"What?"
"The girl. The one that was watching Merlin in the throne room. She called herself Cara."
Freya took a deep breath and sighed through her nose. "You used magic."
"I had to. I was going to be late otherwise. And I wasn't going to run that whole way. That would have drawn some attention." Jaya shrugged.
"Jaya-"
"She has magic, Fey."
"What?!"
"And not the good kind either. I don't know what she's up to, but it's certainly not something good." Jaya turned at looked at her pointedly.
"Does she know that you-"
Jaya placed her hands on both of Freya's shoulders. "Freya, Lass. Stop worrying. I was very, very careful. If she knows that I was following her she decided that she didn't mind. I know that you're nervous. But please, Fey. Trust me a little."
Freya sighed and took a moment to collect herself. "I know that you're careful. I just worry that you're going to get yourself caught. What would I do?"
"Pack some things up and wait for me where we arranged. I'll take care of the rest." Jaya pulled Freya into her arms and hugged her tightly. "You can relax, Fey. I know you're afraid of Uther. But nothing will happen."
Freya wrapped her arms around Jaya's waist tightly and nodded. "Let's get you ready for lunch with Arthur. You know how he is when he gets hungry and you're late."
Jaya allowed Freya to break away from her and smirked. "It's almost worth being late for."
"Come." Arthur's voice came through the door.
Jaya pushed through it, happy to be back into her brown pants, tall, tan, leather boots and a billowing blue shirt that hid everything that she didn't want known. "Hello, Boys."
Arthur turned and smiled at her. "Ah! Jaya. Thank you for coming."
"You promised food. Where else would I be?" Jaya asked, shrugging.
There was a soft thump on the table just behind where Jaya had just seated herself on the edge.
The Royals turned and looked at Merlin in time to see him cover the bottom of his face and reel back a couple of feet.
"When's the last time these were cleaned?" he demanded, looking at Arthur accusingly.
"Last year sometime. Before the feast of Beltane." Arthur shrugged like he didn't know and wasn't bothered that the information eluded him.
"Did it end in a food fight?" Merlin asked, looking askance at him.
"Don't all feasts?" Arthur asked.
Merlin looked back and forth at the two of them.
"I haven't been to a good one that hasn't." Jaya agreed.
"I wouldn't know. The airs and graces of the court are a mystery to me." Merlin snapped.
"That doesn't stop me from having a good time." Jaya grinned at him.
"Not after tonight they won't be," Arthur smirked at Merlin, his voice full of the chuckle that he was trying to hold back after Jaya's last comment.
"I'm going to the banquet?" Merlin perked up slightly.
"Not quite. You'll be there to make sure that my cup doesn't run dry. If Jaya and I have to sit through Bayard's boring speeches, I don't see why you should get out of it. Be sure to polish the buttons." Arthur folded his arms.
Jaya looked at the buttons on the dark red coat. "Maybe if they're shiny enough you can blind him with one of them." She muttered.
Arthur looked at her, his eyebrows raised for a moment and then turned his attention to Merlin again. "Would you like to see what you'll be wearing tonight?"
Merlin looked down at what he was wearing, confused. "Won't this do?"
"No. Tonight you'll be wearing the official ceremonial robes of the servants of Camelot." Arthur reached down beneath the table and picked them up to show the other two in the room.
Merlin stared at them agast and flinched slightly when Jaya squeaked with amusement. "You can't be serious."
Arthur looked at Jaya, who was starting to turn red slightly from the effort of trying to not laugh and then back at Merlin. "Oh I am. Very serious. And don't forget the hat." Arthur tossed it toward Merlin.
Merlin fumbled and barely caught it in time.
"Off you go then. There's not a lot of time between now and the feast. And we both have to get dressed for it this time." Arthur shooed him off.
"And we both know how long it takes for you to get dressed." Merlin muttered under his breath.
"What?" Arthur asked.
"What?" Merlin looked at him in confusion.
"Send up some food for lunch while you're down there. Do you think you can handle that, Merlin?"
Merlin smiled tightly, somewhere between a grimace and a sneer and bowed. "Yes, Sire."
