Chapter 11

Gabby woke up to movement beside her the next morning. She opened her eyes to see that Dinah was sitting up, rubbing her head. "My head..." she moaned. The seer opened her eyes slowly. When she saw who it was next to her, her eyes widened some. "Gabriel." she said, getting out of the bed with the blanket wrapped around her and staring at the older blonde woman.

"Dinah I-" The knight was cut off from her half-hearted attempt to explain

"Did we-?"

"Yeah," Gabby said, looking down for a moment. When she looked up, Dinah was looking back at the knight in horror, and she'd gone pale, which made Gabby feel queasy inside. Gabby herself sat up and reached towards Dinah as a way to comfort the younger blonde.

"Don't." Dinah said, flinching and walking away from her quickly. The knight's hand dropped immediately. Gabby closed her eyes for a split second as a way to hide her emotions. She wrapped some of the linens around her even though she knew that Dinah had seen everything the night before. She seemed uncomfortable about her nakedness now. Dinah surveyed the scene, her eyes switching between the two women to the very well used bed. "No, we couldn't have-"

"Yet we did," the knight interrupted. 'How can she not remember? Had she drunken that much?' That last thought made Gabby feel almost sick.

"What did you do to me? How did you bewitch me?"

"There was no bewitchery. You were drinking-"

"So you took advantage of me?!" she hissed. Was that what happened? Gabby didn't see it that way. After all, Dinah was the one whom had initiated the first kiss, but what if by not stopping it, she had taken advantage of her? Gabby would never think to hurt the seer. She loved her.

"No, I didn't," the knight said, standing up, which made Dinah back away further. "You came on to me." Gabby said. She absently rummaged around, lighting the candle on the table and looking into Diable' Blanc's cage to see how he survived the night. He was staring at her at the moment and seemed content to be where he was.

"I did no such thing. You had to have done something. If I came on to you, I would remember. Why don't I remember if there has been no craft?!"

"I didn't bewitch you, and I can prove it, Dinah. Your power... You can see into people's mind. I will show you everything that happened last night, and if you took a closer look, you will know for a fact that I am not lying to you. You will see everything. What I said, what I felt..." 'How I still feel.' she finished in her head.

"No... no." the younger girl denied.

"Oh no?" Gabby said, feeling her hurt turn slowly to anger. 'Why can't you remember?! You must remember... something about last night.' "Oh yes, Seer." Dinah flinched again at the knight's last hissed word. "Who would have ever thought the quiet seer in which everyone ignored could sound like a jungle beast in the midst of her passion?" Gabby sneered, picking up her hose, braces, and her shirt. She started to dress with her back to Dinah, looking for a way to tightly wrap the fabric around her chest without the pin to fasten it with, for in the middle of everything that happened then night before, Gabby had forgotten where the seer had placed it. Dinah fell silent as she herself dressed. She pulled her hair up a little, and then after they were both fully dressed, they just stared at each other. "It's the truth," Gabby said as if reading the seer's mind, but in fact had just seen the look on Dinah's face. "You had sexual intercourse with a woman. I don't know how that is possible... Never thought it was, but it is, and that is what we did. A woman made you feel that way. A woman showed you that you had more passion within you than you could have ever thought was possible-"Gabby's sword flew towards her from the floor. Had she not jumped to her right, the blade would have pierced her heart and she would have been dead. Dinah's eyes widened and Gabby felt her heart pound in her chest as she realized how close she was do dying. Dinah looked up at Gabby.

"I don't have to stand here and listen to your insults, SIR GABRIEL." she said, stepping towards Gabby, saying her name in anger and disgust after she'd gotten over the shock of what she had done with her mind. Gabby's anger returned full force as the seer stepped into her breathing space a little more.

"Oh," she said crossing her arms in a way to protect her heart and show intimidation at the same time, "Perhaps you'd like to lie down and hear them. You seem to do that well-" It was a slip of the tongue, and Gabby knew it the moment it tumbled from her lips. The seer's hand connected with Gabby's cheek, causing her head to whip to the side and stay there, looking at the stone floors, disgusted with herself for what she'd said.

