"All I'm saying is, I've been gaining a lot of weight since I got here," Gillian protests to her siblings. They're headed to her rooms, where presumably Gavin can be found or summoned. "So I need to cut back, or get more exercise. It's just hard to find the time."
     "Gillian, you need to eat in order to lose weight," Maddie points out firmly. She slips ahead of her sister, walking backwards and glaring. "If you don't eat, you're screwing up your metabolism, okay? I know you don't see it, but if it keeps up, you're skirting around the edges of anorexia, and if you slip into that, I'm not gonna just tell mumsie and daddy, I'm going to beat your ass up!"
     Arian rolls his eyes, but agrees with Maddie. "She's right about the weight loss, Gill. C'mon. Try it our way for a month. You've got a year and a half until the wedding, so if we're wrong, that gives you plenty of time to try something else. And for exercise, we should all spend some time getting back into martial arts practice. How about a morning sparring session before Mads goes to class?"
     "Well..." Gillian's wavering. She reaches her door, fishing out her key and unlocking it. All three are dressed down, in their best casual, comfortable New England prep wear today; Gillian in a floral print blouse with a pair of black slacks, Maddie in a white summer dress with neon flipflops, and Pres in Dockers and a button-down shirt with deck shoes. "I'll think about it and let you know, okay? I'm just not sure."

     Servants and secretaries are moving to and fro. Rooms are cleaned while calendars are compared. And in the center of the hub-bub, the hub of the bub as it were, stands Gavin, his black curly hair neatly trimmed and his suit just so. He's the modern commander, giving directions in several cardinal turns, all while scanning his smart device, making alterations as he goes.
     "Ah yes, that block there. Give that one to me. I will trade you the three-thirty..."
     The secretary, a stately woman, makes her notes in a far more archaic mode than he, jotting notes on paper. Well, not everyone's been to the latest MacWorld Expo.
     "That makes a good deal more sense. And a block in the evening as well..."
     "But that conflicts with Prince Balthazar's block..."
     "Actually," Gavin smiles, accessing His Majesty's calendar (from his smart device, "... no, it will work. They can catch up after their evening exercise. Or, novel concept, Emerald, work out together. Very good..."
     With her new schedule and new orders, the secretary returns to the office. Without looking up, Gavin says: "Where's the morning tea?" Servants are, just in that moment, wheeling it in and getting it into place. "Very good," Gavin says with some satisfaction, pocketing the smart device.
     And all of the bub hubbing in the chamber suddenly ceases. He makes it look so easy.

     The door opens, just in time, and there's Gillian and her younger brother and sister. "Hi, Gavin!" she grins at you a bit sheepishly as she enters. "This is Maddie - you probably hear about her as Elaine - and this is Pres - Arian. Arian, Mads, this is Gavin."
     Maddie immediately slinks forward, circling you and looking you up and down with a critical intensity before she comes to a halt in front of you, one hand under her elbow, her other hand on her cheek. "He's a bit tidy," she says as if it's a sin, "but at least he isn't Chaucerian. Still, I suppose it's far too late to change models now." She then grins suddenly and impishly, holding out her hand. "Hi, cousin. You don't mind if I call you that, right? I mean, it's not technically entirely correct, but it's probably a lot closer than we'd get, and faster to say, than if we get into orthography."
     "Mads," Arian drawls, hands jammed in his pocket as he lounges against the doorway, "leave the guy alone. He'll think you want to jump his bones at best, and at worst you'll turn his hair white. She's a terror on wheels," he asides to you with an empathetic nod. "Arian. Hiya."

     He is tall -- though not as tall as Balthazar and Gruffydd -- and he looks like a young Lancelot might, though his features have a pleasant droll quality that his father either lacks or has lost after so many years. He is dressed as any man his age might be in London, with an indigo cashmere sweater over indigo jeans, paired with a deep blue blazer. His shoes are black with a sturdy tread.
     Gavin lifts an eyebrow and gives Madison Elaine West a once over as thorough as her own before offering his hand in return. "Chaucer wouldn't be caught dead in Christopher Kane. He doesn't believe that Scotland exists," he easily retorts. "And it is a pleasure to meet you, Maddie... or Elaine. Cousin?" He looks to Gillian and then to Arian.
     "Good morning, Lord Tempest. And...ah... " Bones and the jumping of caught him a bit off-guard. There's a quick bloom across his cheeks which he then hides with an officious look to his charge. He hands her the device from his pocket. "I've updated your schedule. You now have an exercise period in the early evening. Sort of a refresher before dinners. It matches up with His Majesty's schedule."
     Joint swimming sessions arranged. Just like magic.
     Gavin chuckles, "Quite alright. And I'm not prone to pallor. Only to occasional bouts of embarrassment." And like magic, tea appears, and snacks as well -- small tea cakes and a selection of fruit. "I hear it's been a rather eventful few hours..."

