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MARY all but cartwheeled into Isabel&039;s room not five minutes after she&039;d sent Arthur and Mordred on their way

The only thing stopping her from acrobatics was the tray in her hands More delicious-ss she was forced to use to clean her teeth

"Hello, Mary," she said, sirl&039;s exuberance

"Good afternoon, mum!"

Mary looked around for a place to set the tray, as the table was still filled with remnants of other trays "How about on the bed, Mary?" Isabel suggested

Mary turned, but stopped "I was certain I had made up your bed finely this otten very far, but far enough to dishevel the coverlet "It was my fault, Mary I wasrestless"

"No worries, mum, I will tidy up"

Isabel sat her butt down beside the tray, then patted the bed on the other side of the tray "If you can h, please tell me what has you so excited"

"Gilda says she can easily fix the gown to fit me! Is that not wonderful?"

"Oh, Mary, it truly is! But I had no doubt" She grabbed Mary&039;s hand "You will make such a beautiful bride"

"Thanks to you, Countess"

"Hey,to do with that It is you You are a lovely young lady, and you would shine, even in a burlap sack"

Of course, Mary looked confused But before Isabel could atteed off what she failed to understand, apparently trusting that Isabel had given her a compliment

"Leastways, mum, I have a missive as well From the queen, no less!"

"From the queen, no less! Impressive And what does the queen have to say to me?"

"She would like you to meet her in the loft where the seamstresses work"

"To what purpose?"

Mary giggled "She is atte to teach them how toskills, lady None at all"

"There is no difference other than size, Mary, but I will happily ood day for us all Let&039;s go"

Isabel took Mary&039;s hand and then led her through the door "Show h a labyrinth of stairways and hallways "May I ask,these garments?"

"Whatever floats our boat"

Mary giggled again as they ran up , Countess, but I do not question because you are so much fun"

Isabel stopped her "You, Mary, are the little sister I wish I had"

"Oh, mum, that means more to me than I can possibly say"

"Good Will you now finally call rinned "Yes, indeed The stubborn little sister I alanted" She glanced upward "Beat you up the stairs"

"When it snows in Hades," Mary said as they raced

MARY and Isabel were both still a little out of breath by the tie sea! There were at least fifty woer proud

So on new tunics for theon plain rabbed Isabel&039;s hand and dragged her to a woe of Betty White Thison Mary&039;s wedding gown

Isabel grinned and held out her hand "You must be Gilda"

"That I a at Isabel&039;s hand as if it were a boa She set everything aside and attempted to stand

"No, no! Please sit," Isabel said "I didn&039;t mean to disrupt"

"She speaks a fair bit different from the rest of us, Mary"

Mary huffed out "She be from a different land and &039;tis how they speak in hers But she is also a countess and deserves your respect"

Gilda grunted but went right back to stitching

Mary stoifted me this dress"

"Let&039;s hit the road, Jack," Isabel said, trying to walk away as fast as possible

Mary stood her ground, grabbing Isabel&039;s arht "Would Jaifted his son&039;s future ith so so beautiful?"

The wo and looked up slowly "&039;Twas a very nice thing you did, m&039;lady I thank you on behalf of James and Mary"

"And?" Mary prodded, still with the death grip on Isabel&039;s arhter would be ever so proud to have you stand aside her at her vow ceremony Even as I have told her the foolishness of the request"

"I would be proud to stand beside Mary"

Gilda looked up, her huge brown eyes full of surprise "In truth?"

"Of course! Mary isup and down "Don&039;t you have closer friends you would prefer, Mary?"

Mary stopped bouncing on her toes "I do, m&039;lady Or I did But my choice is you If it does not upset you"

"If I agree, will you agree to call hed "I didn&039;t think so Yes, I happily agree It would be an honor beyond any requests I have ever been asked to perform"

Before they turned froht smile on the woman&039;s face

They walked away, and Isabel whispered, "You have your hands full"

Mary grinned at her "Or perhaps, it is she ill need to keep a watch"

"My money&039;s on you, babe," Isabel said

"Here is the queen, hness," Isabel said, then whispered to Mary, "I wager I am able curtsy lower than you"

"Ha!"

They both dropped into low, then lower, then even lower curtsies Mary beat her again, and Isabel fell over on her, where they laid laughing "By the end of our bets, Mary, you will own everything I have"

"I do so want that necklace, Countess"

"I bet you do," Isabel said "However, it&039;s the one thing I&039;ain"

"Rise noen deet to her feet "In a nicer tone, Gwen, I&039;ll consider whether or not to agree to such a rather rude deood tih Mary obviously had stopped having a good time She attempted to stand, but Isabel held her down

Gwen looked shocked "&039;Twas not a demand, Countess, &039;twas but a request"

"Sounded hness I&039;"

The entire room went completely silent, as if sound had been sucked from it

"I ne&039;er meant it as such," Gwen said

"Then in a nicer tone," Isabel suggested, staring up at the woman who had first won Arthur&039;s heart And then shattered it Isabel liked Gwen and disliked her all at once, and wasn&039;t certain which of the pieces of this aory

"I need not be nice," Gwen said, her eyes suddenly squinty

"Not part of your job description? What, you only need to be gracious to those of your station and bitch queeny to all else?"

Isabel ignored the gasps

She got to her feet, pulling Mary up with her But she kept Mary behind her "Until you learn to have fun with the people ork so hard to make your pampered life comfortable, you will never connect in an important way These people work their asses off to lorious Treat them like shit, and you receive the love and respect of no one You haven&039;t earned it"

"Off with her head!" was the next thing Isabel expected out of Gwen&039;s mouth But the queen seemed to be speechless

So far Isabel&039;s head seemed to be secure

"You are such a kind lady, Gwen What the hell? What is wrong? I thought you askedreally nice What is it?"

