You Can't Choose Your Family... (Dris/Cait)

[Rouland de Archer]

Rouland looked out of the side of his carriage and case his eyes over the familiar landscape. He had not been to Mercia in years, he had never really had much reason to. The rocky landscape was different to his home now, he lived on the edge of the forest between Camelot and Mercia with his young son, Dristan, and his wife Ygraine. Both of them had accompanied him on this journey as it was right they should do this as a family.

They had been invited, by his brother Sir Payton de Archer, to join him and his family in Mercia for a few days. It was to celebrate the wedding of his eldest child, Guy, to some noblewoman. His son was sixteen now, and more than ready to marry, or so Payton obviously thought. Rouland’s lips curled into a smile, Dristan was already growing into a feisty, opinionated young man. The thought of forcing him into a marriage already made him reach for a goblet of wine for his nerves, but he would do it one day, he wasn’t going to let his son ruin his estates.

Rouland had not been to Mercia in six years now, he remembered making the journey to celebrate the birth of their youngest daughter Caitrin. Dristan had just been three at the time, perhaps he would not remember much of the journey. He remembered the girl as a baby, most notably because of her vivid red hair, she was the only one of the clan who had red hair apart from her mother. He remembered Dristan asking if the baby was ill or something because of the colour of her hair, he stopped himself chuckling to himself at the memory. The girl would be six now, and thankfully his brother’s wife had stopped having children so Caitrin was the youngest.

“Nearly there my Lord.” The carriage driver shouted out, Rouland was glad, he hated the long rides, although he had to admit it felt good to be back in his homeland. Ygraine never tired of Mercia and was watching attentively as the scenery rolled past, it was indeed very different to their home in Camelot. He found himself watching his son, Dristan, the lad was behaving oddly enough for once, perhaps the prospect of seeing his cousins again was occupying his thoughts; somehow. Rouland thought about them, Payton often spoke of his children in his letters, as when he was not at war alongside the Mercian King then he had little more to occupy his days with. All in all, Payton had seven children, four boys and three girls. The eldest was now being married, and he supposed that the next in line, Bryce was it? Wouldn’t be far behind.

“Are you looking forwards to seeing your cousins again Dristan?” Rouland asked his son, managing a small smile. There were certainly enough of them, perhaps at least one would show some kindness to Dristan and warm to him, or perhaps they were all just as stuck up as their father was now that a bit more time had passed since he had last seen them all. Rouland looked out of the carriage window as they neared the house. He gave a small smile, they were after all approaching his childhood home, the home he had always lived at, until of course he had been married off.

The coach slowed to a stop and the driver quickly jumped off to open the door to let Rouland and his family out of it. He held Ygraine’s hand as she stepped out of the carriage, her eyes opening wide as she looked over the house, it was quite sizable; Dristan got out last. His brother was waiting for him outside the house, with only his wife, Ardith, by his side. How disappointing, Rouland had been expecting the entire of his brood to be there to greet them.

“Brother!” Payton pulled Rouland into a hug. Rouland was slightly stiff but managed a weak smile all the time, “You remember my wife? Lady Ardith?” Rouland nodded and took the womans hand, kissing it softly,

“Lady Ardith, it has been too long.” He gave a short smile and then turned back to his own family, “And of course you remember my wife Ygraine, and our son Dristan.” Payton nodded and looked down at the small boy next to his father,

“Haven’t you grown eh?” He asked Dristan sharply.

Setting: Payton de Archer’s estate, Merica
Timeline: Dristan is 9, Caitrin is 6
Music: Planting the fields- Robin Hood OST
Tags: Dristan de Archer, Caitrin de Archer

[Dristan de Archer]

Travelling was so boring, especially when you were stuck inside a horrible bumpy carriage all day. Horses were much more fun to ride on if you were going on a journey but father said earlier that if Dristan sat on a horse then he would get to his uncles house and he would be scruffy and tired. But the bumpy road was making him tired and his back was hurting and his bum was hurting and he hadn’t had food for such a long time and nobody was saying anything interesting so he was completely bored.

If he looked outside of the carriage the view was as his mother had said ‘beautiful’, but that wasn’t fun was it? How could a beautiful view be interesting to you whilst your sat in a boring carriage without any other children to talk to. And father and mother could only talk about grown up things. Father had said before that Dristan was nearly gown up. But Dristan was 9 and if he was nearly grown up then he couldn’t talk about grown up things until he was grown up could he? Beautiful views were only fun if you could go out and play in them. There was no use if they were just there and you couldn’t touch them or roll around in them. If they were just there like this one then they were just as much use as a tapestry. No, actually they were worse than a tapestry because you could touch tapestries. And with this view all you could touch was the air. But you cant feel the air so what’s the use in that?

Someone, probably the driver called that they were nearly there. Dristan sat up out of his slouch and smoothed down his clothes. If the whole reason for sitting in a carriage was to have nice crease free clothes so that he looked nice when they got there then he would make sure that they were crease free. If when he stepped out of the carriage and he presented himself to his uncle, his clothes were creased then the whole point of sitting in a carriage for the whole journey would be ruined. And even though he didn’t like it, at least when he got there and he looked presentable there would have been a reason for all the boredom so it wasn’t wasted. Besides, if he acted like he was grown up and he was ready to be a Lord like his father. Then maybe on the way back his father would let him ride.

Dristan smiled like he was supposed to when his father asked him a question and leaned against his mother who put her arm around him. ‘Yes, I think I am father’. His father had given him a small smile at that which must have meant that he was satisfied with the answer before he looked away out the window. Dristan imitated his father and looked towards their destination. The house before them was large. Larger than their own house which made Dristan pout a little bit. Why couldn’t his house be as big as that? When the carriage came to a stop he couldn’t be patient enough not to bounce his legs in anticipation as he waited for his turn to exit the carriage after his father. When he finally did, like a good noble boy he went slowly and resisted the urge to jump out before he walked at a measured pace over to his father where he was embracing the man he expected was supposed to be his uncle. He counted the steps.

