☽ ● ☾ – ❝ Come now Father, can any hall grow dim when Galahad is there to light it? ❞ She grinned even as she said the words, grasping onto the Good Knight’s shoulders to bring him back up to her level. ( In another Summer, she’ll have grown to his height, if not taller. At twelve, she had already surpassed the Lady Morgaine. ) Such posturing was unnecessary between father and daughter, her arm quick to loop with his as she guided him away from the misty shores of the lake. ❝ Oh, but I thrive here! I am the most happy that I have been since you first set these fingers of mine upon the harp. ❞ She nudged him gently, still small enough to rest her cheek against his shoulder.
Avalon had quickly filled the missing voids of her heart, offering up the mysteries, yes - but also the understanding - that had been absent from her happy home of Joyous Guard. Though the distance and isolation from the outside world was hard at times, it was the price that must be paid for what she gained in return.
❝ You must tell my Lady Mother to be of good cheer and though I fast at times, I am never hungry and there is very little in this small world of mine that I want for. To be true, the only pains I feel are of separation from her – from you and Galahad and little Gwennie. ❞ Of course, she remembered very little of her youngest sister aside from incessant crying and dirty linens, but it was the sentiment of the thing that mattered. ❝ AND SO, you must almost put your daughter in good cheer and tell me that this visit is one of good tiding rather than sorrow. You are well, Father — all is well? ❞
“Aye, dearest -- all is well.”
His heart was fit to burst, overjoyed at the sight of his eldest daughter, her words melting away the frost he still carried from the north. Indeed, she looked healthy enough -- radiant, really, despite the fasting. And, by the gods, tall! It seemed fated for his offspring to grow higher than he ever did; not a day went by that he did not think how grand they all would be when they were grown. Perhaps he had been a great knight, but by the grace of the Goddess, they all would be far greater, without the threat of war marring their futures.
“It gladdens me to hear you are sound in mind, body, and heart. You've taken to your studies like a fish to water, I imagine?” She had always been so obstinately curious, so dedicated to that which captured her attention; to lock her beautiful mind away behind the walls of a nunnery would be a disservice not only to her, but to the world. That she seemed content here lifted a weight from him he knew not he had been carrying. Aye, he had owed Avalon a daughter -- such was the price of his divine blood -- yet always had he worried if she had belonged. Every visit was alike in this way, wrought with worries eased by his daughter's genuine happiness. “If I may ask, have you been taught the stars yet? Ever were you interested in the heavens, even as a babe.”
