#mithiana

The silk flowed through Morgana’s fingers. Midnight-blue, precisely the shade she’d worn the first and only time she’d met Princess Mithian of Nemeth. She’d been thirteen, emerging from an ocean of grief and casting off her skin without realizing it would bind her. Mithian was eleven and a child to her, who had thought herself impossibly mature.

Now here they were, Princess Mithian on the royal business of a father who loved her, and Morgana…

It was terrible, the thing asked of children, to be always quiet and agreeable in a world they could not begin to understand.

“I hope it’s to your liking,” Mithian said kindly. “I know I presume too much, but it’s such a lovely color on you.”

“It is lovely,” Morgana repeated woodenly. “You have an excellent memory.”

A faint pink kissed Princess Mithian’s perfect angular face. “I—Camelot is a beautiful place. It made quite the impression upon me.”

Morgana felt her lip curl, a cutting-edge expression untempered by any pretense of courtly decorum. “Oh, yes, very beautiful. Though I’m afraid, like most beautiful things, time does put it to rot. Apologies,” she said, not meaning it, “I’m privy to some of your correspondence with Camelot’s king. Have you set a date?”

Mithian let her genteel silence linger long enough to make Morgana twitch. Then she said, “King Arthur is a valuable ally. He negotiates on different terms than his father. We’ve rarely spoken on more personal matters.”

“Ah.”

Unless she forced her fists into a softer shape, the silk dress was going to tear. Rent to rags as if by the claws of some horrid beast. In this confectionary manor, in this sugar-glass chamber, alone with this girl who was too sweet to be believed: a beast was an honest thing to be. Her dress was gray now, whatever color it had been before; and it had known sweat and blood and earth; and it hung heavy on her bones, and was starting to itch. It was only fabric; she hadn’t spared it a thought in months. If she was worth the investment Morgause had made of her, she’d tell Princess Mithian to keep her charity and magic herself a new gown or a suit of armor. She hadn’t even tried. What sort of priestess was she? All those lessons and still--

“If the dress isn’t to your liking, I’ll happily arrange for something else. Something simpler, or—I don’t have any men’s clothing to hand, but perhaps a guard’s uniform could suffice until—”

“I know who I am,” Morgana blurted out.

Mithian stopped. Then with all the grace of a duelist, she pivoted with her opponent. Something peeked around her princess’s smile—the flash of a body real beneath the helm.

She took a bold step forward and put her hand, palm down, in Morgana’s, where they would be separated, but not enough, by midnight-blue silk.

Yes yes yes I do like you. I am afraid to write the stronger word. ― Virginia Woolf

But no matter how strong the need was then, Morgana mastered her emotions, and ruled by a coarse logic, nearing the end of the parchment, decided to close the letter, I wish you well, my dearest friend.  Please give my love to Father, and because no matter how she had restrained herself thus far, she could not help herself—and to Arthur.  It came only naturally to end the letter thus, and she did not think it odd at all, though perhaps she should have, that her missive to her friend had finished finally, at the last, with the one it had in her heart been addressed to all along. 

Thus, she completed the page, marking her signature with a flourish—

All my love,

            Morgana

―Solitary Love, part iii, chapter iii

mithian/morgana

first, the enemies to lovers potential is fantastic. i know they only had one episode where they actually interacted, but it could work! unlike morgause, morgana doesn't seem to derive too much pleasure from dealing with greasy warlords; i feel like she has much more fun with other women - particularly those from the 'good' (non-magic) side. it's the whole kind of control/corruption kink with her, if she can turn them to her side, even forcefully or for a short time, she gets quite a bit of satisfaction from that.

plus, mithian at that point is kind of similar to gwen: she's kind, courageous, and was once involved with arthur; so i feel like morgana would also be interested in her because of that. and then you have that one scene of mithian being kind of worried about morgana because using her magic is hurting her, could also be translated (in the realms of fanfic) to mithian being attracted to morgana but fighting it. them being together would be toxic as anything, but it would be hot, that's all i'm saying.

(plus if you threw in gwen, like say gwen went to nemeth after being exiled and her and mithian got involved, that would be a whole other dynamic) - i could go on but i'll stop here :)

oh oh oh! thank you for the ask (and for this pairing!) 💜

29. one headcanon that breaks your heart

that when morgana disappeared after s2 she spent some time in nemeth and she and mithian did get together but then morgana left again, not seeing mithian again until s5 when she invaded with odin and was a completely different person...

30. one headcanon that mends it

that they were childhood friends and had a lot of fun learning how to fight alongside each other and exploring nemeth and basically being a nuisance to everyone they come across but not caring because they have each other (until gorlois dies)

(this is basically the plot of part of roots in my dreamland whoops)