Disclaimer: As before
Chapter 2
Five years into the knight's service.
Celene walked along, her head down. Clasped to her breast were some more sheets, which had to be checked by her mother before she took them to be bound. This was her final book, or the final one which her mother said she would ask of her. But Celene wanted to carry on, perhaps experimenting with different herbs.
Celene was starting to get worried by her mother. Sebille was starting to look pale and drawn, even Bedwyr, had begun to notice. It was worrying everyone, and Celene had finally decided to take action. Once she had given the sheets to her mother she was going to go back to her rooms and then she was going to do some research. She thought she knew what the problem was, but she needed real proof, and she still had to hope that it wasn't happening.
A few minutes later Celene made her way out of her mother's house, the proof in her pocket. When she had turned fifteen she moved into a small room next to the infirmary, to be on hand at any time of the day or night. She occasionally went with the knights on their missions. It gave her a sense of being wanted. Celene felt slightly chilled at her almost discovery. She also felt slightly vulnerable without her papers or a book to hug to her. She was aware of the Roman's eyes on her, eyeing her up as if she was a piece of meat. It chilled her slightly, and she involuntarily shivered with revulsion.
Walking past the knights training area she was rewarded with her friend's and her father, and his friends, all mucking around. There was Tristan out at the bow fields, and everyone else was mucking around with swords or various weapons. She was hailed by Lancelot, and she stopped and rested her arms, crossed on a wooden fence. The other side was a large square covered with sand, to absorb any blood. Celene flicked it all over with a glance, as the younger knights all seemed to cluster around her. Arthur was now leader, well the younger Arthur anyway, and he had been asking a lot of advice off Bedwyr and Perceval.
"Celene." Lancelot called.
"Sorry I was…umm…distracted." Celene apologized.
"We can guess that." Galahad, the youngest piped up.
"What's wrong?" Gawain asked.
"I'm sorry, I don't have much time, I have to check something, and then run some chores." Celene excused herself.
Celene found that cursing herself didn't really help all that much. She knew she had to confirm he suspicions, she couldn't not. But did she really have to brush off the men, who had only meant to help? She didn't know how much she had just worried them. She was almost always ready with her wit to confuse and tease the knights with. Today she hadn't, and that had worried them, almost a lot. She loved the knights like brothers; they had been almost since they had come.
Reaching her room Celene pulled open her door. It was a small rectangle with a window that let in the daylight. There was a camp bed wedged into the corner, with a straw palette to make it more comfortable. A small dressing table held a jug of water and a shallow dish, along with a linen cloth. There was also a crude stool and table with a small oil lamp on it, which served as a writing desk. Quill and ink lay on the desk, along with neat stacks of paper. A small alcove held all her dresses, and a trunk which held the rest. Finally there was a shelf of books, some which she herself had written, and the rest that her mother had written. Finally there was a bolt on the door.
Throwing the door shut behind her Celene pulled down one of the books off her shelves. She slipped into her chair and began flipping through the pages. She stopped when she had found what she was looking for and began to read it. Coughing excessively, incredibly pale, and in the later stages coughing up blood. The symptoms were all down there, written in Celene's precise hand. She stood up, before walking through to the infirmary. She took a small purse, attached it to her belt and filled it with herbs.
Walking back to her mother's house Celene was filled with worry. Who was going to tell her father? She knew he wouldn't take it very well, he loved his wife dearly. It was going to be hard on both father and child. The best anyone could do was prolong Sebille's life, and reduce her pain. That really was down to Sebille herself. If she wanted she could kill herself now and save herself all the pain. Or she could stay alive for as long as was possible, and still die. Whichever way there was death at the end.
"Come in." Sebille called when Celene knocked.
"These are for you." Celene chucked the purse on the table.
"Thank you…" Sebille began, but trailed off when she saw the contents.
"When were you planning on telling us?" Celene asked gently.
"I don't know. I was rather hoping you'd work it out." Sebille began.
"You know you have to tell father, and Arthur." Celene prompted.
"Can't you tell them?" Sebille almost begged.
"I can't it's not my place." Celene apologized.
"I'm scared." Sebille started to cry.
"I'll go get father, you can discuss what you want to do, then you can tell Arthur." Celene stood.
"I think that would be best yes." Sebille nodded.
Celene walked out again, back to the practice arena. She saw some still sparring, like her father and Lancelot and Perceval and Tristan. The others sat meticulously cleaning their weapons. Arthur was nowhere to be seen, probably being briefed by someone or other. There were now a few Romans sitting around and laughing at the knights. Celene walked straight into the training arena and tried to ignore the wolf whistles she was getting from the Romans.
