You all should know I have very poor control over writing new stories. :)
O Son Where Art Thou?
-Chapter 1: Birth of Jareth-
Arturia looked at the liquid set before her with suspicion, raising an eyebrow at her adviser, and the great sorcerer, Merlin. The wizard ceased his stirring of the cauldron before him and met her gaze.
"Is something the matter, Your Majesty?"
He spoke her title in a playful tone, as he usually did when they were alone and her gender didn't need to be concealed. Arturia sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Something is very much the matter, Merlin. You say this concoction will help me in giving my kingdom an heir, yet I hardly see how this golden potion can—"
Merlin raised a slender figure at her, a mirthful grin on his elven face. "By bathing in this, you will conceive a child. Simple, no?"
Arturia gawked at the wizard, wondering if he had finally lost his senses. "Conceive?" she repeated, having to say the word she thought she heard just in case she had misheard. She certainly hoped so.
Instead, her hopes were shot down when Merlin laughed. "Ah, my dear Arturia, you underestimate my magic."
Pulling away from the cauldron, he picked up the bucket of the golden fluid, his expression amused. "Listen well, Arturia, for I will only repeat this once. Within this potion lies the very essence of a legendary king whose name has been lost to history. During my travels, before your birth you see, I meant a necromancer who claimed you could revive ancient men who left an imprint on society.
"I had to test if what this man said was true, of course, so I traveled to an old tomb of a rumored king and attempted the ritual there. However, much to my dismay, the amount of mana I had tried to provide was not even enough to summon a fully realized spiritual form, let alone a corporal one. Even still, I saw the silhouette of a man standing before me, before my magic ran out and he faded."
He walked past her, still continuing to speak as he began to fill a large wooden tub with hot water. "Still, I kept the experience in the back of my mind, something to revisit later on. And well, when we were discussing the situation between you and your queen having no hope in conceiving a child, I remembered this little event and decided to try another method."
Taking a ladle from his lavender robes, he began to stir the bucket before gently pouring the golden liquid into the wooden tub. "As you know, fertility spells come in different shapes and sizes, but they all attempt the same thing. Making the subject fertile to aid in childbearing. Simple, no? Well, your case wasn't exactly simple, mind you. Having your body frozen in time, never once experiencing a period, I thought, no amount of magic in the world could help you. But then, during our little conversation, you corrected me, telling me you had experienced your circle before pulling Caliburn out of the stone. Upon hearing that, I knew hope was not lost.
"To change your sex, even if temporarily, was one idea I had thought of. At least you would have the ingredient you desperately needed to sire an heir, but doing such a spell can ridiculous and time-consuming to make, not to mention how it's temporary and might not last long enough for your queen to actually become with child. So!" He tabbed the ladle on the edge of the tub with satisfaction, the bucket empty before his feet. "I came up with an idea that is not only more error friendly, but would benefit your future heir immensely. Let me ask you, my King, does the pedigree of an heir to a kingdom matter?"
Arturia paused, then replied, "A son of a whore is considered a bastard's son first and for most. Also, marrying into a lower class or a 'lesser family,' if you could use that term, can matter in some cases. However, I hardly see why that would—"
"I agree." Merlin twirled around and pointed the damp ladle at her face. "A child's pedigree should ultimately not matter. But facts are facts that you need a man and a woman to procreate, and you, my dear, are not a man."
Arturia stared at him questionably. Then, slowly, her eyes widened in shock and she took a cautious step back. "No, you cannot be…"
Merlin merely smiled back, a wide, fox-like grin. "Oh, I'm afraid it's so, my King. If, as you mentioned earlier, wish to avoid the concept of the bastard's son, the child must come from you. And since turning you into a man would be too much of a hassle, I came up with an alternative."
Arturia, however, was having none of it. "Impossible! Even if I had experienced cycles before pulling the sword from the stone, I no longer can. So conceiving a child from my end is—"
"All I would need to do is give some life to your reproductive organs," Merlin replied with a hand wave. "Something I've already been doing for a week now in preparing you for this."
"What?" Arturia glanced at Merlin, then stared at the tub. It was now a glittering golden color, practically glowing on its own, even if the dim light of a fire place. Merlin chuckled, drawing her attention back to him.
"I would have thought you put two and two together, Arturia. We need a man and a woman to procreate, and really the only thing we need from the man is sperm. Sperm itself is made up of mana, after all, so at the end of the day, all I really need is some mana signature from a male candidate. Now, enough talking. Be a dear and undress. You have a long soaking to look forward to."
It worked. By God's divine Son, it worked.
Arturia had no idea how to process the news Merlin had confirmed to her. She had no idea what motherhood was like, nor was she even prepared to carry a child to term and give birth to it. And yet here she was, pregnant with Camelot's future prince.
Looking out the window of the tall, isolated tower, Arturia understood now completely why Merlin had requested she announce to her knights that she was going on a long trip and would need to advise from afar. She just hoped Camelot was still in one piece when she and her child finally returned.
During her (admittedly long) pregnancy, Arturia sent messages via specially trained owls and sometimes Merlin himself to her home. From secretly passed notes between her and her adoptive brother Kay, her sudden departure had thrown the sorceress Morgan up a wall. While she had no idea why, Kay seemed to absolutely tickled pink by the reaction and rambled for about three pages (the longest he ever willing wrote about any subject) about her activities and behaviors and how he found it all incredibly amusing.
According to Merlin, Kay did not know about the pregnancy idea, but he had followed faithfully throw with Merlin's orders on taking Arturia's queen to a remote location, to be hidden away from prying eyes in hopes of passing off the coming child as both hers and the king's.
Needless to say, Arturia did not enjoy being with child. As the child grew, it brought with it problems. An aching back, swollen breasts and feet, limited mobility once she was far enough along, and those ridiculous episodes of morning sickness. However, she did realize that this pregnancy forced her to slow down, to think things out, to relax her body and focus on her mental activities.
This gave her the chance to sit down (literally) and think about what this child will bring her kingdom. She would unashamed to admit she desired a son, as her kingdom would undoubtedly desired the same thing. Plus, the child would not need to conceal their gender as she had to. While she had no remorse over how her life played out, she was hesitant to force another to experience everything she had. No, for her, it was burden she chose to bear, and one she will bear again and again. But this was not something she wished upon her offspring.
She was about to begin crafting some ideas on just how to care for this child when she felt a kick in her stomach. Her hands immediately flew to her round belly, partly in surprise and another… in awe.
Her child… was moving.
Arturia… had no idea how strong a mother's feelings would develop during a pregnancy without once seeing the child. Every time the child moved, she found herself smiling, her hands caressing over the spots she felt movement. Her heart even raced a little whenever she felt the hearty kicks against her womb.
While she had not been expecting this, she was slowly beginning to enjoy the idea of being a mother. She started to look forward to the day when she would finally be able to meet her child face-to-face. She knew she was going to love the child, no matter what it looked like, boy or girl; she was going to love this small, beautiful life with all her heart.
Her son was born on a cold, stormy winter night. A large, strong, and rather loud infant she decided to christen Jareth. At first, he was a fussy, squirming baby, unable to stay still in Merlin's or Arturia's arms, eventually falling asleep after thrashing uselessly around. But still, as Arturia predicted, she loved her son the moment she saw him, even before Merlin announced he was a boy, even after she heard his wails and Merlin's complaining of the child possessing quite a pair of lungs.
It didn't matter. Her son was born, and he was her everything, now and forever.