"Arise, Sir Lancelot, Knight of Camelot." Uther's voice rang through the hall as his ceremonial sword touched the kneeling Lancelot's right then left shoulder. His face beamed with pride and he nodded slightly.
"Who is this man, Sir Lancelot?" Morgana asked quietly looking first at Jaya and then to Gwen. "He seems to have come out of nowhere."
"I know," Gwen echoed, "It's a bit of a surprise to all of us."
Jaya hummed in agreement but didn't offer any other comment.
"A very nice surprise if you ask me." Morgana mused, looking around the room to guage how the other young women in Uther's court were looking at the newest knight before focusing on him with a flirtatious smile.
"A definite improvement over the last one knighted." Jaya muttered, smiling brightly when Morgana and Gwen tittered and nodded in agreement.
"You do us a great honor, Sir Lancelot. The knighthood is the very foundation of Camelot." Uther continued, looking first at the man that was now standing in front of him and then to the rest of the room, including everyone in the point that he was making.
"The honor is all mine, Sire." Lancelot deferred.
"Your father would be very proud." Uther informed him in a voice that would only reach the new knight's ears.
"Yes, Sire." Lancelot nodded slightly.
"I have not see Lord Eldred for many years. Longer than I'd imagined, it seems. Last time I saw him, he only had four sons." Uther looked at him closely.
"Well...here I am." Lancelot fumbled with a small smile, mentally berating himself for not coming up with a better response.
"Indeed you are. I've kept you too long already. Go, enjoy the celebrations." Uther smiled warmly at him.
Jaya watched as knights swarmed around Lancelot, Arthur managing to be in the middle, flinging his arm around the other's neck and parading him out of the throne room to turn toward the Great Hall where a feast was already prepared. Her eyes slid back to Uther and a lady of the court that he turned to. A simple flutter of her eyelids to conceal the flash of silver and it was like she was standing next to Uther.
"...take this to Geoffrey of Monmouth the Court Genealogist." Uther instructed looking over toward where the last of the knights were exciting the room. "I want his opinion by morning."
The lady took the seal and curtsied as best she could with a roll of parchment in one hand. "As you wish My Lord." she turned and hurried away.
Uther nodded, his hands sweeping his cloak out of the way to rest on his hips. "Fifth son of Lord Eldrid." he muttered to himself.
Oh. Oh no. That was not good at all. Uther that something was up. Lancelot was in danger. Jaya could feel it in her bones.
"Shall we, then?" Morgana's voice, louder than usual asked, ringing through Jaya's head like a gong.
Jaya squinted slightly and winced, despite herself. She momentarily closed her eyes and discontinued the spell before she would nodded to agree with Morgana to walk toward the door.
Freya, up till that moment quietly standing behind Jaya looked over at her in muted concern. "What did you do?" she wondered quietly.
Jaya shook her head. "Nothing." she whispered back.
Freya looked at her and raised an eyebrow, completely unconvinced that she had been told the truth.
Jaya held back from the happily chatting Gwen, who was telling Morgana about the fight earlier that morning, her eyes bright with excitement over what she had seen. She looked over at Freya. "I'll be right back."
"What? Jaya, no!" Freya protested, watching helplessly as Jaya stepped off into a side hallway and disappeared with a quietly spoken word and a small whirlwind that had orange around the edges, matching the color of the dress that she was wearing. Freya sighed and shook her head. Sometimes she wasn't even sure why she bothered. After a moment of frustration she tossed her hands up in the air and wandered into the hall all by herself.
Jaya stumbled slightly when she whirlwinded into a small alcove not far from the library. She knew better than to walk into a transportation spell, but she still continued to do it when she was in a hurry. There was a little part of her that was glad that she hadn't accidentally stumbled out into the hallway, especially when the courtier that Uther had handed the parchment to walked back, completely unaware that Jaya had nearly stepped out in front of her. Jaya watched the woman walk by and rolled her eyes. She was wearing bright orange and had jewels on that she knew would flash brightly in the amount of light that was in the hallway. It was no wonder women died all the time. No observation skills. Jaya rolled her eyes and walked out to follow after her to find out how soon Geoffrey thought he would be done and be letting Uther know about the seal.
"Where's Jaya?" Morgana wondered, looking at the mousey Freya, who was standing just behind Gwen all by herself.
Freya looked up, a little startled, and blinked. "She'll be right back."
Morgana hummed in understanding and looked around the room for the first person she was going to talk to.
"The King requests you look this over and give him an answer before morning." The Lady that Uther had charged with the mission instructed without so much as a hello.
Jaya sidled around the dark shadows of a tall bookshelf and peeked around the corner to see Geoffrey look up from some large tome that he was reading in startled confusion.
"What is it?" Geoffrey asked, taking the proffered scroll with interest.
"I do not know. But the King expects an answer by morning." The lady shrugged, sounding like it was not her place to open the parchment and therefore it did not concern her.
"Tell the King that I will have a reply before midnight." Geoffrey responded, unrolling the parchment and looking at it with interest.
