Chapter 10: I do not own Merlin, sadly. Italics Latin normal English Spanish is Spanish(duh!) Read on! Review, if you like it. Or hate it. I can take the criticism ;)
The following morning saw Cassie wake with renewed spirit. She knew that Uther was still suspicious, but he allowed her to stay on, to learn English and become Gaius' apprentice! So there she was, lying in bed, waitin for the sun to crest over the horizon and the nightingales to finish their song. She would wait before rising and making breakfast for Gaius and herself, 'el hombre no es tan joven como lo era,' she reasoned, 'mejor dejarlo dormir, lo necesita bastante.' So she found herself watching the horizon and thinking about her future here in Camelot. "Tal vez tenga razón Morgana, ¿sera que me quede para algo mas-alguien mas? ( roughly translated says maybe Morgana was right, perhaps I did stay on for more than just the city. Maybe for one person.)… But she quickly shook herself out of those thoughts; 'No! I cannot think of that. Even if it did go somewhere, there's no way I could be with him' she thought brooding.
Cassie got up and stretched her arms out, then made her way to the window in the small room off the physician's chambers. She opened the window to the singing of birds and the stillness of pre-dawn. There were a few villagers wandering about, starting the day and going off to work, and guards patrolling nearer the citadel in the Camelot red. She just stood there, leaning against the window and thinking about how quickly this place was becoming home, much to her surprise. The sky was slowly painting with the orange of the sun, the blackness of night still clearly seen. '¿Cómo se verá el amanecer desde el parapeto? ¡Debe ser maravilloso! Quisiera poder ver tanto el amanecer como el anochecer todos los días por el resto de mi vida desde estas grandes alturas.' Cassie whispered wistfully, holding on to her necklace. She's been doing that too often, ever since she left Hispania she just couldn't finish the day without holding onto it at least twice. She stayed there until the horizon gleamed and was painted with pink and purple and orange. When she saw those first peeks of orange tint the sky, she wordlessly moved from the window and began to wash up at the small bucket of water in the corner of the room. She donned the same dress she had on the days before- 'definitivamente necesito otro vestido, este ya toca lavarlo. Tal vez le pido uno a Gwen mas tarde y veo como le pago-' she thought as she started to prepare breakfast for Gaius and herself.
"Good morning, Gaius. How did you sleep?"
"Very well, thank you my dear." Gaius responded. "You know you needn't make breakfast every day, right? Especially when you're supposed to be resting your leg" he said, the infamous eyebrow raised.
"Yes, Gaius" Cassie said with a roll of her eyes. "I should be getting to Gwen's, I need to ask if she can lend me a dress while I wash this one. Do you need anything from the town, since I'm going there anyways?"
"No, thank you Cassie. Try to practice your English today, practicing is how you learn, after all. Remember that the King said you cannot go anywhere in the citadel without a guard or knight at all times." Gaius admonished.
"Yes, Gaius." she sighed.
"Have a nice day, dear."
"Bye, Gaius." Cassie said with a big smile.
Cassie started down the hallway, intent on having a good day when she felt someone following her. She turned around quickly, a wary eye and defensive stance about her.
"Woah! You've got sharp instincts! I'm Sir Bruin, Prince Arthur told me to..erm...show you around this morning."
"It is nice to meet you, Sir Bruin. My name is Casiopea, Cassie." Cassie said slowly, trying to remember the words, with a quick curtsy and a friendly smile.
"Where are you off to?" Sir Bruin asked, with a friendly smile of his own.
"Erm, to Lady Morgana's chambers, Gwen...invited me...over...yesterday. To...tour...the grounds. And to conocernos mejor-como se dice. Get to know each other better! That's what to say!" Cassie grinned triumphantly at remembering the words.
"Okay. Shall I lead the way, or follow you?" he asked with a chuckle.
"After you, I don't know where to go." Cassie said, gesturing with her arm.
And so they went down corridors, through doorways and around corners making small talk-or as much as there could be with the language barrier-until they arrived at the Lady's chambers. Once there, Sir Bruin backed off while Cassie knocked on the door. Gwen opened with a broad smile to Cassie and a curtsy toward the knight.
"Good morning! How are you Cassie? And you, Sir Bruin? How's the little one, growing fast, I imagine." Gwen greeted brightly.
"Yes, she's gotten so big, thank you Guinevere. I'll be accompanying the Lady and yourselves the excursion today."
"Arthur's got you on chaperone duty? Must have got on his bad side recently, he knows you prefer training squires" Morgana greeted cheekily.
"My Lady." Sir Bruin bowed in greeting.
"Just a moment, I have to finish getting ready. You are both welcome to wait through there." Morgana told them.
"Thank you, my lady." Bruin nodded and entered behind Cassie.
"I just need to finish my hair and makeup, then we'll be off! Gwen, get Cassie the cloak, it's going to be freezing today. I noticed you didn't have a cloak, Cassie. So I'm giving you one of my old winter cloaks. I hardly use it anymore, it's not my color, I prefer green or red, but that purple would look amazing with your hair!"
"Morgana! I-I don't know how to thank you. This cloak is beautiful." Cassie said to her, gratitude plain in her eyes. She ran her hands over the fine material, recognizing it instantly as rich velvet. "Morgana, I can't accept this, it's too much! This is velvet. Velvet comes from the far east, it must have cost a fortune to make! Even more to ship. Morgana it's too much!" Cassie said with surprise at the generosity of the gift
"Nonsense! I have another just like it. Only the best for the King's ward and all. Besides as a Court physician's apprentice you need something fancy to wear when traveling and all."
