A/N: Ohmygod, yes, I know it's been to long, and I'm sorry. I was waiting on my BETA but she has been really, really busy as of late and I haven't been able to reach her to see how she's going. So, I thought I'd just put this chapter up anyway.

You are forewarned, I've done all the checking myself and I've probably missed a number of errors. Also, as Kanae changes everything to present tense, the tense may be a bit different.

Thank you all very much for your patience. Many thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter as well, it means a lot.

I hope you enjoy this one to! Please review when you're done!

Chapter 6: Loosing Touch

"I'll kill him." Ash declares loudly. "I swear…"

"Alright, alright," Lily groans. "We get the point- and it's not like we doubt you."

The red head huffs and slides into the warm water with a contented sigh. Tam rolls her eyes and continues washing her long hair.

"This is good. Much better then this morning's ice bath." Ash comments offhandedly.

The girls had been quick to demand a bath after Lily had gotten back from helping Dag with Bors. They had been shown to their rooms, which were in the knights' barracks, and had their saddlebags and weapons placed in there. Lancelot had once again pissed Ash off to the point where she'd thumped him. No one was quite sure what he did, but whatever it was, it had steam coming out Ash's ears so no one dared to ask.

"Mmhm," Tam adds, dropping under the water to wash out the soap.

They were in the bathhouse joined onto the barracks and before leaving the large dinning room where they had eaten, Ash had threatened every one of their hosts with their lives if they entered or decided to be peeping toms. Lancelot had been warned twice.

"I could just curl up and go to sleep." Lily sighs happily.

Ash pops one eye open to look at her friend then closes it again. "Yes, but first I need alcohol."

They chuckle and Lily rises, water dripping down her body as she grabs a towel next to the edge and wraps herself up. "I need to get out before I do fall asleep and drown."

Ash opens one eye again. "I wouldn't let you drown, stupid."

"Just saying, I know you wouldn't."

Tam chuckles at them amusedly. "And you say I'm the mother hen!"

Ash huffs and mutters to herself about gods knows what.

"Well you do!" Tam tries again. "You'd have Lily wrapped in bubble wrap if you could, with pillows strapped to her body."

Lily smirks at the two in amusement as she dries her hair with another towel.

"Yeah, and you'd be in a giant bubble." Ash muses, picking up and inspecting the soap before taking it to her hair. "Yeah, one that ensures I can't hear you, that'd be good."

Tammy snorts. "Whatever. You cannot call me the mother hen again, when you're worse then I am."

"Geez you pair, can you not do this? I'm big enough and ugly enough to look after myself, ya know." Lily tosses over her shoulder.

Ash scoffs. "Pff, you're not ugly and having protective friends isn't a bad thing, missy."

"Yes, but I don't have 'protective friends', I have body guards." She smirks. "You make me feel breakable."

"You are breakable, and so is Tammy and pretty much everyone else, but that is not the point." Ash stresses. "I don't give a flying fish about anyone else. In those cases I do most of the breaking."

Tam nods her agreement, unimpressed. "We know, we do most of the stitching up."

Ash waves her off noncommittally. "You get lots of practise. You could be a doctor instead of your plants and herds and all that natural goodness shit."

Tammy rolls her eyes; she was going to be a biologist. Herbal remedies was only a hobby. And she knows perfectly well that Ash knew this, the red head was just stirring.

A knock on the door silenced any more arguing. Lily lets out a sharp 'eep' and pulls the towel tighter around her and the other two duck further into the water.

"Prance-a-lot, if that's you, I'll rip your head fair off your shoulders with my bare hands!" Ash calls out as she scrambles out of the water and leaps at another towel, hastily looking around herself for something to use as a weapon.

A feminine laugh comes from the other side of the wooden barrier. "Nay, milady, Lancelot is at the tavern. Arthur asked me to bring you some clothes."

"Vanora?" Lily asks unsurely. She pulls the door open a crack to look out before opening it all the way to show the smiling woman holding bundles of clothing.