That was all Jaya needed to know. With a quickly whispered spell she was caught up in the whirlwind again and disappeared with a quiet flurry of dust.
Jaya whirled back into the small alcove that she had spirited herself away from, pondering a moment too late that it probably would have been wiser to not risk such obvious magic when so close to the Great Hall and Throne Room. But luck was on her side, and no one happened to walk by after she suddenly appeared and she was able to walk briskly into the hall, smiling and answering a chatty Lady of the court who happened to breeze through the other door at the same time.
Freya started slightly when a hand touched her elbow. "Jaya." she hissed, shooting her a venomous look. "You should know better."
Jaya smirked. "Sorry, Fey."
Freya shook her head slightly. "Go mingle like you're expected to now. Some people have already noticed that you're late."
Jaya's eyes flared in mock panic and she turned with a wink to start working her way through the room.
Freya sighed slightly and rolled her eyes. It amazed her what Jaya could get away with simply because she was so brash.
"Look at him, Gaius. Does Lancelot not deserve this moment?" Merlin wondered, elbowing Gaius lightly from where he stood just off to the physician's left.
Gaius looked away from watching Arthur and Lancelot both sit on the table top. A flagon in each of their hands. "I never said he didn't. But destiny and desserts are not the same thing. You played God, Merlin. You set him on a path of your choosing. Tonight you brought him triumph, but who knows what the future may hold." Gaius looked at his young ward sternly.
"Yeah, I don't know what it said on your invitation, but mine said celebration." Merlin retorted, not looking the least bit sorry for what he did, or that he really even heard what his guardian was saying.
Gaius' eyebrow shot up and he looked at Merlin like he wasn't sure what to do with him. Finally he chuckled and nodded. "Point taken. Don't come back too late."
Merlin nodded. "All right."
"Here's trouble." Arthur announced, as he noticed Jaya walk up to Morgana, their dresses, hair and makeup styles stunningly different. He nudged Lancelot, and indicated with his flagon toward the group of four girls. "Tell me, do you find her...beautiful?" he wondered, nodding in the general direction of Morgana.
Lancelot looked over and found Gwen who had just left the group comprised of a lady that he didn't recognize, Jaya, and what looked like a serving girl. Gwen came to a stop next to Merlin and smiled broadly at him. "Yes, Sire. I do." Lancelot nodded.
"Yes, I suppose you're right." Arthur mused. He pulled a face slightly when Morgana caught him looking at her and looked at him strangely. He looked over at Lancelot and then traced where he seemed to be looking, because he certainly wasn't looking in the direction that Morgana was walking. No. It couldn't be. He really wasn't, was he? There was that irritating little flare up of the emotion that he wasn't sure what it was. There was no way that it was jealousy. She was just a serving girl after all. Nothing more.
"I think our Lancelot has eyes for you, Gwen." Merlin mused, looking over at her playfully.
"Don't be silly." Gwen admonished.
Merlin looked at her, his face slightly hurt. "What? So what if he did? Would it really be so bad?" he wondered.
"Oh...I don't know." Gwen stalled looking around the room self consciously. "He's really not my type."
"Oh, well, there's a surprise." Merlin scoffed, looking at her funny. "Sometimes, Guinevere, I don't think you would know your 'type' if he was standing right next to you."
Gwen giggled slightly and looked at him wistfully while his attention was drawn elsewhere. "You're probably right."
Merlin looked at her and smiled. He reached over and snagged a goblet from the passing tray, carried by a haried looking serving girl. "Come on then." he started, taking a sip of the mulled wine that he was in possession of. "Just for the sake of argument, if you had to. Arthur or Lancelot?" he wondered, looking down at Gwen.
"But I don't have to and never will have to." Gwen protested.
"You're not any fun, Gwen." Merlin looked at her in protest.
"What she means is that she couldn't possibly decide." Jaya's thick accent, full of laughter and amusement pointed out just on the other side of Gwen.
Gwen looked at her in a panic and then back at Merlin, who was looking at her, waiting for her response. "Is that so, Gwen?" he wondered.
Gwen opened her mouth and then closed it again, looking at Jaya and then at Merlin. "I really don't think this is fair."
"Oh come on, Gwen. Have a little fun." Merlin protested.
"It's a silly game. It makes no sense." Gwen protested.
"You're no fun, Gwen." Merlin groused again.
"It's not like he's going to tell him, Gwen." Jaya pointed out.
Gwen whirled around and looked at Jaya in a panic. "What?"
"What?" Merlin looked over Gwen's head slightly to see Jaya.
Jaya shrugged and winked at Gwen, grinning like she knew something that Gwen didn't want told and that Merlin was suddenly dying to hear.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Arthur's voice cut across the hall interrupting conversations, "please join me in a toast to our new knight of Camelot, Sir Lancelot." he grinned at Lancelot and held his tankard out to first the room and then to Lancelot.
The great hall erupted in cheers and a few stray whistles and dozens of mugs were raised in disjointed union to the newest knight.
"So, what do you think of Jaya?" Arthur asked, sitting down on the table next to Lancelot again, his voice lower.
