Arthur had carried Aria to her bedroom where the knights had followed him. After some fighting with the two guards outside he was able to convince them to let the knights in to look over her. Now they all sat around her bed watching over her as she rested, wondering whether she would make it through the night. Dag walked over to a dresser where he spotted a small carved horse. He gave a small laugh as he looked it over drawing the others gaze to him.

"How can you laugh at a time like this?" Bors asked shifting in his chair.

"I made this for her…" he held up the tiny horse and they looked at it. "For her birthday the second year we were here… I can't believe she still has it…" Gawain walked over to see a bunch of items set across the dresser. He smiled softly seeing a familiar item.

"She also has the first Ax I made for her…" he held it up. "Look how tiny it is… She wielded it like a true warrior though… What's this crystal?" Lancelot walked over.

"I got that for her as thanks for helping me with my sword… I had found it one day while walking, thought she might like it… Can't believe she kept it all these years…" The others walked over and Galahad reached forward at a small woven leather bracelet.

"I made this for her after she saved my life…" he said. "I thought she had lost it, her wrists just must have gotten too big…" he smiled softly. "It's so tiny…"

"Here's my old cuff I gave her when her arm kept getting bruised from blocking in combat training." Bors said. "It got too big for me… Was too big for her as well..." He laughed.

"There is nothing here from me…" Tristan muttered and they slowly looked to him. "I never gave her anything…"

"You gave her apples every day." Dag said. "She couldn't keep apples for years they'd turn to rot…" he only nodded and walked back over to sit at the side of her bed as the others did.

"Did any of you know she kept those things?" Lancelot asked, and they shook their heads.

"She must really care for you all…" Lucan said.

"No, Aria told us the first day she met us that it wasn't wise to make friends… Later she told us it wasn't wise to care…" Gawain said.

"Then she lied to you…" Arthur said making them look to him. "Just a day ago she told me she thought of you all as her family…"

"She did?" Galahad asked looking to Aria who had begun to turn pale.

"She said we were all family now. That you all were her brothers and that she would protect you all just as you had protected her for so long…"

"We didn't protect her today though did we?" Gawain asked. Aria made a pained noise and she moved her head slowly to the side. They all knew not to get excited, she had done the same thing countless times before for the past few hours. Then Arthur saw her eyes slowly flutter and he moved forward and took her hand.

"Aria?" he asked.

"What is it?" Lancelot asked looking closer. She took a deep breath before her eyes slowly opened and she looked at Arthur who smiled.

"Aria?" Arthur asked once more.

"Bear… Saw a bear…" She said softly.

"Fetch the doctor." Gawain said to the twins who nodded and rushed away.

"I saw it… The bear…" She repeated softly.

"You didn't so much see a bear as you fought a bear…" Lancelot said with a bright smile as she looked up at the ceiling.

"Did I win?" she asked softly making the men laugh except for Tristan who just stared.

"I'm afraid Tristan won…"

"Tristan always wins my fights…" she said quietly. "Bastard… Could have…" she took a deep breath. "Taken it myself…" the others smiled as she looked to Arthur. "I feel strange…"

"You were hurt in the attack…" He said.

"By the bear?"

"That's right…" he said. "Do you remember getting hurt?"

"No…" She answered softly with a confused look. "I saw it rushing at me… Then… Nothing…"

"That's probably for the best." Bors said.

"I remember… Being carried here…" She said her eyes closing for a long moment. "So…" she slowly opened her eyes and looked to Tristan. "You not only finished my fight, but you played hero and brought me here…" he slowly nodded. "You forgot something…" he looked at her confused. She slowly raised her wrapped hand and held it out to him. "Where's my apple?" the men laughed and Tristan couldn't help but smile. "I'm serious… I want one…"

"I'll go get one…"

"No no that's not how it goes…" she said her hand dropping. "You see you just have one appear out of nowhere, it's all magical like… I want my magical apple." The men watched as he slowly brought it up and Aria smiled. "Thank you…" she said as he handed the fruit to her.

