![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
amaranthine-7.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tamingthemuseTitle: Settled
Fandom: Original (based on the Arthurian legends)
Prompt: Prompt 373 - Cultivate
Warnings: None.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: The Arthurian legends are in the public domain. I make no reference to any copyrighted work. So all is mine.
Beta: None, so any mistakes you see are mine.
Summary: Kay has retreated far from civilisation, cultivating his garden and memories.
Sort of linked to that story.
Kay looked up at the sun as he washed away some sweat from his forehead. It was almost lunch time and the heat of the day was beginning to be too much. He wondered for a minute if he should stop now but as he looked back at the garden, his decision was made. He needed to finish weeding it and watering it before lunch. Those vegetables were his main source of food apart from the meat he hunted and the fish he got out of the river.
He would have never thought that he, Kay, would have ever enjoyed taking care of a garden. That had always been a task for servants, not for lords. It wasn't quite like hunting. This as still by far a better activity in his opinion. There was a thrill to it, a real danger and a strong body was needed for it. But gardening had its own pleasure too. He enjoyed seeing the vegetables appear out of the ground after all the hard work he had put in them. But most of all, he enjoyed the slowness of it all. It was like the world he knew so well and missed. It was the natural order of things. He could only eat what he would produce and he could only have certain vegetables at certain time of year. It felt right.
"You're a hard man to find Kay."
Kay jumped to his feet, his small shovel pointing dangerously at the intruder. He hadn't heard the man come.
"Arthur!"
He dropped the shovel at the realisation and went to hug his friend.
"I didn't think I'd ever see you again."
"You do make things difficult for anyone to find you. Is this really were you live now," asked the former king as he embraced the small garden, the house, and the emptiness around.
"Yes it is," Kay replied proudly. "Can I invite you for a drink inside? I have really good cider."
"Homemade?"
"Absolutely," beamed Kay.
"You have changed," commented Arthur laughingly.
---*---
After sharing memories around a good cold glass of cider and a nice meal of rabbit, the two men were sitting silently on Kay's sofa sipping a hot cup of coffee.
They had been quiet for a while, simply enjoying the others company.
"You know you can't live in the past forever Kay."
"I'm not."
"What's all this then?"
"My present."
Arthur turned his gaze to his friend and stared at him. Kay simply shrugged before adding, "I don't like this world. It's too fast."
"I know Kay, but..."
Before he could go on the older man stopped him. "I know I can't get the past back, but I can still choose how I want to live. And this is how I want to live. Simply, slowly. Just me and my memories."
"Alright."
Arthur rose to his feet.
"So what about a little hunting trip tonight?"
Kay smiled, everything had been said, they could be jovial and young again.
"Do you remember how to shoot an arrow?"
"Do you remember how to aim," replied Arthur teasingly.
And with that they were out of the door, ready to compete as they had done so often in their first youth so many centuries ago.
Fandom: Original (based on the Arthurian legends)
Prompt: Prompt 373 - Cultivate
Warnings: None.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: The Arthurian legends are in the public domain. I make no reference to any copyrighted work. So all is mine.
Beta: None, so any mistakes you see are mine.
Summary: Kay has retreated far from civilisation, cultivating his garden and memories.
Sort of linked to that story.
Kay looked up at the sun as he washed away some sweat from his forehead. It was almost lunch time and the heat of the day was beginning to be too much. He wondered for a minute if he should stop now but as he looked back at the garden, his decision was made. He needed to finish weeding it and watering it before lunch. Those vegetables were his main source of food apart from the meat he hunted and the fish he got out of the river.
He would have never thought that he, Kay, would have ever enjoyed taking care of a garden. That had always been a task for servants, not for lords. It wasn't quite like hunting. This as still by far a better activity in his opinion. There was a thrill to it, a real danger and a strong body was needed for it. But gardening had its own pleasure too. He enjoyed seeing the vegetables appear out of the ground after all the hard work he had put in them. But most of all, he enjoyed the slowness of it all. It was like the world he knew so well and missed. It was the natural order of things. He could only eat what he would produce and he could only have certain vegetables at certain time of year. It felt right.
"You're a hard man to find Kay."
Kay jumped to his feet, his small shovel pointing dangerously at the intruder. He hadn't heard the man come.
"Arthur!"
He dropped the shovel at the realisation and went to hug his friend.
"I didn't think I'd ever see you again."
"You do make things difficult for anyone to find you. Is this really were you live now," asked the former king as he embraced the small garden, the house, and the emptiness around.
"Yes it is," Kay replied proudly. "Can I invite you for a drink inside? I have really good cider."
"Homemade?"
"Absolutely," beamed Kay.
"You have changed," commented Arthur laughingly.
---*---
After sharing memories around a good cold glass of cider and a nice meal of rabbit, the two men were sitting silently on Kay's sofa sipping a hot cup of coffee.
They had been quiet for a while, simply enjoying the others company.
"You know you can't live in the past forever Kay."
"I'm not."
"What's all this then?"
"My present."
Arthur turned his gaze to his friend and stared at him. Kay simply shrugged before adding, "I don't like this world. It's too fast."
"I know Kay, but..."
Before he could go on the older man stopped him. "I know I can't get the past back, but I can still choose how I want to live. And this is how I want to live. Simply, slowly. Just me and my memories."
"Alright."
Arthur rose to his feet.
"So what about a little hunting trip tonight?"
Kay smiled, everything had been said, they could be jovial and young again.
"Do you remember how to shoot an arrow?"
"Do you remember how to aim," replied Arthur teasingly.
And with that they were out of the door, ready to compete as they had done so often in their first youth so many centuries ago.
