The next morning Hermione woke up well-rested and in rather optimistic spirits, to her relief. It appeared last night's resolution had taken a great weight off her shoulders.

"What should you like to wear today, Hermione?" Jada asked, bustling into the brunette's chambers.

"I think the light blue gown will do," Hermione replied cheerfully, resulting in smile forming on the redhead's lips.

And so the fake princess was dressed in a blue gown that she couldn't help but briefly admire in the mirror upon being dressed in it. She wore the Time-Turner tucked safe under the material of her chest, finding it strangely comforting.

"What's that?" Jada inquired as she was checking over the dress once more, her eyes fixated on the small charm.

"It's just a necklace I was given as a gift years ago," Hermione told her simply, discovering it was becoming much easier to lie as her time in Camelot lengthened. The handmaid nodded, obviously still a little curious but knowing better than to prod further, and fixed Hermione's hair into a half pinned back style. The witch smiled and left the room, hoping to avoid anymore questions, as much as she liked Jada. As she glided down the corridor, an idea struck her. She couldn't use magic to defend herself in Camelot with Uther being in charge. She was basically useless without it in battle- her mind was her weapon and magic was simply what channeled her knowledge.

But... perhaps she could get someone to teach her her how to properly defend herself, without magic. The first thing that came to mind was Arthur on the training grounds, and swords clashing and clanging as he fought an opponent. What if she learned how to sword fight? Just in order to stay safe without risk of exposing herself while she was stuck in Camelot. But who would teach her? It wasn't as if many men in such a misogynistic time period would openly welcome her into a sword training session. All she knew was she had to find someone soon, if she wanted to avoid another near death experience.

Hermione pondered upon her idea during breakfast, and once she was satisfied she left to track down Gaius and Merlin to hear about any progress.

"Hermione!"

She turned around to greet whoever was calling her, pulled out of her thoughts. A smile graced her lips until she saw it was Arthur. She then shook her head in disdain and kept walking.

"Hermione, wait!"

Ignore him, ignore him, ignore him...

"I order you to stop!"

That made her flip around, unable to be passive when someone decided they had authority over her.

"Oh, you order me?" she asked sarcastically, dark eyes flashing.

"This is my castle," Arthur said in a superior tone, very different from how he'd called after her seconds before.

"And will eventually be mine as well, so don't try to pull that one on me," Hermione laughed bitterly, nonplussed by his show of superiority. "I was doing really well ignoring you, and now you want to talk?"

"Well, yes," he offered before his lips curved into a slight smirk. She rolled her eyes.

"Unbelievable."

She was about to stalk off when he grabbed her arm.

"Hold on, please."

Hermione shut her eyes, drew in a silent breath, and then faced him.

"Yes?"

"I realize lately I've been a-"

"Arrogant, self-centered, egotistical, selfish git?" she offered.

He looked like he wanted to say, "Ha ha," but he just sucked it in and nodded.

"Well, yes, all of the above," he agreed.

"And your point is?" she continued, trying to retain her patience.

"I want to apologize," he answered sincerely, "And I figure we could get to know each other... better. We are destined to be husband and wife, after all."

Hermione couldn't help but smile after a short moment of comfortable silence.

"Apology accepted," she informed him in a much nicer tone. "But I do have to ask one thing of you- a favour."

"Depends what that is," he said slowly.

"Teach me how to fight," she said quickly, "With a sword."

He choked on a laugh.

"Teach you how to fight? Have you ever fought in your life?"

"I've done things you wouldn't imagine," was all Hermione could say, straightening proudly and giving him a tough look.

Arthur thought for a minute, his blue eyes full of wondering.

"All right, I'll do it," he agreed tentatively. Hermione grinned triumphantly.

"Brilliant!" she said, barely containing a sigh of relief. This was one more thing she now had control over- this fact was incredibly comforting to Hermione.

"By the way, Father wanted me to show you your gift," Arthur added, seemingly having just remembered the message. "A horse. Her name's Milly, and she's all yours now."

Hermione was sure the astonishment was all over her face at his announcement. Arthur seemed hardly bemused by the idea of gifting a horse, but Hermione was obviously not accustomed to it. She quickly covered up her incredulity and nodded, forcing a grateful smile onto her lips.