"Gaius doesn't have anything fancy, and sadly, i have nothing to wear with this beautiful cloak." she said sadly.
"I can help with that," Gwen said as she presented a beautiful satin blue dress with gold trimming along the waist and princess neckline and sheer lilac sleeves.
When she saw this, Cassie gasped, tears forming in her eyes. She was so dumbfounded as to why they would give her such gifts that she kept tripping over her words.
"I-I-...why would… are.." Cassie stammered. "Thank you, both of you. So much. I don't know what to say just…" she trailed off, before she jumped up and hobbled over to give them bear hugs. "I will cherish this forever, I won't forget it!"
"Morgana and I remembered what you said about wishing for a dress like Morgana's, and we wanted to welcome you to Camelot, so Morgana wanted to give you this one, and I made the adjustments. It might not fit perfectly, I just guessed at the measurements-" Gwen rambled.
"It's perfect! Thank you so much!" Cassie cried gleefully. "Let me do your hair, as a thank you, or at least a start to thank you! And I'll cook you and your father dinner tonight, Gwen! Just, thank you, thank you, thank you!" She squealed with a quick kiss on both their cheeks.
"You can leave it here while we walk around the grounds. Come on let's see how well you do my hair. Might have to fight Gaius over you." Morgana said teasingly. And so Cassie gleefully went about doing Morgana's hair chatting idly with both Gwen and Morgana, and occasionally Sir Bruin. She told stories of her sisters and how she loved to mess with them. She ended up braiding Morgana's hair in a half-up French braid that wrapped around the crown of her head and twisted into a rose bun, with her hair falling down her back in lovely curls.
"Wow! This is beautiful, where did you learn to do it? And can you teach me how?" Gwen asked
"Yes, of course I can teach you, but it took me years of practice on myself before I tried it on the princesses. I saw it from a visiting royal and begged her handmaiden to teach me how to."
"You have a real talent for this. If working as Gaius' apprentice doesn't work, then you can work as my personal hairdresser. Come, let's head out." Morgana joked, her arm held out.
"Jajaja! I believe my magic fingers are better suited for being a physician than for styling hair! What with helping everyone with my talents." Cassie laughed as she took the proffered arm.
"Don't mention magic here. It's outlawed and the King only hears the word and all reason goes out the window. He hates it, and it's punishable by death." Morgana warned her. "But, you're right on the count of having magic fingers!"
"True. So where to first; the market, the gardens, the training fields?" Gwen asked with a twinkle in her eyes. Both missing the way Cassie paled at hearing the punishment for magic, her hand going to her neck, making sure her necklace was still there.
"I vote on training fields, I heard Sir Owain's supposed to be there, training the squires. Is it true Sir Bruin? Is Sir Owain training the squires today?" Morgana teased.
"Which is farthest from the training fields?" Cassie asked rather quickly.
"Yes, he leads the training sessions while Gaius has him off training. Why?" Bruin asked curiously.
"Oh, our little Cassie here has a crush on a certain knight, and this knight likes her back, we think." Gwen said with a puckish grin.
"Oh. Yes, he hasn't stopped talking of her since we brought her here. I think he likes her too. Easy to see why, she's quite a girl." Sir Bruin agreed, not letting the girls have all the fun teasing.
"Hello...Still here, I can understand some of what you say. Not a painting" Cassie said sing-songy, blushing as deep as the red of a rose. "Es más,prefiero ir a los- sorry, I want to see the gardens, please. The ones in Reccopolis were my favorite place to be besides the battlement of the castle." Cassie said with an exasperated look, partially from the teasing, and partly from not being able to speak in only one language for longer than an hour.
"Gardens it is, training grounds are on the way there anyway. You'll get to see your favorite knight today after all." Gwen said chuckling.
"You'll tell me about this trick you played on Arthur years ago?" Cassie asked eagerly.
"This the hair thing you two pulled when you were eleven? Or the skin thing?"
"There's two?!" Cassie exclaimed.
"You knew?!" Gwen asked simultaneously.
"We all knew, except maybe Prince Arthur. It really was one for the books." Sir Bruin answered with mirthful eyes.
"Hey, I need to know. And maybe I'll share some of my pranks…" Cassie dangled the bait, that all three of them took.
"Pranks? Forgive me, but you don't seem like the pranking type." Sir Bruin told her seriously.
"Don't I?" Cassie asked with a devilish grin. "Answers for answers. Quid pro quo."
"If she's always like this, good luck to Camelot." Sir Bruin concluded. Cassie just stuck her tongue out at him playfully.
'Camino tan largo para llegar a los jardines, no habrá un atajo?' Cassie thought suspiciously.
"So, where you're from, how cute were the guys? Any knights there?" Morgana asked teasingly as they neared the training grounds.
"There was no knightdom, just soldiers. We've five duchies throughout Hispania, some of them have counts and barons to manage the lands, but most just owned the land and had farmers living and working them. My grandfather was a-well it doesn't matter about him. There were no knights. And the guys were cute. Not nearly as easy on the eyes as the knights here, but VERY cute, nonetheless." Cassie said with playful eyes and waggling eyebrows.
"Aha! She admitted, she likes the guys here! Now to get her to admit she likes Owaine!" Gwen declared conspiratorially.
"I'm not blind! Now, let's talk pranks!" Cassie said with a mischievous wink.