Avalon- A Merlin FanFic

Chapter 5- A Ball

Merlin and I had not spoken in a week. The usually chatty servant was avoiding me, staying away from me as much as he could. I understood why. He had no reason to trust me or to associate himself with me. After all, he had obviously been working undercover to protect Camelot, my presence here put lives in danger. Including his.

It was nearly Christmas, and Arthur had decided to arrange a ball for all of the servants and people in the castle. His way of saying 'thankyou' for our work. I planned to skip the occasion, I didn't really speak to many of the other servants, and I felt I would be out of place. Queen Guineveire had other ideas though.

'Avalon, has anyone asked you to the ball Arthur is arranging?'

'No, my lady. I don't think that I will be attending.'

Her face fell. 'Oh. So... No one has asked you yet?' She asked carefully, as if trying to avoid letting something slip.

'No, my lady.' I replied. I was confused as to why she thought this was suprising.

'Well, I think that you ought to go anyway. You never know, there might be someone who wishes to spend time in your company tonight Avalon.'

I think I may have blushed a little at this. 'I will... consider it, my lady.'

'Excellent. Well, do you have anything suitable to wear?'

I thought about this. I may be a queen, but my elf form was a little different to my human form, and I doubted any of my elven gowns would fit well enough. I didn't have many elf gowns anyway, tunics and trousers are far more suitable attire in elven culture.

'No, my lady.'

The queen walked over to her dresser whilst I continued to fold items of her clothing. She pulled out a bag of coins from her dresser, and walked back over to me, fixing her coin pouch to her belt as she walked.

'Well then, we shall go shopping!'

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The streets of Camelot were mainly market stalls selling just about anything you could need. Clothing, however, was not included in this. There were shops scattered amongst the houses in the main street where people that were of wealth similar to that of a servant would go to buy their clothing. The queen strode past these, however, and continued further along the street, towards the far end, where there were shops selling clothing suited for people with deeper pockets.

It was one of these shops that the Queen walked over to. She motioned for me to follow, and I did so, hesitantly, stepping inside the shop.

'Gwen!' A small woman ran from behind the counter and hugged the Queen, laughing.

'Avalon, this is my best friend, Anna.' The Queen explained, smiling warmly at me.

Anna greeted me kindly, and the Queen told her why they were here.

To find a dress suitable for a ball. For me.

I guess there's no getting out of this then.

Author's note: I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long! I've had a lot of exams leading up to Christmas and I've been too busy to write.