Merlin, Arthur, and Richard exited a tall white marble archway that led out to a vast and open large grassy green field.
In the middle of the field playing together were four kids, all looking to being close to Richard's age, and a woman, who looked to be around Merlin and Arthur's age, sitting and watching the kids play with her back facing them.
Merlin and Arthur led the way out to the middle of the field while Richard walked quickly behind them trying his best to match the pace of the two adults longer strides so to keep up with them.
"Hello Gwen." Merlin spoke first to the woman to get her attention before she turned around to face them. A warm smile appearing on her face.
She had a much darker skin complexion compared to that of Merlin and Arthur though it was still very light compared to that of Elyan's dark skin. The color almost made Richard think of hot chocolate.
She had dark brown eyes that matched the color of her long black curly hair and wore a simple, long sleeved blue and white dress that went all the way down to her ankles.
"Hello Merlin." She greeted before adding another hello to Arthur as well.
"Hi! I'm Richard!" Richard introduced himself before Gwen could have the chance to ask who he was.
Gwen giggled a little at Richard's rushed introduction that revealed him to be very friendly and outgoing despite his very young age. "Nice to meet you Richard." She replied.
"Go ahead and play with the other kids Richard. I need to speak with Merlin and Gwen for a moment." Arthur dismissed him.
At first Richard didn't comply right away with Arthur's order as he took a moment to ponder what it was exactly that Arthur wished to speak to Merlin and Gwen about without him around. His curiousity didn't last long however as it soon subsided and he turned his attention back to the kids jogging over eagerly to play with them.
Right before he approached them however a thought occured to him causing him to stop immediately in his tracks. What if they didn't like him?
His eager excitement subsiding with the feeling of nervousness he stood watching the kids continue to play together hoping for an invitation to join them.
One of the kids, a girl with long blonde hair, light colored skin, and bright blue eyes, was the first to notice Richard standing and watching them.
She stopped playing with the others for a moment and gave him a warm friendly smile as she walked over to him. "Hi! I'm Lil, what's your name?" She happily introduced herself.
"Richard." He replied back as a huge feeling or relief began to wash over him dragging some of the nervousness he had felt away.
The other kids stopped playing as well having just noticed him as well and silently stood staring at him. All of them were boys. The first one looked just like Lil with his short blonde hair and blue eyes but didn't seem to be as friendly judging by the frown on his face and the guarded look of suspicion he was giving Richard.
The second boy was taller than the blonde one and looked to be at least two years older than him. He had short brown hair like Richard's and icy colored blue eyes. Unlike the first boy however his expression was unreadable to Richard making it hard for him to tell if he was friendly or not.
The last boy had short curly black hair , dark brown eyes, and skin color just like Gwen's. He, unlike the other two boys, seemed to be pretty shy.
"That's my brother, Landon, my cousin, Jake, and my very best friend, Mark." Lil introduced them as she noticed Richard staring at them all. "And don't worry they aren't as unfriendly as they look. Come on I'll take you to meet them." She added taking Richard's hand, not giving him the option to protest, as she led him over to the other boys.
"Who is this?" Landon, the blonde one, asked his sister not taking his eyes as Richard glaring at him slightly. He was very protective of his sister especially around strangers.
"This is Richard. And be nice Landon he is new here." Lil sternly replied to her brother.
"Where are you from?" The second boy, who went by the name of Jake, asked.
"A long way away from here.." Richard replied not really wanting to talk about his home if only to avoid the sad and hollow feeling he felt inside just from thinking about it.
Lil gave him a sympathetic look as she saw the sadness reflecting from Richard's eyes at the mention of his home. She didn't know what had happened but she did know whatever it was it had to have been pretty bad if he didn't even want to talk about it.
"Where are your parents?" The third boy, Mark, asked.
Richard had to force himself to swallow hard as the image of his dead mother and father flashed before his eyes.
They like many of the other villagers, lay dead on the ground in a tall pile. Their hot and sticky bright red blood soaked the grass on the ground seeming to forever stain it red. Their eyes, wide open in desperation and fear, were forever open relfecting the very last thing they ever saw: Their killer.
It was a horrific sight that he would never forget.
"Dead..." He finally managed to choke out trying hard to fight the tears starting to form in his eyes as he looked away not wanting to let them see him cry afraid if he did he would look weak to them.
The kids all seemed to be quite shocked and saddened by his answer, their jaws open slightly leaving their mouths open.
Dead. Richard's words echoed in Jake's mind. It was a hollow empty feeling he knew very well. As he had no mother and was being raised by his father. His father never spoke of his mother and refused to talk about her leaving him to figure her to be dead.
"I'm so sorry..." Mark apologized feeling terrible for asking and feeling even worse for the loss Richard was suffering from. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose both his parents forever and never see them again.
"Me too." Lil added. She felt incredibly sorry for Richard. She was sure if she ever lost her parents she wouldn't be able to handle it and would have a hard time trying to go on without them but she at least had her brother Landon and the rest of her family to help her cope through it while Richard had nobody at all.
"Let's continue our game..." Landon says changing the subject of the conversation which was the best way he knew how to handle the situation.
Jake nodded happy to be pulled away from him broading thoughts. "You can play too." He added to Richard secretly hoping by doing so it would help cheer Richard up a little.
"...Okay...what are we playing?' Richard asked glad for the change in subject and distraction.
"Catch the fox." Mark told him with a small smile.
"What's that?" Richard asked pretty sure he had never heard of that game.
"It's a game we invented, kinda like tag but with a few different rules." Jake replied.
"What kind of rules?" Richard asked.
"Instead of the person who is it chasing after you their job as the fox is to outsmart and separate the group or the hunting dogs and lure them into time out spots without being caught or cornered from the dogs.
If you are trapped by the fox the only way you can get out of time out is by being rescued by one of your teammates. If you are the fox and get trapped into a time out spot the game is over." Landon explained to Richard in detail. Because it was a game he and Jake had invented it was he and Jake who understood it the best.
"So the fox is the one being chased instead?" Richard asked making sure he completely understood the context of the game.
"Yep, that's right." Jake replied with a slight nod of his head.
"So how do we decide who the fox is?" Richard asked.
The other kids all gave each other sly grins before shouting out "1, 2, 3, NOT IT!" at the same time catching Richard off guard which made him the fox. Grinning and laughing they all began to chase him as he ran from them in the field.
Arthur, Merlin, and Gwen meanwhile had been discussing Richard as Arthur told them how he and Lancelot had found him lost and alone in the middle of the woods and that he had been the only sole survivor of the village masacure they had been sent to investigate.
"Poor boy. I can't imagine how he hard this must be for him." Gwen spoke after Arthur had finished telling them the story. She knew what it was like to have both of her parents dead but her mom had died when she was little leaving her father to raise her and her brother until they were adults but Richard was still a little boy with no parents at all.
Merlin nodded solemnly in agreement.
"I'm telling you this sp you both will understand and accept my decision of what to do with him now." Arthur replied.
"What are you going to do?" Merlin asked him.
"I'm going to hold a council meeting in the council chambers and bring everyone there and announce Richard as my ward. My father did it for Morgana and I think I should do the same for Richard. I only hope not to have the same outcome that my father had with her later on." Arthur told them.
OOC: Jake belongs to Me.
Lil, Landon, and Mark belong to my very good friend Meg