Chapter 16: Oppositions

Morgana looked up from her vanity when Gwen came into her room. She took in at her companion's troubled look. "Gwen," Morgana went to her, "what's wrong?"

Gwen shook her head and denied being bothered by anything, but Morgana saw right through her. "Come on, let's talk." She tugged Gwen's hand and led her to sit on the bed.

The moment Gwen sat down her hand covered her mouth in an attempt to stifle the sob. "I'm sorry. It's trivial."

Morgana frowned, holding Gwen's free hand. "I doubt that."

Gwen told her of her encounter with Mithian, and Morgana felt her blood boil. "Mithian was so kind. Where did this ugliness come from?" She stood up. "I'm going to speak to her."

"No!" Gwen tugged her back. "It's fine. I'm fine. Really."

"It's not," Morgana argued. Before she could continue there was a knock on the door that went ignored. She would have a few words with Mithian whether Gwen liked it or not. The knock came again, this time more determined. Morgana let out an irritated sigh. "Come in."

George entered. "His lordship requests your presence in the library, my lady."

"Wonderful," Morgana muttered. She squeezed Gwen's shoulder. "We'll talk later. Rest easy for now."

George stood aside, letting Morgana through. His eyes flickered down and his right one twitched at a mark on Gwen's shoe. "Your shoe is scuffed. Would you like me to take care of it?"

Gwen looked at the tiny, insignificant scrape on the toe. "Would you feel better if you did?"

"Much," he nodded vigorously.

"I'll bring them down in a minute," she said with a sad smile.

George gave her a look of underlying concern before he left her alone in the room.

Merlin was making Arthur's bed when he pulled a long dark strand of hair off of the pillow. He choked back a laugh.

"What was that?" Arthur asked, sitting up from tying his shoe at his chair.

"Did you have a nice time with Gwen last night?" Merlin dangled the strand, but stopped when he realized Arthur couldn't see the one hair from where he was, which was why Arthur was giving him an odd look. He turned back to the bed and continued his work. "Sefa may have said something about seeing the two of you in the hallway. You really should consider finding a new canoodling spot, especially since Mithian's back."

"We were not canoodling," Arthur firmly said. "Wait. Mtihian's here? Already?"

Merlin looked back at him over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. "She was gone for quite a bit. Were you wishing for longer?"

Arthur grumbled.

"You could at least pretend to be excited when you see her," Merlin snorted. "Oh, and you're father wants to see you in the library."

"When?"

Merlin haphazardly dropped the pillow he was fluffing at the head of the bed. "Um, now?"

Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "You are the worst valet ever."

In the hallway, Arthur bumped into Sefa. "Oh, pardon me, my lord." She moved quickly by with her head bowed.

"Sefa—"

The maid stopped in her tracks and spun to face him. "I saw nothing, my lord. I swear!" she squeaked.

Arthur chuckled and held out a washcloth she had dropped in their collision. "You dropped this." She was too embarrassed to move, so Arthur came to her instead. He put the cloth back on top of the stack in her arms. "No worries. You're job is safe, Sefa. Have a good day."

She blushed. "Thank you, my lord."

He continued towards the stairs and met Morgana coming from the opposite way. Arthur gave her a mocking grin and offered his arm. "Going my way?"

Morgana took it with equal feigned enthusiasm. "Let's get this over with."

Arthur and Morgana were the last to arrive to the library. Uther and Catrina sat on one couch while Mithian sat in the one opposite of them. Morgana sat on the arm at the other end of the couch with a sour face, and Arthur sat in the center. At first Arthur thought Morgana's sour look was because she had to be in the same room as Catrina, but then he saw it was directed at Mithian. When Arthur caught her glaring, she looked away quickly.

Uther cleared his throat, standing. "I—what I mean to say is—we, Catrina and I. We have an announcement to make," he said, holding his hand out to Catrina who took it and stood next to him.

"Oh, dear God," Arthur complained under his breath.

Uther gave Catrina a sickeningly sweet smile and then turned back to the rest of them. "I've asked for Catrina's hand in marriage."

"And I said yes!" Catrina squealed.

Morgana slid from the armrest and onto the cushion next to her brother. "You have got to be kidding me."

Uther narrowed his eyes at her. "What was that?"

"I said," Morgana began, raising her voice, "you have got to be kidding me! Husband number four," Morgana pointed to Catrina, "and wife number two," she pointed to Uther. "Are you going to have a mistress on the side for this one, as well?"

"How dare you!" Uther sneered.

"Let it go, Morgana," Arthur groaned.

"No, I won't!" She slammed her hand down on the armrest. Had it been the glass coffe table, it would've shattered.

"There's no need for that," Mithian said calmly. From Uther's perspective, they looked like three children sitting on the couch, and Mithian was the favorable child.

Morgana leaned forward and looked down the couch to Mithian. "Don't get me started on you."

"I beg your pardon," Mithian said back tightly.

Arthur was literally caught in the middle. Between whatever was going on between his sister and Mithian he couldn't handle now on top of his father's official announcement. He got up to lean against the fireplace instead.

Morgana directed her anger back to her father. "How can you settle for this gold-digging whore?"

Catrina sputtered.

Red-faced, Uther pointed heatedly at her. "You shut your mouth!"

Morgana laughed sardonically and stood her ground. "Is there ever a time when you do want people to speak their mind. You certainly did a good job of shutting up my mother." Uther's eyes widened. "I found her…and my sister. She needed you, and you just threw money at her to make her go away. I'm sure she would've blamed you in her suicide note if she had written one. Every day she cursed your name!"

"Morgana…" Arthur said gently and went to move towards her, but then Uther doubled over. "Father!" He rushed to Uther's side. "Get help!"

MIthian ran out of the room, calling for the closest servant to call for Gaius. Arthur and Catrina supported Uther while Morgana stood back feeling guilty.

Uther was resting in his room. According to Gaius, he had a mild heart attack. Gwen knocked lightly on the door. She thought her knock may have been too gentle until she heard a faint "Enter," from Uther on the other side. She opened the door with one hand while balancing the tray of food with the other.

Uther was propped up on bed reading a document. Not even a heart attack could keep him from working.

"My lord," Gwen greeted softly, setting the tray down on the bedside table. "Gaius said you could have a light dinner."

Uther side-eyed the tray. "Light indeed." He went back to reading the document.

"He also said you shouldn't be working." Her heart jumped when Uther directed his steely gaze at her. "That is to say, you shouldn't be doing things that may be stressful…like work. Maybe you should be reading something more…relaxing…"

"You may be a lot like your mother, but eloquent is not one of her traits you inherited," Uther grunted, putting down the paper and turning to sit on the edge of the bed. He weakly poured tea into the cup. Gwen made a move to help him, but he raised a hand in opposition.

"I'll just go then," Gwen said quietly, backing away.

"Wait."

She stopped. "Yes, my lord?"

Uther put the teapot down and placed both hands on his knees, leaning forward, burdened. "You've spent the most time with both Arthur and Morgana. How are they? Are my children happy?"

Gwen couldn't form an answer in time, so Uther dismissed her. It came to her when she got to the door. She turned back to him. "Lady Morgana can be difficult, rebellious. When she is unhappy, she'll put herself first to find joy. But Lord Arthur…all he does is seek your approval so you will be happy. So you will be proud of him."

She left Uther with that.

A/N: Is it me or is this season of Downton Abbey boring? I'm finding it uninspiring, and not good background noise when writing this.

There will be more on Morgana's mother in the next chapter. I originally had more in the argument but I suck at writing arguments. Need more fluffy bits. Those are fun XD (that's what Him and Her is for)

Thanks always for reading and reviewing!