"The time has drawn nigh, yet again, the time for our game to begin. The last dare was created by myself, Guinevere, and served by Arthur and consisted of him calling his father a prat, a clotpole, and an ass." Gwen chanted eerily, hiding a smirk. "Now it falls to Arthur to fabricate a truth or dare for the person of his choosing, consisting of anything that his mind can conceive." She waited with bated breath, watching his facial expression for any sign of revenge. When she saw none, she relaxed, but only a bit. He had turned a smirking eye towards Morgana, and she could tell it made her mistress slightly uncomfortable.
"Morgana," Arthur began, eyebrow raised, "Truth or dare?" Morgana hid her uneasiness well, rolling her eyes in annoyance.
"Dare" she said, pushing aside her uneasiness and replacing it with confidence. This was Arthur, for heaven's sake. He wasn't clever enough to do any real damage.
Arthur's ever deepening smirk deepened. He took his time situating himself into a more relaxed position - much to Morgana's frustration - before he continued. His gaze locked onto his target.
"I dare you to switch places with Guinevere for a week, completely and in every way." He said nonchalantly, remaining relaxed but watching Morgana's reaction closely.
A look of complete shock crossed her face for only a moment. In that moment, thousands of thoughts ran through her mind. What was he thinking? How would Uther react? What would he do to Gwen? Has he finally lost it? He is so utterly stupid! But in the next moment she had pulled herself together and collected her thoughts. He wanted to rattle her and get a reaction, but she was not going to give it to him.
"Eww! Do I have to act like I'm in love with you, too?" she cried, screwing up her nose and scowling in mock disgust. She would deal with the seriousness of this dare a bit later.
"I, uh, erm, well, no. Obviously not." said Arthur, taken aback. Morgana grinned. She had succeeded in at least flustering him, a minor victory considering the dare he'd given her, but a victory none the less. Her smile faded when Gwen caught her eye. She looked absolutely mortified. Seeing that look in her friend's eyes caused Morgana's panic to rise back up again, but she pushed it down. She needed to handle this as level-headedly as possible.
"Seriously, though, Arthur, are you mad? How do you think this could possibly work? Not only would Uther be furious, but Gwen would be put into danger as well. It just can't happen." She said, seeing Gwen relax just a bit. If only she could relax as well. Arthur wouldn't have given her this dare if he hadn't thought it through entirely.
"It's quite simple, really" said Arthur, grinning. "Merlin and I have discussed it in great detail, aye Merlin?" he asked, nodding towards his manservant.
"We planned this out for hours, Morgana, I don't think you could get out of it even if you tried." said Merlin, chuckling, his boyish grin lighting up his face. Groaning inwardly, Morgana shared a hopeless look with Gwen.
"And how, may I ask, does Your Brilliance plan on pulling this off?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Well, My Lady, you are to tell my father that you want to spend a week experiencing how the rest of the kingdom lives their lives day to day and have decided to switch places with your maid." said Arthur, acting as if he were simply discussing the weather. "You also need to add that you hope that your maid will gain insight into how she can better serve you after spending a week in your place. From there, it's just you serving Guinevere in every way that she serves you." He finished, grinning. Beside him, Merlin's grin had only grown larger. Morgana ran the plan through over and over again, but couldn't find a single problem with it. She looked at Gwen, raising her eyebrows for assistance.
Gwen, catching Morgana's look of slight distress, took over the discussion.
"But, Arthur, what am I to wear? Surely I can't appear in court in place of Morgana in these clothes." She said, motioning to the plain red dress she wore. Morgana let out the breath she'd been holding, relieved that Gwen had found a hole in his plan. Morgana didn't have any suitable clothes to wear for the dare, either. Arthur did not let this set him back, though.
"Merlin and I already thought of that," said Arthur, still wearing his annoying smile. "At first I thought that would be a problem, but Merlin reminded me that you have worn Morgana's clothes before. Do you remember when you both were captured, but only she escaped at first? I found her in only her undergarments. When I came to rescue you, you were in her gown. It seemed to fit you well enough." said Arthur, smirking at Morgana. She couldn't even begin to describe how much he infuriated her.
"Arthur, Gwen is a bit smaller than I am." Morgana said through gritted teeth. She had ot be careful not to let him get the reaction that he wanted, though if he kept up like this she would not be able to contain her fury at his attitude. He only continued to grin. At this point, Merlin was holding back laughter.
"You remember when you tried to smuggle Mordred out of the castle? You wore the very dress that Guinevere is wearing now, along with her red cloak. You didn't complain then, from what Merlin tells me. Anyways, tight clothes have never stopped the towns people from wearing them." He said, raising an eyebrow at her, challenging her to lose it and complain like the spoiled princess she was. Morgana realized she was shooting daggers at Arthur when she heard Gwen stifle a laugh. Relaxing, she decided she'd beat Arthur at his own game.
