Chapter 3: ~An apology

"Elyan!" Arthur shouted as his friend put his sword back on its rack and started to walk back to his house after training with Arthur a few days later.

"Yes?" Elyan stopped and turned to face Arthur. Arthur barely noticed him from the other boys from various villages that trained with him. He was surprised he even knew his name.

"Er, is it alright if I come to your house, I want to speak to your sister, Gwen." He asked. Elyan nodded.

"I heard she made friends with Morgana yesterday." He said, starting to walk again now that Arthur had caught up with him.

"You're a good fighter." Arthur said after they had walked in silence for a couple of minutes. "Not as good as me of course." He added quickly. "But you're shaping up to be a strong knight."

"Thank you your majesty." Elyan said. "I just want to serve Camelot." Arthur nodded.

"I've no doubt you will." He replied and they carried on in silence until they reached Elyan's house. Arthur wrinkled his nose in disgust and stared around at the tiny kitchen as they walked in.

"Had a good day Elyan?" His mum asked, turning around to look at her son.

"Oh, mum this is Prince Arthur, Arthur, this is my mum." He introduced them. Arthur nodded and Elyan's mum did a small curtsey.

"Oh your majesty, I didn't know you were coming, there's not much food in, if you want something to eat, but I can send Gwen to get something if you want."

"I'm only here for a few minutes, I was actually wondering if I could talk to Gwen if that's okay?" Arthur asked.

"Yes, Elyan take him through. I expect it's about yesterday. When she got back I told her not to play with Morgana again. I doubt your father would approve and I didn't want any trouble." She babbled anxiously.

Elyan took him through to the other room and Arthur followed, trying to ignore the mud on the floor and cold draught blasting through small cracks in the walls. The first thing he saw in the other room was Gwen sweeping the floor, humming to herself as she went. She didn't notice Elyan and Arthur walking in. Elyan walked back out again to fetch water from the well. Arthur scuffed the floor with his boots to make Gwen aware of his presence. She jumped around quickly and her eyes widened when she saw who it was.

"Oh!" She exclaimed. "Your highness. I'm sorry. I didn't know you were here. I just want to apologise for yesterday. I shouldn't have played with Morgana, I don't know what came over me." She babbled.

"It's okay," Arthur told her softly. "I came to apologise to you. I shouldn't have called you a peasant girl. You will one day be one of my people and I should respect you as such." Gwen looked at him in amazement.

"I-I." She wasn't sure what to say next.

"Morgana and I were going to have a duel thingy tomorrow, before it we can come and get you to make sure neither of us cheats if you want to." Arthur said, before a really awkward silence could fall. Gwen noticed that he didn't say that Gwen could fight to. She supposed it was because she was a girl. The only reason Morgana was allowed to fight was because she was the king's ward. Uther wanted her to be able to defend herself for a worst case scenario where Morgana's life depended on her fighting skills.

"I don't know." Gwen replied. "I don't think that I'd be allowed."

"I can speak to your mum and say how good it is that Morgana finally has some female company her age." Arthur told her.

"Well, I guess it would be fun." Gwen wavered.

"We'll come and get you tomorrow then." Arthur told her. "It'll be sometime after lunch."

"Sounds good." Gwen smiled slightly at Arthur before adding. "Pushing someone is against the rules though." Arthur glowered slightly.

"You two are conspiring against me." But he had a smile on his face as he turned to leave the room. He turned to Gwen's mum as he walked out of the house, well he wouldn't call it that. He thought it more of a shack. "Uther thinks it's good for Morgana to have female company of her age, but there is no one in Camelot of a suitable status, but he heard about Morgana and Gwen yesterday. He thinks as long as they realise that their friendship can only be a childhood friendship, they can play together." He told her. Gwen's mother look surprised.

"Are you sure?" She asked him.

"Yes, if that is alright with you of course." He told her. "My father sent me to talk to Gwen and to talk to you."

"Well of course," Gwen's mum told him. "Have a good day, your highness." She said, curtsying and then he left. He felt slightly bad that he had lied, but he wanted Morgana to stop being mad at him. He didn't really get her point about Gwen not being just some peasant girl, but if it made her happy.

He hurried back to the castle and found Morgana in her room. "I did it." He said, bursting in. She glared at him angrily. "What?" He asked, seeing her expression. "I did what you wanted." She looked even angrier as he walked towards her.

"Arthur," She said through gritted teeth. "What have I told you about knocking before coming in?"

"Oh, sorry." Arthur said quickly, he wasn't sorry in the slightest, he just wanted to chat to Morgana.

"Go out, knock and when I say, you can come back in." Morgana ordered in an authoritative tone. Arthur quickly went out again and Morgana heard a loud tapping on her door. She smirked to herself and ignored it and carried on reading her book. The tapping became more insistent, but she still ignored it.

"Are you ever going to let me in?" Arthur asked, his voice muffled behind the door.

"I'm finishing the rest of the chapter," She told him, smirking slightly.

"Oh great," Morgana heard Arthur mutter.

"Okay, you can come in now," Morgana called five minutes later, putting her book down. "What can I do for you Arthur?" She gave him a sickly sweet smile which he returned, both of them knowing each was being sarcastic.

"I apologised to Gwen," He told her. "And she's joining us tomorrow, when we duel again."

"I can't wait," Morgana smiled and Arthur returned the smile. "To watch you have your butt kicked by two girls."

"You will not be kicking my butt," Arthur protested. "You're just a girl."

"And that is precisely why I will win," Morgana smiled. "Because you underestimate me because you think that I'm just a girl" She told him before sighing and adding. "As do most people."

"Well it's true," Arthur pointed out.

"And your just a boy," Morgana shrugged. "Why should I sit around playing with dolls while you train to be a knight just because I'm a girl."

"It's honourable for a man to protect a lady," Arthur argued.

"I can protect myself," Morgana told him. "Why shouldn't I be a knight?"

"You know father would be angry with you for saying those things," Arthur told her. She nodded.

"It's the way it is," She replied. "But you could change that when you become king."