"Can I come in?"

Lil glances back at her friends who are both clad in towels before she smiles and nods. "Sure."

With another kind smile, Vanora makes her way into the bath house and nudges the door shut behind her with her foot.

"You did a fine job on my Bors…" She trails off, seemingly unsure on how to address them.

"Just Lily, we're not royalty or anything." The youngest smiles, wringing out her shoulder length hair. "And this is Ash and Tammy."

"Hi, nice to meet you," Tam says politely. "Can we help you with those?" She asks, pointing to the bundle.

"What is it?" Ash asks curiously.

"Clothes, weren't you listening?" Lily chuckles.

"Nope,"

Vanora laughs and hands some of the material to Tam, who unfolds it and holds the green dress against herself. "Thank you, it should fit…hopefully."

"I hope you don't mind." Lily says as she's handed her own neatly folded pile.

"Of course not! I haven't fit them for a while now. Eight changed my figure a bit." Van laughs.

Lily eyes the red dress like it might be going to leap out and eat her and she was brought out of her thoughts by Ash's sharp statement.

"Oh hell no!" She is holding the blue garment at arms length, eyeing it with disgust. "I don't do dresses, or long skirts. Got any pants?"

Vanora frowns at her. "You don't wear dresses?"

"Not unless I'm drugged or seriously drunk." She replies. Roughly refolding it and handing it back to Vanora. "Sorry."

"Ashley." Tam says firmly. "It is custom here that women wear dresses or floor length skirts at all times. Only men wear trousers."

"Well…that's just stupid." Ash huffs with a glare, readjusting her towel. "And it's all about to change."

"Is it possible to get pants?" Lily asks Vanora hopefully. "We don't mean to insult you, we're just not used to…these." She points to the dress.

"You don't insult me, lass." Van chuckles again. "I should be able to find you some, the knights have clothing stashed away from when they were younger that might fit you. I'll be right back." They nod as she disappears out the door.

"Why do you two have to be difficult?" Tam asks accusingly as she steps nearer to the wall to change.

"I don't do dresses." Ash states forcefully. "I don't care where we are, or when we are, I don't do dresses."

"I'm more comfortable in pants." Lily shrugs, smiling sheepishly.

"You'll draw attention." Tam argues.

This time Ash shrugs. "We'll draw attention anyway, because A. We're new. B. We're hot, and C. It seems we arrived with the local celebrities. This place has low standards."

Tam snorts and beckons to Lily. "Can you do up the back please?"

Giggling, the blonde skips over and fastens the ties. "And another thing, dresses are harder to get into then pants."

"That sounded so wrong." Ash mutters and is hit with two pairs of glares.

"There's something seriously wrong with you." Tammy declares.

The red head smirks. "And this is news to me because…?"

"Alright," Vanora says as she opens and shuts the door whilst inspecting the several pairs of breeches and tunics she carries. "One of these should fit you." She hands a couple to Lily, who smiles gratefully at her and a few more to Ash, who grins.

"Will the men mind?" Lily asks as she pulls on a pair of black leather breeches under her towel.

"They are old clothes; they have long grown out of them." Vanora waves it off, unfazed. "So how did you end up with that rowdy lot?"

"We ran into them yesterday and as we didn't have anywhere to go, Arthur offered to bring us back here." Tam replies, combing her fingers through her hair and sweeps it all over one shoulder.

Lily has dressed, happy with the leather pants and a white tunic that was only a size or so to big. "Wow, these must have been from ages ago." She says and pulls up the sleeves so they bunched together at her elbows.

"I'll say." Ash agrees, inspecting her own black leather breeches and black tunic. She has also put a brown vest over the top for the cooler Britain air. "I doubt they've been this skinny for a while."

Vanora chuckles. "No, not for a while, are you ready? I'll take you to the tavern and you can get some supper, the men are probably all there."

