Violette shot straight up in her bed as a door slammed, she faintly saw Mal run past with a hand to her mouth. Suddenly a scream was heard from a nearby room and Violette jumped out of bed; seeing the door to Dagonet's room open she hurried inside, only to find a disgusted woman covered in Mal's vomit. Dagonet was suppressing a laugh from the corner of the room, while Mal stood shakily on her feet, wondering if she missed the toilet. The tall woman promptly stood up, knocking Mal off her feet as she ran out the door, but not before giving Dagonet an evil glare.
Mal sat on the floor scratching her head slightly, as she mumbled, "Oh yeah, we're still here aren't we?"
Violette looked over to Dagonet who was wearing only light breeches and tried to explain, "She drank too much last night! Major hang-over!"
Kay and Gawain came rushing into the room, wondering what all the fuss was about when they eyed Mal on the floor; all the knights shared a knowing look, while Dagonet began cleaning up the mess. Kay helped Mal back to her bed and Gawain ran to get a bucket for further outbursts.
"The men were saying you drank well," he chuckled.
Mal looked over to Violette who was standing in the doorway to their bedroom and asked, "Hey Vi, is this the gay one?"
Kay cocked an eyebrow; he eyed Violette curiously as he walked out of the room.
Violette sat on the edge on her friend's bed and shook her head. "I told you not to drink so much!"
Mal starred, "Even in the past you lecture me!" she rolled her eyes before continuing, "What happened last night anyways?"
Violette outlined the events of last night, excluding Mal's experiences with Gawain, feeling it better if Mal figured that one out for herself. Mal simply nodded and laughed at herself during the telling, but when it was finished, she asked, "I didn't…do anything? Did I?"
"You mean did you do anyone?" Violette scorned, "Not exactly."
Before Mal could demand more from Violette, Gawain stepped in with a bucket in his hands. He smiled at Mal, a little too fondly, because she looked at Violette horrified, "I didn't…did I?"
Mal reached up and grabbed the front of Gawain's tunic. "What exactly did we do last night?"
Gawain looked rather pleased and said, "Would you like an encore performance?" He kissed her lightly on the cheek before wandering out again.
Mal glanced towards Violette and groaned, "How could I have forgotten that!"
The girls stayed in their bedroom talking until they heard someone yelling their names; Mal, always curious, quickly got dressed and led the way through the knights' quarters onto the street, where they saw the Kay and Gawain waiting for them
"We have a little adventure for you ladies, if you would like?" Gawain said, rather curiously because Violette was instantly thinking of a way to say no, but Mal looked from Gawain to Kay; seeing the laughter that winked at the corners of their eyes, she responded, "Hell yeah! Let's go!"
The knights smiled and pulled both girls along the crowded streets, finally they had reached the edge of the village and trees stood tall as the walked into the bright forest. Overhead the birds sang sweet songs and still the knights led them through the foliage, until they were in the center of a clearing and lying on the ground were two bows and a quiver full of arrows.
"Are we…learning…archery?" Violette's voice shook in pure excitement.
Kay pulled out his own bow and strapped an arrow in place; with one graceful and fluid motion he let the arrow go and it flew directly into a tree at the other end of the clearing, landing with a thud.
Violette giggled in elation, but Mal was already picking up the bow and trying, rather unsuccessfully, to put the arrow in place. Gawain jumped at the opportunity to put his arms around Mal, showing her how to load the arrow.
"O.K. I think I got it…" Mal was standing, ready to shoot her arrow and she pulled back with in audible, "Argh," but the tension did not release, the string barely moved. Violette walked over to friend and as Kay showed her how to load the arrow, she too struggled with pulling the string back.
Suddenly an arrow went flying from Violette's bow, but not in the intended direction. It flew backwards as Gawain and Kay ducked, both landed on the ground with a hard bang, but they rolled over laughing.
Mal, still holding the bow, glanced at her friend, who hurried over to the knights to make sure she hadn't decapitated either of them. "Whose bright idea was it to give, Clumsy over there a weapon?" She looked back as the knights continued to laugh. "Hey, where are the other knights anyways?"
Gawain got up and answered, "They are doing a routine check of the surrounding areas and will most likely be gone for the day, but you have us!"
"Oh joy!" Mal retorted sarcastically, but she smiled in spite of herself as Gawain once again put his arms around her; she really couldn't decide which of the knights she liked more, but Gawain was gaining some points. He put his hands over hers and pulled back; the arrow released and stuck in a nearby tree. Mal squeaked with pleasure and then tried again by herself; she struggled for a moment and then the arrow flew into the same tree Kay had shot at, it didn't stick, but it was a good shot.
