This is shorter than the others and not much happens here. It's just a basic chapter, but welcome it. Some will be comlicated this is not.
The sun shone through the window. Ava and Artemis were the only ones the house that were no longer sleeping. They sat outside in the back of the house sipping from goblets.
"What do you think Camelot's like?" Ava asked.
"Probably similar to all cities. It's probably nothing different."
"What do you think Uther is like?"
"I have heard things about him. I shouldn't have to tell you Ava, but never use magic in Camelot. It's too dangerous. If it's just you and I using magic around each other, that's usually fine, but not when we enter Camelot. Uther is paranoid. If he hints any sorcery at all... you will be killed."
"You think he's a bad king?"
"No, I think he does what he believes is right when it's not right."
"You'll have to be careful too. No mention of magic."
"I know that. You forget who the master here is," Artemis laughed. She ruffled Ava's hair.
"Stop," she said smacking her hand away. "I'm 13 now! Treat me like it!"
"I will when you act like!" Artemis said teasing.
"Why you-" Ava went to tackle Artemis, but Artemis dodged her attack and landed on her feet. Ava and Artemis circled each other. They were laughing.
"Come on little girl. Come on. Let's see what you've got." Ava lunged for Artemis. Artemis grabbed her waist as she flew at her. Artemis held her like a potato sack. "Nice try, but I'm still the master," Artemis laughed.
"Are you good with all children?" a voice said. Artemis turned. Lady Morgana was standing there laughing at the scene. Artemis laughed.
"Yes. I hope if I can find the right person to share my life with that I'll have a lot of children."
"I'm not a child!" Ava yelled. Artemis laughed.
"Hush child," Artemis teased.
"Let me go!"
"No. What is that I can help you with Morgana?" she asked.
"Arthur wanted me to tell you to stop wasting time and get your things together."
"What a prat," Ava said. Artemis dropped Ava on the ground. "Hey!" Artemis laughed.
"Go saddle the horses. I'll get our things together."
"Kay Teach," Ava said standing. She ran off. Artemis smiled.
"Come on Morgana. You can help me with my things. I don't have much." Morgana and Artemis entered the house. Artemis pulled two bags from a draw. She started throwing clothes into the bags.
"What can I do?" Morgana asked.
"See that chest?" she asked nodding to the chest she had put her copper coins in.
"Yes?"
"Put everything that's in there, in here," she said throwing a smaller bag to Morgana. Artemis continued to throw clothes in the bag. Morgana opened the chest. Inside was multiple coins. There was some copper, some silver, and some gold. There was a large chunk of money in it.
"Where did you get all this?" she asked.
"Kael left some of it for me and I got some of it as payment throughout my travels and some of the copper is from the villagers." Artemis finally finished putting the clothes in the bags. She pulled her trunk from the corner. Artemis tapped her foot. It would be such a pain to bring it with, but she had to. It was necessary.
"Done!" Ava announced walking inside.
"Good. Everything's pack. Help me tie the trunk one to Philip."
"Philip?" Gwen asked with a laugh coming in the house. Artemis smiled.
"Ava's horse's name is Philip. He was originally my fiancé's, Ava's brother, Kael's, but he was left to Ava when Kael died. My horse's name is Libera. It means free in the Old language. Clearly I was the creative one." She laughed. Ava and Artemis walked outside. Morgana and Gwen followed them. Merlin and Arthur was no where to be seen.
"You're horses are beautiful," Morgana exclaimed. Both were tall, strong horses. One was pure black and the other was pure white.
"Thanks. They're Frisian."
"Frisian?" she asked.
"They're a popular breed to the east, but are usually only given to those of nobility," she said patting the black horse. "Hi Philip," she said. "Hold still." Ava came out dragging her trunk. Artemis threw a blanket over Philip and then set the trunk on it. Ava and Artemis carefully tied a rope around Philip and the trunk. It was steady. "Lovely. Thankfully Philip is a strong horse."
"Are you ready yet?" a voice came. Merlin appeared with three horses. One was Lady Morgana's; one was Gwen's; and the last was Merlin's.
