Winter On The Weekend

'And if I only could

I'd make a deal with God

And I'd get him to swap our places'

Running Up That Hill by Placebo

26th June 1505, Palace of Placentia, Greenwich

Edward sat beneath a large oak tree, enjoying the shadow that the tree gave, giving relief from the hot summer sun. His little sister, Jane sat next to him, half playing with Susie (who had received a new satin gown as a result of their father's increased annum) and half listening to Edward's story that he was reading out loud. Edward looked up from his tale of King Arthur and the quest for Camelot at the loud shouting nearby. He could see his brother, Thomas, in the distance, shouting loudly and running around after three older boys. Edward squinted, his eyes narrowing to try to see who his brother was irritating now, he hoped it wasn't anyone too important as their father had firmly instructed Edward to watch over Thomas and Jane as Lady Godwin was busy with Lizzie and their mother was resting.

Edward's blue eyes suddenly widened with horror when he realised Thomas was tagging along behind Charles Brandon, William Compton and Prince Harry.

Oh no, he thought anxiously, knowing that if Thomas provoked the notoriously hot-headed prince then the Seymour family would be uninvited from the Prince's birthday celebrations on the 28th. Slamming the book shut and ignoring Jane's startled whimper, Edward moved to stand up when suddenly he was hit with alarming force.

Someone was screaming loudly, and Edward thought he recognised the voice to be Jane. Someone else was crying profusely but he couldn't quite see who as he tried not to let the tears fall.

"Eddy" shouted Thomas, hurtling towards his older brother, his playmates easily over-taking him due to their age.

"Right, Will, you go and get his father and get my father's physician. Charlie, you deal with those two" Harry commanded, pausing to point to the pair crying, "Thomas, can you go and fetch some water from the lake, so we can clean up the blood".

Edward opened his eyes again, searching for the source of the voice, his eyes falling on the Prince. He tried to speak, shaking his head slightly before turning over to vomit from the pain. He could hear Charles shushing his sister by bribing her with a boiled candy.

"Harry, what's going on here?" inquired another voice, his steel eyes looking across the children, worry evident on his pale face.

"Nothing to concern you, brother" hissed Harry, irritated that his brother was going to ruin his chance of being the dashing hero. His furrowed brow lessened slightly as he looked upon his sister, Mary, and then Infanta Catalina.

Arthur scowled at Harry, gesturing him to move away before kneeling down to Edward. Catalina peered at Edward anxiously, before procuring a small embroidered handkerchief from her sleeve and dabbing at Edward's bloodied face.

"What happened here?" she asked, in her highly accented English, her blue eyes looking over at Edward's bloodied nose and bruised face, before falling upon his injured arm. Edward tried to speak but he could feel the bitter bile rising his throat again, he closed his eyes, embarrassed to be seen as weak.

"It was my fault" hiccuped a gentle voice, between sobs. Catalina moved towards the speaker and sat besides the young girl, smoothing back her uncovered hair and cleaning the blood from the girl's face.

"I was climbing to hide from my governess and I fell on him, from the tree" she cried further, tears rolling down her face as her fingers played with her ripped gown.

Arthur turned to the smaller girl who was rubbing her eyes furiously, her lip fat from her teeth breaking it. She was laying in his wife's lap and her hand was clutching at an even smaller blonde girl. His heart clenched at the sight of Catalina. He knew she would be an amazing mother. She was so kind and caring towards everyone.

Arthur smiled kindly at the young child before him, his hand beckoning her closer.

"I'm sure this young knight here won't begrudge you".

Edward glanced at the blurry figure in front of him, before realised it was his new friend, little Anne. She was all snotty and red from crying and her lip was very bloodied and her expensive gown was ripped. Edward tried to smile at her but couldn't, his head was far too sore. He felt so very tired. The last thing he saw before he drifted off was a tall man in dark clothes carrying a heavy bag of equipment coming toward them and his father following quickly behind, worry furrowing his brows.

XX

Disclaimer: I do not own British History, Michael Hirst's ideas or Showtime's The Tudors.

Notes: This is more of a filler chapter to get the gist of some relationship and, to look at what sort of characters are involved in the story.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to message me (or leave it in a review) and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

I did get a question asking why I put song lyrics at the start of each chapter, the reason I do that is because it is the song I am listening to as I write. Therefore, I include it as part of a 'soundtrack' to get you in the mood *laughs*.

As always, I will apologise once more for my sporadic updates, I just suck at time management. I'm so sorry, and I greatly appreciate each and every person that reads my stories.