Note: Thanks for the reviews! Sorry it's a bit short. I need to keep things moving so I write short chapters inbetween everything else I have to do right now. With in the next week things should die down and the chapters will be longer and the story will be somewhere and the long await "romance" will finally be ready for all of you to read. Thanks for bearing with me and have a nice day:)

The Mission

The knights sat in a circle debating over which one of them should go. Arthur could not go for he was their commander, Lancelot was decided against for his tongue would be the death of him. Vanora would not let Bors go and Arthur thought it best that Dagonet stayed with Liam to help him come back to his senses. Tristan, Galahad, and Gawain were left. Galahad wanted to go but Arthur decided against him for he was young and eager which was not a good combination for Kida's situation. He turned to Tristan and Gawain. They looked at each other and then back to Arthur. It was a hard decision. Would he sacrifice his best scout or send the less experienced one after her?

"I will go," Gawain said.

Arthur looked at his knight and said, "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"No," Tristan said. "I will."

Arthur looked at his two knights. In the end he knew it would be his decision but he did not know which knight he could bear to send. Tristan was more adept to the mission but he was also the best scout. Gawain was a good warrior but not prepared for the solitude the mission promised.

"Arthur, I will go," Tristan said. "We both know that I am the best suited for this mission. Gawain is a good fighter but not trained enough to take on this assignment. If anything were to go wrong I could escape and disappear, Gawain could not."

The others' nodded. They knew that Tristan was right. When it came to solitary missions he was the best for he could disappear into the shadows like a ghost and make his way back to them if anything went wrong. Arthur looked at Tristan, he was determined to go. Arthur sighed, he knew he was right.

"Very well," Arthur said. "You will go." Tristan nodded and left to prepare his gear. "What am I doing?" Arthur asked himself.

"Arthur, Tristan made the choice to go. Do not look as if you forced him to go," Lancelot said.

"I know, it's just it was my idea to send someone and that someone should be me."

"Arthur, you know you cannot go. Tristan can take care of himself, he will come back alive, and with luck, with Liam's sister," Dag said. Arthur sighed. He knew Dagonet was right but he felt responsible for his men and with each wound he felt as if it were his own.

"Let your mind rest, Tristan knows what he is doing and he probably dreamed of such a mission, after all it has been so dull around her," Galahad smiled. The other knights laughed a little and then went to saddle their mounts to ride with Tristan until he passed their jurisdiction.

Kida rode silently at the rear of Lysander's column. She had avoided her commander since she had returned but she knew it would not be long before he cornered her. During the journey back to her post she thought a lot about what was to happen. If she did survive the rest of her servitude, what would she do then? She could not go home. Her mother sent her away and she was pretty sure that she would not let her back home. Liam would insist that she went home with him but she did not know if she could return back to the life she had. When she was Kida she was nothing, but as Kiran she was someone. How could she just go back to being a nameless nuisance when she had tasted the freedom of the world outside of the little village she was born in?

She hoped that Liam would regain his senses when he discovered her gone. She prayed that Arthur and the other's kept their word and not tell Liam where she went. She loved Liam but his protective nature was smothering and it drove her insane. It may have been useful when she was a child, but she had been forced to make her own way for the past ten years and thought that she was more than qualified to take care of herself.

Liam went to Kida's shed. He stood outside of it for a few minutes. His conversation with Arthur angered him, but after thinking about what he said he knew Arthur was right. Kida had survived ten years without him, seven of them in the service like him, but it has hard for him to admit it. In his mind he had created her as an immortal ten year old that lived for him as he did for her. He did not like what reality gave him. A twenty year old young woman that could fight as well as any man and used to a life of solitude.

What was he to do? Should he let her go or imprison her? His heart told him to imprison her but his mind advised to let her go. He paced outside her door confused. Could he let her go?

Arthur and the others rode silently beside Tristan. They looked at each other and wondered what lay ahead of them. Tristan held his bird on his arm and talked to her quietly, telling her that they were going to a different home for a while. The bird looked at him with her dull eyes as if she understood him.

"Well," Arthur started as they pulled their horses to a stop. "This is where we part."

Bors growled and said roughly, "Have fun and don't kill too many Woads."

"Be careful," Dag said. The other knights murmured little bits of advice; they were not very good with good-byes.

"I'll be seeing you," Tristan said and rode off into the night, leaving behind him five sad friends and one depressed commander.

Liam took a deep breath and opened the door. He would let her go. "Kida…" he started. He looked in the room and found it empty. "Kida?" he called. The first thought that came to him was that Lysander found her, but he would have heard something. Besides that Lysander had left yesterday. Baffled, Liam went out in search of Arthur, maybe he could tell him where Kida went.

Tristan rode hard all night. By morning he saw Lysander's column a head of him. If he kept up his pace he would be with them by noon. He slowed his horse and let her walk at her own pace. He was in no hurry to catch Lysander. His hawk flew around him in circles enjoying her morning flight.

He thought about last nights events. It was quite interesting. Liam's sister leaving and Liam obsessing; he had never seen Liam like that before. He had no idea why he volunteered to go, maybe it was the fact that he thought Gawain could not handle it, or maybe it was that he thought Gawain would have gotten emotionally involved with the girl, what ever the reason there was no backing out now.