A Legendary Love

Chapter Eleven

The next few days were torturous for Jen. Although Arthur was more visible around the Castle, he didn't make any move to spend time with her, or even have a conversation with her. When they were sat next to each other in the feasting hall, he would always make an effort to speak to the person on the other side of him or encourage the court jester to come and perform for them, reducing the opportunity to have a discussion. When Jen reached out to Arthur to talk to him, even a polite 'how are you', he would give short responses before making his excuses to leave the conversation.

This left Jen very frustrated.

By contrast, Jen's shadow had also seemed to disappear – Lancelot had kept true to his word prior to being taken on as a permanent knight in Camelot and was keeping his distance from Jen. She had barely seen him, and his absence was more pronounced after his father and their royal party left Camelot following the finalisation of the treaty, which suddenly Ban found he had no further niggles with. They had departed within the week of Lancelot's knighthood in Camelot being announced.

All in all, Jen was feeling as lonely as she had been when she first arrived in Camelot months before. Which was a sad state of affairs in itself – this wasn't like her, to be so dependent on the attentions of men to make her feel whole.

She continued to fill her days with the usual tasks that had been taking up her time over the past few months – visiting with the local women, expanding her knowledge in diplomacy with Lady Helen, hawking, reading, embroidery.

She found that she also had taken up writing – largely fiction, but based on the world she found herself in, rather than the world she had left behind in the 21st century.

Altogether, it was a fairly peaceful and restful time, but Jen felt anything but peaceful and rested – there was something niggling at her, and she couldn't quite place what it was. Until one day, it hit her like a ton of bricks.

Lady Helen hadn't mentioned wedding planning in days, if not weeks.

With the departure of Ban and his retinue, Lady Helen and the court of Camelot should be breaking their backs trying to pull together an incredible wedding. It had been over six months since Jen had arrived in Camelot, which was almost unheard of in terms of long engagements in this time period for arranged marriages for lords, ladies and royalty.

Jen thought back to what Ælfflaed had said all those weeks ago; that Arthur might be considering his options in terms of alliances through wedlock. Could that be the reason for Lady Helen's laisse faire attitude?

Recalling that she was due to attend Lady Helen's chamber that afternoon, Jen made the decision to start prying for more information and to see if Lady Helen knew anything that Jen did not regarding her engagement.

"I was thinking of an autumnal wedding," Jen stated into the silence of the room later than afternoon as she moved a chess piece across the board.

Lady Helen's face did not give her away as she let out a non-committal 'hmm', as she moved her own pawn.

"Perhaps we should ask the Seamstress to attend the Castle later this week so that we can commence planning for my wedding gown – I was thinking of enquiring into the possibility of a fully taffeta gown, therefore the Seamstress may have struggles with sourcing such a material," Jen pushed as she made her play in the chess game in front of her.

Lady Helen paused, considering the board before replying, "that might be quite expensive to source, Guinevere, perhaps a more easily accessible fabric might be best, along with a gown that can be used for other occasions."

"Mother, I shall be Queen of Camelot!" Jen exclaimed, watching as Lady Helen flinched ever so slightly. "I cannot be wearing a common gown as I wed the King of Camelot!"