Post by Rosie on Jul 21, 2011 21:07:25 GMT 10
Title: Entertaining Goats
Rating: PG
Couple: Gareth I/Roanna
Event: Humour High Jump
Word Count: 894
Summary: The royal family relocates to the summer palace. Based off my AU fic. Felt terrible for how sad the others are, so have made a real effort this time.
Relocating to the summer palace had always been somewhat of an event, as far as Gareth remembered it. One of his proudest memories included King Jasson, telling him he trusted him enough to place the royal family in his care. Roald had been but a page then, all determined eyes and quiet voiced as he asked Gareth to teach him how to fight.
Roald would never be a great swordsman, but he had the makings of a decent one, Gareth had observed. The trouble was, he had never desired to work at it, save in the interests of making his father proud.
And so Gareth's position under Roald's reign took on a different air, with his diplomatic skills being favoured. As his horse followed the now-familiar meandering path ahead, however, he thought back to that first time, and his veins buzzed with that same hot desire to keep everybody safe.
--
"Sometimes I think there is nothing more beautiful than this view."
Gareth turned his head as Roanna seated herself beside him on the thick rug, giving her a long look. Her cheeks turned pink, and for a moment, all the unspoken things hung in the air between them.
"Where is Caitlyn?"
"The nurse has her." Roanna shaded her eyes, looking out towards the sea. "Roger's with them. I must say, he has surprised me. In the month or so before Caitlyn was born, he was sulky and distant, but Roald had a talk to him and explained he would always be a valued member of the family. Now, well, you can't have one without the other. He is like her shadow - a vastly bigger shadow that does everything for her."
Gareth nodded his agreement. In truth, he had had little time for Roald's brother, and less time for the peculiar nephew. It was good, though, that Caitlyn was well-loved. Roald hadn't quite managed to hide his disappointment at having produced a daughter, and the girl so thoroughly resembled Fief Irimor that she might have been Roanna's child alone.
"This is the kind of day that makes me feel as though I could live forever," Roanna remarked contentedly. "Don't you agree? I would move here if I could. Permanently, not merely for the summer."
"Oh?" Gareth asked, a smirk playing around his lips. "And what would you do for entertainment, in the winter?"
"Build things out of the snow," Roanna retorted. "With the goats."
"The goats have more intelligence than you, my lady - Queen. They come further inland during the winter. Perhaps you may find a lone wolf or two."
Roanna leaned back on her elbows, looking entirely like the arch seventeen-year-old he remembered Alun of Irimor introducing him to, on her first foray into Court. "Two lone wolves? If I find them together, surely they cannot be lone."
"I suggest you would find them apart, for even the wolves would realise it was folly to stay around here, designed as it is to catch the best of the wind."
It had been far too long since he had heard her laugh, he realised. The few moments they spent together were always wrapped in wanting and needing, followed closely by self-restraint. He had forgotten how easy it was just to be with her, without letting it be clouded.
"I hold that you are jealous of my idea," Roanna said, smiling at him. "You desire this palace for yourself once the leaves start to drop. You will pretend to be off on some masterful crusade, one so brave that it will make ladies swoon at your very name. Of course, in reality, you will have been here all along, wanting for nothing."
Gareth made a dismissive sound. "And come the hot weather, you should find my deceitful skeleton, having wasted away for want of even the company of goats."
They grinned at each other for a moment. Roanna was the one to break eye contact. "You have me. I give in," she declared finally. "If I didn't freeze once the first snows came, I would be bored to death on my own."
"You would never be on your own," Gareth replied, putting a great deal more meaning into the words than he had intended. She went very still, and tilted her head towards his, gathering her lower lip in her upper teeth.
"Gareth?" she breathed rather than asked, and suddenly he couldn't even hear the waves on the shore below. His pulse began to race, and-
"Roanna! There you are!" an exclamation came from behind, and Mithros, Gareth had never hated anybody as fiercely as he hated Roald then, even though Gareth was the one about to do Roald wrong.
Roald's small party arranged themselves on or around the rug where possible, and Gareth pulled away, letting Lianne take his place whilst he got to his feet.
"Here's my brilliant, clever wife," Roald announced, threading his fingers through Roanna's, who was beginning to look faintly sick. "Darling, I asked you not to go wandering off." He cupped her face in his hand; not normally given to displays of affection, Roald had been unusually tactile since arriving at the summer palace.
It hit the Naxen siblings at the same time. Lianne stumbled to her feet, grasping hold of Gareth's arm, her long fingers digging into his flesh. He barely noticed.
