Krysia stood in the throne hall, beside the king, watching as two of the guards dragged Gwaine before the king with his hands chained. She stared at those chains, and although she knew it wasn't true, she felt that this was her fault. If Gwaine died, it would be her fault.

The man whom Merlin had now confirmed for her was an imposter and not Sir Oswald stepped forward and said, "Sire, this man attacked me with a sword. He tried to kill me."

Uther turned to Gwaine, who was on his knees, carefully avoiding looking at Krysia.

"Is this true?" Uther said.

"I stepped in to protect Merlin," Gwaine said.

The imposter said, "I tried to talk to him. He was like a man possessed. I'm sure that Sir Ethan will back me up."

"Indeed," Sir Ethan's imposter said. "I can vouch for his every word."

"He's a liar!" Gwaine said.

Krysia took a step forward and said, "Sire, if I—"

Uther held up his hand to stop her and turned back to Gwaine, fuming. She could feel a prickling at the corners of her eyes.

"I will have your tongue," Uther said, "how dare you speak to a knight in that way!"

Gwaine, emboldened by his own fury, glared up at Uther and said, "Nobility is defined by what you do, not by who you are. These men are anything but. They are arrogant thugs!"

"Gwaine!" Arthur said with surprise.

"You see, sire, how he behaves," the Oswald imposter said.

"Please, sire," Krysia said, hearing the quivering in her own voice. "I also saw—"

"I have heard enough!" Uther said, and Krysia held her breath. "For a commoner to attack a nobleman is in violation of the knight's code."

"I couldn't agree with you more, sire," the imposter said. "He must be made an example of."

"Sir Oswald, please," Arthur said.

"Nothing less than his execution will give me satisfaction."

Krysia knew she made a distressed sound, and Gwaine looked up at her with an apologetic expression, and he shook his head slightly, as if begging her not to get involved. But how could she just stand here and let him die?

"Father," Arthur said firmly, "I understand how this must look. It's an embarrassing situation. Sir Oswald is a dear friend and our guest here in Camelot. But Gwaine is my guest here too. He may not be of noble birth, but I can vouch that he has a noble heart."

"And sire," Krysia said, watching Uther soften slightly at his son's speech, "I assure you that what I saw reflected only his care for the life and safety of Merlin."

"Gwaine risked his life to save mine," Arthur pressed. "I beg you, please. If a knight's word is his bond, then I give you my word. Gwaine is a good man, he deserves clemency."

Uther looked between Krysia and Arthur for a moment, then turned to Gwaine and narrowed his eyes. She was sure that she was about to hear him damned to execution, and she was already planning how she might break him out of the prison.

"You are banished from Camelot," Uther said. "If you ever return, you will pay for it with your life. You have until dawn to leave the city."

Gwaine and Krysia stared at each other, and she couldn't breathe. Not dead, but now she had to choose: did she stay in the place that she had always believed was her home and never see him again, or did she go with him and never come home?

/-/

Gwaine packed his few things, torn between relief at the sparing of his life and the pain at the look he'd seen on Krysia's face. Banishment would have been bearable, but he already knew she would never leave this place.

Merlin entered the room and whispered, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Gwaine said. "I never stay in one place very long. People get sick of me too quickly."

"I didn't," Merlin said.

"After the trouble I caused?" Gwaine said, forcing a smile.

"You livened this place up." Merlin's smile faltered and he said, "Krysia didn't either."

Gwaine nodded, feeling a strange itching in his eyes.

"Make sure you look after Arthur," Gwaine said. "He's in danger."

Merlin's smile returned and he said, "I thought you hated nobles?"

"Yeah, well, maybe that one's worth dying for, eh?"

Gwaine hadn't made it to the courtyard yet when he found Krysia sitting by a window, frowning at the sky. He paused, staring at her for a long moment. Gods, she was beautiful. Why would fate give him a woman like this to rip her away?

"Hey," he said.

She turned, forcing a smile, but it was clear that she'd been crying. He sat beside her on the windowsill and brushed at the tracks of the dried tears with his thumb.

"It's alright, darling," he whispered. "You'd have tired of me, anyway."

"Never," she said.

Gods, this was the hardest thing he'd ever done.

"You could come with me," he said, "but I know you won't. It's alright. Don't you get yourself in trouble on my behalf, alright? I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"For worrying you, lovely," he said. "I'm sorry I couldn't…"

He forced a smile, then leaned in to kiss her. She kissed him back, pulling him closer, that intoxicating warmth and pull that only she had ever caused for him. He could almost fool himself into thinking that dawn was ages away and he could enjoy this one last night with her, but he knew that was no good for her and dangerous for him.

