One With Nature 2

Little Mo: 2

Okay, when the new day began, I thought breaking the news to Artoria about how my job here is done and how I'll be here less was going to be the hardest thing I had to do all day.

I was wrong.

The hardest thing I had to deal with was the sheer awkwardness that was generated by Artoria and Mordred as they tried, and I need to emphasise on that 'tried', to interact.

"Oh, uhmm," Artoria tensed as we ran into Mordred while I was trying to bring up my own subject. "G-Good morning."

Mordred, who was now in a cute white dress, equally tensed. Crossing her arms at her front, she looked down and started shaking on the spot. "Good m-morning."

They both just stood quietly there. Neither I nor Bedivere, who was with us as Artoria's aid like always, said anything. For Bedivere, I guess it was out of manners, but for me, it was out of feeling awkward.

"Did..." Artoria seemed to want to say something before second guessing herself. She seemed to get over it, though, and continued. "Did you sleep well?"

"Uh?" Mordred seemed completely lost because of the question, before tensing even more, if that was possible, and rapidly nodding her head. "Y-Yes. It w-was good. The... The bed was r-really n-nice."

They fell into silence again. Even Bedivere was starting to look uncomfortable. If they won't break the silence, I will. "Do you want to join us for breakfast?"

Mordred stopped looking tense and instead looked utterly confused. "I... don't have to eat in my room?"

The question caused some confusion to us, but me and Artoria, at least judging by how her face hardened, understood the implication.

Morgan wouldn't really have taken care of Mordred. She most likely threw any food at Mordred and told her to eat quietly in her room just so Mordred wouldn't starve to death.

"No, you don't," Artoria clarified, the previous awkward tone she had a moment ago now gone. "Come join us. I'm sure you'll like it."

"... A-Alright," Mordred hesitated but agreed regardless.

I was hoping that would end the cycle of awkwardness, and I was very wrong. The minute we sat at the breakfast table -an unnecessarily long, LONG table meant for royalty-, the awkwardness came back in spades.

We just sat there with Artoria and Mordred looking up at each other every now and then, looking like they want to say something, but then looking completely clueless before looking back to their food.

Guinevere excused herself and didn't show up to breakfast. I guess Mordred's presence made her uncomfortable, which was understandable, honestly. I'm actually quite thankful, her presence would have made things more awkward.

"So..." Artoria finally spoke up. "Do you... like the food?"

"H-Huh?" Mordred froze as she realised Artoria was talking to her. "Uh.. yes, it's d-delicious."

Seeing them like this, I couldn't help but groan and run my hand down my face. To my surprise, Kay, who joined us on the way here, was doing the same thing. Even Bedivere looked like he wanted to say something.

After the very painful breakfast, and I honestly wish it was physically painful instead of whatever THAT was, we got up and were walking the halls again.

When we reached the doors to Artoria's throne room, she stopped and looked at Mordred again. "I have some work that needs to be done. You can... stay with Zack until I'm finished."

... Say what?

I immediately turned my head to her with a confused expression. She looked at me with some guilt and a silent request to go with it before she hurried into the throne room with Bedivere and Kay following close by, both giving effort to not look in my direction.

Did... did Artoria just throw me under the bus?... I don't know how, but I just know this is Merlin's fault. Probably his influence from when he and Kay were travelling with Artoria.

I looked back at Mordred and saw she was looking at where Artoria vanished, looking like she wanted to say something but stopped herself.

She looked back at me expectedly and I decided to try breaking the ice. "So, that was King Arthur. What do you think of them?"

Mordred looked completely lost. "I... I don't know."

"You expected Arthur to be taller, didn't you?" I asked and Mordred froze, her face paling. Chuckling, I assured her. "It's alright. I thought Arthur would be taller when I first met them, too."

Mordred looked utterly shocked. "Can you... Can you really say that?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm not one of Arthur's knights, so yeah."

Now she looked confused. "You're... not?"

"Nope, I'm their friend," I clarified before asking. "So, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

"I... I don't know," Mordred looked down and clenched her dress. "M-Mother never... took me outside?"

It sounded more like a question. Like, she wanted to see the outside, but doubted that it was allowed, or if she could ask.

Man, I really didn't sign up to be a babysitter to a troubled child... If Yu Mei-Ren ever heard me say that, she would choke me -or at least the puppet body- to death.

"Alright, let's do that," I said and Mordred looked absolutely floored. She definitely didn't expect me to agree.

The saddest thing here is that I'm thinking she's not as bad as Yang used to be. The sad part isn't the comparison in itself, but the fact she was compared to Yang's case in the first place.