Laney talked to the seamstress and she showed her some of the clothes she had made for other mothers-to-be. They agreed on the best style (there was really only one, she just moved a bow here, added a pocket there) and the material she wanted it made from. She actually picked two kinds of material (against the advice of the seamstress), one for everyday and one when she wanted to dress up a little. Honestly, she thought the whole thing looked cumbersome, but considering women expecting babies didn't get out much during this time, she decided it would have to do. Lancelot looked bored the whole time and except for his frequent trips to check outside, Laney thought he might start throwing a temper tantrum at any time. She rushed so she could let him off the hook as soon as possible. When she was through, they left the woman's 'shop' and headed back to the tavern.
Laney laughed at the look on Lancelot's face when she accused him of being bored and sighing in relief as they left. Finally after much prodding, he admitted that he really hadn't thought much about a ladies' dress except if it caught his eye on a pretty wench. His look was sheepish, but Laney didn't take advantage of it. She just told him she hadn't cared much for shopping either, even back home where shopping was a national hobby. She realized as they were walking this was the first time she had bought anything since she had arrived. When she told Lancelot this, he looked guilty and changed the subject. The rest of the walk was spent discussing quietly what the plan was for that evening.
"Remember, Laney, this will not be real, so please don't throw a bolt of lightning at me when you walk into her room." His smile made light of the remark, but for some reason it stung, just a little. She laughed and pretended it was funny, but the rest of the walk was spent trying to decide if he was joking or not. When they had almost made it to the tavern, she decided she didn't really want to go there. It would be noisy and she just wanted to sit somewhere and think. "Lance, I'm really kind of tired, can I just go to our room and rest for awhile?" She saw that he was disappointed, but he readily agreed. He made her feel guilty for not going, so she told him, "You can walk me there and see that everything is alright, then you can go to the tavern. I really don't think anyone would be brave enough to take a chance on bumping into one of you knights just to get to me."
She expected him to argue with her, but after a minute, he agreed. She grew silent, trying to figure out why he was so eager to get rid of her. Then shaking her head to clear the thought, she just decided it had to be hormones. There was no other reason everything he said upset her. When they arrived at their room he walked her inside and did a quick check to make sure there would be no surprises, then he quickly kissed her on the cheek and told her to lock the door behind him. She did as he said and stood looking at the door for several minutes, trying to figure out exactly what had happened. Shaking her head, she went to the bed and lay down. This day had been a complete turnaround from the night before for her husband. 'I guess he's entitled to have his moods, too.' She thought as she lay there staring at the ceiling. She closed her eyes after a few minutes and just lay there listening to the earth around her.
The feeling of anger she felt from Tristan made her open her eyes and sit up in one fluid motion. Then she closed her eyes and tried to pick up his mood again. It only took a moment, he was extremely angry about something, but unfortunately she couldn't know what. All she could feel was anger. She stood up, thinking to go looking for him, then realized she had promised to stay put until someone came back. She started pacing the floor, anxious about what she was feeling. Finally, unable to stand the suspense any longer, she opened the door and headed toward the tavern. He might not be there, but someone there might know what the problem was. What if he had a run in with those men from last night? She didn't know how many there were and although she knew he was an expert swordsman, she knew he usually didn't carry his sword in the fortress. Even with this latest threat, they were trying to appear normal, so he wouldn't have it with him.
She saw Jols in the stables and decided to check with him first before she ran all the way to the tavern. If his horse were in his stall, then she at least knew Tristan was somewhere in the fort. When she ran into the stable, Jols looked up, startled. "Lady Delaney, is someone chasin' you?" He immediately went to get his sword, ready to protect her if need be. "No, Jols, I'm fine. I'm just looking for Tristan. Have you seen him?" He looked at her and from his expression, she didn't think he believed her. Finally, when no one came running in after her, he put his sword up and told her, "No, I haven't seen him, but you heard Arthur, you're not supposed to be out by yourself." She stopped for a minute, "I know Jols, but I have to find Tristan, and I didn't know when someone would come back and get me. Oh, never mind. Thanks." And she headed out the door with him calling her name behind her.
She headed toward the tavern, taking the shortcut through the fortress. She paused and closed her eyes, his anger had turned to something akin to fear, and that scared her to death. Nothing caused fear in Tristan! When she opened her eyes she took off faster than before. She knew that Jols would go directly to Arthur, but she didn't care. Tristan was in trouble and she had to find him.
