Chapter 16 – Getting Royal Attention

In the evening a freshly bandaged Prince Arthur escorted Willow to the royal dinner with King Uther and Lady Morgana. Despite the king's smile of approval seeing Willow in her new blue dress, she felt like she should have been serving dinner along with Guinevere and Merlin instead of sitting with the nobility. They were seated. Merlin and Guin busied themselves pouring drinks and serving the food.

When Merlin poured wine for Arthur, he looked over at Willow in the dress he'd given her with such a misty-eyed smile he almost spilled the wine on Arthur. Arthur snapped at Merlin and corrected the goblet's placement under the stream of wine. Arthur looked at Willow with a shake of his head and an eye roll. Willow wanted to kiss Merlin right there. The inappropriateness of even thinking of doing that in front of the king made her want to giggle. What was she doing? She hadn't even tasted the wine yet. She managed to hide her giggle behind her napkin. She must be more nervous than she realized.

After a few brief pleasantries, King Uther and Arthur discussed the war efforts. News of a new attack had arrived just before dinner. Morgana asked them questions and sounded like she knew what she was talking about. Willow was lost in the conversation just trying to follow it when she heard the name of the town of Ithel being discussed. Ithel was a town near Crab Tree, just across the border in King Urien's lands. They spoke about how many troops from Ithel King Urien could muster.

Finally, something I can contribute. "I once healed an elderly woman from Ithel with a skin condition. She told me the people of Ithel are a lesser tribe of our enemies. They are a religious schism that feels resentment over a matter of their religious doctrine being labeled as blasphemy. They don't get along well with the others. I'll be surprised if King Urien will be able to muster anyone from Ithel to fight for him unless he uses great overbearing persuasion. In fact, I'd wager it wouldn't take much to turn them against their leaders. There are many splinter groups related to them all over King Urien's land from what the elderly woman told me. If only we could get them to revolt. It would greatly weaken our enemies."

King Uther stared at Willow. She blushed. She looked to Arthur to see if she'd said something offensive. Arthur stared at her as well. Willow glanced quickly to Morgana, then Merlin. Everyone stared at her. Willow's face felt like it was on fire.

A slow smile spread across the king's face. "Who would we talk to in order to work that out?"

Willow stared at him in shock. She was relieved she hadn't offended him. Then she was surprised to be taken so seriously. "Well, I don't really know. I've never been to Ithel myself, but one of the men of our town, Joel, the woman's grandson, has regular trade dealings with them in cloth and dyes."

Arthur grinned at her. "Could you introduce me to this man?"

Willow nodded. "His name is Joel Ranber. Granny Millicent could point his house out to you."

"You'll have to take me to meet this Joel Ranber," Arthur said. "We can leave tomorrow morning."

Willow blushed and shook her head. "You're wound is far from healed, Prince Arthur. It would be unwise to travel that far again so soon. And besides, Joel wouldn't want to see me again."

Morgana grinned and nodded knowingly. "You broke this Joel Ranber's heart, didn't you?"

Willow blushed. Morgana was good to guess so accurately based on so little information. Joel and his grandmother both despised Willow now.

Arthur protested. "I'm strong enough to make the trip. And this idea needs to be tried right away. Men are dying on the battlefield. Women and children are being slaughtered by Urien's men. If Lot joins forces with him like our informants are fearing we'll be overwhelmed. We must do something. We have to try this. About how many people would you estimate are in this schism group?"

Willow shrugged. "I've really no idea, except that the women I healed seem to think they made up a large percentage of the population and didn't deserve the ill-treatment they had received from their king."

Dinner was long since over and Morgana and Guinevere long-gone before Arthur and Uther finished plying Willow with questions. Finally, Arthur said, "Willow, you should come with me to help with the negotiations."

Uther protested. "That's no place for a healer. It's far too dangerous. She should stay here." He smiled at her in a slightly creepy way.

