Chapter Five

Gwaine was woken up by the tinny sound of metal on metal, as he had been for the past year – ever since Timothy had unofficially adopted him. He groaned irritably, covering his head with his pillow.

"Rise and shine, Gwaine!" Timothy yelled from outside, in his gruff voice. "I know you're awake in there. Come help me!"

Gwaine groaned again, but managed to drag himself out of bed. It was still dark outside yet most of the town had already begun their day's work. Today more than usual as it was a special day: King Carleon's eldest daughter was getting married, and all the villages in his kingdom were expected to celebrate. People had been hard at work for the whole week, cleaning their houses, sweeping the streets, making everything look presentable for the festivities. Tori, Miranda, and the two other seamstresses in the village were kept extremely busy by the sudden demand for new dresses, and blacksmiths were ordered to make ceremonial swords. Timothy was working on his final one – or so Gwaine thought. He paid little attention to the row of twenty ceremonial swords leaning against the house, ready to be delivered to the king. He didn't realise that Timothy was working on his twenty-first sword.

Across the road, the windows of the bakery were opened by Tobias who gave a friendly nod to Gwaine before retreating inside to finish off his order of bread and cakes.

"What d'you need?" Gwaine, still half-asleep, asked the middle-aged blacksmith.

Timothy smiled crookedly. "Nah, don't need nothin'. Just wanted to get your lazy arse out of bed."

Gwaine was not amused.


"Tori, I've decided."

Victoria looked up briefly from the worktable she was sharing with her mother. "Hm?"

"I've decided," said Elen, fidgeting with a length of ribbon, "that if Tobias doesn't ask me by the end of today, then I'll go with someone else."

"Ask you what?" Miranda inquired of her niece.

"To the dance," Elen answered. "In honour of the royal wedding."

"Well, why don't you ask him?"

"Thank you!" Tori exclaimed. "That's exactly what I've been trying to tell her."

Elen stared at the both of them as if they were insane. "It's the boy's job to ask the girl, everyone knows that."

"Yes, but if the boy suffers from a crippling shyness, then the girl has to make adjustments," replied Tori. She resisted the urge to shake some sense into her cousin, instead going back to the almost-finished dress on the table. Elen sighed, and dropped the ribbon onto the bed. Just then there was a knock on the door and, seeing as how Tori and Miranda were busy finishing up their orders, Elen went to answer it. She was surprised to find Timothy on the other side.

"Tim, hi! Come in."

"Thank you, Elen." The blacksmith stepped inside and greeted Tori and Miranda with a slight nod. Tori noticed he had something in his hands; something wrapped within a length of cloth.

"Is that a sword?" she asked.

Timothy grinned. "It is. Finished it this mornin' and now I need a place to hide it for a couple days."

"Hide it?" Elen repeated. "Why do you need to hide it?"

"It's for Gwaine."

Tori eagerly slid out of her seat. "Can I see it?"

"Sure," Timothy chuckled, unwrapping the cloth to reveal a handsome steel blade that was a little more than half Tori's height.

"It's beautiful," she breathed, taking the hilt in her hands and giving it a test swing. It was slightly heavier than the swords she was used to when she sparred with Gwaine.

"What's the occasion?" asked Elen, who – for someone who didn't usually care for swords – was surprisingly awed.

"Well, he's sixteen now," Timothy began, "and under normal circumstances…if his father hadn't died and he'd grown up a typical nobleman's son, he'd have received his first real sword by now."

"And you couldn't stand the thought that Henry's already got his, right?" Tori joked.

Timothy's smile faded. "Cowards shouldn't wield swords."

"Well," said Tori, breaking the sudden silence in the room, "good thing Gwaine's no coward, then." She took the cloth from Tim and wrapped it around the blade before storing it in a cupboard.

"Much appreciated, girls. Miranda," he nodded at Tori's mother before he left.

"Henry's already started squiring, hasn't he? Training under a real knight?" Elen asked Miranda when she closed the door.

