CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN,
episode seven, the castle of fyrien.
THE PRINCESS of devlin and camelot called upon the king to meet with her in the throne room early one morning. he sat on his throne as she walked in with a small smile, estella following behind her.
"sire." the two of them bowed, making the king stand up and greet them.
"how can i help you two?"
"well, it is estella's birthday in two days time. we were both wanting...hoping if there was a possibility we could return to devlin to celebrate with her family. we both miss them dearly and wouldn't want to celebrate without them." the princess spoke softly, holding estella's hands as the king listened.
he chuckled, "you never need to ask to return back to devlin. it is your home. yes, camelot is too, however you were born and grew up in devlin. i may be turning soft in my old age, but yes, of course you may go." he granted, laughing when the two girls hugged each other happily.
they both thanked the king, estella about thirty times in one minute, before turning to rush off the pack. "and estella?" the king called out.
the maid turned to the king, who's naturally stern face fell into a smile. "happy birthday."
"thank you, sire. and you...uhm...for when your birthday is." she rambled, messing up her words as isabella laughed at the girl.
"go and say goodbye to merlin, i'll find arthur." isabella chuckled as estella nodded happily.
she soon found him, sitting in his chambers eating some lunch and responding to a letter from his friends in a welsh kingdom. "arthur." the princess smiled, taking a seat opposite him and reaching to hold his hand.
"isabella, you look happy." her smile reflected onto his as she chuckled.
"as you may have heard, it is estella's birthday in two days time. we are returning to devlin to celebrate. i just came to say goodbye, for now." she said, making him raise his brows with a smile.
"well that sounds wonderful. i'm afraid i am going on a hunting trip tonight so i won't be able to join you. is that okay?" he asked as she nodded immediately.
"of course, another time perhaps." she smiled, getting up. "i am going to say goodbye to ana and merlin."
she found morgana with gwen in her chambers, staring at the window distantly. gwen curtsied when seeing her, which made morgana turn to look. "hello." she said softly, "i just came to tell you i am leaving for a few days. i am returning home to devlin for estella's birthday."
morgana's face dropped slightly. "oh, but we need you here." she nervously chuckled, "how will camelot survive?"
the princess laughed, brushing it off. "i am sure you can survive a few days, izzie. besides, estella hadn't seen her family since we moved here. it will be nice to reunite with them, and my family."
"it's just...are you sure you cannot go tomorrow?"
"why tomorrow?" isabella furrowed her brows, looking at gwen who was equally as confused.
... "it is not a bother. have a nice time, izzie." morgana brought her in for an overly tight hug, her face turning into a glare before smiling again.
isabella returning to devlin had ruined their plans.
"merlin!" a sing-song voice called out from behind gaius' chambers. the boy chuckled and opened the door to see the princess with a wide smile on her face.
"guess whose going home?" she asked.
"umm...me?"
"you wish. no, me. i came to say goodbye." she smiled cheekily, making the boy laugh, bringing her in for a hug.
"have a lovely time, i can't wait to hear all about it." he smiled, as isabella frowned.
"merlin you have a little...oh." she widened her eyes notice the dirt mark on his cheek was actually lipstick. "i'm guessing estella came to say goodbye?"
"oh, just leave already." merlin gently pushed her out as she laughed, calling out a goodbye to gaius.
DEVLIN WELCOMED the princess and her maid with open arms. as soon as she stepped into the courtyard, she was greeted with claps and cheers, everyone bowing to their feet. isabella helped them all stand and gave each of them a hug.
"we missed you so much, your grace!" one of the people said as isabella grinned at them, holding their hands.
"i missed you all dearly. where is estella's family?" she asked, her eyes scanning the courtyard.
"mama!" estella squealed in excitement, seeing three familiar faces rushing over to them. isabella smiled watching estella reunite with her mother, father and younger brother phillip.
"oh dear, estella! you look well. how is camelot treating you?" her father, louis asked, lifting her and spinning her around.
"camelot is a beauty, father. you would love it. everyone is so kind. and completely obsessed with having isabella as their princess!" estella giggled as isabella joined in slightly, pulling away from the hug from phillip.
"i am so glad." juliette, estella's mother, said.
"if you do not mind, i'm going to find my father and queen aurora." isabella smiled, giving estella a final hug before turning to go into the castle.
"your grace, you're back!" sir gabriel, one of the knights of devlin bumped into her. gabriel was a very close friend of isabella, however he had admitted to developing romantic feelings for her a few weeks before she left for camelot. they hadn't spoken since. isabella unfortunately only saw him platonically, and he understood and was working on moving on.
"gabriel! it is so lovely to see you." she hugged him, and then walked in step with him to the throne room where she knew her father and his wife would be.
"how is camelot treating you?"
