Life:

Shakira crouched down beside her husband and took his hand in hers.

The room was lit with three candles. Jet had brought her the belladonna and fire leaves and left the room. She picked up the crushed belladonna and put in it Tristan's hands as well as juice from the fire leaf. Shakira put her hand in his and tied the red ribbon around both of their wrists before taking a dagger and slitting her palm and putting her blood to his hand.

She instantly became dizzy. Everything around her became blurry and her eyes became unbearable to see through.

'Tristan!' she called.

He was standing on the side of a hill looking out to the horizon. She put her hand on his shoulder and he turned to her. 'Why are we here?' she asked him.

'Why are you here?' he asked her calmly. 'I am the one about to die. You have to live my love.'

'No.' She shook her head. 'I won't live without you. Won't you come back?'

'I don't know. I just remember seeing you and then everything went black. I am now standing here with you. What did you do?'

'Just a simple spell. I want you to come back. You are dying too quickly,' she told him.

He shook his head at her. 'What's the point? I like it here. It's quiet.'

Tears flowed from her eyes as she listened to him. 'What about me? What about our son? I don't want to raise him alone and not have you to be with me. I'll be lonely for the rest of my life. I will not even live long after you die. I know what I went through for two years………d….don't do it to me again.'

He took her in his arms as she cried. 'If I live it is because it was meant to be. If I die it is because it was meant to be. We cannot change fate. Not even a wonderful beautiful witch like you.'

'Don't do this to me Tristan,' she said as tears flowed from her eyes. 'Don't leave me like this. You have to live.'

He smiled down at her and kissed her forehead. 'Go now.'

0-0-0

3 days past and almost as if a miracle happened Tristan came back to them. Shakira scolded him for scaring her so but he did not mind. Especially when after telling him off she showered his face with kisses before passionately kissing him on the lips. Gabriel walked in right at that moment and closed the door immediately and they heard him telling the Knights that his parents were weird for kissing so much.

'They do it everyday and all the time!' he protested when Bors told him it was normal. 'You could get sick! And they love to do it!' He sighed dramatically and walked down the hall. 'I will never do that. Its just plain wrong.'

Lancelot was holding onto Jet for support as he laughed. 'Its amazing. That is Tristan's son. He's a blabbermouth!'

'He gets it from Shakira,' Guinevere said, smiling as she watched Gabriel turn the corner. 'When she has an opinion she lets everyone know it.'

'She let's Tristan know it too,' Jet grinned.

0-0-0

After the Knights visited Tristan and everyone had left the room, leaving only Shakira with him, Gabriel decided to come back in. He sat on the bed beside his father and Shakira decided to leave for a moment and let her son have some time with his father.

'She cried all the time you know,' he said as calmly as his father would. He moved some hair from his eyes and looked at Tristan closely waiting for him to say something. When he didn't he continued. 'Nothing I said made her feel better. She said you were going to leave her here on her own and she knew she would waste away.'

'She did?' Tristan asked.

Gabriel nodded. 'I don't ever want to see her like that again. It was like I didn't even know her. I was scared she would leave me all on my own.'

'We would never do that,' he told his son. 'You'll understand one day when you have your own children. But when your mother says something she does it.'

'I know,' Gabriel said. 'That's why I was so scared.' He smiled at his father. 'I'm glad you are better father. When you can get out of bed, I'll show you something. I've been practising.'

'Than I am proud,' he said. 'It is good to know that if I died you would have been able to look after your mother.'

Gabriel snorted. 'She does not need looking after, I can assure you. She fought in the battle beside you, remember?'

Tristan smiled and nodded. 'Yes my son. I do remember.'

0-0-0

Three months had past since the battle on Brandon Hill. It seemed that the Knights had changed since their days of Knighthood. Lancelot decided he was not ever going to let himself loose Jet so he and she married not a month past. If anyone could handle him it was her. Every Knight was surprised to see he did not look at any other woman the way he would Jet. She was his life. And Shakira gleefully teased her when she found out she was pregnant again. Lancelot was over the moon about the news. He exclaimed he wanted a dozen children but earned him self a grunt from Bors who was feeding the baby and a scowled from Jet who said she could never be as strong as Vanora and have 12 children and stay as pretty as her friend did.

Arthur and Guinevere married shortly after Jet and Lancelot in a Pagan/Christian ceremony.