Tristan walked into the tavern and saw Lancelot sitting at the table with Gawain and Gallahad. He looked around for Laney and didn't see her. He had felt that she was unhappy and he wanted to talk to her. He walked over to the table and asked Lancelot, "Where's Laney?" Lancelot was laughing at some joke or story he'd told Gawain, "Hey, Tristan, oh, Laney's asleep, she didn't feel like coming." He turned back toward Gawain and Tristan asked in a deadly quiet voice, "What do you mean she didn't want to come? Who's with her?" Lancelot looked at the scout, "Nobody, she's just sleeping in our room." "You're supposed to be with her." There was no emotion to his voice, which usually meant he was about to kill something. "Lancelot, I sense panic in her. Something is wrong." He turned and took off toward her room with the others hot on his heels.
Tristan was still angry that Lancelot had left her vulnerable but if he had turned around and looked at the man's face, he would have seen pure terror in his features. They rounded the corner and headed into the knight's quarters, never slowing. When Tristan got to Laney's room, he skidded to a stop. The door was standing open. He pulled his dagger and peeked inside the room. Lancelot came running up one step behind Tristan. When he saw the open door, he brushed past Tristan into the room. "Laney… Laney!" He saw she wasn't there and headed back toward the door.
Tristan stopped him, "You'll do no good running rampant around the fort. You'll tip people off that you are worried about her." "Damn it, Tristan, I don't care what people think! I've got to find her!" He wanted the man to know he couldn't stop him. "Why, Lancelot? Because you let her down by leaving her alone?" Tristan's quietly spoken questions stopped him in his tracks. Lancelot's mouth moved but no sound came out. He wanted to argue with the man, yell at him, even punch him, but he couldn't. He was right. He had left her alone. But he got so damned bored watching her look at clothes, and he was worried about what was happening at the tavern. What if those men came and he was not there? Tristan saw the defeated look on his brother's face. "You could have found me. I would have stayed outside her door if you couldn't." Was all he said.
When he saw the tears in Lancelot's eyes, he relented. "Lancelot, close your eyes and feel her. You'll understand why I am so worried." He watched him close his eyes and tilt his head. Suddenly he opened his eyes. "She's afraid, so afraid!" He hung his head and slumped to sit on the floor. This is the sight that met Arthur when he came running into the room. "Report." He quickly ordered his men. When no one spoke up, he looked at Tristan, who was reluctant to tell what he knew. Lancelot said in a dejected voice, "I left her alone to sleep and she's gone. I feel her, she's afraid, Arthur. She's… so… afraid…"
Arthur was not pleased with the news, but like Tristan, he felt bad for his friend. He shook his head, "Have any of you seen her?" Everyone shook their heads. "How did you know she was gone?" Tristan spoke up, "I felt her. She was panicking for some reason. Something was wrong." Arthur nodded. "Split up and search for her. Try to be discrete." He headed for the door and found Jols running toward him. "Arthur, Laney is alone." He panted. "We know Jols." Then thinking it odd he should know when he obviously wasn't with the others. "How do you know?"
"She came into the stable alone and I asked her what she was doing." He told his mentor. "What did she say?" Arthur prompted. "Looking for Tristan. She was looking for Tristan and she looked upset… or… worried." He had looked at Lancelot and saw how broke up the man was. He then looked at Tristan. "Did she find you?" Tristan shook his head and looked at Lancelot. "If we don't find her soon, it will be too late to carry out the plan. We'll never get another chance if they suspect we know." Arthur shook his head, "I know, but right now all we can do is try to find her and hope she's not hurt." Then he turned to his best friend, "Lancelot, pull yourself together. There will be time for blame and answers later. Now we must find your wife." 'and son.' He finished silently.
Laney went to the edge of the tavern. She didn't see Tristan. But then Lancelot and the others weren't there either. The only person there was the old man who worked behind the bar. She turned and headed back toward the fortress. 'Maybe they're having a meeting of the Round Table.' She thought as she ran. She met Arthur coming out of the fortress, as she was going in. "Arthur! Have you seen Tristan…?" Her voice trailed off when she saw the look on Lancelot's face behind him. "What's wrong? You look horrible!" She exclaimed. Lancelot pushed Arthur aside and took her in his arms. "Oh, Laney, we thought you were gone! I thought I had let you down! Are you alright?" He asked as he was running his hands over her looking for injuries. She looked to Arthur for an explanation, he motioned her toward her room.
She pulled Lancelot by the hand, "Lance, I'm fine. What's happened?" She looked at him as she put her arms around him. She saw the brightness of unshed tears as he said, "Laney, I thought you had been taken! I don't know what I would have done if it had been true." She put her arms around his neck, "I'm fine. I felt Tristan get angry, then I felt him, well, he was afraid of something. It scared me, so I went to look for him. That's all. I'm sorry I worried you. I really didn't mean to." He looked at her eyes, "Don't apologize to me, it was my fault for leaving you alone. I'll never do that again, I promise." They had resumed the walk to their room, stepping through the doorway as he finished.
