A new fic! I know I already have 4 others on the go but I really wanted to do a KoH one and I saw that there were almost no Balian/OC stories out there so I decided to make my own. Balian will NOT end up with Sibylla in this fic but she will still be in the story. I will not update this as often as my other fanfictions because I do not own the movie and I will constantly have to get it out of the library and so on so I can write this story but I'll do the best I can. This story will always be written in third person but the POVs may change. At the moment it's from Godfrey's POV but in the next chapter, it might switch to Balian's, I don't know yet. In any case, the only people who's POVs it will be written from will be Godfrey, Balian and my OC, Asha. Anyways, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom of Heaven.

Chapter 1: The Girl

When Godfrey first came across the mysterious girl she was laying beside the road, shivering and naked with cuts and bruises all over her body. She was by no means beautiful, with a black eye and a burn on her side but maybe, if she was healed and clean, she could be. Her blonde hair was cut badly and cropped close to her skull and she was thin enough that you could see her bones against her pale skin.

"Are you going to try to take me as well?" she sneered at Godfrey when he approached on his horse. There was a fire in her hazel eyes that was defiant and strong and she didn't even try to cover herself up.

"Come here child," he beckoned her. She gazed at him warily but moved towards him anyways. Hospitaller was the only other one with him and he supposed that the girl must've thought that she could take them both in a fight if needed, though she kept glancing at their swords. "I won't hurt you." Godfrey reassured her, willing her to move closer. She did exactly that. He removed his hat, as to see her better and she looked surprised.

"It can't be..." she muttered. She looked at Hospitaller and looked even more surprised. "You-how?"

"You are speaking nonsense child," Godfrey said, confused by her reaction. She seemed stunned. "Let's get you warm." He removed his fur lined cloak and handed it to her. She looked up at him in wonder as she took the cloak and wrapped it around herself. "There is a village a mile along the road," he told her. "There we can take lodgings and get you some clothes." She nodded and mounted the horse they used for supplies after Godfrey directed her to.

Luckily it was cold so there weren't many people outside once they reached the town. The girl covered herself as best she could but if someone were to look closely they would realize that she wasn't wearing anything beneath the cloak. He was worried that if a man saw her he would try to take advantage of her. Godfrey wouldn't let that happen of course but he didn't want the girl to deal with that sort of trauma. From the looks of her, she had already gone through enough.

They made it to an inn without much trouble and got her into one of the two rooms they asked for without anyone noticing her lack of clothing. There they called for a hot bath to be drawn and for food to be brought to the men in the second room, as well as some clothes that they would pay for.

"Bathe," Godfrey told her. "Then Hospitaller will take care of your wounds." She nodded and disappeared into her room. The clothes were brought up and he placed them outside her door. When she was ready for Hospitaller, she knocked on her own door from the inside and he entered, taking the clothes with him along with some slave.

After an hour or so, they reemerged and joined Godfrey in the second room which contained the food that they had ordered. The girl looked much better now and Godfrey could see her beauty beginning to shine through. It would only grow stronger once she was healed. She offered him a small smile as she sat down next to the fire. She was wearing men's clothes, a green wool tunic with brown leggings underneath.

"Eat up," was all he said as he passed her a plate of food. He expected her to wolf it down since she looked as if she hadn't eaten in days, maybe even weeks but she chewed politely.

"Thank you," she said once she had finished her meal. Godfrey nodded in acknowledgement to her thanks.

"What is your name, child?" he asked.

"Asha," she told him, looking him in the eye. It was an odd name, to be sure but somehow it suited her.

"Where are you from? Do you have any family?" he pushed on to gain more information about her.

"I am from a place very far from here," she said vaguely. "I have no family or friends. You two are the first people who haven't tried to harm me or use me for your own purposes."

Hospitaller and Godfrey shared a glance. They both knew what that meant. This girl had been attacked, in more ways than one.