"Keep an eye on Arthur," he whispered, pressing his forehead to hers.

"I know," she said. "That's not the Sir Oswald I knew. If Arthur could have—"

"I know," he said. "I know."

"He'll be a good king," she said, tracing her fingers gently up his neck. Her eyes were already filling with fresh tears.

"Yes," Gwaine whispered. He pressed his lips against the corner of her mouth. "Let's hope he lives that long."

/-/

Krysia knew that Gaius and Merlin were pointedly not talking about Gwaine's absence in the morning, nor the fact that she clearly had cried instead of slept. She stared at her porridge and couldn't find the energy to lift her spoon.

"I don't know what we do," Merlin finally said.

Gaius frowned and said, "I could try to persuade Arthur to withdraw from the contest—"

"He won't, I know Arthur. I'll have to somehow…use my powers to defend him."

Krysia looked up from her porridge and said, "What, with Uther and Camelot watching? In a melee with dozens of knights?"

"I don't have a choice," Merlin said, but she could tell he understood the dangers.

/-/

Krysia went to Leon's chambers, more for something to do than anything else. She couldn't seem to focus on anything, and she knew Leon wouldn't ask questions. When she knocked, he answered with his tunic half-on.

"It wasn't very fair, was it?" she said with a weak smile. "Having you do patrol the night before the melee."

He laughed weakly, then let her enter. She picked up his chainmail, and he frowned, but he adjusted his tunic and let her help him on with his mail.

"I am sorry," he said. "You know I didn't—"

"I know," she whispered. "But you also know something isn't right here. The Oswald we know would never demand a man's execution."

Leon hummed, allowing her to help him on with the breastplate. He took her hands before she continued with the next piece.

"While I appreciate the help," he said, "there are surely better ways to distract yourself. If you aren't at the tournament ground soon, the king will wonder where you've got to."

Krysia knew he was right, but she just nodded, standing there, dreading the melee. After a long moment, he pulled her into an embrace, and she rested her head on his breastplate, unable to even tell him how likely it was that men would die needlessly today.

/-/

Uther went to Arthur's chamber with his gift, pleased to see Arthur's servant had nearly prepared Arthur.

"Ah," he said. "I trust you're ready for the challenge."

"Yes, father," Arthur said.

Uther always felt conflicted about the melee. He enjoyed the test and spectacle, and he had enjoyed competing, but losing one of his favorite knights at the last melee had put a bitter taste in his mouth, and seeing his son compete did remind him once more that it was a dangerous challenge.

"I came to bring you this," Uther said. "I won my first melee with this blade. The edge has been dulled, it's perfectly safe." Arthur took the blade and tested the edge, examining it. "All of Camelot is eager for a victory today, Arthur. And I know you won't let me down."

Uther left, ready to present the tournament to the world.

/-/

Krysia sat beside the king's seat, her heart pounding as she watched the people gathering at the grounds. She tried not to wring her hands, but the anticipation as the grounds filled were sickening. When Uther arrived, the crowd was already extremely loud. Everyone sat as Uther sat, and Krysia held her breath as Uther dropped his hand to signal that the melee had begun.

She hated watching the spectacle in the best of times, and these certainly were not the best of times. Watching knight after knight unseating and falling, many unconscious, some limping away, she felt dizzy, and her lack of sleep did not help.

She grasped her skirts as a knight headed directly for Arthur, but Arthur ducked the knight's approach, and the attacker was unseated as the fight continued.

Eventually, Arthur was grabbed and thrown down. A sword was above him, but he avoided the blow and began to fight. Another knight, still horsed, was rounding to attack. Krysia glanced at Merlin, and she knew he was concentrating just a little more carefully, because a moment later the horsed knight was down, the saddle breaking. He got up easily, however, and Arthur was in a two-on-one fight.

Suddenly, a knight who had been lying down jumped up to fight with Arthur, back-to-back. She knew it wasn't Leon and she didn't think it was Geraint, but something about the fighting style was familiar. The knight had no sword, but somehow he managed to disarm one of the attackers, catching one of the swords that Merlin had been trying to gather, the Stalorne blade.

She thought she recognized that move, thought she'd seen him use it at the Willowdale tavern against a drunken man looking to pick a fight, but she didn't dare so much as breathe his name. Gwaine.