"How do you do that?" Lancelot asked Tristan. "Now I really want to know."

"Like I said… Magic…" Aria said. The doctor rushed in with the twins and he smiled as he headed over to the bed.

"Miss Adne…" he said sitting down the bed beside her. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I was beaten up by a bear… How are you?" she asked before taking a bite of the apple.

"How else do you feel with your body I mean?"

"Everything quite literally hurts, I'd rather not focus on it…" she slowly began to sit up.

"No I don't recommend that." The doctor said.

"Still going to do it…" she slowly rested herself against the headboard. She looked down at herself for a long moment before glaring and pulling a dagger out from under the place she had rested her head. "Who put a bloody dress on me?" she asked looking around.

"That was I…" the doctor said.

"You live today…" she said. "But only because you did not know my dislike for these things."

"It was all we had." He said as she stowed away the dagger as the men around her smiled.

"When will I be able to fight again?"

"You're bouncing back quick so I'd say tops two days but you'll need to watch your head… You won't want to be hit there for some time."

"Alright…" she said.

"I'll come by to check on you later." He slowly stood and walked away. When he was gone she looked to Tristan.

"Tell me you didn't leave that massive bear there to rot."

"It's being cut up now to be served." Arthur said making her look to him.

"When's dinner?" she asked with a smile. "I want me a piece of that bear…"

"We'll bring it to you." Dag said.

"No no I'll go down and sit at the table like the good knight I am."

"Aria you shouldn't be moving around so much." Arthur said.

"What am I supposed to do rest?" she asked.

"Yes yes you are." He said with a laugh.

"That doesn't sound like a good time at all." The men shook their heads with smiles. "Can't I go down stairs just for a while?" she asked.

"No Aria." Arthur said.

"I won't be in pain I promise." She said and the men laughed.

"You can't promise that." He replied.

"Oh come on-."

"Aria Adne I said no…"

"Fine." She said with a glare. They were silent for a long moment before she sighed. "Come on Arthur let me go down stairs." The others laughed while Arthur sighed.

"I fear for the man you marry someday I really do." He said.

"Does that mean I can come down stairs?" she asked with a cheeky look.

"No no it doesn't…"

"You're really going to stick to this whole you need to rest thing aren't you?" she asked.

"Because you need to rest!"

"No I don't!"

"You're by far the most stubborn woman I have ever met."

"You are by far the most infuriating man I've ever had to deal with besides Gawain." Everyone laughed even Arthur.

"What did I do?" Gawain asked.

"Always moaning on about the weather…" Lancelot laughed the hardest and she turned to him.

"Don't get me started on you." She said.

"Me?" Lancelot asked.

"Yeah you."

"What did I do?"

"It's not so much what you did but just your overall presence as a human being." They laughed even more while Aria smiled cheekily at Lancelot before squeezing his cheek.

"Oi!" he swatted at her hand and she pulled away before reaching forward and squeezing his cheek again.

"Too fast." She said with a laugh.

"Aria knock it off!"

"I will when you stop laughing…" She said as the others laughed.

-o-

She had bid goodbye to the men who had gone down to eat the bear an hour ago. She had been thankful when Jols, Arthurs Paige had brought her up some. Now she sat in her bed looking around the dark bedroom. She couldn't sleep, she had slept too much after the attack. Now she was wide awake, her mind buzzing her body wanting to move. She was never one to sit still, it was something she had never grown out of as a child. She always had to be in motion if she didn't she'd go nuts.

"I'm going mad in here…" she slowly pulled the covers away from her body to reveal the long roman style lavender dress she had been put in. "Hate these things…" she with a lot more ease then she had expected slowly got out of bed. "Where are my clothes?" she looked around and spotted them on her dresser. She walked over to find her pants had been cut and so had her shirt, she couldn't just wear her armor outside. She looked down at the dress and sighed. "This will have to do…" she slowly pulled hair up into a messy bun and secured it with a polished piece of bone. She slowly opened her door to find the guards who instantly looked at her.