"Fine," she sighed, releasing the tension she'd let build up. "I accept."
Arthur raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Told you" Merlin muttered, earning him a punch in the shoulder from Arthur.
Morgana and Gwen were walking to Gwen's home together later that night, the full effects of accepting the dare only now setting in.
"So, I'll show you the different chores that need to be done in the morning before you have to come to the castle." said Gwen, trying to wrap her mind around the whole idea of swapping places for a week.
"Alright, once at the castle I think I have a pretty good idea as to what I need to do" Morgana replied, become more nervous the closer they got to Gwen's house. Gwen raised an eyebrow, but remained silent.
They arrived at the house and Morgana slowed to a stop, looking apprehensively at the dark windows.
"Come on," Gwen urged, opening the door and stepping inside. Reluctantly Morgana followed.
"How do you think they're doing down at Gwen's house?" Merlin asked, still laughing with Arthur over the girl's reactions.
"I wouldn't worry too much, Merlin." Arthur laughed, clapping his manservant on the shoulder. "Guinevere can hold her own, she's been at Morgana's side through everything. She'll be brilliant."
"And Morgana?" asked Merlin, trying to imagine Arthur and he switching places and only coming up with a lanky, clumsy boy in chainmail and an arrogant Prince in a blue scarf trying to find his way through the kitchens.
"Ha! Morgana will hold her own as far as comedy goes. She's far too fiery to make a half decent serving girl" said Arthur, chuckling. "Does Guinevere ever get ordered around by anyone other than Morgana?" he asked, running his finger around the rim of his goblet.
"Oh, tons" said Merlin, the laughter in his eyes disappearing a bit too quickly for Arthur's liking. When Merlin didn't go into further detail, he prodded for more.
"Like who? And how?" he asked, perhaps with a bit too much concern.
"Oh, um, Cook, the Ladies of the court, nothing out of the ordinary." said Merlin, looking at the floor, the wall, the ceiling, anywhere but at Arthur, who in turn frowned.
"Merlin, what aren't you telling me?" he asked, now feeling justified in his concern.
"Well, um, they...aren't always the nicest because she is Morgana's hand maid." He responded, thinking that statement spoke for itself. It did for him, anyways.
"What do you mean 'aren't the nicest'? And why would Morgana have anything to do with it?" Arthur asked, exasperated.
"Well, they speak down to her, they try to humiliate her, they send her on impossible tasks-I don't know how she accomplishes them, but she always does. This has to do with Morgana for many reasons. It all started when she stood up for Gwen when she was accused of sorcery. You remember, when you killed the Avank? They didn't think it appropriate for the king's ward to be friends with her maid, especially since she would rather talk with Gwen than socialize with them." Merlin paused, trying to find the right words to explain everything to Arthur.
"Please, continue" Arthur urged.
"Well, then there are all of those times that Morgana has stood up to the King, either in defense of Gwen or of someone else. No matter what the case may be, Gwen has always supported Morgana. Since the Ladies don't approve of Morgana's actions, they take it out on Gwen because she supports her as a trusted friend as well as a loyal maid, which brings me to another issue that they have." said Merlin, trying to gauge Arthur's internal reaction.
"Women!" he shouted, setting his goblet down rather violently. "Keep going, Merlin." Sighing, Merlin continued.
"Well, Gwen and Morgana are friends. In fact, they're like sisters. Once again, the Ladies don't approve. They torment Gwen about her status and how her closest friend, the only one left who cares about her, will eventually abandon her due to the gap in their social status. They try to make Gwen pull away from Morgana, but she's only grown closer to her. They dislike Morgana and disapprove of almost everything that she does. Their solution is to take it out on Gwen." Merlin's gaze returned to the floor. Arthur had his elbow on the arm of his chair and his chin resting on his fist.
"How does Guinevere respond to these...taunts?" he asked.
"Well, in front of them she does her best to ignore them. When she has to acknowledge them she acts as if nothing is wrong, as if they aren't speaking. Afterwards, though, I've come upon her sitting against the wall in the servant's corridors with her head in her arms weeping or with silent tears running down her face as she moves about the castle doing various chores." said Merlin, hating that he was telling Arthur this. Arthur stood up and walked over to the window.
"Well, we'll just have to see how Morgana handles herself and these Ladies. For the next week, she is no longer the king's ward. She is only a mere servant and everyone is to treat her as such. She holds none of her previous power.
Please Review! They are such motivation! I will continue the story of the Morgana/Gwen status swap in the next chapter (I may even dedicate several chapters to the telling of this dare)! What do you think? Yay or nay? Let me know! If you have any ideas in regards to the Gwen/Morgana swap, let me know in a review! :) Many thanks for reading!