"Naturally," Artemis replied. "Where's the Prince of Arrogance? Got stuck looking in the mirror?" she asked. Morgana and Gwen both laughed. Merlin smiled.
"Actually, I'm right here," a voice said from behind Artemis. Artemis turned smiling.
"Good. We can go." Artemis turned to her house. Hunith came out. Artemis and her hugged.
"Don't cause trouble," she said.
"Oh, Mother, I'm not a child. I won't... for the most part." Merlin and Hunith embraced.
"Goodbye you two."
"You make it sound like a funeral," Artemis said swinging her leg over Libera. Ava hugged Hunith.
"Thanks Hunith. You've treated me like a daughter since I arrived."
"Take care of her, Ava," she said.
"I'll make sure Teach doesn't destroy Camelot."
"Come on, Ava. We're burning daylight," Artemis said. Ava pulled herself onto Philip.
It took two days to get to Camelot. The rode there consisted of Ava's constant questions and Artemis telling her to just wait and see.
"So Teach where are we staying?"
"Do you remember Jack?" Artemis asked.
"Er... I think so. Tall, good looking, brown hair, always making advances at you causing Kael to challenge him to a duel... which Kael kicked his ass?"
"That's the one. He has a house in Camelot. He's letting us stay there."
"When did you talk to him?" Ava asked confused.
"I sent a letter about a month ago."
"Were you planning to go to Camelot?" Merlin asked confused.
"I was debating it. Many thoughts were going through my head and I wasn't sure what was going to be."
"Teach was over thinking again," Ava said. "She always does that. Never acting until necessary. You should be more like a bird. Is it a bird?" Ava asked suddenly. Artemis laughed.
"No."
"Still trying to find out Artemis's spiritual guardian?" Merlin asked.
"Yes. I have a cat and I've tried finding something that fits her, but there's nothing!" Artemis laughed again.
"When you find out, you're going to hit yourself."
"Suuuure, it's probably some really rare exotic species that's just ridiculous and in your mind is normal."
"Are you suggesting I'm weird?"
"Uh, no, I'm suggesting that your mind is."
"Either I'm weird or I'm a genius. I think it's the latter," Artemis laughed.
"Oh! There it is!" Ava yelled as the walls of Camelot finally came into view. "It's just as big as-"
"Ava," Artemis warned not wanting Ava to mention where she hails from.
"Oops, sorry Teach," Ava grinned. Artemis rolled her eyes.
"Almost as big as where?" Morgana asked.
"Nowhere just a place," Ava said with a nervous laugh. "Hey Teach! Are the knights of Camelot really as strong as they say?"
"I don't know. Are they Arthur?" she asked turning her attention to the Prince riding at her side.
"There are no better knights," Arthur replied.
"We shall see," Artemis replied.
"By the way, Artemis," Morgana said, "Arthur and I have discussed it and decided that you'll be a maid for both of us. You'll be shared."
"I sound like an object," Artemis muttered.
"Back to being a maid," Ava snickered.
"Shut it. You know what you'll be doing all day while I work as a maid?" Artemis asked.
"No. What?"
"You're going to read until you're brain is filled with knowledge."
"Yuck! I hate reading! It's so boring!"
"Well if I have to clean Arthur's dirty floors then you have to do something you find equally torturous."
"You're so mean." Artemis laughed.
"That's what I'm here for." They entered the city and Ava was looking every which way. Artemis was calm.
"So where's our house?" Ava asked still looking around excitedly.
"There," she said pointing to a decent house coming up. It had a small place where the horses would stay. Ava rode ahead of the others and to the house. She got off and went to the door.
"It's locked!" Ava yelled. Artemis rolled her eyes.
"I have the key," she replied as she rode up. "I'll see you people tomorrow. We have to settle in."
"Alright. Have a good night," Merlin said.
"Tell Gaius I'll see him when I can."
"I will." Artemis pulled a key from her pocket before unlocking the door. The house was furnished decently. It was small like all the houses in the lower town. There was one bed, small table with fours chairs around it, and few cabinets and shelves. There was nothing special. Artemis set the bags down on the floor.