Lancelot took a sip of what was in his flagon and tilted his head slightly. "I don't follow, Sire?"
"I just want to know what you think of her." Arthur gestured with his mug. "I want to know if everyone else is just as confused by her as I am."
Lancelot chuckled and bobbed his head. "She is an interesting person, Sire. I'll give you that." He took a sip and looked over at Jaya, her hair sliding over her shoulder as she turned to look at the mousey girl that he hadn't met yet. "She seems like the kind of person that can talk to anyone, and is comfortable around them."
"You obviously haven't seen her around my father." Arthur mused, his voice tainted slightly by the rim of the tankered that was nearly between his lips.
Lancelot looked at him quizzically. "How so, Sire?"
"He means that his father and I see things a little differently, and that we really don't get along." Jaya's voice broke into the conversation. "He tolerates me because of who my father is, and...well...I guess I do the same." Jaya took a sip from the cup that had been handed to her at one point, and she wasn't sure when.
"Jaya." Arthur greeted.
"Arthur." Jaya returned in the same tone, her voice dropping a little to mimic him.
Lancelot looked back and forth between the two of them and smiled. He was starting to pull together an understanding of the relationship that the two of them had.
"Don't let his act fool ya, he actually really enjoys my company." Jaya mused, winking at Lancelot.
"I'm enjoying it less and less as time goes on." Arthur muttered, shooting her a miffed look.
Jaya just smirked and took another drink. "So how's it feel?" she wondered, looking pointedly at Lancelot.
"My Lady?" Lancelot wondered.
Jaya groaned slightly and then looked at him like she thought he was never going to call her by her name. "To be the center of attention?"
Lancelot smiled tightly and shrugged slightly. "I'm not sure what to do with it, Your Highness."
"Hardly anyone calls me that here. You don't need to. If you insist on calling me something of that sort, My Lady will do just fine." Jaya informed him, her finger pointed at him to impress her point a little more.
Lancelot inclined his head and nodded.
It was a few hours later that Jaya took her leave, telling the right number of people that she had a headache and Morgana that she would talk to her in the morning. It didn't take her nearly as long as she expected to get out of the great hall and to a dark corner where she could whirlwind herself away to the center of her room, startling the sleeping Ridire who blinked and jumped off her bed to greet her happily. Jaya petted his head and ruffled his ears affectionately and then quickly changed out of her rather noticeable bright orange dress and into the black trousers and loose flowing shirt that was still laid out from before she had changed to go to Lancelot's knighting ceremony. Freya, gods bless her wonderful soul, always seemed to know when to put things away and when to leave them out for later.
"Where are you going?" Freya wondered, her voice low as she pushed the last little bit of the door shut quietly.
Jaya looked at her, pausing in the middle of tying on of the buckles on her bracer, and then turned back to buckling it. "I need to know what's going on. Uther sent Lancelot's seal down to Geoffrey-"
"Who?" Freya asked, walking around the table and shooing Jaya's hands away from the other buckle to take over quietly buckling it herself.
"Geoffrey of Monmouth. He's the Court Genealogist. Also in charge of the library, and a little too quick to let one know that he can go talk to the king whenever he likes." Jaya responded, watching Freya pick up her other bracer and start tying it on as well.
"I see. And why does that mean that you have to go traipsing about after you've told everyone that you have a headache and are turning in for the night?" Freya asked, looking up at her quickly between buckles.
"Remember what I told you, Fey?" Jaya asked quietly, adjusting the chain of her wolf pendant to make sure that it wouldn't get stuck on her hair. "Merlin was up to something, and I'm not sure anything but bad is going to come from it."
"And that makes it your responsibility to sneak around?" Freya asked quietly, folding her arms around herself and stepping back so that she could look at Jaya.
"I'm just looking out for him, Lass. It's what I'm supposed to do. Even a little advanced warning is better than none at all. You know that. Besides, we can't have him killed, now can we? Who else would you pine over?"
Freya's cheeks flamed up and she viciously smacked Jaya's arm. "Stop that."
"Do you know where he is?" Jaya wondered.
"Who?" Freya asked, looking at her in confusion.
"Who?" Jaya mimicked sarcastically. "Listen to you. Merlin, Fey."
"How should I know where he is?"
"Because you notice things." Jaya shrugged.
Freya looked like she was torn between being angry at Jaya for pointing things like that out, wishing the floor would swallow her whole and giddy to share what she knew about Merlin's whereabouts. After a moment of holding out beneath Jaya's teasing gaze, Freya sighed slightly. "When I left the Great Hall he was standing near Arthur and Lancelot."
Jaya smiled and patted her shoulder. "That's a good Lass."
Freya's cheeks burned and she shook her head. "Please, please, please be careful." she looked up at Jaya again, braving the smirk that she was surprised to not see.
After a moment, Jaya smirked. "Don't worry, Lass. I'll be careful. I almost always am." She winked and disappeared with a flash of silver from her eyes and a small whirlwind.
"Stop doing that." Freya complained to the large room.
