Chapter 1: The Princess You Are
"Isolde, I have asked you to act like the princess you are today. We will be meeting a candidate for your governess and I would like you to make a good first impression. She doesn't need to immediately know that you would rather be swinging a sword with the boys than learning to be a future queen, hmm?" Arthur looked at his daughter with what he hoped looked like a stern expression on his face and his hands on his hips. She had been made presentable for court not an hour before and yet he found her near the stables; face smeared with mud, her new gown torn, hay stuck in her hair-hair that had been perfectly styled but was now falling down in waves messily, and a huge grin on her face. At five years old, the only child of the great King Arthur of Camelot had her daddy wrapped around her finger. She was her father's spitting image, except the waves in her hair. Those she got from her mother.
It had been nine years since Arthur had dutifully stood in front of court and joined himself to Princess Elaina in what his father called a "strategic move". It was not a love match for either of them but they both understood that their positions in life came with certain duties that needed to be done. Thankfully they fell into an easy partnership and became friends over the next few years. A year into their marriage, King Uther died and Arthur and Elaina were named king and queen of Camelot. Once he was king, the pressure for Arthur to have an heir was multiplied tenfold. Still, Arthur and Elaina were young and neither of them felt the need to hurry. They dutifully shared the marriage bed once a month during the time the court doctor predicted Elaina would be most fertile. It took two year of that pattern for Elaina to conceive an heir.
Arthur didn't realize how much he wanted to be a father until he saw his queen's belly swell with his child. Arthur didn't have many friends, the closest he really had were his knights. Everything with the pregnancy went easy and when Elaina went into labor right on time, Arthur and his knights excitedly paced the halls waiting for news of the birth. When the midwife summoned for Gaius, the court doctor, three hours in, Arthur began to get nervous. There was a flurry of activity in and out of the queen's chambers for the next two hours as linens, herbs and buckets of water were brought in and out. Arthur's heart dropped when he began seeing buckets of bloody linens leaving the chamber in the hands of the maids. What would he do if the baby didn't survive? Then as if everything stopped, a quiet stillness came over the hall and Gaius opened the door and quickly closed it behind him.
"Sire, there were complications with the birth. The placenta detached itself during labor and the queen began bleeding heavily. I tried to stop the bleeding, sire, but there was nothing that could be done. I was able to deliver the baby surgically but there was no life when the birth took place. I'm sorry to say, sire, that the queen died during the birth." Gaius was not done speaking but Arthur couldn't keep quiet any longer.
He cried out, "I lost them both?! My queen and my heir in one day?! How could this happen?!" and he crumbled to the floor in tears. While Arthur had never been in love with Elaina, he did love her. She was his best friend, his partner in ruling Camelot. Losing her was heartbreaking.
Gaius knelt down in front of his King, "Arthur, listen to me. The baby was not breathing at birth but I was able to clean the airway and get breath back. Sire, you have a daughter. A perfectly healthy daughter."
Arthur stared at the old man slack jawed. "I have a daughter? She's ok?"
"Yes sire, she is strong like her father."
Arthur exhaled a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "I need to see Elaina. Can I see her? She needs to be prepared and taken to the throne room. It's what is proper and what will be expected of the queen."
"Yes Sire, the maids have been cleaning and dressing her. You may see her momentarily and then the guards will carry her to the throne room. I will have the table set up in there while you are saying goodbye to your queen. I'm very sorry for your loss, Arthur." Gaius squeezed Arthur's shoulder then took him by the elbow to help him off the floor.
"Thank you Gaius." Arthur nodded to the old man. He was a good friend. "Um Gaius, what about my daughter? When can I meet her?"
Gaius looked a little taken back that Arthur had switched gears so quickly. "I can get her for you now, sire. She was cleaned and bundled and was being fed by the wet nurse when I left to come speak to you."
"I would like for her to be brought to me, please. I need her. I need her with me." Arthur's eyes looked a little bit frantic.
"Stay here, Sire, I will be right back with her." Gaius said and disappeared behind the door. He quickly reappeared with a small screaming bundle in his arms. "Meet your princess, your Majesty."
Arthur reached his hands out for his crying child and held her close to his body. The moment his blue eyes met her blue eyes, her crying ceased and they just stared at each other. Her blonde curls peaked out from the top of the blanket and Arthur instantly fell in love and knew he would do anything in his power to keep her safe and make her happy. She had just fallen asleep in his arms when the midwife opened the door to the queen's chambers.