When they didn't stop she calmly bent down and slipped her hand inside her stocking before pulling out a knife. She gently flipped the knife until it buried itself in the wood in between one of the Roman's legs. He jumped up outraged, about to say something, but his companions muttered to him, before one tossed the knife back. Celene walked across and took the knife off Gawain, who the knife had been thrown at. She smiled her thanks before she resettled the knife in her garter. Her father then came over and hugged her, as did all the other knights.
"Celene, fair morning star." Lancelot said, whilst swinging her around.
"Getting your lines off Perceval?" Celene asked sweetly.
"That one caught you out." Bedwyr laughed.
"Mother wants to speak to you." Celene turned to her father.
"That sounds dangerous." Perceval joked.
"Shut your bloody mouth." Bedwyr called, sensing the mood of his daughter.
Bedwyr soon left, and Celene found herself starting to get more than a little worried. She had begun pacing, as was her want when she was nervous, and the knights were beginning to notice. To tell the truth they had noticed that she had been on edge all day; her happiness had really been an act. After a while she went as if she were going somewhere, and then decided against it, sitting down on one of the benches. Soon enough though found her pacing up and down again.
After a while Bedwyr came in and had a few hushed words with Arthur, who walked off. Bedwyr then came and whispered a few words to Celene, who nodded. The knights all knew that it was probably something to do with Sebille, although not one of them could ever have thought how serious it really was. Soon Arthur came in, and his face was grave. He drew Celene and Bedwyr into a conversation, before he returned and stood in front of the knights.
"Knight's, I have news…" Arthur began
"Not another mission." Groaned Lancelot.
"Not yet, but there is a more pressing matter. It's to do with Sebille." Arthur began, "As you all know, our healer passed on her duties a few months ago to her daughter, after what she called a cold. She knew better though, and there is a reason why she has been so ill these last few weeks. She's dying." Arthur finally managed to say.
All the knights looked shocked at this revelation. Celene found herself trying to slip quietly away, unnoticed, to go back to the infirmary and look after some thing or another that obviously needed looking after. She found herself not thinking about her mother, and thinking on other things. She knew she cared which was why she was so reluctant to think about it. She had always lived in a happy family with her mother and father, and she had seen no end to that. Not even now. She found her mind drifting away to her tenth birthday…
Flashback
"Mama! Mama! Look what papa gave me for my birthday!" Celene pulled her mother towards the stable.
In the stall stood a short black pony. He had a long black mane and tail, and his mane hung over his face, obscuring one eye. The other was shown to be a deep chocolate brown. His forelegs had a covering of long black hair that hung to the ground. A white blaze went down the middle of his forehead.
"Isn't he a darling?" Celene asked.
"Yes he is, and your other present is the tack for him." Sebille steered Celene to the tack.
"I think I'll call him Sweetie." Celene decided after glancing over the tack.
End flashback
As she finished mulling over everything she found herself back at the infirmary. She found herself looking around and taking stock, just as her mother had taught her to do. She noticed that a few of the straw mattresses were missing some stuffing, so she knew she had to get them sorted out. Next she walked to the stock cupboard and saw that it was well filled. She knew the whole room was in need of a scrub down. Otherwise everything was fine. She would be doing the cleaning tomorrow, which would give her a chance to get everything she needed, and discuss her ideas with the various people.
In the end arranging everything took her the rest of the day. She managed to grab a bite to eat before she went back to her room. Pulling her stool across to her vanity Celene let her hair out from the plait she had it in. Carefully she brushed it out and luxuriated in the feel of it. Next she unlaced her dress and carefully hung it up in her wardrobe of sorts. Carefully now she unlaced her under dress before slipping into her nightdress.
Waking up the next day Celene immediately jumped into action. Jumping up she splashed her face with the cold water on her vanity. Next she pulled on a simple under dress, before pulling over it a simple green dress with a simple plaited leather girdle to go around her waist. Again she brushed out her waist length hair and pulled it back into a bun, easily securing it with a few pins. Peeking out the door she saw all the supplies she had asked for in the morning, apart from the straw, she would be taking the palates to be re-stuffed herself. Finally came some stockings and slippers.
She stopped off in the kitchen to get the warm water she had asked for. She stood for a while, digesting a piece of bread and chatting to the maids. Once her water was ready she thanked the maids and lugged them back to the infirmary herself. Once there she saw the palates had already been taken by Jols, and he had also been kind enough to fold up the cabin beds.