"I would think so, yes."

"What about Gwaine?"

"He'd rather die than be a knight," Tori cut in. She was back at the worktable, making final adjustments to her otherwise finished dress.

"Yeah, yeah, we all know he hates nobles, blah, blah, blah."

Tori laughed. "Don't ever let him hear you say it like that."

"Or what?" Elen scoffed jokingly. "You make it sound like I have a reason to be afraid of him."

"Afraid of who?"

Tori, Elen and Miranda all jumped, startled when Gwaine appeared in the open window, casually leaning his elbows on the ledge as if he'd been there the whole time. He grinned broadly at their surprised (and annoyed) faces. "Surprise!"

"Don't you have somewhere to be, something to do?" Tori said, staring at him petulantly.

"Surprisingly, no. Everyone seems to be too busy for little old me."

Tori smirked. "Imagine that."

"If you're not busy, Gwaine," Miranda cut in quickly before he and her daughter could start teasing one another, "I have a job for you. Have you noticed anything wrong with the street today?"

Gwaine leaned back from the window a bit to look around. "Looks bare. Weren't there flowers everywhere yesterday?"

"There were," Elen said, "but some genius forgot to close the goat pen properly last night so the goats ate all the flowers."

"Hah! I see. Well, I know a meadow," Gwaine offered. "There are all the flowers you could ever want."

Tori and Elen exchanged glances with each other and giggled in amused disbelief. Gwaine gave them an odd look. "What?"

"It's just…you are the only boy we know who can say that without compromising his masculinity," Elen sniggered.

"I'll take that as a compliment, I think."

Tori grinned. "I wouldn't expect anything less from you."

After getting specific instructions from Miranda about which types of flowers and colours were needed, Gwaine went to Timothy's home – which was now his home too, though he rarely called it so – to get a couple of sacks for the flowers and to borrow the blacksmith's horse; a weary-looking but sweet mare named Cloud. He was in the midst of preparing her for the ride when he saw Tori, on her way back from delivering the dress she'd just completed.

"Did the old bat like your dress?" he asked her.

"How many times have I told you not to call her that?" Tori chastised, ignoring his question. He knew that if her dress hadn't been liked, it'd still be in her hands. "She's not that bad."

Gwaine snorted. "She's the one who brought Henry into the world; of course she's that bad."

Tori peered at him reproachfully. She could understand Gwaine's rivalry with Henry, but she didn't see why he had to put down Henry's mother. "You shouldn't stoop down to his level, Gwaine."

"What d'you mean?"

Tori hesitated a moment, aware that this was potentially dangerous territory, but kept on. "That time he said what he did about– about your father."

Gwaine tensed, as he always did when anyone mentioned his father. "So you're telling me to be the better man, is that it?"

"That's exactly it. And anyway," Tori added, "it's not as if she's all that pleased about the way her son behaves."

"Did she actually say that to you?" Gwaine asked, eyebrows raised.

"She says a lot of things to me." Tori shrugged. "In confidence."

"Like what?"

"Don't you know what 'in confidence' means?"

"Yeah. It means I'm confident you'll tell me."

Tori laughed. "You're an idiot. Now go pick your flowers."

"Do you want to come with?"

"I can't. I've still got things to do before the dance."

"That reminds me," Gwaine said as he mounted Cloud, "who's taking you?"

Not liking the way he'd phrased the question, Tori crossed her arms. "I don't need to be taken by anyone. I'm perfectly capable of going by myself, thank you very much."

Gwaine rolled his eyes. "You know perfectly well what I meant."

Tori simply stared at him, waiting.

"Fine! Who are you going with?"

She immediately relaxed, and smiled sweetly just to annoy him further. "Jonathan and Christopher both asked. I'm leaning more towards Christopher. And you?"

Gwaine shrugged. "No one seems interested."

"You're joking, aren't you? There's a crowd of girls constantly panting after you!"

"Really? Well they're not like that when I talk to them."

