Assuring Morgana that Rose wouldn't run away from her in the halls was one thing, but going through with that agreement was another. It simply wasn't in Rose's nature to be that... friendly in the halls with somebody such as Morgana. It felt unnatural, and completely anxiety-inducing to say the least. She wasn't a particularly unfriendly person or anything like that, she was just terrified that she was going to make a complete buffoon of herself again.

The first time that she saw Morgana in the corridors of the castle, she had to remind herself over and over again not to walk away. She had been fetching fresh sheets for Lady Percival, and when she glanced upward, there she was, practically gliding towards her like some sort of beautiful phantom. Rose had actually spun on her heel as a matter of instinct before she reminded herself, You're supposed to be natural about this, okay?! Don't act weird. Just act as normal as possible. So she had reluctantly turned back around, forcing her feet to move her forward and fighting the urge to duck her head.

As she passed the King's ward, she could've sworn that she saw an amused smirk on the woman's face, but Rose had elected to act like she hadn't seen her, so she could've been mistaken. The second time she saw Morgana in the halls that day, the dark-haired lady was accompanied by her maidservant- Gwen, Rose recalled her name was. When she spotted her fellow maid, Gwen smiled widely and greeted, "Good morning, Rose."

Rose shot her a quick smile and dipped her head, replying, "Good morning, Gwen..." She glanced at the other woman and nodded again, keeping her voice steady as she added, "Morgana." Very natural-sounding, good job. Mission accomplished. Both smiled in response, and Rose even dared to hold Morgana's gaze for a moment before she had to look away. Getting ahead of yourself, Rose. Keep your head in the game.

The next week or so went very similarly. When they passed in the halls, they'd exchange polite nods or 'good morning's. She'd even managed to make a new friend out of Morgana's maidservant Gwen- she was a very sweet girl, and Rose found that they grew close quickly. The fact that the woman was the maidservant of Morgana was an added bonus, Rose soon realized.

It wasn't as if the King's ward was their main topic of conversation, but she definitely came up fairly often as Gwen spoke about how her day had been going. The curly-haired girl would unintentionally reveal little tidbits about Morgana that Rose savored- despite her strong feelings for the lady of the court, she had to admit that she didn't know very much about the woman. For instance, she knew that Morgana was kind and teasing, but how was Rose supposed to know what her favorite color was?

That morning was a prime example of her and Gwen's revealing conversations, as they washed their lady's clothing side-by-side. Rose had mentioned that she was exhausted due to having been made to stay late by Lady Percival, and Gwen had echoed that she was quite tired as well.

"I often stay late, after Lady Morgana has fallen asleep," Gwen explained as she scrubbed at an emerald dress. "The poor thing has terrible nightmares almost every night, and I comfort her when I can. The court physician, Gaius, prescribes her sleeping draughts, but they don't seem to work very well. She doesn't often tell me what her nightmares are about, but I can tell they're horrible. I can't even imagine."

Rose could certainly imagine. When she had first come to Camelot, her homesickness had manifested itself in her dreams. Paired with the stress she was experiencing due to her new job, it was a deadly combination. It was many a night that she woke up, terrified and drenched in sweat. Although she was still a little bit homesick, she loved living in Camelot, and the stress had mostly dissipated as she got at least partially used to Lady Percival and her behavior. Rose couldn't even remember the last time she had had a nightmare. But, from what Gwen had said, it seemed like whatever Morgana was going through was a lot more than simple stress.

The next couple of days, Rose wracked her brain for some kind of way to cheer Morgana up. She wished there was some kind of way for her to stop the nightmares completely, but she couldn't just wish them away. So, if that was impossible, she just had to find a way to comfort her. Someone who definitely wasn't Rose might go up to said person and talk to them, comfort them in person, but that was out of the question for her. It would end in disaster, she just knew it. So she needed to find something to do, or maybe something to give to Morgana... But what, though?

The answer to Rose's inner dilemma came soon enough in the form of another conversation with Gwen. Rose had been lost in her thoughts, only being pulled from them when something Gwen said caught her attention.

"-flowers outside the castle. There was a huge clump of them. They're so beautiful- Morgana's favorites, actually. I should collect some for her soon, the ones she has currently are dying. Well, anyway-"

"Where are they?" Rose interrupted abruptly. At Gwen's surprised look, Rose's cheeks turned slightly red. "Sorry," she apologized, a bit embarrassed. "The flowers. I was thinking I'd bring some to Lady Percival, I'm sure she'd love them." This was a blatant lie- Rose had no intention to bring them to Lady Percival, but she didn't want to admit that she was going to get flowers for Morgana herself. That wasn't her job, and they weren't even really friends, so Gwen was bound to ask questions. Questions that Rose didn't particularly want to answer.

Gwen smiled softly, and replied, "Yes, I'm sure she'd love them. They're right outside the front gate, to the left of it. You can't miss them, they're a light purple color."

"Thanks, I'll have to go and pick some later."

Xxx

A few hours passed, and Rose finally had a long enough break that she could go find and pick the flowers. Just as Gwen had assured, she spotted them right away. Once she had gathered all of the flowers her hands could hold, she retreated back into the castle to find a suitable vase. Once she had "borrowed" one from Lady Percival's chambers, filled it with water, and placed the flowers within, she set out on the more treacherous part of her plan.

Since she had come to the decision that she couldn't ask Gwen to give them to Morgana, and Rose obviously couldn't hand them to Morgana in person, the only option was to sneak into the Lady Morgana's chambers and place them in there. As she ran over her plan in her head, Rose couldn't help but realize how pathetic she was. You're such a coward, you can't even hand flowers to someone? That's actually quite sad. I pity you. Myself? I pity myself. Yes, perhaps she was a coward, but it would just be simpler this way. Less hassle, and less crippling anxiety on her part.

