Lets Make The Peace

[Vortigern]

-------Vortigern had not been in favor of this trip to Camelot. Then again, he was never in favor of journeys that involved making peace as their purpose. Vortigern wanted a war! He did not want to venture to various kingdoms and extent their hand in offerings of peace. But, his father's will was his command. Until Vortigern was king, he would not be the ultimate authority. Of course that was not to say that he wished his father dead. He respected his father, which was why he would carry out his duties commanded by him. But, when Vortigern was king: everything would be different. He would rule in a very different way. For one, he would not go through this wasted effort of traveling, in this case, to Camelot. His father, King Gildas had heard of the five kingdoms joining together in a peace treaty, and in the celebration that followed he had sent his son to offer peace between both kingdoms. Or at least eliminate the possibility of war.

-------And then, him being his father and all, he had to throw in that other little purpose of visit. His father was fixated on seeing his son wed and then of course, suggested the Lady Morgana as a candidate. He had not discussed such things with King Uther, but he had a conversation at length with his father about it. A dreadful conversation at that. "The Lady Morgana is dear to King Uther's heart; surely she is looking for a strong match." That had been his father's logic. But Vortigern would hear nothing of it for one reason, and one reason mostly [other than the fact that he was incredibly picky]. "She is not even of royal blood father. She is the daughter of a knight and noblewoman." Even if she was held in the king's highest regard; even if she was practically his adopted daughter, she was not royalty. And Vortigern would not settle for someone who was a far lower rank than he. But, alas, he had promised his father to make an 'effort'. Sort of. Those had been his father's last words: "At least try and find out if King Uther is looking for a suitor for her. And see if she is to your liking."

-------That would not be the objective of this particular meeting. The five day festivities had drawn to an end and most royals had left Camelot. Leaving Vortigern as one of the few remaining guests, which was what he had been anticipating. He now had a private audience with the king where they could speak of political matters over dinner and wine. A good casual setting. Vortigern had also been told by his father to be as respectful as possible, and he would have to honor that...unfortunately. Dressing for the occasion in his fine black suit , with silver work around the neck and a large gold emblem, he made his way to the dining hall. The doors were opened for him, and he entered inside, sitting at the table and waiting for the king to enter. This was going to be a painful conversation, for Vortigern grew tired of such 'peace' talks. But none the less he was here, and he had made assurances to his father who was too sick to travel such great distances. He would have to represent the royal family of Soleria, and try not to tarnish the name in the process.

Tag: Uther Pendragon

[kinguthersqueen]

Uther had mixed feelings about Gildas not attending the peace ceremony. It wasn't what he'd have preferred, though at the same time, he understood that certain pressing engagements or as in Gildas' case, health problems, could have prevented his coming. Gildas had sent his son, Vortigern, instead. Uther supposed that one decent thing was that Soleria hadn't caused as many problems for Camelot as kingdoms like Cenred's.

Uther wasn't entirely pleased with meeting with Vortigern-he knew enough to be aware of the prince's love of war and violence, and none of this could be sitting well with him. Uther truthfully dreaded the time coming when Vortigern would be king, because he'd probably prove to be much like Cenred in wanting war with Camelot. A good king fought when necessary and did not hesitate to go to war for a just cause, but peace was always more desirable if it could be attained.

Most of the kings had left already, and Uther was grateful for the end drawing near, and in particular Olaf getting his daughter out of Camelot before anything else went wrong. Things never had quite settled themselves with Cenred, and Uther doubted it ever would happen. Now only Vortigern remained, and they were about to take a meal together as Uther made his enterance.

"I trust you're still finding everything to your liking. And hopefully, this conversation will prove fruitful by its end."

[Vortigern]

-------When he heard the doors open once more, and King Uther enter, Vortigern rose to his feet. Respect respect, that was what he was expected to display. After all, he could not argue with the fact that Uther was technically of higher rank than him. And it would remain this way until Vortigern was king, or Uther was dead. Either way, right now he was but a prince, and Uther was the king. And more importantly, his father had told him to be on his 'best behavior'. "King Uther." he greeted, nodding his head in a bit of a bow and giving a slight, yet polite smile. When Uther proceeded to the table, Vortigern waited for him to be seated before he followed suit. Another sign of respect. All this respect and politeness was going to drive him mad. But, it was not as frustrating as having to talk of peace and happy things. Ugh. revolting. "It has indeed. Your family are gracious hosts and the hospitality is without compare." Yes. May as well try to suck up a bit. It was after all what Gildas wanted; for him to be nice and polite and all those things that he was not at all known for in Soleria.

-------Fruitful. The only way that Vortigern would regard the outcome of this fruitful, was if it ended in a declaration of war. But, that would be impossible. There had been no severe tension between Camelot and Soleria and Vortigern had not done anything to provoke the king. He could think of a few things. Such as bedding his ward, or killing [or at least trying to] his only son. But, again, it was his father's conscience that played in Vortigern's head and he respected his king far too much to do anything to deliberately disobey him. "That is both my father, and my hope." It was a half lie. It was his father's hope, but it was not his. "He regrets not being able to attend himself, and sends his regards. His health but worsens and had he been capable of traveling, he would have wanted nothing more than to be here." He could speak of such things fluently, for he knew it was the truth when it came to speaking of his father. It was easier to talk of things that Vortigern could easily acknowledge, rather than force the subject of peace that he had no choice but to agree with.

[kinguthersqueen]

Uther nodded, pleased. The prince spoke of his father, then, and his health.

"Tell your father I send my wishes for his recovery."Uther said.

