7 years later
Several happy and quick years had passed since the day Richard had come to live in Camelot and was taken in by King Arthur and his husband, Merlin.
Since then Richard began his training as a page determined to work his way up to the rank of a knight. He often dreamed of going to different far off places, seeing the world, fighting dangerous mythical beasts, and saving the day.
"Richard!"
Richard had been carrying a couple of scrolls in his arms walking through the halls of the castle making his way to the library but stopped for a moment as he heard his name called.
A smile appeared on his face as he recognized the sound of the person's voice addressing him to be his none other than his younger step sister Lil. She had grown quite a bit since the day he had first met her seven years ago. Her blonde hair had grown much longer and even she too had grown a couple inches.
"Hey Lil, finish with your lessons early today?" Richard asked. The lessons he had been referring too was her magic lessons since it had been only two years ago that everyone had found out Lil had inherited the magic gene trait from her father Merlin.
Richard had been happy for her when he found out she possessed magic but he was secretly relieved that he himself didn't have to learn magic as the very thing itself still made him quite uncomfortable and though he had no real hatred of it at all he tried not to show how uncomfortable it made him around everyone, especially Lil and Merlin.
"Yes. And I overheard my fathers' talking to Gaius." Lil told him excitedly as she grinned from ear to ear.
"What did they say?"
"Uh uh. Can't tell you." Lil replied teasingly shaking her finger back and forth at him in a mock scolding manner.
Richard frowned. "Then why did you bring it up?"
"Because we need to find Landon, Mark, and Jake first and then I'll tell you guys what I heard."
"I think I last saw them in the kitchen running errands for the cooks. I need to drop off these scrolls first to Geoferry and then I'll meet you guys outside in the field. We can all talk there." Richard told her as he began making his way back down the hall.
"Okay, I'll the rest of the guys and meet you there!" Lil called after him before leaving in the opposite directions toward the kitchen to find the others.
Later on after dropping off the scrolls to Geoferry in the library, Richard rushed through the servant quaters as quickly as he could using them as a shortcut to the field outside where he knew Lil and the others would surely be waiting for him.
As he rushed through the crowded hall he had to dodge past servants and try hard not to accidently bump into one or knock over the various things they carried in and out of the small hallway.
"It's about time you got here! What took you so long?" Landon spoke up first as he noticed Richard running up to them.
"Sorry..Geoferry made me wait until...he finished looking over...something.." Richard replied in between panting as he leaned over with his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath.
"Don't mind Landon, Richard. He is just impatient to hear this great news Lil has promised to tell us." Mark told Richard giving his friend a small smile.
"Yeah and since we are now all finally hear why don't you tell us what this is all about Lil?" Jake spoke up turning to face Lil crossing his arms over his chest as he was now starting to lose his patience as well.
"I overheard my fathers' talking to Gaius while I was studying from one of Gaius' old spell books and they said that they all believe you guys are ready to have your squire ceremony tonight." Lil told them with a beaming smile on her face eagerly awaiting for their reactions.
"Yes! Finally! Man, it seemed like we would have to wait forever." Landon replied with a small smile as his way of showing his excitement.
"Are you sure?" Jake asked Lil somewhat in disbelief. He had chosen to put his squire ceremony back a year so that he, Mark, Landon, and Richard could have one at the same time but he too was now eager to recieve his mentor and begin his training.
"I wonder who are mentors will be." Mark spoke hardly able to contain his excitement.
"I don't know but I am sure that Arthur will pick nothing but the best knights to train us." Richard replied as he secretly hoped the hours would just fly by quickly so it could be time for the ceremony to begin.
Fortunately for the boys the time seemed to go by rather quickly until it was nearly time for their ceremony to begin.
In Arthur and Merlin's chambers, Landon and Richard were currently being fussed over by Merlin who had insisted on making the two of them look perfect for their special ceremony.
Gwen too had insisted as she was currently fussing over not only her son, Mark, but Jake, because he had no mother to fuss over him, as well.
"Stop. My hair looks fine really.." Landon huffed with annoyance as he grew tired of Merlin fussing over the bangs of his short blonde hair.
Richard tried not to laugh at Landon's "torment" as he finished buttoning up his brown leather jacket. He was glad that Merlin finally finished fussing over his hair and seeing him move on to Landon amused him greatly.
"Wipe that smirk off your face Richard or I swear I will mess you up real good!" Landon threatened as he looked over and glared at Richard.
