The Exile,

-Part II, Chapter XIII-

Of Friends, Families and Magic

            Guinevere braided her into one long dark plait and slipped on her shoes in the dark. She didn't bother with her surcoat this morning. She slipped on a pair of her mother's earbobs as her only adornment. The simple jewelry her father had made for her mother one of the few things to stay with her as she made her way from Camelot. Ylsa was waiting for her. Gwen made her way down the stairs by memory and the pale light of early dawn.  The young midwife was sitting on the stone foyer bench, face hidden in the morning dark.

              "Come on slow poke."

               Ylsa rose and handed her a basket as she reached the bottom of the stairs. Arm-n-arm the two women left the town house, herb baskets bouncing on their hips. Their excursion was to collect the herbs that Ylsa needed for her patients as well something to help Gwen sleep.

               While there were few people in the streets, Wyeledon did not appear totally empty of human life as Camelot would at this hour.  The city guard was moving about, villagers from outlying villages were lining up at the gates and trickling in to buy or sell at the market and the fisher folk were out as well.

                The fisher folk of Wyeledon, mostly men but women also headed toward the shore in group of three, four and five.  It seemed they were of all backgrounds, in every hue, calling to each in friendly and familiar words as they walked towards, opposite the direction of Ylsa and Guinevere. Gwen heard every language amongst them. Latin of course, but also Galician, French, Welsh, Chinese even Arabic and others she didn't know.

                They were allowed to fish thrice weekly and in boats large and small boats set sail in the wee hours of the morn to return with nets filled with all manner of fish, squid, mussels and shellfish. Their catch was brought to the market by midday to appear on supper tables or be smoked and dried. The Senate was very careful about the number of fishing licenses given out and regulated the length of every fishing season and day, penalties for fisherman operating outside of those times could be high. An individual fishing for their table could do so whenever they liked.

               The two women exited the city through the western gate as the sun was still climbing above the horizon. They wanted to be finished before the heat of noon. Luisa had packed them a breakfast that they would eat a little later.

              "You remember the name of the herbs I need?" Ylsa asked as they walked.

               "Yes, water mint, red raspberry, motherwort, blessed thistle and nettle."

               "Good can you describe them and where they are most likely to be found?"

                For a moment Guinevere studied her friend's expression in the dim morning light. Gaius had taken to quizzing her like this but she hadn't expected Ylsa to do so.

                "Well come on then." Ylsa said a hint of amusement in her voice "This is a test."

                Guinevere rolled her eyes and decided to play along, thinking back to her time spent studying while she tended Uther. She took the easy ones first. Water mint and red raspberry, their properties were given away by their names and easy to identify- Water mint in particular, due to its pungent minty smell.

                "So you've got the easy ones." Ylsa smiled slightly in the pink and orange dawn light. "What about the nettle?"

                 Gwen thought a moment recalling the shape and size of the leaves as well as its beneficial properties.

                 "Besides having the effect of reducing physical discomfort, easing muscle cramps and spasms, it can be eaten for its nutritive effects and too increase the richness of milk. As well as serve as a douche to halt hemorrhaging after delivery." She recited at last.

                  "Very good. Do you remember how to gather it?"

                  "Wear gloves for the sting and snap below the third bract."

                  "Excellent." Ylsa patted her hand. They'd reached the woods by now and began working. Ylsa quizzed her as they worked. They briefly discussed the herbs that Gwen had decided upon for her sleep troubles, lavender, hops, mullein and vervain to help her sleep.

                 By the time the sun was well up and the morning advanced, they'd found everything but the Motherwort. When their stomachs started to growl, Ylsa decided it was time for a break and the two women sat down for breakfast.

                Luisa had packed them a meal of flaky, herbed smoked fish, rye bread, watercress and stew pears. Baskets beside them, the two women made themselves comfortable. Gwen set on the soft moss covered earth and leaned her back against a fallen tree giving life to moss, new plants and hungry mushrooms feasting. Ylsa sat on that same tree a pleased expression on her face.

                The forest around was the rich living green of summer. The trees were thick and full with leaves and slowly ripen fruit. Shrubs and bushes were heavy with flowers and berries, feeding insects and sheltering birds. Little creatures like rabbits, squirrels, and birds kept away from the two women but they saw a family of deer downstream and a dover of ducks moved along the water feeding and quacking to each other.

                 For a time the two women watched the animals of the forest eating in silence. Gwen savoring the warm full flavor of smoked fish. In little over a month in Wyeledon she had eaten more different types of fish and seafood than Camelot saw in a year.

                 "Other than Wyeledon have you traveled much?" Ylsa asked as they were finishing their breakfast.

