Garden [Divides Crossed 11]

DJ Dubois

March 2018

Rating: T (Teen)

Notes: This is the eleventh installment of the "Divides Crossed" series. ("Princess Faerie" is Part 9. "Rubicon" was reordered so as to be Part 10.) Merlin and his cohorts (this version at least) belong to the BBC and Scyfy. Britomart is from Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene. Ywain and Malodius are from Chretien's Yvain Knight of the Lion. Blancheflor is from Chretien's Perceval: Knight of the Grail. Josiane is adapted from the Boeve de Haumtone. Please send comments to dante0220 .

Prologue

The triple goddess observes….

Hope sows her prime seeds across Britannia's barren soil. Chance releases its gentle rain. Opportunity shines down warmly on them. My priestesses caress the field on behalf of the Greater Good awaiting the blessed plants' first shoots poking forth. Weeds snake forth seeking to choke Life's grace from them. We watch for those threats and pull them before their self-entitled goal is fulfilled.

Such as it is in any garden. Such is the current state of Albion's Garden…..

Arrogance played Uther Pendragon well. It prodded him with Pain's fire. Like a dark plague of locusts, he swept across Britannia devouring all my good works. His handmaiden, Death, claimed my most loyal followers be they priest, dragon or common person. His ideas of 'progress', Secularism and Boyish Games, turned the people's attention away from Priority and toward Distraction. His weeds festered gorging off my lands. The fertility sucked dry by Vengeance and Vanity.

Still I am immortal. I contented myself to wait. Aye I stewed. Still I guided those who'd leave to safer fields away from Repression's yoke. Balinor realized this and ran for Future's promise. He diverted attention from his lost beloved in far flung hamlet. Others close by could not follow for Duty's sake. I mourn their sacrifice and offer their loved ones any grace possible.

After a generation's passage, Fortuna's wheel has finally turned against Arrogance and Pride. It creaks back ever so gradually towards the Light. The people tire of endless Purges. Nature seeks balance. As in the night sky, the stars sparkle. It is not for naught that Wishes are granted. It is true that my special star, Polaris, guides weary travelers toward Love and Hope while Despair's Lackeys sleep in Gluttony's embrace.

As my crop's first shoots sprout forth, the priestesses stand watch. As opposed to Camelot's systematic oppression, Nemeth leads my resurgence. Mithian grows in her role. With a little prompting and kindness, she mends the previous damage, forges new alliances and promotes the balance. Whereas Arthur Pendragon is Repression's agent, she weaves Light's tapestry. One by one, she and her sire, Rodor, establish bonds with the surrounding rulers. She befriends my agents be they Priestess or dragon. She balances Credence with Amor's call in terms of Emrys raising him up beyond Camelot's limitations.

However with any of Season's changes, lightning flares. Rains pour down. Emotions flare. We have seen some of this. Still, even as Nemeth prepares to host its first gala in two generations' time, a showdown looms. Change demands Emrys take his rightful place. Repression wants to yoke his skills to Deceit's and Self-Entitlement's ways.

How these things go will determine much….