Dull grey. The sky above was a dull grey; completely overcast. Cass was worried it might rain and her brow creased as she waited. Cass had taken a seat in the grass on the hill where the Knights trained; wearing a tunic and trousers that Vanora had altered for her. She surveyed the swaying grass before her that ran in waves like the sea until it met the Fort. Not a person was in sight as Cass absentmindedly picked at blades of the fresh, green grass.
She recalled the conversation she'd had with the Knights the previous evening. Gawain had revealed their deal to the other Knights and Arthur, and to Cass' astonishment; it had been met with a positive response. She remembered how Bors had slapped her on the back making her spill some of the contents of the jug she was holding. Lancelot had laughed, joking that Cass would be hard pressed to choose his good side. She smiled.
"Morning," a voice said, snapping Cass from her memories.
Cass looked up, blinking her eyes from having stared into space for so long. She saw Gawain walking up the hill towards her, shouldering his own weapons; but also carrying a few others- an axe and some daggers. Cass swallowed. So that's what Gawain's going to teach me... she thought.
When he reached the top of the hill, Gawain set down the daggers; leaving them at the base of what Cass had nicknamed, Tristan's Tree, because he sat there every training session Cass had joined the Knights on. This was different though. This was one-on-one training between just her and Gawain. Real, concentrated learning.
"Right..." Gawain said.
"Training first?"
Cass nodded eagerly, standing up beside him and putting her art supplies at the base of Tristan's Tree.
"Alright then. You take this," Gawain added, holding the spare axe, handle first, to Cass.
She grasped hold of it. When he let go, she realised the weight of the axe was not as much as she had originally thought it would be. Her hands held tight around the handle of the axe. She found it an odd feeling. An axe. A modern girl and an axe. She smiled to herself, thinking about how some of the people she knew back in the 21st Century would think she was crazy for trying this.
Gawain first taught her how to hold the axe properly, showing her the best way to grip it so she had more control over it. It wasn't too hard for Cass to get the hang of swinging the axe, having built up her strength when fencing. Basic moves were picked up easily by Cass, and Gawain nodded to her, impressed by her quick progress.
"You're a natural," he said, holding out his hand for her axe.
She smiled in thanks and handed him the axe.
"We'll see how you do with daggers now then," Gawain added, as he swapped the axes for the daggers on the floor.
Cass chewed on her bottom lip. She was fine with any sort of weapon that she could hold on to, but when it came to any type of projectile... Anything, Cass was more likely to stab herself than anything she was aiming at. After explaining how Cass should hold the daggers, Gawain tried to get her to throw one at a tree.
"Er Gawain... I'm not really sure if that's a good idea- me throwing things, I mean."
Gawain raised his eyebrows at her.
"No, really. The last time I threw something for anyone to catch I hit them in the face."
Gawain started to laugh at her.
"Oh, don't laugh! I'm serious!"
Gawain tried to stop himself laughing, trying to disguise it as a cough. Cass folded her arms, and glared at him, only succeeding in sending Gawain back into a fit of laughter; so Cass just waited for him to stop laughing, thoroughly unimpressed.
"Alright, alright," Gawain said finally, taking a breath.
"Go on, I'll just make sure I'm always behind you when you're throwing things," he added with a wink.
Cass sighed and rolled her eyes at him, replying, "I wouldn't joke about that, you're probably right."
Gawain shrugged, and pointed out the tree he wanted Cass to aim at. It wasn't too far away, and it shouldn't be all that difficult to hit; but Cass did take note of how Gawain had taken her advice and stayed well behind her. Har, har, she thought, very funny.
She stared at the tree. It had clearly been used before by the Knights to practice throwing daggers at; its normal, uneven bark was marred with cuts of ripped and broken bark. She grasped the dagger in her hand, feeling the sweat on her palms. This is not going to go well, she thought as she took aim. The dagger was released; and it didn't meet its mark. In fact, it flew off to the left and landed in a hedge with a rustle and a thud. Cass sighed as she heard the hysterical laughter that began from behind her and turned to see Gawain clutching his chest as he fell about laughing at her.
"Hey! I told you I was going to be awful, there's no need to laugh!" Cass pouted, but soon found her giggles joining his contagious laugh.
Gawain wiped a tear from his eye and, when he had calmed his laughter enough to speak, he said, "Well, you were right."
He began chuckling again, as he added, "You just need some practice."
It took an hour of solid practice for Cass to even hit the tree, and that, she thought, was due more to luck than any type of skill.
"It's a good job I don't actually need to use these, you know. I'm thinking if I ever do get into a fight I'd be better off with something else; perhaps a shoe."
Gawain chuckled, and asked, "A shoe?"
"Well, it'd probably be more use than me with one of these," Cass answered, holding up one of the daggers.
He laughed at her and took the dagger she held out, suggesting, "Maybe we should take a rest."
Cass nodded; anything so that I don't have to be such a failure anymore, she thought.
"Good idea. I think now would be a good time to draw you; if you still want me to, that is," Cass said, looking at the Knight.
He smiled and nodded to her. Cass gestured for him to sit beside Tristan's Tree, where she joined him, picking up her art supplies. She looked at Gawain for a while, as if she was trying to figure out how best to draw him. Finally she smiled and picked up a piece of charcoal, making her first marks on the blank paper.
"Thank you for today, even though I failed to a ridiculous extent with the daggers," Cass said after a while, still concentrating on the picture.
"Thank you for deciding to draw us," he said in reply.
Cass looked up at the Knight's face, trying to figure out the emotion in his features.
"Why is it that you wanted to be drawn?" Cass asked slowly.
"I mean, I just didn't think of you all as the type to, you know, want that sort of thing."
Gawain raised his eyebrows into a pondering expression.
Finally, he answered, his voice low, "When we came to this land, there were many more of us. It's... hard to remember them now."
He paused.
"We are all that's left. I've known Arthur and the Knights for such a long time... I don't want to forget their faces; don't want them to forget mine."
Cass put her charcoal down for a moment. Gawain seemed so sad; she didn't think she'd ever seen him like that. She tried to think of something to say in response to this revelation, but she couldn't find the right words and simply nodded and resumed her drawing. The mood lightened with the weather, as sun had started to break through the clouds. And after another hour spent in companionable silence, Cass spoke again.
"You're very patient."
"It's either that or my legs are just numb and I can't get away," he answered with a smile.
"I'm nearly done," Cass added, realising that he must be bored of just sitting around doing nothing.
"Well, thank goodness for that!" he exclaimed, jokingly.
Minutes later, Cass had finished Gawain's picture and she packed away her art things. As Gawain and Cass started to walk back to Fort, Cass held the picture close to her chest.
Whilst they were waiting for the gates to be heaved open for them, Gawain asked, "Can I see?"
Cass looked at him, casually replying, "Nope."
Didn't I have this conversation with Galahad yesterday? she thought, as the pair strolled into the Fort.
"Why not?" he complained, throwing his arms up into the air.
"I'll show you when I've done them all," Cass said.
"That's hardly fair!" Gawain replied, trying to grab the picture from out of Cass' arms.
Cass ducked and moved away from him, a smile on her face.
"Not a chance, Gawain!" she grinned, running towards her room so she could find a suitable hiding place for the picture.
