The morning after the whole mirror, window, T-R-O-L-L incident, I was wandering around the castle, humming quietly to myself, not really knowing what to do with myself. It was just one of those days where I was a bit in my own little world. But it seemed like someone was about to present me with a very important task, drawing me away from my dreamworld.
"You need to talk to Gaius," Merlin said, as he started walking alongside me in an empty corridor.
I turned and looked at him in confusion, having not heard him coming up behind me. Once most of the confusion had passed, my mind registered what he had just said.
"Why? What's wrong?" I asked.
"Well, I told Gaius about the whole t-r-o-l-l thing and he's going to tell Uther about everything he knows," Merlin explained, causing me to stop in my tracks and turn my whole body to face him.
"You mean to say that Gaius is about to tell my father that his new lady friend's a troll?" I asked.
"That's exactly what he's gonna do," Merlin nodded.
Oh, God. This was not going to go well.
Luckily, I already knew where my father was as I had passed him on my little stroll, luckily managing to sneak around him so he wouldn't see me and try to talk to me. So with this knowledge, we would hopefully be able to get to him before Gaius did. Also I would probably need to come up with a way to distract my father. About a million different things ran through my mind. But in my head I fixated on one.
I would just say or do something that would cause my father to give me one of his lengthy lectures and then I could attempt to walk away from him, making him follow me and then Merlin would distract Gaius. It was a fault proof plan. Well, it would have been if we could've actually put it into action.
When we arrived at the place my father was when I last saw him, Gaius was already a couple feet away from him and there would have been no time to stop him. So we decided to listen in on this tragedy that was inevitably about to happen.
Merlin and I subtly poked our heads around the corner, staying out of their view as we were pretty close to them now. My father was looking at something or someone out the window so I glanced out of it and saw 'Lady Catrina' walking down the stairs outside, making me roll my eyes.
"My Lord," Gaius began, giving father a short bow.
"Yes, Gaius," he replied, barely acknowledging that Gaius was there. He truly was captivated by this woman, well, troll.
"I have served you for many years now. I like to think that in my humble capacity I have advised you to the best of my ability, and that my advice has proven to be of value to you," Gaius said.
"Yes, this is true," father agreed, still looking out the window.
"And so I must advise you that Lady Catrina is not all she seems to be," Gaius said.
I started to nibble nervously on my bottom lip as I watched the scene slowly unfold.
"Oh, then tell me, Gaius. Who is she?" father asked, slowly turning to face Gaius.
"I believe her to be..." Gaius trailed off, struggling to find the words. "She's... she's..."
"Oh, come on. Out with it," father encouraged, frowning impatient.
"She is a troll, sire," Gaius said bluntly.
Beside me Merlin sniggered quietly, making Gaius glance over at us but not before we hid behind the wall. Merlin was leaning up against the wall and seemed to be unable to control his laughter as he covered his mouth with his hand.
"Shh, I wanna hear what he's gonna say," I whispered, a smile on my face.
I didn't dare risk poking my head around again so I strained my ears from where I was standing.
"Excuse me?" father finally said.
"Some trolls have the power to take any shape they please. This one has taken a shape that pleases you," Gaius told him slowly and clearly, making me grimace. "You are besotted, my Lord. The creature has you in its power."
"Gaius, this is totally ludicrous," father scoffed.
"Please, sire. Her entire family is wiped out, but she alone escapes?" Gaius challenged him. "She has an incurable disease, but makes a miraculous recovery?"
"And that is nothing, but idle gossip," father countered.
"And is it idle gossip that she doesn't eat her food? Of course she doesn't. She feeds on rotten fruit like any other troll," Gaius insisted.
"Enough! This attack is unwarranted and malicious," father said.
"Sire, her servant is not human, he has a tail," Gaius told him.
"I said enough!" father raised his voice.
"Sire, please, I just advise you not to do anything rash," Gaius bowed his head.
"And I advise you to hold your tongue, physician, or I will indeed do something rash," father warned him.
I turned to Merlin, my eyes wide.
"I'm gonna go and..." I trailed off, gesturing to the others.
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Merlin agreed.
Before father or Gaius could say anything more, I casually ambled around the corner.
"Good morning," I smiled at them, pretending I hadn't heard a thing.
"Good morning, Princess," Gaius replied, giving me a knowing look now that my father's back was turned on him.
"Are you alright, father? You look tense," I commented.
"No. Nothing's wrong," father replied, glaring at Gaius.
"Well, that is just fantastic news, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to steal Gaius from you. It is of the upmost importance," I said, a tinge of sarcasm in my voice.
"Actually, I'm speaking to Gaius right now," father told me, but I had already walked over to Gaius and linked my arm with his.
"I'm sure it can wait. It's Arthur, he needs help with... his arm," I lied.
"His arm?" Gaius repeated. "What's wrong with his arm?"
"He hit it," I replied.
"Hit it? On what?" father asked.
"Erm... the stairs. He tripped down them this morning," I said, trying to hold back a laugh.
"He tripped down the stairs?" father repeated, making me roll my eyes.
"Is there an echo in here?" I asked Gaius.
"Chelsea..." father warned, about to say more, but I started turning away from him, arm still linked with Gaius'.
"Good talk. See you later!" I called back, as we walked away.
"Where is Arthur?" Gaius asked me, as we walked away.
"Arthur?" I asked confused, and then I remembered. "Oh, that. Well, that might have been a little bit of a white lie."
"Of course it was," Gaius commented, a small smile on his face.
Gaius and I continued talking until we got back to his place, where Merlin was sitting on the table waiting for us.