Gwen rubbed her temples "Yes, we are here to seeWhat are we here to see, Jenny?"

A young girl, probably a year or two older than Mary, stepped forward "We are here to see the wos, as you had requested"

"I suggested, I did not request But I find it wonderful that you have set it in motion, Gwen"

"You have attempted to take over Camelot, Countess," Gwen said

"Excuse ood chat and you thought it was an idea to pursue"

"Liar! The e of Jauely, "this was all my idea! You stole it You stole it all from me"

"Okey-dokey, then It&039;s all your idea No problelanced around and every single face was frozen in shock Hers probably was as well

"Do you know if she&039;s had a little too irl called Jenny exchange worried glances, and then Jenny shook her head no and shrugged

"Heretic!" Gwen yelled

"I don&039;t have my handy dictionary with me, Mary, but isn&039;t that a word that ?"

"I am not sure of the itch," Mary whispered, "but I believe it means you are of the underworld Of the dark forces"

"So I&039; it isn&039;t a coh

"Gwen, how about you and I take a walk and talk about this?" she said, figuring she&039;d direct Gwen straight to the first pond and dunk her face in it until the woht into hell! You want my husband and my crown and my throne, and I see it all now"

Isabel turned to the closest sea FindArthur He will knoho else needs to be here"

The girl hesitated "The king will not trust my request"

"Please Tell hiency He will thank you Now run behind lanced froirl nodded and said, "Yes, ive her credit, that little girl had lightning speed

But apparently Gwen caught it, and caught it in LSD time

Or so Gwen appeared "That was beautiful," she said "All others are allowed to leave as well They are innocent and have not tried to harm me You have"

"Then allow them to leave You and I can speak privately"

"No! They have work to do"

"It appears, Gwen, this is personal Just you and me No reason to involve anyone else"

"You stole James"

"James? You mean Mary&039;s James? I don&039;t even know the man, other than he&039;s my friend&039;s future husband and your husband&039;s most trusted soldier"

"You would steal him from Mary as you stole Arthur from me" Gwen shuddered and then seemed to whither She took several labored breaths before lowering her accusing arm "I am so sorry I do not knohat is the matter" She shook her head "Isabel, I wanted to show you the progress we have made on the breeches for women"

Okay, this wasn&039;t crazy and this wasn&039;t drunk And this was so very far out of Isabel&039;s knowledge and co, Gwen, and I&039;estion and running with it"

"Your suggestion?" Gwen nearly screeched "&039;Twasfor medieval doctors to come in and take Gwen off to the loony bin No such luck

"And you will in no way be part of the ceremony between James and Mary," Gwen said "All was my idea And I will have it as I see fit Or they will not have it at all"

Isabel felt slapped in the face At this point Mary was shaking Isabel held on to her hand "Should you in any way harm Mary because of my words or actions, I will most definitely take her and Ja but be , or whatever you would call her, and, I would hope, friend I will not allow you to punish her for actually having fun doing her job And doing it well Now you tell me, Queen Guinevere, how you want to play this"

Again, Gas silent for quite so She bent over in laughter, which shocked Isabel, and probably everyone in the room

GWEN finally reined in her mirth, but in truth, it took soo to Hades by a wohts had won over the hearts of more castle staff than Gwen had been able to in the years she had been queen

The countess had been rolling on the floor with a servant, the two so happy

Gwen had ne&039;er ever been close to such a relationship Truth be told, it had ne&039;er even entered her ht now her mind felt not so well She could not seem to control her e Mary, Countess I have no plans or desires to har to have a lovely cerereat hall for Mary and Jaainst harhness"

The countess turned to Mary "Want a two-for-one bet on the best curtsy, Mary?"

Mary&039;s red curls ild as she shook her head "No, mum, I believe we have strained the queen&039;s patience as is"

"Truth told, you have not," Gwen said "I apologize if I sounded impatient I was anxious, only, to show you, Countess, ewhat these talented seamstresses have put their hands to"

Isabel looked around "Most appear to be ress"

Gwen smiled "Yes, for the wo fast"

It was quite satisfying to Gwen to see the look on Isabel&039;s face "You are atte to take Arthur from me"

"Are you serious?" Isabel asked "I was atteether"

"That is true, my queen James heard as much," Mary said

"Liar!"

Isabel and Mary looked at each other

"You call her a liar, you call nored this "We beginfast on the lanced around the room, and the workers who had stopped in midstitch for some reason immediately returned to their work in earnest

"Oh, Gwen, thank you!" Isabel said, lunging forward and hugging her "And I a snippy with you"

Gas taken aback, as she had ne&039;er seen such joy from another woman so blatantly displayed But truth be told, she felt so very happy inside

"So ill our first playtiuard, Gwen I never thought you&039;d pull this off so fast" Isabel peered across the roo you ladies, but I&039;d like to have a vote"

"A vote, mum?" Mary asked behind Isabel&039;s back, as a certainty still afraid to coht that Gwen had not treated the servants better They had alas been tools to forward her desires and needs She could not even begin to na lady who fled fro She was a failure as a queen In many more ways than one

"How ?" Isabel asked "Please don&039;t raise your hand if you don&039;t mean it Please only raise your hand if you are truly interested And there is no punishment should you decline, yes, Queen Guinevere? It is not demanded of them"

"They are free to choose, Isabel"

"The queen has said so You may choose yes or not, with no repercussions whatever you decide Should you choose not to play, then that hour will be yours, free to do whatever As long as you do it et naked for your led

"What play will this be?" a lady, who did not even look up fro, asked

Gwen looked at Isabel, as she had no idea "Countess Isabel, I alanced around and finally said, "It all depends on the weather tomorrow"

At that very moment, the clouds opened up and a rumble of thunder shook overhead