Title: A Woman Among Men

Author: sabor ice

Summary: Where did Vanora come from? How do she and the knights meet? How did she meet Bors and fall in love with him? This is their untold tale.

Disclaimer: I don't anything, etc, except for any orginal characters and this story.

Feedback: Yes, please.

To All the Reviewers: Thank you; your feedback is much appreciated.

Sixteen

Each knight stood in a semi-circle around a small mound of burning wood and Earth. Their hands clasped the hilts of their sword the stood erect in the ground before them. Their legs were somewhat spread so the blade of each sword was exactly between them and in front of their feet. The knights' held their head high, in spite of the circumstances.

Arthur had just finished speaking a few good words about their fallen brother, Bors. Memories dating back to boyhood flooded the minds of the knights, as well as Vanora, who stood nearby. Her arms held the two small bundles of her twins, Augustus and Jana. The small infants opened their brown eyes wide enough to watch the pyre that burned for their father.

After he finished speaking, he asked, "Would anyone else like to say anything?"

The others bowed their heads, and that said enough. As they departed, each man through a bit of dirt on the pyre.

"Good journey, old friend," each one uttered as they passed by.

Dagonet looked back at Vanora.

"Are you coming?" he asked her.

She raised her gaze and smiled faintly. She had been holding her head high and holding back her tears.

"I'll just stay here for a little while, Dag," she replied.

"I understand," Dagonet said. "Would you like me to take the children back with me?"

She shook her head. "No, I'd like to spend some time alone with them and their Papa."

Dagonet departed and Vanora blew out a sigh. She stood before the grave, who's fire was slowly dying down. Augustus cooed quietly and caught her hair in his hand. Jana, the smaller twin, was fast asleep in Vanora's right arm.

She sighed again as she peered down at the single knuckle duster that had been recovered. She sort of laughed at the weapon that lay there.

"Always have to have your fun, even in the next life," Vanora whispered. "Just don't hurt anyone too much, ok?"

Jana awoke with a startling cry, which immediately made Augustus cry. Vanora hushed the two as she turned around and sat on a nearby log. Augustus wasn't hungry like Jana; he was merely crying for the sake of crying. He quieted and drifted off to sleep as his sister drank from Vanora's breast.

After the daughter had had her fill, she nestled against her mother's chest and fell asleep once again. Vanora carefully stood with the twins and began walking toward the road that lead to their hut. As she passed the burnt out pyre at Bors' grave, something peculiar caught her eye. Her head snapped toward the foot of the grave. Where there had been only one knuckle duster sitting there moments before, now sat two.

Vanora's eyes glanced around her surroundings, yet she saw nothing.

"I could swear there was only one weapon there before," she muttered, dumbfounded.

Sighing and shaking her head, she thought, "It was just my mind playing tricks on me again. It must have been there all along."

Suddenly, a voice came from behind her:

"A bloody funeral for a man who isn't dead, now that's depressing!"

Vanora whipped around so fast that she almost dropped the babies. There, on the log she had just ventured from, sat Bors. His devilish smile crept across his slightly cut-up and bruised face.

"Bors," Vanora said in disbelief.

He stood and walked toward her with open arms.

"I have come home across the mountains..." he said, finally noticing the infants in her arms.

He studied her belly, which had flattened out mostly since she had given birth. Tears welled within his swollen eyes. Vanora was so happy that she could even express them in words. Bors embraced all three of them lovingly.

"The others all thought you were dead, but I kept hoping and praying," her voice broke. "How did you make it back?"

Bors closed his eyes for a moment and blew out a sigh. He stroked her long, auburn colored hair tenderly.

"I just kept thinking about you and the baby," he answered.

"Babies," Vanora corrected, showing him their children. "We have twins, Bors. Our little Augustus and Jana."

Bors kissed each baby on his or her head. Then, he pressed his lips to Vanora's, engaging in a long, deserving, passionate kiss.

"You keep that up, and you'll get her pregnant again," a comical voice came.

The two broke their kiss and looked up to see Lancelot standing there.

"Well, who told you to bloody look!" was Bors' reply.

Vanora chuckled softly as Lancelot and Bors embraced one another in a brotherly fasion.

"I thought you were dead, you son-of-a-bitch!" Lancelot punched him on the shoulder.

"Please, Lancelot," Vanora said. "The babies."

"Aww, they can't bloody understand what he said!" Bors said, kissing the boy and girl on the head again.

Lancelot laughed, his eyes twinkling.

"Well, I suppose I should head back first and prepare the others for your very belated return," Lancelot said.

"Naw, we'll go together!" Bors decided. "I'd like to see the looks on their faces when they see I've come back from the dead!"

Shaking his head, Lancelot walked on, leaving the two alone for a moment more.

"I'm so glad you're all right," Vanora looked into his eyes.

"I love you, my woman," Bors replied, kissing her forehead.

Augustus and Jana whimpered slightly. Bors peered down at them.

"And, I love you," he said to Jana, then added to Augustus, "And, you, too!"

Wrapping his arm around Vanora's shoulder, Bors smiled toward her and said, "Come on, let's go home."

As the couple turned and head down the road that lead home, Vanora sang sweetly to their children:

"Land of bear, and land of eagle,

Land that gave us birth and blessing,

Land that calls us ever homeward,

We've finally come home,

Over the mountains..."

The End.

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