The king's smile surprised Willow, then made her nervous. What the heck is up with me? First, Merlin, then Arthur and now Uther? Have I been rolling in some potent aphrodisiac? "Really," Willow said as gently and convincingly as she could, "if Arthur is going wounded, I should be there to watch over him and make sure he doesn't reopen his wound. He's healing well, here, but the journey will strain his recovery."

Arthur said, "It's decided then. We'll leave at first light. You'd better go get some rest, Willow." He got up to leave and called Merlin. "We have a lot of packing to do, Merlin. Come along."

Willow got up to leave when they did, but Uther laid a hand over hers on the table and asked her to stay. Her eyes followed Merlin as he left, glancing back over his shoulder. He tried to linger, but Arthur called sharply to him from the hallway.

After Arthur and Merlin were gone, the king stood next to Willow closer than she was comfortable with. "I'm very sorry if I made you uncomfortable with my suspicions when you first arrived. I was worried about my son."

Willow looked down, away from his piercing gaze. "I understand, your majesty. Fear for a loved one is always a very powerful emotion."

He gently moved her hair away from her face. "So is gratitude for saving my son's life now at least twice. You are a truly remarkable young lady. A very beautiful young lady."

Willow glanced up alarmed and stepped back. She wanted to run out of the room screaming but settled for half a step so as not to offend the king. She chuckled nervously. "You are too kind, your majesty. I only did what anyone else would have done in my shoes." Romance is so inconvenient. I need to get out of Camelot before I have half the court trying to court me.

Uther stepped closer to her. "There are many who couldn't do what you did, who couldn't fill your shoes. You are an asset to have around. You have so many talents. Even though Arthur is taking you to your hometown, I insist that you return to Camelot with him. I would like to keep you close to me. Your talents should be richly rewarded. I could make your life here very comfortable." He took her hand in his and kissed it.

Willow couldn't suppress her shudder of revulsion. Though she was fairly sure she managed to keep her disgust from showing on her face. I have to hide how I really feel! She tried to sound grateful, "Your Majesty, your offer is very kind, but I had hoped to devote my life to my work and die a spinster. Being here in Camelot is most certainly making that very hard."

Uther sensed her rejection and dropped her hand. "Camelot has much to offer to the right person who can see it's advantages, but if it doesn't suit you, then I suppose it can be a bit much." He raised an eyebrow. "Spinster, eh? I would be surprised if one so young and pretty manages to pull that off. Your Milli didn't, did she?" His smile held meaning Willow didn't think she wanted to know about.

Willow raised her eyebrows. "I wouldn't know, your Majesty. She doesn't talk about her past with me very much."

Merlin entered at a run. "Excuse me, Your Majesty, but the prince has requested that his healer attend him."

Uther waved her away distractedly as he finished his glass of wine. Willow slipped out as gracefully as she could when what she really wanted to do was run away at full speed. She gave Merlin a grimace as she passed him and slipped into the hallway. Once they were far enough away that Willow was absolutely certain no one would hear her, she said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you. I wasn't sure how I was getting out of there."

Merlin cocked his head and asked in annoyance, "What did he do?"

Willow shuddered. "He only kissed my hand, but he made me an offer to stay very close to him and he would keep me comfortable." She finally allowed her face to show her utter revulsion of that offer.

Merlin's mouth dropped open and a look of disgust crossed his face. He quickly shut his mouth firmly and nodded, his face carefully neutral. "He sees how talented you are. It makes sense. What did you tell him?"

Willow stared quizzically at Merlin. "I told him I had wanted to devote my life to my healing and remain a spinster."

Merlin gave a little smile and nodded. "That sounds like a reasonable way to handle his offer. Do you?"

Willow scowled at him. "Do I what?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Still want to remain a spinster?" He seemed to be asking the question sincerely.

Willow rolled her eyes and shook her head. Looking around to make sure they were truly alone, she stepped in and planted a kiss on his lips.

He leaned into the kiss and grinned. "I'm very glad you feel like that." With a laugh, he pulled away and glanced around. "But we don't want to get caught here. Especially by Uther." He took her hand and escorted her to Arthur's rooms.