"You know, there are these things called chairs, Merlin?" I smiled, as he leapt off the chair.
"Haha, very funny," Merlin smiled back.
He then turned to Gaius, who spoke up before he could.
"Please don't say anything, Merlin," Gaius requested.
"I wasn't going to say anything," Merlin replied, an innocent smile on his face.
"You were going to say, 'I told you so'," Gaius said.
"Okay. I was. But I'm not going to now," Merlin assured him.
Merlin and Gaius both sat down on two chairs while I leant up against the table.
"Uther didn't take it well," Gaius told him.
"Now, you see, I told you..." Merlin cut himself off, realising what he was about to say. He sucked his lips in together, giving Gaius an apologetic look. "Sorry."
"But I know him. He's a proud man, but he's not stupid," Gaius said, making me glance at Merlin, with a look of doubt on my face. "He'll reflect on what I said. I'm sure he will."
"Let's hope you're right," I said, although I had my doubts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That afternoon, I was just going through one of the books that would help explain what was going on with this troll when there was a knock at my door. I half expected it to be Merlin or Gaius with some news but it wasn't, it was one of the guards, Adams.
"Adams, is everything alright?" I asked, putting down my book.
"The young boy asked to see you, my Lady," Adams told me. I immediately knew who 'the boy' was.
"Is he ok?" I asked concerned, standing up and going to follow him to the courtyard.
"I assume so, my lady. He didn't seem to be in any distress," Adams replied as we walked to the courtyard.
When we got there a few moments later, I smiled when I saw Leo standing with one of the other guards, Bennet, talking quickly to him as though it were a story. Bennet was trying to not look entertained, but I could see the glimmer of a smile on him.
"And then... boom! You know what I mean?" Leo said excitedly to Bennet as I approached.
"No, young sir. I'm not sure I quite understand you," Bennet replied.
"Oh," Leo sighed dejected.
"Maybe you need to use more hand gestures," I suggested, as we reached them.
"Princess!" Leo exclaimed when he saw me. He suddenly leapt into my arms in a tight hug.
"Is everything ok, Leo?" I asked, as he pulled back.
"Oh, yeah. Everything is just fine, Chelsea. Someone just wanted to see you," Leo told me, making me tilt my head in confusion.
But then from the corner of my eyes I saw a slightly older Aria walking over to us with a small bunch of flowers. Her hair was a sea of luscious brown locks, resting peacefully on her back. She wore a forest green dress and had a small brown satchel pinned to her side. Even though it had only been a couple of months since I had last seen her, she had grown up a lot. I guess when you are left to look after your younger sibling it forces you to grow up.
"Aria?" I asked, smiling.
"Hello again, Princess," Aria smiled back.
"Aria wanted to see you, Chelsea," Leo spoke up, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.
"I just wanted to say thank you for everything you've done for us," Aria added. "And I know it isn't a lot, but..."
She held out the bunch of flowers sheepishly. I crouched down to her height and gently took the flowers from her.
"They're beautiful. Thank you, Aria," I replied, smiling down at the flowers.
"You think so?" Aria asked nervously.
"I do. I really do," I assured her, giving her hand a squeeze.
"Chelsea!" a boisterous voice called over to me.
I looked over to my right and saw father walking over with 'Lady Catrina'.
"Father," I acknowledged, not standing back up properly.
"What are you doing?" father asked harshly glaring down at Leo and Aria.
"I'm speaking with my friends. Is that a problem?" I challenged but made sure not to speak loud enough to get a crowd. I stood back up.
"Your friends? They're children!" father scoffed.
Protectively, I pushed Aria and Leo slightly behind me, trying to get them as far from his cruel wrath as possible.
"I am well aware of that, thank you. I do have eyes," I replied.
"What are their names?" 'Lady Catrina' asked.
I hesitated with telling her anything, knowing exactly what she was and what she was up to.
"I'm Leo and this is my sister, Aria," Leo piped up, poking his head and to look at them. "The Princess Chelsea has been helping us."
Father then turned his glare to me, making me straighten up fully and glare back.
"Is that so?" father muttered.
"Is everything alright here?" Arthur's voice asked, as he also walked over.
Seriously? It's like we were having a family gathering right in the middle of a busy market.
"Maybe we should talk about this in a more... private place," 'Lady Catrina' suggested.
"Yes. Yes, my dear. That is a good idea," father nodded, leading her back into the castle. He rested his hand on her lower back making Arthur look over at me sadly.
Arthur then held out his arm for me to take and it hurt me to see just how hard he was trying to hide the fact that our father being with another woman was affecting him.
I gave Leo and Aria an apologetic look before I nervously took Arthur's arm and followed father into the castle.
"What's got him so worked up?" Arthur muttered to me.
"He doesn't like the fact that I was talking to Leo and Aria," I whispered back.
"Leo? That's the kid from the other day isn't it?" Arthur remembered, making me nod. "And Aria is his sister?" I nodded again.
Arthur then looked behind us where the children were still standing watching us and waved to them cheerfully, making them wave back excitedly.
"They're quite cute, aren't they?" Arthur commented, looking back ahead of us.
I looked over at him, a smile on my face.
"Yeah, they are," I agreed.
Arthur then looked down at the flowers still in my hand and gasped in mock hurt.
"You got flowers? How come I never get flowers?" Arthur asked, a look of mock hurt evident.
"Because you're a clotpole," I reminded him.
"Did you just call me a clotpole?" Arthur asked.
"Merlin's words, not mine," I laughed, forgetting that we were about to face my father's wrath again.
This was gonna be fun...
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