12. Yule

'Would you give me a moment of your time?' Arthur asked seriously, walking down the stairs to greet Zoe.

The crowd still milling around the Church stairs parted around him like the Red Sea, but he didn't seem to notice. Zoe, though, felt the weight of the stares like a ton of bricks and wanted nothing more than to get out of the limelight and find her friends at Yule.

'You want to speak to me, sir?' She squeaked nervously. Normally, the only person she'd call sir was the insanely strict headmaster of the school she had attended. She was startled, puzzled and a little frightened at Arthur's request. Pulling her cloak tighter about her, she waited for Arthur, nervously glancing around at the people pretending to have conversations just close enough to hear what was going on.

'You are not in any trouble, I promise.' Arthur smiled briefly, putting his hand on Zoe's shoulder. 'There were two things I wanted to talk to you about. Firstly it occurred to me that I never told you what happened to the caravan you were travelling with when we found you,' Arthur said. 'Or apologized for our lateness.'

'It's fine, Braewyn told me what happened,' Zoe reassured him, darting glances around at the people staring at them and trying to avoid looking into his startlingly vibrant eyes. He was intimidating even if he was kind. And this conversation was gathering rather more attention than she liked.

'Nevertheless, I would like to apologize. I would have done so earlier, but I must admit I forgot all about it. Seeing you here tonight made me realize the disservice I had done to you, and I would like to make amends,' Arthur insisted.

Zoe was flattered that he thought her worth the trouble, and humbled by his offer. 'Sir, you don't have to do anything for me,' Zoe stammered, blushing when he studied her in silence.

'If you say so,' Arthur said, bowing his head to her. 'I might have failed to protect your caravan, but I will not fail to protect you in this place. You have my word.' He looked at her with his amazing green eyes.

'I never thought you wouldn't,' Zoe said. It wasn't strictly true, but it felt like the right thing to say. She couldn't meet Arthur's eyes, though, and she felt the heat in her cheeks that meant she was blushing. 'The other thing, sir?'

'I'm aware it sounds strange, but could you run an errand for me?'

Zoe blinked, startled by the request. 'What sort of errand, sir?'

'You still live with Braewyn, yes? Could you tell her that Marius ran out of dittany, henbane and feverfew and ask her to bring some to Lamorak before my knights leave?'

'How much would you like, sir?' Zoe asked, relieved that it wasn't actually her Arthur wanted, and all she had to do was to remember to tell Braewyn to provide the knights with three herbs.

'Braewyn will know. She gets requests like this quite a bit.'

'Dittany, henbane and feverfew, the usual amounts by the time you leave,' Zoe summarized, eager to get out of the scrutiny of the crowd that was not-so-sneakily eavesdropping on them. 'Was that all, sir?'

Arthur smiled and replied that, yes, it was all, and to have a good time at the festival before turning and walking off. The people in his path just melted away while Zoe was left feeling entirely overwhelmed from the short conversation and a little weak at the knees from the force of his presence. He was attractive, intelligent, honourable and had been talking to her and asking what he could do for her. He was like a King to these people already, and he would be a King in truth one day, and he'd been talking to her.

Zoe let out a sigh of relief and started ducking through the crowd, some of who called out to her, trying to get her to stop and tell them what Arthur had wanted her for. Zoe snorted. As if they hadn't overheard, she thought. Someone grabbed her arm but she shook who ever it was off angrily. She had to get to Braewyn before she forgot what she was supposed to say.

'Dittany, henbane and feverfew,' Zoe murmured, 'usual amounts, before the knights leave.'

It wasn't very long before Zoe arrived at the Yule celebrations. They were on the edge of the village, but not at the stone circle. There was an oval of torches that Zoe thought looked around the size of an athletics track and in the middle there was another fire. As Zoe got closer, and music and laughter reached her ears, she saw that it was one log. One very big log blazing, its light casting enough light to rival any bonfire.

Zoe scanned the crowd, looking for a hunched figure with white hair. She spied pale hair amongst the dancers, but it was most definitely not Braewyn. Braewyn couldn't move like that, for one thing, and neither was she a man. It was Gawain, dancing with the baker's daughter, a very pretty, very friendly girl called Iona. Zoe stopped for a second and watched Gawain dance. He was…none of her business at the moment.