"Oh, it's a girl thing," Tori waved her hand dismissively. "It's to make you like them more."

"How is acting like they're too busy for me supposed to make me like them more?" Gwaine asked, genuinely baffled.

"Well it's either that or cling on to you and beg you to love them," Tori chuckled.

"You mean like you do?"

"What– What?"

Gwaine winked at her before urging Cloud to tear off into the woods, laughing wickedly, leaving Tori standing there – blushing madly – halfway between shouting obscenities at him and laughing.


The next evening – the evening of the dance – Tori was being fussed over by her mother when there was a knock on the door.

"Mother, you can leave my hair alone now," she said, trying to shuffle out of Miranda's reach. When Miranda continued to twirl her daughter's hair around her fingers – in an attempt to make it curl – Tori turned around and held Miranda's hands firmly within her own. "Thank you, Mother. I quite sure I'm ready now."

"Oh, all right, all right," Miranda sighed, but even as she said it, she couldn't help but tuck a stray hair behind Tori's ear. "You're beautiful, you know."

Tori stared at her mother – at the lines and creases that'd formed on her face since Jeremiah's death. Yet, despite all the wrinkles, despite the sadness that always seemed to be lurking within her, there was still a strength there that kept her from crumbling. And Tori found that profoundly beautiful, which is why she replied, "I think it must run in the family."

"Silly girl," Miranda chuckled. "Go answer the door."

Tori opened the door to find Christopher – the boy she was going to the dance with – waiting patiently on the other side. He smiled when he saw her; a small, sweet smile that set Tori's heart racing. Christopher was the same age as her, and they'd been a little more than acquaintances for a long time – saying hello when they passed each other in the street, occasionally stopping for a quick chat – though it was only recently that Tori found herself drawn by his quiet voice, his gentle manner and his curly hair which was the colour of the dark ink she'd once spilled on him when they were younger. He must have started noticing things about her as well; in the last two months, their quick exchanges had become longer, he'd laughed at more of her jokes, and she'd caught him staring at her more than once.

"Ready to go?" he asked, offering her his arm.

"Ready," Tori nodded. She gave a quick wave to her mother before she closed the door and took Christopher's arm. They walked to the beach, where the dance was held, exchanging compliments and talking about nothing special. When they reached the surf, Tori was excited by how it was decorated.

Different types of seashells had been strung on a long piece of thread and hung around the beach from poles that also held lanterns. The lanterns hadn't been lit yet as there was still an hour or so until sunset. Five boys – aged fourteen to eighteen years old – who the villagers liked to call the 'Musical Mass' had situated themselves in the centre of the beach and were warming up and tuning their homemade instruments. Next to them was a long table full of food. Bread, different cheeses, meat pies, fruit pies, cakes and cupcakes. Christopher went to get them both something to eat, and while he was gone, Gwaine arrived with Violet – a tall, willowy girl with white-blond hair who was renowned within their small town for her ability to talk for hours on end; so it was no surprise that Violet looked busy chattering away spiritedly while Gwaine laughed occasionally. Tori saw his eyes roam the beach until they landed on her, and he grinned, making his way over to her, Violet not far behind.

Elen turned up soon after with a boy whose name Tori didn't know. When Christopher came back they all talked for a while – Violet did most of the talking, and Tori found herself thinking that it was a good thing her voice was pleasant to listen to – until the Musical Mass started playing and Christopher asked Tori to dance. It was sometime during their third dance that Tori noticed that her cousin looked troubled. Elen was dancing with the boy she'd arrived with, but every so often she would glance uneasily over his shoulder. Tori followed her gaze to see Tobias talking animatedly with a small group of friends but he, too, would look over at Elen once in a while, with something close to hurt on his face.

Tori sighed to herself. She'd had a feeling something like this would happen. She suddenly stopped dancing and excused herself, telling Christopher she needed to talk to Elen. Tori strode over to her cousin and pulled her away with an apologetic smile to her dancing partner.