Richard paid the threat no heed as it was only another one of Landon's empty threats that he often gave to those who were annoying him but never had truely acted on.
"Alright. I'm done. Go ahead and put on your red jacket." Merlin told Landon as he smiled proudly watching Landon walk away and quickly slip on the red jacket his father, Arthur, had tailored special for him.
Once he had finished buttoning it up, Merlin lead the way out of the room and into the hall where Gwen, Mark, and Jake were waiting for them.
"Where's Lancelot?" Merlin asked Gwen as they all walked together towards the council chambers where the ceremony was going to be held.
He was surprised not to see Lancelot with his wife Gwen to escort her and their son, Mark, to the council chambers.
"He said Arthur needed to speak with him for a moment and that he would meet us there." Gwen told him though she didn't sound disappointed at all due to being too overwhelmed with pride for her son Mark.
"Where's Lil?' Mark asked Richard and Landon with a disappointed frown. He had been hoping to see her with them to hear what she thought about his brown curly hair being nicely slicked back and his brand new black leather jacket.
"She's waiting for us in the council room. She wanted to go early so she could get a good spot to watch the ceremony from." Richard explained as he placed a hand on Mark's shoulder and gave him a small smile.
Mark gave him a small smile back and nodded telling himself he could wait to see her after the ceremony.
As they entered the council chambers, they walked confidently through the two rows on the long red rug greeting everyone assembled with either a smile or polite nod of the head until stopping in front of the platform.
Gwen went to go join Lil, Gaius, and Elyan at the front of the crowd as Merlin made his way up the platform to proudly stand beside Arthur.
"Friends, Knights, and members of the court we are all gathered here for a very special occasion. Today we admit four young pages who have trained very hard to become squires.
As you all know a squire begins the very foundation of Camelot for it is there that he joins the ranks of the knights and the guards who help protect our great city from both the danger outside our walls and inside." Arthur started the ceremony only pausing for a brief moment as the crowd clapped.
He waited until the noise had died down before continuing on with the speech.
"Landon, as prince of Camelot you will need a knight that will teach you bravery, strength, honor, discipline, battle tactics, and how to lead men into battle that is why I could think of no better mentor for you than Sir Leon.
Sir Leon, you have been through many battles and wars with me and have proven yourself more than worthy to pass on the knowledge and skills that you have learned on to my son as his mentor until the day he becomes a knight of Camelot."
"Thank you Sire, I will not let you down. Landon will be a great knight and future leader." Leon swore as Landon walked over to join him with a proud smile.
"I'm sure you won't and with that being said it is time to move on to our next squire." Arthur says before turning his attention to Richard.
"Richard, When I chose your mentor I didn't need to think long or hard about it since I know there can be no better teacher for you than Sir Lancelot. It was he who found you that day seven years ago and it is he who I know will teach you all the chivalry, honor, courage, strength, and skill you will need to become a great knight of Camelot."
Richard smiled as he walked over to Lancelot standing beside him as Landon had done with Leon. He was happy that Arthur had chosen Lancelot to be his mentor because, though he didn't admit it out loud, Lancelot was his favorite of all the knights and he looked up to him.
"Jake, last year you respectfully declined to become a squire in order to spend your ceremony with your friends and now it is finally your turn to join your rightful place as a squire. For your mentor I chose Sir Percival. He is a strong, skilled, and brave knight who I am sure will pass on these skills to you to become a knight of Camelot."
Jake nodded and walking proudly he walked over to stand beside his mentor Percival accepting the choice of him as his mentor believing that with Percival as his mentor he would grow up to be one of the best knights Camelot had ever seen.
"Last but not least Mark it is time for your mentor to be chosen. I have thought long and hard for the perfect knight to mentor you and could think of no one better than Sir Gwaine. Sir Gwaine is a good friend of your father's and they have often fought side by side together in battle. I have no doubt in my mind that Gwaine will be a good teacher for you to teach you courage, strength, determination, and to be bold."
Mark nodded his face beaming with pride as he joined his mentor Sir Gwaine.
"Congratulations squires. Your training begins tomorrow. I wish you and your mentors the best of luck as you start your long journey to knighthood." Arthur concluded the ceremony while everyone cheered and congratulated the new squires and mentors.
"Congratulations guys! I'm so proud of you!" Lil exclaimed as she ran up and hugged Landon, Jake, Mark, and Richard.