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Rouland hadn’t let go of Esmae just yet, he didn’t want to let her go. All those years he’d dismissed all the children when they had been running through the solar while he’d been trying to drink and get away from the world, what he wouldn’t give to have those moments back. He knew he wasn’t right to raise his niece’s children, he was already old, even carrying Esmae down stairs had left him breathless, and he knew it would be better for them all to have some stability. However, he couldn’t help but feel resentful. He would miss out on everything in the children’s lives from this point onwards. Was that really what Caitrin had wanted? For him to be cut out of her children’s lives? The thought was bitter, and if he hadn’t had Esmae in his arms he would have reached for a goblet of wine. His mind wasn’t in a particularly good place at the moment, he knew that, so it wouldn’t be fair to inflict Celyn with his thoughts. It wasn’t Celyn’s fault that Caitrin had bestowed this upon him, but it didn’t make the parting from her children any easier for Rouland.

Finally he set Esmae down, as he couldn’t keep hold of her for much longer without keeling over. He wasn’t the young man he once had been. His bones ached, and he became breathless so much quicker. He knew he didn’t have many summers left, which made it harder to see the children go. He couldn’t just assume he would be around to see their marriages, and their children as their parents would have done if they were still here. He ruffled Esmae’s hair as she looked up to him. Rouland didn’t want them to part in an unhappy way. He didn’t want to remember the closest thing he had to his niece with teary eyes, and full of grief, Rouland wasn’t sure he would be able to bear the guilt.

Esmae, who up until now had remained rather quiet, looked up at her Uncle Celyn. She did love him, but she would have traded him in a heartbeat to see her mother or father standing there instead with extended arms. She didn’t need to curtsey, or do any of the things her mother had once taught her, because she knew her Uncle so well. “Hello.” She replied, but her words weren’t quiet because Esmae was anything but a shy child. Esmae wasn’t exactly sure where her Uncle was taking them, her granddad had just told her that her mother had wanted her, and her brothers and sisters, to go with Uncle Celyn to his home to live there. Esmae couldn’t understand why she had to move house; she liked it here. All her hiding places were here, and this was where her mummy and daddy had lived. “Where are we going?” She asked Celyn with wide eyes, she had heard the name before, but she had no idea where it was.

Rouland stiffly nodded at the man in front of him, he hadn’t expected him to stay. If he had been interested in making friends then he would have come round before this had to take place. He hadn’t, Celyn had stayed away, and Rouland had been left to make sure the children were ready to go to their new lives. Arthur and Esmae were the only ones who really needed telling, the others were too young to understand anything further than they were going with their Uncle Celyn. The term stung in his mouth. These children would grow up knowing their fictive kinship, not with their actual bloodline. Celyn was not their Uncle, and he would be so in name only. Rouland just hoped he remembered that. “That is fine, I understand.” He knew, no matter what he thought of this situation, Celyn had always been a good friend to Caitrin, and they had been close for years. Being here must have been as hard for him as it was for Rouland, maybe harder given the task he was about to embark on.

Though Celyn laughed at his own words, Rouland didn’t match the man’s emotion. “They don’t hate you.” He said flatly, how could anything from Caitrin’s womb ever hate Celyn? Even after what he was about to do with the little broken family. “I shall fetch them in a moment, but they are all ready to travel; I have prepared them all well.” That was the only contribution he could bring to his niece’s children, preparing them to move. Soon enough he would be nothing but a memory to them, as would their parents. Celyn, and his court, would be their new life now, and Rouland was finding it hard to accept. Rouland looked up at the man with dark tired eyes, as he said he would look after them for Cait’s sake; not Griff’s, and certainly not Roulands, but hers. It had always been about her. Rouland had always suspected it, but had never said anything, it wasn’t his place. “You must have cared for her a lot to do this.” Rouland stated, it wasn’t a compliment or even a consolation, it was just Rouland stating the facts. After all, Celyn had always been round here, always at Caitrin’s pleasure.

With that, Rouland left the room and told Esmae to stay there while he fetched her brother and sisters. Esmae, who was now alone in the room looked up at Celyn, and her bottom lip trembled. She was a strong, brave girl, her mummy had always told her that, and she didn’t want her Uncle to see her cry. Crying was for babies. She sniffed back but stayed very still, she wasn’t afraid of her Uncle, she was afraid of what was going to happen next. She couldn’t think of what to say to Celyn, so she turned to Alfie who was now looking on at her with big eyes.

