The Forging of A Friendship (Caitrin de Archer)

[merlinus]

Setting: An unobstructed time in series one
Time of day: Mid morning
Timeline: After Merlin has been made Arthur's manservant
Tag: Caitrin de Archer

Arms laiden with a basket full of fruit, Merlin tried not to get tripped over by the amount of servants and royals that seemed to be swarming through the Castle as he attempted to reach the room of the noblewoman that was currently staying with them. Finding his way around without getting lost was still something he was getting used to; and sometims not always succeeding. Merlin had taken to trying to be at least ten minutes early to wherever he was supposed to be in an attmept to be on time, but it didn't always work. Only last week he'd attempted to deliver a dress to a noblewoman, and ended up putting the item in the rooms of one of the Knights.... they hadn't been impressed, to say the least.

Eventually arriving at what he *hoped* was the right door, Merlin knocked, slightly out of breath, shifting the basket in his hands. Upon hearing no response, though, he frowned, and hesitantly entered the room, glancing about. "My Lady?" he called, though he hadn't yet met the woman. Seeing the coast apparently was clear, the warlock entered the chambers, moving over to the table with the basket, reaching over to set it down. As he did, his foot caught in one of the chair legs, and with a cry, the brunette went sprawling, the fruit tumbling from the basket and onto the floor, eventually landing with an ungraceful thump on the ground.

Murmuring to himself, Merlin shook his head, reaching forward and attempting to gather the fruit again before the Lady returned, not daring to use magic; despite how tempting it was.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin was staying in the castle for the next day or so, there was a feast in the evening, and if her Uncle wasn’t going to accompany her then she was going to go by herself and she was going to enjoy herself. The advantage of having a friend who was the Prince of Camelot meant she could always count on lodgings here, of course her Uncle had been assured that the best of care would be taken of her, and though Caitrin didn’t doubt that, it didn’t mean that she had to behave completely did it? She grinned at the thought; the men of the court were quite different to the ones in Mercia, of course that had a different context to it all together. Her father had kept her away from court, afraid she would tarnish his precious reputation. Caitrin pressed her lips together, and slipped her cloak from around her shoulders as she mounted the stairs to her room. She needed to get her things ready for tonight, and then perhaps take another walk. Caitrin had been taking a walk out in the gardens, and had been hoping to meet some of the courtiers out there. However, it had been a rather slow morning so far, all those walking had done so in couples. Caitrin scrunched up her face, she had avoided marriage before, and fully intended to keep it that way.

The young noblewoman hitched her skirts up as she walked up the stairs, she had the perfect dress for tonight, it was deep blue and fitted to her figure perfectly. Of course all she had to do was pick out the jewellery and she would enchant any man in the room. The tensions surrounding her Mercian birth were still in the air, given that there was still some tension between King Uther and King Bayard. Caitrin didn’t really get too hot and bothered about the politics between kingdoms, she didn’t understand it, though she knew one source of tension was that Mercia accepted magic, and Camelot did not. That was always a bitter topic for Caitrin, as she had been forced to hide this part of herself for so long now, even in Mercia no one had known of her true gifts, as her tutor had always been worried that Mercia would go the same way that Camelot had, and she had not wanted her apprentice to be in the middle of that.

As she reached her door, the young woman quickly realised that all was not as she left it. Furrowing her brows, and brushing down her satin, red dress, she pushed the door open and peered inside. She was greeted with a rather unflattering sight, and put a hand on her mouth to stop herself from bursting out laughing, “Can I help you?” She asked with a furrowed brow as she took a step into her guest chambers, resisting the urge to laugh at the young man.

[merlinus]

Hearing a female voice behind him, Merlin scrambled to his feet, flushing a little as he came face-to-face with the likely occupier of the room he was in, swallowing nervously as he glanced about, fairly certain he'd get, if nothing else, a severe telling off for this. "My Lady, I do apologise," he said, bowing his head low in deep respect. "I'll have this cleared up right away," he assured, before beginning to kneel and attempt to pick up the fruit that was still rolling on the floor.

As if he didn't need enough reasons for Arthur to tease and bully him, he thought with a groan - now there was this too. Arthur would surely berate him mercilessly for such a thing, and Merlin could only guess at what would happen if the King found out.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin found herself just staring at the man in front of her, or more, the boy in front of her. Frowning, she kept her arms folded, and just let her eyes wander over him, wondering what had possessed him to think that this would be a good idea in front of a noble lady of Camelot, well, she was Mercian, but she wasn't going to point that out to just anyone. What she couldn't understand was who the boy was, and why he was cleaning up something which didn't belong to her in the middle of her chambers. It was all quite odd, though she couldn't pretend to be annoyed, she wasn't the type to loose her temper over such things, if anything she was glad of a little distraction. Sometimes she was too caught up with her own self pitying, and her lifestyle, that she quite forgot that life went on around her. It was a selfish attitude, but she had not been brought up by her father to be the picture of virtue, or manners. She took on manners because she had a soft heart, and did not want to turn out like her father. An apple had rolled near her foot, and so she bent down and picked it up, gave it a quick run on her gown and handed it to the boy. "Here, one less to pick up." She wanted to show him that she wasn't angry with him as well, as she didn't want to alienate the Camelotian castle workers, she was here too much for that.

"Where did this fruit come from?" She asked curiously, "And what is it doing in my chambers?" Oh, maybe she had a secret admirer! She would view it as sweet if she didn't know more of the ways of the world. Men didn't do anything without reason, and that reason often began, and ended with their own interests. They did not live in a universal, and fair world; they lived in a man's world, and she knew that. All she did was try to keep as much control as she could over her own welfare, and the rest would all hopefully fall into place in time. "And who are you to be delivering it?" She finally asked, watching over the man curiously and trying to remember where she had seen him before.

[merlinus]

Merlin was a little surprised as the woman bent down and offered him one of the fruits that had fallen, giving her a slightly wary smile, thanking her before taking the fruit and placing it back into the bowl. "I'm sorry, My Lady," he apologized again. "It was a welcoming gift from the King and his son, Prince Arthur. I... I will get you another, I promise." he assured, managing to grab the last piece of fruit and place it within the bowl before standing up, a little flushed.

"Merlin, I-I'm the Prince's manservant.... I'm sorry, I haven't been here long, I wasn't looking where I was going and tripped," --damn, why did he have to babble right now? The warlock swallowed, taking a slow breath and forcing himself to calm down, praying that she wouldn't get him into trouble. "I'll get you another bowl," he promised.