Lady Knight Missione (Merlin fanfic)

Chapter Eight

A few weeks after Sir Bedivere departed from us, back to Camelot and to the King I find myself with more determination and strength. I have my purpose and I am doing all that I can to achieve it when a peculiar thing happens.

I am lying in my bed in the wee hours of the morning after I wake from a noise, and only after listening intently do I find out what it is. It is Alex, cursing silently as she bumps into something in the dim light of the morning. I think it not at all strange for her to get up early and begin training exercise so I only stare at the wall as I listen to her fumble around. Only after I hear the door shut quietly do I rise from my bed, wide awake.

The reason I didn't just get up when she was here is because we aren't close and I don't want to give a reason for her to be angered with me. We talk when necessary, but we aren't really friends or even friendly, not like how I and Elie are, or her and Elie. I sometimes long to be friends with her but she is closed off and doesn't get close quickly, or ever; I have realised this over the time we have spent together training or sharing space.

I get out of my blankets and quickly fumble around for my clothing until I find them. I then attach my sword to my side before leaving our room. I expect there to be a least one candle that is lit with flame when I walk into the common room but find none and even more surprising, Alex isn't here. Maybe she went to the outhouse I wonder at first but then I remember that not even an hour ago we both were awake to use it so why would she go now? My curiosity is too great, so to answer my question, I follow her.

I walk out of the cottage and look around until I hear rustling to my right. Deciding it could be her, and since I have no other idea where she may have gone, I follow it and hopefully her into the bushes. I don't see her at first but I soon catch up. I choose to stay in her shadow, then in the sun that is newly rising in hopes that she will not see me. She would be very angry if she knew that I am following her, and I do not want to invoke the wrath of Alex. I stay a fair distance away and follow her throughout the day as the sun grows higher and my appetite larger for I ate nothing since supper last night. It is only when the sun is starting to go down and I'm ready to collapse from hunger and thirst does she stop. Following her lead I do the same.

Alex walks ahead, out of the bushes and into a medium sized clearing towards two large pile of rocks. I recognize the significant of them and what they represent almost immediately as the mark of two graves. My heart feels like stones are weighing it down from what I am witnessing, Alex crying. She is always strong, never have I seen her shed a single tear until now and it somehow makes me want to cry as well. I forget everything around me and take a step forward, breaking a tree branch under my foot. This catches her attention, making her head shoot up as she unsheathes her sword.

"Come out. I know you're there." She says, her voice cracking only the slightest. She's still crying, even though she is trying desperately to stop.

"It is only I." I say as I walk out of the trees and into the now fading sun.

She relaxes once she recognizes me and puts her sword away, back into her scabbard. We stand there looking at each other, not really knowing what to say or how to break the silence. I decide to and ask quietly, "Who were they?"

Her eyes well up again with tears as she takes a deep breath and says, "My parents, although only my mother is buried here while my father's body was Nev – never... He was killed in battle, leaving me, my brother and my mother with nothing. We went to King Caerleon for help, my mother did, but he turned her away and so my mother took us here, to Camelot in hopes of a better life. She died a few years later. I don't want to be like her and have to depend on men for everything so I went in search for someone willing to teach a maiden to wield a sword and I found Al. I told my brother and we had a big argument. In the end we parted ways on bad terms. I wish we hadn't but we did. We buried her here and I made another site for my father who had none. I love them so much and I miss my dear brother more than anything."

She begins to cry as a few tears escape my eyes for we are the same and the pain she feels, I can almost feel it too. I walk over and pull her into a hug while simultaneously catching her as she is about to fall. I slowly lower her to the grass ground as I am still too weak from lack of food to hold both our weight. I hold her as she cries, and not until this moment do I feel the small gap in our ages. I don't know what it is like to have a sister or even a younger one for that matter but I suppose this is what it feels like as I hold and comfort her like I'm sure any older one would.

When her sobs cease to exist and her eyes are wiped dry do we part. She says her goodbyes to her parents' site and we leave after we have some food and water that she brought. On our way back a peaceful silence falls between us.

"Can we be friends? You and I?" Asks Alex.

"I thought we already were." I answer back.

"Then let's be sisters."

I smile and the peaceful silence falls again, along with happiness as we walk back.