The adults were talking so Dristan looked around the yard. His father had told him that his uncle had lots of children but he couldn’t see any, the youngest person he could see was a stable attendant who was seeing to the horses and he looked about fifteen years old. When he heard his name said by his father he looked up quickly to see the inquisitive eyes of his unfamiliar uncle looking at him. He had to resist the urge to sigh when his uncle spoke about him being grown up. All adults liked to say that you looked grown up when they hadn’t seen you for a while. Once, one of the kitchen cooks had been away for two weeks and come back exclaiming that he had grown in her absence. It was incredibly annoying. In answer he nodded his head and spoke dutifully,

‘Yes my Lord Uncle’

[Rouland de Archer]

Payton looked down at his nephew, in an almost accusing way. He was trying to make a study of the boy with the little he had to go on. He could see his brother in him, yes, Rouland’s dark uncertain eyes were defiantly there. This little nephew would be one to look out for, Payton was certain of that. However, these thoughts would ruin the mood of the occasion, his eldest son was being married, and that was something at least to gloat over his beloved brother wasn’t it? Rouland stepped forwards, half noticing his brothers stare and watching Dristan carefully. He’d taught the boy to have backbone, even at a young age men should not let themselves be bullied around by other men, especially family. Payton took the hint and gestured for them all to come inside, after all it would not do to keep his brood waiting all day now would it?

Rouland looked around his home quickly as he entered it, remembering his childhood days here. He had always been brought up in a stern sort of way, and he supposed Payton’s children were being brought up in a similar fashion. They were led into the solar, which was bigger than Rouland’s solar at home but he wasn’t that immature to become annoyed at such a fact. No sir. There were an assortment of children in the room, all trying to look occupied, some with books, other with idle chatter, but this was obviously a rehearsed scene. Straight away, as their father opened the door to the solar, they snapped up from their seats, forming some form of line, shoulder to shoulder. Rouland raised his eye brow, it was quite the scene.

Payton stepped forwards, observing his eldest son, “You’ll remember my eldest son, Guy, who is to be married in a day, then there is Bryce.” The next son bowed, the spit of his father, “Then there is Jeffrey, Aelfred and Ailith, the twins.” Both of them rolled their eyes at this tag and Rouland managed a small smirk, looking down at his son, wondering what he would think of his cousins now, as he had not seen them for six years, “Then there’s Ysolde and-“ Payton broke off, looking past Ysolde, to see absolutely nothing. Payton felt his anger rising and both Ysolde and Ailith smirked,

“She’s not here father.” Ailith smirked and Rouland for a moment felt slightly uncomfortable until he realised that someone was missing, that mop of ginger hair was not in the line was she. Payton stepped out of the solar and screamed upwards towards the bedrooms,

“CAITRIN! Gods teeth daughter get down here this instance!”

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin was trying to concentrate, she honestly was, but her father this morning, had told her that her cousin was coming to visit her. She had been extremely excited, they never got visitors, well no one important. There were only her fathers men at arms who ever came round, and they were boring! All they talked about was wars, and swords, but Caitrin liked it when they talked about archery; she was starting to learn that.

“Come on Cait, you know you can do this.” Caitrin looked up at her nurse, Helgund. The woman had been her nurse now for as long as Caitrin could remember, and that was a really long time! After all Caitrin was six now, so Helgund must have been her nurse for, well forever! Caitrin pulled a face at her and Helgund put her hands on her hips and stared down at the young Lady. Caitrin tried to pout, if she pretended to cry then Helgund couldn't be mad at her,

“But Hellie, I can’t, its too hard!” Caitrin folded her hands over her chest and her nurse smiled at her. Hellie had been her nickname for as long as Caitrin could speak, seeing as the full name, Helgund, was a mouthful for a toddler, but it had stuck. But Caitrin ever only used it when her and Helgund were alone. Helgund bent down to the childs level, she had a gift, Hegund was sure of it, and she wasn’t going to waste it.

“Do as I do, raise your arm and whisper the word I taught you.” Caitrin looked doubtful but raised her hand to her unlit fire. She concentrated really, really hard, harder than she could have ever possibly ever concentrated and whispered,

“Ignius.” There was a small crackle and a small flame erupted. Caitrin’s face found a massive smile and she bounced up and down, half punching the air. “Look look I did it!” She said gleefully. Helgund swept the girl up in her arms and poked her nose,

“Told you, I knew you could do it Cait.” She hugged her, and Caitrin threw her tiny arms over her nurse. Hellie was more than a nurse to her, she was her best friend, and she had made Hellie promise to never never leave her. Caitrin wasn’t sure what she would ever do if her nurse left her, she didn’t like any of her family. They were so boring, they just sat around reading, or talking about people to marry. Caitrin scrunched up her face everytime they talked about marriage, why would you want to marry anyone? You would have to kiss them first, and that was just disgusting to think about!

Helgund had only started teaching Caitrin sorcery on the eve of her sixth birthday, she had shown her talent straight away, and had grown into a willing student. Helgund possessed some powers, and she hoped to pass these on to Caitrin before her time was up; at least that was the plan anyway.

Caitrin was now pulling at her nurses skirts,

“Can I wear my new gown?” She asked, her eyes wide, “I want to look beautiful for my cousin.” She did a half dance across her floor, nearly tripping herself up in the process but Helgund caught her mid fall and considered the girls plea. Caitrin put her hands together, she was good at getting her own way, she knew lots of tricks to make adults do what she wanted, “Please! I’ll be good and practise my magic later, please!” She added the second please with more emphasis and Helgund nodded and fetched the robe from Caitrin’s wardrobe,

“Now quick, get changed, lord knows your Uncle will be here any moment!” Helgund looked out of the window, she could see people outside already, oh god, why had no one come to get them yet? Caitrin was pulling her new gown on, and Helgund quickly did the lacing at the back, she knew the shout would be coming soon, she just knew it.