"Your Majesty," she stated with a bow, "I am very sorry for the loss of your queen. We did everything we could do to save her."
"Thank you, Yvette. I know that this was not of your doing and I do not blame you for Elaina's death. It's a tragedy of no one's fault. I thank you for taking such care of her in life and in death. May I see her now? I'd like to say my goodbyes in private before she is moved."
She bowed again, "Yes, Sire." and turned back toward the room and shuffled the maids out. "You will be left to your quiet privacy. You may simply open the door when you are ready and the guards will come to move her. Would you like me to care for the princess here in the hall while you say your goodbyes?" Yvette was trying to be kind and considerate but the king took a step back and held his child protectively closer to his body.
"No. I want her with me." Arthur backed into the chambers.
"As you wish, Sire." With that Yvette shut the door behind him and left him to his grief.
Arthur turned and slowly walked toward his wife. His queen. His partner. His best friend. She looked beautiful and peacefully at rest.
Arthur laid the sleeping baby in the nook of her mother's arm and held his wife's hand. "My dear Elaina, I can't believe this has happened. That you will never get to see our daughter grow. That she will never get to know her mother. I don't know how I'm going to do this. It's not fair. Neither of us ever had the chance to know our mothers and I know we both desperately wanted our child to know both parents. You know, we never even decided on a name for her? You were so sure that she was going to be a boy, was going to be our Aiden. I remember one day not long after we decided it was time for us to give Camelot an heir, we were having a picnic by the lake. We were talking about what the future could hold, conversation flowed so much easier after that first year of marriage. I remember you mentioned a name in passing, one you loved as a little girl from a story you had heard. You smiled when you talked about it. I think that is what she will be named. I wish you could stand by my side when I announce her to the kingdom. Our marriage may not have been a love match, we may not have been soulmates, two halves of a whole but we made this work. We became friends. We became partners. I love you for being there for me. For being my queen. I pray you rest peacefully and that you watch over our princess as I am forced to raise her on my own." With that Arthur leaned over and kissed her forehead then picked up his tiny princess and walked to the door. "She is ready to be moved." He spoke to the guards and waited for them to walk out carrying Queen Elaina on a board above their heads and followed them to the crown room to display her for proper viewing.
One week later, King Arthur stood in front of the court holding a calm and quiet baby in tiny regal gown. "As King of Camelot, it is my honor to present Isolde Elaina Pendragon, Princess of Camelot. Long may she live." Isolde was never far from her father for the first several months of her life. She spent her first year with a wet nurse and the next four with a nurse maid.
The princess had reached the age where she needed to leave behind her nurse maid and take on a governess, it was beyond time really. She spent far too much time trying to be one of the boys, following in her father's footsteps. While Arthur doted on her and loved that she wanted to be his shadow, the council had been urging him for several months to get her a governess so she could properly learn her place. Arthur had finally relented and had the council gather a list of the best recommended governesses he could acquire. He had already met with a couple on his own and found them lacking, not even worthy of introducing his daughter to. The third candidate however, he saw a great deal of promise in and decided he would like to see how she interacted with the princess before deciding if she would make a proper governess.
Arthur paced his daughter's chambers while her nurse maid changed, cleaned and groomed the young princess once more. A pretty jeweled comb that Arthur had given Isolde for her fifth birthday was being placed in her pretty blonde waves when there was a knock at the door. "Enter" Arthur commanded.
A page made a quick bow before announcing, "Lady Guinevere waits in the council chambers, your Majesty."
"We will be right along, thank you." He told the servant and turned to his daughter, "Let us be on our way, my dear." And held his hand out for her to take and they walked to meet the woman Arthur hoped would be his daughter's governess.
When the chamber doors were opened for them, Arthur was surprised to see that the governess had not come alone. Standing behind her, trying to blend in to the wall was a beautiful man with raven hair and deep blue eyes. He was tall and lanky and Arthur forgot himself for a moment. As Arthur and Isolde came fully in to the room, Guinevere curtsied and the man bowed. "Sire, very nice to see you again and it is very nice to meet you, your highness. I am Lady Guinevere, this man Merlin. He is a dear family friend, we are from the same village. My father insisted he accompany me on my journey for my safety. I hope you do not mind his presence, your majesty."