It had been a whole day of riding and so far it had been rough. They had been plagued by rain which made their journey harder because it turned the road to sludge. Aria let her hood down, unlike the men that rode with her she rather enjoyed the feeling of cold rain pelting against her skin. It made her feel clean, and rejuvenated. She smiled softly as she took a deep breath and leaned her head back.

"What are you so happy about?" Bors grumbled, his balding head making the cold weather near unbearable.

"Me?" Aria asked.

"Yes you." He said.

"Well it's a fine day." She said raising her hand at the falling rain.

"Fine day?" Gawain asked with a laugh. "If you hadn't noticed it's rainy and muddy and rainy and cold and did I mention muddy?"

"I don't like the mud but I love the rain and the cold." She said.

"I'm miserable." Bors muttered.

"That's only because you're letting it make you miserable." Aria stated. "Think of it as a cold bath."

"I hate baths." Bors said.

"I know. I've been living with your stench for years." She said making the men laugh, even Bors gave a smile at the jest at his expense. Aria moved forward and petted the horse she had been riding. For the past hour it had been moving slower and she was worried the weather was wearing on her horse.

"We will ride to those tree lines." Arthur said. "We should give the horses a rest…"

"Fine idea." Lancelot said. They raced forward and instantly jumped off their horses.

"Arthur I hear a creek nearby I could fetch some water for the horses…" Aria said moving forward.

"Galahad, Gawain go with her."

"I can go myself." She said.

"When we are in Woad territory we travel in groups." Arthur said. "That's a rule for everyone not just for you…" She nodded and headed off two buckets in hand. Gawain and Galahad followed close behind their own buckets in tow. "When they come back Bors Dagnet you come with me to fetch water."

"Dag, call me Dag." Arthur nodded.

"Alright…"

Aria bent forward and swept the water up into the bucket as Gawain handed her another one. She wondered if Arthur truly believed in traveling in groups with Woads around or if he had just said that because he didn't think she could go off on her own. As she worked over the water her brow furrowed Galahad and Gawain exchanged looks.

"What bothers you lass?" Gawain asked.

"Don't call me Lass."

"Oh when she doesn't want to be referred to as a woman it means there was a gender issue." Galahad said.

"Do you really think Arthur believes in traveling in groups or do you think he just said that because he didn't want to make me mad?" She inquired.

"I think he actually wants us to stay safe." Galahad said.

"Safety in numbers." Gawain added.

"You two know I'm perfectly capable of handling myself yes?" she asked standing up two full buckets of water in hand.

"Yeah I mean no one's better with a sword other than Tristan of course." Galahad said as he picked up his own buckets Gawain doing the same.

"Arthur knows it too." Gawain said.

"It's hard being a woman." She muttered.

"Don't we know it." the boys chimed together just as they always did whenever she said such things.

"Shut it…" she said with a smile. When they got back to the group Arthur Dag and Bors set out for water.

"Here you go lovely…" Aria set the water down in front of the horse which seemed to look at her in thanks before taking long gulps of water. Aria turned and looked out at the vast clearing that was set up in front of the tree line they were currently finding cover under. The others watched as she took a leaf in hand curled it and drained the rain water from it into her mouth.

"Won't you come sit?" Lancelot asked.

"Someone should keep watch…" She said tossing the leaf aside.

"For what?" he asked.

"Woads, like Arthur said."

"I doubt we'd be a target for them." Lucan mused.

"We are knights of Rome…" She said looking to him. "Of course we're a target."

"I never thought of it that way." Jameson said. Tristan stood up and walked to her side. He nudged her and she turned to see he had an apple in hand.

"Where did you get that?" she asked. "We're not even at the fort…"

"I keep them around…" he said as she took it from him.

"You know you have been giving me apples for years every day and I'm still unsure why you do it…"

"I can never eat two."

"I see." She said with a smile as she took a bite. A loud snap sounded and she fell back to the ground she slowly looked to see an arrow sticking out of the apple she had nearly eaten.

"We're under attack…" Tristan said dryly.

"You think? Jameson Lucan get Arthur!" Aria ordered. "Lancelot Gawain Galahad move the horses!" She leapt up onto her feet and pulled her bow. In the tree line across the clearing she could see them. Blue Woads weaving in and out of the tree line. She followed one with her arrow before releasing it with a small breath. Tristan watched as it struck a Woad in the chest and it fell from the trees to the ground. For a long moment there was silence and then a loud horn sounded.

"Bloody hell…" Galahad said as he watched twenty Woads run from the tree line into the open.

"What do we do?" Gawain asked.

"Where's Arthur?" She asked looking over her shoulder.

"I don't know if we can take on that many…" Lancelot said. "Not from our position."