Caitrin in the meantime, unaware of her nurses worries was as happy as she ever could be. Her cousin would think she was the prettiest girl ever in her new dress! Much prettier than her ugly sisters Ysolde and Ailith anyways! She turned around so that Hellie could tell her how pretty she looked, because if Hellie thought she looked good then her cousin certainly would! However someone else was shouting,

“CAITRIN!” Caitrin rolled her eyes and Helgund looked slightly annoyed for a moment. Caitrin had already flown out of the room, trying to hitch up her skirts so she could run quickly down the stairs towards the solar; her father was always in the solar. She rushed into the middle of the room, noticing the new people who had arrived, was that her Uncle, aunt and cousin? She didn’t have time to ask because her father was already looking down at her with the angry face he usually put on whenever Caitrin was involved. Caitrin decided she wasn’t going to cry because crying was for babies and she didn’t want to look like a baby in front of her cousin. “What have I told you about being late girl?” Payton asked his daughter and Caitrin looked up at him and shook her head,

“I forgot.” Payton was already fuming but he turned his attentions away from his daughter before he hit her, turning to his brother instead,

“She is too much of a free spirit brother, you will of course remember my youngest daughter Caitrin.”

[/blockquote]

[Dristan de Archer]

His uncle was looking at him very sternly, like he was in trouble for something. Dristan thought back through the last few minutes. But he hadn’t done anything! This man was mean! Looking at him like he had behaved badly when all he had done was walk out of the carriage like a gentleman and be very polite when he answered the question which he had asked. But Dristan wasn’t scared. He had been in trouble loads of times with his father and that had never scared him. His father had also on many occasions told him that if he wanted to be a real de Archer then he would have to grow a backbone. He didn’t know exactly how he was supposed to grow a backbone, but sometimes if he thought very hard about his back and growing something, he thought he could feel something creeping up his spine like it was growing. Maybe that was it.

Dristan dutifully walked behind his father and his uncle into the manor solar . It was larger than theirs at home, he resisted the urge to pout . The moment they had entered the room a small crowd of children ranging in ages jumped up without hesitation and arranged themselves into a line. Dristan smiled, trying so hard not to laugh. It was just silly! He wondered whether the children did this every time someone entered the room. Maybe they just waited all day long for someone to come in so that they could arrange themselves into a line.

‘Dristan’, he looked up at his mothers whisper to see her shake her head sternly. Although the movement was disproving, the small smile tugging at the corners of her lips and the light hand placed on his shoulder didn’t make him feel particularly chastised. Looking back at the line of young household soldiers he was just in time to see his uncle stalking out of the room to shout.

‘Whats wrong?’ he whispered, looking up at his mother in wonder. ‘His youngest daughter wasn’t downstairs on time, shhhh’. she put her fingers to her lips before motioning towards the door where another child was entering the room. This one was different from his uncles other generic children because she had a shock of bright red hair. Weird.

So her name was Caitrin, and she was a free spirit. Dristan didn’t exactly know what this meant. What he did know was that if her uncle disproved of her and spoke of her as a ‘free spirit’ then she must have been different from his other children which might mean that Dristan might actually be able to have some fun while he was here. The other children looked nice enough he supposed. But they looked like they always did what they were told, and in Dristan’s books that was no fun at all.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin knew she was brave, Hellie had told her so, so it had to be true! She knew she was braver than her brothers and sisters, she’d seen Ysolde cry once when their father had shouted at her. Caitrin was used to being shouted at by her father, she didn’t mean to be bad, and to make him angry, but she always seemed to manage it. Her mother had said once that Caitrin would kill her father with the amount of stress she caused him. Caitrin had been horrified, she never ever wanted to kill anyone. She hadn’t known what stress was either, but she was smart, and had figured it must mean anger. Therefore for a long time after her mother had said that, Caitrin had worried that her father would drop dead every time he shouted at her. But she didn’t worry about that anymore because that was just silly wasn’t it? Hellie had told her it was silly anyway.

Caitrin was still standing under her fathers glare. She could hear her sisters, Ysolde and Ailith, talking about her; they always talked about her. Ysolde thought she was so grown up because she was eight and Caitrin was only six. “Can’t do anything right can she?” Ysolde was saying to Ailith who gave her silly girly giggle which Caitrin really hated. Her temper flared up and Caitrin stuck her tongue out at Ysolde. Her father caught her action and raised the back side of his hand warningly to Caitrin. Now she did flinch, her father didn’t hit her very often, usually when he was really angry, and now she was worried he was going to do it in front of the rest of her family. It hurt when he hit her, and she always cried and she didn’t want to look like a baby in front of her big cousin. She put a hand up to protect her face and even her sisters looked worried for a moment.

“I pity the man who has to have you when you’re of age.” Payton was said to her, lowering his hand. Caitrin lowered her hand as well. She wanted to stick her tongue out at him as well, no man would ever marry her because she didn’t want to marry. Why would you want to spend all day kissing a man, and you’d have to do boring things like make clothes, tapestries and all the other dull things Caitrin hated. All Caitrin wanted to do was ride the pony they had in the stables, and practise her sorcery and archery. Oh and read! Caitrin loved reading but her father told her she was silly because she liked reading, because why would girls need to be smart? Caitrin wanted to be the smartest person ever! Hellie let her read and practise her magic as much as she wanted. She always told her to keep her sorcery a secret though, and Caitrin hated keeping secrets but she had crossed her heart when she had promised, so she had to keep it.

Caitrin had been so busy day dreaming she hadn’t noticed her father speaking. She blinked and snapped back into focus as her father was saying, “Why don’t we leave the younger children here, and your son brother, as we discuss arrangements for the wedding.” Caitrin didn’t like being called a child, she wanted to be a grown up and didn’t like being reminded she was the youngest. A large, important looking man she guessed was her Uncle stepped forwards,

“I agree brother,” Rouland bent down to talk to his son, “Stay here and play with your cousins, we shan’t be long.” Caitrin’s eyes lit up, she didn’t like the sound of wedding talk, but she liked the sound of playing games! Her father looked over his brood, calling all Caitrin’s brother to his side but left Ysolde and Ailith. Caitrin pulled a face, if he had to leave anyone why did it have to be them?!

“Try not to cause too much trouble Caitrin.” Ardith, Caitrin’s mother, was saying to her. Caitrin wanted to point out that she never made trouble, but she always managed to find herself in trouble and it was never her fault. The door shut and now Caitrin was left alone with her silly sisters and her cousin.

Her sisters were in the corner, giggling away at her so she stuck her tongue out at them again, her father wasn’t in the room so it didn’t matter now did it? She had always been taught to walk gracefully, like a lady, but she was quite excited about having someone new to talk with, and hopefully someone who would play games with her. She gave a little curtsey, making sure to show off her dress as much as she could and smiled at her cousin,

“Hello! My names Caitrin, whats yours?”