Jaya watched him gather up the things in his arms and half-walk, half-waddle out of the door and somehow fumble it closed. "You're seriously going to make him wear that, aren't you?"
"I don't see why not." Arthur shrugged.
"You had them special made, didn't you." Jaya draped her arm across the back of the chair that was closest to where she was sitting on the table.
Arthur looked at her and struggled to look indignant. "I did not."
"You did and you're proud of it." Jaya snorted and tossed her hair over her shoulder as she giggled. "I don't see the point of torturing him in public. You know he's going to catch on right away."
Arthur sat down in his favorite chair that was draped with a thick wolfskin and crossed his ankles over the corner of the table. "Can you blame me?"
"He serves you food…" Jaya pointed out.
"It's just a harmless spot of fun!" Arthur protested, extending his arms to their full length over his head and then folding his hands behind his head and grinning at her.
Jaya shook her head, still snickering to herself, her eyes sparkling. "You're too proud of it. He'll know something's going on."
"If I have to sit through one more of Bayard's speeches, Jaya-" Arthur paused and looked at her with his eyebrows raised "You have no idea how terrible they are-then I should at least be able to have a little fun at Merlin's expense."
Jaya rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"He doesn't mind." Arthur brushed off the look that she shot him.
"Just like you don't mind the fun he has at your expense." Jaya muttered just above a whisper.
"What?" Arthur looked at her sharply.
"What?" Jaya tipped her eyebrow and regarded him like he was over-reacting.
With every step that took him closer to the hall of ceremonies, Merlin hated the hat on his head just a little bit more. He began wondering if there was a way that he could make Arthur pay, without Arthur or the King finding out that he had done it on purpose. It wasn't until after he noticed that he was the only one that was wearing 'Camelot's official servant's robes' that he was starting to wonder if it would be worth the time in the stocks. He weathered the confused looks from all the servants that he had to look at, and then didn't make eye contact again once he had the jug of wine that was supposed to be for just Arthur. He glanced up when he heard Jaya's entrance announced, and shook his head slightly at the sight of her.
Her dress was a shiny green, the color of her family's crest, and the skirt swung wildly with each step that she took. Her right arm was encased in a tight sleeve that stopped just beyond the bottom of her tattoo. Silver netting loosely fitted around the sleeve and draped down to brush just below Jaya's wrist. Her left arm was only covered by the silver netting. The top of the dress was cut to fall off her shoulders slightly, but the silver netting went from her exposed collarbones to drape just below her ribs. A tight necklace of large green gems joined the ever-present wolf pendant and her hair was piled up and around the circlet she wore when she needed to look like the princess that she was.
Freya was a step behind her, wearing a pretty, but simple light pink dress. The sleeves were wider than what the maidservants in Camelot wore, and dropped off her arms to hang almost four inches away from her wrists. She had her hair pulled over her left shoulder and held in place by two engraved combes that looked like they had been a gift from Jaya.
Merlin wondered for a moment if she had seen him yet, or if there was enough time to duck out of the way of her line of sight.
"Merlin?" Gwen's voice asked, sounding like it confused and giggling at the same time.
Merlin cringed slightly and cursed Arthur mentally for making him wear the 'official robes'. He turned and smiled at her as brightly as he could muster. "Hello, Gwen."
Gwen looked at him and smiled slightly. "What are you wearing?"
Merlin sighed heavily, sounding torchured within an inch of his patience even to his ears. "The 'official robes of the servants of Camelot'."
"According to whom?" Gwen looked at him and did her best to keep from laughing. "I've never seen those before."
"I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him and make it look like an accident." Merlin muttered mutiniously under his breath.
Gwen chuckled to herself and shook her head.
"Nice hat." Gwen mentioned, the giggle still in her voice, after a few moments of quietly watching more Lords and Lady's of the Court walk in.
"Thanks." Merlin muttered. He looked across the room and his eyes caught on Cara's gaze and he quickly reached up to rip the hat off his head.
Gwen looked where Merlin's eyes had stopped and smiled knowingly. "She's pretty, hm?"
Merlin glanced at her and then back at Cara. "She's pretty for a princess, let alone a handmaiden."