"Hey!" Elen protested, indignant to being dragged away. "What is the matter with you, Tori?"

"What's the matter with you?" Tori whispered fiercely, once they'd reached a fairly secluded spot, just out of reach of the lanterns (which had been lit just minutes before the sun had disappeared from the sky completely). "Can't you see what you're doing to that poor boy over there?"

"What? Who, Toby?" said Elen, using the nickname that Tobias only let her use – which just made Tori even more mad about how those two were going about doing things. "I'm not doing anything to him!"

"Exactly! But you should be doing things to him! Wait–" Tori paused, rethinking what she'd just said. "That sounds wildly inappropriate, but what I mean is, you should've come to the dance with him, Elen. I know you wanted to, and it's clear that he wanted to!"

"Then why didn't he say so?" Elen said heatedly.

This time, Tori actually did grab Elen's shoulders and shake her. Not hard, just enough to show her how exasperating the whole situation was. "You know how shy he is!"

Elen pushed Tori's hands off of her, and there was an edgy silence between them. Finally, Tori said, more gently this time, "You both want to be with each other. Anyone can see that. It's not worth it, to play these games."

"You're one to talk," Elen said, not exactly nastily, but with a kind of sharpness to her voice. Before Tori could ask what she meant, Elen had already continued on, sighing, "I should've listened to you before. About asking him myself. It's just that I've never had to do it before." She paused, then laughed nervously, adding, "That makes me sound horribly pathetic, doesn't it?"

"No! Well...just a bit." Tori and Elen laughed together, and the tension between them dissipated. Then Tori said, "It's all right, though; I think we're all allowed to be a little pathetic at some point in our lives. As long as it doesn't go on for too long."

Elen quirked her mouth up in a half-smile. "I suppose I should go sort things out with Toby now, shouldn't I?"

"You don't need me to answer that."


"What's going on?" Gwaine appeared next to Tori as soon as she'd re-joined the festivities. "Things looked pretty intense over there for a while."

"Oh, it was nothing. Just private family matters," Tori said breezily.

"Didn't seem like nothing," Gwaine commented.

Tori glanced at him sideways. "Why were you watching us, anyway? Where's Violet?"

"Hm? Oh, she's over there, keeping your boy company."

"He's not my boy."

"Not yet, you mean?"

"Gwaine, do me a favour?"

"Anything."

"Stop talking."

"Except that."

"You are maddening," Tori groaned, but she was smiling.

"You know what would be maddeningly brilliant?" he didn't wait for an answer. "To see the look on Henry's face when someone puts this little guy down his shirt." Gwaine had kneeled down to the sand. When he stood back up, he was holding a small wriggling brown crab coated with sand, trying to get free.

Tori had to admit, she would have loved to see how that would play out, but something told her that this was not a good idea. Maybe it was what her father had told her so long ago about Henry's family being influential, about how her family couldn't afford to be in their bad books. Now more than ever, as their only source of income was Miranda and Tori's dresses, which Henry's mother frequently bought.

"That would be hilarious," she finally said, "but I don't think you should."

"What? Why not?" Gwaine asked, narrowing his eyes incredulously.

"Everyone's having such a nice time. And for once, Henry's minding his own business."

"Yeah, well that's because he's been snogging his lady friend for half the evening."

"Then think of it this way…what's this crab ever done to you to deserve such a cruel fate?"

He snorted. "I suppose you've got a point – no creature should have to endure the inside of Henry's shirt. The inside of Henry's anything, really," he added cheekily, earning himself a smack on the arm.

Gwaine stepped closer to the waves and let the crab go. When he came back, there was suddenly a gleam in his eyes, and he held out his hands to her. "Let's dance."

Tori barked out a laugh – mostly out of surprise. "Let's not."

"What, are you worried you'll tread on my feet?"

"Not at all. I'd happily tread on your feet."

"Then what's the problem?"

"We came here with different people."

"So? It's just a friendly dance."

A slow grin crept across Tori's face. "Oh, all right."