"Those people out there think you are a man." Dinah hissed. She scoffed, then said, "I, of course, know differently. You walk out there with those men knowing what we had done, you'd get a slap on the back and 'Job well done'. I walk out there with them knowing what happened last night, and I will be forever known as a whore. GABRIEL'S. WHORE!" She screamed, separating the two words. There was a long silence in which Gabby remained still, thinking over her words. If she was so worried about what people thought, then why did she want to share their quarters to begin with? Gabby thought about this for a moment. The world was harsh towards women. Gabby knew this first hand, it being the main reason she had become a knight, and she knew Dinah's point. There was a pounding at their door.

"Dinah! The Baby! I think it's coming!" The voice on the other side of the door was that of Kafka's. Dinah walked towards the door, but Gabby was quick and took her shoulder quickly.

"Everything I said to you last night- and I mean EVERYTHING... It will always be true." Gabby stared into those blue eyes once more before Dinah shrugged away, opened the door and closed it with a slam, making the knight flinch. Then she slumped to the floor. She looked around the room and fought the tears that threatened to spill.

Sitting in a room filled with memories from the night before would certainly drive her mad, so Gabby decided to leave. She picked up her sword and started walking out of the castle. She went to see Kafka and got a carrot from him. She ran back to the room and used the sword to slice the carrot for Diable' Blanc, then walked leisurely back to the stables. She decided she needed a bath. Maybe bathing will wash away the night before... Maybe it will wash away the memories. She knew of a stream in which the knight and the seer had passed on the horse back ride they'd been on a couple of days prior. She prepared Nix. "Don't groan, Nix." Kafka said. "This will be a quick joust today, just a best of five."

"Really quick, I promise, but that isn't why I am preparing him. We are going for a ride. Need more exercise." Nix was cooperative this time, and the woman and horse were at the stream within a half hour's time. "You were right, Nix old friend." Gabby said as she got off of the horse's back and undressed. She waded in the stream and squatted so that only her shoulders could be seen above the water, knowing it was too early for anyone to want to got riding on this trail at that time, yet still being cautious. She let the cold water run over her body, still speaking to Nix as she did so. "She did hurt me, Nix, and you warned me. You warned me through Kafka that she would. Why didn't I listen to you? Because I honestly thought that boy was mad. Missing a bit of his brain. Nutters, completely insane. You were right. I am being punished for this... being a knight. It is the price I am now paying for this." Gabby looked up at the grey morning sky and wondered if it was a mistake to take a bath then. She'd get a chill and those are hard to get over, if she ever does. "I don't care." She decided, letting Him know she meant it. "You couldn't just hit me with lightning, or- or run me down with Sir Rhyse's horse to punish me though, could you? Oh no, that would be just too damned EASY!" She splashed in her anger. Nix shifted feet. "No," she said just barely calmer, "You give me a moment of happiness where I think maybe, JUST MAYBE I had a chance at love. And then the morning comes, which shows how stupid I really am. There is no hell. We LIVE in it, and maybe if we're good when we die we go to Heaven... Otherwise we just go somewhere else where Earth is duplicated." Gabby fell silent, thinking about her rant. "No, this is my fault," she said after many minutes of bathing and getting dressed again. "I was never supposed to fall in love with her. I should just... move on... Forget about her and think of the last task." She moaned, thinking about the last task as she dried her tears and let her hiccups die. "The bloody joust."

"GABRIEL!" A familiar voice called for her as she got on her horse and started to ride. Gabby turned every which way in confusion. 'Why is Irene calling for me? She is at home... You're going mad, Gabriel Andrew. Mad, I tell ya.' But there it was again. "GABRIEL!" Gabby pulled on the reigns to her horse and made him turn around. Sure enough, Irene was there, on Thadius' horse coming towards her. When she got near enough, she saw the state Gabby was in and sighed. "Oh Gabriel." she said softly. "Come with me. We shall ride." Gabby watched Irene in awe. She was wearing a pair of trousers that Thadius wore when he worked in the gardens with his wife. Woman never wore trousers, yet there she was. Gabby did as she was told (because she was good at that), and they walked side by side (er- at least, the HORSES walked side by side) on the man-made horse trail.

