The Secrets of Llawnech

"Mm, he has uh.. issues from the time they spent apart too, he got beaten, had his sight taken from him. Probably more but that is all they've ever told me." Rose whispered. "I- I couldn't imagine the way my life would of gone had we not managed to get back here, and all of us together again. I probably would of been married off by now for money."

"No, no none of it fun." Rose agreed as they walked down the castle halls. "But without the horrible times the good times wouldn't be so magical, right?"

(( Want to skip a couple of months until they have settled in? Say Rose and Jackson have a good friendship as that is how the natural progression is going anyway))

(( you first? ))

"He really went hard on you today," Gwen mused after one of said training exercises that he would of had with Hayden. Delicately stitching up a gash on Jackson's upper arm.

---
Emma was quietly changing the sheets of Alicia and Leo's bed, unlike Hayden she hadn't thrived so much the past year. She had struggled to bond with anyone properly, the closest new person she had being Alicia. Carol and her always seemed to clash. And she was struggling with being without any family around her for the first time.

"She has," Emma confirmed quietly, folding up the dirty sheets in tidy squares so they were easier to carry. "How are you today, your highness?"

---
"Well, injuring you to the point you need medical intervention perhaps isn't the best way of 'stepping it up'." Gwen hummed as she finished the stitch. "Especially when the medic is preparing to head out with them so you are left to the mercy of me." She added. Pausing as she thought about the question he asked, before nodding in confirmation. "It does bother me, yes. He knows I don't want him to go, and I know the King would allow him to stay if he asked but he has a sense of duty and as wonderful as my husband is. Sometimes men are men and the emotions of women can't change their minds."

"Would you like some help with the laces of your dress?" Emma offered quietly, before answering. "Yes, Jackson is settling in wonderfully - he loves it here, everyone is being kind to him and I think he is really enjoying the sense of community as well as the responsibility. Hayden is teaching him a lot, and trusting him a lot. In the years I've known him, I've not seen him so content since we were young enough to not know anything other than chasing each other in rooms and playing hide and seek."

---
"Just look after yourself," Gwen whispered, "Now is the time you can learn and be wreckless, acquire cuts and bruises but when you get to my husbands age then working yourself into the ground or refusing to stay home from a battle even though your half blind and you've already had years with your family stolen from you then, then wreckless actions effect more people than just you."

Gwen shook her head in the negative, "I don't, but he is perfectly aware of my fear that he won't come home - we've discussed it and he isn't changing his mind so there isn't much I can do about the matter."

---
"I could try and do your hair however it is you would like it done," Emma offered instead, before answering delicately, "I miss my father, the other maids comment that I am either too friendly or not friendly enough so I simply can not win. The longer we are here the less I wish to bother Jackson with my discontent as he is thriving so I am feeling alone."

"Good,"

Emma hesitantly wandered over and sat herself down when she patted the seat. "I can't, not all the time - it isn't fair to ruin his happiness. I speak to him sometimes, but yeah, sometimes you need to put other people before yourself. I just...miss my family, and my old friends and I dont feel like I am fitting in."

----
"Enough about me though. How are you getting along here? It is nice to see my daughter talking to a human being and not her horse so I must thank you for that."

"The friend you came here with, why? Whats going on?"

----
"You did? I- I'm sorry. Its burned into my mind, I see it every time I close my eyes."

Emma frowned at that, asking quietly, "Can I- Can I hug you?"

---
"Ah well, I imagine she has been through a lot - like you have. Where you came from, aspects of it is beautiful but its dark areas are sinister." Gwen hummed softly. "When I lived in the palace over there, even the maids were nasty. Angelica, the head maid, now she was the worst."