Always Time For Tea (Gwen)

[Guinevere]

Gwen sighed.

After all the time they had spent together, living together, sharing almost everything together, she would have though Merlin would know her better than that. He was a very intelligent boy, surely it wasn’t difficult for him to see that there could be no making up, there could be no forgiveness. The man had cast a dark mark over her character and nothing but complete and utter revenge on the ingrate would repair the damage that he had done.

She put down her tea, and even bigger sign that she most dissatisfied.

“Merlin,” she started calmly, “I think it’s time I broke some bad news. I, not now, or ever will be, able to make up with Lancelot Du Lac. I am afraid he blotted his copybook from the moment we met and the there is absolutely no way that I will ever, ever speak to him pleasantly…genuinely pleasantly. I may pretend to be pleasant to him at times to lull him in to a false sense of security, but that is all.”

Picking up the tea again she said, “Besides what he has already done, what he said and implied about me, he made look a complete and utter fool in front of Uther and, if anything only confirmed what he had been saying. I had to use every trick in my book to get me out of that awkward situation I can tell you. I actually thought he was going to chop my head off then there.”

She was thoughtful for a moment as she took a sip and added, “Although I must thank him for the spider, that has proved to be most useful in keeping Arthur away from certain things in my room. Did you know he’s utterly terrified of them?”

[Merlin Emrys]

Merlin tried not to sigh, because really, he knew that Gwen could hold grudges, and it wasn't like Lancelot was fighting at the bit to make the situation any better either, the two of them were behaving terribly about it, but as they were both his friends, there wasn't really a lot Merlin could do other than occasionally try to talk sense into them and otherwise just hope it all worked out eventually.

"Well I'm glad you got it worked out, the last thing we need is Uther hating more people." he said honestly, having Gwen on Uther's good side was advantageous for, well, everybody, it had definitely got them out of a few sticky situations so far.

He was going to ask what on earth she was talking about in regards to the spider, but then she brought up Arthur, and as usual that was a surefire way to distract him from any conversation. He laughed, nodding.
"Absolutely, I picked one up one time to put it outside the window and he was horrified."

[Guinevere]

Laughing Guinevere said, “I’ll bet he was horrified. Silly boy that he is. I mean last week, the two of us went out for something to eat in that restaurant, you know, the new one that’s opened just around the corner and…” she said already struggling to get the words out cause she was laughing so much, “…and the main course came and there was this spider just, just sitting on the top of the mash potato beside his steak. And he screamed! I’ve never heard a man go so high pitched in my life. He, he was so terrified that he fell backwards in his chair, nearly hit his head on the table behind.”

Still laughing she took a sip of her tea to calm her down, holding her chest with her other hand as the laughter slowly subsided. With a now very serious expression on her face she reached and took Merlin’s hand, “But in all seriousness Merlin, don’t eat there. Spiders in the mash potato is bad enough, but I swear I found a rats tail in my spaghetti. That was not so amusing.”

Sitting back in her chair and smiled fondly again, “oh he made such a fuss though. Shouting at anyone and everyone he could find. Demanded that everyone in the place should get their money back or their meals for free for the outrage. You know he is an arrogant prat with absolutely no regard for anyone else other than himself most times…but in that moment…well…I was almost proud to be his bet-”

She cut herself off, glanced at Merlin, grabbed her tea and quickly said, “friend, hisbestfriend. So proud.”

[Merlin Emrys]

Merlin was too busy laughing to really notice her stumble, and feeling too lighthearted to do anything other than dismiss it as anything but a simple slip of the tongue, despite how quickly she corrected herself.
Somewhere, however, in the back of his mind, it neatly added itself to a small pile of growing concerns that would no doubt make itself known very soon, the tiniest of suspicions that he was barely aware of, that there was something going on that he hadn't been told about, something that he didn't want to know.

"That sounds like him." He rolled his eyes, once he'd got a handle on his own laughter "I doubt in that situation he'd be anything other than, well, hysterical and raving about it, but I am trying to nudge him into understanding that there are better ways to get what you want other than pulling that whole 'don't you know who I am' thing." he trailed off a little towards the end, realising that, although she was absolutely lovely, when things went wrong, Gwen was probably just as likely as Arthur to handle it quite imperiously.

"It gets results," he added hastily "But he can be just a little...rude about it."

[Guinevere]

Gwen laughed as Merlin began to backtrack on his statement and putting her tea down, glad for the fact he hadn’t picked up on her slip she said, “It does get results, but you are right. Arthur is especially rude about it, but then when you look at his father you can see he hasn’t been taught any better. Uther is everything my mother said he was and more, and trust me, she had some very choice words for what she thought of his politics and opinions. Although she respected him. If there’s one thing that I respect in both Men its that they never give up, there is a resilience there that’s…admirable. And when they believe in something, really, truly believe in something…they’ll never give up on it. For better or worse.”