     "Thanks, Gavin." Gillian checks the details quickly, peeking at the numbers with blushing smile. "I'll uh, need a new swimsuit. I don't think I brought one with me. Eventful's a good word for it." She flops onto a chair. "I don't know how people around here get anything done, with all these parties and all the gossip."
     Maddie's grin remains impish and unrepentant, and she settles gracefully onto a chair. "Call me what you like, just don't call me late for dinner," she quips. "Oh, goody, tea." She leans forward to help herself to two or three cakes. "Do you really get embarrassed that easily? Or is it just the cultural difference? We are American, don't forget. We joke about stuff like that all the time." She pelts Arian with one of the cakes. "Don't be a meanie. You know I'm not going to throw myself at Gavin! I hardly know him!"
     Arian catches the cake deftly and takes a bite out of it to keep from pointing out how she threw herself at Balthazar. "Can you figure out how to schedule morning sessions between the three of us for martial arts sparring?" he asks Gavin instead, when he's swallowed. "I figure we should all get properly back into practice. D'you do any yourself, or just the local boxing and swordsmanship?"

     Gavin smiles to Madison. "Occasionally. But it always seems to pass before fainting sets in." His mouth tugs to the side, giving away his jest. Pivoting to Gillian, his smile recedes partially for a bit of business, "I will send for your tailor sometime this afternoon. And... yes... small wonder that work gets done. I haven't heard much, but I have heard the three of you are actually siblings. Congratulations on your coup d'etat." He smiles to each one of you. "That's my personal favorite for today. Coup d'etat."
     Gavin turns toward Arian, his hands gathered behind his back, fingers lightly looping. "I study sword and equestrian, predominantly. Celtic and Spanish styles. And I believe that shan't be a problem, Lord Tempest. I have already blocked an hour out each morning for exercise. I will communicate with your seneschal. I believe you are working with Cyril," he looks then to Madison. "I will send him a request as well. Your class schedule may be the hardest to sort out. When is your studio time, Lady Elaine?"
     He removes another smart device from his pocket, this one his own. His mouth holds a look. "If you were to throw yourself, I would happily catch you. I wouldn't want you to break anything, particularly before your big show. However, I think my lady-friend might prefer you throw your cares to the wind than you to my arms, Lady Elaine."

     "It wasn't actually an intentional coup d'etat," Arian mentions. "I got here first, and ... well, set up on my own." He shrugs. "Mads got here next, and it just seemed better to not be related. She didn't even know I was here too, at first." He nods to the mention of sword and equestrian. "Call me Arian. I don't even know your titles, so having you call me 'Lord' this or that and me calling you by name seems kinda rude. Anyway, you'd be welcome to join us, if you're interested in learning. But I imagine you're pretty busy too, so no huhu."
     "And then with the b.s. around Baz and all those girls," Maddie says blithely, "it seemed like a better idea not to let on we were related at all. But," she shrugs, "it had to come out eventually, right? So oh well." She beams at you. "Don't worry. No throwing at you, although that's a nicer rejection than some guys manage." She digs her brother in the ribs. "You should take notes! - And yes, Cyril's my seneschal. He's a sweetie. My studio time's pretty much whenever I can squeeze it in, so, um, Cyril probably knows better than I do. I've got lots more free time now that I'm not dating Baz, though!"
     Gillian looks as if she's getting a spot of headache; she pours herself a cup of tea. "My siblings are a lot more casual than I am, as you can probably tell," she tells you wryly. "I hope our, uh, relationship doesn't bug you, or that we're related to you. I promise it wasn't all a big set-up, although I know you might not believe me. Are you all right?"

     Gavin smiles. "Some titles are bestowed upon by birth, others happen to one in the course of one's life. But... Arian it is. And I'm interested to learn, always. So long as Gillian doesn't mind. I am at her employ for the now."
     The Son of Lancelot pivots with his father's casual grace, and there is something of sunlight on his brow in the coming and going of his ready smiles. And everyone always considered Lancelot a brooding do-gooder. Just goes to show you: you can't believe everything you read. Gavin chuckles, "Things do seem to ...escalate quickly when he's involved. I suppose it's the whole quickening that summer brings. Grass wants to sprout, flowers to burst open, and women to apparently lose both breeding and grace en masse. Which is rather amazing, seeing as he's so polite and affable..."
     It is the news of a relationship that catches Gavin a bit by surprise. He looks to Gillian. He was about to wonder how their relationship with one another could be an inconvenience, to anything other than schedules that is, when she informs him of the other part. "We're related?" he wonders. He looks to each of you. Gavin puts away the smart device. "I guess," he smiles, "...I should have answered my mother and father this morning. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to seem flippant. I hadn't heard. This is ... unexpected, certainly. How... is it that we are related? On mother's side or father's? Not that it matters. I just... hadn't heard he had... had any other children recently. That sort of thing is usually discussed over family dinners," he chuckles.

