His Guardian Angel 2

Interlude - Practice

Lancelot and I rode through the forest on Heaven, enjoying the freedom of feeling the wind in my hair. We rode in silence and I felt myself leaning back into the knight, letting myself relax after the stress of the past few days. We reached the Druid Camp by the morning, and I had fallen asleep at some point during the ride.

We reached the camp and soon enough there were a few people surrounding us. Lancelot hopped down off of Heaven, and then turned to help me off, which I let him. I looked across the glade and made eye contact with Meeri, who smiled at me. "Lance! Ana!" A young voice cried out, and I looked down to notice Mordred running towards us. I smiled at the boy as he wrapped his arms around my waist. He let me go and then latched on to Lancelot, who picked him up.

"I'll be right back." I said, before making my way through the crowd towards where Meeri's tent had been set up. I opened the flap and saw that the Druid leader was already waiting for me. "I assume that everything went well?" He asked me, a glint of something in the corner of his eyes. "Yes, my friends are all alright, and Arthur 'nor Merlin figured out who I was." I said, letting out a breath and sitting down opposite Meeri.

"What else is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Meeri asked me, making me look up at him. "My wings. I had control over them, just for a second, long enough to help me get something I needed." I explained, making Meeri smile. "Well, what is your question?" He questioned, and I sighed, not really knowing what I wanted to ask him. "My wings, they react like my magic, coming to me when I am in danger, or someone else is. Is there a safe place nearby where I could practice?" I said, finally asking him a question.

"Of course there is dear, but that can wait until tomorrow, I am sure you and your knight need a good night's rest." Meeri commented, making me realise just how tired I was. I nodded and stood up to leave, before I realised that I didn't know if they had set up our tent while we were gone. I turned back and was about to ask, but Meeri spoke up before I could. "Your tent is just next to mine, the others thought that you would want somewhere warm to sleep as soon as you came back." He said, making me smile warmly at him.

I walked over to where our tent had been pitched and slipped inside, glad to see that everything was here that I had managed to save before we were attacked. I also noticed that my dress and cloak were in there. That was nice, now I had two sets of clothes and didn't have to traipse around the forest in a bright white dress.

I then looked over to where Lancelot's bed was and smiled as I saw a few of his things there as well. I left my new cloak in there and left the tent, proudly showing my wings off as I moved over to help a few of the women gather the wood for the fire.

That night I laughed and played with Mordred, and he showed Lancelot how good he was getting with his wooden sword. The boy had missed us both, and as I watched Lancelot run around camp, chasing after him I realised that I felt completely calm. I was not worried about everything, and I felt like I was where I was meant to be. It felt the same way when I was sitting in Morgana's chambers with her and Gwen, or when Merlin was complaining about everything that Arthur had him doing that day. Or when I was in Arthur's embrace.

I sighed and moved over to my tent, I laid down and turned over, trying to rid my head of the life that I could no longer live. I heard Lancelot come in and shuffle around for a few moments before he also laid down to rest, but I just pretended to be asleep, before closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.

The next morning I rose early and ate quickly, eager to get started with training my wings. I locked eyes with Meeri, who smiled at me and pointed away from the camp. I mouthed a thank you back to him and headed off in that direction. I walked for a short while before coming to a clearing. I sighed and felt my wings stretch out beside me. I took a deep breath and calmed myself enough to feel completely at peace with my surroundings.

I pictured myself standing in the clearing, in my blue dress, which I still had on from yesterday. I then added my wings to my image and made them wrap around myself. I smiled into them as they wrapped around me protectively. I felt something soft brush against my arms and my eyes snapped open. My smile widened as I saw that my wings had wrapped themselves around me. I had done it, I had control over them and what they did.

I spent the rest of the morning practicing with them, making them reach up into the trees and grab fruit and leaves for me. By the end of the morning I had vague control over them, although it took me a while to get them where I wanted them, I was getting it consistently, which I was happy with.

I went back to the camp around midday and then grabbed myself some food for lunch, talking to a few of the druids about random things. In the afternoon I spent time with Aglain, helping him gather what he needed to restock his supplies. Then I ate my dinner with Lancelot away from everyone else, wanting to spend some time with just the two of us.

"Do you think that you'll ever go back to Camelot?" Lancelot asked me, making me sigh. This was something that I had given a lot of thought to over the past few weeks. "I don't know. If I ever get the opportunity to return without my life being in danger then I would go in a heartbeat, but I know that that won't happen. At least not until Arthur is King. But that's the thing. I don't understand how I am meant to protect Camelot if I'm not actually there." I said, voicing my thoughts to the knight.

"If you were to return, I would stay by your side. I do not intend on leaving it anytime soon. And Camelot isn't simply the castle and city, there are the outlying villages. Maybe you are meant to start there, where it's easier to blend in." Lancelot said, making me smile at him, I was glad that he was going to be there for me, and that he would support me through anything.

I wasn't blind, so I knew that Lancelot had feelings towards me, however strong they were I was unsure. But I was glad that he was being respectful and allowing me to figure out my feelings, and letting me decide what I wanted. And I trusted that even if I chose Arthur that I would still have him beside me.