"so very well. everyone is lovely there." isabella responded, the throne room doors opened and the king's face dropped in shock.
"my darling girl!" he laughed in shock, the princess grinning and rushing over to hug him.
"father," she laughed. "we are here to celebrate estellas birthday tomorrow."
"we shall throw a party." aurora spoke up from behind them. isabella turned to her with a small smile. she gave her a quick hug, and a thank you.
despite isabella missing her mother every day, she couldn't hate aurora for marrying her father. people unfortunately do move on, and when aurora met henry, she didn't even know the king had a late wife and a daughter. aurora was truly beautiful, inside and out. she had long golden hair and was always seen wearing pink, which isabella did love, since pink was one of her favourite colours.
"talk to us in english, i want to see how lost your accent is." henry joked as isabella grinned.
"a lot of people still do not understand me and arthur often has to translate." she joked as henry smiled.
"it's still there." henry pointed out as she nodded.
"now tell us, how are you and arthur?" aurora asked as she sat down to listen. isabella immediately smiled at the subject.
"i...we are very well. i cannot help but feel drawn to him whenever he is near. i am unsure of why. i do not feel ready for marriage yet. but we have time." she explained briefly.
"do you love him?" aurora asked.
isabella paused.
love. such a small word with such a powerful meaning. "i have sort of said it once in french just in the moment but i truly do not know what love is." she responded softly. "when he is near...i feel happy, complete. i feel at home with him. i'm still sometimes a little nervous. mother used to say, when you know, you know. but i am unsure of what that means." she admitted.
aurora smiled kindly, holding her hand out for the princess. "my dear girl, that...that is love. everything you have described. despite us getting off on the wrong foot, i am so proud of you. please never think of me as trying to be your mother. i will never come as close as being as wonderful as she was. but if you ever need a mother figure, a shoulder to cry on, advise on anything, trust i am here."
isabella nodded, a smile on her face as she listened. "thank you, aurora. i have read stories where the step-mother is always so evil and money hungry with two ugly daughters. i am thankful you are neither." she giggled.
"me too." henry joked as they all laughed together. "isabella, come with me." the king spoke kindly, taking her arm and leading her out of the throne room.
"i feel...you are ready." he explained as she frowned, looking at him in confusion.
"ready, father?"
"i trust you know who you truly are?" the king asked, a knowing smile on his face. isabella's face fell, looking at him in disbelief.
"i...how?"
"did you not ever wonder why we sent you off to a kingdom where magic was banned of all places?" he joked as she listened, nodding along curiously.
"we have always known you were powerful...when you were born, your eyes turned golden and your mother instantly felt well again after giving birth. there was no pain. you did that, isabella. you. the reason we sent you to camelot to marry arthur is, as you most likely know it is your destiny to rule that kingdom alongside arthur where magic is welcome ...always remember that. you moved to camelot earlier than expected because you needed to discover who you were on your own."
isabella listened in slight shock. how could so much be planned for her, despite only being twenty one? her whole life was planned out, and written before she was even born.
"but how am i to do that? rule a kingdom where magic isn't banned?" she asked pleadingly.
the king smiled. "all in good time, my child. you shall find out when you are ready."
THE PEOPLE of camelot were relieved to see the princess return. the pendragon's had explained she had gone home to reunite with her family, and everyone missed her.
arthur and merlin walked down the steps into the courtyard and spotted the two girls getting off their horses. isabella remembered her conversation with aurora and smiled at the boy, rushing over to hug him.
"it is so good to see you! i hope i did not miss much." she sighed into his neck.
"unfortunately you missed a lot. i shall explain it to you later. did you enjoy your trip?" he asked as she nodded, holding his hand.
"very much so. i had some...interesting conversations with father and aurora. she's surprisingly a very nice woman." she explained as arthur smiled as he listened to her talk about her trip, and the party for estella.
the throne room doors opened, and the king was stood with sir leon. immediately, smiles broke out onto their faces as sir leon bowed and the king walked up to embrace her.
"i trust you had a pleasant time at devlin?" the king asked as isabella nodded, pulling away from the hug.
"i did. now, please, somebody tell me what i missed?" she turned to merlin, arthur and the king who all shared a look.
"it all started when guinevere was captured..."
btw, italics is them speaking in french !
basically i didn't want to write this episode cause i couldn't be bothered with isabella getting captured bc like...what could they use against her? with gwen they used elyan (king) but like isabella has no other family? 🤣🤣i'm ngl i considered killing henry and aurora off for the plot but too much needs to happen before that. so you get this shitty chapter. love u
i also wanted to say that in this fic i will be adding things that didn't happen in the show....for a totally...random example, gwen and arthur didn't have children in the show. totally a random example 😊
next ep is one of my favs!
byeeee!!