Fiction: Queen of the Hill
Oct. 13th, 2017 08:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
clare_dragonflyTitle: Queen of the Hill
World: Ursulan
Word count: 440
Rating: G
Prompt: Thimbleful Thursday: king of the hill
Notes: Here's a fun little story about Gwanwyn (Gawain), Grainne (Gaheris), and Agravain as kids. I'm thinking Gwanwyn is about eleven here.
Gwanwyn was the oldest, the biggest, and the strongest, but Agravain still tried to be the winner of all their games. This was unfortunate, because it meant she had to keep beating him, and he hated to be beaten.
But how could he win? He was three years younger than she was, still two inches shorter though he’d started to grow faster in the last year, and his arm was probably half as wide around as hers was, despite the fact that he just kept trying to wrestle her.
Their mother had told Gwanwyn that she should let him win, because he was a boy. But that was the most ridiculous thing in the world to her. If boys were so much better and stronger than girls, shouldn’t he be able to beat her by now? Shouldn’t he have to learn to fight for it?
Grainne always participated in their games, too, but she bore it cheerfully when Gwanwyn beat her. Even when Agravain beat her, sometimes. It seemed that Agravain always wanted to compare himself to Gwanwyn, while Grainne was content to compare herself to Melva, their little toddler sister, who couldn’t so much as pick up a wooden toy sword.
Gwanwyn waved her wooden toy sword in the air ahead of her as she ran up the hill. Her siblings were behind her somewhere—well, she wasn’t sure where Melva was, probably with her nurse, because she was too little for these games.
“Slow down, Gwanwyn!” Agravain shouted from behind her. He must have been pretty far behind her, because she could barely hear him.
“Never!” she cried. “I will be the greatest knight!”
“You can’t be a knight! You’re a girl!”
She laughed as she saw a heap of manure packed with straw and ran up the side, her feet sinking gently into the soft mud. From the top of it, she turned and pointed her sword down at Agravain, who had stopped at the bottom, red-faced and panting. “Fine! If I can’t be a knight, then I’ll be the queen. I’m the queen of the hill.”
“It’s king of the hill, stupid girl,” Agravain said crossly, shaking his sword at her. Grainne, coming up beside him, giggled. He ignored her.
“Fine,” she said. “If you want to be king, come up and take the hill from me.” She lunged at him with her sword.
He swung back with his own sword, but in a few strokes she had him clearly beaten. He crossed his arms. “You can be queen of this hill. Have fun ruling all the poop.”
His sisters watched him stalk off, laughing.
Thanks for reading this story! If you enjoyed it, visit my main page for all stories I've posted at Dreamwidth, or the tag for this world for more stories with this setting or characters. You can also pledge at my Patreon for exclusive patron-only stories and other fun stuff!
World: Ursulan
Word count: 440
Rating: G
Prompt: Thimbleful Thursday: king of the hill
Notes: Here's a fun little story about Gwanwyn (Gawain), Grainne (Gaheris), and Agravain as kids. I'm thinking Gwanwyn is about eleven here.
Gwanwyn was the oldest, the biggest, and the strongest, but Agravain still tried to be the winner of all their games. This was unfortunate, because it meant she had to keep beating him, and he hated to be beaten.
But how could he win? He was three years younger than she was, still two inches shorter though he’d started to grow faster in the last year, and his arm was probably half as wide around as hers was, despite the fact that he just kept trying to wrestle her.
Their mother had told Gwanwyn that she should let him win, because he was a boy. But that was the most ridiculous thing in the world to her. If boys were so much better and stronger than girls, shouldn’t he be able to beat her by now? Shouldn’t he have to learn to fight for it?
Grainne always participated in their games, too, but she bore it cheerfully when Gwanwyn beat her. Even when Agravain beat her, sometimes. It seemed that Agravain always wanted to compare himself to Gwanwyn, while Grainne was content to compare herself to Melva, their little toddler sister, who couldn’t so much as pick up a wooden toy sword.
Gwanwyn waved her wooden toy sword in the air ahead of her as she ran up the hill. Her siblings were behind her somewhere—well, she wasn’t sure where Melva was, probably with her nurse, because she was too little for these games.
“Slow down, Gwanwyn!” Agravain shouted from behind her. He must have been pretty far behind her, because she could barely hear him.
“Never!” she cried. “I will be the greatest knight!”
“You can’t be a knight! You’re a girl!”
She laughed as she saw a heap of manure packed with straw and ran up the side, her feet sinking gently into the soft mud. From the top of it, she turned and pointed her sword down at Agravain, who had stopped at the bottom, red-faced and panting. “Fine! If I can’t be a knight, then I’ll be the queen. I’m the queen of the hill.”
“It’s king of the hill, stupid girl,” Agravain said crossly, shaking his sword at her. Grainne, coming up beside him, giggled. He ignored her.
“Fine,” she said. “If you want to be king, come up and take the hill from me.” She lunged at him with her sword.
He swung back with his own sword, but in a few strokes she had him clearly beaten. He crossed his arms. “You can be queen of this hill. Have fun ruling all the poop.”
His sisters watched him stalk off, laughing.
Thanks for reading this story! If you enjoyed it, visit my main page for all stories I've posted at Dreamwidth, or the tag for this world for more stories with this setting or characters. You can also pledge at my Patreon for exclusive patron-only stories and other fun stuff!
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