A Warrior's Heart ( A Merlin fanfiction )

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"Footprints," I concluded, examining the mud, "They must be close." I brushed the dirty remains off of my hands and looked at Arthur, Gwaine and Leon who are on horseback.

"Who are we trying to find?" Gwaine asked, suddenly confused.

"Cenred's remaining men." I replied, "Even without their leader, they are still deadly." I told them while swinging myself on the saddle, "Come on."

-

"My mother was appointed by Uther and trained by herself everytime?" Ava repeated, in shock, "Wow. That's actually amazing."

"It is amazing. Because she once said she was raised in a village which was destroyed and she is the only remaining one." Elyan explained.

"She told me that before." Ava rolled her eyes.

"Yes. And Leon cared for her so much, but she would never relinquish her sword for a ring." Percival added, "She is an excellent swordswoman that she bested Arthur himself."

Ava made a disgusted face, "Please, I know my father loves my mother so much, but I don't know that she would ever give up her sword for a ring. She's like a total fierce person." She glanced at the knights, "Does she love father back?"

"Maybe that's a question you should ask her yourself." Elyan told her.

-

I followed the footprints, which made the others follow too. "I do not think we would arrive at Camelot by dusk today. We still have a lot to cover."

"Then we make camp," Arthur spoke up, "Estimated we will probably be back at Camelot tomorrow dawn."

I led the group to a small space covered by the shades of the trees which I knew would keep us away from danger that night, then Gwaine went off to get wood for fire while the rest of us make ourselves comfortable with our surroundings first.

Once we have the fire burning, we sat around it, like complete idiots, staring at the flames.
"So, when do we set out to find Ava's little shadow?" Gwaine asked, yawning and stretching.

I stared at him, "Hey..." my wheels went clicking together in my mind, "That's not a complete idiotic word to explain Ava. When she was four she told me she has shadows as friends, they kept following her around while playing in the meadows overtime."

"Maybe that's her shadow," Arthur snorted.

I shook my head, "I saw them myself. Usually there shouldn't be any shadows in the afternoons." I said, "And instead of one shadow there were two others."

"You're starting to creep me out." Gwaine sat up, giving me a look.

"I'm creeping myself out too." I agreed, "I sound old when I'm saying this...but...Ava's my daughter, but I don't know a lot about her."

"Maybe she has some dark secrets she doesn't want anyone to know." Gwaine suggested.

Arthur was so silent I thought he would never speak up, but I just think he was thinking very deeply, "What if...we sneak up on her, I mean..like follow her around?"

"That's not a totally stupid idea." Leon brightens up.

I gave them the worried face, "But even though I don't like the idea because we are following her like overprotective parents. I don't want to sound all 'overprotective' at all. I just want to make sure her intentions aren't all negative." I explained.

"Rest now, Aurora. We are to head back by dawn tomorrow." Leon told me.

-

The trio arrived back at Camelot, but the others didn't, and Ava is very worried.
Gwen rushed down the granite steps as usual, eager to greet her husband, but she was shocked when she saw that there were only three riders and not seven, "Where is Arthur?"

"He told us to come back with Ava." Elyan answered, dismounting from his horse, "They'll make it back by dawn tomorrow. If not, we will set out to find them."