"Then we fall back, I won't have any of us dying today." Aria jumped onto her horse and tethered Arthurs as the others followed suit, Lancelot getting Dags horse and Tristan getting Bors horse. Galahad and Gawain moved forward and tethered Lucan and Jameson's horse easily before racing off. They made it to the creek where Lucan and Jameson had just arrived.

"Arthur get on!" Aria said untying his horse from hers.

"What's happened?" He asked jumping on his white horse.

"Woads!" Galahad said.

"Where do we go?" Lancelot asked seeing a creek in their way and hills at their side.

"We're trapped…" Aria said.

"No we're not we ride through the river!" Arthur gave his horse a kick and it lunged into the fast moving water.

"Ha!" Lancelot said fallowing suit which made the other knights jump in. Aria took in a sharp breath as the frigid water splashed up against her. Her horse neighed in protest as it sluggishly kicked its way through the water. Instantly she knew something was wrong, as the knights moved far ahead of her, their horses battling the waters with ease. They made it up onto the banks and turned.

"Come on Aria!" Galahad yelled.

"My horse it's struggling!" She yelled.

"Is the water getting higher?" Gawain asked. They moved back as the creek suddenly grew in width.

"This is no Creek…" Arthur said his eyes wide. "Aria come on!" He shouted seeing she was still in the middle.

"I hear the Woads." Bors said.

"Cover her!" Arthur ordered, as they all took out their bows and readied it. Aria gasped as the water in the creek became higher and higher steadily engulfing her and her horse.

"Please please go faster…" she said softly. The current of the now lake raced faster and faster the temperature dropping further and further. They watched as Aria jumped off the horse the reigns in hand. "Come on!" she shouted pulling it through the water that was now up to her chest. "Come on!"

"Woads!" Galahad shouted as he fired an arrow the others fallowing suit.

"Don't give up come on!" she yelled before gasping as her head went under the water. Aria came back up as she found her footing on the steadily rising bank. "Yes…" she said pulling the horse that neighed in excitement as it started to reach safety. "Yes come on… Come on!" the horse kicked and it ran forward up onto the shore. She grabbed onto the mane and threw herself up into the saddle.

"Ride!" Arthur ordered seeing Aria was to safety. They kicked off and quickly got out of the Woads arrow range. As they raced forward Aria took a look back at the woads who stood on the other side of the river. They were still trying to fire arrows at them.

"Bastards nearly killed me…" she muttered as they raced on. Aria bowed her head, she hadn't really noticed before but she was freezing thanks to the water that had risen over her body. Her teeth were chattering her hands were shaking and could barely hold onto the reigns of the horse, and her armor was past snow cold.

So bloody cold… Just keep going the farther you ride the warmer you'll get.

"Aria you alright?" Lancelot asked riding alongside her.

"F-fine…" she said her lips trembling.

"You're near woad blue…" he said his black eyes wide with alarm.

"I'm fine." She said with a nod.

"We'll stop to rest and warm up once I feel we're at a safe distance." Arthur said.

"Are we still going the right way?" Lucan asked.

"Yes we were going to have to cross the river at some point." Arthur said. "I'd say we just cut our journey by two days."

"Thank you Woads." Lucan said making Arthur smile.

"Lancelot keep east, take the lead." Arthur ordered.

"Right." He said moving forward as Arthur moved back to Aria.

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly.

"Fine." She said with a nod still soaked from her dip in the lake. "I'm sorry I held us back."

"You're horse didn't react well to the cold it's not your fault… Also you had no idea that creek was going to become a vast river…" as they rode he over looked her. She was pale her lips blue her eyes red around the edges. "You're not looking well…" he said.

"It's just the cold, as we ride on I'll get warmer." She said. She reached to her neck and unclipped her cloak, it fell around her wet on the horse. "That helped…"

"You're bleeding." He said seeing blood running down her hand.

"I'm scratched, it's nothing."

"We'll check it out when we stop…" As rain began to fall Arthur looked up at the sky. He was freezing and he couldn't imagine how Aria felt after taking a dip in the frigid waters of the river. He looked to Aria and tilted his head. He hadn't noticed before with the dirt and the weapons, but Aria was a fine young woman. Her long Blonde hair flowed around her in curls and waves. Her skin was as white as the cleanest winters snow. She had the faintest of blushes which color matched her plump lips.

I must watch out for her, make sure none of the other knights notice her beauty and fall for her. Then again none of them seem hardly interested… he watched to see none of the knights were looking to her. In fact he had never seen any of the nights watching her closely. They've lived and fought together so long they probably view her as a sibling… still it's my duty to protect her honor so I will…

"We'll pull off here in the mountains, it will provide more cover then the trees." Arthur said. they rode over to a mountain range and travelled deep enough to be surrounded by boulders and a few caverns. As Aria tied the horses with shaking hands the others gathered wood and set up fired in the covered areas. "Let me do this…" He said watching her shivering hands struggling to tether his horse.