As she walked into the door the men started arguing. Lancelot kept saying he was sorry, Tristan kept saying he would have watched 'her', Gawain and Galahad wanted to go back to the tavern and Arthur was trying to shout loud enough to get their attention. Laney had had enough! "EXCUSE ME!" she shouted to get all their attention. When all eyes turned to her, she said, "I can take care of myself. Don't tell me I have to have an escort, or guard or whatever you wish to call it, every time I step out of this room." Arthur spoke, "Laney, I told you not to wander around alone, even in the living quarters. Now, we need to get this plan started. It will be dark soon and I don't want to miss this opportunity to find out what's going on." Laney let him finish his speech as she watched the other men. Lancelot still had his head hung as he held her hand, Tristan was giving him strange looks, and the others looked aggravated. Finally, Arthur finished speaking and she jerked her hand out of Lancelot's and put her hands on her hips.
Arthur spoke first, "We discussed it, and you didn't argue then. What has you questioning my orders now?" She might have backed down except he said the word 'orders'. "Damn it, I am not some ninny that can't do anything for myself. Don't you think that if I can call lightning from the sky, that I couldn't call up a fog or something to hide myself in if danger presented itself? I could probably do more than all of you put together if the need arose!" She had felt the anger bubble up and before she could stop herself she had stormed out of the room, literally for she never touched the door as the wind that followed her slammed it shut. She was almost to the door leading into the courtyard when Arthur caught up with her.
"Delaney!" She turned at the tone of his voice. She didn't think she had ever heard him shout like that before. He stepped up and took her by the arm, "I know you feel like we're suffocating you. But it is not entirely to protect you. If this is someone other than Marius and they took you away, well, your power could be used to hurt innocent people. It could turn the tides so that no one could stop what you started." He released her arm and stepped back a step. "Now do you see why everyone was worried? Only Lancelot was worried about your being hurt. The rest of us think if you're taken, you will be safe, unless you refuse to do as you're bid. Then they might kill you just to keep you from coming back here."
She looked at him and then looked over his shoulder to see the rest of them standing in the hallway. She sighed and said, "I'm sorry Arthur, and I won't do it again. But," she took a deep breath, "I think you all owe me enough to tell me everything instead of making me feel weak and helpless. I'm not and you know it." The two of them had started walking back toward the rest, "We know that Laney, believe me, we know it." When they got to the room she looked at Tristan. "What were you so angry about?" He hung his head, then looked at Lancelot. Lancelot answered her question, "Because I abandoned you to go to the tavern." His voice was quiet and she heard the guilt.
"Look, I told you to go. I said I didn't feel well and wanted to lay down. But since I've requested complete honesty from Arthur and all of you, then I should be honest as well." She took Lancelot's hand and pulled him away from the rest of them. "I only wanted to go to our room because you were acting so strange. You acted like you couldn't get rid of me fast enough and I wanted to try to figure out what I'd done." Her voice softened as she spoke. When she finished Lancelot took her in his arms in a bear hug. "Oh, I knew you were being bothered by something. I just thought it was the whole Keira thing. You know, me going to her room and acting like we were going to… and you knew we had in the past and I just didn't want you to think I wanted to or anything…" He let his words trail off. "Is that what you were trying to say when you asked me not to hit you with a bolt of lightning?"
He nodded his head and she started laughing. "What the hell's so funny?" He almost sounded angry. "Oh, Lance, that was the thing that sent me over the edge. I thought you were regretting our relationship because of what I did on the battlefield. I thought you were beginning to look at me like I was some kind of freak or something." His anger melted as he kissed her forehead. "Well, if you were I'd be in trouble because I couldn't let you go no matter what. I love you desperately. You know that don't you?" She looked into his face for a moment, "Yes, as you must know I feel the same." They kissed gently and only broke apart when Arthur coughed.
"Lancelot, Laney, if we're going to do this, we need to go now." They released the embrace and went back to the room. The plan would work, but she wasn't sure Lancelot would give the best performance since it was Keira. "Lance, I know you won't be doing anything just because you want to. I won't be angry or upset." She took his hand and spoke under her breath, but loud enough she knew he heard, "but I won't be waiting too long to interrupt you either." She heard Gawain snicker, but when she looked at him, he was trying not to look amused. "Well, I won't." she told them all and even Lancelot laughed as he squeezed her hand. "I'm just glad I'm not on the other side of this thing. If I found you lying with another man, I probably would take his head off." She smiled and asked sweetly, "Whose head?" He gave her a sidelong look, "Whoever's." They continued to the tavern hand in hand, only breaking the connection as they stepped around the corner into the open area.