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

28| Tender Hearts {Part Two}

[TW// referenced past religious based self harm]

Lancelot begins integrating with the Fey and Ari is at odds with her allies

"Kaze?" Ari walked towards the warrior woman by the weaponry just outside the edge of the clearing in not too much of a rush. The late morning sun was high and shining down on them, Ari was rather enjoying it. The warrior's long, coiled black hair whipped over her shoulder as her face turned. She seemed a little startled by Ari's approach.

"Your Grace," Kaze turned on her heel, standing straighter as the queen stood before her.

"Please, just Ari," the Sunborn dismissed the title like she usually did, her head shaking loosely. They were not friends yet but they were acquainted, and seeing as Ari was starting to settle in here she did not see the formality as necessary from this Fey.

"Ari," Kaze echoed with a gracious smile, something she didn't do too often.

Ari had been observing the Fey in the few days that she had been here, those in particular who seemed to hold some kind of respect or authority in the camp. Kaze appeared to be a straight-talker trusted by both Gawain and Arthur, the former of which put her mind at ease. There were pieces of information missing in Ari's mind and she therefore thought that this Fey might be the one to tell her right.

"I need to know something and I understand that you are the one to ask," Ari assumed, stepping further into the woman's eye line. The elders had actually listened to her request and the topic that had indeed been testing her patience had not been spoken of since the morning that they summoned Lancelot into the den, and so, Ari was feeling rather like her usual self and gently smiled. Kaze tilted her head, a gesture for her to continue with her inquiry. Thinking that perhaps some of the Fey around them may not what to hear what was going to be asked, Ari gave a gesture of her own and they began to walk down one of the routes leading away between the tents. She kept her voice low,

"What happened? To Nimue?" Ari watched Kaze's face beside her as they walked. The pull on the other woman's mouth and the downcast of her gaze made her look resigned to answer. Ari stepped ahead and rounded in front of the warrior, stopping their path. "I know that she had the Sword of Power, I knew of her plans to help you all," Ari noted, lowering her face as she looked into Kaze's hooded eyes. Her hand drifted absentmindedly towards her dagger in the brief silence, "I know that she led your group."

The last part was intended to imply that Ari already knew that these particular Fey had called Nimue their queen. Like she had said to Lancelot, she was queen by blood. No sword or higher power or pathetic excuse of a human king could take that from her unless she surrendered it, and Ari was not one for surrendering easily. She had also said that she would step aside if Nimue could rule them better than her, and yet here they were... scared, tired and still hunted by the red cloaks within the same kingdom that the Wolf Blood Witch had tried to save.