Lily looks unsurely to the girls who shrug. "Okay, I could use some food come to think of it." Ash grins, placing her arm through Lily's.

"Then can we go to sleep?" The blonde asks as they follow Vanora, quickly throwing their own clothes into their rooms on the way past.

"Yep, and if anyone wakes me up, I'll kill ya's." Ash grins cheekily.

Vanora gives them an odd look but smiles anyway and ushers them from the barracks. "How long do you plan to stay?" She asks.

The girls exchange a look. "Um...really couldn't tell you."

"What are you doing in Brittain? You're accents don't sound familiar."

"Yeah, we know." Ash smiles easily at her.

"And we don't really know. We were just kind of…dropped here." Tam finishes.

Vanora looks even more confused now then she did before, but seems to drop it when they reach a populated area that screamed 'pub'.
"Ahh, drink time!" Ash grins wickedly. "And time to check out what Hadrian's Wall has to offer."

The other two sigh while Vanora swaps her confused look for an amused one. "I thought the knights would 'ave caught ye fancy lass. Especially Lancelot, quite the charmer he is, and a favourite to."

Ash snorts as they walk up the steps and follow her through the crowd to the back. "Nah, not my standard,

"Strange." Van smiles at her, her eyes laughing. "You're the second woman not to be interested in him."

"Who was the first?" Ash replies. No wonder he's got a massive ego, she thought.

"Me."

The four laugh. "Well, you've got three and four here." Tam chuckles over the busy tavern, gesturing between herself and Lily.

"I think we're going to get along just fine." Vanora smirks and heads for the table that the knights are all sitting around. Save for Arthur.

"My, my, my, Lancelot, you're loosing your touch." The red head chuckles at the infamous womaniser.

He looks at her in confusion, as did the other knights.

"There are four women in the fort that you haven't bedded, nor are they in love with you." She explains smugly.

He frowns. "Four?"

She nods, her smile growing wider. "And their pretty ones might I add, you must be loosing your touch." She says, feigning sympathy.

Ash plops herself down at the end and busies herself with scanning the crowd while she tries not to laugh. Lily slides in between Dag and Bors and Tam sits next to Gawain down the other end.

Lancelot looks around. "Where are they?"

Van glances over his head, sending her amused look at Bors who quickly catches on and plays along. Any chance to mess with the dark knight didn't get passed up by the eldest warrior.

"Oh, yes, those pretty little things. Down right beautiful they are, could'a been goddesses them ones." He muses thoughtfully.

Van reaches over and slaps his arm. "What were you doing lookin at them?"

"Nothin' petal, nothin'." He amends quickly, gently nudging a blushing Lily in the ribs, winking at her.

The blonde turns her face to Dagonet, least she give the game away. He grins at her. Ash is biting her lip trying not to laugh and Tam is watching the concentration on the handsome man's face as he starts to take them seriously.

"Aye." Gawain agrees, sparing a moment to wink at Tammy who smiles and looks back at Lancelot.

He frowns, racking his brains for such women in the fort. There were many agreeable ones of course, but he'd dealt with them. Well, most of them. He scans the faces of his companions with suspicion. They all look normal, looking at him as if waiting for him to come to some conclusion. He looks to Tristan, silently asking if it were true. For a split second, the scout glances at Lily's face, still flushed from Bors' compliment then nods once to the man staring at him.

Lancelot's mouth drops. Tristan agrees. How on earth had he missed such females as the ones described?

"Ooh." Ash suddenly coos, watching a table across the room with interest. "Lily, I found some good lookin' ones, you comin'?"

The blonde looks at her and to where she was gesturing to. Her eyes fell on some alright looking men dressed in armoured uniforms. After a moment of inspecting the men she looks back to Ash.

"Well?" The red head persists.

Lil drums her fingers on the table in thought. They were good looking. Ash stands up and bounds around to her. Only then does Lancelot say something.

"You're wearing my tunic." He informs her, half smug, half stunned.

