Galahad
The steady sound of birdsong drifted in through the shutters as the morning sun started rising. Sparrows perched on the window ledge chatted away to Chaffinches, who in turn chatted with the Wagtails - all of which were ruffling their feathers and warming themselves with the growing temperature. Stirring from his sleep, Galahad decided just to rest with his eyes closed and took his time enjoying the peaceful and content atmosphere. Gravitating to the cosy warmth in the centre of the bed, and with his eyes still closed, Galahad drowsily went to stretch his arms. Except he couldn't. At least not his left arm. It was trapped under something that was way to heavy just to be cushions. Due to his sleepy state he stayed confused for a second, before the memories of the previous night flooded back to him. Not daring to move a muscle, he gradually opened one eye to peek at the figure lying next to him.
Trying to contain his joy, Galahad thought hard about what was probably going to happen next. He loved Marie, he had come to that conclusion fairly recently, so whatever her reaction when waking up was, that would not change. The small potential issue was, that over time, one thing he had learned about her was that when she panicked-or was unsure of herself and of her emotions, Marie would pretty much instantly start pushing others away and withdraw out of the situation. This meant unfortunately that his newly found bliss, might soon descend into chaos.
It had been the end of yesterday, in the evening after Lancelot's wedding, that Marie had finally stopped avoiding Galahad. The most likely reason being that she was too drunk to remember to avoid him. The after party had moved into the Tavern by this time in the evening, with only the Knights and their immediate families present. Galahad had been sat at the bar, just observing the party when much to his amusement he noticed Farica, Tania and Marie on the stairs. Farica was leaning half over the hand rail, desperately trying to keep a bottle of wine out of Marie's reaching grasp, while Tania was trying to unsuccessfully guide Marie down the stairs, while attempting not to fall over herself. None of them looked particularly sober, but in true Marie fashion she had certainly gone the extra mile. Which bearing in mind she wasn't supposed to be drinking in the first place due to still recovering from her injury, made Galahad want to face palm. Galahad thought it was likely that to cheer Tania up, Marie had decided that they should just get absolutely wasted, but careful as always about public perception, Tania had clearly been a bit more sensible. That being said, Tania did manage to trip over her own dress and nearly cause all three of them to tumble down the last couple of steps. That was when Galahad decided it was only right that he do the gentlemanly thing, and offered his assistance. Farica had never looked more pleased to see him, and managed to deposit a singing Marie into his arms while plonking the wine bottle down on a nearby table. She then proceeded to wish him good luck before abandoning him with double trouble as she left in a very excited search for her bed. By this point Gawain had also noticed what he went on to describe as 'the fun and games' in the corner, and thankfully came over to help.
Now one thing that could be said about Tania, was that even if she was drunk, she was still very saavy. As a result, once she had untangled herself from hers and Marie's intertwined limbs, and they had finished their out of key duet, she gave Galahad a wink and a wave before bounding off to the dance floor with Gawain in tow. This had left Galahad in a slightly bewildered state with a very chatty Marie in his arms. Now Galahad, like all the Knights was an honourable man. Never once did he think about using the situation to his advantage, and so, instead he had grabbed Marie's hand and had led her outside past the crowds to a bench by the fire. Collecting the luckily placed jugs of water from a nearby table, he wrapped her up in his cloak and sat with her while she sobered up. It didn't take as long as he had expected, for Marie to become a bit more with it, and as the others slowly trickled off to bed, they were finally able to have the conversation that had been inevitable.
They had stayed like that till the early hours of the morning, cuddled up and talking in hushed tones. It wasn't until one of the night guards encouraged them to go in for their own safety that they had made their way inside. He had totally been expecting to say goodnight to her in her doorway, he certainly hadn't wanted to risk pushing things further and scaring her off, but much to his surprise it had been her that had kissed him and guided him inside into her quarters. Still not wanting to take advantage he had made sure that she was sober and cognitively aware of what she was doing before finally relaxing and following her towards her bedroom.
Watching her now, asleep peacefully on her stomach immersed in the bed covers with both her hands holding his arm securely to her chest, Galahad wished that the moment would never end. Memories of her blushed cheeks and her soft lips danced through his mind. She was so gentle and delicate compared to the normal rough and tough attitude she exuded, Galahad knew that not many people in the world had seen this side to her, and he was blessed to be with her now and see it for himself. Whatever demons of the past that had caused her to put up such an unbreakable wall between herself and the world was not in existence in this very moment. For the first time since he had first laid eyes on her, she truly seemed at rest and no longer running from, and fighting with the world.