[Dristan de Archer]

His uncles face looked incredibly red which meant that he must have been very angry at the little girl. Dristans fathers face would often get red when he was very angry but not as red as that. He looked like he had something wrong with him, like someone had painted his face with dried blood and it was going to stay that way now. It was weird being in a room with someone who was being told off. It had never properly happened to Dristan like this before. Of course children had been shouted at while he had been around in the courtyard at home while he was playing with his wooden sword but not like this. He felt very awkward, like he wanted to run out of the solar and close the door. Surely being late wasn’t such a bad thing for such a little girl. Besides, she was only young. It should have been her nurse maid being shouted at not his little cousin. Little children like red cousin could never keep time and be expected to be on time because they are too small and they didn’t know any better. Not like Dristan though. Dristan was very good at knowing what to do and where to be at a particular time because he was nearly a grown up and he was smart. He just couldn’t be bothered to be on time when he was asked.

The eruption of a tongue out of her little mouth proved to be the wrong thing to do. Obviously because Dristan’s other cousins had said something mean she had a reason. But if Dristan was rude enough to speak then he could have told her that pulling out her tongue would only get her into more trouble. Uncle tomato face looked like he was going to hit her for a moment. Dristan turned his head slightly away. Hitting little red cousin would only make him feel more awkward. It definitely was not the right thing to do in front of company. Where had this man learnt his manners? After a moment uncle lowered his hand and said something that Dristan couldn’t hear. He didn’t really care what he said anyway. Uncle tomato face was mean. Dristan looked up at his mother. Her hand was still on his shoulder but she didn’t seem to notice that he was looking at her. The expression on her face looked a little bit like she was in pain. Maybe it was because she felt sorry for little cousin. Mother had always said that if Dristan had been a girl she would have been very gentle. When Dristan had asked why his mother had always laughed and then answered that it was because girls are very breakable. But that was silly. Plenty of girls must have gotten hit before and not been broken. And what did that mean anyway? How can you break a little girl?

This was one of the times when Dristan didn’t really want to do what his father asked,
‘But can’t I come with you like the other boys?’ His fathers face looked a little bit amused while he shook his head. Because he was not at home and because he had decided that while he was here he would not get himself into trouble because he wanted to make a good impression Dristan didn’t push. In return he nodded his head and turned away to look into his room while his parents walked away. He supposed that the other boys were a little bit older than him and he would probably just be bored if he went with them anyway. They would only talk about the wedding and weddings were not fun to talk about. Flowers and dresses were nothing in comparison to swords and battles.

All three of the girls who were left were looking at him, the small red haired Caitrin thing was walking towards him. Great! Now he was just like a girl. Why did he decide to be good to make a good impression? If he was quick maybe he could run after his father and beg to be taken with him. Or maybe he could just leave the solar and explore on his own. There was nothing wrong with that was there? It wasn’t like his father had actually told him to stay in his room. When his father had said stay here it could have meant, stay here within a days walking distance of the estate. It was decided, he was going to go explore outsi…..

‘Hello! My names Caitrin, whats yours?’ Dristan sighed, wasn’t looking good enough for them? Did they have to talk to him? Dristan half turned to face red cousin. She was small in comparison to him, the top of her head only reached his armpit and her hair up close was more unruly than he had anticipated from a distance.
‘I know your name. I’m Dristan. You’re my fathers favourite’. If she was talking to him he couldn’t exactly run off. She would probably follow him like the little child she was. And if she followed him she would probably hurt herself and then he would be in trouble. He looked up from her to see the other two girls still looking at him. He decided that if he couldn’t run off he could at least sit down. Spotting the seat furthest away from the other two he walked over and sat down. She was a girl right, what else could you say to a girl. Thinking hard he plucked the most generic girly thing he could think of out of his head,

‘Are you looking forwards to the wedding tomorrow’?

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin was still annoyed her silly sisters hadn’t been taken to talk about the wedding. After all, they had been bragging about being bridesmaids for weeks because Caitrin hadn’t been asked to be one. Caitrin had been upset at first, because the woman her brother was going to marry, Maria, didn’t like her, because she had told her her nose was too pointy the first time they had met. Ailith and Ysolde had told Maria how pretty she looked in her dress, and how lovely a wife she would be, so of course they were her favourites. Caitrin had then decided not to care about any of them because they were all silly, maybe someone would marry Ysolde and Ailith soon and take them away so that Caitrin didn’t have to listen to them all the time. That would be the best thing ever.

Caitrin felt a little bit sorry for her big cousin, after all, he was the only boy who had been left in the room. Perhaps if Aelfread had stayed then he would have had someone to talk to about boy things, like archery and sword fighting. But Caitrin knew she could talk about some of those things, she loved practising archery and things, even if her father didn’t like her; which secretly made her want to do them even more. She therefore took it upon herself to talk to her cousin, because she didn’t want to talk to her silly sisters, and hopefully her cousin would want to play a game with her!

Caitrin gave the biggest smile she had given in a while, even bigger than the one she had given Hellie when she had lit a fire magically for the first time. It was exciting knowing she was her Uncle’s favourite, because that meant that he already liked her. Caitrin was sure her parents didn’t like her, but she didn’t care, they were all stupid anyway. Caitrin had to look up when she spoke to Dristan, because he was a lot taller than she was. She had never heard the name Dristan before, it sounded weird. She did however remember her manners, “It’s nice to meet you.” She didn’t like being so lady like, it was silly, but if she didn’t then her sisters would tell on her and her father would only just be angry at her again. “Why am I my Uncle’s favourite?” She asked curiously, she was already becoming a curious and questioning child, another thing which her father despised in her.