It was early days still but the Knights were soon to find love. Galahad had plans of visiting home and Gawain still envisioned his beautiful Sarmatian woman so they were due to make the trip soon. Shakira and Tristan spoke of it and decided they would travel with them to Sarmatia and show Gabriel their homeland before coming back to the wall and living their lives with their family. Tristan had changed in a way. He was still quiet and reserved and ever so deadly when practising with the Knights but he was closer than ever to his wife. They talked more before falling asleep, he told his son he loved him (never in front of Shakira), he spent more time teaching his son about life and weapons and telling him stories about when he and Shakira were children and his battles through the years.

Shakira knew Gabriel would grow up to be his father. He idolised him. Gabriel also knew his mother and father carried a big secret. They never told anyone but he guessed that his aunt Jet would know about it. He never asked but always kept his eyes and ears open for clues on what it could be. His young mind rang with possibilities and he came to the conclusion that it was his mother holding the burden and if anyone found out she could be in a lot of trouble. Would the Knights hurt his mother? Could this secret be so bad that if anyone found out and told, she would be killed? He loved his mother beyond anything. She was so gentle and funny and always telling him new things about life and telling him about love. 'Love,' she said, 'is the most important thing in life. If we have no love, all we will have is greed, war and people satisfying lust for the sake of getting by.'

She was so wise and so young in his opinion. He never missed the looks his father would give his mother. The way she would smile at him from across a room and the way they would whisper to one another before kissing. He found the whole kissing story revolting in the extreme but if it kept his parents together then he could find no fault in it.

He realised his aunt Jet and uncle Lancelot had the same kind of love as well as Guinevere and Arthur. Strong bonds that would not die. But he was proud to have the parents he did. There would never be a love like theirs and he realised that when he found out his mothers secret.

0-0-0

Gabriel was moving things around his room. They were to leave the next morning for Sarmatia and he wanted to make sure he was bringing the most necessary things. When he moved the fur from the floor slightly he felt a loose floorboard. He put down the small wooden box he was carrying and knelt down and moved the fur away and pulled up the loose boards. Frowning and curiosity getting the better of his 5 year old mind he put his hand in and pulled out a large wooden box. It was beautifully carved with horses and trees and Sarmatian writing was engraved on the sides of it.

He opened it slowly and found leaves. 'Leaves?' He pulled one out and looked at it. It was brown but it was not broken. Either were any of the others. He turned it over and saw the Sarmatian symbol of love on it. 'Why are there so many?' he asked himself.

'I was going to tell you when you were older,' said a voice behind him.

He saw his mother standing by the door looking down at him with a calm expression.

'What are these, mother?' he asked her, holding up the leave in his hand.

She sat down beside him and looked down at the box. 'Your father put them all in here when I came here. He used to keep them in his room but now that we were together he saw no point in keeping them.'

'You gave these to him?' Gabriel asked him. 'But how?'

She hesitated for a moment. 'There are things in life that cannot be explained by words. There are people in this world that…..can do things others can't. Your father is a warrior same as the Knights but not everyone can fight in battles. Some people have a ….. well they have a gift. No one knows where it comes from but other people who don't have this gift, some are afraid of it others embrace it.'

'Are you talking about magic mama?' he asked. For a moment he was excited. 'Can you do magic?'

'In a way. But I cannot turn a man into a pig; it would take a few hours for me to do that-'

She stoped talking when Gabriel began laughing.

'-it is a different kind of magic.'

'Does father know?' he asked her.

'Yes,' she said. 'He kept my secret for many years. I didn't even know he knew before we married. But we don't talk about it because in some places they would kill you for doing magic. Christians and people who don't fully understand that its not bad….they would kill us. It is terrible to speak of, but for our own safety and the safety of those around us, witches and sorceresses and wizards don't speak of their abilities. Shaman's and people of the earth are greatly admired by those around them but there is a difference between a shaman and a witch or wizard.'

'When did you know you were a witch?' he asked her.

'When I was angry at your father,' she said. She smiled at the memory and took her sons hand in hers. 'One day…at home in Sarmatia, I was angry at your father….it happened quite often then you see…well….I was fixing my garden. I had a small garden beside my families hut and I grew food and herbs, so I was doing that and he came up and began teasing me. So I was hurt and angry so I….said I wished he would get sick and leave me alone for a while.'

'And he did?' Gabriel asked in awe. 'Father became sick?'

'Yes,' Shakira said. 'I was so sorry when I found out. I never fought with him again and I never wished anyone dead or ill in anyway.'

0-0-0

'What are you doing?' Shakira asked Tristan as he slid his hands along her sides and breasts as he kissed her neck.

'Being a bad man,' he said before resuming his job on her neck.

'I can see that,' she giggled. 'You do know that…the door is open and I am due to put or son to bed in a moment.'