'Feverfew, dittany and henbane, the usual amounts, for the knights before they leave.' Zoe thought she must look a little strange talking to herself as she wandered around the outskirts of the celebrations. Zoe shook her head and kept looking for Braewyn, although on her walk around the outside of the torch circle, she did glance back at Gawain. He was still dancing with Iona, despite the song changing and a different tune being played by the group of musicians.

Braewyn was on the opposite side of the torch circle, standing stiffly, well wrapped up and talking with a woman Zoe vaguely recognized as a frequent customer of hers. By the time Zoe reached her, Braewyn had said goodbye to the woman and was turning to greet Zoe.

'Zoe! You are later than I expected you to be. I didn't know Christan mass went for so long,' Braewyn said as she hugged the girl.

'I was held up a little,' Zoe explained. 'Arthur asked me to run an errand for him.'

'Really? Well I hope you've done it. Your friend, Blanchefleur, is quite impatient for you to dance.'

'I had to ask you to send the usual amounts of dittany, henbane and feverfew to the knights before they leave in two days,' Zoe said.

Braewyn looked a little surprised. 'I'm surprised he sent you with this message. It's the lives of the knights you just gave me, Zoe, they rely on these herbs to live and heal. Are you absolutely sure of the herbs? And the amount?' Braewyn's face was more intense than Zoe had seen it before, except possibly when she had been talking with Tristan as she sewed his chest up.

'Yes, I'm sure,' Zoe answered. 'If it's so important, why send it with me?'

'You've run errands for knights before, you were available, he is too busy to come himself and cannot find Jols? I do not know what he is thinking, Zoe, but enough of that. The Blanchefleur girl and Lucia are over there,' Braewyn pointed about a third of the way around the circle, to a table piled with food and two barrels of ale sitting on either side of it.

'What about you? What if you need me?' Zoe asked, torn between having fun with her friends and looking after the grandmotherly old woman.

'I think I am perfectly able to move around by myself, Zoe. Have fun. Shoo!'

Zoe was off like a rocket, thanking Braewyn for letting her go and dashing around to greet Blanchefleur and Lucia.

'Zoe!' Blanchefleur saw her and ran over to sweep her up in a hug. Even if Blanchefleur was roughly three years younger than Zoe, she was considerably taller, so she was able to pick Zoe up and swing her around. She seemed even more exuberant than usual and Zoe could smell some ale in her breath.

'Happy Yule!' Lucia said once Zoe had steadied herself after being put down by Blanchefleur.

'Happy Yule, Lucia. Happy Yule, Blanchefleur,' Zoe returned the greeting.

'Happy Yule, Zoe! Now come, have some ale!' Blanchefleur pulled Zoe over in the direction of the tables and ale barrels.

'I'd rather have some food first, I'm starving,' Zoe said, choosing a pastry-like object from the table and handing over a couple of coins to the woman who was manning it.

'No fun!' Blanchefleur pouted. 'Come dance, though, come dance!' Blanchefleur's eyes were fixed on Percival, who was dancing with another one of the village girls who Zoe knew by sight but had never been introduced to. Mind you, Zoe thought, being discovered while giving Lancelot a blowjob isn't exactly something that would make me want to introduce myself, either.

'Should she dance with her food? You go on, I'll stay with our poor little helpless Zoe,' Lucia said, shooing off the tipsy girl.

The pair of them watched, Lucia in silence and Zoe nibbling on her pastry; as Blanchefleur was snagged into the dance by a village man, a good five years older than Zoe herself with shaggy dark hair. Blanchefleur laughed and spun with him, the two of them joining the circle of dancers around the fire moving in what looked like a relatively simple sequence of motions.

'Has she gotten Percival, yet?' Zoe asked, not looking away from her friend.

'No,' Lucia replied. 'They haven't danced and she's very disappointed. She went to a lot of effort tonight.'

'Well, she looks good at least,' Zoe said.

'She's drinking to forget her sorrows. If that's not stupid, I don't know what is.'

Zoe agreed and finished her pastry in comfortable silence, the two girls watching the antics of their friend, who was being unusually flirtatious tonight. Not that the man she was dancing with seemed to mind too much. Then Zoe got distracted by a familiar figure moving away from the dance, bowing slightly to his partner as he made his way over to the ale barrels.

