Hey, I'm back! I hope you like!
Last time= "Show yourselves before we run you through."
Whirling around to see who it was, Freya immediately knew who they were.
Whispering in their ears, she said, "Lower your hoods. It's just Percival and Gwaine."
The Catherine and Abby nodded and did what they were told. Percival and Gwaine, assured they were only girls, lead them to the camp.
"Who are they?" Arthur asked.
"We found them spying," said Gwaine, "But now that it appears they are only girls, I was wondering what we should do with them."
Arthur nodded, "Why were you spying on us?"
"We weren't spying," Catherine protested, "We got lost in the woods and we wanted to know who was there," she partially lied.
Arthur nodded, "Okay, we can help you get back to Camelot."
"Thank you," Freya said, "We were also wondering where we can find work."
"My servant, Merlin can help you with that," Arthur replied. At the sound of his name, Merlin looked up at the girls. Shock plastered his face when his eyes landed on Freya.
"Freya?" he asked quietly.
"What?" said Freya, confused, "How do you know my name?"
"How are you alive?" Merlin asked.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"Merlin, leave the girl alone! She's obviously in trouble and you're making it worse!" said Arthur.
"Maybe they should tell us their names," Lancelot said.
"That's a good thought. After all, how can we help if we don't know their names?" said Leon.
"Yes, tell us your names," Arthur said, "Your full names."
"I'm Catherine Marie Chervil," said Catherine.
"My name is Abigail Clara Murray," said Abby, "But just call me Abby." She hated her full name.
"I'm Freya Afallon Llyn," Freya said.
Merlin looked at her calculatingly.
"Well, we should be heading back to Camelot," said Arthur, "I will make sure that Merlin, here, gets you three some work."
"Thank you," said Abby, eyes glazed as she looked at Lancelot.
They all arrived in Camelot a couple of hours later. The rest of the knights went back to training and Arthur went to his chambers to do what princes do on regular days.
"Well," said Merlin, "I think there are a few spots left to deliver food to the nobles. Let me show you to the kitchens."
"Maria! Take this to the Lady Ruane! Patricia! The King needs his dinner now!" a woman's voice echoed through the kitchens, and the servants hurried about, carrying various dishes.
"Ann, I've got three girls here looking for work," Merlin shouted in a general direction.
"Merlin! Good to see you!," a young woman came round the corner. She had long golden blonde hair and deep blue eyes. She was young for her station, which was head cook. In her right hand was a wooden spoon that looked ready to hit lazy servants that were too slow.
"Hi! Me and Arthur found them in the woods heading here. He told me to find some work for them,' said Merlin.
"I think we have some space for them," said Ann, "But they might want to change into different clothes. They will be running about the castle and dresses like that aren't fit for such work."
"I'll see to that," Merlin grinned, "I'll leave them with you for a while to get acquainted." He went off back to Gaius's to see where he can get some new clothes. He liked the girls, and on the ride to Camelot he had managed to get to know the girls and he thought they were funny and entertaining. Except, he was still shy around Freya and wanted to know why she looked almost exactly like his old love. Gods, she even had the same name as Freya.
"What are your names?" she asked, "After all, how can I yell and shout and boss you around if I don't know your names?" she joked.
The three girls found themselves grinning back, even though this was the second time today they had been asked for their names.
"I'm Freya," said Freya and then she gestured to her friends, "and this is Catherine and Abby."
"Nice to meet you," said Ann, "You probably know who I am because Merlin just shouted it to the world."
"How do you know Merlin?" Abby asked curiously.
"We're both servants here, and he always comes down here to get food for the Prince. Naturally, you start talking."
"So, our main job will be to carry food to the nobles when the man or maidservants can't?" Catherine asked just to clarify.
"Yep," said Ann, "and as Merlin seems to be taking his time, I can spare a few minutes to show you around the castle so you can get started."
She only stopped to shout behind her, "Bridget! You're in charge!"
And so that was how a friendship started between Ann and the girls. She helped them around the castle and told them how to act in the presence of different nobles. So if you were serving the King, you would do a deep bow, but if it was a lady of one of the knights, a simple bob of the head would suffice.
They all arrived in the kitchen again, giggling at some tale Ann had told about an instance when she was 15. Merlin was in there waiting, with three servant dresses.
"Where have you been?" Merlin asked, "I've been waiting here for an hour!"
"Hey! Don't you talk to me in that tone!" Ann raised the wooden spoon she was still holding threateningly.
Merlin was immediately cowed and dropped the subject.
"Anyway, I've got you some suitable clothing wear," he said.
"Where did you get them from?" Abby asked, and she briefly wondered if Merlin did dress up in woman's clothes. She smiled wryly at what that would do to Catherine's dreams of being together with him.
"My friend, Gwen, allowed me to give them to you," he said quickly, having a faint idea of where Abby's train of thought was going.
"We shall have to thank her soon. Would you tell her to meet with us tomorrow?" Freya said.
"Uh, yes, I will see what I can do," Merlin mumbled, not being able to look her in the eye or speak to her properly. Freya frowned. She liked Merlin and wanted desperately to get to know the warlock better.
"Ok," Freya was determined to keep a sunny disposition and maybe get the Merlin to open up. But, he just nodded.
