One With Nature 2

Festival of the White Walls: 2

This has been... something.

Frankly speaking, Artoria has no idea how to deal with social events. She knows how to handle the political side of them, and she's quite good at that, too, but she's utterly clueless when it comes to actually dealing with society itself.

When I was going through the list of things she needs to do, she actually asked if we should give each citizens a weapon, including children and seniors.

It really didn't help that she's as stubborn as they come. Her reason for insisting on the weapons thing was because 'I learned to use the sword as a kid, so it has to be normal, right!?', in her own words.

Thankfully, me and Kay talked her out of it.

After convincing her to focus on the political stuff for now, I went ahead to prepare the social side of things, which honestly wasn't that hard.

The public announcement for the Festival of the White Walls, as the knights of the castle agreed to call it, was made a few days ago and things have mostly been going smoothly.

Artoria was dealing with merchants around Camelot to get their collaboration. She actually has a pretty busy schedule for the next week, with talks, negotiations, and choosing the decor for the castle.

Apparently, while the stuff in the streets can be looked after by someone else, the stuff in the castle has to have the king's approval, which make sense because that's their house, basically.

Anyway, back to my current predicament, which is preparing the entertainment and activities for the festival.

"An archery tournament for the people sounds wonderful," Bedivere said, commenting on my idea. "It gives them the chance to have fun and demonstrate their abilities. However, there should be a prize, right?"

"If someone is skilled enough to win this tournament, perhaps we should give them the chance to join the royal archers?" Gawain asked.

Me, Gawain, Bedivere, Tristan, and Percival were having a meeting and brainstorming for the festival. Getting a second opinion is always good for these things.

Lancelot was busy overlooking the troops to make sure they don't slack off just because a festival is happening, Kay and Merlin were helping Artoria, and Agravain just didn't want to take part of planning for entertainment.

"That would only be worth it if the winner WANTS to join the royal archers. Remember, Gawain, not everyone is made for battle," I replied to him and he nodded.

"Gawain's idea isn't off on the wrong direction," Tristan decided to chip in, looking around. "The royal archers use costume bows, do they not? What if we offered one of them as the prize. To us, it might not mean much, but it would for a citizens."

"I'm positive that his majesty would not be against parting with one bow as a form of prize," Percival added, crossing his arms before his expression turned thoughtful. "But is it enough?"

"No, it isn't. The people will want to see something with actual skills, so I suggest that after the archery tournament, we hold a joust with the knights of the Round Table," I stated, everyone looking at me curiously. "A joust between any plain knights wouldn't be bad. But, the Round Table is one of Camelot's symbols and are known for being the best knights. It could serve as both the final show, and a way to show off your skills."

"Hmm, I'm not one to joust myself, but I believe sir Zachary is right," Bedivere agreed with me.

Before anyone can give any further opinion, the door to the room was opened and one of the knights came in. "Sir Gawain. I'm sorry, but two children that claim to know are causing a scene at the gate."

Gawain looked confused for a total of two seconds before jumping out of his seat and running out of the room. Looking around, I saw that the others were as confused and as surprised as I was.

Getting off my chair myself, I started leaving to follow Gawain. "You guys stay here. I'll see what's going on," I said just before existing the room.

Catching up with Gawain wasn't hard, despite the fact he was running at full speed to the entrance of the castle. When we got there, the scene was... interesting.

"Let me go!" A young boy that looked like Gawain and had similar shade of blond hair yelled as two knights tried to hold him down.

Near them was a girl that looked a lot like the boy but with a black streak on each side of her head. Two knights were standingby her, but were not holding her down like they were to the boy, which is probably because she wasn't struggling.

"P-Please! We don't want trouble. J-Just call for Gawain!" The girl pleaded.

"We can't just call one of the Knights of the Round Table on a whim. You'll have to wait here until we get word that Sir Gawain is free," one of the knights near her replied, which was actually true.

If I have to make a guess, these two were told to wait until they can see if its possible for Gawain to come, but the boy got impatient and tried to walk in to look for Gawain himself, but the guards stopped him.

"Enough!" Gawain called out, causing everyone except me to freeze in their place. "Leave, I'll handle it from here," he ordered the guards firmly and they all listened.

Once it was just us and the two children, they immediately darted forward and hugged Gawain, completely ignoring his heavy armor. "Big brother!" They both cried out.

"Gareth, Gaharis, I'm so glad you two are safe," Gawain returned the hug, holding both of the children tightly.

Looking at the situation, I began understanding what's going on and why Gawain has been on edge lately.

These two, Gareth and Gaharis, are Gawain's younger siblings, and he probably got word that they ran away from home, which is understandable because their home was where Morgan was, and was worried for them because they're young and he was their older brother.

"Gawain, take the next week off. We can manage. Take care of your family," I instructed before leaving to give the three siblings some time to each other.

We're down one knight for a week at least, but we can still fulfil the requirements for the festival. There's no way I'd fail now when I didn't back in Uruk.

I'm gonna make a damn good festival if only out of spite.