Once their approach to that situation was figured out, though, Genevieve had something else on her mind.

“Arthur,” she fidgeted with her sleeve, “I think I did you and Merlynn both a disservice by suggesting you wait to talk to her until the situation had cooled down a bit.  I thought it would help, because she would just be angry and you both would end up fighting, but now I’m not so sure.”

Her brows furrowed as she searched his face.  “You don’t really know her at all, do you?”

Arthur seemed taken aback by this question.  “Well, not much, no.  She was a child when I first met Tilde, and she was playing in the cabin on her own.  She watched me a bit, just kind of watched me without saying anything.  I even tried to play with her, but she just calmly told me that the doll I’d picked up had died of a plague and asked if I was regularly into dead bodies?”  He shook his head in disbelief while Genevieve broke out in laughter.

“I can’t imagine you ever trying to play with a doll, but to be told that!”  She laughed, then got serious again.  “And later, when you went back to visit Tilde again?  Did you talk to Merlynn much?”

He hesitated, then shook his head.  “She was there, but always kept her distance.  She didn’t talk to me much at all.  I think the longest conversation we ever had was one time when I was trying to find the path to their cabin.  It was probably three years after the first time, so she would have been seven or eight years old, and she just showed up in the middle of the woods, announced I was stupid for wandering around trying to find her mother instead of waiting for her to find me, and then ordered me to follow her.  She didn’t say anything else, just brought me to her mother and then ran off.”

Genevieve thought this over.  “Arthur,” she said very tentatively, like this was almost something she didn’t want to suggest, “are you certain – are you certain you’re right?”  She burst out, then kept going quickly before he could get over his surprise.  “Look, I know, I get it, you see a teenage girl alone in the woods, and it doesn’t seem right.  It doesn’t seem safe.  But she says her mother decided to leave her there, and you believe she’s mistaken.  You think Tilde couldn’t have done that.  But – but how well did you really know Tilde?  You only saw her a handful of times over several years.  I suppose, if she’s anything like Merlynn, I can probably understand why she made such an impression on you – something vibrant and compelling, right?  But you didn’t look beyond that.  From what it sounds like, you don’t know anything about Merlynn and Tilde’s relationship.”

She took a deep breath.  “I know you don’t want to think poorly about Tilde, but there’s an obvious reason why a woman would raise a child alone, away from everyone else.  Especially, as in this case, if she was raised in a wealthy background, likely nobility from another country.  Why flee so far to live alone this long?”

Arthur was frowning deeply, but didn’t stop her.

Genevieve went on, her tone earnest, though gentle.  “You do see it, don’t you?  You know that the most likely explanation for why a woman as educated as Tilde would be living like that is because she conceived a child out of wedlock.  She may have been disowned, or she ran away before she could be found out.  And, well, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for her to resent the child, to an extent.  Yes, even Tilde, even though I know how much you looked up to her,” she said gently in response to his even darker frowning.  “She’s human, Arthur.  She’s not perfect, and she’s not immune to emotions.  To feeling upset about the situation she was in.  She appears to have lived a life with a lot more luxury before this.  Having to live in the woods, alone?  Maybe her family threatened to kill her, even, and that was why she stayed away for so long.  I don’t know, but what I do know is that there is some amount of logic to it, her leaving Merlynn once Merlynn was old enough to handle herself.  She could go back to her previous life, or maybe to another court and find someone to marry, I don’t know.  But she no longer needed to live in the woods, far away from her previous life.  Of course, this requires cutting the ties between her and Merlynn, but, well, Merlynn doesn’t seem surprised that Tilde left her, or resent her in any way for it.  She actually seems quite accepting of it.”

She paused, watching his expressions.  “But I will add one thing – one thing that tells me Tilde likely did care, even if it didn’t mean she wanted to stay forever.  She gave Merlynn an education many would envy and gave her the confidence to pursue anything she wanted.  She made it possible for Merlynn to be comfortable in the life of a peasant or the life of a courtier.  That is an amazing gift she gave her, and it does tell me she loved Merlynn, in her own way.  But it also says she was preparing Merlynn for her to be on her own in whatever context she wanted and to be comfortable and confident on her own, without having her mother around to back her up.  And once Merlynn reached the confidence and knowledge she needed, Tilde could go back to living her own life, how she wanted.  Merlynn doesn’t need her anymore.”  She paused again.  “Arthur, you need to talk to Merlynn.  Really talk to her, really listen to her.  I think once you do, once you listen to her and realize that she’s not a normal teenage girl, you’ll understand why Tilde could easily have decided Merlynn didn’t need her.  It’s not even something against Tilde, it’s actually to her credit that she was able to help Merlynn be the person she is now, but I think once you really talk to Merlynn, you’ll get it.”

She sat back in her chair.  “I admit, I’ll be disappointed if she goes home, and I can’t entirely say you made the wrong choice because I also wish she’d stay, but you need to let her have a say in this.  You didn’t give her one, but she deserves one.  She might choose to stay because she’s been offered access to more information and knowledge than she had available where she was, but if she chooses to go home, I think you should let her.”

Arthur didn’t seem to be happy to hear all of this, but to his credit, at least he heard her out.  “A teenage girl, alone in the woods?  Seriously?”  His tone showed disapproval, but Genevieve only gave him a smile in return.

“Talk to her, Arthur.  You’ll understand, if you get past her age.  And I don’t think her age means as much to her as it does to most young people.  She’s – she’s different, somehow.”

She glanced over in the corner where Olwen was, clearly surprised to see her lady-in-waiting nodding along.  “You have thoughts on this, Olwen?”  She seemed almost hesitant to ask.

Olwen was clearly started at being invited to join in the conversation, especially in front of the king, but they were both looking at her expectantly, so she cleared her throat.  “She’s insightful, even more than I am, I think, and more than many people that are older than her.  With all due respect, Your Majesty, her age isn’t relevant.  If that is your only issue with her living alone, then there is no reason for you to have taken her from her home.”

Arthur took a moment to process this, glancing back at Genevieve.  “All right,” he conceded.  “I’ll talk to Merlynn, see if I can understand what the two of you are seeing.  Maybe I was wrong.”  He sounded doubtful, but he also made a rueful face – probably it hurt him to admit he might be wrong.  Not a fun experience for a king.

This conversation was kind of weird for me to hear.  Not just that Genevieve had a rather interesting idea on why my mother had raised me alone – which was both entirely wrong and a little bit right – but that she and Olwen both agreed that my age was irrelevant and that talking to me would change Arthur’s mind.

Well, he probably wasn’t going to enjoy that conversation.  They might hope I’d win him over, but if we had a conversation, I wasn’t going to hesitate to give him a piece of my mind.  Few people, apparently, dared to outright tell the king he was wrong.

Maybe it was time he got used to realizing that he could make mistakes, same as everyone else.  Good thing I wasn’t afraid to tell him he was wrong if and when necessary.