It was Gawain; his long hair dishevelled and eyes sparkling as he downed a mug of ale in a single gulp. He apparently didn't notice the surreptitious looks the girls were shooting him, as if they wanted to smack all other competition away from him. He looked around, slightly out of breath from the dancing, and caught sight of Zoe. He grinned and Zoe thought he looked remarkably like a dog who had caught sight of a juicy bone. She felt uncomfortably aware that she might be the aforesaid bone.

'Zoe! I didn't see you as the type to be here,' he said, dropping his empty mug of ale on the food table and walking over to her. 'Why aren't you dancing?'

'I don't know anybody to dance with,' Zoe replied, elbowing Lucia as discreetly as possible when she snorted.

Gawain had undoubtedly seen it as he shot a grin at Lucia, too, before bowing flamboyantly in front of Zoe. 'Will you dance with me, fair lady?' Gawain asked, grinning at Zoe, who was blushing and trying to avoid the angry looks that some of the other girls were shooting at her back.

'B-but I don't know how!' Zoe protested when Gawain, who hadn't waited for an answer, grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the circle of dancers.

'Don't worry. It's simple, here,' Gawain grabbed her hands in his as they joined in. 'Step left, and again, and again, forwards, back, spin right, clap, join hands with me, spin together, clasp hands with the girls next to you and repeat, got it? Good, let's go!'

'Wait!' Zoe protested as she was pushed into the dance. 'What am I supposed to be doing?'

'Relaxing, having fun? Don't worry about it!' Gawain smiled and, as Zoe got better at the steps and stopped bumping in to the women to either side of her, she started to enjoy the dance. Particularly Gawain's company. He kept telling Zoe stories to make her laugh, squeezing her hands when she made a mistake in the dance and grinning at the few comments she ventured to make.

'Do you know you have some of the most beautiful hair I've seen?' he asked as they spun.

'No,' Zoe said, feeling her cheeks flush. 'It's not that beautiful, anyway. Vanora's is nicer.'

'Van's got pretty hair, but yours is so shiny and smooth looking. And it's black. There aren't many people who have black hair here. And theirs is not as straight.'

'It's not uncommon where I come from,' Zoe shrugged. 'I got it from my mother.' Zoe's mother was (still is, Zoe thought fiercely) half-Chinese, and had passed on her hair and height to her daughter. Her father was a German migrant, complete with thick German accent, an oddity in England, and had given Zoe his features, including his fair skin. Nobody could look at Zoe and her father together without realizing they were related.

'I like it,' Gawain stepped back, letting Zoe's hands go, as the dance required. 'It looks better now than it did when you came here. Why cut hair like yours?'

'It was annoying,' Zoe said defensively. 'It took too long to wash, dry, care for. I didn't see the point.'

Gawain raised an eyebrow and tossed his hair as they stepped closer. 'The point is, it makes you feel good. I like long hair.'

'I can see,' Zoe said, daring to tug on a clump of blond hair before stepping back and spinning to the right, grinning back at him.

'Particularly on pretty ladies,' Gawain continued as they stepped closer once more.

'Oh? So I should cut mine short, yes?' Zoe asked playfully, feeling completely at ease with the blond knight. The knowledge that he was a killer was in the back of her mind, but his smile was doing all sorts of things to her heartbeat, her stomach and her ability to blush made it seem unimportant. As did the discussion about hair. Hard to be afraid of a man who was so easily distracted by shiny hair, Zoe thought wryly, deciding that she wouldn't cut it off no matter how annoying it got.

The dance had to end eventually, though, and Zoe joined in with the other dancers in cheering for the musicians. Gawain smiled, said goodbye to Zoe and walked over to Iona. Zoe, puffing a little and warm for the first time since winter began, ignored the little flash of jealousy and managed to find Blanchefleur, sulking near a torch closer to the village.

'How are you?' Zoe asked, knowing the answer, but needing to get it out of her friend.

'Bloody terrible. Percival hasn't even looked at me,' Blanchefleur snapped. 'I've danced with pretty much everyone but him, I even danced with Dinadan and still Percival wouldn't pay attention to me.'

'Don't worry; there's still a lot of time tonight. Didn't you say this goes until dawn?' Zoe nudged Blanchefleur gently, trying to cheer her friend up.