Arthur gestured for her to follow him, and Hermione reluctantly did so, glancing back towards the path to the physician's chambers. Well, it could wait, a few minutes seeing her gifted steed wouldn't kill her. The two walked side by side in silence until she broke the tension.

"I'm afraid I don't have much experience in riding," she explained, one of the few truths she'd spoken in this new environment. "I didn't get to go outside of our citadel much at all, as ordered by my father."

Arthur looked down at her, frowning at the admittance.

"That sounds terrible," the prince remarked. "I love the citadel and everything within its walls, but I need my freedom. Taking Llamrei for a hunt or just to roam the woods is what keeps me sane sometimes, what with Father's constant demands and expectations."

Immediately after that he appeared to regret speaking more vulnerably than he'd intended, but Hermione wouldn't dare irritate a reopened wound. Whatever problems Arthur had with his father were frankly none of her business, so she wouldn't push it- but she did have to wonder if most of his arrogance came from a desperate need to be the supreme male and prince his father wanted him to be.

She kept this conclusion to herself and instead replied, "Books are what keep me sane. Books of fact and logic, that is. There's too much that doesn't make sense going on in my life as it is- I need pages of things that are unchanging in order to stay grounded."

Arthur made a face and audible sound of disgust, and she turned a sharp eye on him.

"What?"

"Books. They're horrendously boring."

"I don't even know where to start to prove how wrong you are about that," she said with a scoff of a laugh, shaking her head and her curls following as she did so. "But as boring as you believe them to be, they also make you smarter."

"A book won't save you when a man has a sword tip against your chest," Arthur disagreed, blinking and narrowing his eyes slightly as they stepped outdoors and the sun shone directly on them.

"But a book may very well equip you with the words to say to convince the man to put his sword down and handle the situation sensibly," Hermione waved her finger, triumphant in tone. "Or, if you carry books around constantly as I usually do, you could always throw it at the man and run."

Arthur gave a healthy laugh at that and she couldn't help but softly join in, strangely satisfied that she was able to elicit a positive response from him. Before long, they had stopped near the entrance to stables, where guards stood scattered around to keep an eye on things as stable hands cleaned and tended to the horses.

The brunette and blonde stood next to each other in place, brown and blue eyes trained on the movement before them. Then Hermione once again took the initiative to break the trance, stepping forward. Arthur quickly strode to catch up with her, going straight into the large stone structure. Hermione went inside and looked around. There were many horses all around, each with clean coats of different colours. But she saw one with a strange white patch around its right eye, and her attention was caught. She moved towards it cautiously, the horse watching her warily, ready to back up if necessary.

"Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you," she told the horse soothingly. It whinnied softly, but there was no hostility, so Hermione kept moving forward at a steady pace, her hand outstretched harmlessly. The horse snorted quietly, its head moving slightly. Hermione pulled her hand away quickly. But then she tried again, reaching until her hand made contact with a muzzle. The witch breathed out in relief when it didn't protest, and she stepped closer. She petted the horse's muzzle and the horse pushed into her hands. Hermione laughed at the horses confidence and gave it all of her affection.

"That's her," Arthur's voice said gently from behind Hermione. She looked back and saw him leaning against the wall with his arms crossed comfortably, and she shot him a soft smile.

"She's beautiful," Hermione then said as she scratched behind Milly's ears carefully.

"Come on, you can lead her out slowly," Arthur advised her, stepping forward in case he needed to help. Hermione took the reigns off their hook and led Milly out of her stall, past the guards. Arthur followed with another horse and stopped her in place. Hermione stopped leading Milly as the prince walked over. Arthur came up behind her and helped her onto the horse. He was gentle and careful while helping the young woman, who then waited for him to get on his own horse, Llamrei. They finally set off at a steady pace, into the forest path.

"Arthur, what do you usually do when you're not, you know.. doing your duties as prince?" Hermione wondered aloud after a few minutes of trotting, looking over at her riding companion.

Arthur returned the glance, curious as to why she was asking, so she smiled hesitantly at him to assure him it was an innocent question.

"Well, I don't have any particular hobbies, but I uh, like to practice my swordsmanship," he told her, disconnecting their gazes suddenly.

"It's no secret you're a talented fighter," she admired, genuinely meaning the compliment and also hoping it would ease Arthur into relaxing a little with her.

Arthur laughed at the comment, however, and Hermione felt herself blush red hot. That was probably a stupid thing to say, making herself sound like an enamored fan.