The knight stabbed his down adversary, and Krysia heard the crowd gasp. It shouldn't have been possible, not with a dulled blade. Arthur was losing his fight, and was about to be killed, but Gwaine stabbed the attacker, again with the Stalorne blade, and the crowd gasped again, and Uther swore under his breath.

Arthur and Gwaine were both exhausted, standing in the center, in the anticipation. Krysia thought Uther might be afraid for Arthur's life, as Gwaine had just killed two attackers.

Arthur said something, then removed his helmet. The other knight stuck the sword in the ground and lifted his helmet. Sure enough, there was Gwaine. Krysia couldn't fight her smile, and she could see Arthur smiling, too, but Uther stood beside her, furious.

Her smile faded quickly as she heard him yell, "Guards! Seize him!"

She held her breath, realizing that Gwaine had likely signed his own death warrant by saving Arthur.

/-/

Uther hurried to the tournament tent, and he was vaguely aware that Krysia was following him, but Gaius was already over the bodies of the deceased knights. He should have known better than to let go this Gwaine. It was surely no coincidence that the two knights he killed were those who accused him the night before.

"Is there nothing you can do for them?" he said to Gaius.

"I'm sorry, it's too late for that," Gaius said.

Arthur entered the tent, his arm bleeding. He was holding it, and Krysia hurried to clean the wound.

"Hold still," she said, smiling.

How could she smile at a time like this? How could she be happy on a day she hated with an outcome that should have made her distraught?

"The prisoner is responsible for their deaths," Uther said. "I want him executed immediately."

Gaius said, "You might want to wait before you pass judgment. I fear that Sir Ethan and Sir Oswald are not all what they seem."

Uther was confused and about to ask what he meant, but Gaius pulled amulets off the bodies, and removed the helmets to reveal not the faces of Oswald and Ethan, but those of men Uther had never before seen. Suddenly that sword made more sense.

"Sorcery!" he said.

"Gwaine did try to say, sire," Krysia whispered, "but the fact that he did not have the face of a knight overwhelmed his voice."

Uther did not miss the biting tone in her voice, one he'd never heard from her before, and he looked to Gaius. Surely Gaius had heard it. Surely he recognized it. Uther would never forget the way Krysia spoke to him the last time they met, that same tone.

"Then, once again," Arthur said, "I owe Gwaine my life."

Uther stood, paralyzed between all that had been revealed, his fury at Gwaine's defiance, and the disorienting fury of Krysia. What to do?

/-/

Krysia and Arthur found Gwaine and Merlin waiting in a corridor after the deliberations of the king. The news was mixed, and Gwaine paused his pacing at the sight of her.

"The king is prepared to overlook the fact that you fought in the melee," Arthur said.

"That's fantastic!" Merlin said.

Krysia forced a smile and said, "Yes."

"Thank you, Arthur—" Gwaine began.

"But," Arthur said, lifting a hand. He broke off and sighed. "He's a stubborn man. He will not rescind his judgment. You must leave Camelot."

Gwaine looked at Krysia, and she felt the weight of the judgment all over again. She would never tell him that she had cried again when the judgment was reiterated. She hoped she never had another cause to cry in front of Uther.

"You've got to speak to him, Arthur," Merlin said as Gwaine and Krysia continued to stare at each other. "Make him change his mind."

"Merlin," Gwaine whispered.

"I'm sorry, Gwaine," Arthur said. "My father's wrong. If it were up to me—"

"It's alright, Arthur," Krysia said, forcing a smile. "We all understand. It's alright."

Arthur frowned, nodded, and said, "You have until sunset."

/-/

Sunset was long enough for Gwaine to take a few provisions. As he gathered them, generously provided by Gaius, Merlin sat with Gwaine to keep him company.

"Where will you go?" Merlin said.

"I was thinking Merica," Gwaine said.

"It's dangerous."

"Yeah, and you get a lot more ale for your money." Merlin looked uncertain, so Gwaine forced a smile and said, "I'm joking."

Merlin shook his head and said, "Why don't you tell the King who you really are? He'd grant you a pardon. You could stay in Camelot, you could stay with Krysia—"

"I could never serve under a man like Uther," Gwaine said firmly. He tightened the buckles on his pack.

"And yet you helped Arthur."

Gwaine shrugged on his bag and said, "He stood up for me."

"I knew he would," Merlin said.

"That showed he is indeed a noble man."

