100 Fantasies Challenge: #62 Fic: Snowdrop
Title: Snowdrop
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Gwen
Rating/Warnings: G
Spoilers: Nope
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Summary: Arthur’s thoughts as she watches Gwen scrub the floor.
Word Count: 406
Author’s notes: This was written for the 100 fantasies challenge hosted by camelot_love The prompt was: Gwen scrubs, Arthur watches
Comments are always adored.
There was something extremely powerful about her in this moment. The sight of someone on their hands and knees, on a stone floor scrubbing it feverishly, yet not ferociously in the chilled morning air should have made one look peasant like. It should put them in their place and normally with others it would have. Yet with her the scene made her look graceful, regal somehow. She was in command of the scrubbing brush and floor like a queen. Ruling with directness by each stroke of her brush yet with a kindness too, treating the floor like a person; never pushing hard against it like other maids. She was humming away, passing the time with a soft smile on her lips.
There was a calm aura around her; she showed no sign of annoyance or resentment at the job. Contentment could be found in her face, as if this daily act gave her a secret pleasure, a hidden place to roam. Like the moment offered her a time to reflect. The cotton dress she wore flared out slightly as she stretched this way and that. Her hands moved backwards and forwards in a rhythmic dance, entrancing him. He could see the slight red tint forming across her palms but her face showed no hint of pain only concentration and stillness.
The soft light of daybreak bathed her, reflecting in her dark chocolate eyes. Every inch of her swam in the light, glowing and making him hungry. Wisps of dark brown hair fell elegantly down her face from the bun she wore. Every once in a while she leaned back on her knees, stopping her scrubbing and tucked them back. The ladies of court would idly pass her by taking no notice. They were dressed in the finest clothing; their hair was perfect and their skin soft and smooth, so he couldn’t deny they were attractive, indeed they were but she surpassed them.
They would say her coarse hands and ruffled hair made her less pretty, took away from her splendour but he disagreed. If anything they added to her beauty; enhanced it in a way they could never understand. Like a snowdrop flower her head was bowed but there was strength in her, greater than the strength theses ladies believed they had. She had weathered storms of ice coldness and still she smiled, showed warmth. She was beautiful in every way the ladies of court weren’t.