Caitrin followed Dristan as he went to sit down, why was he sitting down? Sitting down and talking was for grown ups and boring people! She had hoped he would be a lot more fun than this. She didn’t sit down as well, but stood up as she was thinking about what games she wanted to play. Maybe her cousin wanted her to suggest a game? It was her home after all. She looked around at Ysolde and Ailith who were now messing around with the ribbons in their hair and plaiting each others hair with them. Caitrin scrunched up her face, there were better things to do than to mess around with hair! They could learn something, or play a game, not mess around doing girly things! Dristan asked her a question and Caitrin blinked, thinking about the question hard. She shook her head,

“Not really. Are you? I don’t even get to be a bridesmaid because my silly sisters get to be them instead.” She pouted slightly, “But I don’t care.” She removed the pout from her face and looked around the solar, there weren’t many games you could play here. Caitrin wanted to play tag, or hide and seek or something like that, sitting here talking was boring. If Dristan wanted to stay here being boring then he could talk to her sisters because they were boring as well; they could all be boring together!

“Do you want to go and play a game?” She asked brightly, and slightly quietly so that her sisters wouldn’t be able to hear her because they would only moan at her and be silly. “But not with them.” She said quietly and gave her cousin a big smile, she didn’t want to stay in here, maybe her cousin would want her to show him the house; that would be fun!

[/blockquote]

[Dristan de Archer]

Red cousin didn’t sit down, her sisters were braiding their hair with each other. Neither one of them had made any attempt to talk to either one of them. Dristan got the feeling that they didn’t like their youngest sister very much. He supposed that it was understandable. Although he didn’t have any he expected that younger siblings would be quite annoying. But at least it would be someone else to play with and these children were spoilt for choice in their playmates. Not like Dristan who had to devise his own games and sometimes got to play with the children of his fathers employees. He had so many things that he could play and do and so many toy weapons and nobody to play with. His attention wasn’t shared and he could do pretty much whatever he wanted when his parents were busy…it was hard being an only child. If he had siblings he would have to share everything which would be ok for a while but then he would probably get bored of it and become selfish. Oh well never mind.

He was surprised when she said that she wasn’t looking forwards to the wedding. Usually girls liked weddings a lot. They could dance with men and boys and flutter their eye lashes. Mother liked to flutter her eye lashes at father when it was nearly time for bed. Usually when that happened Dristan was sent strait to bed for some reason. He couldn’t understand why mother fluttering her eye lashes meant bedtime, even when he wasn’t tired! He thought it might have something to do with babies because one of the stable boys had once told him that babies came from a bedroom where a man and a woman were. Dristan knew that you needed a man and a woman for a baby to magically make a woman’s tummy fat, but his mother and father had often gone to bed early and his mothers belly had never gotten any bigger. So if babies weren’t coming out of it then he couldn’t see what all the fuss was about.

‘What kind of game’, even though he was nearly grown up he could still play games. Mother played games with him when she wasn’t busy doing something and eve sometimes father would play with him. Father didn’t play with him very often though. But that proved that grown ups were allowed to play games. He was glad she didn’t want to play with her sisters, they looked too giggly to play any games with him. Boys were not giggly and he definitely didn’t want to play with giggly girls. Dristan stood up quickly. He didn’t expect that there would be any fun to be had playing games in the solar.

‘Come on’ he said walking out of the solar.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitirn had never been to a wedding before, this would be her first one. From what she had heard of weddings so far, she was sure she was not going to enjoy it. It just sounded so boring. They had to sit in a church for hours listening to the priest marry her brother and that stupid woman Maria. Then she would have to watch everyone saying how beautiful her sisters looked in their new bridesmaid outfits. Caitrin had a new gown on today, but it was only a play outfit and she had been given one of Ysolde’s old gowns to wear for tomorrow. Caitrin had been annoyed, she’d wanted her own new dress, it wasn’t fair her sisters got to be bridesmaids and got new dresses!

She now, as she had her cousins direct attention, had a chance to fully look at him. It was weird, she knew they looked alike, she could see a few red hairs in his mop of brown hair. She amused herself, wondering what her cousin would look like with red hair like hers. She loved her hair, it made her feel different and special because no one else, apart from her mother had red hair; although her father had said that he too had red hair in his younger days. Caitrin found it hard to imagine now because her father only had grey hairs.

She was annoyed as well, because Dristan hadn’t answered her question about why she was her Uncle’s favourite. She wanted to know what she had done to be his favourite, she had only just met the man after all! She decided to ask again because maybe Dristan just hadn’t heard her, and she really wanted to know, “Why am I my Uncle’s favourite? What did I do?” She asked politely and smiled at Dristan softly, wanting an answer this time.

Caitrin had lots of ideas about what kind of game she wanted to play, something where they had to run about a lot, or something like that, she didn’t want to play games like her sisters played. They played things like dressing up their dolls, or talking about soldiers that her father employed. Caitrin could never understand why they would want to do those things instead of running around outside or practising archery. She put a finger to her mouth thoughtfully and rested on her heels for a moment, “Urmmm, my bow and arrow is outside!” She said suddenly with excitement, “Or we could go exploring outside, what do you want to do?” Her eyes were wide with excitement now because none of Caitrin’s siblings ever wanted to play games with her so even the fact Dristan was thinking about playing a game with her was exciting!

She stepped back as her cousin got out of his seat quickly, she smiled widely, now sure that her cousin was not like her boring brothers and sisters. This was going to be a good day after all! The worry of her fathers anger was now far from the little childs head as she dutifully followed her cousin out of the solar, ignoring her sisters stares and words of ‘She’ll just get herself into more trouble.’ Caitrin knew whatever she did would get her into trouble with her father, so she was going to have as much fun as she could before her father did shout at her.

Outside the solar, Caitrin looked about, there were no servants. She grabbed her cousins hand and grinned up at him, “I know the quickest way outside if you want to play a game out there?” She didn’t really wait for a reply, because she was already leading the boy down the coridoor, through another small room and out the back door. They were now at the back of the house, Caitrin wanted to spend most of her day out here because her bow and arrows were here, as well as some old toy swords and other things which belonged to her brothers. She let go of Dristan’s hand finally as they arrived at the yard and bounced forwards for a few steps, making sure not to trip over her dress, “So what game do you want to play?”

[Dristan de Archer]

‘I don’t know what you did and I don’t know why. Maybe its because your different or something’, he smiled at her. The only reason he thought that his father liked her best was because when the subject of uncle red came up in conversation his father always made a comment about her. The other children of the family had hardly ever come into conversation. It wasn’t exactly like Caitrin featured often in conversation. No it was just more like his father commented about her more often than the other children.

