Just Like Old Times

A Woman's Touch

This chapter is rated M for sexual content.

Lilly paced back and forth in their tent back at the main camp as Arthur read her journal over again. All her dreams of prophecy were in there. She hadn't had many, but they still carried much weight in her mind. Lilly had an idea who the old washer woman was. She knew The Morrigan was a shapeshifter and sometimes took the form of a washer woman, cleaning the blood stained clothes of those marked for death. Lilly was worried though. Why was she allowed more than three questions this time? Why was she washing Arthur's clothes? Was Arthur going to die? Could The Morrigan bring Arthur back if he did? She did hint at it, after all. All of this was a lot for Lilly to wrap her head around.

"This riverbank...is it in Ireland?" Arthur asked.

"I think it's Tír na nÓg. I remember seeing it...I think. When I died," Lilly explained.

"Oh. So it's the Irish afterlife?"

"Sorta. It's the Land of Eternal Youth."

"Well then why was this...washer woman old?"

"I think that was The Morrigan."

"I thought she was young?"

Lilly sighed. "Remind me to give you my book about Irish gods and goddesses to read. The Morrigan shapeshifts. That's why she came as a wolf to me that one time."

"Hmm." Arthur sighed. "Why was she washing my clothes?"

"I think you're marked for death."

Arthur's face dropped. "Oh." He flipped through the pages. "Might have to do with me falling off this horse, you think? Where do you think it was?"

"It looked like Saint Denis. But...you looked sick. Real sick."

Arthur chuckled. "Well, that seems easy to avoid, darlin'. I just won't get sick," he joked.

Lilly rolled her eyes. "This is serious, Arthur. I can't have ya dyin'. Not with our wee bairn on the way," Lilly put a hand to her stomach. "And the other wee bairns we plan on havin'."

Arthur smiled at her. "You got a mind to have a whole manor full of kids, don't you?"

Lilly giggled. "It depends. I don't know how many pregnancies I wantah go through, what with the mood swings and the nausea and the..." Lilly reached for a jar of pickles and grabbed one, munching on it as she talked. "The fatigue and the headaches. Oh, and the constant need to relieve me feckin' bladder and colon!"

Arthur fell over on the bed laughing. "Is it really that bad?"

"Yes!" Lilly took another bite. "Sometimes I feel like me arse is on fire!"

Arthur cackled louder. "Oh, I'm glad you're goin' through this and not me."

Lilly smirked at him and kicked his shin gently so as not to break or hurt it too badly. "Shaddup!"

"Ouch!" Arthur laughed and pulled Lilly to him, kissing her belly as he sat up. "Hey there Junior, you stop givin' your mother the runs, you hear me?" Arthur burst into laughter.

Lilly giggled. "Yes, listen to yer daddy, wee one. And what makes you think it'll be a boy, Mr. Morgan?"

"Call it a hunch."