Five Knights In Impractical Hats

Unfinished Chapter

     Hearing the chirp of the birds, Graham attempted to sit up, surprised to find that an arm wrapped around his torso was preventing him from moving. Graham then remembered, he wasn't in his own tent at all.

     The young knight was too enthusiastic to sleep well the night before, but he wasn't the only knight having sleep troubles. When Graham had decided to go on a short walk to clear his mind, he had found Achaka awake as well, bow drawn at something in the bushes. Even though Graham couldn't understand Achaka's language just yet, it was under Graham's assumption that the taller knight was just as stressed as he was. This worried Graham, as Achaka was still recovering from his injuries in The Well. After a scuffle with a deer and a bit of a comfort moment, Graham had followed Achaka to his own tent, wanting to make sure no one got hurt throughout the night. Which means they've been sleeping in this position. All this time.
After a minute of trying his hardest to hear footsteps or any other outside noise, Graham came to the conclusion that no one else was awake yet, as the only thing that could be heard throughout the camp was Acorn's snores. Being the first to wake wasn't a problem for the compassionate knight, though, he always considered himself a morning person.

     His current predicament was unexpected, however, as Graham didn't take Achaka to be much of a cuddler. He didn't want to be inconsiderate and wake the sleeping knight, as it had taken a while to get him to sleep in the first place. Upon noticing a sudden movement from behind him, it seems the smaller knight's efforts were unsuccessful.

     Graham listened as Achaka mumbled something he couldn't quite understand, but couldn't think of anything to say other than just staring. The two looked at each other for a few solid seconds, before Achaka turned around to face the other direction. Oh. Okay.

     Graham was now free to move as he pleased, although he wondered if he actually should. The young knight proceeded to sit up, taking a second look at the area around him. There was only one bag, and it wasn't very full at all. Next to it was a large quiver of arrows, where the only word that could be used to describe its state was "overstuffed". A minimalist adventurer, it seems, but a respected one. Graham was still working on the translation, but even without that, he felt they had a good friendship developing. Personally, out of all the other hopefuls, Graham would rather hang out with Achaka than anyone else. Don't get him wrong, Acorn and Whisper were great friends, and so were Kyle and Larry, but Achaka was... different, Graham supposes. He listens, and understands. He's always interested in knowing random things about Graham, and the young knight's learned a thing or two from him as well.

Graham quietly steps his way out of the tent, finding himself standing in the clearing where the hopefuls had camped the night before. There were four tents total, as Manny had unfortunately been unable to join them. The four were exactly identical, and the only way you could tell who's was who's was by how skillfully the tents had been assembled. The stakes on Acorn's tent were pushed into the ground so far you could barely see them, and if you look hard you could see a rather long twig holding up the roof. Whisper's had the stakes in at a moderate depth, with the entirety of the tent looking rather clean, save for the several cases of luggage that lay beside it.
Inside Graham's tent were his casual "adventuring outfit" as he calls it, his cape neatly folded, and of course his favorite cap. A small sack of gold coins lay on top of his cape, as well as a bag of starberries. Graham had struggled to fit the stakes into the ground, but couldn't bring himself to ask for help. For some reason he just had to pick the spot with the hardest ground. It's okay, he ended up not even sleeping in it. Across from his, Achaka's tent looked like it had been put together in a hurry, with rocks being used in place of stakes. 

Quickly changing out of his pajamas and grabbing the bag of berries, Graham heads over to where the steeds had settled, smiling at the sight of a familiar face.

"Hey, Triumph. No one bothered you, right?"

"Squeak."

"Yeah, I thought so."

     The gerbil squealed with delight upon the realization that Graham had brought treats, eating out of his owner's hand. Graham quickly spun around with surprise, however, upon hearing soft footsteps behind him.

Behind him he found Whisper, another one of Daventry's knights whom he had befriended. He wasn't wearing his usual armor, though, instead he looked as though he had just woken up. All save for the exception that his long hair had already combed to perfection, wrapped neatly into a perfect bun. 

"Oh, good morning, Whisper!" waved Graham, happy to see a human other than him was awake.