━━ ⦗the swan princess! ⦘
❝ you're beautiful!
thank you, but what else?
... what else is there? ... ❞
███████████ 𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝
the courageous odette teaches the
once and future king a less...
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chapter ten! 010. the poisoned chalice
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SERVANT'S HADno time to celebrate the date of their birth. Not only did they barely had time to themselves, they had little money to celebrate, or anyone to celebrate with. Age mattered little. What mattered was surviving through another day▬another year without sickness, without falling short on their errands, displeasing their masters and mistresses and losing their jobs, and making through another naming day without being accused of sorcery or something else.
Odette herself didn't even truly know when she was born. She was found during an early spring storm, and so from then forth, her mother celebrated her growth on each anniversary to which she had been brought into her life. Not many servants celebrated the date of their birth, but Ivette Mason had celebrated Odette's every one. She sung her songs, sneaked her good food from the kitchens and managed to save up enough coin each year to get her a gift▬whether it be a new toy, a new dress, or a embroidered handkerchief, she never missed the day once.
Because Odette couldn't keep the tradition up for herself anymore, as soon as she learnt Merlin would be joining her in the ripe and daring age of seventeen years, she continued it with him.
A month passed, and the young warlock was starting to truly begin to understand and fit into the bustling every day life of Camelot. He followed Prince Arthur and his many demands, enjoyed supper with and helped Gaius in his errands and spent as much time as he could manage with his two closest friends in the castle walls, Odette and Guinevere.
Odette had friends▬Gwen especially, but she's never yet had a friend her age. Someone who has experienced life the exact same amount as she has; just as bright and just as youthful, with the same nativity and excitement. Someone who sought her out even when he was supposed to be doing work for Arthur, who found a stray flower in the crevices of the citadel stonework and gave it to her ("Flowers amongst friends!" Merlin had stated). Someone who laughed at her jokes and she laughed at his▬who sometimes perhaps brought out the worst of her every time Merlin egged on her whispered insults and quips about surrounding nobles.
It only made sense that she'd have feelings for him. Whether she wanted anything to come out of them, she didn't know▬but they sparked the moment she met him, and had grown since. She has just never met someone like Merlin before, and it was quite mesmerising. What wasn't there to like about him?
His seventeenth year resided on a stressful day for Camelot. After long years of war, King Bayard of Mercia would grace the halls of the citadel for the signing of a peace treaty between him and Uther. That was one of the few things Odette found herself admiring about her king▬while others sought war, and sought glory no matter the price of their own people and soldiers, Uther sought peace▬and it was something he also taught his son. Today, would be a step towards that ambition; one that was misguided few too many times, and was held upon a thin string of pride ready to snap quite easily, it was still made with all the best intentions.