"Is that so?" he asked as his laughs began to subside.

"I've seen you practice, you really know how to work a sword," she assured him.

Arthur looked down at his reigns momentarily, then returned his gaze to the trail ahead. A thoughtful expression, tinged with a slight amount of bitterness he was obviously trying to conceal, was etched into his elegant features. Her eyes scanned every inch of his face, and she was unable to pull them away. Everything about him was striking. History had certainly done him justice in emphasizing his uncommon attractiveness. Among the others of his time, he stood out.

"My father's had me train since I was a boy," he informed her, pulling Hermione out of her trance. "I guess it's paid off."

"Arthur, you don't have to completely commit yourself to your fighting, you know," she said sincerely, although she hoped it it hadn't come out too sympathetically. She didn't want it to seem forced, like she was obligated to feel sorry for him because it was the polite thing to do. She meant it.

"What do you mean?" he asked in a puzzled tone. Hermione noticed a nice creek nearby in the trees, so she stopped Milly and hopped off carefully. She landed and Arthur watched in slight shock, although he quickly wiped the surprise off his face to copy her actions, and the pair led their horses to the water.

"I didn't think you'd even be able to slide off the horse," Arthur noted.

"That's your problem," Hermione said in a light voice as Milly drank, glancing back towards him, "You don't give people a chance to show you what they're really like. I'm not who you think I am."

Arthur scrutinized the brunette for a moment, then looked back over at his own horse.

"You didn't answer my previous question," he finally spoke, "What did you mean by "I don't have to completely commit myself to my training"? I mean, of course I do, I'm the future king of Camelot- and the best of my knights. I can't just," he struggled for a moment before finishing, "Not commit."

Hermione tied Milly to a tree and looked up as she worked on the knot.

"Arthur, there's more to life then being the best knight," she said wisely. "I used to think books and cleverness were all that mattered- but I learned there were more important things. Courage, friendship, bravery... being clever all on your own is nothing compared to having all of that."

"I have friends!" Arthur replied defensively. "And I think I'm brave enough. I've faced things you wouldn't believe."

Hermione looked wholeheartedly amused.

"Friends don't let friends almost kill people with knives," she tsked, arching a brow accusatively. "Real friendship is with people you'd do anything for. People you would die for, Arthur."

Arthur pondered this definition, pacing around in the slightly open area in the forest, the sunlight that broke through the treetops giving his skin a warm tint and bringing out the shimmering gold strands in his hair. He then took a seat against a tree trunk, gazing out on the bubbling creek that the horses had been drinking from.

Hermione approached warily, deciding then to take a seat near but not too close to him against an empty side of the trunk. She let him have his moment of thought, and took the time to wonder herself. Had she arrived too early, or had Arthur already begun that type of friendship with Merlin? She didn't imagine Arthur knew of Merlin's magic- as far as the witch knew, Gaius was the only one aware of Merlin's secret. If there was a friendship there, she could only imagine how painful it was on Merlin's side, to hide his true identity from Arthur. The prince had likely little idea yet just how important a role Merlin would play in his legacy.

"I'm going to offer a proposition, a favour in exchange for a favour," Arthur said, interrupting her own thought process.

"Tell me."

Arthur's eyes slowly left the creek to roam towards Hermione, and she searched them for sincerity. What did he want from her?

"I'll teach you how to sword fight, and you'll teach me things from your books," he decided, lowering his gaze and clenching his jaw slightly.

Every word had seemed sincere to Hermione. Was he actually trying to understand her better? Somehow this lifted her heart, though it really shouldn't have mattered much when this was all a means to an end for her getting away from this era. Still, for the time being, he was choosing to share with her something that meant a lot to him, and now he requested the same of her. Perhaps he intended to change his assuming and arrogant ways for the better.

"I can do that," she agreed with a slowly growing smile. "Don't worry, I'll take it easy on you. We'll start with children's reading material."

"Oh, very funny."

Hermione hid a wider grin before offering her hand to him to shake on it. He seemed bewildered by her unorthodox and probably unladylike gesture, but he latched his hand to her forearm and they shook.

"We should get going back now," he then said before he stood fro his spot, approaching Llamrei once more. Hermione followed suit, still with a curve to her lips she couldn't seem to get rid of.