"Should you be out of bed?" one asked.

"Aren't you hurt?" the other inquired.

"It was scratches I am fine now… I need to go check in on my horse whom was injured from the bear…" she lied. "I will be back shortly… Make sure no one goes in my room ay?" they nodded as they watched her leave.

She navigated the large fort easily before making it to the barn which was attached. She opened the door, peered out and looked looked both ways fearing Arthur or one of the others might have been lurking about. She smiled softly as she walked out into the dimly lit barn and headed over to her horse.

"Teleri…" she said softly as she petted the horse which nuzzled her affectionately. "I'm glad they took off your saddle I thought they might forget… But I bet you didn't let them…" She gasped as someone grabbed her arm and spun her around. After a moment she laughed as her eyes set on Tristan. "You scared me Trist…"

"Why are you out of bed?" he asked.

"Because I don't want to be in bed." She went to pull her arm away only to have Tristan hold on.

"You're going back…" he started to pull her and her eyes narrowed.

"Let go of me." She said tugging at her arm. "Let go…" she pulled her arm away and he instantly turned. "Who do you think you are?" she asked rubbing her arm.

"You are to be upstairs."

"I make my own decisions."

"You are injured."

"I am quite fine." He went to reach for her and she parried his hand away while taking a step back.

"Aria..."

"Tristan…" she said with a note of challenge to her voice.

"Arthur said you were to rest."

"I've rested enough." He reached for her and once more she parried his hand but she did not parry the second which latched onto her arm. He began to pull her towards the door.

"Tristan let go of me…" she said struggling. "Tristan I mean it."

"So do I…" he said stoically. "You should be resting."

"I'm not going upstairs…"

"Yes you are…"

"No… I'm not…" she punched his arm and he instantly released her arm as pain shot down to the bone. "I told you to let me go…" she said backing up. "Now I feel fine, I'm good as new I swear… You know how fast I bounce back from things it's just my stock nice and stubborn."

"You are stubborn but you're still going up there."

"You can't make me." She said quietly.

"Yes yes I very much can."

"What is wrong with you?" Aria asked quietly her eyes searching his stoic expression. "You've never once raised your hand to me."

"I have not raised a hand yet…"

"You've grabbed at me."

"That is not raising my hand." he said.

"It is when you do it to a friend." He looked at her for a long moment before taking another step forward his hand out as he averted his eyes. "Go upstairs… Rest…"

"No."

"Damn it Aria!" she jumped. "You will go up!"

"How many times are we going to go round and round? No I will not!"

"Aria Adne... Do as I say."

"Since when do you think I take orders from you?" she asked her eyes fierce her jaw jutted out in pure defiance.

"Do not fight me."

"I didn't want to but you came down here grabbing and such… Maybe if you had asked nicely I would have gone up…"

"Will you… Please… Go up and rest?"

"Now I won't. No." She said with a small laugh. Tristan grabbed onto both her arms something she hadn't expected and started to walk her.

"Tristan stop!" she said. "Tristan enough I'm very through with this!"

"So am I that's why I'm dragging you."

"I said stop!"

"Yes I heard you, but it's time to rest." Aria's temper flared and she kicked Tristan in the back sending him to the ground.

"Don't treat me like I'm a child!" she yelled as he got up.

"Then stop acting as such!" he bellowed as he got to his feet.

"What's going on in here?" Arthur asked as he and the others walked in. They all looked from Tristan to Aria who were glaring daggers into each other. "I asked a question."

"Nothing…" Tristan said.

"Why are you out of bed?" Arthur asked Aria.

"I was checking on Teleri I couldn't remember if she was hurt in the attack…" Aria said quietly as she walked over to the horse her gown dragging behind her as she did.

"And the yelling?" Gawain asked as his eyes roamed over the unusually feminine Aria.

