003 -- BROADCAST MIND.
One night, Elyan pulls the blankets up over their heads and whisperes to her he wishes to seek his fortune, that he shall not spend his life as a blacksmith, that he wishes to be a knight like in the grand old songs the village elders sing. The words are soft in the darkness, barely loud enough to be heard, but they worry Gwen all the same. Elyan makes her promise to say nothing, and a week later he is gone. Her father's face is drawn tight with anger and worry, and guilt ties Gwen's stomach into tight knots.
That Sunday, her father leads her out to a small clearing at the outer edge of the forest. They walk in silence, and Gwen wonders if they are going after her brother. It would not be a bad thing, she thinks, for Gwen misses him bitterly. She'd happily trade the extra space in her bed for Elyan's snores and the way he sometimes kicked her in his sleep.
You must tell no one of this, her father says as he puts a sword in her hand. Gwen is only seven and the length of steel is impossibly heavy, but her father's face is serious, so she clenches her jaw and holds it as he told her. But I will not always be here to protect you. And you must not be left defenseless.
That night, her arms ache and the soft skin between her thumb and forefinger is rubbed raw and painful, but her father says she has done well, so she tries to pay neither of these things any mind. The sword is wrapped in a length of cloth and hidden beneath her bed, and during the day they do not speak of it.
It is their secret, for many years. Her father swears that Gwen is as good a swordsman as half the knights wearing the red cloak of Camelot, even if he does it very softly and only when they are alone. It makes my heart glad to know that you can defend yourself, he tells her, and Gwen smiles and kisses his forehead, and never imagines a time when her life shall not be this, her father and her in their little house, with a hidden sword under her bed and her father's proud smile as he watches her clean it.
That Sunday, her father leads her out to a small clearing at the outer edge of the forest. They walk in silence, and Gwen wonders if they are going after her brother. It would not be a bad thing, she thinks, for Gwen misses him bitterly. She'd happily trade the extra space in her bed for Elyan's snores and the way he sometimes kicked her in his sleep.
You must tell no one of this, her father says as he puts a sword in her hand. Gwen is only seven and the length of steel is impossibly heavy, but her father's face is serious, so she clenches her jaw and holds it as he told her. But I will not always be here to protect you. And you must not be left defenseless.
That night, her arms ache and the soft skin between her thumb and forefinger is rubbed raw and painful, but her father says she has done well, so she tries to pay neither of these things any mind. The sword is wrapped in a length of cloth and hidden beneath her bed, and during the day they do not speak of it.
It is their secret, for many years. Her father swears that Gwen is as good a swordsman as half the knights wearing the red cloak of Camelot, even if he does it very softly and only when they are alone. It makes my heart glad to know that you can defend yourself, he tells her, and Gwen smiles and kisses his forehead, and never imagines a time when her life shall not be this, her father and her in their little house, with a hidden sword under her bed and her father's proud smile as he watches her clean it.