The day they had both been waiting for had finally arrived. After days, weeks, months, a lifetime of waiting, it was finally time. It was the day their paths would split, and they would both follow their own way to their destiny. Sure, it was the day they would be separated for the first time in their lives, but neither of them felt much remorse.
When would they see each other again? No-one would tell them. Morgainne had just turned fourteen. Morganna was twelve. They had spent every single day of their lives together. Played together. Learned together. Mourned the slaying of their father together. Welcomed a new father together just weeks later. And soon after that - some would say too soon - welcomed a baby brother together.
Now Morgainne would leave, while Morganna, who everyone simply called Anna, was to stay behind with her brother, her mother and her stepfather in their family home on the side of a hill that housed a tightknit community.
Morgainne and Anna had lived in the sturdy stone home all their lives. The biggest house in the settlement with a massive fireplace in the middle. From where their stepfather not only overlooked the sea trade that made them one of the richest families in all of Dumnonia, but also ruled over all of Dumnonia as their leader and defender.
They would go to sleep every night listening to the rough sea beneath them and woke up every morning to the shouts and yells of the fishermen and the traders coming from all over the world to trade with their settlement for Britons metal.
But no longer. Today was the day Morgainne was to leave.
Morgainne did not remember the first time her mother had sat her down to talk to her about the destiny the oracle had predicted for Morgainne. But since that day, the prediction of her destiny and her faith in life had been repeated to her almost daily.
It had been a constant topic of conversation in their family and yet, when the day finally came, it was not just excitement Morgainne felt. Sadness about leaving her family overtook her, the closer the hour came when she was to depart.
Igrainne, her mother, had decided it was time for Morgainne to leave the nest, her cozy home, go out into the world and fulfill her destiny: to become a High Priestess.
Morgainne was just a toddler when, years ago, it was foretold that she was to be the successor of the Lady of the Lake, the highest of function a woman could hold in their community.
She had been afforded the honor of being taught and guided into this post by the sisterhood of Avalon, who was about to welcome her and take her in. Not a day went by that Igrainne didn't tell her what a privilege this was. Repeating ever so often, what powers must lie within Morgainne so the Oracle would choose her. From a very early age, people around Morgainne had treated her like a powerful magical being, although Morgainne herself never felt anything special within herself. As a little child, she had surreptitiously tried to make trees grow faster or weeds (and sometimes Anna) disappear, but it had never worked. She was eager to learn, to live up to expectations.
Anna meanwhile was to stay behind and be groomed for her destiny: to become a Queen to a great King.
Morgainne didn't envy her. The prospect of simply becoming someone's wife, while there was so much knowledge and power to collect in the world didn't appeal to her at all. But this, too, was not worth arguing about. It had been decided for both of them long ago.
Only once in recent years had Anna dared to question the subject of her destiny and regretted it immediately. Her mother had berated her in front of the entire household. "Such opportunities are only afforded to high born people!" her mother, Igrainne, had scolded her. "You are lucky your father is the High King"
Of course, Uther, the High King, wasn't her real father, only her stepfather, but being the step-daughter of the High King did undoubtedly come with its merits. Neither Morgainne nor Anna had ever worked in the fields a day in their lives or spent a single day in the pig pen. They had always had food, always had a roof over their head, a fire burning.
Anna and Arthur had been close since the day of his birth, closer then Morgainne and Anna had ever been. Anna had stood in Morgainne's shadow all her life, how could she compete with the future Lady of the Lake if she, Anna, would just end up being a wife. The way Morgainne was treated by their mother, the staff and indeed the entire village was very much unlike the way Anna was treated and the older Anna got, the more she would resent it. The arrival of Arthur had somewhat changed that dynamic. While Morgainne was still destined to become a High Priestess, Arthur was a boy. The heir. And Arthur loved Anna a whole lot more than Morgainne. If no-one else, he gave her the attention she wanted.
On this damp and chilly spring morning, Morgainne stood in front of their house with Anna, Arthur and their mother, waiting for her governess to return to collect her. The wagon that would bring those two, along with their coachman, to their destination was waiting a few hundred yards inlands and governess had just seen to it that Morgainne's trunk, that she herself had packed, would make it on the wagon safely, being carried by two youth of the household.
"I'm freezing, may I go back inside?" Anna asked.
"Of course not" Igrainne scolded her. "Your sister is leaving, you will wish her a good travels and a well journey."
Anna was still wearing her night shirt, but had covered herself with a green and red plaid cloak. Morgainne looked at her. Of course she was cold, couldn't even bother to put on a decent dress for her departing. Even at twelve, it was clear that Anna was growing into a gorgeous woman. For one, she was the spitting image of their mother. Long blond hair flowed down her back and even though Morgainne was sure Anna hadn't bothered to run a comb through it that morning, it shone in the light like a waterfall of liquid gold. Her pink lips were still pursed from the scolding she had just received, and her bright blue eyes starred into the distance, waiting for governess to return so Morgainne would finally depart and she could go back inside and warm herself by the fire. Even in her annoyance, she was a beauty. And while Morgainne had been told all her life how special and magical she was, Anna was the one who got complimented on her looks. Compliments that Anna always ate up and that sustained her for days.
Not that Morgainne wasn't a beauty in her own rights, but she looked nothing like Anna. While Anna was their mother's daughter, Morgainne was unmistakably their fathers. Long, dark brown curls, just like Gorlois' sprung unruly around her face, barely being tamed by the biggest of broches or bands Morgainne sometimes used to try and tie them together. Having the hair braided for an official occasion or a celebration often required the help of one or two servants.
Her eyes were green and deep set and her nose just a little bit too big for her face. She was tall for her age, having overtaken her mother in height years ago, now being almost as tall as Uther. She was wearing her dark green travel cloak over a plain brown dress. Outworn and old, anything but fashionable it was the most comfortable dress Morgainne owned. The road to Avalon was long and tedious, the carriage could not be called comfortable by any means. It would be a very long, cold and uncomfortable few days for their entire travel party.