The Queen's Garden
b>Author: Gilli_ann
Title: The Queen's Garden
Rating: G
Characters: Ygraine, Uther, Nimueh, Gwen
Pairing: Canon Uther/Ygraine
Summary: More than memories haunt the queen's garden
Word Count: 555
Prompt: 510 'Garden'
Author's Notes: Canon AU
The Queen's Garden
A section of the inner bailey on the south side of the castle had been dedicated to the queen's personal use. Ygraine established a small garden there, its boundaries marked by hedges. There was a pond, lush flower beds, and comfortable benches under trellises where honeysuckle and pink roses thrived. The keep's battlements protected the garden from strong winds, but never kept the sun's bright warm rays at bay. Songbirds came there in early summer, the blackbirds trilling sweetly at sunset. Butterflies and bees flitted from flower to flower all season, and elusive fragrances of lavender, peonies, and roses drifted through the air.
Ygraine loved her enchanting garden, and would sit there contentedly with king Uther in the early evenings, whenever their duties and the weather allowed.
Following the queen's untimely death, Uther forbade anyone from using or tending to her garden. A mere mention of the place would make him rage. After a few years, tall weeds and creeping brambles had taken over. The delicate flowers had died from neglect, and the lily-pond was clogged with stinking debris. The loveseats rotted away, unused and unseen.
Eventually, Uther had the whole garden razed. It became a bare field where horses could graze or auxiliary troops set up camp.
It was said that a sense of unease always lingered across the field. People whispered about a misty white shape that would appear briefly at eventide, spooking the horses and filling those who witnessed it with sorrow and foreboding. But nobody spoke loudly of this, for fear of being accused of dabbling in sorcery. The tale of the ghostly lady never reached the ears of King Uther and Prince Arthur.
Years later, when peace finally returned to the land, Camelot was ruled by good Queen Guinevere. She heard about the garden that once had been, and ordered it remade and replanted. It became a pleasant enough refuge from the affairs of state, but never fully returned to its former glory. And sometimes, the white mist in the shape of a richly attired woman did drift across the lush grounds, - sadness always trailing in her incorporal wake.
On one fateful evening, nine months before Queen Ygraine's untimely passing, the king and queen of Camelot had met with the sorceress Nimueh in the queen's sheltered garden. Strong oaths were spoken, and powerful sorcery applied. The three of them made a pact there, its intent to safeguard the realm and secure a royal heir to one day follow Uther on the throne.
Their hopes had been high, and the future had seemed bright. Perhaps it was grief at how fate twisted those hopes and tore their happy plans to shreds that later made the queen's uneasy spirit return to the place where her fate was sealed, had she only known it at the time.
But the only three people who knew what happened were all long since dead. They'd taken that secret to their graves. And therefore, while the so-called white lady kept haunting the spot, even after the castle had fallen into ruin and long grasses covered its forgotten and crumbled foundations, no one would ever learn why she could find no rest, nor what that little space of Albion's fair green land had once meant - to her and to her husband, and also to their son.
Title: The Queen's Garden
Rating: G
Characters: Ygraine, Uther, Nimueh, Gwen
Pairing: Canon Uther/Ygraine
Summary: More than memories haunt the queen's garden
Word Count: 555
Prompt: 510 'Garden'
Author's Notes: Canon AU
The Queen's Garden
A section of the inner bailey on the south side of the castle had been dedicated to the queen's personal use. Ygraine established a small garden there, its boundaries marked by hedges. There was a pond, lush flower beds, and comfortable benches under trellises where honeysuckle and pink roses thrived. The keep's battlements protected the garden from strong winds, but never kept the sun's bright warm rays at bay. Songbirds came there in early summer, the blackbirds trilling sweetly at sunset. Butterflies and bees flitted from flower to flower all season, and elusive fragrances of lavender, peonies, and roses drifted through the air.
Ygraine loved her enchanting garden, and would sit there contentedly with king Uther in the early evenings, whenever their duties and the weather allowed.
Following the queen's untimely death, Uther forbade anyone from using or tending to her garden. A mere mention of the place would make him rage. After a few years, tall weeds and creeping brambles had taken over. The delicate flowers had died from neglect, and the lily-pond was clogged with stinking debris. The loveseats rotted away, unused and unseen.
Eventually, Uther had the whole garden razed. It became a bare field where horses could graze or auxiliary troops set up camp.
It was said that a sense of unease always lingered across the field. People whispered about a misty white shape that would appear briefly at eventide, spooking the horses and filling those who witnessed it with sorrow and foreboding. But nobody spoke loudly of this, for fear of being accused of dabbling in sorcery. The tale of the ghostly lady never reached the ears of King Uther and Prince Arthur.
Years later, when peace finally returned to the land, Camelot was ruled by good Queen Guinevere. She heard about the garden that once had been, and ordered it remade and replanted. It became a pleasant enough refuge from the affairs of state, but never fully returned to its former glory. And sometimes, the white mist in the shape of a richly attired woman did drift across the lush grounds, - sadness always trailing in her incorporal wake.
On one fateful evening, nine months before Queen Ygraine's untimely passing, the king and queen of Camelot had met with the sorceress Nimueh in the queen's sheltered garden. Strong oaths were spoken, and powerful sorcery applied. The three of them made a pact there, its intent to safeguard the realm and secure a royal heir to one day follow Uther on the throne.
Their hopes had been high, and the future had seemed bright. Perhaps it was grief at how fate twisted those hopes and tore their happy plans to shreds that later made the queen's uneasy spirit return to the place where her fate was sealed, had she only known it at the time.
But the only three people who knew what happened were all long since dead. They'd taken that secret to their graves. And therefore, while the so-called white lady kept haunting the spot, even after the castle had fallen into ruin and long grasses covered its forgotten and crumbled foundations, no one would ever learn why she could find no rest, nor what that little space of Albion's fair green land had once meant - to her and to her husband, and also to their son.