Post by Muse on Jun 2, 2012 13:11:51 GMT 10
****THIS FIC CONTAINS MAJOR MASTIFF PLOT POINTS****
Series: Strong [#9]
Title: Valiant
Rating: PG
Event: 400D
Word Count: 400
Summary: He never thought it would turn out like this; Gareth looks on as the world continues turning. He never thought that it would turn out like this.
Warnings: Mastiff Spoilers...
AN: Here, have my thoughts on how to reconcile Gareth of Conte with the time period in which the Lady Knights fell away from the "norm" and became mere legend.
From the very first moment, Gareth is smitten.
It doesn’t matter that she is half her; the infant is tiny and pink and she is his princess from the moment she opens her eyes as he holds her in his arms.
His boy tugs at his tunic, straining for a look at his little sister, and Gareth kneels to let his son into the cozy little circle of what he is surprised to recognize as family.
Warmth surges in the depth of his chest and spreads, hopefully.
Gareth had thought he’d lost family years ago.
As the years pass, Gareth still swells with pride at the sight of his children. His boy, his heir, holds out a hand for Gareth’s princess and leads her on adventures.
She looks on with disapproval.
Gareth ignores her. He showers his children with love and affection, anything and everything for his tousle-haired, tow-headed children.
Gareth doesn’t think there is anything he wouldn’t do for them both.
If only he had seen it coming, he would have stopped her in her tracks. She hid, patient, waiting.
All too soon, the prince joined the ranks of the pages, eager to begin his training.
She sends him off tearfully, holding their daughter’s hand as she waves a handkerchief. Gareth hopes that his princess won’t pick up her mother’s bad habits, but she turns and waves at him with the hand not captured by her mother.
He grins back. Maybe not.
Too late, Gareth discovers that he has been keeping an eye on the wrong child; sometime after she insists on sending his princess off for fostering instead of continuing her education in the palace, his son returns from squiring for Midwinter, and Gareth hardly recognizes the boy.
The Prince is unrepentant and waits on his mother, constantly by her side.
He scoffs at the Lady Sabine when she visits.
He waits on only the most delicate, soft spoken ladies in the Court.
She looks on proudly.
Gareth’s stomach begins to sink.
It doesn’t get better when his princess returns; he barely recognizes her under the tightly laced, stiff-skirted, be-ribboned outfits that she is bundled into.
Her mother hushes her when she speaks.
She and his son both ignore him when Gareth protests.
He hopes his daughter hears his unvoiced apologies on the day when her mother has her married to the most conservative man in the Court.
Series: Strong [#9]
Title: Valiant
Rating: PG
Event: 400D
Word Count: 400
Summary: He never thought it would turn out like this; Gareth looks on as the world continues turning. He never thought that it would turn out like this.
Warnings: Mastiff Spoilers...
AN: Here, have my thoughts on how to reconcile Gareth of Conte with the time period in which the Lady Knights fell away from the "norm" and became mere legend.
From the very first moment, Gareth is smitten.
It doesn’t matter that she is half her; the infant is tiny and pink and she is his princess from the moment she opens her eyes as he holds her in his arms.
His boy tugs at his tunic, straining for a look at his little sister, and Gareth kneels to let his son into the cozy little circle of what he is surprised to recognize as family.
Warmth surges in the depth of his chest and spreads, hopefully.
Gareth had thought he’d lost family years ago.
As the years pass, Gareth still swells with pride at the sight of his children. His boy, his heir, holds out a hand for Gareth’s princess and leads her on adventures.
She looks on with disapproval.
Gareth ignores her. He showers his children with love and affection, anything and everything for his tousle-haired, tow-headed children.
Gareth doesn’t think there is anything he wouldn’t do for them both.
If only he had seen it coming, he would have stopped her in her tracks. She hid, patient, waiting.
All too soon, the prince joined the ranks of the pages, eager to begin his training.
She sends him off tearfully, holding their daughter’s hand as she waves a handkerchief. Gareth hopes that his princess won’t pick up her mother’s bad habits, but she turns and waves at him with the hand not captured by her mother.
He grins back. Maybe not.
Too late, Gareth discovers that he has been keeping an eye on the wrong child; sometime after she insists on sending his princess off for fostering instead of continuing her education in the palace, his son returns from squiring for Midwinter, and Gareth hardly recognizes the boy.
The Prince is unrepentant and waits on his mother, constantly by her side.
He scoffs at the Lady Sabine when she visits.
He waits on only the most delicate, soft spoken ladies in the Court.
She looks on proudly.
Gareth’s stomach begins to sink.
It doesn’t get better when his princess returns; he barely recognizes her under the tightly laced, stiff-skirted, be-ribboned outfits that she is bundled into.
Her mother hushes her when she speaks.
She and his son both ignore him when Gareth protests.
He hopes his daughter hears his unvoiced apologies on the day when her mother has her married to the most conservative man in the Court.