Ch. 9
Two days had passed since the attack on the inn and Rose had spent her time either at Reya's side, or Tristan's; she preferred the latter. However, Tristan's attitude seemed somewhat apathetic towards her. Some days he would talk to her and wander about the muddy roads and other days, he would avoid her at all costs. But, since Arthur and his knights made no move to leave her small, petty village, she figured she'd have some time to get Tristan to 'warm up' to her.
It was late in the morning when Dagonet relieved Rose of her daily duty with Reya. Rose was somewhat ashamed to think of watching over her best friend as a 'duty' but still. How many times has Reya left Rose to do menial tasks while she flirted and talked with everyone who existed on the face of the planet? Besides, Rose had watched over Reya almost non-stop ever since she got hurt; unless of course Lancelot or Dagonet came it. They were the usual replacements in the daily watch. And Rose knew for a fact that Reya would prefer Lancelot or any other person than herself for that matter. According to Lancelot, she apparently has been waking up and chatting with him every time he's in the room. But, when Rose is watching her? Not a sound.
Rose left the old room and headed down the steps to the bar. It was quite crowded actually and it took Rose some time before she found the knights in the corner.
"We've been here…for basically week! And for what? A stupid girl who injured herself!" Gawaine angrily slammed his glass of ale down and continued. "She hurt herself, and we helped her. We're done! We're wasting time! OUR time! We should be working towards getting our release!"
Arthur looked at him but remained silent while Galahad nodded his head in agreement. "We've been here too long. There's no purpose here. We should go." Galahad said carefully keeping an eye on Arthur.
Arthur maintained his silence but Lancelot burst out angrily. "She needs our help! When she's better, we can leave, but she's not better, so we'll stay." He quickly looked at Arthur for reinforcement.
Bors snorted. "You only want to stay here because you fancy her."
"Hello Rose."
Arthur suddenly drew the knights' attention to Rose who had been listening unnoticed. Gawaine rolled his eyes and took another swig of beer.
"I'll just…um,..leave.." Rose stammered as the rest of the knights bore their eyes into her.
Arthur grabbed her arm. "Well, what is your thought on this? Should we stay a bit longer?" he asked give her a little smile.
Galahad made a face and Gawaine left muttering something about 'needing more beer.' Rose smiled but, like Arthur before, she didn't say anything to his question.
"So, now what, Arthur?" Bors asked, "Should we leave?"
Arthur nodded his head much to Rose's dismay. "We'll leave in two days."