Smiling to herself she got down to work swabbing the floors liberally. Once she had done that she left them to dry for a half hour. Once they were dry she spent a lot more time on the walls, picking out the white colour that had been so lovingly painted. Once she had done that she looked up and saw it was midday. Knowing that she wasn't hungry yet she decided to start getting the cabin beds in and cleaning the frames of them. This was how the knights found her when they all went to troop through to get their lunch.
"If you have muddy boots go another way, I've just cleaned this floor." Celene said without looking up.
"I thought we could persuade you to drop the work." Gawain smiled from the doorway.
"Not a chance, I still have all these beds to clean." Celene was still scrubbing.
"Well you're coming to Gawain's party aren't you?" Galahad asked after the others had left.
"Course I am wouldn't miss it for the world." Celene smiled up at the boy.
"Good now come and have some lunch with him." Galahad demanded, dragging her away from her work.
"Look if you want me to come to the party…" Celene began.
"Lunch will not kill you." Lancelot looked back.
"Fine, fine, but don't blame me when I'm late." Celene conceded.
"You're one minute late we're coming to find you." Lancelot smiled disarmingly.
Celene smiled and joined in the friendly banter that was traded. They all reached the kitchens and she grabbed a piece of bread before sitting down next to Tristan. The knights had all loaded plates with different foods. Celene knew about the eating habits of knights from her father. They ate as much good food as they could when they could get it; they had enough of eating frugally bad food when they were on missions. Celene shook her head at pleadings from others that she eat more; she said she was fine as she was. She always had only a light snack or nothing at all at midday, while she tended to eat her larger meals in the evening. This tended to help save on rations, as most servants and people in the fort ate like this, there was plenty of food for all that way.
After she had finished Celene got up and walked back to the infirmary, which was now shimmering in the unusual late afternoon sun. The knights soon came around on the pretence of needing some herb or other, but as Celene saw right through their plans of stopping her from working, she made them work. They all grumbled for a while but soon got down to work. All except from Gawain, who Celene excused on account of it being his birthday.
The afternoon soon passed, and found all the work done. When she had finished all her work she turned to see her mother. Sebille said that she had come to return the pages her daughter had taken to her. Celene eyed the pages as another job to do tomorrow, until Tristan took them and walked off. Once all the knights had left to get on with their various tasks Sebille smiled and left for her home, with promises of seeing her daughter that evening.
Celene decided to get on with getting ready for the party. She knew that it would be at Vanora's. She had just had Bors' first child and was still trying to persuade him to marry her. Anyway, Bors was stubbornly refusing, saying he didn't want to leave her a widow if he died. Celene had to shake her head and laugh. She knew that if Vanora wanted to be married then she was going to have to wait a good few years. Though it really was none of her business.
As she pulled her hair out of her plait she found tears gathering in her eyes. She hadn't forgotten the fact that her mother was dying, just had pushed it to the back of her mind while she worked. She quickly wiped the tears away from her face; it wasn't her place to be sad today. She was normally smiling and happy. It seemed there was not much for her to smile about now though. She realized she hadn't lost her mother or her father yet though, and she was determined to smile while she could. There were going to be hard times to come, she would deal with them as they came.
With those melancholy thoughts in her head she began brushing her hair. Soon the repetitive, mechanical movements soothed her. She soon found herself humming a tune her mother used to sing to her when she was a young girl. It soothed her even more. Eventually Celene laid down the hairbrush and began unlacing her dress. When she was standing only in her slip she walked over to her alcove and pulled back her curtain.
Choosing her dress Celene slipped it over her head. She observed herself in the mirror. The green dress was set off by her eyes, and her hair blended in well with it. The cut was low enough to show some skin, but not too low. It had a silver girdle around the waist and the flared sleeves were hugged to her elbows with silver cords. Finally came some forest green stockings and slippers to mach her dress before she walked over and sat at her vanity again.
Then she pulled back her hair into a bun and pushed in two long clips to keep it in place. They were like wooden knives. The ends which showed were covered in green silk and had silver chains hanging down with emeralds hanging on the ends of the chain. Then taking one last look at herself she walked to the door and pulled it open.
Author's notes: Sorry it's been so long folks. I hope you like this. I know this may not seem like me, but I am stuck on most of my stories. I know roughly the direction they're going in, but I need some help with the details. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.