Gabby watched Irene carefully, silently wondering why she was there, and more importantly, why she was there on the trail alone. There were bandits and thieves everywhere and if she wasn't with Thadius or someone equally strong, she would have easily gotten killed. Irene aged gracefully, only looking the same age as Barbara the Healer, though Gabby knew she'd seen at least 40 winters. Her dark brown hair was put into its usual braid. Irene was bit taller than Gabby, which made it look odd when the two walked side by side. "Irene?" Gabby asked after a minute or two of an uncertain silence, in which Gabby tried not to sweat in her nervousness. She wasn't sure why the older woman had seeked her out, and hoped nothing bad had happened to Alexis or Elizabeth, whom were like her sisters.

"I heard from Issac that Thadius was planning to enter you into the tournament to win Princess Helena Wayne's hand. I tried to get here before him, but the roads were difficult, and weather was horrid." She said. "But you absolutely can't win this joust today."

"I know this. I do not want to win the joust. I do not wish to settle down." Gabby lied.

"That isn't the only reason you cannot win." Irene stressed.

"It's the only reason that I can think of." The knight said with a shrug.

"I can think of a few others." Irene said almost curtly. Gabby looked up at her, pretending to be amused by this.

"Enlighten me."

"You are not in love with Princess Helena, and could probably never learn to love her if you're in love with the Seer. And the most important reason... You're a woman."

"Whoa!" She tugged on Nix's reigns and he stopped walking, and Irene called out for Thadius' horse to stop as well. "How-"

"Women bleed every full moon, Gabriel, or is it Gabrielle?"

"I preferred Gabby." the knight admitted with her head down.

"Right. I know you tried your best to hide it. I would catch you waking up at early hours of the morning and go wash your linens and clothing, and when you'd forget about the bleeding, you'd blame some wound that didn't exist. I found you cleaning your braics a couple of times, and that was when it occurred to me."

"Does Thadius know?" Gabby asked. She doubted it, because he would have acted so differently around her if he found out, and he wouldn't have even entered her into this tournament, but she had to know. Irene shook her head.

"No, I haven't told him. I figured in time you would tell him." Irene looked around as if she'd heard something not too far from them

"Irene? What is it?"

"Let's move. I fear we might be overheard." They continued down the trail. "Tell me what happened with the Seer. I saw her this morning walking quickly down the corridors with the stable boy, but when I asked her where you were, she said she didn't care and that you could have killed yourself for all she cared."

"She hates me." Gabby said, stunned.

"What happened?"

"Dinah got some... overwhelming news last night. She started to drink... and drink, and drink. I found her in the banquet hall in the middle of this. She told me her troubles and then I helped her back to the quarters and into bed. We... made love, or that is how I see what happened. She woke up this morning and now she believes she'd been bewitched because she couldn't remember any of it, and I that I bewitched her when it was her whom had initiated it. Gabby explained, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"You fell in love with her last night. I can tell. You look like a broken man, Gabriel."

"If what I feel right now, this... pain within my chest..." Gabby shook her head. "I pray my heart never falls again."

"If things were that simple, your heart would have never fallen in the beginning." Irene said softly. I'm sorry your heart is in pain, child, but you must learn from this and continue on." Gabby looked up at Irene with a look of sadness and some shock.

"How can one go back to living on earth after experiencing what Heaven must be like?" Gabby asked the older woman, her voice going soft.

"Find your own heaven on earth." Irene whispered, digging her heels into Thadius' horse and making him gallop away, with Gabby watching after her. The knight sighed, swallowing hard, then she herself took her time getting back to the castle.