Before Gwaine could turn and ask what Arthur's hold up was, the blond prince had unstuck himself enough to brush past Gwaine with a single-minded determination to get to his mother. Along the way, without realising, big fat tears streamed down his face. As soon as he got to her, he wrapped her up in a desperate hug.
"Arthur! Oh, honey are you alright? What's wrong?" Ygraine, blindsided at first by the hug, noticed her normally non-touchy son was clutching her close while he cried.
The sound of his mother's voice made a fresh wave of tears come forth, and Arthur pulled back to just. Look at her. His hands were gently clutching her biceps. "Nothing is wrong, mother. It's just. It's so good to see you. And hear your voice and I-" Arthur would feel embarrassed of how his voice cracked if he were more aware of his surroundings, "I just missed you, is all."
Ygraine leaned back to take her son's face in both hands, wiping away a tear. But his tears kept spilling over and Arthur was caught between laughing and crying, "I've missed you." He repeated.
Uther walks up behind them with Balinor and clasps a warm hand on Arthur's shoulder, his other hand coming around to twine his fingers with Ygraine's. This just makes Arthur's heart ache more. He looks up to his father's face, expecting to see hard war-magic hating lines, but instead sees an undertone of soft happiness and concern.
"Son, are you alright?" Uther asked, tone warmer than Arthur ever remembers hearing him.
"I think he maybe hasn't gotten enough sleep… he seems pretty distressed. Don't tell me you're stressed about the crowning ceremony? That's not for a while…" Ygraine trails off, in thought, rubbing Arthur's arms with her delicate hands. Arthur couldn't take his eyes off of her face and the way her golden ringlets framed her face. She looked every bit of the angel he and his father mourned separately.
"And he never was one to worry about future implications. Hello, Arthur." Morgana's teasing voice came, "Oh, what happened to you?" She asked when Arthur turned to look at her with bloodshot eyes, pulling away from Ygraine, remembering himself. Only to take two quick strides and envelope Morgana in a warm hug.
"Just missed my family." He murmured into a nonplussed Morgana's shoulder.
"Oh, I definitely did not take you for a weepy hangover type." Gwaine commented, coming up to stand behind Arthur. Arthur pulled back from Morgana to glare at Gwaine, while Morgana righted her dress.
"Gwaine." Balinor said, stern, having walked up with him. He moved to press his lips to his own wife's temple.
"I'll go find Emrys. Right." Gwaine agreed easily.
"I was just with him, he's helping the guests find their seats." Morgana fibbed, noticing Merlin sneakily slip through the servant's entrance with Will in tow right as she began speaking, "And entertaining the kids. Mordred seems enamoured." She went on, truthfully.
"You know Mordred?" Arthur asked. She and Merlin were the ones that helped me smuggle him out of Camelot. It's interesting how some things are transferring over.
"He's the adorable druid boy I've spoken to you about. I visited the encampment with Gaius earlier last year. You know this," Morgana elaborated.
"I know...right. Yes." Arthur confirmed awkwardly. He did not, in fact, know this.
"Hello again, Arthur." A familiar voice says. Arthur turns to see a regal looking Hunith, holding herself with a likable humbleness.
"Hunith?" Arthur blurted out, forgoing any titles he should have added on, being that he was speaking to the Queen of the kingdom he was in.
"Arthur!" Morgana hissed at him, trying to correct the slight against the crowns.
"No, Hunith is fine, dear." Hunith assured, and held out her hand to squeeze Arthur's in greeting. Arthur took her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. Hunith smiled back at him, charmed. Next to Ygraine, Morgana rolled her eyes.
"It's been so long since I've seen you. You've grown into a wonderful young man." Hunith practically gushed.
"You'd have seen him sooner if he weren't so 'busy' training with his knights." Morgana teased, "I swear, he acts like he needs to train to live and breathe, and damn doing anything else."
"Well, that's why you'll be my most trusted advisor when I'm crowned, 'Gana," Arthur teased her, feeling nostalgic about the conversation and his Morgana, "In fact, I-"
Wait. Hunith.
Arthur's head swivelled back to where Hunith stood, her arm hooked through Balinor's. The Queen. Married to Balinor. With a son. A son not named Merlin.
Emrys is Balinor's son. And Merlin is Hunith's son… I just saw Merlin. So is Merlin an illegitimate son of the Queen? Do they know this? And they made him a servant?
It seemed to Arthur that everyone standing around him collectively agreed to pretend not to notice his weird behaviour for the day.
"Why don't you all make rounds until everything is settled?" Balinor suggested, settling down in the middle of the more ornate looking table, Uther sitting to his right and Hunith to his left.
"Great idea. Come on, Wart," Morgana tugged at Arthur's sleeve.
"Wart? Hey!" Arthur let himself be pulled around by Morgana, Gwaine jauntily whistling as he invited himself along with them.
Morgana came to a stop in front of… A person. A horse. A horse person. I'm sure Gauis would know what this creature is called, he seems to have quite the amount of forbidden magic books.
