AN: Okay, so I borrowed Merlin from my housemate and now this won't really leave me alone, I will write more if I get response to it. It's short so far, but hopefully will be longer :) Emma ~~
To the many Kingdoms of this fair and wondrous land,
You are cordially invited to the Court of Dalton for the Festival of Song.
The festival will contain many different examples of Dalton's rich and illustrious culture.
There will also be a Jousting Tournament in which the King of Dalton has offered a prize of 1,000 Gold coins, and the opportunity to escort the King's Ward to the Celebratory Feast at the end of the Festival .
The Kingdom of Dalton is not a judgemental place, but please respect our traditions otherwise the consequences may be dire.
You have been warned,
Lord Spencer of Dalton.
The silence of the countryside had always been soothing to the Young Lord that rode along side a carriage decorated with the crest of a Noble family that was once deemed lost for all eternity until it had resurfaced several years back, amid much mystery and rumour. From the posture of the young lord and lack of lines on his handsome brow one would assume he was verging on his second decade on this earth, but the grimace on his face said that he wasn't too comfortable on his grey steed as he wanted to present himself.
It had been a poor decision on his part to ride the three days to Dalton's court, rather than elect to ride with his mother and sister in the carriage with the rest of their belongings. It was a tradition for as long as he could remember where they travelled the three days from their county of Minerva beyond Dalton's Western Boarders.
The ache in his joints would take several long baths to draw out from his body and perhaps a further two nights of uninterrupted nights of sleep where those daemons that plagued his people haunted him because he was never quick enough to anticipate the movements of them or the ailments that they suffered from when the crops failed or when the weather took a turn for the worst.
It was on his Mother's insistence that he accompany her and his younger sibling to the festival of song when on one morning she had caught him singing to his horse who had been wounded when he had chased off a gang of rebels who had began harassing some of the younger boys in his kingdom. The song that was in his heart was a song that his mother used to sing to him when he was but a boy, it soothed him when his father was away from their house, and his brother had been murdered by fugitives who had set fire to some of their land because they were not granted free passage through to Dalton.
It was funny how the song flittered still about in his head as they neared the border between their land and that of Dalton. It seemed fitting as his eyes scanned the vast array of colours that the setting light of the sun caught as it began to lower in the sky. It illuminated the vivid reds of the flowers, the blinding blues of the lakes that gently caressed the heather-scattered hills and the sun-kissed fields of grain that were used to feed the less fortunate people of Dalton's kingdom.
"Why are there so many songs about rainbows, and what's on the other side." The young lord sang, causing his younger sister to peak her head out of the carriage to watch him. "Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,and rainbows have nothing to hide." He smiled happily as they rode along further. "So we've been told and some choose to believe it. I know they're wrong, wait and see. Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection. The lovers, the dreamers and me."
"You've got such a pretty voice." His sister spoke up causing the young lord to turn around. "I'm sad that I do not get to hear it more."
"That is because Young Lords are not supposed to sing when they grow older dear Arianna." He replied kindly, pulling up alongside his mother's carriage. "Not according to some of the Elder men in our land at least." He added as an afterthought.
"But my son..." his mother interrupted, her head also coming into view, her kind eyes watching him fondly. "You have been given the gift of song; it would be a crime to waste it."
"It is not becoming of a knight mother."
"And neither is disagreeing with your mother Thaddeus." She replied firmly. "You will sing when we reach Dalton because if we do not make peace with the king, and should something happen to your father I fear our lands will be taken."
"Yes mother." The young lord replied, pulling his grey steed away from the carriage. "And I've asked you a thousand times mother. I do not like being called Thaddeus. It's Thad."
"Thaddeus is a noble name, it has been in your father's family for generations." She replied calmly, "Use it well."