FRAGMENTS OF A DYNASTY
Based on the TV Show "Tudors"

Summary: Henry and Elizabeth discuss names for their future child.

Pairings: Henry/Elizabeth

It was on one of those nights that the rest of the Court never knew about. To the Court and the rest of the country Henry was of course a cold unfeeling man who only did his duty to his wife and nothing more. To Elizabeth and he was a closed up man who had difficulty trying to express his affections to a person. They have often spent evenings sitting close by the fire either in a peaceful silence or murmuring about their day and sharing ideas with one another.

These nights they talk about the child that Elizabeth was carrying. It had been four months since they had married and she was already four months along, their mothers were becoming rather insufferably smug about their fertility.

They were debating about what to call their son or god forbid their daughter. Although he was aware that Elizabeth was the first daughter of many before her brothers were born it would not help him to keep his throne if he kept producing daughters.

"If it is a daughter," he really could not help but wince at his words, "maybe we should choose a neutral name so we would not offend my Lady Mother or yours. I had thought about Mary, I know my Lady Mother would not argue with us calling our daughter after the Virgin herself."

Elizabeth smiled softly and gently, "I am sure my own Lady Mother would not mind if I were to call my eldest daughter after my Lady, the King's Mother. She has, after all, housed me during those dark times before you won the war and it is the greatest sign of respect and gratitude."

He could not help but sigh in relieve. Elizabeth had been a wonderful blessing to him during these stressful months of kingship. Everyone had their own opinions that needed to be shouted at him as if he was a peasant in a market. Everyone wanted something. His Lady Mother, though God knows he loves her, has done nothing but nag for the past two months over certain policies. Elizabeth was quiet, calm, and obedient and knows how to keep the peace. She was his greatest comfort as some nights when he is most frustrated she simply holds him and sooths him. And here she is now willing to appease his very demanding mother by naming their eldest daughter after her instead of her own mother and herself.

"We could use Margret, Elizabeth, and then Mary in that order," Elizabeth concluded, he nodded, it did not matter to him really, after all, it was just girl names. "Are we to name him Henry if it is a boy?" she asked.

"I thought to keep that name for the second son," Henry replied. "I had wanted a name that would mean a great King in the eyes of the people. A name that would make the Welsh proud to have this boy as their Prince."

She looked thoughtful. They both knew about the Great King Richard I, Richard the Lion Heart, the popular King that fought valiantly in the Crusades. They could not use that name! It had been tarnished by the tyrant Richard III! The man that held Elizabeth's own brothers captive and might have killed them himself. The man that Henry would most likely hate for the rest of his life as he wonders if his beloved wife had ever held romantic notions for her very own uncle. They could not name their son Richard!

Edward was out of the question as well. Maybe for a third son out of the respect of the father of his wife though he would prefer Edmund after his own father, a man whose faithfulness has never been questioned. Henry had liked the idea of naming his son after his Uncle Jasper but then that might bring up questions that no one would want to answer, such as why he had not chosen his own father's name?

"William is a good option," Elizabeth said, "He, much like you, had won his throne on the battlefield against a pretender."

"It would be a good name," Henry agreed.

William Tudor did have some appeal, another King William would be a break from the king Edwards and Henrys and Richards. But it lacked that special appeal that he wanted for his son.

"Or," Elizabeth said quieter than ever, "we could call him Arthur after those legends of Camelot."

Arthur.

Henry had grown up with those legends being told as bedtime stories. If his Uncle Jasper had not been telling tales about his mother he would tell him about the One Great King, King Arthur of Camelot. The man that had been betrayed by his beloved wife and dearest friend. The man that had been the greatest king in all of history.

Camelot would be the greatest goal. Henry is working so very hard to create and keep peace n England. To have a son that would continue this goal to the point of the most peaceful kingdom in the world was an idea that even his own Mother would not have thought of.

"Arthur," he repeated, "King of the new Camelot."

"The Camelot his father had created," Elizabeth said serenely.

Yes, he would achieve his goal of creating a peaceful and rich country so his own son would have a Camelot to rule. He would choose carefully for the wife of this son, he would keep a watchful eye on the nobles surrounding his son in case one had a wandering eye for women.

He would create a Camelot that would last forever and his son Arthur would rule it.

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