Long May She Reign

Reunited (Ep 1)

Outside the walls of the palace many members of the French Court had gathered to await the arrival of the Scottish royal.

The distant clatter of horses' hooves became louder and louder as the fanfare began to play on the trumpets.

One lady turned to another, "She is coming!"

Hudson and his mistress stood under the terrace, not yet approaching the carriage.

Behind them stood Acho and Scott, who had been roped in against his will by his younger brother, the Dauphin looked like he'd much rather be somewhere else with someone else.

The first out of the carriage was Lady Water Seaton, who watched her mistress's carriage approach, "Owen is here!"

The secondary carriage pulled to a halt, a footman opened the door with an offered hand towards the lady within the carriage.

Owen took the offered hand and exited her carriage, smiling as her four closest servers and friends rushed over and bowed before they embraced him, "Owen! Oh we have missed you so much!"

"Water, Gabriel, Martyn, Finnegan! I have never been happier to see you! Oh we are together again at last my dear friends!" Owen returned the embrace, smiling as she stepped back.

Gabriel Beaton immediately ran his fingers through Owen's hair in an attempt to fix it, "Good Lords Owen, did the nuns not teach you anything about fixing your hair?" He teased, earning a giggle from the small group of friends.

Owen rolled his eyes playfully,  catching a glance at the amount of trunks being unloaded there were, "Gabriel please tell me they aren't all clothes?"

"Of course not Owen, I make up for my lack of title with silver, gold and jewels too," Gabriel shrugged.

Another trumpet blew and Water was the first to react, "Here comes the royal family!" She whispered.

"His Majesty, King Hudson II of France!" The herald called.

"It's the king!" Someone in the crowd remarked.

Owen glanced towards the family, "That is the king but they did not announce the woman, is that Queen Vanessa?" She asked her friends.

Lord Martyn Livingstone replied, "They are still waiting on Her Majesty. That, Owen, is Aurelia Solexia, the Maîtresse-en-trite."

Gabriel chuckled gently, "The king's official mistress. It seems the rumours are true, no one would wed her."

"Worry not, unlike Aurelia Solexia, you three will not have any struggle finding a respectable husband here at court," Lord Finnegan Flemming promised.

Martyn smirked, "Don't worry, I'll enjoy the hunt nonetheless. But how about you Finnegan? Oh wait no, it's that Edinburgh boy isn't it? The boy from back home?"

Finnegan rolled his eyes, "Colin promised me he'd wait until we were together again."

"But how long is he truly willing to wait? If all works out well then Owen will be Queen and we may never set foot upon Scotland again," Gabriel pushed for an answer.

"Gabriel, what do you mean when you say 'if'?" Water asked, glancing over at him.

Gabriel tries to explain himself, "Make no mistake in what I try to say. We have one role here and it is to ensure our young queen stays as far ahead of the game as we can. An alliance can easily shift and we need to make sure Owen wins the heart of the Dauphin before King Hudson can change his mind."

Scott begins to make his way towards the group of girls and he catches Martyn's eye, "He is absolutely stunning, is that Prince Acho?"

Owen shook his head slowly, "In my heart I know that is not Acho."

"Then it must be Aurelia's son, the king's bastard son. It is said that the king favours Scott over his legitimate children," Martyn nodded, eyeing the bastard born son of King Hudson.

Yet another fanfare played as the page announced another member of the royal family, "Her Majesty, Queen Vanessa of France!"

Owen paid less attention to Vanessa than she should have, but Acho had approached her, "I do not believe it."

Acho bowed his head, "Your Grace."

That annoyed Martyn but he did not comment, no member of the French royal family had ever addressed Owen as 'Your Majesty' despite the fact he was in fact a Queen in her own right.

"Please, call me Owen, Your Royal Highness," Owen curtsied to the Dauphin with a giddy smile.

"Then you must call me Acho," Acho replied.

Owen let out a nervous chuckle, "Everything seems so much bigger, the castle I mean. I mean, is that even possible? You seem bigger too, of course."

Behind Owen, his friends snickered between each other.

"Is my growing up truly such a surprise?" Acho asked with a smile on his face.

"Well I suppose you have always had longer legs than mine ever were so I guess not," Owen chuckled awkwardly, "I did always hate that when we were children, I could never catch you but... It... You suit them."

Acho offered his arm with a small gesture, "May I?"

Owen nodded slowly, "Of course," he smiled.

Mara blinked slowly from her place beside Vanessa, zoning back in after the prophecy she had seen.

"Mara? You have had a vision. Tell me what you have seen my friend," Vanessa commanded in a whisper to the renowned seer.

Mara's face did not look happy, "The fleeting images are clear now about your beloved son's future and his wedding to Queen Owen."

Vanessa's fuse was not long enough to deal with the beating around the bush, "Then say it Mara! Do not make me guess what you see! You are the prophet, not I!"

Mara bit her tongue slightly.

"Mara!" Vanessa hissed under her breath.

"Owen Stuart will cost Acho his life. Their wedding will be the death of the Dauphin," Mara revealed.

Vanessa placed a hand on her stomach with a gasp, she did not believe her ears, "That cannot be!"

Mara, very aware of the queen's temper, spoke cautiously, "Unfortunately it is, Your Majesty's first born will die because of the Queen of Scotland.”