug grin with a proud look of her own. Crossing her arms across her chest in a manner they all knew that she was about to put someone in their proper place, she proclaimed, "I accept."
"What?" cried Fredric in aghast.
The servant blinked, confused. "Errr... what?"
-tbc