     The Wests exchange glances. Oh. None of them is entirely sure of how to handle this, how to answer you, and finally, Arian clears his throat. "It, uh. Wasn't recently enough for you to have been informed," he says finally, tone dry. "Basically, we're descendants through your father by Elaine of Carbonec. Hence," he nods to his younger sister, "Elaine."
     He looks to you again; all three of them do. "So," Gillian adds after a moment, "I guess you could say it's fairly dilute, by now. I mean, even accounting for time going by more slowly there, it's still been, what, about sixteen hundred years? Give or take a century or so? We didn't grow up with it dinned into our heads, or anything."
     "No," Arian puts in, tone again dry, "we had other stuff dinned into our heads."
     Gillian makes a face at him but doesn't comment. Maddie chimes in with, "But anyway, it seems to've woken up, with us. Your mother - Lady Bianca is your mother, isn't she? - She said that it was the combination of us plus Balthazar making things show up. Old secrets becoming revealed." The siblings again share a glance, and this time it is that odd, conjunctive look, as if the note of a particularly old and powerful bell has been rung.
     It passes, or at least, it doesn't last. In a normal enough tone of voice, Gillian says, "So the Lady of the Lake said we'd be acknowledged as prince and princesses of Benoic and probably Carbonec. And, um. I figured you knew by now, or I would've at least tried to leave you a note! Now I feel bad."

     When the three of you move or speak as one, he feels like Galahad surrounded by Grail Maidens. It passes, that feeling, but it leaves behind the residue of myth. "Oh, don't feel badly," he quietly insists when the fuzz of your combined powers (and his) recedes. Gavin smiles understandingly. "My mother is something of a prankster and my father can sometimes forget the small details that others might find terribly important. Besides which, I've been distracted. They did attempt to contact me. Well," he smiles to Madison, "I guess you're right: we should say we're cousins. It'll be easier than all the math. Though, I think, that makes me...let's see: I'm your great-and-then-some grandfather's son, the brother of your great-grandfather-and-some through Galahad. I think that makes me a Maddie's Uncle."
     He moves out of the center of this circle to pour himself a cup of tea. "Oh, I wouldn't say it's dilute, Arian. I can feel it quite clearly. And... I'm not, in case you're worried, befuddled at the notion of sharing inheritance to Benoic or Avalon for that matter. My future is not in Benoic and my father's not going anywhere, anytime soon."
     Teacup in hand, Gavin takes a seat. "Yes, the Lady of The Lake, Bianca, is my mother. She has a long history with Davydd ap Owain, Balthazar's grandfather. In fact, my father, your great-great-and-some also has a history with Davydd. You may have even met him in London if you were around Balthazar or in the pub called Black Jack Davy's. My father likes disguises," he smiles, "...you've read the stories. One of his favorite disguises is an aging drummer named Bonnie Charlie Parker."

     "I met him, although only in passing," Gillian admits, relaxing a bit as you don't seem particularly put out. "I was dating Balthazar at the time - that was before we broke up."
     "And before we got together, and before we broke up, and before they got back together," Maddie puts in, with a giggle and a mischievous look. "I've met Davydd. I like him. He's nice."
     Arian gives his little sister a look, then turns to you. "Anyway, word's spread about it already, as you can imagine. With ... predictable results, I guess you could say." He shrugs. It doesn't particularly bother him. "It doesn't really change anything. Just makes it a little easier to shut people up."

     "The gossip will calm down," Gavin notes with a sip. "When no plots reveal themselves. It's coming from a place of envy anyway. They want to be you. You are favored of the new king," he says to Arian. "You are favored by the Sun King," he says to Gillian, "... and you," he looks to Maddie, "... are favored by everyone else. So... it's to be expected. You were going to have to address the issue of pedigree in some fashion at some point, so ... better that it's out before the coronation, where it can have a quick burn and evaporation. After the coronation, had it happened then, it would have a different set of legs."
     Gavin seems nonplussed about the dating details. He smiles as he sips his tea, pausing to pour in a bit of cream. "And you are right, Arian. It will help to shut people up. It gives you all something to have here, something that gives you a sense of place and relevance for the others. You are on the level of anyone here now. You cannot be discounted."