                 "No," Gwen thought briefly of the times she'd been kidnapped and decided they didn't count. "Not really. What about you?"

                 "I've been to Vienna and all over the western part of the continent."

                  She considered that for a moment. Ylsa spoke with no accent she could place. Sometimes she sounded French, other times she sounded like a Gaul and still other times of Galicia but mostly she seemed to have no particular accent at all.

                  "Where is your family from?"

                  "Chateau de Beaune."

                  "So you are French?"

                  "Yes. I suppose but I haven't lived there in a long time." Her velvety brown face was thoughtful for a while. "My family served the first Charlemagne and now the Blois Duchy. They are up to their necks in politics."

                  "Oh. Do you have lots of family?"

                   "Yes," she looked at her with a small smile "lots of uncles, aunts and cousins. There is never an empty room or quiet moment in the Chateau."

                    "Don't you miss them?"

                    "Not really. I mean, I love them but I do not belong there. My family is concerned with the accumulation of power and wealth. Someone like me has no place there."

                   "Oh." Gwen very said softly thinking about how often she was alone, "It must be hard for you."

                    "Not so much. I have a twin brother that I am close to and my Aunt Marie, who is also a midwife, a few cousins that are physicians in different households. We're our own little clan within the clan."

                    "Where is your brother?  What is his name?"

                   "His name is Lucian. He is with the family. Unlike myself, he lives to scheme we still manage to see one and other from time to time."

                    "It seems sad that you should have all this family and yet you are separated from them."

                    "We would not be happy together." Both women were silent for a while "What about your family?"

                     "There are not so many of us. Before my mother died we were very happy. Even after, Elliot my brother Elyan's twin, died from meazlis outbreak we when they were just three we managed to be happy. We suffered but we were together. My mother took ill when I was about six years of age, we never really understood what was wrong. She just sickened and died." Gwen thought briefly on how her father had sent she and Elyan to live with their Aunt Mary and Uncle John during those last few months. "For a long time it was just me, my father and my brother Elyan. My mother's family is scattered over the countryside but my father was a blacksmith. There is little work for a blacksmith in the country."

                   "No. I suppose not. Are you close to them, your father and brother I mean?"

                   Gwen thought about the way Elyan had looked at her on that last morning in Camelot, thought about all the ways she had disappointed him.

                   "Father and I were very close until the day he died. That was some years ago."

                   "I'm sorry about your mother and father," Ylsa squeezed her arm gently.

                   "It's been some years now. I'm used to it." Gwen said. Both women fell silent watching the little stream flow along listening to the birdsong.

                    "What about your brother Elyan?"

                    Gwen took a breath "When he was young, we were very different, very close. We played together as all children do and confided in one and other. Everything changed though when Padrig was accused of sorcery." Gwen drew her knees up to her chest. "Padrig was his best friend and truly they were more than that, more like brothers. I think Padrig filled the hole in his life when Elliot died. They were just fourteen when Padrig was burnt at the stake." She paused and licked her lips before continuing. "Elyan believed and probably rightly so that Padrig was innocent. He lost faith in everyone and everything after that."

                 "How horrible!" Ylsa hugged herself and rubbed her arms as if to ward off a chill. "But why should that divide the three of you?"

                 Gwen sighed, surprised that she suddenly wanted to talk about this.

                 "At the time I was handmaid to the king's ward Morgana," Gwen looked out over the stream "Elyan felt that Morgana might convince the king that Padrig was not guilty. He wanted me to talk to her ask for her help."

                 "Did you?"

                 "No," she paused "I didn't," she had never actually told anyone this story. "Our father forbid it. He said it was already suspicious enough that Elyan was such a close friend to someone accused of sorcery. We did not need to draw the king's eye to us."

                 "Would it have? Helped or hurt I mean?"

                 "Truthfully, I don't know. Sometimes Morgana could sway him and sometimes she could not." Gwen shook her head, still disappointed in her sixteen year-old self. "I was afraid though and I remembered how broken my father was after our mother died. I risk couldn't bringing that on him again. Elyan didn't see it that way though. He ran away a few days later. There has been no closeness between us since that time. Instead a gulf has grown and we seem to be filling it with sharp edged disappointment."  Gwen swallowed feeling as if she might cry for just a moment.

                 She felt Ylsa's hand run soothingly up and down her arm.

                 "Jen, look at me.

                 "What?" She turned heard, met her friend's eyes.

                  "Your father wanted to protect his family. You did you duty as good daughter. It's not your fault. It's the fault of a king who burned children at the stake and any that tried to defend them."

                   "Yeah," Gwen said not at all convinced.

