Beðungum (or: Tempus ut lavaretur)

[pendraeg]

Who: Uther and Chase and Eilonwy and Gwydion. And Old Lace.
What: Bathtime
When: Immediately after the Abstract discovery thread.
Where: The Castle

Comments

[pendraeg]

"I was not aware we had a Halloween problem," Uther murmured. The rhythm of the 21st century festival calendar still eluded him sometimes; it was related to and yet different from the liturgical and pastoral cycles to which he had paced his life.

As for Eilonwy's announcement, Uther had several feelings on the matter:

First, that he wished they had never seen that movie. Gwydion had had nightmares for a week about bears, to the point Uther had wondered if he could go out into the wood and hunt down a bear to vanquish the fear--except that half the time, Gwydion dreamt of becoming the bear. When the nightmares had run their course, Uther had decided to be thankful his son had predictable dreams, and not prophetic ones.

Second, that he was of two minds on the cultural teachings of the movie. Piety, duty, fortitude, physical courage in a pre-modern world, and the importance of alliances with neighbouring powers, those were good lessons. The partial triumph of Merida's headstrong self-reliance, the rejection of tradition, and everybody's generally uncivilised Pictish manners worried him.

Third...he was glad, as he often was, that another version of himself had chosen their familiar, everyday palfreys, even of temper and of gait, to ride out in search of Arthur over the destrier and courser that he would have taken if armed conflict had been certain. He would never have allowed his infants on a warhorse, even with him behind them, holding tight. They were so small. Had Arthur ever been so small, even at their age?

Finally, he wondered how enthusiastic Eilonwy would be about dressing up as Merida when she found out she didn't get to ride the horse around town as part of the costume.

"And you, Gwydion?" he asked as he finished washing the little boy. "What would you like to be?"

Gwydion fixed him with that strangely steely, still look of his. "A hart."

Uther couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice, in part at the distinct certainty of Gwydion's answer, and in part at the answer itself. "A hart, specifically? And why would you like to be a hart?"

But Gwydion wouldn't say.

[chaseandoldlace]

Alright, so Brave had maybe not been the best idea, but it was that or Frozen, and Chase wasn't quite ready for the unique torture that was "Let It Go" on loop until Christmas. Part of his duty in helping Uther with the twins was also protecting the young king from hazards he perhaps didn't see coming.

Gwydion's reply threw Chase a moment; there was a significance there he knew he was missing, but that was something he'd learned to expect between Uther and his son. They spoke their own language to each other-- sometimes literally but sometimes in inferences, which were harder to decipher. Harder still when both were employed at once.

"You mean like, Cupid? That's really cute, kiddo."

[pendraeg]

Gwydion shook his head, reticent. Uther was about to explain, but Eilonwy, her hair a heavy wet mop, put her little hands behind her head like a pair of antlers and beat him to it.

"A deer," she said exaggeratedly. "Like Bambi."

To stave off Gwydion's look of disgruntlement, and to act as preemptive peacekeeper, Uther added, "a stag, king of the venery beasts."

Knowing Gwydion, he would have somehow retained all the detail of exactly what made a stag a hart from the perhaps once Uther might have told him about it, and would want that detail adhered to precisely.

"Come on then, Great Stag, time to get dry." He lifted Gwydion out of the tub and into one of the waiting towels. "You too, my Lady Eques."

[chaseandoldlace]

Aware that he was still missing the significance of Gwydion's choice, Chase beamed nonetheless-- he knew that stags were a heraldic symbol though it had never occurred to him why the creatures were important.

"Nothing wrong with Bambi, he grows up to be Prince of the Forest," In a sudden flash of understanding, the two concepts linked. "Wasn't there something about a white stag when you come from?" He asked Uther, hoisting Elionwy out of the tub and wrapping her in a lush white towel that despite his most valiant efforts with the washcloth still came away grey and dingy in splotches. Claws scraped at the shower door and Chase leaned over to open it just enough to turn off the water--making sure the door was still mostly closed as both creatures shook themselves vigorously-- two ponderous tails thumped against the tile walls as a spray of water collided with the frosted glass.

"Or should we save the white stag for story time?" Chase enjoyed story time for several reasons: the first was that it was the best way to learn about the world Uther had come from. Though simplistic, the stories were always fun and easy to remember; the second reason was that Chase got to tell stories from his own time on occasion, some of which he even got to be the hero of on occasion.

Of course, story time also meant bedtime was imminent-- a prospect that the twins never greeted happily.

"But I'm not ti----red." Elionwy attempted through a soft, dreary-eyed yawn. "Can't we stay up?"

Chase shook his head from his place behind Elionwy, having turned her to face one of two floor length mirrors on either side of the sink as he toweled her hair dry, brushed it, and whipped it into a quick, messy braid for sleeping. The braid was a habit he'd gotten into with Molly. Even exhausted from using her powers she'd toss in her sleep and wake up with the beginning of dreadlocks if no one braided her hair.

"Sorry princess, there's still a royal bedtime for both of you."

Elionwy huffed and seemed to resign herself to this inevitability with a pout. "Can the story be a long one?"