Chapter 4

Larissa's frown deepened as she watched her father beat Dwyn once more to the ground, everyone cheering for her father. She wished that she can say something to her father to stop picking on Dwyn but knew that he would figure out that something was going on between them. Due to Dwyn never having asked her parents–but most importantly, her father–permission to court her properly, no doubt her parents will refuse them to be together.

Not to mention that the advisers will speak against her–she, who was born of noble blood since the king had decreed his knights to become noble once Camelot was finished–into courting a lowly knight. Not wanting to give herself away as she watched her father continuously embarrass Dwyn any longer in front of her, Larissa turned away and moved towards the towers that host the homes of her family. There was a private garden only for them and Larissa liked to spend her quiet time there when she couldn't go to the secret garden until everyone has gone to bed.

The seventeen year old wasn't sure how long she was there, sitting on the bench, looking at all the colorful flowers as her thoughts went to her life, to Dwyn, and the life of her mothers. The truth was she wanted to see her mother's world, of all the advancement that the world has become in a thousand years or so. Larissa started, blinking, as she looked up to her right to see her mother smiling kindly as she sat next to her on the bench. It was then she noticed that the torches around the garden have been lit, the sun close to setting.

"My lovely girl, what is bothering you so much?" Adena asked softly, waiting patiently.

Larissa sighs, looking back to the flowers that swayed slightly in the small breeze that there was. How her mother's speech was always different from the other women in court had now made complete sense and yet it was all that she knew. As a child, she had loved how her mother was different from other mothers but now that she was older and able to understand the talk around her, that love slowly turned into embarrassment. Which was why she acted out so much with her mother and tried not to be with her out in public.

That thought made her feel ashamed, as her mother had given up everything to be with her father. To save the men–her uncles–that were meant to die, giving her life for theirs, only to be brought back from the dead somehow. Then with this new threat, her mother had done the same thing again! She gave up the protection her father and uncles had wanted her to have in order to save everyone and gather information. If the seventeen year old was honest with herself, she was actually proud to have a mother who would give up all that she had to save her love, her children, and her friends. None of the other noble women would do such a thing, no; they would run away and try to save themselves and their riches.

Larissa sighs, looking back to her mother, "If the threat of Guinevere and Merlin never came to light, you would never have told us about where you came from. Would you ever had told us about you being from the future on your deathbed?"

Adena looked guilty up at her, Larissa shaking her head in disbelief, "No, sweetheart. We all thought it best to not say a word about my true origins. We did not want anyone to have thought I was mad."

"It still sounds like a fantasy," Larissa mutters, looking at the flowers once more.

"But that's not what is truly bothering you though, is it Larissa?" Adena summarized knowingly.

Larissa shoves off the bench, taking a couple of steps before turning to face her mother with anguish, "I know what Uncle Arthur's advisors are thinking of courting me to some lord or even a prince from a faraway kingdom. But I want what you and father have! I want to have love."

Adena smiles, standing and coming to her daughter, "Oh, my dear, dear daughter." she took her daughter's face, "Camelot is still a young kingdom, Arthur may listen to those old advisors, but he's still king and makes the decisions." Larissa stared at her mother doubtfully, "Baby, if it makes you feel better I will speak with Arthur, hmm?"

Larissa shakes her head, moving away from her mother, "Uncle Arthur has been taking their advice for as long as I can remember. Why would he listen to me? Why now?"

"Because he is your uncle and he loves you dearly," Adena smiles softly, walking up to her daughter once more. "I can guarantee you if you speak with Arthur he will listen to your every word."

"And what of father?" Larissa asked with anguish, looking to her mother, "He will never approve of any man that will come near me!"

Adena laughs softly, "True, for you are his baby girl, and your father will do everything in his power to frighten off any suitable suitor. However, should the time come, I can speak to him on your behalf." with a smile and a kiss on her daughter's cheek, Adena sighed to herself, not able to believe that her oldest child was now an adult to be able to marry, "Do not stay out here for too long, it's going to rain soon."

Giving her daughter a smile of understanding, Adena walked away, thinking of speaking to Lancelot in convincing him to stop torturing the man who had obviously stolen their daughter's heart and possibly try to get to know him. If anything, with this new knowledge threat of Guinevere's child possibly within these walls, perhaps this man can protect their daughter when they cannot.

Larissa frowned after her mother had departed, wondering if she should listen to her and speak with her uncle or merely sit back and meet in secret with Dwyn. Then again, her mother didn't understand, her parents found love while her father was a slave for Rome and her mother a lost peasant from the future. No, her uncle will tell her that he would need to speak with the advisors on the matter of her courting with a knight and they will tell him no.