"I'm going to go unsaddle the horses. I'll leave my trunk out by the door. You bring it inside. Throw it in a corner." Ava nodded. Artemis untied the rope around the trunk and Philip before leaving the trunk in front of the door. She brought the horses to the back and unsaddled them. She put away the saddles before patting Libera and Philip. Artemis went back in the house. Ava was putting clothes in a bureau.
Artemis sighed. "Hm... only one bed."
"You know I like sleeping on the floor anyway. I'll just make me a little bed under the window."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Mother," she teased again. Artemis smiled.
"You really are a stupid cat, Ava," Artemis laughed.
"Rude!" Ava objected. Artemis laughed.
"Well, I'm going to go visit Gaius. You can explore Camelot just be careful and be back by dinner."
"Yes, Mother." Artemis left the house and wandered into the upper part of town. She managed to find her way to Gaius's. She knocked on the door gently.
"Come in," a voice said. Artemis entered. The room she entered was filled with books and jars that lined shelves upon shelves. There were experiments going on on the tables and countertops.
"Hello Gaius," Artemis said looking at the back of an elder man's head. He turned and looked surprised.
"Artemis... the last time I saw you, you never spoke and you looked very ill. Now look at you. Things sure do change."
"I wanted to thank you for trying when I was a child."
"Yes, you were certainly hard to figure out. Did you ever find out what inflicted you?" he asked.
"I did."
"What was it?" Artemis smiled.
"Nightmares," she replied. "I was always stuck in them. I was barely in reality half the time."
"I don't understand."
"I'm a seer, Gaius." He looked surprised, but only for a moment.
"Of course. That would explain it. You must be a very gifted seer. Your brother is very talented with magic." Artemis smiled.
"I know."
"Does he know about your magic?"
"Only a little. He knows I'm a good seer and he knows I know a little, but he has no idea the extent of my power. I learned from the dragons of the east of magic during my travels. They know more than anything you could ever read in a book. The Old Religion is very prominent in the east."
"Why did you never teach him anything?" Gaius asked. Artemis shrugged.
"I stopped practicing when I came back. I mean I still can use it. I just don't want others to know. He needs to learn for himself like I had." Gaius nodded.
"I understand."
"Anyway, I'm here. Moved into Camelot. Apparently working as a maid... ew. So if you need anything just ask. I'm a physician as well. I learned on my travels."
"It'll be good to have someone to discuss science with. Lord knows Merlin knows nothing." Artemis laughed.
"Yeah, my brother's not exactly the smartest person in the realm. I had word he was working for Arthur. I'm glad. Arthur may be an arrogant, stubborn, pain in the ass, but he'll make a great king one day."
"They may act like they don't care, but I know Arthur would be lost without Merlin and vise versa," Gaius said. "What about you? You say you're working as a maid. I'm assuming for Arthur or Morgana."
"Both, they decided to share me like you would a tool," she said with slight bitterness.
"Make sure they don't run you down."
"Oh I know. Anyway, I should get back to start dinner for my little protégé, Ava. Bye, Gaius."
"Take care." Artemis left back to the house. She made dinner. Ava still wasn't back when it was done. Artemis sighed and ran her fingers through her hair before going to her trunk and opening it. She pulled out an old drawing book and a writing utensil. Artemis sat at the table sketching Arthur, Merlin, Gwen, and Morgana. She tried for an hour to get them down with practice. Finally, Artemis turned to a new page and wrote in bubble letters at the top: In Which another Adventure Starts.
"Sorry. Some ass was holding me up," Ava said. She looked to see Artemis drawing what had happened in Ealdor. "You're drawing again...," she said suspiciously. "You haven't done that since Kael died."
"There was nothing to draw since Kael died," she replied. Ava looked over her shoulder. "What do you think? Does it look like the others?" she asked turning the page to see the others she had been working on.
"Sure does." Artemis and Ava ate and talked a little before finally settling to bed.