Author's Note: For those now submitting unsigned reviews and those not on my Author Alert list, I have now committed to posting something by or on every Sunday unless circumstances outside my control arise(computer crash, power outage, storms, illness, etc.). Just check my profile every Sunday to see what I've been doing the week in question.

Augusta

The winter months passed happily for Rowena and Godric, the unchanging happiness of a temporary retreat to Eden. Cut off from discourse with other humans besides the staff, they were able to forget, for a time, the challenges waiting in the world outside. It was too good to last. Try as she would to ignore it, Rowena could see the beginnings of the spring thaws by the beginning of March, and by April it was spring indeed and time to return to life in the real world. Godric noticed it too.

"Am I to guess that we'll be leaving soon?" he asked her one day in the library.

"Yes," Rowena said absently, stretching to reach a book on the shelf. She gave him a brief smile when he handed it to her. "I'm afraid we will."

"A pity...we have been happy here."

"Yes." Rowena's throat tightened momentarily before she shook the feeling off. She was not normally given to sentimentalism and disliked it when she did show it. Glen would still be here next winter, and every winter after that. "I'll be going back to Lanast for the time being."

Godric made a startled, surprised movement. "Lanast? Why?"

"Think. Gwyneth is probably already suspicious that she hasn't been recieving letters from Salazar begging to marry me. If I go back to Tintagel now and she still hears nothing, she'll smell a rat for sure. "

"You fear her, don't you?"

"Yes. Gwyneth Hufflepuff may only be a Muggle, but she's a dangerous woman."

Godric gave her a strange look. "Muggle?"

"Sorry. It's a local term-it simply means 'not a witch or wizard'. "

"Muggle...strange word, but back to the point. I agree with you about Gwyneth. Her goodwill is not necessary, but..."

"Keeping her in good graces for as long as possible might be our best chance of holding on to Helga's. I-I would not like to lose Helga forever. She's an idiot without a backbone or a thought in her head that wasn't put there, but I am fond of her."

"As am I. She's our sister, really. She'll come around, Rowena. Helga could never hold a grudge for long."

"You don't know how she is about you, Godric. I've never seen anyone like that. You would have gotten a far more loving wife by marrying her, I reassure you. Helga worships you."

"I could not wish for more than I already have. Do you remember the conversation we had about Helga at the ball the night we met?"

"Of course. What about it?"

"There is one thing we forgot in our character assessment of her. Helga is simply in love with the idea of being in love. She's heard too many tales about the High King and Queen Guinevere and about old Uther and Igraine and imagines that such unusual stories as theirs are commonplace."

"Uther and Igraine I don't know so very much about, but Guinevere I grew up with. Nasty, unpleasant girl for all her fair face. That silly tale about her garden and a hat enchanted by Merlin is sheer twaddle. Guinevere wanted to be High Queen, so she dazzled the King with her beauty and then tricked him into signing an agreement written up by Leodegraunce which gave Arthur a hundred horses for his cavalry in exchange for marrying Gwen."

Godric laughed at the idea of the great King Arthur being manipulated by a country princess. "No wonder Arthur lets the tales of their great garden love be told! He looks like a proper idiot, being tricked into marriage by a pretty face and some sugar lies."

"That is the secret of the women of our line," Rowena said, lowering her voice as if confiding a secret. "We are quite ruthless, using our beauty, charm, and magical ability to get the men we want."

"Then you are a credit to your family, my lady," Godric said, kissing her hand.

The next day, they parted ways at Galava, one heading south towards Dumnonia and Tintagel and the other north towards Gwynned and Lanast.

Second Author's Note: I know it was stated earlier that Rowena and Guinevere are not blood relatives. In case anyone gets confused, Rowena was joking.

Augusta