[2] WEEPING MONK║you're not what I was looking for

46| Whispers in the Night - 𝐈𝐈

Lancelot takes on his new role and an uninvited guest stirs tension within the camp. Ari is forced to reveal a secret that could jeopardise her love and her crown.

Ari had spent the day on patrol through the afternoon after settling some dispute in the morning. It was a spat of words and nothing more regarding something of absolutely no real importance. The company that she found herself in at the moment was much more pleasant. She had been in a good mood and stopped by a few other campfires to say hello and make general chatter before joining her own usual seat alongside Kaze, who was turning into more of a friend than she had first expected.

They had spent many hours together at the edge of the forest when waiting for the Paladins who never came, and on patrol too most days. There was a reflection of herself in the warrior different to that which she saw within Red. It was the calmer, level-headedness that grounds a queen and her admirable wisdom which she saw, though Ari would never claim herself to be wise.

A sigh of relief from the weight on her feet left her as she rested down on the adjacent log, balancing up her tin plate to not drop any of the broth or bread or scraps of what looked like pig meat again tonight. Across the fire sat Arthur, unaccompanied by his dark haired lover this evening, Ari wasn't going to pry as to why.

"You seem happy, Ari," Kaze commented, an almost suspicious yet kind look in her eye.

She dropped her shoulders in another gratified sigh, even sprouted a grin from her lips. "Happier now that everyone is settling again." Her elbows found their places on her thighs so that she may pick at her food.

Ari was indeed light. Aside from waiting on word from the human king, everything was falling into place once more. The elders were subdued, her talks with her father were coming back onto steady ground, her people weren't so afraid. And she had Lancelot, who - though still in the privacy of their stolen moments, was ingraining himself further and further into her heart and her soul, if that were even possible.

"You are too harsh on yourself." Kaze caused her attention to drift back. "There is no way you could have predicted what happened to the Raiders."

That might have been true, but what was a queen if she did not take responsibility for what happens amongst her queendom? Even if it was not her fault.

A short while later, only a matter of minutes, a weight came down on her shoulder, a hand gripping gently and she looked up to the face of another friend.

"Ash man had his first day, he did well," Gawain praised before taking up his seat on the log beside hers.

Arthur picked his head up, having been watching and listening curiously, "Did well doing what?" He slipped another shred of meat past his lips, eyes flicking between the queen and the knight across the fire.

"Lancelot is helping to teach the younger ones archery," Gawain didn't hesitate, but his response caused Arthur to straighten further.

"On whose order?"