The Silver Lining

Sophia sighed as she sat behind Lancelot who had insisted that she not walk anymore and ride with him. Though she was somewhat awkward on a horse and especially while holding onto the knight in question Sophia was glad to not be walking for the time being. He seemed to enjoy talking- about himself- a lot.

By the smirk on Arthur's face, he was enjoying this greatly. She pulled a face and asked Lancelot just exactly how many women he had taken to his bed. By his words, he had taken quite a large number but Sophia did not know whether that was entirely true or not. "Believe him lass," Bors said as he chuckled, "we do not need to hear of every one of them he has bedded."

"All those women- have you ever loved any of them?" Lancelot looked over his shoulder at her and then away.

"No," he told her plainly.

Sophia nodded. "So you just use women?" she pressed. Gawain snickered slightly. "It is not funny!" He sobered up and turned his gaze away from hers. "You treat women like they are nothing more than things to be used and then thrown away, with little regard as to what they may feel towards you. Tavern girls and whores are different but what of others?"

"Lady do not treat me as though you know me or the others, and women to me are better for nothing else," he told her which made Sophia angry.

She glowered. "Better for nothing else? Your ego is far greater than it need be knight. Is your regard for women so low? Is that why you wield twin swords? To compliment your ego?"

"Yes to all of the above," he replied sarcastically. The rest of the knights found the disagreement extremely amusing to watch. Lancelot was for once being questioned and so far being unsuccessful in trying to gain Sophia's eye. She was much more headstrong and spirited unlike the women at the tavern and around the surrounding areas of Badon Fort. "Is that more than just a little anger toward me because I'm a man that I sense?"

"Yes! You are the quintessence of every male on this earth who treat women like they are beneath them! You use us; betray us; and then spit us out like we are rotted fruit!" she snapped at him.

Lancelot chuckled and shook his head. "And this is opposed to the sweet, ungrateful creatures of the world that you women are? We not only protect you; we also feed you; we clothe you; we- give you a purpose for living. And this is the gratitude?"

Sophia climbed from the horse. "You were born of a woman!" she shouted at him.

Lancelot sneered at her and got off the horse, grabbing Sophia by the arms and grinning smugly at her. "Correction I was born of a man."

She growled and slapped him. "Learn to respect women because as you can see I am not some girl who is going to trip over her own feet to gain your attention or a chance in bed with you!" He glared at her before letting her go and huffing, folding his arms across his chest as Sophia proudly smirked. "Wound your pride knight, did I?"

He refused to answer her which pleased her beyond words. "Arthur?" Lancelot called out in desperation.

The man in question refused to turn round least his second in command and close friend see the grin on his face. Like Sophia or not, the woman had a very unique presence and character to her.

She challenged. She fought. She was strong. Lancelot would be attracted to all of that because he always had liked a woman in which he could fight to gain the affection of. However, if her affection was anything like her temper, Arthur prayed Lancelot diverted his attention to another girl quickly.
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Sophia had refused to ride with Lancelot after that and when Arthur had told her of the long walk she would have, she had climbed onto the back of Agravaine's mount, much to his surprise. "Looks like Aggy made a new friend," Lancelot teased as he rode by them.

"Call me Aggy again Lance and I will knock you to the ground and maim you, comrade or not," Agravaine snapped.

The apparent healer of the group, Dagonet, just reinforced Agravaine's comment by stating that he was not going to be the one cleaning Lancelot up. There was only so much that the knights could take at times of Lancelot's dry and somewhat over needed humor or teasing and after Sophia's win over him earlier, they were fairly tired of hearing him complain about things- women especially. Sophia did get a word in occasionally to strike him down and put him in his place but she had stopped, fed up and knowing that he was not going to agree with her anytime soon.

Agravaine was quiet after his comment to Lancelot and Sophia tightened her arms around his waist slightly and watched him glance over his shoulder at her as they dropped to the back of the group. "Yes?"

"Sorry for just climbing up here with you," she apologized quietly. He shook his head.

"Do not worry over it Sophia, he can be- a handful," he replied making her giggle a little at his choice of words. She stopped though realizing that he hadn't called her Lady but had said her name. "Arthur isn't going to stop and camp for the night."

"Why?"

"Because the Fort is not far and if we keep going we'll arrive before dawn," he explained.