'Remember, Blanchefleur, that the real thing doesn't start until all the children are at home with their parents,' Lucia added, startling Zoe by coming out of the shadows behind them.

'When did you decide to talk to us?' Blanchefleur asked sulkily. She didn't like Lucia much at the best of times and, because she was a little drunk and very angry, this conversation had the potential to be explosive.

'When I heard Dinadan talking about you to Percival,' Lucia replied easily. 'Apparently you were so busy staring at something that you stepped on the poor man's feet a few times during the dance.'

Zoe couldn't hold in a snort of laughter at Blanchefleur's expression.

'Oops?' Blanchefleur said somewhat hesitantly. 'What did he say?'

'Didn't hear,' Lucia shrugged. 'But he knows you exist, if that's what you're worried about.'

'That's so comforting, Lucia. So very comforting,' Blanchefleur snapped. 'I can't take this anymore. Zoe, Lucia, let's go dance. Moon's almost high, we should be having fun, not moping!'

'Who was moping, exactly?' Lucia asked, allowing herself to be dragged into the dance by Blanchefleur. Zoe, much to her regret, was unable to escape due to the Blanchefleur's vice-like grip on her arm. Apparently this was a dance where partners were swapped, and the village man Zoe got the first time (who Blanchefleur had practically thrown her at) was patient and told her the steps before handing her off to the next man, who told her she looked pretty and asked her name.

Zoe just had time to tell him before she was handed to another man, an old one this time, with a scraggly white beard and a pronounced limp, and the man after that was more like a boy and his attempt to grow a beard made Zoe laugh. The man after that was quite fat, but he could still dance better than Zoe could, then she came to Lancelot, who kept trying to dance much closer to her than was strictly necessary and making her blush with his innuendos, and the man after that was nearly as short as she was, albeit with much more muscle and implied that Lancelot was impotent loud enough for him to hear. Apparently this was an old game between the two, as the man was a farrier who worked on Lancelot's horse quite often, as he told Zoe in between making his crude jokes. Then Zoe got Percival, and then another man from the village, the blacksmith, who was almost as clumsy as Zoe was. And they were all smiling and laughing and Zoe could, for the first time, forget the knives they wore at their sides. Rather, the knives seemed insignificant compared to their smiles and open joy to be there.

By the end of the song Zoe was panting with exertion, laughter and had thoroughly enjoyed herself. The clumsy blacksmith asked to partner her in the next dance and she agreed quickly. Together they terrorized the other couples with their mistakes, but it was all in good spirits. Then, the old man with the scraggly beard demanded that the 'young bucks' let a more experienced man show Zoe how to dance. He smelled like goats, and was missing half his teeth, but he could still dance. He managed to teach Zoe the basic village dances, aided by younger men when his limp got too bad for him to continue.

After leaving the dancing to regain her breath and ducking away from the boy with the hilarious wispy beard (the old man's grandson, Zoe had found out), Zoe was very surprised when Percival joined her.

'How are you, Zoe?' he asked, smiling down at her. He still smelled bad, but he appeared to have made an effort to get clean as his shirt was unstained. Percival was notorious for being one of the dirtiest knights, and the only reason his clothes remained as clean as they were was that Blanchefleur was willing to go to extraordinary lengths to make sure they were all clean.

'Surprisingly good,' Zoe replied, remembering how she usually was around groups of people in this time. Even in her own time she hadn't been comfortable in crowds. She remembered a concert she had went to with Brittany (so long ago) where she had started to panic due to the number of people in the mosh pit. Brit had laughed at her, but she hadn't gone to another concert after that.

'Haven't started any fights yet?' Obviously Percival was remembering the same thing, judging by his expression, which had twisted from a pleased smile to a smirk.

'None that I can recall,' Zoe replied tartly, a little embarrassed. She had first met the knight when he had come to her rescue from a tavern brawl she had accidentally started. Not the most auspicious of meetings, and Percival liked reminding her of it whenever they met.

'That's probably a good sign. And I see you've moved beyond hiding under tables.'

'You've humiliated me enough tonight, please don't mention it again!' Zoe begged, cursing the pale skin that showed her blush so clearly. Or, clearly enough to amuse Percival, at least.

'Dance with me?' Percival asked suddenly, holding out his hand.