Ann showed them to another room to get changed and then gave them a bag to put their old dresses in.
"Freya, take this to the Prince, will you?" Ann asked, "Merlin is helping Gaius at the moment and I'm sure the Prince is getting hungry."
"Of course," Freya said. She took the plate of food, and then set off, trying to remember where Arthur's chambers were.
"It would've been nice if they showed you around the castle a bit more," Freya muttered to herself, referring to the show.
However, she found her way to her destination soon enough, and, forgetting to knock, she burst into the room.
"Oh! Sorry!" Freya said, accidentally walking into an Arthur/Gwen scene. The couple broke apart, blushing profusely.
"Aww, you two are adorable!" she said, putting the food down on the table, and moving closer to them. "I mean, seriously, I'm not into mushy lovey-dovey stuff, but you two just make me wanna cry! Forbidden love… so romantic!"
Arthur and Gwen just looked at her like she was mad, which in their minds she was.
"Umm, did you want something?" Arthur asked, trying to break the awkward silence.
"Huh? Oh, right, yeah, here's your food," Freya said, gesturing to the plate, "Gwen, right?" she looked at the woman.
"Yes," Gwen said, confused, "How do you know my name?"
"Oh," Freya realized her mistake, "Well, Merlin got this dress from you, and he described you to me," she lied quickly.
"Oh, well your welcome," Gwen said, "I'd best be going. Goodbye," she smiled at Freya and then curtsied to Arthur.
Freya just stood there, humming and rocking on her heels with her hands behind her back.
"Anything else?" asked Arthur.
"Nope!" Freya said cheerfully.
"Erm, you won't say anything about…" he trailed off.
"Of course not," she was suddenly gushing, "Why would I, anyway? It's just so cute! I mean, it's obvious you love each other, and-"
"Yeah, how do you know this?" Arthur was concerned. How did this girl know all of this? She was just as bad as Merlin, with no respect for royalty.
"Intuition?" Freya replied unsurely.
"Right." Arthur said, disbelievingly, "You can go now."
Freya smiled and walked out the door, leaving Arthur staring after her. He was astonished. He had saved her from the dangers of the woods and then gives him absolutely no more than a 'Thanks'. She should've curtsied or at least bowed her head. But he just shook his head. Arthur was getting used to insolence thanks to Merlin and Gwaine.
Meanwhile, back at the barn (hehe, couldn't help myself) Freya was humming something that sounded suspiciously like, 'we're going on that great big rollercoaster in the sky…'
She bumped into Catherine on the way who was also carrying a tray of food.
"Do you know where Lady Fitzpatrick is? I forgot," She said desperately.
"Uhh, try down there. If not, then I suggest knocking on somebody's door, because I have got no clue," Freya said.
"You're loads of help, Freya," Catherine said sarcastically. Freya just rolled her eyes and walked back towards to kitchens.
The day went on rather uneventfully. When it ended, the girls all met in the kitchen and stood there awkwardly, while all the other servants went home. They realized soon after, that here, they had no place to call home.
"Hey! How was your first day?" Ann strode up to them.
"Good, I guess," Abby said.
"Do you have anywhere to stay?" she asked them.
"Nope," Freya said, popping the 'p'.
"We have an extra room here in the servants quarters, if you want?" she offered.
"Really?" Catherine said, perking up, "That's wonderful! Just think, a nice, cosy, bed!"
"You're in for a shock if you're calling the bed nice and cosy," Ann chuckled.
She showed them to a small room where there was three small beds, that looked hard, and not at all nice, and one lone wardrobe that didn't look that stable. However, it did have a small dresser with a mirror that must've been an old one when one of the nobles decided to get a new one.
"Thank you," said Abby, "We would've been homeless tonight."
"My pleasure, girls," said Ann. Just, then Freya's stomach rumbled.
They all looked at her, "Yeah, I might be a bit hungry," she said.
"I can cook something up for us," Ann said, "I'm feeling a bit hungry myself."
Soon enough, she had some ham sandwiches ready for them.
"We're not really supposed to use kitchen supplies for ourselves, but they wouldn't miss a bit of bread and meat, would they?" Ann grinned maliciously and took a big bite out of her sandwich.
"Hello?" A head poked round the door, and a second later, two men entered.
"We were wondering how you ladies were settling in," Gwaine said.
"Merlin said you were fine, but we wanted to see for ourselves," said Lancelot.
"We're fine, thanks," said Abby, blushing.
"Yeah," Freya said, looking at Gwaine.
"Maybe you would like to come for a walk with me sometime," Gwaine said to Freya, trying, as always, to charm a girl.
"Maybe," she said, smirking.
"Well, we see you are settling in quite well," said Lancelot, "We must go. Goodnight."
Gwaine nodded at them, mostly Freya and then set off with Lancelot.
"Playing hard to get, Freya?" Abby asked teasingly.
"Well it wouldn't hurt. It might hurry things along," she said, still staring at the door.
"You have a thing for Sir Gwaine?" Ann asked.
"Yes, she does. And it's a big 'thing' too." Said Abby.
"More like an obsession," Catherine piped in.
"Oh, please, I'm not that bad," said Freya, and she went to their room, getting away before they could take her dignity.
