Without Henry VIII

Waiting

(Arthur Prince of Whales' POV)

I sat in my room going over Latin texts from the Bible that my professor wanted me to translate. I did not see the point to it, I could read and speak Latin just fine to be able to read the Bible in Latin, and communicate with foreign dignitaries, when I was not able to speak their language. I suspected My Lady Grandmother, Margret Beaufort Countess of Richmond, had a hand in this. She was extremely pious and believed that God was the reason for everything, particularly why our family sat on the throne of England, so she most likely did this to increase my knowledge of Him and religion further, as though growing up around her and having her constantly repeat how important God and The Church were, was not enough. I sighed and continued my work. Once I translated everything I fell back against the chair I was sitting in with a groan.

My younger brother Henry chose that moment to come barging into my room, unfortunately. He was five years my junior, making him ten years old, and was spoiled rotten. By the look on his face I knew he wanted something from me, but was waiting to be asked what it was first. Hoping that by asking him he might leave my room sooner I complied, "What do you want York?" I asked, I called him this due to his title as Duke of York, just as he and My Lord Father would call me Whales because my title was Prince of Whales. Henry and I rarely called each other by our Christian names, but My Lord father would sometimes. Henry, obviously disappointed with my uninterested tone, sighed and pouted, but never the less said what he came here for. "I came to see if you were going to come out with Brandon and me to shoot arrows, and get you away from those dreadful papers and books that you seem so fond of," he said.

That was just like Henry, he hated books and papers because they implied work, which he detested. I looked over at the pile on my desk, and realized I had finished everything I was supposed to do. I mine as well go outside and get some exercise, besides after sitting for so long my legs had cramped. I nodded towards Henry as a sign of my agreement, and then stood up and stretched, which I knew My Lady Grandmother would disapprove of since it was "undignified and looked common," but it was necessary considering how I had been in the same position for so many hours, and it was technically her fault. Henry stopped pouting when he saw I was going to come with him, I doubted he really wanted me to come along, but was told that I would have to if he wanted to go. We met up with Brandon, a good friend of ours, and probably my only confidant here at court.

We continued down to the archery field, and I was glad to see there was no one else down here to witness my poor talent at archery. Once we had gathered our bow and arrows I was starting to regret agreeing to do this. while I was rubbish at archery, Henry and Brandon were both superb at it. I knew there was no way to back out of it now, so I reminded myself that only Henry and Brandon were there, and they already knew how bad I was at it, so this would be nothing new to them, although I knew Henry would probably tease me for it.

Henry went first then Brandon, which at least gave me time to think and hope that my shots would be somewhat decent. When my turn came I knocked the arrow and aimed it at the center of the target. I hit about a foot away from the center, which was decent for me, although Henry and Brandon's shots had only been a few inches from the center. After we had shot all of our arrows it was easy to tell that I had lost, although I was quite proud of the fact that all of my arrows had at least hit somewhere on the target. We sat down to relax which I was glad of.

Then Henry asked, "Do you know when Princess Catherine will arrive?" I did not know exactly how to respond to this for it was a touchy subject for both My Lord Father and me.

"I am not sure York. She was supposed to arrive a year ago, and last I heard her ships had left Spain and were headed here, but that was months ago."