The door didn't open right away. Rose raised her hand to knock again, but her knuckles never reached the wood.
The door swung open, revealing Lady Morgana, her dark brow furrowing when she saw who had knocked on her door. Rose was actually surprised at the woman's state- she looked wide awake, not at all the appearance of one who had just been abruptly woken up.
Her fuzzy mind dismissed the thoughts quickly, however. Instead, with her eyes gleaming and that same grin on her face, she slurred, "Morgana Pendragon. Heh."
The lady looked obviously surprised at the lack of formal language, and also at the slur in the servant's voice.
"I'm sorry," the King's ward began slowly, eyes narrowing as if trying to remember something. "But who are you?" She paused, and then a flash of recognition passed over her face. A small smile curled on her lips, "Aren't you the servant who spilled the wine in Arthur's lap today?"
Rose laughed, the sound a bit too high-pitched. The blonde woman shrugged with a single shoulder and admitted, "Yeah, yeah, that's me. Clumsy Rose, right? Not clumsy though. Just distracted. You're just so-" Her eyes wide, she looked like she was going to continue, but Morgana interrupted.
"What exactly are you doing here, in the middle of the night? Is there something you need?" Morgana asked, still confused.
Rose released another laugh, this one much more natural-sounding, though still slurred with drunkenness. "Yes! 're a sharp one." She giggled a bit, pointing at Morgana with her grin widening.
The noble seemed to notice the servant's drunkenness, as she questioned with a frown, "Have you been drinking?" The woman's emerald eyes glanced over Rose's shoulder, wondering where the guards were. Just in case- the serving girl didn't look very menacing, after all.
Rose chuckled and shrugged again. "Got me again! Well, just liquid courage, you know. To allow me to admit my undying love for you, because I wouldn't be able to do it sober, not at all. A little shy, so I needed a nudging, you know?" She realized she was rambling when she looked up and saw pure shock on the Lady Morgana's face. "Let the cat out of the bag too abruptly. Damn," she sighed, lightly slapping her forehead with a hand. "Should have eased into it! Well, mead, you've failed me. Best to forget this ever happened, I suppose. Night, my lady."
She turned to leave with a dramatic sigh when she was stopped by Morgana's voice.
"Wait a second." Rose turned to blink at the King's ward expectantly, watching as the gears turned in the woman's head. "You're... In love with me?" Morgana said slowly.
"Yep," Rose replied almost proudly, popping the 'p'. She bobbed her head up and down, stopping only when she began to feel horribly dizzy. Stumbling forward a bit, Morgana's hand shot forward to grab her arm in order to stabilize her.
"You're very drunk," Morgana muttered, and Rose felt her piercing gaze on her face. "You should... You should go back to your home, Rose," the woman commanded firmly.
Rose started to nod again, which succeeded only in making her even more dizzy and nauseous. Please don't throw up, please don't throw up... That'd just be embarrassing. She glanced up and shot Morgana a quick grin, the raven-haired woman's face appearing a bit blurry, and strangely far away.
Morgana must have spotted the strange look on Rose's face, as she asked with concern clear in her voice, "Are you alright?"
Her voice sounded distant and ringing, and Rose only had time to think, Well, that's odd, before the world faded to black.
Xxx
Rose jerked awake what seemed like only seconds later. The first thing she noticed was the piercing headache and the nausea. Next, she noticed that she was definitely not in her room.
This one was much more comfortable, plush- the room of a noble, she realized with a sickening lurch. She was in a bed in a very comfortable room... She mentally groaned. What had she gotten herself into last night?
She thought back to what had happened. She'd had a horrible day, and when Lady Percival had released her for the night, she'd gone to the tavern to relieve some stress. She must have gotten terribly drunk- that would explain the headache and nausea.
But why was she in a noble's bedroom, and more importantly, why was she in a noble's bed? She was still fully clothed, so that was a relief. Carefully, she rolled over, dreading to see who was next to her.
Rose released a breath of relief when she saw no one lying beside her. She slowly sat up, wincing at the sharp pain in her skull. Her eyes scanning the room, she froze in horror when her gaze fell on something- or, rather, someone- she hadn't seen before. Two someones, actually.
The Lady Morgana herself, sitting at a table looking into a mirror, and another woman standing behind her, running a brush through Morgana's long, dark hair. They were engaged in quiet conversation, but stopped when they released that Rose was awake. "Did you sleep well?" Morgana asked, turning her head to look at Rose with a smile and an unreadable expression.
Rose felt the memories rush back. She'd gotten drunk, and had apparently decided it was a fantastic idea to proclaim her love for the Lady Morgana. She must've passed out drunk, and the King's ward took her in. Let her sleep in her own bed, for goodness's sake.