"It's fine…" she said as she did a quick knot. "See… I have it."

"Go warm up I won't lose a knight to the cold." He said. She walked off taking her cloak as she did. She hung up on a line with the other cloaks to let it dry.

"Aria come sit, warm your bones." Lancelot said.

"Sure… Can someone check out my back, I'm bleeding and I can't find a wound on my arm." She said looking it over where the blood was steadily dripping.

"Let me." Galahad said, seeing as he was the closest. She turned her back to him and he hissed. "That's not good…"

"What's not good?" she asked.

"You've got a deep gash looks like from an arrow… We need to pack it…"

"I'll get what we need." Tristan said.

"Dag, Bors go with him… Remember we travel in packs."

"Right." They said.

"I don't even remember being hit by anything." She said her hands close to the fire.

"The cold must have numbed the area…" Arthur said. "I am skilled in packing wounds, you won't be able to reach it yourself."

"Tristan can do it…" She said.

"No point fighting with her." Lancelot said. "Aria here takes care of our wounds, and Tristan has always taken care of hers."

"You two have a bond." Arthur said.

"We have an understanding…" she said before looking around. "Between us…" she whispered moving closer to Arthur. "I don't think he's capable of having bonds with others."

"True the mans as cold as a trout." Gawain said making the others laugh.

"Still a fine warrior to stand next to." Aria said and they all nodded.

"I have it." Tristan said. She nodded and stood, walking away to another cavern for privacy.

"Thanks for doing this." She said.

"Uhn." He said as he mashed up the herbs with a little wine he kept at his side. Aria took off her vest and then shrugged the mail peasant shirt down off her injured shoulder. "Tried to cover you." He said as he moved behind her.

"I know." She said looking over her shoulder. Tristan slowly moved her blonde hair away revealing the tarnished skin below.

"He gave you faulty armor." He said as he started to pack the herbs into the wounds.

"Not on purpose I'm sure." She said cringing from the pain.

"I'm not so sure of this…"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You know what I'm saying…" he said as he sat back on a small boulder. She turned and looked to him as she put her vest back on and began to lace it up.

"I don't think Arthur would allow-."

"We don't know Arthur that well…" She looked at him for a long time.

"You think I should tread carefully?" she inquired and Tristan nodded with a serious look.

"You took to him quickly, trusted him quickly…" He said his eyes averted from hers.

"He's our commanding officer, we have to trust him."

"I don't trust him."

"Because of the armor?"

"Because of the armor… An arrow shouldn't pierce mail like that." He explained. "It's too light it offers you no protection."

"I don't think Arthur would allow that…"

"We don't know that, not for sure…" His expression was troubled and it worried Aria more then she liked. Tristan hardly ever showed his emotions and he was showing he was nervous.

"Maybe someone else messed with my armor."

"Maybe…" he said. "But Arthur chose what we were to wear."

"Your armor looks fine."

"I am a man." He said quickly and instantly he looked away. Aria looked at him for a long moment before giving a cynical laugh.

"That's a hell of thing to say to me Tristan." She said before standing quickly, Tristan fallowed suit and grabbed onto her wrist before she could storm out of the cavern.

"I didn't mean what I said…"

"Then why'd you say it?" she asked as she tugged her hand away from his. "Also if you ever grab me like that again I'll cut the offending hand from your body. Understand?" he nodded. "Good. Thanks for packing my wound…" he nodded and watched her begin to leave.

"Aria?" she turned and instantly caught an apple. She looked down at it for a long moment before smiling softly.

"Thanks…" he nodded as he watched her leave before pulling out his own apple and taking a bite. Aria walked to the other cavern while Tristan followed behind.

"We're heating up squirrel want some?" Bors asked eating the burned meat.

"I'm fine." She said holding up an apple as she sat down.

"Is the wound tended to?" Arthur asked.

"It is…" she said looking down at the fruit.

"Tristan?" Gawain asked as the stoic knight sat down across from him. "Why do you never bring us apples?"

"Don't deserve them…" he said quietly making the others laugh.

"You know Arthur, my chain mail… It's falling apart…" Aria said looking over the fire at him.

"Is it?" he asked.

"Yes, the arrow ripped through it like it was paper…"

"Where we're heading we'll see if there is a metal worker, we'll get it fixed before we ride off… Does anyone else need work on theirs? They were all made by the same craftsmen." They shook their heads. Arthur raised an eyebrow.

Why would theirs hold firm but hers crumble under the pressure of an arrow… he looked to see Tristan was watching him with steel blue eyes.

"Something interesting?" Arthur asked.

"Don't mind Tristan it's just his way." Lancelot said.