Brangaine Gwas

“I don’t care if my sky collapses; the horizon is never dark. I have so many reasons to believe.” Handmaiden to Queen Isolde of Cornwall.

[brangaine-gwas]

markofcornwall‌:

Mark thought for a moment. “Anything that could possibly be dismissed by the official sources for being too ordinary but might actually be useful?” he suggested with a small shrug. “I hear the castle staff often knows more about what’s actually going on than the masters of the house.” If was good to keep one’s eyes and ears open to even the unlikeliest sources.

“We do hear things,” Brangaine acknowledged with a nod. Servants were often ignored by their masters and mistresses, seen as below their notice - but the result was that they saw and overheard everything happening around and between the nobility. She thought back over the gossip that was currently making the rounds. “One of the hunters that brings game to the cook was saying the forest has been quieter than usual - fewer things moving about and less game to be had.”

[brangaine-gwas]

markofcornwall‌:

Mark smiled and nodded a little. “Good, I’m glad you’re willing to take small steps. I must say I never would’ve thought it would be so hard to convince someone to take some time off,” he chuckled. “Now, I think the sheep is long gone but I’m going to have to alert the king’s men anyway. Just to make sure. You wouldn’t want to come with me, would you? You could catch me up on anything I might have missed in the meantime.”

“Oh - yes, of course,” Brangaine nodded, knowing she probably shouldn’t but, as always, her desire to be near Mark drowning out her common sense. She tried to tell herself it was her duty to aid her king in what capacity he needed, but in her heart she knew there would be little that she, as a handmaiden, would know that he wouldn’t. She just wanted to walk by him a little bit longer. “What do you want to know?”

[brangaine-gwas]

markofcornwall‌:

“You could go on a retreat,” Mark suggested. “Take a horse and go on a ride. Have a picnic. The options are endless. You deserve a break, Brangaine.” He knew she worked hard and would hate to see her work herself into exhaustion. “Or you could visit your family? I’d make sure you have a retinue with you if that is what you’d like to do.”

“I haven’t seen my family in a long time ...” Brangaine admitted, biting down on her lip. Could she face them, face her mother, after everything she had done? Could she face Isolde’s mother? Adding more lies to her seemingly never any ending list. “I would be gone for a while, though. Perhaps it might be best just to start with a picnic,” she said finally, deciding, as ever, not to examine her worries too closely.

[brangaine-gwas]

markofcornwall‌:

“That’s very good of you,” Mark nodded with a smile. “You deserve some time off, have you considered taking a break?” He knew Brangaine had always been working very hard and was genuinely concerned about her well-being. “I’m sure the castle repairs would go on even without one pair of helping hands.”

“I ... don’t really know what I would do with myself if I took a break,” Brangaine admitted, a frown netting her eyebrows together. Although she got on with the other maids, she had always kept herself at a distance, afraid of anyone discovering her secrets, and had little in the way of real friends to spend time with. And these days she didn’t much care to be alone with her thoughts.

[brangaine-gwas]

markofcornwall‌:

“Not much is still more than I can tell, so every little helps. I feel as if every time I leave Camelot, the place changes while seeming all the same at the same time. I know it doesn’t make much sense. But I suppose that is the beauty of this place. Have you kept yourself busy?”

“It does make sense. It’s how I feel whenever I travel between Camelot and Cornwall. I expect I would feel that way if I ever went home,” Brangaine assured him. “I suppose it’s like a person getting older. They look different, but inside they’re still the same.” She shrugged. “Yes, I have. I’ve tried to make myself useful and help where I can. There’s still a lot of rebuilding going on, so every pair of hands has been needed.”

[brangaine-gwas]

queen-of-cardigan‌:

Anna simply smiled at her response before answering her, “I cannot say for sure, to be plain with you,” she replied, her mind immediately moving to Adam and forcing herself to return back to the present. 

“Of course.” Brangaine nodded, sure there were many thing that she knew nothing about that would affect whether or not the Queen was able to stay long. She just had to look at Mark and Isolde, who had been called back to Cornwall on short notice before and at other times had been able to stay for months at a time. “My own King and Queen aren’t always able to plan their visits with certainty.”