It was because of this that she found herself knocking hesitantly on Morgana's chamber door. She counted to ten before entering. Rose had figured that no one would be there at this time of day- it was a little past midday, and she had highly doubted that Morgana spent her whole day in her chambers. She also knew that Gwen wouldn't be there because the servant was always cleaning clothes at this time, it was her daily routine. Despite the fact that she knew all of this, Rose was still antsy as she stepped over the threshold and shut the door behind her.

Looking around for the best spot to place the vase of flowers, Rose finally spotted a small table next to Morgana's bed. Smiling a bit to herself, she walked over and carefully set the vase down in the middle, pushing and prodding to make sure it was in the exact center.

"What're you doing in here?"

Rose practically jumped out of her skin at the sound of the curious voice, nearly sending the vase crashing to the floor. She managed to save it just in time, and looked up to smile weakly at Gwen, who had emerged from one of the connecting rooms. "Oh, uh- hi, Gwen." Rose laughed nervously, tucking a strand of her light hair behind an ear. "How's it, um- I thought you were supposed to be- this isn't what it looks like," Rose stammered, turning bright red.

Gwen raised her eyebrows, a small smile appearing on her face. She nodded to the flowers, teasing, "You weren't bringing flowers for the Lady Morgana?"

Rose turned to stare at the flowers, and then looked back at Gwen, her eyes wide. "Oh, well, I mean- yeah, yeah, I was bringing flowers for her, obviously. But I mean- I was- um- I had originally picked them for Lady Percival, of course. But when I brought them to her..." Rose searched her mind for a second for a believable excuse. "She said she was allergic to them!" she blurted out. Gwen gave her a curious look, and Rose continued, "Yeah, she- she started sneezing like a mad person, and told me to take them away. I- I was just going to throw them out, but then I- I just so happened to remember, um, that they were Lady Morgana's favorites. Like you said, yeah? So I figured, um, might as well." She shrugged her shoulders as casually as she could, as if it wasn't a big deal.

Gwen laughed. "You couldn't have just asked me to bring them to her? Or given them to her yourself?"

"I didn't want to bother either of you," Rose replied gently, "I figured you had other, more important things to do, Lady Morgana as well." It was mostly the truth- close enough that it wasn't exactly a lie, anyway. "I didn't mean to intrude, I simply wanted to bring them in and then get back to Lady Percival as soon as possible." That statement, however, was completely truthful.

The curly-haired serving girl nodded understandingly. "Of course. Well, I'll make sure to let her know who brought them for her. I'm positive she'll love them. Thank you, Rose, you've been very kind."

Oh, great, this whole sneaky plan was for nothing! You might as well have given them to her yourself, Rose thought, a tad miserably. She parted her mouth slightly to ask Gwen not to tell Morgana who brought the flowers, but she soon realized that, once again, she was being needlessly silly. It was just a gesture of kindness, of friendship- nothing more. There was nothing to be worried about. "Thank you, Gwen," Rose replied, smiling at her friend. "I hope Lady Morgana enjoys them. I'll see you tomorrow?" Gwen nodded, and Rose bid her farewell before getting back to her duty.

It was the next morning that Rose saw Morgana again. It was in the corridors, and Rose had shot her a brief smile per usual, however instead of simply walking past each other, Morgana stopped her with a hand. Rose glanced up, confusion clear on her face as she spotted the warm smile on the raven-haired woman's face.

"I wanted to thank you for the flowers that you brought me, Rose. They are absolutely beautiful," Morgana said earnestly, her vivid green eyes searching Rose's hazel ones.

Rose met the slightly taller woman's gaze as best she could. Swallowing nervously, and her cheeks slightly flushed, she murmured, "I- I'm glad you liked them. Well, Gwen had said that they were your favorites, and that she had meant to pick some for you, but hadn't had the chance. It- it was her idea, really. She deserves the credit."

Morgana laughed lightly, shaking her head. "Don't sell yourself short, now. Gwen assured me that it was all your idea. It doesn't matter, anyway, I just wanted to say that I truly appreciate it." Rose had no doubt that she did. She could hear the conviction in the King's ward's voice, a quality that she greatly admired in the woman.

"Oh, um, yeah. No problem. Glad they made you, you know, happy. Not that they made you especially happy, of course... I'm sure you're happy enough as if," Rose said awkwardly, laughing uncomfortably. Act normal, woman! Don't lose your head. Wrap it up. Short and simple. "Soooo... Bye." Wow. Out of all the things you could have said. Rose quickly amended, "I mean, sorry, that was rude. Not bye. Well, I'm leaving. Or, I mean! Not leaving. I'm just- wrapping up the conver- I'm not trying to be- ugh." Rose settled on an apologetic laugh, hoping that Morgana understood what she was trying- and failing- to say. When she looked up, she was shocked at the almost- dare she say it- fond smile dancing on Morgana's lips. "Sorry," she mumbled, offering the woman small smile.

"Don't be," Morgana replied easily, a slightly mischievous look appearing on her face before she continued. "It's... cute. Have a good day, Rose." And then Morgana was gone, leaving Rose with her jaw swinging open as she traveled down the hallway with the people parting for her like she was some kind of goddess. Rose supposed she was. A gorgeous, fascinating, perfect goddess who had just called her cute.

As soon as she was sure that Morgana had gone, Rose pumped her fist into the air and whooped, ignoring all the strange looks she got.