A week had passed since the night Arthur gave Gwen a ride home, after she admitted temporarily taking the jewel that had long ago been his mother’s. Holding it now in his hand within the dark parameters of his bedroom, Arthur sighed. His mother had always liked pretty, shiny, and otherworldly things. And this had been one of her favorites since it was used to make her wedding ring. Arthur’s father had gifted her the actual jewel too though because he knew she would adore it.
Although Uther Pendragon had often been a stern man, with a head fully focused upon business, love for his mother seemed to soften his temper and bring out the bits of playful side. He simply wasn’t home enough though to share it with his small family.
Arthur put the jewel down and gazed out his window at the vast gardens below starting to be blanketed with the first snows of an early winter. All through October the winds had been blustery and now with November coming to its cold end, December was sure to create plenty of more frigid temperatures and flurries of white. That would make walking home even worse for any of his house workers, including a particular young maid.
Still, there was a problem as Arthur could barely help the curious smile that came to his face as he thought of her.
Although not having much money, Guinevere had the kinds of exotic looks that were almost required of royalty. Dark long curls of hair, big matching eyes, and skin that wasn’t fully brown, just sort of kissed by the hot sun.
The war that took his father, and subsequently led to the harshest parts of his mother’s illness, was long past. Color wasn’t as much an issue as it once had been. Lincoln saw to that. Bless the man’s resting soul. Growing up in New York City outskirts, Arthur never saw much reason to act silly about color anyhow, and neither did many people he knew, including his deceased family. Guinevere’s color thus was not an issue, more an asset, because it gave her unique beauty.
So it was the financial matter then?
Arthur’s father had actually worked to become rich, telling Arthur that it took him years to build up what he had in the steamship company that Arthur now had full control over. As prospering as it was, there had been times it went through pitfalls and that they even had to cut down on numbers of house staff. Thus Arthur was adept at more things than most young aristocrats would be able to deal with, household chores and such included.
Although Guinevere’s home was small, he saw right away just from the outside its clean and cared-for appearance. He told her the truth when he said it didn’t need to be an estate. Richness of money wasn’t everything to him.
Neither of those things actually, color or wealth was the issue. It was something much more that had kept Arthur away from women for some time now. It too kept him from associating with anyone much, other than dealing with important business matters.
It went all the way back to his childhood, the reason for his darkened mood about relationships. The bond started there anyway between the three of them, he and his best friend, and she, the one always caught in between. Although she was quite different looking from Guinevere, she was beautiful too. So beautiful and interesting that she got two young boys just turning to manhood to vie for her affections.
Arthur had always ended out on top of his best friend. He was the better rider, the better hunter, the more popular at school, and the one who got all the girls.
But every winning streak had to end. No one always got everything for that would be too perfect.
And she was the one he lost. And with that he lost a part of himself. Those two young men found themselves terribly at odds, things turning so awful that it had now been over five years since he last saw the friend he at one time could barely go a week without seeing. And he was as equally separated from her.
Part III: Issues
A week had passed since the night Arthur gave Gwen a ride home, after she admitted temporarily taking the jewel that had long ago been his mother’s. Holding it now in his hand within the dark parameters of his bedroom, Arthur sighed. His mother had always liked pretty, shiny, and otherworldly things. And this had been one of her favorites since it was used to make her wedding ring. Arthur’s father had gifted her the actual jewel too though because he knew she would adore it.
Although Uther Pendragon had often been a stern man, with a head fully focused upon business, love for his mother seemed to soften his temper and bring out the bits of playful side. He simply wasn’t home enough though to share it with his small family.
Arthur put the jewel down and gazed out his window at the vast gardens below starting to be blanketed with the first snows of an early winter. All through October the winds had been blustery and now with November coming to its cold end, December was sure to create plenty of more frigid temperatures and flurries of white. That would make walking home even worse for any of his house workers, including a particular young maid.
Still, there was a problem as Arthur could barely help the curious smile that came to his face as he thought of her.
Although not having much money, Guinevere had the kinds of exotic looks that were almost required of royalty. Dark long curls of hair, big matching eyes, and skin that wasn’t fully brown, just sort of kissed by the hot sun.
The war that took his father, and subsequently led to the harshest parts of his mother’s illness, was long past. Color wasn’t as much an issue as it once had been. Lincoln saw to that. Bless the man’s resting soul. Growing up in New York City outskirts, Arthur never saw much reason to act silly about color anyhow, and neither did many people he knew, including his deceased family.
Guinevere’s color thus was not an issue, more an asset, because it gave her unique beauty.
So it was the financial matter then?
Arthur’s father had actually worked to become rich, telling Arthur that it took him years to build up what he had in the steamship company that Arthur now had full control over. As prospering as it was, there had been times it went through pitfalls and that they even had to cut down on numbers of house staff. Thus Arthur was adept at more things than most young aristocrats would be able to deal with, household chores and such included.
Although Guinevere’s home was small, he saw right away just from the outside its clean and cared-for appearance. He told her the truth when he said it didn’t need to be an estate. Richness of money wasn’t everything to him.
Neither of those things actually, color or wealth was the issue. It was something much more that had kept Arthur away from women for some time now. It too kept him from associating with anyone much, other than dealing with important business matters.
It went all the way back to his childhood, the reason for his darkened mood about relationships. The bond started there anyway between the three of them, he and his best friend, and she, the one always caught in between. Although she was quite different looking from Guinevere, she was beautiful too. So beautiful and interesting that she got two young boys just turning to manhood to vie for her affections.
Arthur had always ended out on top of his best friend. He was the better rider, the better hunter, the more popular at school, and the one who got all the girls.
But every winning streak had to end. No one always got everything for that would be too perfect.
And she was the one he lost. And with that he lost a part of himself. Those two young men found themselves terribly at odds, things turning so awful that it had now been over five years since he last saw the friend he at one time could barely go a week without seeing. And he was as equally separated from her.
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