"Do you have anywhere to go?" Godfrey changed the subject. The girl shook her head. She stared at him, her eyes not pleading for anything more from him. "You may come with us." He said. The girl nodded and bowed her head in thanks. Her expression was neither one of relief nor one of trickery, as if she had planned this all along. He stood and looked down at her as she raised her head to stare at him with a slightly stubborn gaze.

"You will travel as a man and we will call you Gabriel." Godfrey instructed. She nodded. "We are traveling to France. The journey will take months. We will train you to fight. The road will be tough, dangerous. We often won't be able to sleep in inns but rather on the forest floor." She gave him a look that said 'do you honestly think I can't handle that? After the way you found me?' "Along the way to France we will be gathering other men. You must not reveal your identity to any of them, understood?"

"Yes," she said without asking why.

"Once we reach our destination, you may choose if you want to continue to travel with us or to go your own way. We leave at first light. Get some rest."

She stood and bowed, which he thought was odd, before leaving.

"I suppose you have a plan for her." Hospitaller said in the wry tone he often used.

"Maybe," Godfrey admitted. "But we shall have to see if it will work." Hospitaller smiled and clinked his glass of wine against Godfrey's.

For the first few months of their journey Godfrey taught Asha many valuable skills. He taught her to hunt, to fight, to build fire and all sorts of other useful things. She was decent with a sword but tired easily due to the heaviness of the blade and her still-weak state. She was horrible with a bow and throwing knives and she did not like the feel of hatchets or axes. She was a natural with daggers though and she excelled at hand to hand combat, throwing in moves that he had never seen before.

By the time they met with the first new member of their group, a German man named Odo, she was equipped with two long knives and a sword. She also wore a scarf around her head so only her eyes could be seen, her features being too distinctly feminine once the black eye had healed. If any of the others ever saw her face when it wasn't bloodied or bruised, they would know right away that she was female. The scarf was positioned in such a fashion that it looked masculine enough in style and she could put food beneath it when eating. When asked why she wore it, she told Odo that she had a scar on her face that was too horrible to be seen. After that he never asked about it again.

She didn't talk much but when she did it often had a dry sarcastic tone to it, unless it was with Godfrey or Hospitaller, the only ones who knew her secret. She made a conscious effort to make her voice sound lower than it was which was good for her male image. She never spoke of her past or of where she came from. She didn't share more information about herself with Godfrey or Hospitaller than what she had on the first night. Still, Godfrey trusted her.

Asha was intelligent, Godfrey learned. She was good with strategy and planning. She saw solutions that the others would've never even guessed at. Every new member that joined their group asked Godfrey where he had gotten someone as smart as Asha, or as they called her, Gabriel.

Soon they grew close to their destination. The night when they were a day's journey to the village that Godfrey wanted to go to, he called Asha to side.

"Have you thought about whether you want to continue on to Jerusalem?" he asked her.

"Yes, I have." She used her regular voice since they were a little ways away from the rest of the knights. "I would like to go with you, if you would have me." She bowed her head, ever respectful to the man who had saved her life. He nodded.

"May I ask a favour of you?" he inquired.

"Anything," she answered without hesitation.

"We are going to this village so I can meet my son; my illegitimate son." He added. This did not seem to faze her at all and she fixed him with that unwavering gaze of hers. "If he agrees to come with me and if anything should happen to me, I would like you to watch over him. Protect him. Please." She nodded and bowed her head.

"Of course."

"For that, you will need to be a knight." He told her. She looked up at him in surprise.

"My Lord," she began. "A knight cannot lie. I wouldn't be able to hide my identity if I were to become a Knight."

"You are smart," he told her. "You will find a way. Do you accept my request?"

"I accept," she said after a moment's thought. He smiled.

"Thank you."

Godfrey then stood and took a hold of his sword. She knelt before him. All the other members of the group looked over at them in interest.

"Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. That is your oath." Godfrey said, placing the sword on both her shoulders, in turn. He raised his hand and hit her across the face, though with much less force than he usually used. "And that is so you remember it." He could see the smile in Asha's eyes as she looked up at him. Only she would find being hit across the face, funny. "Arise a knight."

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Thanks,

~Liliana