Oh, no, oh no oh no. She'd made a horrible mistake- no, it was worse than that. She'd made an absolute fool of herself in front of the Lady Morgana. She felt her cheeks grow hot, and she was positive she must now perfectly resemble a tomato.
Now both Morgana and who Rose assumed was her servant were looking at her expectantly, and she found herself completely unable to form a logical sentence. Instead she stammered out, "I- I- drunk- fool- I just- sorry, I- thank you for- oh, no." It wasn't very pretty, needless to say.
Rose jumped out of the gigantic, plush bed, ignoring the splitting pain in her head. The wave of nausea due to the sudden movement made her stumble, however, and Lady Morgana got up from her chair as if to go help steady her again. Rose shook her head, and mumbled out a final apology before she rushed for the door.
Xxx
The rest of the day was filled with painful embarrassment. She was late for Lady Percival, and found the woman in a more horrible mood in usual. She endured the noble's shrill scolding and apologized profusely, saying that she had simply overslept, and that it would never happen again. She didn't even have to lie, not really.
Rose saw Lady Morgana in the hall twice that day- luckily, she managed to avoid any kind of confrontation by using a special technique of hers. That is, turning around abruptly and walking away as fast as she possibly could without arising suspicion. It was an old but sure tactic that never failed.
Unfortunately, her method couldn't be used in all situations. That night, King Uther held a feast for all of the members of the court, and because Lady Percival was attending, so was Rose.
As soon as she walked through the doors, her eyes immediately flew to where she knew the King's ward would be sitting. Old habits die hard, she supposed.
Rose was shocked when her gaze met Morgana's. Quickly averting her eyes, she felt her cheeks heat up and she followed Lady Percival to her seat. Rose was relieved, at least, that she didn't have to serve at this feast- if she had to go anywhere near Morgana again, she just knew she'd make even a bigger fool of herself. If that was even possible at this point.
So the servant stood back, watching as the knights, lords, ladies, and other nobles interacted, all laughing merrily as they ate and conversed. Rose enjoyed attending these feasts, if only to see how people of the higher class interacted.
It made her sad occasionally, knowing that she would never live a life as luxurious as theirs, but her life wasn't that bad- she was in Camelot after all. Her family lived in a small village about a day's ride from here, and her younger sister had been terribly jealous when had left home. "Promise me you'll tell me all about Prince Arthur when you next visit," the then-11-year-old had begged, harboring a not-so-secret crush on the prince. Rose had laughed and promised, of course. She missed her family, but she enjoyed Camelot, though Lady Percival was quite irritating most of the time.
When Rose was positive that the King's ward wasn't looking, she admired her as well. There was something about watching the young woman laugh and tease and interact with her fellow nobles that never failed to uplift Rose's spirits. She felt a fond smile appear on her lips.
"My name's Gwen." A voice came from Rose's left, roughly tearing her from her reverie. Her head whipping to the side to look at the owner of the voice, she felt her heart drop when she realized who it was. It was Morgana's servant, the one who had been in the room this morning when she had woken up and had awkwardly ran out in a flurry of unintelligible blabber.
Just my luck, Rose thought inwardly, as her eyes widened and she swallowed thickly. "U-um- hi?" she said weakly, unable to think of anything intelligent to say, per usual.
Gwen smiled softly at her, and Rose felt herself relax slightly- the curly-haired woman seemed friendly enough. "Um, my name's Rose, but... Er... You probably know that." Rose laughed uncomfortably.
Gwen nodded, and hesitated for a moment before asking gently, "How are you feeling? You seemed to be sick this morning, when you left. The Lady Morgana was worried."
Rose almost laughed hysterically at that. Worried? Morgana Pendragon? About her? She never thought she'd hear those words strung together. "Oh, um- I'm fine, thanks. I just had a headache and a bit of nausea, but, I'm good now. I was just, um-" She trailed off and laughed nervously.
Gwen nodded, smiling sympathetically. "Lady Morgana told me." Her face crumpled slightly. "It's probably none of my business, but... Why did you visit her last night? I asked, but Lady Morgana wouldn't say."
Rose was stunned. Morgana hadn't said anything? She had thought that the noble would've told everybody by now. (Well, she didn't really think that the woman would do that- she'd like to think that Morgana was kinder than that.) She opened and closed her mouth in a fairly accurate imitation of a fish, unable to come up with a lie so quickly.
She didn't have to, however, as Gwen immediately shook her head. "No, no, it's none of my business, I'm sorry for asking. But, I'm glad you're feeling better- I'm sure the Lady Morgana will be happy to hear that, as well." Rose swallowed and nodded, offering the maid a brief smile before the girl walked away.
Rose watched as Gwen returned to her lady's side, and then as the servant spoke in the woman's ear. She couldn't make out what her fellow serving girl was saying, but she didn't have to guess for very long. After a few moments Morgana looked up and met Rose's gaze.