'I'm absolutely exhausted, I'm sorry.' Zoe genuinely wanted to dance with him, but her feet were aching (the lack of proper support in the boots was beginning to show) and she was still out of breath, there was no way she could dance now. And, anyway, Blanchefleur would kill her if she did.

'Ah. Looks like I'll have to go without a partner for a while then,' Percival sighed.

Zoe caught sight of Blanchefluer standing a little way away, staring at Percival and got an idea. 'If you really want a partner, I can introduce you to a friend of mine,' she offered.

'Is she pretty?' Percival asked, grinning down at Zoe.

'I'm not much of a judge of that. I think she's pretty, but I don't know what men look for in a woman.' Zoe turned away from Percival and beckoned her friend over. 'Percival, do you know Blanchefleur?'

'Nice to meet you,' Percival said, giving Blanchefleur a thorough look-over before holding out his hand. 'Would you like to dance?'

'Yes.' Blanchefleur's response was both immediate and breathless. She smiled widely and, as she was led away by Percival, seemed to be floating rather than walking.

Zoe smiled, mentally congratulating herself for a good idea and tried to sneak away from where she would be noticed and encouraged to dance. While she had discovered that dancing was fun and that the men there were all good partners and not as scary as they looked, she wasn't fit enough to leap around all night.

She ducked out of the torch circle, absently noticing that the moon was on its downward path now. What had Lucia said? That Yule only started once the parents and children had gone home? What did she mean? Zoe wondered, watching the dancers inside the light from her place in the shadows.

It seemed the same to her at first, but when she looked closer at the dance she saw that it seemed to involve much more body to body contact than the ones before had. And it seemed more suggestive. Zoe realized she was in the equivalent of a nightclub and couldn't contain her sniggers. Oh how things would change.

Zoe caught sight of Blanchefleur among the dancers. She was easy to find; she appeared to be dancing with Percival again. From this distance, she looked like she was smiling, and as he turned the pair of them it looked like he was, too. Dancing not too far away was Lucia, who appeared to be very interested in her current partner judging by how close they appeared to be. Zoe got somewhat of a shock to realize that she was dancing with the clumsy blacksmith she had danced with earlier in the evening.

'Zoe?'

Zoe half-screamed and jumped back, startled by the sudden voice. 'Oh, thank God,' she gasped, looking around and pressing a hand over her heart. 'It's you, Liliana!'

'Who else would it be?' Liliana asked, grabbing Zoe's arm and dragging her back. 'Now, I've come to dance, and you are not going to sulk out here alone. At the very least, listen to me complain about the men my parents paraded me in front of.'

'How bad was it?' Zoe asked, stopping next to a bright torch. From their position they had a good view of Yule log in the centre of the dancers, but were far enough away not to be overheard.

Liliana stopped with her and began talking, gesturing wildly with her hands. 'Well, there was one who got himself terribly drunk before even showing up to my parents' house. He threw up all over the floor and could barely speak. He left after about an hour. Then there was another one who reeked. I mean, he smelled absolutely disgusting, like he'd been rolling around in the stables and exercising in summer! And then there was one who was very charming, very handsome but as thick as a brick. My father asked him what he thought of Arthur Castus and do you know what his response was? 'He's the Commander of the Sarmatian Knights!' How impressive,' Liliana snarled.

'Well, surely your parents see that you don't like any of them and won't force you to marry one of them?' Zoe asked.

'They can do whatever the hell they want. They want me to marry the drunkard, as he, apparently, has the best chance of giving me a good home. I don't want a good home, I want to marry for, if not love, then respect at least.'

'You'll marry someone that you're not in love with voluntarily?' Zoe asked.

'I'm not a fool like Blanchefleur, I don't think that all marriages are about love and getting to love the person you're doomed to spend the rest of your life with. But, much as I like Lucia, I don't want to end up like her. I want a marriage based on something other than trying to spend as much of your time as possible avoiding your husband,' Liliana explained. 'It sounds simple, but…' Liliana's voice trailed off and she stared fixedly at the Yule log.

Zoe didn't know how to comfort her friend and decided to try distraction instead. 'You came to dance, not to sulk about marriage. And who knows? You might find someone out there,' Zoe gestured to the figures dancing, drinking and having a good time all around them. 'Come on, I'll dance if you do.'