However, despite the advisors, Arthur has been ruling the kingdom the way he wanted to and not the Roman way. Perhaps asking him will not hurt for what she has with Dwyn she knew to be true and pure. Or, perhaps, she should tell Dwyn to ask Arthur for his permission instead? Of course, he would also need to ask permission from her parents as well. Larissa sighed with a groan, than there was the matter with her overprotective father. Could her mother truly make him see reason? Or was it only a ploy and her mother truly believes she should be forced into an arranged marriage with a pompous ass of a lord?

Feeling she has been out in the garden too long–and also for the fact that thunder was rumbling and lightning rolled across the now darken skies–Larissa decided to turn in. The young woman came up short at her early thought, embarrassed and ashamed that she would even believe that her mother would lie to her or think like all the other ladies in court. Larissa wasn't sure where the thought of her mother being a heartless woman had come from, for her mother was not like that of other women. No, she was kindhearted and selfish, not arrogant and cold towards their children like the other women.

"Trust in your mother, Larissa."

The seventeen year old squealed with surprise, turning to see her godfather. Gawain smiled softly as he moved out of the shadows, half a loaf of bread in hand. He rips it in half again and offers it to Larissa, who smiled and took it, biting into the sweet bread that she loved. They stood in the semi-darken hallway, munching away as the Sarmatian knight merely waited for his goddaughter to gather her thoughts and speak. Although she was like Lancelot in many ways, she is contemplative like that of her mother when it comes to big decisions.

"Do you believe I can have the love my parents and all of you had found?" she asked finally, staring at the last bit of sweet bread.

Gawain walked closer and brushed her hair from her face, "You only need to ask, Larissa. Despite all this political horse shite, your parents and your uncles will defend you and your wishes."

Larissa sighs, stuffing the last of her bread into her mouth and hugging her godfather tightly, "Thank you, Uncle Gawain," she sighs softly and wistfully. "If only I was a child again, carefree and naïve of all around me."

He kissed the top of her head with a chuckle, "Come, tis late and you need your rest. We do not want you looking like your ugly mug of a father."

Larissa laughed–truly laughed, something that she hasn't done since the whole ordeal concerning Merlin and Guinevere–as she shook her head. Yes, if only she was young and naïve once again, she wouldn't have to go through all this with being with the one she loves and being in danger from two people that wants revenge on her parents. She stopped as the pounding of rain fell upon the earth, making Larissa wonder how her mother always knew that it was about to rain.

"What do we know about this boy?" Lancelot questioned, pacing around the room.

Smiling to herself, Adena continued to read the book she took from Arthur's library while her husband fumed about her daughter being in love, "If twas Byron and a girl, you would not be questioning it as much as you are now with Larissa and this knight."

"That is…completely different!" Lancelot states, looking towards his wife continuing to read her book.

Adena smiles, closing her book and giving her husband an amused book, "Why? Because he is male and Larissa a female?"

Lancelot frowns at his wife, wondering what to say to her before stating slowly, "Yes."

"Oh, husband of mine," Adena started softly as she stood up from the chaise and walked closer to her husband before glaring at Lancelot, making him flinch. "If you continue to think that way, you will be very acquainted with the horses in the stables!"

"I am merely–" Lancelot started but Adena cut him off.

"I mean it, Lancelot!" Adena tells him sternly, "Do not go all macho on the boy that has captured our girl's heart. If you do not want Larissa to hate you forever, then you will at least try to get to know this boy."

"Do I have to?" Lancelot whined like the man-child that he was.

Adena rolls her eyes and walked towards their bedroom to change for bed, "Lancelot, do not give me that tone of voice, for it does not work on me. If you cannot find a way to know this boy while on the training grounds, then let us invite him to dinner one night."

"Fine, I will get to know the boy," Lancelot grumbled, watching his wife undressing for bed before grinning mischievously as he walked behind her, taking hold of her hips and leaning down to kiss her bare shoulder. "And what, pray tell, would be my prize for being nice to this boy?"

A/N Thank you all for those waiting patiently for the next chapter, I know it's a bit short, so I'm sorry about that. I haven't had the urge to really write this story but reading Just a Maid by Silver as the Rain (/ s / 11344363 / 1 / Just-A-Maid) got me inspired again. If you haven't read her story, please do so it's really good. It's a bet lengthily but worth it. :)