                   The two women fell silent.  Gwen let her eyes wander downstream, two of the ducks were squawking now fighting over a worm or some such. A family of raccoons crossed their path; babies bobbing along behind their mother, fluffy tails billowing behind them.

                    "Just a moment, you were handmaiden to Morgana? The Lady Morgana? The witch!?"

                    Gwen rolled her eyes.

                    "No wonder you don't want to serve in another house but there are plenty of sane normal families out there."

                    "I'm certain."

                    "Maybe," Ylsa said slowly "Morgana is your enemy?"

                    "What!?" Gwen turned on her friend with a sharp-eyed stare, incredulous at the thought.

                    "Well, Matilde said "your enemy's victory shall be HER bane." Morgana is a her and everyone knows how she overthrew her father and such."

                    "Oh yes, that must be it because I only know one woman in all the wide world."

                    "Of course not Gwen but-"

                    "No, I don't have any enemies and if I did they certainly would not be Morgana. I'm a nothing to her, a no one, a servant." Guinevere shook her head. "Once she might have called me a friend but if I ever harbored any illusions that I was anything more than a servant to her it was soon made plain that that was not so." Gwen said thinking of the way her relationship Morgana had changed in that last year, the way Morgana who seemed to have once cared a great deal for her thought of her less and less. "I'm not important enough to be enemy to Morgana. And no one has done anything to me, had any victory over me." Gwen got to her feet and picked up her basket. "Are we about done?"

                 Without waiting for an answer Guinevere turned to start back toward the city.

                  "Jen just a second, Matilde's fortunes are-" Ylsa shrieked and Gwen turned to see that a bandit had grabbed the other woman round the waist and was pressing a very sharp looking blade against her throat.

                  "I want your money!"

                  "Of course," she sat the basket down and slipped the purse from her belt.

                  "Open it."

                  "Here now release her," Gwen did as the man said and dumped the contents into her palm, ten coppers.

                  "That's all you got?"

                  "Sorry," Gwen couldn't keep a hint of exasperation out of her town "we're out picking herbs for goodness's sake. What did you expect treasure? You've got our purses; now please just let us go." He looked them over for a moment and Gwen glanced at Ylsa trying to see how the other woman was holding up.

                 Strangely she saw no sign of fear in Ylsa's face. The midwife's eyes had been trained on the bandit since this whole thing had begun. She looked, Gwen thought, as if she were trying to concentrate on something.

                 "Very well take off you dress."

                 Gwen snapped her attention back to the bandit.

                 "What!"

                 "I'm sure it will fetch a good price."

                 "No! You have our money let us go." Guinevere insisted

                 "Do it or I'll cut your friend." He pressed the blade against Ylsa's throat and Gwen saw the thinnest line of red. Ylsa however didn't seem to notice, didn't even make a sound.  Her big dark eyes shut for the briefest second.

                 "You don't look so good," Ylsa said it to the bandit her voice lilting almost sing-song as it sometimes was.

                 "What?" He looked down at her.

                 "You look a little green actually."

                 Gwen thought perhaps she saw a bit of fear creep into the bandits's expression.

                 "Shut-up!"

                  She hadn't noticed before but he did look just a bit green.

                 "I'm a healer. If you're ill, I might be able to help you. Is your stomach bothering you?"

                  He swallowed and Gwen watched them feeling almost mesmerized by what she was witnessing.

                  "Perhaps you're feeling a bit dizzy." He stared down at her and Gwen could see the bandits grip go slack. Ylsa slipped out of his hold and a moment later the bandit collapsed. Gwen was at her friend's side immediately.

                   "I'm fine." Her words were soft and breathless. "Go tie him up so we can tell the guard." The other women sunk into sitting position.

                   "Are you certain you're all right?"

                   "I'm fine. The merchants are very serious about keeping these woods free of bandits and highwaymen; there is even a reward, so go and tie him up so we can collect it."

                   The bandit did look sickly and Gwen found his skin hot to the touch. Fevers usually didn't come on so quickly.

                   The man groaned and looked her. "Your friend said she would help me."

                  "Oh now that means something to you," Gwen said and tied his belt extra hard round his wrist.

                  She bound his feet with a strip of cloth she cut from his tunic. The she went back to Ylsa, who was sitting with her head between her knees.

                 "Now you're sick!"

                  "I'm fine," She looked up bleary eyed "just tired from the heat and the excitement."

                  "Of course."

                  "Come let's get back to town."

                    Guinevere helped Ylsa to her feet and grabbing their baskets the two women hurried back. By the time they reached the city gates Ylsa seemed better and Gwen began to relax. They told the guard on duty and he took them to his captain. The captain smiled at their news and sent Gwen with another guard to collect the bandit.  Strangely enough when they found him his fever seemed to have lessened and he no longer looked so green.