"Arthur, meet Firenze, our Court Physician. He also teaches squires how to work with long-ranged weapons." Morgana introduced.
Arthur tried not to let his eyes wander down to where the man's torso ended and the horse body started. He reached out and shook the proffered hand, "Ah, Arthur Pendragon."
As if sensing his confusion, Mordred's voice echoed in his mind, Have you never met a centaur before, Prince Arthur? Arthur only stopped himself from flinching at the speech in his head because he had… felt Mordred do something like a tap at his mind before speaking. I can't say that I have, no. He thought back, hoping he was doing it right.
Sorry for the intrusion, it's just that you were projecting quite loudly. Mordred replied.
It's quite alright. It's handy. Though I wouldn't be opposed to learning how to not… project loudly. Where are you, anyway? Arthur responded to the druid.
I'm with Emrys, helping seat our knights, lords, and ladies. Mordred chimed back, a note of shyness in his tone that Arthur thought was precious.
Ah, young love, Arthur thought. He felt the impression of embarrassment, forgetting that Mordred would probably hear him, before Mordred's presence in his mind retreated.
"Earth to Arthur?" Morgana spoke, waving her hand in his face, sounding like she had been trying to get his attention for some time.
"My apologies," Arthur spoke, zoning back into the conversation with the centaur in front of him, who looked very amused, "I was speaking to Mordred."
"It's rude to have a mind-conversation without including all of us, you know," Morgana needled.
"It is?" Arthur asked, incredulous. It's not as if I know the etiquette for… mind speaking.
"Hmm. Apologies Firenze. As always it's nice to speak with you. Gaius sends his regards." Morgana finished her pleasantries and then continued to pull Arthur behind her.
"This is Niamh. She's a lady of a local elven tribe here in the kingdom," Morgana introduced Arthur to a sharp featured woman, tall and willowy, with pale blue-tinted skin, "Niamh, this is Arthur Pendragon."
"Lovely to meet you," Niamh spoke, but the movements of her mouth did not match the words that Arthur heard.
"Translation spell. It's on the amulet around her neck," Morgana pointed out, seeing Arthur's puzzled expression.
"It's lovely to meet you, as well, my lady," Arthur bowed slightly to the elven woman, who bowed back at them.
As Arthur was about to open his mouth and pepper Niamh with questions, as he had never seen an elf in person before (and wasn't aware they were anything more than something his nursemaids told stories about when he was a child), Morgana pulled him away again.
"Come, come, you've got to meet the Faerie Convoy," Morgana gushed, "They're wonderful. It's a shame King Oberon and Queen Tatiana were unable to make it, but we have their duke, dutchess, and their nieces as well as their ambassador."
"Fae?" Arthur questioned, envisioning mean sharp toothed bugs his father told him about.
"Yes. But don't expect them to tell you their names." Morgana said, and they stopped in front of one of the tables. On this table, was a table runner and a smaller ornate table. There were six tiny people with multicoloured wings, about the height of Arthur's hand, from the tip of his middle finger to his wrist.
"Hello, Duke and Dutchess," Morgana spoke softly, "It's lovely to meet you again, and I pass on my well wishes to your King and Queen. This is my brother, Arthur."
"Hello," Arthur stammered to the tiny table, louder than Morgana had.
"Lovely to meet you again as well! Our King and Queen express their remorse that they were unable to meet for the celebration of Emrys' birthday. There have been threats from the goblin kingdom to our north that we are taking with the utmost seriousness," The Duchess explained, her husband nodding solemnly.
"If you have need of support, Emrys and I are at your disposal." Morgana offered. Arthur idly wondered on what authority she had to offer Emrys' help with a matter such as that. Maybe this Emrys pledged his help to any magical creature that asked.
"Many thanks, our ambassador will let you know if we have need of outside support," The Duke replied, and they turned away from Arthur and Morgana, in clear dismissal.
Morgana pulled Arthur away, murmuring to him that their exchange had been positive, all things considering.
"Ambassador?" Arthur questioned.
"Yes. There are a few halflings-That is, half human half fae. Most are unable to harness the magics to be able to shift their sizes, and so they join the druids or become travellers. The ones that can control it, become ambassadors. It's rare for pure-blood fae to venture out of their realm as they have here. You're going to be looking for a human sized fairy, and that's the ambassador. This one lives in this palace and is counted as part of the house of Ambrosius." Gwaine chimed in from behind them, reminding Arthur that he had been following them the entire time.
"Right. Oh, we must go sit down, it looks like everyone's settled down. Arthur, you're on the other side of Emrys," Morgana pointed back over to the table, where William was standing next to a slender raven haired man who sat across the table from his father. As if his ears burned, the man dressed in Essetirian finery turned to look at them.
Immediately, Arthur recognised that face. Merlin quirked a smile and waggled his fingers at him.
Two updates in the same year? Who AM I? This wasn't betaed, I just wanted to get it out quickly for y'all! If all goes well, the next chapter will be out soon!
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