It was decidedly not entirely out of friendship that he said that; his mind turned again to the thought of the prince becoming king. He worried not only for himself as king of Camelot, but for Arthur, who would have to deal with Vortigern for much longer than he would himself. He had little doubt his son could handle any problems that might occur, but he still wasn't thrilled.

Uther secretly disliked that it was difficult to tell much from Vortigern's body language, he spoke and acted well, giving little indication of anything that might be off, other than what Uther already knew. A degree of this sort of thing was necessary, especially when one was tired or ill, but it could also be troublesome at times.

[Vortigern]

-------Vortigern gave a single drawn out nod at a bit of an angle when Uther sent his best wishes to his father's recovery. "I will indeed. He will feel honored and grateful to receive them." Again, the subject of his father could be spoken of with great ease. But he also knew that he could not spend this entire time speaking about his father. It was not the objective of this visit... even though he wished the purpose of it did not have to be regarding peace either. When one of the servants poured wine into his goblet he raised it to his lips and took a small sip. He would need some, liquid encouragement to bring forth a subject that he was dreading even speaking about.

-------"I must congratulate you on the flourishing success of your kingdom. Joining together with four other grand kingdoms to establish peace is no easy task." Vortigern may be impulsive, but he was not stupid. He was well versed in politics, enough to know the tremendous difficulty in establishing peace with even one kingdom, but Camelot had managed to strongly ally itself with several. "It is a great achievement." It was an achievement indeed; well, according to his father. And it was what had made him send Vortigern here. For if they allied themselves with Camelot, they could ally themselves with the other great kingdoms. A ridiculous notion, one that Vortigern doubted he would fully honor when he was king, but for the time being, it was not he who possessed the power to decide: it was King Gildas and Vortigern did only his bidding as any obedient son and subject.

[kinguthersqueen]

Uther listened as the prince spoke of conveying his wishes to his father. Aftward, Vortigern congratulated Uther on the peace talks. Uther had a lot of thoughts in his mind that he could not say out loud in reply. Vortigern might be talking about peace, but Uther knew that he wished anything but. Uther also had his doubts about whether or not Vortigern would honor the treaty being made once he took the throne himself. That would remain to be seen, though Uther was uncertain for how long exactly.

"It has not been an easy task. We are all very different in nature, and all very determined men. We agree on wanting to protect our kingdoms and peoples and wanting to prevent war if it all possible, but we have many different goals and viewpoints amongst ourselves. Finding common ground is an extremely difficult task. But, I do believe that all has gone quite well, despite the attempts to sabotage it. And, of course, some of the credit must also go to Prince Arthur, given that his actions also ensured success."

[Vortigern]

-------Blah. Blah. Yadda. Yadda. Vortigern wanted war! It was sickening and immensely frustrating to have to congratulate someone on obtaining peace when it was so contradictory to Vortigern's own goals. He wished he could extend a declaration of war to Uther, rather than conversations filled with false admiration and hopes of peace. Vortigern took another sip of his wine knowing that it would be the only thing that would get him through this discussion. And ultimately, through this entire trip to Camelot. Everything Uther said was indeed true. Gildas would often speak of how difficult it was to achieve peace between kingdoms, and why it was therefore essential to maintain it. Vortigern could care less. And from the way Uther spoke, it sounded like a conversation better had with his father.

-------Vortigern knew it, and it seemed Uther was aware of this too. That given the choice, the both of them would prefer Gildas to be sitting here than his son. Vortigern decided to finally speak when Uther accredited his son for these peace treaties. "Did not your son jeopardize the entire treaty by lusting after King Olaf's daughter?" Everyone knew of this. And everyone knew of Olaf's over protective nature for Vivian. It was one of the reasons that his father had never forced him to pursue a marriage with her, for he knew that Olaf was not quite prepared to let her go. Many wondered if he would ever be prepared to let it go. Vortigern also mentioned this just to see Uther's reaction. Because all this talk was boring, and why not trying to add some subtle attempt at provoking the king while he could.

-------Aware of the fact that his father would strongly disapprove of this, Vortigern decided to go on. Attempting to justify his motivation for asking, even though the only motivation was to get a rise out of Uther. "I ask this because, as I am sure you are well aware of, King Gildas wishes to work towards a peace treaty with you. Once your son is king, we must be sure that he is in a stable frame of mind. And will not continue to endanger existing peace treaties by lusting after prohibited women, or engaging in other acts that will only provoke allied kings and their families." It was a legitimate concern, was it not? Vortigern doubted he was the only one who had it. Surely some of the other royals present during the peace talks had concerns after the entire Arthur and Vivian fiasco. He had even heard rumors that King Alined was highly displeased by the entire thing.

[kinguthersqueen]

Uther understood the question, and why it had been asked. The prince likely had not been aware of the full story behind the incident, and he did have cause to question it. Uther had been worried about the possible effect on Camelot's image and reputation, and had feared a complete disaster most of the time while it was going on.

At first, Uther had not been certain if it was sorcery or something natural, but as time had worn on, and attempts to reason with Arthur had failed,it had become obvious that something was affecting both Arthur and Olaf's daughter.

"I understand your reasoning for asking such a question, but I assure you that he is of sound mind. That was an enchantment, both of them were under it. I was uncertain at first, but the more I observed the behavior of both of them, the more obvious it became. And by the time the duel ended, the enchantment had been broken and Arthur was thinking rationally again."Uther replied.

"I have little doubt that Arthur will be able to guard against any such occurrences in the future. He knows of the danger of magic, and the need to guard himself and Camelot against it."