In answer to her suggestions for playing Dristan just nodded and smiled at her. To be honest didnt really mind what they did just as long as they did something at least slightly fun. The solar was stuffy and hot and when it was nice and warm and sunny outside rather than cold and wet and rainy then Dristan just didn’t want to be inside. Caitrin was very excited about being played with, her voice was high and she looked like she was almost jumping up and down. Dristan thought that maybe she didn’t get played with very often. But that was strange because she had so many sisters and brothers who could play with her. Dristan thought that if he had a little sister then he would probably play with her a lot because he didn’t really have many other children to play with.

Outside the solar in the hall Dristan could see dust mites dancing in the sunlight streaming through one of the windows. Dristan didn’t particularly like dust mites because he didn’t want to breathe them in, but they looked nice floating in the sun like free birds. Dristan wanted to get outside so that he could be free; the massive manor suddenly seemed very stuffy and prison like. Although bigger manors gave you more space when you were inside them, they also made you take longer when you wanted to go outside. Dristan was starting to think that he actually preferred his own home back in Camelot to this bigger one. From his room Dristan could reach the door in his own home to get outside in twenty seconds if he ran very fast all the way. In this big house however he expected that it would probably take at least twenty five seconds. That would mean that you would have less time playing outside before you were brought in. Although a couple of extra seconds wasn’t very much usually, you could still do extra things like shooting another arrow at a target.

Dristan noticed red cousin look around quickly before grabbing his hand and then half dragging his through the house. He didn’t even have enough time to answer her question before she had begun to run with his hand to the back of the house. She only let go when they had exited the house and entered the yard. Dristan noticed with some pleasure that there was a bow and a stack of arrows leaning against a wall. He pointed at it.

‘Can you use that?’ he knew that archery was something that sometimes girls were allowed to do because it wasn’t very very manly. It was just a bit more manly than for girls so they were allowed. Dristan himself had dabbled in archery a bit since he had been younger. Although he enjoyed archery he actually liked swords a lot better. And he was better at swords, but he didn’t think that his girl cousin would want to play with swords. Besides, she wouldn’t even know how to.

‘We could have a competition if you wanted to I suppose’.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin rocked on her heels and just simply beamed at her cousins words. She loved being told she was different because that meant people didn’t think she was the same as her sisters. Caitrin had always tried to not be like them, because they just acted silly and girly all the time. They always wanted new dresses, and ribbons to look nice when all Caitrin ever wanted was her bow, a book or to practice her magic with Helgund; how could her sisters not find any of that interesting? It was beyond the small girls comprehension so she often just ignored her siblings. “I like being different.” She said confidently, brushing back some hair off her shoulders, realising that was just one more way in which she was different to her siblings; she was the only one with red hair.

She was overjoyed that her cousin agreed to a game. Perhaps this wedding business was going to be ok; after all her cousin would be at the wedding. That meant that they could sit together, or play together during the party which followed. All these ideas were whirling around in Caitrin’s head and she decided that this was the most excited she had been in a long while as she followed Dristan into the corridor. He didn’t even protest as she dragged him outside; it was more fun out there anyway because the adults didn’t go out of the back very often. Her mother always complained it was too cold outside for her, but Caitrin was always warm and could never understand why her mother never wanted to come outside and play with her. Caitrin hoped that she never grew into a boring adult who just sat around talking all day, the thought of it made her just want to never grow up and stay like this forever. She knew that one day she would have to grow up, but she liked the idea of that in a way because it meant she would not be living with her family anymore, and she could have her own grand house; she would like that very much.

Caitrin looked to where Dristan was pointing and nodded brightly, “That’s my bow, so yes we can use it. Just promise not to break it.” She held a small finger up at him warningly, she never let her siblings touch any of her things, but that was because they just broke them because they could. She hoped her cousin would be nicer to her, and not ruin her things. She half bounced over to her bow and picked it up, along with a few arrows which she carried with a slight amount of difficulty back to her cousin. She dropped the arrows at his feet and put the bow over her shoulder for a moment.

She liked the sound of a competition, already she was proving to be an incredibly competitive child. She never liked to lose, and always tried her hardest to win at most things because she just couldn’t stand facing the winning sibling. “As long as you don’t mind being beaten by a girl.” She teased and gave a wide grin. She then pointed at a small make shift target. It was just a small, used, target which had been attached to a large bale of hay. “Me and my nursemaid made that, is it ok?” She declared proudly, and then continued, taking the bow off her shoulder, “Do you want to go first?”

[Dristan de Archer]

Break her bow? Dristan sighed. Little children were always worried that other children would break their things, especially if they had siblings. Dristan had met many children who had warned him against breaking things. But why would Dristan want to break something that was fun to play with? Besides, Dristan was older that little red cousin so therefore he was much more careful with his things. Red cousin was young, and when children are little like her they can break things all the time…. Even if they don’t mean to.

‘I wont break it little cousin’, he smiled kindly at her, she had her finger in the air, it was probably an imitation of her mother. ‘You don’t need t warn me, I have used a bow loads of times before’, he lifted his hand to her little finger and pushed it down with a laugh at how serious she was.

The arrows she dropped at his feet weren’t proper arrows. The ends weren’t as sharp as real arrows. He supposed that this was because they were for practicing with for a little girl. Dristan it was true was not often allowed to use proper arrows, but sometimes if he begged a guard, pleaded with his father, or snuck into the storage room he would be able to use some for practice. He picked one up and played with it in his hands. The wood wasn’t as smooth as with real arrows. Dristan remembered his father saying that if the wood wasn’t smooth then it wouldn’t fly as fast or as strait. But Dristan didn’t notice the difference really. The only thing he ever noticed the difference with was that real arrows would get fully stuck in whatever he was shooting at. But these arrows would be able to come out easier.

Dristan laughed at her comment about him being beaten by her. It was true that Dristan was better at fighting with swords, but he had had a lot of practice with arrows aswell. Besides she was small, Dristan doubted such a small thing had much strength in her.