Roanna was pregnant again.
Rating: PG
Couple: Gareth I/Roanna
Event: Humour High Jump
Word Count: 894
Summary: The royal family relocates to the summer palace. Based off my AU fic. Felt terrible for how sad the others are, so have made a real effort this time.
Relocating to the summer palace had always been somewhat of an event, as far as Gareth remembered it. One of his proudest memories included King Jasson, telling him he trusted him enough to place the royal family in his care. Roald had been but a page then, all determined eyes and quiet voiced as he asked Gareth to teach him how to fight.
Roald would never be a great swordsman, but he had the makings of a decent one, Gareth had observed. The trouble was, he had never desired to work at it, save in the interests of making his father proud.
And so Gareth's position under Roald's reign took on a different air, with his diplomatic skills being favoured. As his horse followed the now-familiar meandering path ahead, however, he thought back to that first time, and his veins buzzed with that same hot desire to keep everybody safe.
--
"Sometimes I think there is nothing more beautiful than this view."
Gareth turned his head as Roanna seated herself beside him on the thick rug, giving her a long look. Her cheeks turned pink, and for a moment, all the unspoken things hung in the air between them.
"Where is Caitlyn?"
"The nurse has her." Roanna shaded her eyes, looking out towards the sea. "Roger's with them. I must say, he has surprised me. In the month or so before Caitlyn was born, he was sulky and distant, but Roald had a talk to him and explained he would always be a valued member of the family. Now, well, you can't have one without the other. He is like her shadow - a vastly bigger shadow that does everything for her."
Gareth nodded his agreement. In truth, he had had little time for Roald's brother, and less time for the peculiar nephew. It was good, though, that Caitlyn was well-loved. Roald hadn't quite managed to hide his disappointment at having produced a daughter, and the girl so thoroughly resembled Fief Irimor that she might have been Roanna's child alone.
"This is the kind of day that makes me feel as though I could live forever," Roanna remarked contentedly. "Don't you agree? I would move here if I could. Permanently, not merely for the summer."
"Oh?" Gareth asked, a smirk playing around his lips. "And what would you do for entertainment, in the winter?"
"Build things out of the snow," Roanna retorted. "With the goats."
"The goats have more intelligence than you, my lady - Queen. They come further inland during the winter. Perhaps you may find a lone wolf or two."
Roanna leaned back on her elbows, looking entirely like the arch seventeen-year-old he remembered Alun of Irimor introducing him to, on her first foray into Court. "Two lone wolves? If I find them together, surely they cannot be lone."
"I suggest you would find them apart, for even the wolves would realise it was folly to stay around here, designed as it is to catch the best of the wind."
It had been far too long since he had heard her laugh, he realised. The few moments they spent together were always wrapped in wanting and needing, followed closely by self-restraint. He had forgotten how easy it was just to be with her, without letting it be clouded.
"I hold that you are jealous of my idea," Roanna said, smiling at him. "You desire this palace for yourself once the leaves start to drop. You will pretend to be off on some masterful crusade, one so brave that it will make ladies swoon at your very name. Of course, in reality, you will have been here all along, wanting for nothing."
Gareth made a dismissive sound. "And come the hot weather, you should find my deceitful skeleton, having wasted away for want of even the company of goats."
They grinned at each other for a moment. Roanna was the one to break eye contact. "You have me. I give in," she declared finally. "If I didn't freeze once the first snows came, I would be bored to death on my own."
"You would never be on your own," Gareth replied, putting a great deal more meaning into the words than he had intended. She went very still, and tilted her head towards his, gathering her lower lip in her upper teeth.
"Gareth?" she breathed rather than asked, and suddenly he couldn't even hear the waves on the shore below. His pulse began to race, and-
"Roanna! There you are!" an exclamation came from behind, and Mithros, Gareth had never hated anybody as fiercely as he hated Roald then, even though Gareth was the one about to do Roald wrong.
Roald's small party arranged themselves on or around the rug where possible, and Gareth pulled away, letting Lianne take his place whilst he got to his feet.
"Here's my brilliant, clever wife," Roald announced, threading his fingers through Roanna's, who was beginning to look faintly sick. "Darling, I asked you not to go wandering off." He cupped her face in his hand; not normally given to displays of affection, Roald had been unusually tactile since arriving at the summer palace.
It hit the Naxen siblings at the same time. Lianne stumbled to her feet, grasping hold of Gareth's arm, her long fingers digging into his flesh. He barely noticed.
Roanna was pregnant again.