Luminescence ✺ Arthur Pendragon

The Once and Future Queen [2]

Night fell over the city of Camelot not long after Arthur had deemed their work on William to have brought him as close to knighthood as he could be. Tomorrow morning the tournament would begin, and Arwen couldn't deny that she was rather curious how the farmer would fare with it all. Luckily for him, he didn't actually have to do the fighting. That would be Arthur.

Arwen had observed the Prince as they ate the dinner she prepared. She could see small signs of nervousness radiating off of him as he remained silent throughout the meal and even after it as Arwen started to clean up. Growing tired of the silence, however, Arwen decided to finally break it.

"I do hope it was to your standards, Sire. I'm afraid I've never been trained to be a maid." She spoke up. The sound of her voice obviously made Arthur finally snap out of the thoughts his mind was stuck on, his blue eyes now looking towards where she stood, washing the dishes.

"Arwen, my standards are Merlin." The words, meant to be reassuring in their own way, made Arwen burst out laughing. Not even she could attempt to deny that, even though she did know Merlin's cooking had become much better since they arrived in Camelot.

"Yes, I suppose those aren't too hard to amount to." She shook her head in amusement, continuing on with her work. Arwen could clearly imagine the look of disbelief her brother would be giving both of them if he'd overheard their conversation.

The image in her mind made her hold back another laugh as she started to store away the, now clean and dried, dishes and plates. While she'd still sometimes open the wrong drawer or cupboard, Arwen was quickly getting a grasp of where everything belonged in Gwen's house. It pleased her to know that they'd be able to leave it in the same manner in which they found it. Sparing Gwen any extra work or cleaning up.

"It's been a long day." Arthur announced after a short silence had lapsed over them again. Arwen glanced in his direction as he stood from his seat and started to move through the small house, heading in one specific direction. "Is this my bed?"

The question caught Arwen somewhat off guard. She knew very well that Gwen had only one bed, after all, it was Arwen herself who helped her sell the spare after her father's death. However, the thought of that hadn't even crossed her mind until now. And as she watched Arthur examine the blankets and reorder them, she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"Of course. I, uh, I hope you'll be comfortable." Arwen said, busying herself with drying her hands in an attempt to school her voice into a less flustered tone. And, admittedly, to keep from giving out an annoyed reaction that was threatening to spill out.

"I'm sure I will be." Arthur said when Arwen walked past him, but the way in which he said it and the look on his face made it clear he had some doubt about it. That Arwen couldn't hold back an eye-roll at. Luckily, her back was by now turned to him as she made her way to a secluded corner of the house.

Finding some bags of grain and potatoes, Arwen let out a small sigh as she grabbed some extra blankets. It wasn't a bed, but she'd slept in worse conditions before. It was nothing she couldn't handle. For a few moments, the house was filled with sounds of both Arthur and herself trying to make themselves as comfortable as possible before they either managed to do so, or in Arwen's case, simply gave up.

The silence didn't last long though, because before either had a chance to fall asleep, Arthur spoke again. "Good night, Arwen." He said, voice quieter than before in case she'd already fallen asleep.

"Good night, My Lord." Arwen whispered back.

After that, both the prince and the physician grew silent again, trying to get the rest they'd need for tomorrow. In Arwen's case, falling asleep was the easy part. However, as of late, it was what happened after that often resulted in a troubled night. Because for some time now, she'd been having the same dream on repeat, occupying her mind ever since the events caused by Cornelius Sigan and his attack on the city.