‘I don’t know about that’. He decided not to tell her outright that he thought he would win her. He still didn’t know her properly yet and for all he knew she might start crying and running off and then he would be in trouble. She was so confident, Dristan sighed inwardly. Although his father liked confidence in people-even women- Dristan knew that not too many men actually did. That was probably why she was getting into trouble all the time. Maybe when she was older she would learn to be herself only to certain people.

‘Its great’ he said in referral to the target attached to the haystack in front of them. Just as long as it would hold arrows then it would be good enough.

‘Ok’ he said and held his hand out for the bow. If he went first maybe he could show her a thing or two about how good she might be when she was nine like him rather than six.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin, although she was glad to hear that her cousin had no intention of breaking her things, did not appreciate being called ‘little’. It was one of those things which just really made her cross because everyone called her little, or small. She knew she was always going to be the youngest, and the smallest, but that didn’t mean she had to like it. She always wished that she could grow more, her mother always told her she was small for her age which just made everything worse! It wasn’t fair to be the youngest and uncommonly small. “I’m not that little.” She protested, she didn’t want to get too cross with her cousin because then he would be angry and not want to play with her, and that wouldn’t be good at all! “My brothers have used bows too, but they still break mine.” She pointed out, she believed her cousin wasn’t going to break her things because he had no reason to really. Then again her brothers never did and they still broke her things.

Her cousin was looking down at the arrows and Caitrin hoped he didn’t think she was a baby because she had only been given toy arrows to practice with. Her father had been reluctant enough to even let her have a bow so she hadn’t protested at being given toy arrows; she just pretended they were real. She had been pratising archery for quite a while now, Helgund encouraged her to take some exercise every day, and as the pony was always being used by her sisters she just practised her archery everday out here on her own. Now she might even be able to show off a little bit. One of her brothers had said she was a natural at archery, and she had been proud of that as she had got a nine on one of her first goes. That was just luck though, and it was really hard to get the arrow in the middle, but she hoped she would be able to do it in front of her cousin.

He laughed and Caitrin couldn’t help but give a large smile, he probably thought he was going to beat her, but she had been practising hard and she was sure that she had a good chance of beating him. He was a bit older than her, so it would be amazing to beat him. She stepped up to Dristan, the effect slightly ruined as she had to look up to him, “You’ll have to try your hardest to beat me.” She told him confidently. He was holding out his hand for the bow and she handed it over up to him. Caitrin had really wanted to go first but she didn’t mind letting Dristan go first that much. It meant she could see just how good he was. She stepped back a little bit, but so that she could still see the target and him, but she had always been taught to step back from someone who was about to shoot and she didn’t want to be hit by one of the arrows. “Go on then.” Caitrin called challengingly and gave a wide grin, putting her hands on her hips, “Unless you really are scared to be beaten by a girl!”

[Dristan de Archer]

Dristan laughed. Little children always thought they were big and didn’t like being little. Caitrin was no different. But being little was not a bad thing, when you were little you could do moe naughty things and not get in as much trouble for it. Even if little red cousin thought her father was being mean to her about the things that she did at the moment, he would probably be a lot more horrible to her if she was Dristans age. But that was because Dristan was nearly a grown up, and when your nearly a grown up your supposed to know better than to be really naughty.

‘Ive seen smaller I suppose’ he replied. When she told him about her brothers breaking her bow Dristan raised his head slightly, he was proud. ‘That’s because your brothers are not mature like me’, he smiled in what he thought was a kind way at the little girl. ‘I would never break a bow because they are important for fighting’. His father had always told him that breaking something that is used when your fighting was wrong and very bad because one day it might save your life to have it. Dristan didn’t think that anyone was likely to attack the de archer manor any time soon because nobody really hated them. But he supposed that what his father had said sounded right. Besides, if he broke the bow his cousin would probably cry and not want to play with him. And then he would just be bored for the rest of the visit and have nothing to do.

‘I will try my hardest’ he promised her and turned towards the target when she had handed him the bow. The target fastened to the hay bale had three coloured circled. The outer circle was blue, the middle circle was white whilst the inner circle was red. Dristan hoped he would hit the red but he wasn’t sure whether he would be able to. The target was quite far away from where he was stood and he didn’t actually manage to hit the red very often. Dristan picked up an arrow and nocked it on the box before quickly pulling back the bowstring until he felt something pull uncomfortably in his arm like his father had said. He noticed that the bow was easier to bend that his bow at home. That meant that the arrow wouldn’t fly as fast. After waiting a second to aim properly he let go. The arrow flew through the air and hit the target on the white circle very close to the red. Dristan was slightly unhappy. He had hoped that he could have hit the red circle. Even if it was very close it would have been nice if it had been a little bit closer. Acting as if he was happy with the shot he smiled at his cousin in what he hoped was an encouraging way and held out the bow so that she could take her turn.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin would have stood on her tip toes to look bigger, but that wouldn’t work because her cousin would know what she was doing and then she would just feel silly. She looked down at herself, she hoped that she would grow taller one day, maybe she’d even be taller than her sisters. Well she could dream at least. Caitrin considered her cousin for a few moments and then replied, “One day I’ll be a lot taller!” She used her hands to gesture to how tall she thought she would one day be, “And then no one will be able to call me small!” That was the aim in life, Caitrin didn’t like just being this little nobody who everyone just shooed away. She wanted to be taller, and more grown up, because then maybe her family would pay her more attention.

She nodded at Dristan’s words, that he was more mature than her brothers. She didn’t exactly know what mature meant, but her sisters said that she wasn’t mature all the time, so maybe it meant silly? Caitrin knew her sisters thought she was just little and silly so it made sense. So far Dristan didn’t seem like he was silly, he was more fun than her siblings just because he had wanted to join her in her games, and that meant a lot to the young child.

Caitrin knew that bows were mainly used for fighting, that was why her father hadn’t wanted her to learn how to use one. After all, why would a girl need to know how to fight? Caitrin could never understand that logic, surely women could be attacked in the same way that men could, and surely it would make more sense if she knew how to fight? Caitrin had heard about nasty men who sometimes attacked people who were riding along the roads. Surely they would not just stop attacking her because she was a girl? That just made no sense! “Do you ever have to do any fighting?” Caitrin asked, her eyes slightly wide with wonder, she wondered if her cousin wanted to be a knight because she knew he lived in Camelot, and her father had told her about the Knights of Camelot once. “My father won’t let me fight, I don’t think I shouldn’t be taught to fight just because I’m a girl.” She screwed her face up slightly and then smiled up at her cousin, but her eyes showed how serious the small child was being.

