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Chapter 11; Sunlight

The sun shone down on Camelot. High in the sky, signalling the middle of the day, the sunshine was smiled upon, and the populace felt rather blessed for the good weather rather than the bad wet rain they had been receiving lately. Villagers were making the most of their good fortune, the streets were busy and market stalls were open, children ran around playing various games and getting into all sorts of mischief. Women stood outside their houses, with large bowls of water and piles of dirty clothes and the sun to dry them off.

In amongst all these women stood two friends, a large tub of water between them and a string line carrying a few items of clothing that were drying. Like the other women surrounding them they stood with their sleeves pushed up behind their elbows and their hair tied up out of the way.

Gwen dunked the dress back into the water and once again scrubbed it with a small lump of soap. Once she had finished scrubbing it clean she passed the soap onto her washing companion; Rose. They chatted while they washed and did not seem to mind their hands turning more wrinkled as the time went by.

"I wonder whether she trusts Arthur. Sometimes she seems determined to insult him or undermine him"

"Perhaps she sees too much of Uther in him" Rose replied, hanging one of Merlin's shirts on the line.

"Maybe, but although she does not always agree with his choices, she cares deeply for him. He's the last connection she has to her parents. And Arthur is like a brother to her, and a best friend."

"I think that maybe sometimes the ones closest to us are the ones that hurt us the most. Maybe she feels overpowered by Arthur"

"No, he's a good man; he doesn't place her in his shadow"

Rose turned her head to look at her friend who was rigorously scrubbing a cotton dress, Gwen's eyes were focused on her work but there was a light blush that crept across her cheeks and Rose smiled.

"Gwen?" Rose said her friend's name encouragingly, urging her to speak.

Gwen looked up at Rose and her blush simply grew deeper.

"Flushed cheeks suit you Gwen" Rose teased "Perhaps we should mention Arthur more!"

"Rose!" Gwen exclaimed, clearly caught red-handed and extremely embarrassed.

"You like the prince of Camelot!" Rose retorted, giggling slightly. Gwen faked an irritated huff but her grin soon gave way and she began to join in with Rose's laughter. As the girls' laughter grew louder Gwen took a handful of water and splashed Rose with it, droplets of water got caught in the few stray curls that hung around Rose's face, and taking inspiration from Gwen she took a handful of water herself.

Before long the tub was half as full as it had been at the beginning and both girls were considerably wet. As Gwen dipped her hand in the tub for yet more water, Rose dropped the shirt she had been cleaning into the large bathtub and stepped off to her right, a little distance away.

"Gwen likes Arthur!" she sang to a childish melody. Gwen squealed and threw a handful of water at Rose.

"'I love Arthur!' " Rose mimicked, gathering her skirts in her hands and twirling around, she stepped further back from Gwen as more water was aimed her way.

"'I love him, I do!'"

"Rose!" Gwen said, using an urgent tone that Rose missed.

"'I love Arthur!'"

"Rose!"

"'I love ---"

Rose's speech was cut short as she fell into something, which happened to grab her upper arms from behind and hold her steady before she fell over. Gwen bit her lip to stop herself from laughing at the look on Rose's face. Slowly the hands steered Rose around. As she turned she looked up into the eyes of Arthur.

She turned her look of panic into a smile and looked at Arthur's face, his eyebrows raised, torn between a look of delight and confusion. Before he had a chance to utter a word, Rose began to form a sentence.

"Arthur, I was … just showing Gwen a … game that I saw a few children playing earlier!" her voice began to pick up pace as her story evolved. "Very sweet they looked, three girls, several boys. The one playing Arthur looked just like you actually"

"Really?"

"Hmm, yes. They were just down there" Rose said, breaking one of her arms free of Arthur's grip and pointing down the walkway.

"Funny, I didn't see any children when I just walked past"

"Ah well they did seem to be running off, in fact I think 'Arthur' was just off to slay a beast or something"

"Well maybe I should find them and keep them out of the beast's way"

Rose nodded "That might be a good idea"

Arthur grinned, and released Rose from his hold and strode off a few paces; he looked back over his shoulder at her.

"Which way did they go?" he called

Rose lifted up her hand and pointed her finger to the right, Arthur nodded, still smiling and set off.

Rose twirled round and glared momentarily at Gwen. Before long her scowl turned into a grin as she skipped over to the washing tub and dipped her hands into the water to retrieve the shirt she had dropped. Gwen let out the small laugh she had been containing and before long the sweet sound of the two girls laughter was ringing around the sunny streets of Camelot again.