Arthur poked his head around the door before Rouland walked in, Catelyn in his arms and Ellyn trotting along behind him. She was quite a confident walker, whereas Catelyn preferred to be carried most of the time. “The five Auberts.” Rouland said rather plainly as he set Catelyn down next to her sister. He couldn’t look at the pair, the burning red hair on their heads reminded him once more of what he had lost. “Do you need help preparing for the journey?”

Rouland was quite impressed his words had caused such a reaction and he just smirked on at Lucan's initial reaction. Of course Rouland didn't repeat his words; Lucan had heard him just right. However, unlike himself, Lucan had had only a few moment to process the news. Rouland had known for some time and had therefore already come to terms with the news that Caitrin was with child. To be fair Rouland was under the full impression that he deserved Lucan's sympathy for this turn of events. After all, it was very well for Lucan as he could sit here in the castle and ignore the problem, but Rouland lived under the same roof as the happy couple.

At Lucan's words Rouland let out a sharp chuckle, but before he got to answering he looked around the Knight's chambers. "Can I have a drink? Water would do but I would prefer something stronger." It was mid morning, but did that matter to Rouland? Not one bit. He then turned his attentions back to the young Knight and shook his head. "It could be a mini Caitrin as well." Rouland pointed out with a shudder. That was just what he needed; another stubborn red haired child running round and telling him how wrong he was. "Well they have been married for a few months." Rouland pointed out rather matter-of-factly. "But no, I'm not incredibly pleased, after all, they will be bringing the child up under my roof."

Rouland was not the sort of man who enjoyed being kept waiting. When he wanted an audience he wanted a prompt audience and that was the end of it. He was in half a mind to just burst in, but he knew that Lucan was courting someone himself and the last thing he wanted to do would be to walk in on a rather intimate scene. Well that was assuming that Lucan had as free morals as his brother had. He suspected Lucan had more self restraint than Griff did with most things. At least Lucan could hold down a job

What had Rouland done that was so wrong in his life to be landed with a pair like Caitrin and Griff. He had thought it was bad enough when his stubborn niece had been sent to live with him, but then she had got married, and now she was pregnant. All Rouland wanted to do was to sit in quiet and have his wine; was that too much to ask?! Rouland had had more peace in Mercia and considering his brother was the biggest pain in his side ever, it was some achievement.

Luckily it wasn't too long before he received the invitation to enter Lucan's chambers. He pushed the door open rather briskly and bowed his head shortly to Lucan. "Sir Lucan." He greeted rather formally until he settled himself, folding his arms and considering the man. Did he even know how much trouble his brother was causing him? "I have some news to deliver to you." It wouldn't do to just come out with this sort of thing, it was always better to keep people in suspense. You had more fun that way, "And no prizes for guessing who it is about."

The fact that the Prince remained composed in front of Rouland was helping his temper slightly. If there was nothing to feed his anger than it would certainly start to subside. He obviously did not want to appear rude, nor disrespectful in his manner, but he had felt the whole thing had been badly done and he felt like he deserved an explanation. He breathed out slowly, trying to disperse at least a bit of his temper. Of course he had not been there at the time of the feast, and for that he could only express regret. It had been one of the few feasts he had meant to attend but business had kept him at home; that was why he had sent Caitrin alone to participate in the feast on his behalf. Even she had found it hard to stomach what had happened, she had defended Bayard to her Uncle, insisting there had to be some sort of mistake. Rouland knew it had not been because she had any loyalties to the King, no, she was just fearful that her father would rip her out of Camelot and send her back to Mercia if he believed Camelot to be a true enemy of Mercia.

Arthur’s words only confirmed what Rouland had figured all along. He knew the King would not randomly imprison Bayard, in his anger it might have appeared that was his viewpoint but no, he knew Uther’s foreign policy was more carefully conducted than that. He nodded at Arthur’s request to calm down. He knew exactly what he needed to calm down; a nice glass of red would work wonders. However, this wasn’t exactly the time for it, though he would certainly have a glass waiting for him when he returned home. He looked at the table that Arthur was pointing to and dutifully took a seat at it; a more formal setting was of course appropriate for the answers which he sought. “I thank you for giving me your attention in this matter.” He now said in a much calmer tone than the one that his earlier words had been delivered in. Even if Rouland thought it was his right to get answers from the King or Prince in answer to their treatment of Bayard, he was still grateful in a sense that the Prince had taken the time to consider the matter seriously.

