One Year

Kida rode through the valley. She contemplated on the year's past events. The count down had began, she had seven years left of her service left, which meant Liam, Tristan and the others had only four. What was to happen after that she did not know but she did hope that Liam had come to terms with everything.

Her fellow knights' talk about what they will do once they are released of the duty. Most of them plan to return home and marry. When asked what she was going to do, she did not know. She had no home to go home to. Liam probably planned to go home and would expect her to come with her, but she could not do that. How could she give up the freedom she had lived to go back to being a slave under her mother's eye? She would not do that. Perhaps travel would suit her best, if only she could convince Liam to let her without following her and trying to protect her.

Tristan missed being under Arthur's command. Lysander was the largest git he had ever met and thought he should be dead. His time under Lysander's command was boring and uneventful. The Woads seemed to have disappeared, for there had been no large battles, just a few little scrimmages with small groups once in a while, not enough to challenge a man.

Kida still avoided him and pretty much hated his guts. He had no idea why Kida hated him and left her alone. He wished something would happen so he could leave and go back to Arthur and the other knights and have some fun.

Liam could not believe that it had been a year since Kida left. Arthur still would not tell him where she was and Tristan had not shown up so all must be well. He was excited over the fact that there was only four years left of his term and then he could go home. Kida was only three years behind him, so he would have to wait around for a while longer before he could go home for he could not leave Kida behind.

Over the past year he had had a lot of time to think. He decided he could live with Kida being a knight, although it did not calm his nerves when he thought about what could happen to her. When ever he had any doubts he remembered her as Kiran and her fearlessness in saving him. He only wished that he could tell her this and apologize for his behavior. He hoped that when the time came, they would both be alive to work things out.

Arthur and his knights were excited over the coming of the end of their term. They had survived eleven years of it, and if they were lucky, they would survive the last four years of it. They all sat in the great hall. Over half of the chairs at the table were empty. Over the last year five of his knights had fallen leaving ten knights.

Lancelot and Bors drank themselves to a stupor argueing over Vanora. "Vanora deserves a real man," Lancelot said.

"Really? And where might she find one?"

"Right here."

"Bah! Like she'd even look at a boy like you. She needs a real man, like me." They laughed at themselves and drank more. Gawain and Galahad were throwing knives and discussing what they would do if they lived to the end of their term. "I would like to go home," Gawain said. "Find me a nice wife and have children."

"Not me, I want to see the world, one not at war."

"You're a dreamer Galahad," Gawain said. "The entire world is always at war with itself."

"Let me dream."

Arthur sat back and watched his knights. They were a happy and almost carefree bunch. In many ways there were still boys playing warriors. Arthur's mind wandered to his absent knight Tristan. He prayed that all went well with him and Liam's sister.

Dag sat off on his own and watched his friends argue about nothing. He smiled a little for they were such a comical group, more so with a few pints of ale in them. As he observed, Liam came and sat next to him. They sat in comfortable silence. Long ago they patched things up with each other and took to just sitting quietly with each other like old times. It was hard to believe everything that had happen in the past year, Kida showing up, the Roman's announcement of their slow removal from Brittan, and the Woads large uprising.

They were all blessed to have survived it and prayed that they would continue to have such good luck.

Lysander watched Kiran closely ever since his disappearance. Kiran showed no sign of change but there was something different about him. The odd behavior between Kiran and the lend knight was unusual, yet perhaps it was another piece to the extremely large puzzle to the mystery of Kiran Padu.

Kida sat in the stables stroking her horse. She missed the lively companionship she had experienced with Arthur and his knights. Here everyone kept to their own little circles and rarely journeyed outside of it. Before she knew what it felt to be part of a group she could live just fine as an outcast, she still could to a point, but her complete alienation was something she could not stand.

Lysander watched her even more closely than ever and Tristan seemed to want to exploit her. She wished she could go back to Arthur's fort but she knew that would never be for Lysander would not let her ask for a transfer. She would just have to wait things out and hope for them to get better.

Tristan sat in the shadows and observed Kida. She was still a complete mystery to him and it annoyed him that she did not deem him worthy to speak to so he took to watching her as she confided to her horse what was on her mind. When ever it was possible Tristan found that she would sit in the stables, usually at night after everyone had gone to bed or gotten to drunk to remember anything. He made sure that no one else had the same idea he had and listened as she expressed her feelings, wants, and desires.

She wished to travel and see the world, she feared to go home and that Liam would make her return. She despised Lysander and all the attention he seemed to give her. She missed the liveliness of his friends and her brother. She worried about Liam and the others. He just sat there and listened to everything.

During these sessions, Tristan began to loose his image of the Kida of Liam's stories and form a new one. Instead of an innocent little girl, he had an independent woman with a fierce spirit and determination to prove everyone wrong. In many ways she was like Liam, both of them were stubborn, they both were confusing, and the both were living in the past.

She bore her soul to a horse, which was understandable for the horse could never betray you if it wanted to. She told every woe she had and did not even have an inkling that Tristan listened to everyone.

As she talked he began to come to a better understanding to her behavior. Her bitterness towards people and her antisocialism; how she freaked out when they tried to help her and Liam's protection of her. All her live she had been excluded and different all the while people always pushed her away and set her on the sidelines cause she could never do anything or be anyone. She was a very complicated person once one actually got past her quills and spines.

As time went on and he listened to her more, his confusion about her lessened and he began to grow fond of the odd girl that confused him so.

Kida noticed an odd change in Tristan. He began to actually act like a human being. She found it very strange and was determined to find out what brought on such a drastic change.

One night, Kida slipped out to the stable. In the shadows, Tristan followed her. She checked every place she could think of before she sat down and began mumbling to her horse. "Tristan is behaving very oddly, I don't know why."

She heard something move and stopped. She was caught. What was she going to do?

Tristan settled down in his usual place and listened. "Tristan is behaving very oddly, I don't know why," Kida said. It wasn't the words that stopped him but the way she said them. It was the first time he actually heard her say his name without it being spiteful. Maybe he was finally getting through to her.

There was a crash and he jumped. Who could that be? He was sure he had checked everything. Kida stopped and slowly got up. He walked around silently looking for the source of the crash. He found it. Just outside the stable Lysander was slinking about. He had ran into something and knocked it over. He wasn't close enough to hear anything but something had to be done before he got to the stable.

Tristan popped out his hiding spot and walked towards Kida. "Tristan? Was that you?" she asked, angry and hopeful at the same time.

"No, Lysander is coming."

"What am I going to do?"

Without another word, Tristan pushed Kida into a pile of hay and threw himself over her. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

"Just play along," Tristan whispered.

"What am I suppose to do?"

"Just lay there and moan ever once in a while," he told her and tore his shirt off.

"Tristan?"

"Just do it." Kida shut up and allowed him to disarray her clothes. "Okay, just pretend we're lovers. It's dark enough he probably won't even notice that you're in pants."

"Okay," Kida whispered. They heard someone come into the stables and Tristan began to kiss her. Kida let out a moan, probably a little to loudly. Lysander heard it and when to the back. He found a couple making out.

"Oh?" he said alarmed. "I thought you were someone else." He turned and left.

Once they were sure he was gone, Tristan rolled of Kida and began to put his shirt back on. Kida sat up and buttoned hers back up. "What was that?" she asked.

"What? It worked didn't it?"

"I..I…" Kida stopped. Tristan looked at her. She had an odd look on her face. "Thank you," she said. She got up and left. Tristan laid back on the hay and sighed. That was certainly an interesting experienced, but he was not sure if it was worth repeating. He would have to contemplate on that.