The Golden Effect

lancelot and gwen

So sorry about the late update! Editing this chapter was, for some reason, more difficult than usual. Also, this may become a regular thing because as i've probably mentioned school has started up again. Three assignments, exams and my future lay ahead so I need to keep that as first priority. I will still be updating, but maybe once - twice a week, maybe more...

who knows what the future holds? But, I apologise in advance if it reverts to that...

Lancelot and Guinevere:

Merlynn loathed mucking the stables. If there was anything she'd rather not do, it was mucking - to scoop the dung from the hay, spare bits dropping onto clothing and then shove it into a wagon in which would be carried out to a specific section. Also, there was the small additions of the flies, the odour and the incessant gas the horses emitted as she passed them.

This particular job was one that Arthur had specifically circled and underlined - git. Despite her love for the man, he really was an insufferable royal prat sometimes.

Her eyes drooped as she finished up the duty, and she hurriedly threw the shovel down to the now-clean (yet for not very long) hay and rushed back to her chambers for a few, short hours of rest before she had to go back to the rest of the brand new list he had given her.

It had taken a week to finish up the first list, and then - after a short break of her simply spending time cleaning his chambers to spend time with him - he decided to make a new list. This particular piece of parchment was shorter, yet still tired her out immensely.

Luckily, she brought up two dishes to Arthur's chambers some nights so they could dine together, and Merlynn had forgiven him...eventually.

Gaius stormed up the small flight of stairs to Merlynn's chambers. He hadn't seen her at dinner, and was slightly relieved to see her collapsed, splayed over the small, single bed, snoring softly - she only ever snored when she was very tired. It seemed as though she had simply shut her eyes where she fell, which she truly had.

"Merlynn!" he barked, smacking her with the firm stick he always kept nearby for these occaisions. "Wake up. You need to get to work and I know you aren't finished with your duties! You also need to have breakfast, Merlynn. Working on an empty stomach will get you nowhere."

"Five more minutes, Gaius," she groaned in reply and snuggled up into her blankets.

Gaius frowned and poked her harshly. "No. Get up! Ugh. You are insufferable sometimes."

"Thank you," Merlynn murmured.

"Get up," he emphasized and, using both of his hands, shoved her off the bed. She hit the hard surface of the floor with a startled cry and glared up at him.

"What was that for?" she exclaimed indignantly.

"You need to get up, so I woke you," he answered airily, without a care for the slight pain he may had just put her through.

There may have been a bruise on her thigh by the afternoon, she thought to herself scathingly as she rubbed the sore area. "All you needed to do was ask politely," she retorted.

"I tried, but -" he sighed. "Do we really have to do this today? This is the third time this week I've had to force you awake, and you say the exact same thing. Get to work, Merlynn, and stop wasting our time."

Merlynn pouted, but tied her hair up and stormed out of her chambers toward Arthur's immediately. She wouldn't need breakfast until later, because the prince would begin to whine when he didn't get his meal in the morning. Merlynn also knew that his chainmail needed to be re-scrubbed and his room had to be cleaned.