                "I thought you said he was ill?"

                "He seemed ill," Gwen shrugged and remembered the way Ylsa had been looking at him, "I suppose we were confused."

                "No! They're witches. The other one, the dark one made me sick!" The guard looked from the bandit to her.

                "You hold your tongue." Gwen glared down at him. "You tried to rob and rape us. You threatened my friend at knife point and because we were lucky enough that you had a fainting spell she is a witch? Thank god you got sick."

                The guardsmen nodded "Sides," he said "it's not like witchery is illegal, preying on our god citizens." The guardsmen forced him to his feet. "Even if she is serves you right."

               "But they-"

               "Shut it!" The guardsmen clouted the bandit on the head. "You're lucky that's all she did. If you'd of tried to take my dress I'd have done far more than make you sick, you piece of filth." He added the last in a grumble and the bandit fell.

               They started back to the city.

               "Attacking young women out to gather herbs for medicine people these days," the guardsmen shook his head "You ladies take me along next time and you won't have to worry about this kind of trouble." He gave her a small smile and Gwen realized he was trying to flirt with her.

               "Thank you."

               "I mean it. Next time you go out for herbs come an' see me first."

               "Okay," she said humoring him.

               They chatted amicably enough all the way back to the guardhouse. He recognized her accent as being from Camelot and complimented her dress. He told her a bit about his plan to get himself promoted to squad leader and then captain mentioning how well it paid. Guinevere listened politely feeling just a tad relieved when they returned to the guardhouse and he had to leave her to do his job.

               Another guard took her to an office where she signed for the reward with their captain who then directed her to Ylsa.

               She found the other woman munching on a plate of shrimp and cabbage swimming in butter and parsley, a bandage on her neck.

             "You just ate." Guinevere remarked and Ylsa shrugged.

             "I was still a bit hungry."

             Gwen eyed the tiny woman and shook her head. "Feeling better?"

            "Very much, thank you. The cut is just a scratch but I figured better safe than sorry." The midwife wiped her hands on a cloth napkin. "And one of these lovely guards was kind enough to get me this delicious lunch." Ylsa fluttered her eyelashes and Gwen laughed.

            "I'll wager he was."

            "Did they give you the reward?"Ylsa asked.

            "Ten silver pieces."

            "Wonderful, shall we split it?"

            Gwen studied her friend a moment before nodding.

           She should save her half of the money but remembering all of those beautiful, inexpensive bolts of fabric in the market was giving her other ideas.

          "The shrimp are delicious have one," Ylsa motioned toward her plate and Gwen took a shrimp with a bit of reluctance. To think she had been worried about the weight she'd lost on the road.

          Gwen waited while Ylsa finished her lunch and then arm-n-arm started back to the townhouse.

           The streets were now crowded with people going about their business under the noon day sun. They passed the same shops, inns and churches that Gwen had seen on her first day in Wyeledon. The sea salt tang was strong in the air. The two women made their way through the crowded streets walking arm-n-arm as much for friendliness as for protection. They were both of them short enough to be easily overlooked.

            "What are you going to do with you half of the reward money? I know! You're gonna be smart and responsible and save it right?" Ylsa teased.

              Guinevere rolled her eyes "Perhaps." She could not deny that was what she had been thinking.

              "I know what you truly want to do is go down to the market and spend it on bolts of fabric and ribbon."

              Ylsa grinned and Gwen wanted to return it but she couldn't.

              -"She's a witch!"-

              She wanted to dismiss the bandit's words as anger but she couldn't dismiss the way Ylsa had looked at him, the way he'd fallen sick even as she said it. She drew in a breath. What if Ylsa was a witch?

              "Are you unwell Jen?"

              "Hmm?"

              "You looked ashen for a just a moment."

              "I-I-" She thought about all the ways she'd seen magic hurt someone, hurt people she cared about over and over again.

              "It doesn't seem strange to you at all?"

              "What?" Ylsa looked at her expression perplexed.

              "The bandit, the way he fell sick. Doesn't it seem strange to you?" Gwen explained.

              "Strange?" Ylsa shook her head; expression bemused "No, it seems lucky, like a blessing."

              They turned the corner and the wind came off the sea blowing hard, a salty tang in the air.

              "I suppose. It just seemed..."Gwen shook her head.

              "He's a bandit Jen, he lives in the woods. He probably eats bad food all the time." Ylsa waved a dismissing hand.

              "That makes sense, but" Gwen recalled the frightening intensity with which Ylsa had stared at him. As if her gaze alone could hurt him. "The way you were looking him, concentrating. Why were you staring at him like that?"