'Mmmm hmm,' he said as he moved his hands along her legs.

She closed her eyes and held his face as she kissed him passionately. He moved his hands up her skirt and sat her on top of the chest of drawers they had. He had begun undoing the laces of her dress when Gabriel walked into the room and rolled his eyes. 'Should I close the door?' he said as he held the handle.

'What!' Shakira jumped and she and Tristan looked at their son who had a smirk on his face. She glared at Tristan as she tied her laces again and he lowered her skirt and fixed his breeches. He helped her off the chest of drawers and they both stood uncomfortably before their son.

'This is weird,' he said before walking away shaking his head. 'What so hard about shutting the door? At least Aunt Jet and Lancelot close theirs but they just have to kiss all over the place. In the stables…in the tavern…in the gardens…in the hallways-'

His voice faded as he turned the corner of the halls but he kept mumbling to himself. Shakira and Tristan smiled at one another before Tristan lifted an eye brow and closed the doors. He swept his wife into his arms and dropped her unceremoniously onto the bed…..

0-0-0

'Are we there yet?' Gabriel asked with a yawn.

They had been riding for three days. The weather was bright and sunny but it had its usual chill in the air. Gawain and Galahad were riding beside Gabriel as Tristan scouted ahead. Shakira was riding beside Gawain and laughed and moaned at the same time when Gabriel asked for the 75th time that day if they had arrived. 'No, we are not there yet,' she said. 'We have a few more days of this before we arrive.'

Tristan was riding with his sleeping son in his arms. It was the second week into their journey and Gabriel was over the trip, as he had so plainly put it to him. But he reassured him when they arrived, he would be pleased at the journey they had made. Shakira rode up to them and peered into Tristan's arms and saw the tiny sleeping form. 'He's been so tired these past few days,' she said.

'We have kept a good pace,' Tristan said. 'We should arrive within two days or so if we are lucky.'

'I think it would be a good time to say so…,' she said as she looked at him. 'I'm pregnant again.'

Tristan looked at his son, then Shakira, then lifted his eyebrows. 'Are you….are you sure?'

'Yes.' She grinned. 'I am ten weeks along.'

'Ten weeks,' he said musing. 'So it was the day after I became well? When we couldn't wait so we ended up-'

'-everywhere,' she finished for him. 'Yes, we made a baby then.'

'Do you know…if it's a boy or a girl?' he asked her.

Shakira smiled. 'It's a girl.'

0-0-0

Flashback:

It was a warm day in Sarmatia. Shakira had just turned fourteen summers and was by the lake with the rest of the girls of the village. She told Jet that she was going to go for a walk for a moment to stretch her legs and left the group.

A short while later as she walked back to the group Shakira could her laughing. But it was not happy laughter. It was like a snigger or laughing at something mean. She could tell they were not speaking of nice things. She stood behind a tree listening to their conversation.

'I don't think she ever has,' said Anuk. She giggled stupidly with some other girls but Shakira could see Jet was less than pleased about what they were saying.

'Not everyone needs to flash the boys around here to make them see them,' Jet said, matter of factly. 'She has people looking at her because she beautiful and nice.'

'Nice, yes,' said Anuk.

'Prude, yes,' said Melinse.

'She is not a prude!' Jet said angrily. 'She's just not a whore like you lot whose parent's think you are all virgins!'

'So?' Anuk said with a smirk. 'They don't know. I heard Ewen saying he was in love with Shakira. Love!'

'Did he?' Elen said. 'Let's hope she falls in love with him.'

'Why?' Jet asked her.

'I don't think Tristan will want to have anything to do with her. Do you?' she asked with a fake niceness to her voice.

'Tristan loves Shakira,' Jet said with a huff. 'Maybe if you had a decent conversation with her you'd see she was a great person.'

'So you fancy my brother?' Jet snapped at Elen.

'Yes,' she said. 'Why?'

Jet rolled her eyes. 'If you think he'll ever be with you, you have another thing coming.'

End of Flashback:

0-0-0

Author Note:

KnightMaiden: Thankyou for your review. Yes, Lancelot lives.

FlamezBlaze1: Gabriel is Tristan and Shakira's son. Sorry, if it was not clear. They had him a few chapters ago….lol. Thankyou for your compliments on my story.

Megs: Thankyou! I do see how my style is different and I'm glad you like it!

Well reviewers, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou! You've made me feel a whole lot better! Tell me what you think of this chapter. They return to Sarmatia in the next chapter….so stay tuned. Can I get 6 reviews? And I'll post it.

Nikkitagq