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

62| Son of Ban - 𝐈𝐈

Lancelot is reunited with the Ash folk and Ari prompts him to make a decision.

They discovered as they returned to the forest— the sun just dipping out of sight— that Adrian had diverted the route of those who were walking from Lord Hubert's, and had arrived with them before the supposed advanced party, who were now more on foot than they were on horseback.

Faces peeked and emerged out of tents as Ari led the envoy of her scouts and the Ash. A man who had struggled to walk with his limp took her place in Dusty's saddle. Lancelot, who was not far behind her, led Goliath with an older woman upon his back, a child no more than two summers old sitting in her lap.

The faces gawked and whispers spread from tent to tent, all the way until they were in the clearing. Many of the Ash had wet eyes as they looked around at the burning campfires and supper plates. At all of the hundred or more Fey who came forth to greet them, if not a little warily... The hound padded along at Lancelot's side, its head lowered in submission. Far greater in size and strength than any ordinary wolf.

Lancelot had his doubts but the creature had been hardly noticeable, not making a sound or bearing its teeth. He'd dared to lift his hand from his side, turn his elbow out, and without having to reach down, touched the dense white fur of the hound's shoulder. It did not flinch or look to him, but had simply carried on walking at his side.

No one therefore came too close to him when they entered the clearing, giving the hound a wide birth.

Lancelot heard Squirrel first before he saw him, dodging his way between the legs of people much taller than himself. Then he staggered to a halt with his eyes wide, yelling, "That's the thing that tried to eat me!"

Those who were already avoiding the hound took an even greater step back.

Lancelot fought the urge to roll his eyes. "He might do so again if you yell at him." Squirrel scowled and Lancelot felt another sense of triumph today.

"Um, her... sire." Tomas had crept up beside him and Goliath. "Nira is her name."

Squirrel scrunched his nose. "Sire?" Then found himself fixed with one of Lancelot's hard stares. He shrunk just slight as he remembered the secrets he kept. "Oh. Right."

The hound did not seem to care that there were people all around her. She lowered herself to lay in the dirt whilst Lancelot helped the elder woman and the toddling child down from his horse. They thanked him and gathered with the others. He spun when he heard the shout of his name, again.

Hector was wiggling through the crowd like Squirrel had done.

"Lance? Is it true that there are more— " Hector stopped himself, looking then beyond Lancelot, his horse, and the hound. His jaw fell wide and he gasped, "Oh." Waters quickly shimmered in his eyes, his hands neither in the air nor by his sides.