The Witch of Camelot

Thirty-nine......several gifts at once.......

                Thirty-nine……..

On the thirty-first of October I joined Arthur in becoming the first grand age of double figures. We come home from our mornings training with Troilus to discover that we had been released from lessons that afternoon with Merlin. I had been surprised when my uncle had insisted that I did not come home half way through the morning but that I should stay with the men practicing trapping and fishing. There had been no reason that I could think of that would cause Merlin to want to abandon our further study, as he called it that day. I concluded to myself that he wanted some time to himself, a reasonable belief as such a colossal amount of his time was dedicated to Arthur, the king, the court and I.

                Therefore when the pair of us came laughing through the door on that mild autumnal afternoon I did not expect what we found there. The table had been laid out beautifully with a feast of meats, vegetables, breads, cheeses, fruits and nuts overbearing it. I gasped in surprise as I took in the scene before me, the luxury, the tall pure candles, the silver stitched cloth on the table, our old goblets polished to shine like new, plates beside them and at my common place a sat a box, intrigue filled me.

                “Uncle what is happening?” I looked at Arthur to see he was grinning like an idiot full of knowledge.

                “It’s your birthday you should make a big deal out of it,” Arthur quoted to me speaking shrilly attempting to sound like a girl.

                “Come and sit.” laughed Merlin, “we will eat soon but we must wait for the others.”

                “The others?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

                “Percy has gone to fetch Lucile and Troilus is to come too though he has to freshen up first after your mornings lessons.”

                Looking down at my dirt covered tunic I felt suddenly embarrassed. Seeing my expression Merlin laughed again and said, “I have drawn up a bath in my antechamber, Nimue you go first then you Arthur you’ll both want to be clean and freshly clothed. I have placed clean outfits on both your beds.”

                “Thank you uncle.” I grinned jumping up and heading towards his rooms. Once there I stripped hurriedly and jumped into the surprisingly clear and beautifully hot water. Scrubbing myself with a cloth and one of Merlin’s sweet smelling body cleaning potions I then preceded to washing my hair on which I used a different position, one that smelt of lavender. Stepping out of the tub I rubbed myself dry with a cloth and pulled a robe around myself. Walking from Merlin’s room I collided with Arthur who was coming in for his turn, he flashed red, “Gods I’m sorry.” he stammered, I laughed, it wasn’t anything that hadn’t happened before.

                “How long till they others get here?” I asked.

                “Not long Merlin says, enough time for us to get ready.” he paused and began to laugh, “You wait to see what he’s put out for you to wear!” before I could question him Arthur had dived past me into the washroom shutting the door behind him and still laughing.

                Confused and somewhat weary I hurried to my room to discover several changes at once. Firstly the screen which Merlin had promised the pair of us so long ago had finally materialised, it was a polished dark wood and stretched across most of the width of our chamber. The board was not solid it was latticed with patterning’s which meant that it could be seen through but unless you placed your eyes straight to the holes the outline was obscured. Its appearance surprised me; I had long forgotten the promise of such an object and still did not really understand the need. Prior to that one or the other of us had always woken first and dressed while the other slept or one or other of us would go into Merlin’s antechamber, neither of us had ever found it a problem. Sometimes in the dark early hours of the morning we would not bother moving anywhere, after all many a brother and sister shared chambers sometimes with the rest of their family and there nudity and dressing was never an issue. After all as days turned into months Arthur and I had become increasing comfortable in each other’s presence and by the time of my birthday I knew as much about his character as I did about my own.

                My second discovery was the items of clothing Merlin had left for me to change it to. They were not only clean and fresh but entirely new.  A dress. An actual dress, I had never had a proper one before that, only my regular day grey day dress. This one, my first birthday present was beautiful. A deep blue one which reached the floor it had long, impractical, but feminine sleeves which widened at the cuff; silver stitching lined the edging, the base and the neck line. I had never worn anything so sleek and gorgeous. I did not see the point of such clothing when everyday activities were required but other times, reserved, celebratory and calm occasions I would happily relent to being so dressed as long as it did not cause people to treat me different.

                I wondered what could have possibly caused Merlin to take my birthday so seriously and spend such money on me, never before had I paid much heed to the turnover of each year where I became twelve months older. After all we are aging everyday so why is one so important? For people like Arthur who would have to be a certain age to rule and sons who wished to inherit land, money and titles from their father age was essential as with it, alongside their actions, they would finally be deemed men. For me however it meant little the only age that mattered to most girls was the one that meant they could be married though this was not truly a numerical one but a biological one. And of course marriage did not interest me in the slightest, certainly not at ten years old and not for a long time after either. To me marriage was an imprisonment, a woman vowing that she would be subservient, weak and womanly for the rest of her days abandoning all her own hopes and dreams and hobbies to pursue one goal. The preservation of her husband’s good name by ensuring she gave him many sons, a few daughters and strove to be a pleasing and honourable wife. This life would most definitely never appeal to me, even at the age of ten I had known for a long time that any man I would marry would have to love me for myself and not who he expected me to become on our wedding day. He would have to accept my skills, my powers, and my intelligence without a word of irritation or anger and that I knew few men could do. Therefore even then I was quite sure I would never become any man's wife. Only the very deepest love, care, understanding, friendship, kindness, equality, would ever induce me to marry, and that I was sure was quite out of any woman’s reach let alone one with my abnormalities. 

                I changed into my new gown after drying my hair slightly and teasing a comb through the tangled locks. I felt strange, out of place, despite how wonderfully soft the material of my dress was I felt uneasy, fake almost, this girl in a deep blue embroidered gown surely wasn’t me? As I went to walk from the room I had a sudden idea, one which I knew would fill me with confidence. Turning to my trunk I opened the lid and riffled through it until I came across a crudely made box which contained one of my only physical inheritances from my mother. Tying my mother’s blue shell amulet around my neck I finally felt ready to face my birthday guests. And so I entered the main room, my mother with me lending me strength as only I knew.