"Mmmm." Gwen murmured, nodding slightly.
Jaya sat through the proceedings and the pomp for signing the peace treaty, thinking to herself how much simpler the ceremony was when her father and Uther had signed theirs. It seemed like Uther and Bayard were both trying to impress the other with just how much finerary they were willing to put on display. She fiddled with the dinner knife that was next to her plate, spinning it on the palm of her hand every-so-often, stopping only when Freya's fingers tapped her shoulder, or she noticed Morgana looking at her strangely. After a few times of getting caught spinning the knife, Jaya got bored with it, and set it down and did her absolute best to appear that she was paying attention and was interested in what was going on. She looked up in time to see Uther stand up from signing the treaty and grip Bayard's forearm with a hearty smile.
"People of Camelot," Lord Bayard suddenly announced, his powerful voice, full of self-importance, quickly brought the talking to a hushed silence, "for a great many years we have been mortal enemies, and the blood of our men stains the ground from the walls of Camelot to the gates of Mercia."
Jaya looked down the table past Morgana to where Arthur was sitting.
Arthur leaned forward slightly and raised his eyebrows.
Jaya drew her's together and quickly settled back into her seat. Yes, she understood now why he said what he had about Lord Bayard's speeches. She caught the look of interested boredom on Morgana's face and was comforted that she wasn't the only one that was going to be doing her best to not look bored.
"And though we remember those who died, we must not allow any more to join them." Lord Bayard gestured to a serving girl who had, obviously, been waiting for this signal and quickly walked forward holding an ornately carved, heavy-looking box. Bayard pushed the lid open with much to-do and importance. "As a symbol of our goodwill, and our new found friendship, I present these ceremonial goblets to you, Uther, and your son, Arthur, in hope that our friendship may last." Bayard held up one of the goblets with self-importance for the whole room to see.
Jaya's eye was drawn to the side of the room where she had noticed Merlin staring when Cara suddenly appeared out of the shadows and whispered in his ear.
"The wounds we received in battle…" Lord Bayard's voice droned on.
Jaya tuned him out as best she could and watched as Merlin allowed himself to be pulled out of the room by Cara, who looked like she was worried about something. She glanced across the room and caught the worried look in Gaius' eye. It was all she could do to keep from asking Merlin where he was going in his mind. But she was determined to make sure that Cara didn't know that she had magic.
"Tonight we toast a new beginning for our peoples. We look forward to a future free from the toils of war." Bayard continued on as he carried the two goblets toward the table and presented them to Uther and Arthur grandly. He turned toward Jaya and walked over toward her and swept up her right hand. "Had I realized that a Princess from Uther's ally to the North West was staying I would have brought you a gift as well, My Lady. Please accept my humblest of apologies." He said just loud enough for the head table to hear. He quickly bent over Jaya's hand and kissed her knuckles, smiling at her as he stood straight.
Jaya smiled what she hoped was a gracious and charming smile and nodded. "No offence was taken, Lord Bayard." she gently, but firmly, pulled her hand away from him and brought it down into her lap, well out of his reach. She looked over her left shoulder at Freya and let out the horrified look that had been threatening to boil over since he picked up her hand.
Freya, bless her soul, didn't react, but pursed her lips slightly and poured Jaya a little more of the wine that was in the pitcher that she held.
Merlin almost felt like he was being rushed more than he thought necessary, but it was a pretty girl, so he wasn't going to complain.
Cara stopped him once they were around the corner and turned to face him, her face full of urgency. "It wasn't until I saw him give the goblet to Arthur that I realized…"
"Whoa, slow down, start from the beginning." Merlin held up his hands slightly.
Freya inched around one of the columns just down the hallway from the two of them and pressed her back up against the cool stone, wondering why in the name of all the gods she had agreed to spy for Jaya when she had whispered the request in Freya's ear.
"Two days ago, I was bringing Bayard his evening meal. We're supposed to knock. He didn't expect me to walk in…" Cara's voice was breathless and slightly rushed.
Freya squeezed her eyes shut tightly. She couldn't understand why Jaya enjoyed it.