Apparently it worked, because Zoe soon found herself being whirled around by a rather drunk Galahad while Liliana was dancing somewhat less wildly with, of all people, Zoe's neighbour Byron. The dance after that, the farrier from earlier in the evening claimed Zoe after introducing himself as Aleron and Lucia mysteriously disappeared with her partner, and Byron asked Liliana to partner him again.

'Thank you, Zoe!' Liliana said as Zoe was spun past by Aleron, who was even more enthusiastic than Galahad had been. Zoe ended up dancing for quite some time with him, mostly to the faster dances, with Aleron making dirty jokes and telling her embarrassing stories about the knights (mostly Lancelot) and some other village people that she knew all the while. Zoe was tired, out of breath, but she had definitely enjoyed herself by the time they paused for breath.

'And then, what do you think he does?' Aleron asked, in the middle of an entertaining story about Bedivere's first time drinking. It had, apparently, involved Bors and Dinadan teaming up to get him drunk, a Roman priest and one of the village dogs.

Zoe couldn't reply, as she was laughing too hard, and she wasn't looking where she was being spun when all of a sudden she collided with a very hard chest and nearly fell, still laughing.

Aleron, though, who had been laughing as hard as she had a few moments ago, was rather more wary of the new arrival. 'Sorry, Sir Tristan,' he said. 'Didn't see you there.'

Zoe looked up, saw that it was Tristan who she had been sent spinning into and tried to stifle her giggles. He didn't look like the sort of man to have much patience for dances and revelry, what with all the scary tattoos on his face and his messy hair, not to mention the knife he had strapped to his hip.

'Jaiyana's got a problem,' Tristan said, ignoring Zoe and concentrating on her partner instead. 'We're leaving in two days and I need her ready.'

'I'll see what I can do,' Aleron replied, becoming serious surprisingly quickly. 'Will you make sure that Zoe gets home without any trouble? I would do it myself, but if I'm to look after Jaiyana…'

Tristan glanced at Zoe, who had succeeded in smothering her laughter and was now looking at the two men with narrowed eyes. 'I'll take her. You go to Jaiyana.'

Aleron nodded and said goodbye to Zoe, moving away from the dwindling crowd of dancers. Blanchefleur was gone, Zoe noticed, as were most of the knights. Gawain was still there, talking near a torch with Iona, and Dinadan, Lamorak and Galahad were stumbling away from the crowd of dancers, loudly bidding goodbye to a group of giggling girls. Lucia had disappeared a while ago with the blacksmith who didn't know how to dance. Liliana was still dancing with Byron, but there were fewer people dancing around the Yule log and Zoe noticed for the first time that the sky was lightening. The sun must be rising, she thought.

Tristan moved to take her arm, but Zoe shrank away. The scout had sounded angry when he had agreed to take her home, and she didn't want to antagonize him further.

'It's fine. I can get myself home,' Zoe assured him.

Tristan looked at her flatly and Zoe could tell that, even if he didn't particularly want to spend time with her, he would do what Aleron had asked him to.

Sighing, she trudged out of the torch circle in Tristan's wake, noticing that some of them had gone out. She followed the scout who seemed eerily aware of everything around them, to Braewyn's house and tried to thank him for making sure she made it home in one piece. Tristan didn't even acknowledge her thanks, and as soon as she was near the door he turned around and walked off, back towards the fort.

Zoe, realizing how tired she was now that she could see Braewyn peacefully sleeping, was mildly annoyed at this, but supposed that this 'Jaiyana' must really be worrying Tristan. It almost made him seem like a real person, Zoe thought sleepily as she took off the new dress and struggled into her nightgown. She smiled a little at that thought as she collapsed onto the furs that were used for a bed next to Braewyn, not looking forward to having to get up in a few short hours. Sleep came soon after she pulled them over the top of her.

xxx

A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I had an exam, state champs and my last waterpolo games, so I've been a busy girl. Also, I've finished all my classes and am now on study break before exams start (for me) in three weeks.

Anyway, I hope the chapter is worth the wait. As always, thank you to everyone who reviewed, you are wonderful! And, again, thank you to my beta-homeric is absolutely brilliant!

Reviews are appreciated!

Disclaimer: King Arthur and the knights do not belong to me. Such a pity.