[brangaine-gwas]

markofcornwall‌:

“I know, it didn’t even bow,” Mark laughed. “Anyway, I should probably accompany you in the corridor until we’re sure it’s safe. You can catch me up on what’s been going on around here, perhaps?” he suggested.

“A scandal.” Brangaine laughed, light and easy, in a way she hadn’t for some time. Guilt prickled at the back of her neck, but she resolutely pushed it down; it felt good to stand and laugh with Mark, to see him smiling and at ease, and she didn’t want it to be spoiled. “I appreciate your gallantry. I don’t know that I know very much, but I’ll tell you what I can.”

[brangaine-gwas]

adam-gofaint‌:

“Perhaps we should take it out then? Leave it on a table for someone to find and hang up, unless you have a place that it would be better suited for.” Scratching lightly at the back of his neck, Adam let a hum slip from his lips. “I could never understand how people could make things like this.” 

Brangaine sat back on her heels, thinking. There were plenty of tapestries and decorations in the castle already, but surely there were one or two empty spots where this might go . . .

“There’s an empty wall in the hallway that leads to the guest wing. Perhaps there?” She suggested. Looking up at him, she tilted her head curiously to one side and gave a small smile. “I never understood how people manage to take lumps of metal and turn them into weapons.”

[brangaine-gwas]

markofcornwall‌:

“I was about to ask it when it ran away and disappeared on me,” Mark joked, rubbing the back of his head with hand cluelessly. “And now it seems that it’s trying to make me seem like a fool. Who knew the sheep of Camelot carry so much malice?” He chuckled, shaking his head. “The trickster sheep of Camelot. You ought to be careful.”

“Well, that was very rude of it. Clearly it has no sense of protocol,” Brangaine said, a laugh playing around her lips though she was trying her best to keep a straight face. This was certainly one of the most bizarre conversations she had ever had, and if it were anyone other than Mark she would suspect she was being made out a fool. “I shall be sure to be on my guard.”

[brangaine-gwas]

queen-of-cardigan‌:

“Oh that’s lovely; I hope they are also both well. I’m sure you are glad to be back in their service,” she replied to her looking around at the castle grounds. She hesitated for a moment as she thought of Cardigan and what had happened when she was back there. But she put on another smile, “Camelot is well. The people are content so as a Queen, I can’t ask for much more”.

“Yes, very glad. I am sure my mistress would be glad to see you.” It wasn’t a lie. For all the lies and secrets she had become tangled up in, being with Isolde and her son was something Brangaine still loved and would never want to give up - if she did, perhaps things would be much simpler, but she didn’t. She loved both of them and would serve them faithfully as long as she could. “I am pleased to hear it. Do you plan on staying in Camelot long, if I may ask?”

[brangaine-gwas]

markofcornwall‌:

Mark turned to face the incoming person and smiled when he recognised Brangaine. “Trust me, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he laughed, shaking his head. “To be honest, I’m beginning to think maybe I just imagined it. But,” he looked around as if he hoped the animal would reappear suddenly. “I was chasing.. a sheep.” Good thing no courtiers saw him, his reputation would surely suffer.

“A sheep?” Brangaine repeated, looking around in confusion as thought she might stop a cloud of white wool hiding behind a statue or peeking out from behind a tapestry. It sounded fantastical, but she knew Mark was not a liar nor had she had seen him be prone to exaggeration. “Why is there a sheep in the castle?”

[markofcornwall]

“Whoa whoa!” Mark had to admit he was quite surprised when the first one to welcome him back to Camelot after he spent some time taking care of matters in Cornwall was a sheep. He had no idea where it came from but it ran past him in the corridor just by the throne room so the chances for it to have wandered there by accident were somewhat slim. Mark looked back in the direction that the sheep came from to see if anyone was chasing after it but since he didn’t immediately see anyone, he swiftly turned to follow after the animal. “You can’t just run around the castle like that.” Was he really talking to a sheep? He turned around a corner and stopped; the intruder was nowhere to be found.

