Mist: The Queens Counsel, Part One



Becoming Queen had not noticably dampened the former Lady Guiniveres' obvious

penchant for not suffering fools gladly, and of all the fools that inhabited the

court of her husband King Arthur, Lord Martlin would have to be the worst, he

was a petty man, hung up on petty details, the Castle could be burning to the

ground and Martlin would be there arguing for precedence of rank in the

evacuation process, in the very face of the flames, his lips still flapping,

even as they crisped him to a cinder, he would go to his grave carrying the

knowledge that he had upheld his rights and privileges to the death.



Guinivere sighed and shifted on the uncomfortable stone that her throne was made

of, it's alright for Arthur, she thought, he has his armour and his gambeson to

soften the chill of the stone, but it permeated through her bones, abruptly her

remaining patience deserted her, she could not bear to hear one more trivial

whine from Martlin, she had much more important things to worry about, her Aunt

had sent her a message from Grey Mouser, after her marriage to Arthur, Grey

Mouser had been keeping an eye on the Earl of Romney, her Aunt, the Lady/Queen

of The Daoine Sithe was positive that Romney would not give up so easily his

quest to gain control of Arthur.



She stood, silencing Lord Martlin mid moan, his mouth dropped open with

surprise, `Not a word' she said, `Not one more word, no matter what you think

M'Lord, the information that this year the wains have harvested 100 more bales

of hay compared with last year, is NOT of earth shattering importance, to me nor

I think to anyone else in this court, in future you will address such trivial

matters to the Seneschal.'



Stepping away from the throne, she moved through the crowd of functionaries and

flunkys, ignoring the shocked murmurs of indignation from some, but taking heart

from the delighted ripple of laughter that spread through the court when she

spoke to Lord Martlin, her resentment at being cooped up in the Throne room for

the past 4 months, in taking Arthurs place in overseeing the running of the

Kingdom, while he surveyed the Border guards and defences had flared suddenly,

and Lord Martlin had taken the brunt of it, but she swore that if she had to

listen to one more droning report about the minituae of the agricultural supply,

she would use her powers and turn them all in to mice, or frogs.



Not that her Aunt would approve of such a misuse of her power, not after she had

spent long months tutoring Guinivere in

the proper use of them, Guinivere looked back on the six months she had spent in

the magical land of the Daoine Sithe as the most marvellous in all her life,

there she felt she belonged, she may not have been a full Daoine Sithe but her

Mother had been Daughter to the King, and the power ran strongly in her veins,

it just took some coaxing to bring it to the fore.



She smiled with fond rememberance at the expression on her Aunts' face the first

time she mastered the art of transmogrifying, there had been a fly buzzing

around her head and no amount of hand waving would convince it to buzz somewhere

else, without even thinking of what she was doing she wished out loud that the

fly would turn into a bird, so at least she could have the pleasure of listening

to bird song, rather than the drone of a fly.



With a startled half buzz half chirp the fly did just that, then Guinivere had

the very salutory experience of watching the Queen of the Daoine Sithe dissolve

into a very un-Queenly display of laughter which Guinivere joined in when she

saw the bird/fly trying to walk on the ceiling, they laughed until the tears ran

down their cheeks, until their mirth alerted The Grey Mouser in the other room,

he walked in saw them pointing at the ceiling and the bird and said `Why is that

bird walking on the ceiling like that?' which of course made Guinivere and the

Lady laugh even harder.





In between trying to breathe and laugh they finally explained what had happened,

Mouser took pity on the bird/fly and turned it back, the fly immediately flew

out the open door and Mouser swore that he saw it fly straight into the forest

without stopping, Guinivere was never sure whether he was fooling or not. She

smiled again, one of the real plusses of finding that she had a family and who

her family were, was The Grey Mouser, their relationship strengthened by their

family ties and also by their closeness, after that one brief moment, Guinivere

never regretted that she had given herself to him, he had proved to be a

versatile and caring lover as well as a friend.





In these past few months she had needed that from him, oh Arthur was a caring

man, a bit limited but he cared for her, and she cared for him, but he could

not, ever light her passion the way Mouser did, Arthur treated making love to

Guinivere as just one more job that went along with the Kingdom, another task

that needed to be done, he was tender but she could see that his heart wasn't in

it, his heart was in the kingdom, but he recognised that for the good of the

kingdom he needed a strong Queen, and for that reason he also put aside personal

preference, and married whom his father and his Ducal advisory panel told him

would make the best Queen: Guinivere.