              "I was watching the person holding a knife at my throat." Ylsa said it as if no other explanation were required.

              "But you didn't seem to be worried about the knife at all." Gwen pulled her arm from Ylsa's. "You looked as if you were concentrating, trying to- I don't... trying to do something-"Gwen said unable to bring herself to give voice to the things she was thinking.

              "Yes, I was concentrating on determining a way to keep us from being raped and killed. He wanted your dress for goodness sake!"

              Gwen rolled her eyes "All right but when we came back to collect him, he wasn't ill at all! No natural sickness comes and goes that way.  He fell sick as you said it, as if you made him sick."

              "Don't be ridiculous Jen. A man trying to hurt us fell sick. He's a bandit for goodness's sake, he lives in the woods. He probably ate bad food and that is what made him fall it." she started walking again "We should buy some ribbon and perhaps cologne." Ylsa called over her shoulder.

              "Ylsa that's not what happened?" Gwen insisted growing frustrated.

"Of course it is."

              For a moment Gwen considered dropping the subject all together. After all, they had been neither robbed nor hurt, but "magic is evil, magic corrupts". She thought about Morgana, the way the other woman had changed. She thought of Morgana using her power against them and felt her stomach twist with tension and fear. Gwen started walking and caught up to the other woman.

              "You made him sick," she accused. If she was living with a magic user she needed to know.

              "And how would I do something like that?" Ylsa crossed her arms; dark eyes wide and waiting.

              Gwen swallowed not wanting to speak but remembering how she erred with Morgana, ignored the signs.

              "With magic," the words came out in a harsh whisper.

              "I see, with magic." Ylsa's jaw tightened and her hands balled into fist. "Would it be wrong if I had? This isn't Camelot. Magic is not illegal here."

              "I know that!" Gwen shot back.

              "That bothers you though, doesn't it?" Ylsa said, a look of realization spreading over her face.

              "Perhaps a little," Gwen admitted.

              "Because you think it should be illegal." Ylsa's eyes narrowed "Perhaps people should be being burnt at the stake?"

              "No, no! The purge was terrible, but..." Gwen fell silent suddenly uncertain.

              "But if magic is illegal and people defy the law you have to do something?" Ylsa probed.

              "Well, yes, of course."

              "Of course," for the briefest moment Ylsa looked sad but then her face grew hard and relentless. "Do you hate magic users Jen?"

              "No. I don't hate anybody."

              "Don't you. There are so many places where magic users are hunted, persecuted, barely tolerated and you would have Wyeledon as one of those places."

              This was ridiculous. Magic was evil, corrupting and dangerous. Yes, the purge was terrible but she had seen no good come of magic.

              "What do people use magic for expect to take power over others? Magic corrupts all good. Of course it's banned and people who violate such a ban must also be evil."

              "Ohh," Ylsa drew back "sounds like hatred to me," there was a hint of bitterness in her tone.

              "I told you, I don't hate anybody," Guinevere rolled her eyes.

              Ylsa's eyes narrowed, "People like you are so blinded to the truth they don't know what they feel half the damned time."

              "People like me?" Gwen stared askance.

              "Yes, people like you!" Ylsa continued "You think you know everything about everything. I know about your precious Camelot, I know how it was attacked time and again by magic users. How Morgana overthrew her father out of fear." Ylsa's eyes narrowed "I bet you hate Morgana."

              "Hate is not what I feel for that woman, in spite of what she has done to my home."

              "Truly?" Ylsa's tone was mocking now. "You don't hate anyone? But all those other magic users, those tortured people trying to overthrow an oppressive rule that persecuted them, you seemed to hate them?"

              Gwen thought for a moment did she hate those people?

              "No, I feel nothing for them," she said firmly. "I don't hate anybody. Hate is not a part of any motive that I have regarding magic. Magic using people have attacked my home time and time again. They are dangerous and that is why magic is banned."

              Ylsa looked down for a moment. "You say you don't hate anybody not even these magic users that attacked your home, your family and your friends." Ylsa lifted her head and met her eyes "What of the person that made you leave your home, your family and your friends? I'd wager you hate that person."       

The words fell like a slap and Gwen felt herself shrink inside. She looked down for a moment and very calmly Gwen slipped the herb basket from where it hung in the crook of her arm.

"Take this," she thrust it in Ylsa direction, and then raised her head to look her square in the eyes. "You don't know shit, about shit." Gwen hissed, turned and stalked off, away from Ylsa and away from the townhouse.

This was a short one.I hope you guys enjoyed it, next chapter follows soon and remember you comments are always welcome.