[brangaine-gwas]

Brangaine was taking an armful of fresh linen to the Queen’s chambers when she heard the unmistakeable timbre of Mark’s voice - she knew it so well she could pick it out even in the middle of a crowd - and paused. It sounded as if something were wrong, a thought which instinctively made her insides twist with worry. But when she turned and followed the sound around a corner she found only the king by himself, looking around a hallway in what seemed to be utter bewilderment. “Your Majesty ...? Is everything alright?”

[brangaine-gwas]

queen-of-cardigan‌:

“Neither was I,” the Queen admitted to the handmaiden… Brangaine if she wasn’t mistaken. She was usually very good with names and remember faces, she liked to think that was one of the reasons she was so popular in her homeland. She offered the girl a smile then, “How have you been in these months I’ve been gone?”

“Oh, um, well, thank you, Your Majesty,” Brangain said, a little surprised to be recognised - she was, after all, only a handmaiden, and not even one in Queen Anna’s service. “My mistress has returned to Camelot, and I have been tending to her and the young prince.” Becoming conscious that she was twisting the ends of her sleeves a little anxiously, she dropped her hands to her sides. “How is Cardigan?”

[brangaine-gwas]

eriann-the-guard‌:

“Go on then” Eriann ventured, admittedly a little curious himself as to what the contents of the chest might be. The library was a strange place to hide anything but perhaps that was the brilliance of it. Besides, unless there was a potential for harm there was no point in squashing an inquisitive mind. 

“Alright ...” Turning back to the chest, Brangaine carefully moved the last of the books that had been stacked on top of it to the floor and then heaved the lid upwards so they could see inside. On top were several scrolls, neatly rolled and bound, but she could see the glint of metal beneath them and so starting taking them out to get a better look. “Oh ... the ship that brought us over from Ireland had one of these,” she realised, pulling out the complicated looking brass disc. “They used it to navigate by the stars, I think?”

[brangaine-gwas]

adam-gofaint‌:

Running his hand over the fabric, Adam tried not to let his soot stained feathers brush against the material for too long. “It is beautiful. Does make me wonder who would leave something this nice just locked in a chest.” 

“People who have an abundance of beautiful things,” Brangaine said without stopping to think, then blushed at how that must have come across. “I mean, it was probably placed in here temporarily to be moved or while they did some work in the room and then it was forgotten.”

[aalis-volkova-deactivated202008]

Anna stepped down out of her carriage after it stopped in Camelot. It was not the same optimistic arrival as last time for a lot weighed on her mind. Her own kingdom was safe for the moment and the people were as pleasant as ever, just as she had left it. But there was more, an impending decision that might well have to be made… and it would change her future drastically. And not just hers but possibly the man she loved. The main reason she had returned was so that she could be among her allies and perhaps collect herself. It was then, in amongst all her thoughts, that she realised she nearly walked right into someone, only dodging out of the way at the last second. 

“My apologises, I wasn’t looking where I was going,” she spoke quickly, eager to get inside and collect herself.

[brangaine-gwas]

Brangaine’s eyes were fixed on the clear, pale sky as she walked, thinking quietly to herself that winter was truly here and it would not be long until the ground was hardened with frost and the first snows started to fall. It was colder in Camelot than Cornwall, but not nearly so cold as it used to be in Ireland; she could get away with a thicker dress and a woollen shawl, whereas at home she would have needed a fur cloak by now. She missed it, oddly enough. The simplicity of life there.

Lost in thought, she didn’t notice the other woman until they nearly collided. Skittering back a few steps, heart beating hard, Brangaine’s eyes widened as she recognised the Queen of Cardigan. “There’s no need to apologise, Your Majesty,” she said, dropping into a curtsey. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

[allthatiaskofyou]

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to sneak up on a knight?” Lamorak lowered his sword with a sigh. “Or anyone holding a weapon, really.” 

[brangaine-gwas]

“I wasn’t trying to sneak,” Brangaine objected defensively, taking a step back. Although the blade was lowered she still eyed in apprehensively, shifting from foot to foot. Maybe you should pay more attention where you’re swinging that thing, was what she wanted to say, but instead she just held up the basket in her hands. “I was asked to bring these out to you all.”