Sophia nodded. "Do you mind if I sleep against your back? I am not use to traveling long distances without resting."

"No, and I won't let you fall," he said to her. Sophia smiled. It seemed she'd made a friend in the knight. However she was curious to know what happened to him to cause such scarring across his face. She gathered it might not be a subject he liked to talk about but she would find a way to get it out of him, or maybe one of the others.
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A slight jolt woke Sophia up who took one arm from around Agravaine's waist in order to rub the sleep from her eyes. "Where are we?" she inquired.

"Quiet," Agravaine murmured.

She looked round his arm a little and found Arthur off his horse and speaking with someone, a man, in a skirt? "Is he wearing a skirt?" she asked.

Agravaine chuckled slightly. "The under cloth is and the leather lappets are pteryges. Its uncomfortable to wear," he stated. Sophia gave him a funny look. "Before we became knights, we did training in Centurion armour."

She shook her head. "There is so much to keep up with. So who are they?"

"Centurion guards, sent out probably to collect a high ranking personality from near the coast."

She glanced at the men in front of the knights and decided that she didn't like the look of any of them one bit. When they moved by, Sophia saw a few of them notice her and she quickly looked away. Strong she may be, but she was not entirely stupid and those men, if she read her history right could be nasty and gruesome when they wanted to be.
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She didn't know whether it was nerves that kept her awake after that but Sophia kept looking over her shoulder and she was surprised when Agravaine asked her if everything was alright. "I just don't feel comfortable, not on the horse but like I have something about to jump out from behind and grab me," she answered. He pulled his horse to a stop and climbed off suddenly.

"Move forward." She did as he said and found him getting up behind her.

"You really didn't need to do that," she commented.

"Be quiet," he replied and Sophia smiled a little, clearly he didn't like being praised very much.

Another knight came up suddenly out of nowhere beside them, scaring Sophia. "You scared her," Agravaine remarked and clearly sounded a little amused.

"Why is she riding with you?"

Sophia smirked. "Because I got sick of riding with an egotistical idiot," she interrupted Agravaine as he made to answer. A raised eyebrow from the other knight made Sophia smile meekly. "Well he is an idiot."

"I have no doubt that he can be," he grunted back to her.

"Who are you? Sorry you weren't around when Arthur gave me names."

"Tristan, a scout," he introduced himself and Sophia nodded, noting the tattoos on his cheeks with slight curiosity.
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The sun had barely pierced the sky when the fort came into sight and Sophia swallowed a thick lump of fear in her throat. She most definitely was back in the year 467. The fort was large and the surrounding area was full of farms. When they rode through a set of wrought iron gates, Sophia could only stare at the people who greeted them along the streets. A sea of children ran in and out of the line of horses and she wondered how none of them were trampled on with how close they got to the creatures at points.

They entered a small courtyard which ended up having the gates shut on the villagers and children. Stable hands took hold of the horses and the knights dismounted. Agravaine held a hand out to her. She had quietly told him that she was stiff from the long ride of which she wasn't use to and so he steadied her when her leg muscles tightened up when her feet hit the ground. After a second or two she was fine and he released her quickly, moving off to where Tristan was heading down a corridor.

Arthur approached her. "Lady, this is Jols," he said, waving a hand to the man who came up beside him. "He will show you to a room in the knights corridor, you can rest and then we must talk."

It was so formal that Sophia was actually somewhat confused but followed the man. "I'm Sophia," she said.

"Nice to meet you Sophia, quite an interesting set of clothes ye are wearin'," he mused as he stopped at a door suddenly. Sophia smiled a little. "Well here it is, you can rest or explore it is your choice, but be back here in an hour and I will show you to the great hall where Arthur and ye will be talkin'."

She thanked him and said she was going to explore. Heading back to the courtyard, she was grabbed suddenly by the elbows and dragged out the now open gates and down the street. Gawain and Galahad had hold of her. "Where are you taking me?" she asked, somewhat scared.

"Nowhere," Gawain replied.

"What do you mean nowhere? You grabbed me and started dragging me down the street, you must have a destination in mind."

Galahad laughed a little. "Nope, we just thought we'd be helpful guides on your first walk around the fort."

"I need to be back at my room in an hour," she said.

"Don't worry we'll get ya back there safe and sound and in one piece," Gawain reassured her.