She was losing herself in her thoughts and found herself staring off into space as she imagined Uther in the Summer Country, demanding that her father give her the throne back. Throwing down the gauntlet and challenging him, of course Leodegrance would never accept but her cousin would, Malgaunt, and then Uther, clearly the better fighter would finish him off and her father would apologise. Then uther would raise her up on the dias as Queen and then-…

She blinked out of her daydream and said, “Sorry… I uh…did you say something?”

[Merlin Emrys]

For better or worse... well that part was certainly right, but even though he did it grudgingly, Merlin had to admit she sort of had a point. While Arthur's stubborn nature often drove him crazy, it was one of the reasons he always thought he would one day be a great king - he would never give up on the fight for what he believed in... but when you thought about it, neither would Uther.
He wasn't sure whether that gave him a greater respect for Uther, or a worry that Arthur would need to soften that stubbornness... Merlin thought it wouldn't matter, but of course that was because he agreed with what Arthur believed in, and a tiny part of his mind said that it was ok as long as Arthur believed in the right things - and didn't that make him just like the dragon after all? Pushing Arthur to be great, but only as long as it was a greatness that he, Merlin, approved of...

It was a disturbing thought, but not one for today, so he forced himself to push it away, slightly sheepish that he'd got so lost in thought, only to find that he wasn't the only one.

"Gwen?" He coughed politely, grinning a little bit when she blinked out of her daze. "Something on your mind?" He teased.
No reason to tell her he'd been just as distracted.

[Guinevere]

Something on her mind?
 
‘Yes actually I have a lot on my mind right now, so much on my mind that at times I really feel like I’m going to go crazy. I’m still not talking to my best friend and it’s driving me mental not knowing about her married life with Robin, I mean she could be pregnant and I wouldn’t be the first person she told and that hurts! Not to mention I have my own wedding to plan, my arranged wedding to a man I know doesn’t love me which you know is even worse because hey, guess what it’s the man that you love! So it’s going to break your heart but I have to tell you because Arthur wont want too and someone has too because if you find out on your own its just going to hurt even more and I don’t even WANT to get married! Even if it was sort of my idea, but I needed to think of something to let Arthur stay and Uther. I want Uther to stay, I want to see Uther more, he’s handsome and strong, and yes ok he’s a bit old but you know, fine wines and all that and it just confusing because I know how terrible and frightening he is as well. You hate him, he would kill you, and my mother hated him more than anyone and here I am getting along with him like we’re the best of friends. And Gaston is back, you know Gaston who broke my heart, well he’s back and just the same old Gaston and why does that make me want him more, he’s an arse and I’m just so confused and I miss lance but I hate lance and don’t even get me started on Lancelot and-…’
 
Gwen smiled, “Oh, nothing much.”
 
Taking a sip of her tea she said, “So…have you spoken to Marian recently?”

[Merlin Emrys]

Merlin had no idea just how much Gwen had to worry about, or just how much she did have on her mind, and given that his remark had been from a teasing frame of mind, he didn't stop to think about it, accepting her dismissal - until, of course, she mentioned Marian, and then he realised that she did have some things on her mind, even if it hadn't been what she was daydreaming about.

"Well I spoke to her the other day," he said carefully "She seems to be settling into married life quite well... I take it you too still aren't really speaking?"
He'd sort of gathered that much already, even though even Marian hadn't said it in so many words. He'd really have to see if he could do something about that soon, the two of them had been such good friends, it was a shame to see them at odds with each other now.
Not to mention just a bit of a pain, they were both very good friends of his too, he didn't want to hurt either of them.

[Guinevere]

“No we’re not,” said Gwen a little more coldly than she had intended but she hadn’t realised how much the subject of Marian still hurt, continuingly a little more warmly she said, “Well…we spoke briefly, at the reception, I didn’t want to ruin her day, no matter what she thought of me or how I feel about her so we just…avoided it…sort of. I let her think it didn’t matter so she would go and enjoy herself.”

Placing the tea back down on the table she looked at Merlin and said, “I of course don’t expect you to take sides. This is between Marian and myself and I am perfectly aware of the fact that just because we are not on speaking terms doesn’t mean that you two cannot. So…if you do want to speak to her or meet with her at the flat you are more than welcome too, I will not stop you or hate you for it.”

With that said she sat back in her chair with her arms folded and grumbled, “Lance however is another matter, I will not have him in my house.”

[Merlin Emrys]

While Merlin was very glad that Gwen didn't intend to hold a grudge or any sort of dislike over him speaking to Marian as well, though it didn't lessen his desire to see the two of them talking again - even if they were both perfectly lovely about him still being friends with both of them,it wasn't himself he was worried for.
He didn't want to keep talking about it, even though he wanted to talk Gwen into agreeing to see Marian, he didn't trust himself to not do more damage, and didn't want to let any of his plans slip before he'd managed to pull them off, so he was actually glad when she changed the subject.
Even if he wasn't all that glad about what the subject changed to.