"Tristan started it." she said her jaw jutting out.

"She was out of bed she needs to rest." Tristan defended.

"I make my own bloody decisions on what I do." She looked to Tristan. "Don't ever presume you have any control on what I do or don't do…" she looked to the other knights. "Goes for all of you…" she mounted the horse and Arthur stared at her.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked.

"Out." before he could say anything she kicked the horse and raced from the barn.

"Well done…" Gawain said and Tristan pulled his hand out a dagger evident as he placed it to Gawain's throat. "Some one's in a touchy mood…" Tristan dropped his hand and took a few steps away.

"Want to tell us what that was all was about?" Arthur inquired.

"She was out of bed she should have been resting I tried to get her to go up but she's… She is stubborn." He said his jaw clenched.

"That's the most words I've ever heard him speak ever…" Bors whispered to Dag who only nodded.

"Was looking out for her interest… Was trying to keep her safe." Arthur slowly nodded understanding what had happened.

"You have to go after her set things right, I can't have this throwing off our group dynamic…" Arthur said.

"She won't accept an apology the girl can hold a grudge…" Galahad said before Tristan could. "Remember James?"

"Poor James…" they all chimed.

"What happened to James?" Arthur asked.

"We don't talk about James…" Bors said with wide eyes.

"Take her flowers maybe then she'll accept an apology." Galahad said.

"Flowers?" Gawain asked.

"She said she liked them…" he said.

"I will handle this." Tristan said as he fixed a saddle on his horse.

"Where will you start to look?" Lancelot asked.

"All around."

"When the girl hides she hides and hides well." Dag said.

"I'll find her…" Tristan kicked the horse and trotted out of the barn.

"Have you ever seen those two fight?" Jameson asked.

"Not ever…" Lancelot said. "She's had her fights with all of us but not once with Tristan."

"Bound to happen at some point…" Gawain said.

"I don't like it." Galahad said. "It isn't right for those two to fight they're as close as two straws in a haystack.."

"Some might say too close?" Arthur asked and they all looked to him.

"Tristan would never do that." Lancelot said. "None of us would ever do that."

"Not ever." They chimed.

"I might." The twins said before glaring at each other. "What makes you think she'd choose you?" They asked in unison making the others shake their heads.

-o-

Aria stared out at the creek leaning against Teleri who lay on the cold British grass. She threw a stone and watched it sink right to the bottom as if mimicking how she felt. She took a long deep breath and leaned her back as she looked at the stars. She was very angry but also very confused. She had never once felt true anger at Tristan not until he had tried to drag her back upstairs to her bedroom.

"How dare he treat me like lace?" she asked and the horse snorted. "What? You think I was too rash?" the horse snorted again. "No I wasn't I wasn't rash at all he was the one getting all grabby and mean and raising his voice to me like I was… Was someone which I can't name at the moment." She groaned and threw another stone not even attempting to skip it.

He's so frustrating! How dare he treat me like lace! I'm not some child he can drag about… I'm a bloody knight… I'm his friend… I'm an ally… how dare he handle me like that? Still… I shouldn't have punched him the arm or kicked him lightly in the back… maybe it wasn't lightly… but he wouldn't let me go and I was trying to make a point… She gave a shiver as a cold wind rushed against her bare arms that her dress did not cover.

"Great…" she looked up at the sky. "This is the one time I ask please do not rain…" she sighed.

"You sound like Gawain." She jumped to her feet and turned to see Tristan.

"Fantastic… Teleri let's go…" she looked down at the horse to see it wouldn't budge as it looked at her. "Teleri up…" the horse laid it's head back down. "You are so stubborn."

"Just like you." He said.

"If you know what's good for you you'll stay far away from me Tristan…" she walked away from him and frowned when she heard him follow. She turned quickly her gaze fierce her hair flying around her in a wild way that seemed to mimic her true nature. "Do you not listen?"

"I have something to say…"

"Then say it and be gone." His jaw clenched.

