Luminescence ✺ Arthur Pendragon

The Once and Future Queen [3]

When Arwen came back to the house after her walk, there were two things she noticed first. One was Arthur's change of clothes and the effort he seemed to have put into his appearance. And the second was the effort he put into preparing everything around the house. There were candles lit on the table along with a fresh bouquet of flowers, replacing the ones Arwen had picked before their arrival.

"Arwen, just in time." Arthur spun on his heel when he heard her enter the house, looking away from what seemed to be nothing at all that had his attention up until that moment. "Please, sit." He walked over to her, going as far as pulling out her chair for her.

"Thank you." Arwen had a hard time hiding her surprise as she looked at him. But still, a smile came over her face as she took her seat, watching him bring over two plates of food. "This looks delicious." She said honestly as she looked at the chicken on her plate. It smelled just as good as it looked.

"I hope you like it." Arthur said as he took his own seat at the table. With both of them seated, a short silence fell over them as they both started to dig into the food. Although, it was often broken by Arwen complimenting Arthur on his success. It was even somewhat surprising how good it was, considering Arwen knew Merlin didn't have the skills to make the chicken taste like that. Perhaps she'd actually underestimated Arthur's abilities.

"Merlin tells me you've been keeping a secret from me." Arthur was the first to speak after a couple of minutes passed, his words making Arwen look up at him with wide eyes.

"Secret?" She tried to pretend to be oblivious, but from the knowing look on the Prince's face, it was soon clear that attempts at denial would be futile. Merlin had failed to keep his mouth shut just as Arwen had expected.

"Apparently today is your birthday?" Arthur raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her, watching as Arwen shook her head, a small smile spreading over her face.

"I told him not to tell you." She sighed, making Arthur give out a small laugh.

"Well, Merlin can't keep a secret to save his life. You shouldn't blame him." Arthur tried to defend his servant, in his own... specific way. And it only made Arwen laugh at the irony of the statement. "I had no time to get you a gift, so I hope this will suffice... for now."

"This is more than enough, Arthur. Truly." Arwen reassured him. She never expected anything for her birthday from anyone really. Especially as there was little chance this particular date was actually her birthday. It had just been deemed so by Merlin when they were still children. In reality, it was the day she joined Merlin and Hunith's family. She never knew what her real birthday was.

"Happy birthday, Arwen." Arthur said, rising his glass in sign of a small toast and bringing another smile to the redhead's face as she repeated the action. "So, tell me something." Arthur spoke again as he placed his cup back on the table, making Arwen send him a curious look.

"Something?" She questioned, unsure of what he meant when making the request.

"Anything. About yourself." Arthur explained.

"There isn't really much to say, my Lord." Arwen revealed. She wasn't sure what else she could talk about that he didn't know already. And she had never been too good at talking about herself in the first place. "You already know most of my story."

"What made you want to be a physician?" Arthur asked curiously. He knew she had been one long before coming to Camelot, and he'd seen how much the people in Ealdor trusted her because of it, but he never knew how she came to be one.

The question brought a smile to Arwen's face as she thought back to her earliest memories of medicine. "Back in Ealdor, we didn't have a physician in the village itself. So, whenever someone was sick or we needed medical help, someone would have to go to the village next to ours to get their physician to come." Arwen started to explain.