Rouland knew shouting and screaming would get him nowhere with the Prince, and the last thing he wanted to do was to harm his political standing within Camelot by losing the Prince’s favour. “I am sure you will give me the answers I seek.” Now he felt as if he were turning into his niece, she always did know what to say in these situations. Rouland was rarely in a situation such as this, so it was new territory to him. He would remain calm as long as Arthur could convince him everything which was done was well justified. He did feel slightly betrayed that his previous King had been treated in such a way by Uther, but perhaps there was a justifiable reason.

Leaning slightly forwards, only slightly as after all, Rouland did not want to appear as if he were threatening Arthur in anyway, he spoke in a calm a tone as possible. “You must understand the difficult position that this threw my family into.” He was of course referring to the fact that the Mercian branch of his family was of course part of the army which had been sent to release Bayard from his Camelotian prison cell. Well, his brother Payton never could resist the glory which succeeding in such a task would have brought. “My brother, and Caitrin’s father, Lord Payton and his sons were some of those on the border of Camelot; ready to march on us.” He was looking at the prince in a very serious manner now. He knew that Arthur was quite friendly with his niece, so if he had no sympathies with the position his father had put Rouland in with this event, he certainly would have sympathies with Caitrin.

Rouland could feel his face turning as red as his niece’s hair. He had to stop himself shaking with the amount of fury which was radiating through his body. He was already annoyed that his horse had reacted in such a way to a simple bloody rabbit, but it was bad enough this woman had seen everything. Now he looked like some simple fool who could not even keep control of his own horse. Of course, if the horse hadn’t been so jumpy he could have kept perfect control of it. Yes, of course, after all, how could it be his fault? He had been riding horses for as long as he could remember, and he had never fallen from the beasts back before now. Therefore it must be the horses fault Rouland hadn’t been able to keep control of it. That made perfect sense; well, to him anyway.

Rouland was till in a state of shock at the woman’s manner of dress. Even his niece Caitrin, who god knows was the most headstrong and stubborn woman he had ever come across, would never even think about donning mens clothing. At least this woman was addressing him properly, that was one thing he supposed. He had only been worried she was going to ride off with his horse, not that she was going to harm it. The beast might have proven itself completely useless but it had been bloody expensive and he wasn’t going to let this woman away with stealing it! “You think I would have allowed you the opportunity to even think about harming my horse?” Was Rouland’s snappy reply.

How utterly ridiculous. This woman was doing little justice to the intelligence of her gender. A man of his status would hardly be roaming about the woods by himself and happen to come across a pure bred stallion. Or was it in fact that this woman had the cheek to suggest that he would ever lose his horse? None of this was boding particularly well with Rouland’s temper and his face was still incredibly red. “Are you suggesting I would be stupid enough to lose my horse?” He asked her hotly.

Rouland raised yet another eye brow at the woman, trying to calm himself somewhat. It did no good to be full of anger, it clouded your judgement. “You do not ‘have me’.” He replied quickly, “And my name is Lord Rouland de Archer, a little parting gift for you.” He didn’t return the favour and ask her name, he really couldn’t care less. She could stay here and run around the forest in her unconventional clothing until winter for all he cared, all he cared about was getting back to his warm bed; even if that meant being under the same roof as his wife and niece once more.

Rouland watched Romily carefully, lord, how had he managed to find someone so like his niece when the whole point of coming here on his own was to escape both her and his wife. He didn’t let Romily’s words faze him at all, he had heard them all before just from different lips. No, this woman would certainly not get the best of him at all. He pressed his lips together, his goblet still in his hand, “I should remember to keep you away from my niece Lady Romily, as she shares your views.” He furrowed his brows and he took a swig of wine, “And she hardly needs more encouragement.” He smirked, but Romily obviously thought he was less modern than he actually was. He often let his niece, Caitrin, ride out to wherever she wished, and of course he still let her practice her archery. “But tell me, how would you expect to be able to manage a household so… perfectly if you were training in defence and travelling to wherever you wanted to? For that is the reason men cannot run a household; you cannot have it all.”