"I know that," He said, as patiently as he could, since he really didn't understand quite what the two of them had against each other "I only ever see him outside of the house." He wondered, as soon as he said it, if this was some kind of faux-pas and he was supposed to be shunning his friend, or at least pretending he was to Gwen.

[Guinevere]

So long as it stays outside the house,” she said glaring at Merlin, but smiling so he knew she wasn’t really mad at him.
 
No, she knew where her anger was directed.
 
“Although I don’t see what makes you think he’s such a good friend. I mean I know you and Arthur didn’t like the old Lance but I found much, much better than this one. This one is an arrogant and snide little creature that has clearly rolled out from under a rock somewhere to put down and insult every respectable young lady in the area,” she said noting that she normally kept this kind of venomous talking for people she really hated, like Megara.
 
Realising her teacup was empty she reached for the teapot, “You can be friends with him, that’s fine, you’re friends with everyone. But if Arthur thinks he can still be friends with him then he seriously needs to think again. I’ll just tell Uther that the deal is off until Arthur dumps him.”

[Merlin Emrys]

Merlin was ready to defend his friend, to try and explain that Lance was just bad around girls, or at least try and smooth the situation over in a way that neither forgave nor condemned either of them, simply, hopefully, at least edged Gwen onto the possibility of some kind of reconciliation (as long as Merlin worked on Lance, as well).

But then he was distracted, and while he still wanted to point out that it was sort of unreasonable to ask Arthur to dump him, to ruin his entire life's work and dream when his only crime had been annoying Gwen, there was something in her words that was far more interesting.

"Deal? What deal?"
Why was she making deals with Uther? What on earth sort of deal would she be making with him?

[Guinevere]

Oh dear old shiz.

Well now the dragon was out of the cave, she was going to have to tell him now. Which was good, because that had been the plan all along hadn’t it? That’s what this meeting was all about, to tell him, yes, this was good, telling him was good. Telling him was really, really, really bad. This was going to be awful, it was going to be painful and damn it if she didn’t think she deserved it. Of course she felt guilty, she was doing something wrong, she was doing exactly what Marian had accused her of, sort of, in a really round about way that she didn’t really have any control over…not really…

She didn’t even want this…..right?

“A deal…yes…right…” she said and looked down at the table, “well…I realise this may have escaped your notice Merlin but I am, in fact…a Princess…and…Uther knew my mother, what with the Summer Country being so close to Albion. So it made sense that we should meet, I mean I will inherit my crown one day and it would be good…for our countries to be…supportive of each other.”

[Merlin Emrys]

"...What?" Merlin blinked. Now, he could imagine that the reason that Gwen was uncomfortable talking about this was that, obviously, Uther had it in for Merlin and that was before he knew about the whole wizard thing, but he got the impression that there was more to it than that... that this deal was something he probably wouldn't like one little bit.

But this was Gwen, argued another part of his mind, Gwen who was his best friend, who hired him to essentially do nothing more than go shopping with her every time Arthur fired him for no reason, Gwen who, admittedly, very often talked him into doing silly things that were going to get him in trouble, or at least horribly embarassed, but which were almost always a hell of a lot of fun anyway.
She wouldn't do anything to really hurt him, wouldn't do anything directly to his disadvantage, right?

"Gwen," He finally said, after a long pause of digesting her rambling "Whatever it is, just say it..."

[Guinevere]

Just say it. Right. That was easy right? Just to say it, out loud, to Merlin. Yeah. That was easy enough. This was Merlin, Merlin who was so sweet and caring and would sit for hours with her listening to her rant and moan about anyone and everyone. Merlin who had stayed up and ate chocolate ice cream with her when Lance left. Merlin who had bought her French fancies to mash up in the kitchen. Merlin who had stayed up with her all night, in the bathroom, when she heard what had happened to Gaston.
 
Oh no, this wasn’t going to be painful or potentially soul crushing at all.
 
She took a deep breathe, “I met Uther quite by accident, in a restaurant back in Avalon. He invited me to have dinner with him and we spoke about my mother and Arthur…he wanted to take Arthur home, and…I knew I couldn’t let him do that, there is still so much we have to do here, that we can do here, he couldn’t go home just yet…”
 
She couldn’t look at him, so instead she looked down at the tea, “I cant quite remember how we got on to the subject but…I agreed to help him find a wife for Arthur, I told him I knew lots of charming young ladies who would be appropriate, but that Arthur would need to stay here whilst I looked.”
 
Looking down didn’t help, she could even imagine his face at this point. He was smart, he would be putting two and two together by now. Building up her courage she lifted her head and looked at him, she owed him that much at least, “Uther already had someone in mind though and when he…when he made the offer…I…accepted.”