"Then why don't you stay?" Merlin said. "You could be a knight like your father. You could marry Krysia, take her away from being a servant. You and Arthur, you fought well together."

Gwaine wished he'd stop mentioning Krysia, because her presence did make him wish he could let go of his principles. It would almost be worth it, just to be near her.

"And maybe one day we will again," he said.

/-/

Krysia was waiting for Gwaine at the gate, and he smiled at her, taking her hand.

"I could go with you," she said, her eyes already swimming with tears again. "I've got a lot of skills, and I'm pretty handy with a knife—"

"I remember," he said, unable to fight his smile. He wiped a tear off her face and pressed his forehead to hers. "I'm not taking you from this place, darling. This is where you belong. But I have faith that I'll be back someday, because I dreamed of you, darling, before we ever met. We were here, together, and I believe that will happen."

She startled, looking up at him, and he thought he'd said too much, thought that she would think he was mad. Instead, she whispered, "I dreamed of you, too."

He kissed her forehead to hide the watering in his own eyes and he said, "See? That just tells you it's meant to be. I'll come back for you, Krysia. I swear it."

/-/

Leon watched Gwaine's lips touch Krysia's forehead from the battlements. He didn't look up when he felt a hand on his shoulder, knowing it must be Geraint.

"It's natural for her to say goodbye," Geraint said. "They bonded. But he's banished, so there's really no threat there."

"You don't understand," Leon whispered. "She loves him."

"A person isn't precluded from falling in love again."

Leon wasn't sure he believed that, and he wished there was some way he could ease the pain she was sure to feel, watching Gwaine walk away before the sun set.

/-/

Uther watched Krysia enter with her head down, not greeting him, not looking at him as she began her work. He couldn't explain why he was so angry, seeing that man kiss her face before he left, but the anger had not dissipated.

"It is for the best," he said, "the judgment."

She paused, but she didn't acknowledge his words before she continued to adjust the pillows.

"He was a wild and violent man," Uther said. "A man who cannot follow laws has no place in Camelot, and a man who cannot respect authority certainly has no place here. He is fortunate that I was merciful."

Again, Krysia paused, then turned her attention to starting his fire without looking at him or saying a word.

"I know you seem to have built a connection with him, but I assure you, you're better off with him gone."

She stood straight, a frustrated laugh expelling from her lips. Yes, there it was again, that fury he'd seen in the tournament tent. He had stood in this moment before, years gone, but then it had been in front of the whole court.

"That man you just banished would have been an excellent addition to Camelot," she said firmly. "He is of noble heart, a hard worker, wonderful with children and elderly, always willing to defend those unable to defend themselves. That is, after all, what you expect from the best of Camelot, is it not?"

How would she have seen all that in a few short days? And then he realized the connection, where Arthur had come across him, where she had been sent to gather information.

"Willowdale," Uther whispered.

The surprise and fear that crossed her features confirmed his suspicions. She had not simply been going to have time away from Camelot, she had been going to Willowdale to see this man, this Gwaine. Perhaps she'd even fallen in love with him. His rage was back, tenfold. This was worse than Zosia marrying a knight. This was worse than Zosia telling him off before the whole court.

"You don't realize yet," he said, "but I have done you an enormous favor. Whatever you might think you know about that man, I assure you, he is not what you imagine. There is something I recognize in him, something extremely distasteful. That arrogance, the wildness, the lack of breeding. You will find someone better than him, I assure you. He is nothing and no one."

Rather than bowing and conceding, as Krysia so often would do, she stood a bit taller, she shook her head, and she let all her fury be known with that same biting tone of voice, the one that made his suspicions so sharp he couldn't understand how Gaius had not declared on the spot that she was the child of Zosia.

"I am nothing and no one," she said. "It is meant to be a warm night. I assume you know how to start a fire, should you require one."

He watched her leave with mild surprise and a great deal of nervousness.

It could no longer be ignored. Whatever the result, he could not longer wonder whether she was what he feared.

A/N:

So, Gwaine got three chapters in the sun before he trudged away to Mercia for a bit, Leon is in a painful place, Krysia lets it all fly, and Uther is going to listen to his gut.

To Like-a-Slasher-Film:

I will confirm that everyone who dies in the show will die in the story. I will also say that not everyone stays dead, and I've got some creative solutions. I fully expect you to pout at me regardless, however I'm excited to share it, when the time comes.

The next chapter is one I've been itching to share for yonks, so I'm really excited that we're finally here.

-C