"Oh." She looks down at herself and scrunches up her nose. "I shall have to burn it then. Now, Lily, are you coming to meet our new toys or not?"

Lancelot gapes, looking between Ash and the men she had been eyeballing.

"Those are roman guards." Dagonet says slowly, gauging the men with accusing eyes. "It is not a good idea that you get involved with the Romans."

Ash raises a lone eyebrow.

"Aye, tis not a good idea, lass, their a bad bunch, Romans." Bors adds tightly. Vanora excuses herself saying she has to work, kisses Bors on the cheek and leaves.

"Stay away from them, Ash." Tam decides. "We don't need any trouble, and there aren't any forms protection here, remember?"

The girl snorts, not removing her eyes from the men. "You don't want to know how many times I've not…"

"Alright! Shut up!" Tam interrupts and screws her eyes shut as Lily laughs and shakes her head.

"I'll be fine, but, Lil, stay away from the Romans." She tells her friend firmly before she slips away from the table, winding her way around the tables, ignoring all the other men as she approaches the ones she has sighted.

Lancelot snorts and returns to his drink, while the others watch worriedly.

"Did she not hear us?" Galahad asks, a bit huffily. "We said they weren't to be dealt with."

Tam shrugs. "She only listens to Lily, and since she didn't say anything…why didn't you say anything?"

The girl runs a hand through her hair and leans back slightly. "She'll be fine. We've been with worse then Romans."

"Worse?" Lancelot questions at the same time as Tam splutters. "We've? What do you mean, we've?"

Realising her mistake Lily clamps her mouth shut and ignores the pair of them.

Lancelot continues to sulk after that, watching his reflection in his mug of ale, or trying to. He can not figure out who the four women are. And he can not for the life of him understand why Ash had skipped off to a bunch of Romans when he was right here.

It hit him then, the women, or three of them, must have been Ash, Tam and Lily. The fourth was probably Vanora. He huffs again and downs the rest of his ale, then yells for more.

"Someone's sulking." Galahad taunts, smirking.

"Shut it, pup."

"You're going to have a hangover if you keep drinking like that." Tam scolds, every part the authoritative figure.

"Woman, I don't need your fussing." He retorts, taking another defiant mouthful.

She shakes her head at him and mutters something along the lines of 'as bad as Ash', but he couldn't be sure. He is trying not to listen.

At some point, Lily came out of her quiet state and got up, earning quick glances, she was wearing one of Tristan's old tunics and someone's breeches, but they couldn't be sure of whose. The knights all made a mental note to ask them how exactly they had come into possession of their to-small-clothing.

She smiles tiredly and mutters a soft 'good night' before making her way out of the tavern, pausing briefly to say something to Ash and dodge a set of groping hands.

The red head replies, slaps the man who had tried to grab her friend and returns to the man whose lap she was sitting on.

Lily leaves the tavern on her own. Leaving the noise behind her as she picks her way back to the barracks, turning to her memory for the path she needs to take.

She feels the presence behind her, it had appeared since she left the crowded area and has followed her all the way. She wasn't scared, the knowledge that someone was following her didn't worry her, she found. It felt…comforting, like she knew it. She reaches her door and turns the knob, then just stands there in the open doorway. Suddenly, she looks up, straight into the shadow that hid her 'stalker' at the other end of the hall.

"Thank you." She whispers, loud enough for him to hear before she slips away and closes the door behind her.

She strips off and slides under the blankets, watching the moonlight that filters in through the window as it dances across the floor. Gingerly, she closes her eyes, hoping that tonight she wouldn't cause her friends the distress that came with the petrifying nightmares, which she couldn't remember.

A/N: Okay, so this one was a bit boring and I'm not really sure if I'm entirely happy with it or not. I kept making little changes but in the end I just thought stuff it…Lol. I have the next chapters written, it's just a case of double, triple and quadruple checking them lol.

Pretty, pretty please review! I apologise again for the wait, I will have the next one up as soon as I can.

~Meg xxx