Note: I agree it has become somewhat slow… but that's writer's block. All I can do is keep writing filler until something happens to jog my creative flow. Sorry. Please don't give up. I will try to pick it up.

When she stepped up to the bar, she found Tristan leaning against the bar watching the crowd. She smiled at him as she stepped up beside him. "Hey, how are you doing?" she asked. He nodded to the crowd and said, "better than they will be tomorrow morning." She laughed as she turned her back to the crowd. The man behind the bar was busy so she decided to wait until he was through to order her drink. Tristan turned with her and she looked over to find him looking at her. "What's on your mind, Tris?" she had never used a nickname with any of them except Lancelot and Dagonet, but for some reason the name fit at that moment.

He cocked his eyebrow further under his braids, as he answered, "Just wondering why everyone is in such a good mood." Then he looked at her as he leaned closer to whisper, "Have you put a spell on them as well?" It was her time to raise her eyebrow at him. "What do you mean?" she asked. "You know what I mean." He told her solemnly. "No, I'm afraid I don't." she repeated. Suddenly the hair on her neck was standing up. "Tristan, I think we should go somewhere else to talk." She whispered fiercely. He nodded and she replied. "I'll tell Lancelot and join you outside." She moved toward her lover, fearing somehow Tristan had ferreted out the truth of her existence.

She told Lancelot that she wanted to go for a walk around the wall and when he offered to accompany her, she put her hand on his shoulder, "No, stay and talk to the others. I need to think about the wedding and plan what I need to do. We'll talk when we meet back at our room, say in about an hour?" He gently kissed her cheek and agreed to meet her then. "I love you, Lance," she whispered before she left the group. She was aware of his eyes following her to the alley leading away from the tavern. When she reached the edge, she turned and waved. When he returned her wave, she left the light and searched for Tristan in the shadows.

Just as she was about to turn back, thinking she had missed him, someone reached out and grabbed her arm. She jumped and then realized it was the man she had been searching for. "Do you always have to do that?" she asked agitatedly. "Can't you just speak or something to get my attention?" She felt his grip on her arm tighten as he pulled her toward the steps that led to the upper level of the wall. "Okay, okay, I'm coming." She told him. When they finally reached the top of the stairway he released her arm and sat down on the turret.

"Okay, Tristan, tell me what you were talking about back there." She demanded. He looked at her and when she stepped closer, he leaned back. His reaction caught her by surprise. "You act like I'm going to do something terrible to you. What is the matter?" she asked. "I've never met anyone who was half spirit before." He stated. She looked at him in shock. "You followed me today, didn't you?" her voice was so quiet he wasn't sure she had spoken at all. Maybe she just thought the words.

"Yes, I heard what Merlin told you. Were you going to tell us or just let us go on believing you are the simple woman you pretend to be?" She cringed at the way he said woman. But her pride refused to let her lower her gaze from his. "Did you also hear that I knew nothing of this before I came here? That I am a simple woman?" Her tone was just as cool as his had been. He studied her for what seemed like forever to her before he finally spoke. "Yes I heard. Do you believe the stuff he was feeding you?" he sounded like he thought she would be stupid to do so.

"Honestly, I don't know what to think. I've never heard of such stuff before. But I have no reason to doubt what he told me." She looked at him from across the walkway. Finally coming closer to him, she asked, "Do you have a legitimate reason to think he was lying?" She waited for him to answer, she thought he was leaving when he stood up, but instead of heading down the steps, he walked over and took her in his arms. "The way you make me feel makes me believe him. I have watched you see things that only I have seen before. It makes me wonder about myself. I too, have always felt different, apart from those around me. Didn't Merlin say that was the way you were before you were returned to your rightful place here?"

His voice held an awe, but there was something else, a fear that he would not voice, just hint at. "Tristan, I don't think you have anything to worry about. Merlin would have told me if you were anything other than what you appear to be. I think that you are just more attuned to the world around you. Like I thought I was until today." Her voice was sad, he wanted to make her happy again, like she was back at the bar.

"Laney, I heard you ask Merlin about Lancelot's love. Believe me when I say is it true. I've known him for almost fifteen years and not once has he been so engrossed in another human being." She smiled and touched his cheek. "Thank you, at least this time you called me human." She moved away from his embrace and turned to face him. "Are you going to tell Arthur what you heard?" She waited for him to answer, when he didn't, she continued. "You heard Merlin, it would only place him in danger if he knew. I wish you didn't know. It would break my heart to lose such a good friend." He continued to watch her face until finally, "No, I will not tell anyone your secret. But it answers many questions that I had about you."

"What questions, Tristan?" she really wanted to know the answer. "Why I was so attracted to you for one." He replied solemnly. "How could I not be attracted to a woman who is love itself?" She turned away from him and he thought he had said too much. He took her shoulders and turned her back around. She held her head down and he placed his hand under her chin to make her look up at him. He saw the tears glisten in the light of the moon. He quickly reached up and wiped one away as he said. "Don't feel sadness for me, I am just happy to know that I am capable of love. I had begun to doubt it after so long." She saw him smile and she wiped the tears from her face.

"I have no doubt that you are capable of love. I have felt it since the first day I saw you. I didn't realize it at the time, for I did not know it was what I felt. But in any case, I felt it." She looked around the inside of the wall. "I feel a lot of love when inside these walls." She looked back at him and then outside the walls, "I also feel a lot of hatred outside the walls. An evil hatred that could destroy all that I have come to love here. I cannot allow that to happen, but I don't know how I can stop it." She turned to him and smiled. She tried to lighten the mood. "I think that is about the most serious thing I have ever said in my entire life." She laughed and saw that he did not join her. She looked at him and he saw her draw her eyebrows together.

"I have taken everything you've said seriously, Laney. Otherwise I would still be trying to get you into my bed." She saw him hesitate as if trying to decide whether or not he should try again. "Tristan, it would do you no good. As much as I care for you and your well being. I love Lancelot. It's that simple. We are to wed in two days." She watched his face and saw sadness for just a moment before the veil he used to hide his feelings fell into place. "Will you please be there for me? I would not be completely happy if all the people I care for were not there." She saw him take a deep breath before he answered. "If you ask it of me, I will do it. But don't think my happiness will do much to complete yours for it will be very small." She put her arms around his waist and hugged him for a moment before backing away. He didn't return the gesture, just stood completely still. She looked at him once more before turning toward the steps. When she got to the bottom she looked back up and saw him looking out across the fields beyond the wall. She felt a shudder cross her shoulders as she thought he was looking at the place he would take his last breath.

When she turned back around, she wiped the tears from her eyes and headed toward her room. The happiness she had felt earlier was now marred by the vision of Tristan lying lifeless and bloody on the battlefield, surrounded by evil men who enjoyed taking the life from those who held it closest to their hearts. She almost turned to tell him what she saw, but she knew it would be useless. Right now he didn't care a lot about his life. She had made sure of that when she fell in love with Lancelot. She wished she could change how she felt, even for a little while. He deserved to know the love she had with Lancelot. But she knew she could never pretend and that he would never fall for it if she did. He would see through her and that would take what happiness he felt in his love for her and make it something ugly, something hated. She sighed and took a deep cleansing breath. For someone who was supposed to be love, she sure didn't feel she was doing a very good job.