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

47| A Lover Scorned - 𝐈𝐈

[TW// intimidation, internal conflict, internalised/resolved homophobia. Canon-typical religious opinion. CW// angst and some shouting]

Ari's past comes back to haunt her and Lancelot unravels a heart aching lie.

"Lancelot?"

He looked up from where he sat now alone, since Squirrel had run off for his scouting lesson, to be met with the pale blue of his brother's eyes as the younger Ash sauntered towards him. His brother held his usual light-hearted airs and the injury to his arm no longer seemed to be bothering him as much, though it was still obviously bound beneath the stitched together sleeve of his grey coat.

"Hector," he acknowledged him.

The younger slowed to a halt outside the armoury, thumbs patchy with dark markings of the Ash folk and tucked in his sword belt. "You busy?"

Lancelot was sat on a log sharpening arrow heads, did he look busy? He raised a sharp brow as an answer.

"Ha, of course you aren't," Hector answered for him, chuckling at his own humour.

"What do you want?" Lancelot asked but it wasn't harsh.

Hector, sniffling with the midday chill, looked down on his brother. "Its my turn to be on lookout for the afternoon up on the outcrop. Wondered if you wanted to join me?"

Stuck in a habit of always saying no to wandering far from the camp, Lancelot almost parted his lips to do the same again. But instead, and only after consideration, he agreed. He was pushing his luck with the elders already today, so what was one more reason to annoy them being added to the long list? He left the armoury tidy like he wanted it and fell in step with his brother towards the west of the forest.

The outcrop. It was an odd piece of land though no stranger than the rest of this camp. Like the ledge in which Ari had fallen from, it stuck out at the edge of their boundary and looked across to where the forest thinned into rolling hills. It was a good vantage point to see anyone approaching and still well hidden enough by evergreens.

They found a trail that belonged to the patrol route and followed it westwards. General chatter between them shifted to Hector's main point of concern when he thought that the coast was clear of prying ears.

"Things are going well with..." Hector looked around as if to see if anyone was listening before concluding his question on a whisper, like it was a crime to say her name aloud, "Ari?"

Caught off guard by the question, it took Lancelot a few paces to answer. "Yes." As well as well could be in their circumstance, Lancelot thought.

Hector didn't pick up on the slight hint of doubt in his brother's reply. "Should I be calling you 'My Lord' soon?" He nudged an elbow against Lancelot's, wiggling his brows and grinning like a child though his brother ignored his attempts.