Although Romily’s wonder about the fact that her father would not let a man near her sounded perculiar to her, it sounded reasonable to Rouland. Sometimes it was easier to throw a couple into the deep end where an arranged marriage was concerned. If you allowed the couple too much time together there was too much room for disagreements to begin, and after that it was even more of a nightmare to shove them both up the aisle. Rouland pressed his lips together, he was sure his friend would marry his daughter off to great advantage when the time was right, he needed to for the advancement of his family, “I am sure your father has your best interests at heart. After all Lady Romily, you will need a strong husband to step into your fathers shoes.” It was true of course, husbands were needed because women could not inherit property by themselves unless specified in a will; which hardly ever happened. Romily would need a husband, to keep her in line more than anything.

Romily’s words rung true, and it was something that Rouland had often considered when he had looked at suitors for Caitrin’s hand. The girl had made it quite clear she would marry who she wanted and when she wanted. However, that meant that Rouland just needed a change of tactics, to dangle a man in front of Caitrin’s face and wait to see if she liked him or not, before the thought of marriage was even mentioned. And if that didn’t work, and if Caitrin did choose a man of standing then he could always lie to her father and tell him that it was an arranged marriage after all. “Unfortunately, Caitrin will do as she wills, but I’m sure she would not deny the advancement of her family.” He didn’t believe his own words, but he didn’t want Romily to think that he wasn’t going to just sell his niece off to the highest bidder; that might give Romily ideas and he was sure her father wouldn’t thank him for it.

Rouland was pleased somewhat that Romily was joining him with a goblet of wine because solitary drinking was dull and made him look like an alcoholic. He shook his head at her question, “I am sure she would have liked to join me, but I confess I wanted some time away from my wife and niece.” He gave a small sort of smile, “My niece particularly wanted to accompany me, but I thought she should use this opportunity to show me she can conduct a household.”

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.

Rouland nodded to the man as he said he did not want to give up hope. Through all of Rouland's cynicism he believed that one must have hope in order to live. He sat back in his seat, in his younger days he had seen so much more in the world, now it seemed, as an aging man, the only thing which mattered to him was his own possessions and family. And probably in that order. His lands were what he had worked all his life for and his family, well they had been there for most of the journey.

Rouland was geniunly worried for Morgana. He didn't feel worry exclusively of course, he was incredibly nosy and wondered just exactly what had happened and why. Then again, he could not imagine being in the position Uther was in now, with a ward kidnapped. At least Caitrin knew how to keep herself safe, well as long as a dragon wasn't involved. "I am sure with your careful attentions to her search parties she will be returned to your side soon enough. After all you do have the entire of Camelot at your disposal my Lord."

The more he thought on Caitrin the more he felt that he should go and see her. He was sure that wishing to see ones niece could not offend the King and he gave a quick grin to Uther. "I should go and visit my niece my Lord King, I am sure she misses my company, after all I have not seen her since before the dragon attacked."

Rouland had wondered how long it would take them to get onto the topic of the Lady Morgana. Conversation like that was particularly monotone at this time in the afternoon. He hadn't wanted to raise the topic of conversation himself because he knew how much the King was ailed by her absence and why would he have wanted to upset the king? Especially as it now meant Rouland being incredibly polite and courteous towards the King's feelings.

Great.

Rouland had seen little of the Lady Morgana over the years. He hadn't really known her family and only knew her by face, rather than on a first name basis. He had no problem with the woman, but he suspected Uther would stop at nothing to find her. Seeing as Uther's last conquest had left most Camelotian families dead through the Great Purge, Rouland for one no longer felt incredibly safe.

He sat comfortably in his chair, taking in more wine and thinking that soon he must go and visit his niece. That was before the King could ask him any more favours. Rouland accepted he had to comply with the king for the sake of his lands, but it didn't mean he had to enjoy it.

"I must offer my families deepest sympathies at the Lady Morgana's disappearances." He sniffed back, "I know my niece spoke most highly of her at court." He didn't know what he expected his words to do. Lighten the mood perhaps? "Are there search parties out to find her?"