Rose carefully balanced her load of washing in one hand as she pushed the door open with her other. Entering the room, she placed her other hand beneath her load of washing again and closed the door with her foot. She smiled at Gaius as he looked up from his work to see her enter. As she made her way over to the room she shared with Merlin, he cleared his throat.

"Rose, a parcel arrived for you this morning, it's on the table"

She looked from the kind, old man's face to the package wrapped with brown paper on the table they ate from. She walked over to it, frowning slightly, a small crease forming between her eyebrows. She gently placed the load of washing next to the mysterious package. She traced her finger over the writing on the parcel and a smile played on her lips. She gently untied the string binding the parcel together, the paper fell away and Rose gasped with what she saw. Gaius came round behind her and a look of shock spread across his face.

"It was outside this morning when I returned from my rounds." he explained as Rose lifted the gift from its wrapping.

The bow was made of the wood of a yew tree and was very well crafted. Beneath it in the package laid a dozen arrows, each tipped with pure white feathers.

The slammed shut and both Rose and Gaius turned around to see who had entered. Merlin marched up to the table and smiled grabbing a shirt.

"Thanks Rose. I needed one of these" he grinned at her bemused face and as if she needed explanation said "I've just been cleaning out Arthur's horse"

"Ah, so that is where the smell of manure arose from" Gaius joked.

Merlin's gaze finally settled on the gift that Rose held and he raised his eyebrows.

"Nice bow, where's that from?"

"I don't know" Rose answered honestly

Merlin pulled at the brown paper, the dozen arrows scattered, some falling to the floor others rolling along the table.

"It just says 'Rose' " he observed

She nodded "I don't recognise the writing"

"Maybe that's the point" Gaius suggested

She inwardly cursed as she trod on a twig, snapping it in half and making a noise. As quietly as possible she moved along, now looking out for any fallen branches. The sun began to shine more brightly and it trickled through the branches of the forest, lighting it up, a small breeze whistled through the tress and a few leaves tumbled down in front of her path. Hearing hooves, she dived behind the nearest tree, hidden from the view of the path.

She had been moving silently all morning; when she had woken up early she had gently padded out of her room and grabbed the new weapon, and made sure that she closed the door behind her as she left. The castle doors had been open and she hadn't thought anything of it as she had ran out, heading for the forest.

Now she loaded her bow with an arrow and swung out from behind the tree and shot at the rider on his horse.

He had moved just in time, his horse jolting, having sensed the danger and his head spun around to look for the attacker. Instinctively his hand fell to his sword and he withdrew it squinting into the trees. He ordered his horse forward, steering her to the left and up the small hill to the trees. He stopped when he caught sight of the archer.

"Rose?!"

She loosely clung onto the bow with her hand and looked half mad.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't realise it was you" she whispered

Arthur jumped down from his horse, which walked backwards towards the more stable path, and slotted his sword back in its place.

"Who did you think it was?"

"Someone else" her voice remained quiet, though Arthur did not know what this was due to. He lifted up his hand offering her some sort of escape. She accepted and he guided her down the little hill to the path and his waiting horse.

"Rose it's barely gone dawn, what on earth were you doing wandering around the forest with a bow this early in the morning?"

"Just looking…"

"I think I should take you back to Camelot, here you can ride with me."

He held out his hands and she slowly placed her foot in them and he pushed her up into the saddle, Arthur climbed up behind her and took the reins from in front of her.

"That's a nice bow" he observed "Where's it from?"

She swallowed, realising he was honestly asking her a question, and in that moment realised who had given her it.

"An old acquaintance" she murmured

"Looks well made, rather good shot too!"

Rose smirked and neither said anything till they neared Camelot. Upon their arrival at the mouth of the forest Rose gently placed her hand on Arthur's. He stopped the horse, as she had hoped.

"I think I ought to walk the rest of the way" she said sliding down from the saddle. Arthur sadly nodded.

"I can hear the village whispers now" he sighed, and for the first time that morning Rose smiled.

He squeezed his legs, urging the horse forward at a trot.

"Arthur!" Rose called and he turned around, stopping the horse "You never said what you were doing out her this early this morning"

"Hunting" came the reply and Arthur rode off, leaving a rather dishevelled Rose, holding a yew bow in one hand, stood between the great Castle of Camelot and the dark dense forest.

She turned her head to gaze into the forest, squinted a little and then jumped back ever so slightly. And, as if she had made her mind up, turned and walked towards the castle of Camelot.

After all these years they had seen each other once again.

And soon the waiting would be over.