     There's a sort of ripple of general amusement, Maddie laughing and Gillian smiling and Arian just shaking his head in that way of his. "It's working out for the best, I do think," Maddie agrees, grinning at you. "What? We went out. People do. It happens."
     "What she means is she had a crush and chased him so hard he didn't know what hit him," Arian retorts, leaning over to ruffle Maddie's hair. She squeals and brushes it back, then punches him in the shoulder. He makes a pained face. "Anyway, it doesn't matter now. Gillian's happy with Balthazar and you're happy-"
     "With my career," Maddie agrees, smiling sweetly and unrepentantly in a little sister sort of way. She looks at you. "I think they haven't quite figured out that we can't be discounted. It's not surprising. It's hard for people to realize, for some reason, that we're not just a bunch of pretty faces."
     Gillian smiles and sips her tea again. "Only on the level? I'll have to work harder," she quips. She then grows more serious. "But you're okay with it? I know it's a big - well, the big reveal, kind of. I hope it's okay." She looks very worried. "I like to think we were getting to be friends, after all."

     Gavin chuckles, resting back. "I'm fine, truly, Gillian. My father and mother both have ... long, mythic histories. I am only twenty-one. I am the unexpected plot twist of a spin-off to a sequel. I am neither mythic nor storied. And I don't particularly want to be. I do think we're friends, yes. But I hope you won't find it too weird that I still want to command your schedule," he grins. "I don't like leaving a job half-done. I need to assist you in selecting a permanent and professional staff, one suitable for a future queen. In the meantime, I will tilt with the dragons of court on your behalf. The champion of calendars."
     Gavin looks to Arian, a smile leaping to his lips at the description of Maddie's chasing of the Sun King. "Most men are completely befuddled by women. I am no different, I assure you. But ...Arian and Maddie, I...hope we can be friends as well. Ah..." and then he peers at all three of you. "Have you met Elaine as of yet?"
     "Oh, by all means." Gillian waves airily. "Command away. Which reminds me, do you want a job for after the wedding, or do you prefer to stick things out here?"
     "Careful," Arian warns with a sudden grin. "That's her beginning to clear the decks to rearrange your life to suit her needs. The West women are fatal that way..."
     This time both sisters smack their brother. He looks pained and says, very deadpan, "Ow."
     "Serves you right," Maddie retorts. She beams at you. "I like having friends, so - sure! And Arian says sure, too." Arian gives you a very 'see what I mean' look. "We haven't met my namesake yet, no - I think that's being prepared, though."

     "I have accepted a very generous offer extended to me by the Sun King," he airily answers her. But then follows it with a warm smile. "You shan't be rid of me. My plans are to start at Chief Steward of the Castle and work my way into the Chancellory. But I also hold the military rank of First Lieutenant. So, as many things in a fledgling kingdom go, I'll be wearing several hats. And maybe a few capes, as well."
     Gavin chuckles at the sibling jibes and jabs, finishing his cup of tea. He sets it aside on one of the low tables. "Lady Elaine is ... an interesting woman. She can seem a bit...aloof," he decides after a moment. "Don't take it personally. Her voice has a slight echo, makes it sound like she's dreaming. Or maybe you are. It can be somewhat disconcerting at first. But she's ... generous of nature."
     After a moment, Gavin rises. He doesn't prepare to go -- he is, after all, in his office. But he does take a moment to take one of the small iced cakes. "Do you have any questions for me, by the way? Since we're related..."

     Gillian mock-pouts. Her boyfriend beat her to it! Ah well. "Well, I'm sure you'll be of tremendous help. I, of course, am a Democrat." She says it with a flourish.
     Both her siblings roll their eyes at that. "Sis, I love you," Arian says, "and don't take this the wrong way, but ... you are going to love being a queen." He looks at Maddie.
     Maddie nods agreement. She looks at Gavin thoughtfully. "Do people in your family usually fall in love at first sight?" Well. You said to ask!

     The question begs and begets the rise of a blush. "I fear it is a family trait, Madison. One shared by the Llywelyns, who trace their line back to Arthur." Gavin clears his throat. "And...while it hasn't happened to me, officially," he lies, "... I fell into an instant case of Like very rapidly myself. Recently. So, yes, I would say that falling in love at first sight is something that happens to this line."
     Gavin smiles to Gillian, "It is my sincere hope that I shall be, yes. But I am on your staff for a while longer, worry not. Democrat. That's an American political party, yes? I believe the State of New York has two democratic senators. Is that the same democrat?"
     He says it as if he is a foreign tourist, visiting any port in America.

     The Wests again exchange glances. "Something like that," Gillian agrees. Maddie smiles, and Arian massages his temples. It's like family already.

Posted by rowan at April 12, 2010 09:15 PM