Violette continued to try as Mal quickly refined her mastery, she was now letting every arrow go and they rooted themselves deep within the bark of the trees. "Once more, and then I'm giving up! I'm arms hurt!" Violette whined as she saw Mal progress.
Pulling back the bow for the final time, the arrow flew past the trees ringing the clearing. Violette jumped up and down excited until she heard a loud gasp from where she had fired the arrow. The knights and were instantly on the move, but Violette stood in place, wondering if she had hurt an animal, or worse, a human.
As she followed after the others Galahad came into view, a horrified look on his face as he look down between his legs, sweat trickling along his furrowed brow. The arrow had just barely missed Galahad, and Mal was laughing hysterically, while the knights seem to understand Galahad's worry.
Violette rushed over to Galahad and bit her bottom lip, while looking down at the arrow, it had grazed the skin of his inner thigh and he was bleeding; instantly she was on her knees looking keenly at the cut, which looked even worse from Mal's view point. "Wow Vi, you're awfully friendly!"
"I'm sorry Galahad." Violette looked up and truly was sorry for hurting him, her eyes filled with tears, but Galahad pulled out the arrow and kneeled down next to her. "If I survive, I did want to have kids!"
They roared with laughter and invited the girls to spend the rest of the day with them in the forest.
They had been within the confines of the wall for a number of weeks now and they truly felt as though they belonged there. Vanora took well to having the two girls for company and they quickly became friends. Violette and Mal began to get to know each of the knights' personalities; they began to form a disfunctional family. Arthur acted as the father, while Kay, Dagonet and even Bors seemed to be the brothers, who teased and taunted; the only problem was Mal. She was having some difficulty in choosing between Gawain, Tristan and Lancelot; to be honest, she wanted all three.
"You can't have them all Mal!" Violette argued one day, while they were walking to lunch in the dining hall.
"Why not?" Mal whined. "They haven't complained!"
Violette sighed heavily as they entered the dining hall and found that four other women were already seated with Kay, Gawain and Galahad. The knights smiled as they entered, but the women scowled. Mal and Violette had made some enemies over the past few weeks and these bar wenches, as Lancelot so graciously called them, were their nemeses. This group included the tall woman that Mal had vomited on; apparently that was unappreciated. The wenches called both girls whores and harlots; Violette simply called them childish and walked away, while Mal brought fists up ready for a fight, but the sight of food stopped the confrontation instantly.
Mal sat down beside Gawain and Violette took her usual stop between Galahad and Kay. The meal was placed in front of them while the others began to flitter in through the high double doors. Tristan walked in and one of the wenches beamed expectantly, but he walked right passed their table, directly towards Mal, who shuffled over on the long bench. Tristan sat down and grabbed what appeared to be a leg of some sort and began eating, while chatting with Mal.
"You bloody whore!" The jealous woman yelled. "You come in here and take our men!"
Mal was instantly on her feet ready to pounce, when Violette calmly whipped a chicken leg toward the woman. Naturally it missed, but Mal thought this so funny she grabbed whatever Tristan had been eating and hit the woman square in the face.
"That was the greatest idea you've ever had, Vi!" Mal complemented.
Violette barely looked up from her plate. "She's a hypocrite and one of my biggest pet-peeves is a hypocrite!"
Dagonet's lover stood up, opened her mouth to defend her friend when Dagonet walked in and shoved a large piece of bread between her lips, then he took his seat at the knights' table. The knights and the girls cheered, but then another of the wenches threw a lamp chop at Mal, who again retaliated.
Food was flying everywhere when Lancelot opened the doors, everyone stopped in mid-throw as he looked disappointedly over to Mal, who pointed to Violette, "She started it!"
Lancelot shifted his dissatisfied gaze towards Violette as she sat agape; Lancelot shook his head. "I'm very disappointed..." he paused, "that you didn't wait for me!"
He smiled brilliantly and ducked in time as Mal threw a drumstick, which missed Lancelot, but hit Arthur's forehead with a thud. Once again the laughter stopped and people began setting down their ammunition. Arthur walked into the dining hall surveying the mess and Mal walked over, reaching up and knocking lightly on Arthur's head. "Wow, it sounded really hollow!"
The entire dining hall tried to suppress laughter, but giggles and smiles spread, until even Arthur had to smile. After the hall was cleaned and the knights had finished eating, Arthur called them to a meeting and each one left shaking their heads in wonder at the two girls.