"I am… sor-." He halted before taking a breath. "Why are you so angry with me anyways?"

"You are infuriating!" she groaned. "I'm angry with you because you treated me like some weak woman…" she said walking to him. "Like I was made of lace."

"You were just thrown about by a bear." He said. "You have scratches and bruises from it! You were knocked out to the point I had to carry you back here!"

"Well I'm very sorry you had to do that."

"That's not what I'm saying."

"Then what are you saying Tristan?"

"What I'm saying is you were very hurt and now you're walking around like you're fine."

"I am fine."

"No you're not! You say you are but you're not no one would be after that…"

"No one? Or a woman? Which is it?"

"You know I have never judged you for being a woman." He said.

"Oh please… You were before at the barn and you are now…"

"No I'm not."

"Then why do you care so much? If it were Gawain or Lancelot or or Dag you wouldn't be doing this… So why do you with me? Because I'm a woman!"

"Because you are my friend…" he said quietly.

"Some way to treat your friend Tristan…" he looked at her for a long moment.

"When we were children and you saved me from the end of a soldiers whip I promised myself to protect you like you had protected me… That I would never let any true harm come to you that I could stop… I let that happen today… I let that bear-."

"No one let's a bear do anything."

"Let me finish you stubborn woman…" She glared at him her jaw clenching. "I left you alone to get hurt if I had been there I could have stopped it."

"Or gotten hurt yourself… I'll have you know I fought that bear tooth and nail, you just got lucky with that shot…" He looked at her for a long moment. "What?" she asked. "What is that look?"

"That's why you're walking around trying to act alright-."

"I am alright."

"Because you're embarrassed you didn't kill the bear on your own."

"I'm not embarrassed."

"No?"

"No." she said

"Then you don't want us all to think less of you…"

"There's no reason you should… Though you all do I can tell."

"So that is it." He said.

"No no no it isn't…"

"Can't lie to me Aria…" her jaw clenched as she brushed past him. "Aria…" he took her hand in his halting her movements. "Just talk to me…" she glared into him and he sighed. "I wonder when you stopped telling me things."

"The same time you stopped telling me things Tristan." She pulled her hand away from his and backed away. "I'm starting to wonder if you were ever my friend at all or if it was all some sort of strange debt you had to me when I stopped that roman from hitting you with the whip, and do remember I just stopped him I didn't save you… He had already beaten you well and good…" she turned and walked to Teleri as a tear fell down her cheek. She wiped it away and the horse stood sensing something wrong. "Please get me out of here…" she said softly as she mounted the horse who to her surprise actually did what she said and began to run back to the barn away from the lake. Tristan quickly ran to his own horse and mounted it.

"Come on Flynn…" he said kicking it. The horse ran off at its top speed. Aria rushed into the barn a few minutes later to find the knights waiting.

"Where's Tristan?"

"I don't really give a damn." She said jumping down from Teleri before rushing past them. Dag turned and grabbed her arm he stopped when he saw a tear falling down her cheek. He quickly let her go and she rushed up the stairs.

"Aria!" Tristan yelled as he raced into the bar and jumped down from the horse.

"Let her go." Dag said turning.

"I have to set things right." He said going to move past him. Dag grabbed hold of his shirt and slowly pushed him away. "She's had enough for tonight… Let her go…" he looked around and he could tell by the confused looks that no one had seen what he had seen.

"I take it you didn't bring her flowers." Galahad said. Tristan threw a dagger and it stuck into the wall just an inch away from his head. They watched as Tristan stormed out of the barn. Gawain slowly grabbed the dagger and sighed.

"This isn't good… He never misses." He said holding it up for them to see.

"Maybe he wasn't trying to hit you." Arthur said.

"Tristan would never throw a dagger at someone in jest." Bors said.

"Let's hope this gets fixed before the next mission." Lancelot said.

"Where did Dag go?" Bors asked looking around.

"Must have gone after Tristan…" Galahad muttered.