Mana: Goddess Of Destiny

"That's right. Big sister, you mentioned that you have a son. Where is he now?"

Lady Morgana smiled softly.

"He's outside the door now. I'll bring him in, please wait a moment."

Arthur nodded, and Morgana left the room. She then came back in with a thirteen-year-old looking boy in tow.

"Arthur, this is my son. He's turning fourteenth this year."

She then turned to her son and nudged him.

"Mordred. Greet your uncle, the Great King of Avalon."

Lady Morgana seems to be in her late twenties, and yet her son is already this big.

The boy raised his head slowly. His purple eyes alike beautiful stones found at the bottom of the spring, it glints like crystal under the light. His skin is a sickly pale, like a fragile cornflower. Beautiful but heartbreaking to look at.

"I apologize for his behavior, Your Majesty. This child was sick when he was young. He never spoke a word ever since he recovered."

Morgan quickly explained.

"I see. Big sister, you are more than welcome here with your son. It's late now. Go get some rest."

Arthur spoke with a tender expression.

The news of King Arthur's big sister spread like wildfire throughout Camelot. It was said that three days later, during the Saxon war victory banquet, Lady Morgana will make her appearance for her very first public debut. Everyone is curious about this lady, and they could not wait to find out just who she really is.

The long-awaited banquet soon arrived. The royal palace's chefs and servants busied themselves from wee hours to prepare for the celebration. During the European medieval ages, the commoners usually do not own a kitchen. Aristocrats, however, usually own a kitchen complete with their specialized servants. The royal palace's kitchen, on the other hand, is on a totally different level. Servants divide themselves to specific roles; head chefs, pastry chefs, sacramental bread chefs, saute chefs, pantry chef, butchers, fish chef, kitchen assistants, milkers, and even butlers.

Surprisingly, Lady Morgana entered the kitchen early morning and joined the kitchen crew in preparing for the banquet regardless of her nobility rank. She even made idle chatter with the crew as she worked, and praised Rievres great cooking skills. Her actions improved the people's impression of her greatly. After all, everyone believed King Arthur's sister is a haughty lady and was delightfully surprised of her amity.

Faith overheard these praises from the castle residents when she went for a short walk, but it is a good way to gain favor if she wants the throne. Not long after she entered the garden, she spotted the boy named Mordred sitting under a tree. He was hugging something tightly in his bosom, and a few kitchen crews could be seen talking to him with unfriendly expressions.

Mordred is mute, plus the servants are unaware of his identity. It's only natural for the kitchen crew to be unfriendly to him. She pondered for a moment, before walking towards them.

As soon as they saw Faith, they changed their attitude to a respectful one. One of them explained the situation to her.

"We found an animal we wish to cook for tonight's banquet. Unfortunately, this boy does not want to hand it over to us."

"Animal? Is it a chicken or a duck?"

She cast a glance towards the boy holding the animal in question while she asked. It was Lancelot's pet hedgehog. She realized as she remembers when Lancelot showed him to her.

"You may have to change your minds. This Animal is royal Knight Lancelot's pet. And He would not be happy to know that it became someone's food."

Mordred looked at her and pointed towards a tree hole. He made some hand gestures, as though to mean the hedgehog is dead.

"Relax! This little one is just hibernating. It has a cartilage at it's throat that helps it to breath. Thus, it only looked like it is not breathing."

The boy looked at her questioningly. He does not understand the meaning of "hibernation".

"Alright, let me explain it to you. Hedgehogs are usually warm-blooded, but they stopped being one when they no longer are able to maintain their temperature. In order for their body temperature to stabilize, they hibernate. It's fine to leave it as it is. Put him back to the tree hole.

Mordred glanced at her and smiled. A dimple appeared on his right cheek. Faith finds herself mesmerized by his sweet, girlish face.

Both put back the hedgehog into the hole and covered the entrance with plenty of leaves and branches. After their deed is done, Mordred gestured at Fay to show him her palm. He then used his right pointer to write characters on it. He wrote the characters stroke by stroke carefully, his slender finger traveled up and down her palm. Like chisel on wood, he carefully crafted his words. But, Before he finished Faith stopped his hand.

"You don't need to thank me. I was just helping out a friend of mine."

'Ah! What a poor child, he will be used and thrown away.' Faith thought sadly just as Celine crashed onto her back making her fall, shocking Mordred. As he too was taken down.

Celine's innocent smiled was the first thing the two saws after being knocked down. After a moment Faith Laughed. Making Mordred Blush as he took a good look at her features and smiling face.

"So, you do have some color to you." Faith laughed.