Guinevere

Pride and prejudice

"Tell me, Princess, do you fight in tournaments?"

"Actually, no." I responded, enjoying dinner.

"Why would she? Women don't need to prove what they don't have." laughed Uther.

"There is no practicality to it, I believe." I continued, eyeing Arthur from across the table.

"Only men and their vanity are interested in such useless events" agreed Morgana, smiling.

The spring tournament was to be held at the end of the week. The preparations took almost two weeks with a castle full of servants running to and fro. Arthur was excited about this, getting another chance to showcase his strength and courage before all of Camelot, like they didn't all already know all about it.

My father taught me how to fight, but never how to wield a lance in such a contest, it wasn't useful in real life, especially for a woman. Nevertheless, I watched hundreds of noblemen stand up to their reputation by riding against one another and I could understand why this was such exciting news for them.

After dinner, Morgana and I retreated to her chambers as usual.

"When do our lessons start?" she asked.

"What?"

"You promised me you would teach me how to fight! Remember?" she laughed, brushing her silky hair.

"Oh, did I?" I said sarcastically, pinning down the moment I made that foolish promise.

"Tomorrow then?"

"Why the sudden interest?" I inquired.

She didn't answer, instead, she got up and then sat on the bed, next to me.

"Will you..." she paused, ashamed.

"Yes." I said gently.

Sleeping next to her had become more of a habit the past few days. She had nightmares so horrible, that me waking her up was working way more efficiently than Gaius' sleeping potions.

I often wondered about what her powers were, she was clearly having these nasty dreams because of something, usually they came true, even if they were as bad as Arthur getting bitten by the Questing Beast, or just Merlin cutting himself by mistake with my sword. I thought about telling Merlin, perhaps they could help each other, but then I feared what would happen if the truth was found out.

I slowly fell asleep, thoughts of magic and spells filling my head.

I woke up from the blinding sun, not being used to the direct morning light, my chambers being on the other side of the castle. I softly got out of bed, relieved that Morgana slept well, trying to not wake her up yet.

Sneaking down to the kitchen, I caught a glimpse of Merlin running down the stairs.

"Morning!" I said, catching up with him.

"Oh." he was startled.

"Can I help you?"

"I don't think you want to." he joked.

I cast him a doubtful look, making his smile larger.

"Come then." he ran again.

We reached the armory. I've never seen it this early in the morning, when the sun looked like it was leaping from sword to sword, creating a warm and cozy atmosphere. In the middle, on the cold ground was Arthur's armor, all covered in mud, waiting to be cleaned.

"You were right." I laughed.

He smiled and got on to work, leaving me wandering through the land of metal. I recognized almost every crest on the newly arrived shields as belonging to the noblemen from across the kingdom. It was a huge tournament, held for three days, with feasts every night, a celebration of spring and of new beginnings.