[1] WEEPING MONK // you're not what I was looking for

26| Welcome {Part Two}

{AN// A 7k long chapter... but there was really no good place to split it so... and THANK YOU for getting this to 4K reads! We're so close to the good stuff}

[TW// Threatening language]

Ari and Lancelot are confronted by the Fey and end up shocked by the return of an old friend. Squirrel receives some upsetting news.

A pale man stepped forward from behind the crowd and Ari's eyes darted to him. He stopped, looked her up and down kindly and said in a pleasant tone like silkk, "Welcome home, Queen Ari."

"Gawain!" Squirrel cried out and ran towards the Green Knight. The man grinned widely at the boy, bending his knees as the child ran up and jumped into his open arms.

Lancelot stepped forward to be just behind Ari's side, the trails of blue along his neck beginning to fade away. They both stared at the long haired brunette, foreheads creasing as they recognised the Green Knight living and breathing in front of them now. But how? He was dead. The man was mumbling things in the boy's ear and the boy looked like he was about to cry with happiness.

The Fey were still bent to the ground. Ari broke her eyes away and nodded curtly up at them with a graceful smile to each side surrounding her, and they gently stood back onto their feet. Some were smiling at their queen, but most were looking at Lancelot and their glares weren't exactly all welcoming.

"Born in the dawn," the Fey queen addressed her people as she should, even if she didn't know what was going on.

"To pass in the twilight," the Fey rumbled back and to her surprise, Lancelot did too. She doesn't know why he responds to the greeting each time, it was not necessary. Perhaps he was just trying to prove somehow that he was one of them?

Squirrel finally let go of the knight, his eyes wet and wide as they both walked towards Ari and Lancelot in the valley. The knight did not seem to be bothered by who was accompanying her. Gawain bent his body forward in a courteous bow as he came to Ari's toes.

"Your highness," he smiled up at her as he set his body straight, "it has been a while." Ari grinned and shook her head as if she were not believing that he was real.

"We were told you were dead," she said casually but her tone was laced with relief as she reached her hand out to his arm. Lancelot noticed how she touched him, he felt a jealousy rise up in him at the simple gesture but he pushed it away, they must be friends.

Gawain pursed his lips into a sad sort of smile and tilted his head side to side lazily, "I was, your grace."

Ari's eyebrows pinched but she was still grinning at him.

"It's a long story," the brunette offered, and Ari nodded in return, she had a long story of her own to tell.

Gawain's eyes turned to Lancelot who was looking at him in a sad disbelief and with bated breath. The knight took a deep breath and sighed with a smile, stepping across to Lancelot. "I am glad to see you here, brother," he said, reaching his hand up to place on Lancelot's shoulder.