Caitirn watched her cousin intently as he knocked the arrow in her bow. Her mouth was slightly ajar with the excitement and anticipation. She didn’t want him to beat her, so naturally she wanted him to not hit the red circle. The white circle would be okay, because that was where Caitrin usually hit as well, and she might actually beat him then. That would just make her so happy, beating someone who was so much older than she was. Caitrin was still watching as Dristan released the arrow and it sunk into the white circle, although it was really close to the red.

Caitrin smiled at her cousin, “I bet I can beat you.” She said confidently and took the bow politely from her cousin. She didn’t snatch it, Caitrin had been taught that ladies didn’t snatch things. She then picked up an arrow and knocked it, just as she had been shown, and then began to line up her shot. She pulled the string back carefully, visualising where she wanted her arrow to end up. When she released the string the arrow buried itself quite confidently on the line of the red, and white, circles. She beamed at her own achievements and turned back to her cousin, “Beat that.”

[Dristan de Archer]

Dristan just nodded when she commented on how tall she would be. She was small so when she stood on her toes and raised her hand it barely cleared the top of his head. Dristan suspected that she would probably be taller than he was now when she was older (otherwise she would be a very small woman). Of course it was very unlikely that she would be as tall as he would be when he was older. Dristan wanted to be as tall as his father because then people would listen to him and he would be more in charge. People didn’t listen to him as much now he thought because he was still quite short in comparison to men.

Dristan sort of agreed with little red cousin when she complained that she wasn’t allowed to learn how to fight . He didn’t think that she should learn how to use swords and big weapons like maces because they were heavy and unless she was very strong like a man she wouldn’t be able to use them. Women shouldn’t be very strong because that was for men. But she should learn how to protect herself with a dagger maybe. And archery was allowed.

‘I have never had to fight because no one would dare attack me with father around’, he smiled proudly at the thought of his father, ’I think that you should be allowed to learn archery and how to use a dagger, it might be silly for you to learn to use a sword though because they are for men’. he paused for a second to think, he didn’t want to completely offend her, ’Only because if you’re a woman it would be much more easy for you to use a dagger on a man because they wouldn’t expect you to attack them so they probably wouldn’t attack you with a sword’. It would be silly for her to learn how to fist fight though. Even men didn’t properly learn how to fist fight because that wasn’t chivalrous and was only usually used in taverns when fights broke out.

He was disappointed with her shot when it hit in between the red and the white. It must have been a lucky shot because she couldn’t possibly have done that so well and meant to.

‘Ill try’ he replied, trying to keep the sulk out of his voice as he took the bow back and picked up another arrow.

This time when he drew back he tried to focus on steadying his arm, he noticed that when he pulled back hard his arm would shake a little bit and that was not very good because then he would definitely not hit the target where he wanted to. Once he was sure his arm was steady enough he released a slow breath and once again concentrated on where he wanted it to go. He wanted it to go to the centre of the red. However unlikely that would be that was where he wanted it to go.

He released…. It hit the target just inside the red circle. Dristan relaxed slightly and tried not to smile while he held out the bow.

‘Here you go’.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin had always wondered what her Uncle Rouland was like, her father did not talk about him often and she never asked why. From what Dristan said her Uncle must have been a good fighter if no one dared to attack him. Her mouth opened slightly in awe, she wondered if her Uncle was a better fighter than her father was and that was why he was hardly ever mentioned. Caitrin always wondered why people on the road always seemed scared of her father, was it because he was a good fighter? Her mother always told Caitrin that her father often fought for the King and that was why people were scared of him. Hardly any of it made sense to Caitrin, but she wouldn’t want people to be scared of her if she could fight properly, she just wanted to be able to defend herself. “No one attacks me when I’m with my father either.” She declared proudly but shuffled her feet, “But I think people are frightened of him.” Her brows furrowed slightly, she hoped no one would be scared of her when she was older just because of who her father was.

Caitrin pouted slightly at her cousin’s words, that she should not be taught how to use a sword because they were for men. Her father had told her that any weapons used to harm people were only to be used by men, so how could it be right that Caitrin was only allowed to use a bow and a dagger? Caitrin had only been given a toy dagger to try out with, and that had been because Helgund had snuck it from her brother’s old toys, her father would probably be angry she had it, but her father was angry whatever she did. Caitrin pressed her lips together, seriously considering her words, or at least as seriously as a six year old could think about these things. “But my father says that bows and daggers are only for men too. Why can I only learn to use them?” She asked him, hoping he would not just say it was because she was a girl. That was a silly answer after all, but she supposed her cousin must be a bit cleverer than she was because he was older than she was so he should give a proper answer. She furrowed her brows at his latter words, “But what if they do attack me with a sword?” Her voice was slightly panicked, but men could attack women with swords, what was stopping them?

Caitrin tried not to carry on frowning at Dristan as he hit inside the red circle. She knew she could hit there too, she just hadn’t yet. She didn’t want her cousin to beat her, but she wouldn’t cry if he did; she wasn’t a baby after all. Caitrin took the bow politely from her cousin and stepped forwards so that she could line up her shot.

She was trying to remember what the guard who had taught her to shoot had told her. He told her to relax, and breathe and focus but that was a lot of things to be doing whilst Caitrin was worrying about whether she was going to hit in the red. She tried to not shake as she lined up her shot, and when the arrow released she was satisfied she hit just inside of the red, not far off where her cousin’s arrow had hit.

She turned around triumphantly and handed the bow back to her cousin, “Did I tell you I was good?” She asked him confidently, although it was a bit annoying she had to look up at him and it ruined the effect of her words somewhat.

She looked around the yard, they would probably tire of archery soon enough anyway and then she had a good idea, and one her father would defiantly disapprove of. “Do you want to go exploring after we have played archery?” She asked him brightly, her home backed onto a small woodland area and it was always fun to run through it and play hide and seek; though no one else in her family felt the same way. She could climb trees and everything then as well, but of course only if her cousin wanted to play as well.