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“You will come to accept it in time.” Mordred walked up to them both and looked down at Mae with a playfully stern expression. “Though you will have to endure Maewenn’s incessant pestering. We will both spend a thousand years in suffering, I suppose.”
Mae huffed and shook her head. “Insolent, arrogant—” She sighed, her shoulders falling with a small clank. “I am going to miss you terribly.”
“And I you.” Mordred smiled, if faintly. “Come. Let us eat. I have only the day to have my affairs in order.”
Gwen followed Mae and Mordred as the three of them walked to the dining room for breakfast. Eod was already there, sitting at Doc’s feet, tail idly swishing over the wood floor as he begged scraps from the wizard.
The other people in attendance were surprising. Galahad and Zoe sat at the table, along with Bors, Gawain, Tristan, and Percival. She was surprised especially that Percival had the balls to walk back into the keep after the incident at the trial.
Probably didn’t have a choice. He’s still bound by magic to serve Mordred. Which raised the question of what the fuck was going to happen to the knights while Mordred was trapped. She knew that he had freed Galahad already, but what would he do with the other four?
Whatever it was, Mordred opted to keep it to himself as he walked to the head of the table and sat, motioning at the seat next to him. Gwen took her spot, her stomach grumbling in hunger at the sight of the meat pies, fruit, and various cheeses laid out in front of her. Right. She hadn’t eaten in a long while.
Talk about an awkward breakfast, though.
Everybody just sat in silence.
Well, almost everybody.
“Sooooo—” Doc broke the stretch, grinning in his usual way that marked that he was about to say or do something extremely inappropriate for the sake of causing chaos. “What’re you planning to do with these chucklefucks?” He gestured at the four knights at the table.
Mordred shut his eyes, stabbed a grape with the pointed end of his claw, and took his time eating it. He sat there in silence for a painfully long stretch before answering. “We shall see.”
Doc grinned and took a sip from his coffee. Gwen would put money on the fact that he had slipped some alcohol into it. She couldn’t decide if he was a low-functioning or high-functioning alcoholic, but she also couldn’t say that she blamed him, considering how much he had going around in his head.
“I really hope I don’t wind up like you eventually.” She shook her head.
Doc barked a laugh. “Just you wait and see. I give it five hundred years.”
“Charming.” Mordred reached for his cup of tea. “I see I will have something to look forward to.”
“I’ll do my best not to become a total looney with an alcohol problem.” Gwen smiled, weakly, trying to find the humor in the situation. “But no promises.”
Mordred sat there in silence for another long stretch. “I am surprised you dare show your face at my dining table, Gossamer Lady.”
“I…” Zoe sighed, her shoulders falling. She had a vegetarian breakfast in front of her, which wasn’t a surprise. All fruits and vegetables arranged artfully around. Mae had done her best to accommodate. “I will not shy away from the tragedy of what I have been tasked with. I will not hide my face. I understand what you are both losing.”
“And you understand what will happen in my absence, yes?” Mordred sneered. “The elementals will turn on each other. The slaughter of whole villages will resume.”
“I hold out hope that you are wrong,” Zoe replied. “Though I would not be surprised if that were to come to pass.”
“Yet you have no problem with this?” He arched an eyebrow.
“It is the natural way of our island. It is how Avalon has always been, and always shall be. Seeking to impose order upon chaos is a particular conceit that you and I do not share.” Zoe shrugged.
Galahad was staring down at his food as though he were at a reception for a funeral. It was clear he hated everything that was happening but had no idea how to change any of it. Or maybe no desire to. Honor above all else, and so on.
Gwen let the conversation pause for a moment. “What happens if, say, he escapes early? What’re the laws about that? Say, like, the Crystal is faulty and just…falls apart, or…something.” God, she was shit at lying.
Zoe smiled in understanding. “He would remain a fugitive from the law. And if it was discovered that he was aided in his escape, those who helped him would be as well. The punishment for running from the justice of the elementals is death.”
“Of course. Death. Naturally,’ she mumbled into her coffee. “Why the fuck not?”
There went that idea. She knew the answer before she asked the question, but she had to ask it, anyway. Just in case. She was going to test every corner, poke at every wall, until she found a loophole. Some way, some chance, that she didn’t have to be separated from Mordred for a thousand years.
The rest of the meal went by rather uneventfully. The knights were silent, likely dreading whatever was going to befall them. None of them had voted in Mordred’s favor, after all.
Mordred spent the rest of the day poring over papers and discussing matters with Galahad. She was glad at least that he wasn’t holding a grudge against the Knight in Gold. Gwen listened in, trying to absorb every detail. The keep was going to be her home, and she wanted to help protect it.
