"How's your shoulder?" he asked.

"Hurts like hell…" She muttered. Teleri had raced off with the knocked out Lucan on her back so when they got to the fort Jameson was the first to rush up the stairs to get to the doctor knowing he had been taken away. Aria dismounted the horse the arrow still stuck in her.

"Get that tended to." Arthur said.

"I will…" she looked to Tristan and he nodded as he followed her up the stairs. "There's no way I'm going to the doctor, he's way to rough when tending to wounds… Can you help me?" She asked as they walked.

"I can." He said with a nod. They got to her room and she easily walked in but when Tristan tried too the soldiers stepped in front of him.

"Tristan you can't come in remember…" Aria said as she motioned to the window.

"Forgot…" he muttered walking away down the hallways before disappearing behind a corner and running the rest of the way outside. He made it to the outer wall and began to scale it all the way to the window when he got in Aria was pacing. Tristan jumped into the room and walked over to her.

"Scale from one to ten how much is this going to hurt?" She asked turning to look at him.

"Maybe… Twelve…" He said.

"You are supposed to lie." She said.

"Eleven…"

"Tristan!" She whispered incredibly loudly.

"I can't lie to you…" he said leading her over to the bed. "So, sit down and we'll get this over with…" She slowly nodded as she took a seat next to Tristan.

"Just… Just be… Be gentle…" she said her hands shaking slightly. She felt as though she could vomit in that moment. Especially as she looked at the arrow which impaled her shoulder.

"I have to break it off first…" He admitted. "If I don't I can't pull it out, you know this."

"Okay…" she said nodding. He took a hold of the arrow and she winced in pain. Tristan's jaw clenched as he snapped the arrows end off. She cringed as she made a pained noise her hands gripping onto the bed sheets. "That that wasn't so bad…" she said her hands shaking as her stomach turned.

"Then maybe pulling the arrow out won't." he said and her expression grew hopeful.

"Right… Yeah…" she said nodding. "Yeah I feel good about this."

"So you want me to?"

"Before I change my mind." He grabbed onto the arrow and quickly pulled it from her body. Aria yelled out in pain as she collapsed forward. Tristan caught her in his arms as they both fell a short distance from the bed to the ground.

"Are you alright!?" one of the guards called from outside. She buried her face into Tristan's shoulder muffling her cry of agony as he held onto her tightly his hand smoothing out her blonde hair. "Aria Adne are you alright!?"

"I'm fine!" She shouted looking over her shoulder at her bedroom door.

"What's wrong!?"

"Uhm…" She thought about it for a moment. "Woman problems!" she shouted shaking from the pain. She slowly looked to Tristan with a glare as he rubbed her back trying to soothe her pain.

"I don't like you right now…" she said her head slowly bowing into his shoulder.

"I know… I'm sorry…"

"Is there a lot of blood?" She asked the pain beginning to easy from an agonizing searing to a hot throbbing.

"There is… But I don't have the herbs I need… We'll pack it with cloth then I'll go get some and come back as soon as possible." She slowly sat up straight as she took a deep breath.

"Alright… I can pack it myself with cloth…"

"Are you alright?" he asked seeing how pale she had gotten.

"Yeah… No… I'm gunna lay down…" Before she could move to stand up Tristan picked her up in his arms and gently laid her down on the bed.

"I'll be back very soon…" she nodded her hand on her shoulder as she watched him leave out the window.

-o-

Aria was resting her head on her pillow when she heard a noise by the window area. The pain had all but gone away but the loss of blood had started to wear her down. She looked over her shoulder and smiled seeing a leather tote sitting on the ground, someone had thrown it through the window. A second later a familiar hand grasped onto the window sill and Tristan pulled himself in.

"It took long to find what I needed." He muttered as he grabbed the tote and walked over as she sat up.

"It's fine."

"Are you in much pain?" He asked his eyes searching her expression.

"Not much…"

"Here…" he handed her a jug of wine.

"You're a saint." She said and he only nodded with an amused expression. She uncorked it and took a long swig. "That's good…" she said handing it over so he could have a drink as well. He took a long drink before looking her over.

"You're in a dress…" He commented seeing the long sapphire satin roman gown.

"It will be easier to tend to the wound in this…" she said and he only nodded as he took another drink.

"Right…" he said looking over the dress. "Alright pull the…" he took a swig of wine and cleared his throat. "Top down…"

"My… My top?" She asked.

"Of the uhm…" he took another sip of wine finding he needed the alcohol to fuel his courage. "Dress… So I can tend to the wound, and pack it." She slowly nodded.

"Right…" Aria took a deep breath as she slowly turned her back to him. After a long moment she slid the straps of the roman dress off her shoulders and down her arms. Tristan watched as she light cloth cascaded down her slender back all the way to her hips and rested against the bed she sat on. His eyes shot up from the two small dimples on her lower back to the cloth wrapped tightly around her body just under her shoulder blades and right over her breasts.

Her binding... She's wearing it even now…

"How does it look?" she asked and he cleared his throat. "The wound…"

"It looks okay, you didn't pack it though."

"I couldn't reach it…" even though she had her binding on she still held a blanket to her chest. As Tristan set his hands upon her she jumped slightly.

"What? Did I hurt you?" he asked worriedly.

"No… Your hands are cold…" she said quietly.

"Oh…" he rubbed them together before slowly setting his hands down on her bare shoulders. "How is that?"

"It's good…" she said quietly. She didn't know why but the way Tristan was moving his hands over her body felt different than the other times he had done so before when she was hurt. There was something almost tender in the way his hands moved over her skin. As he packed the herbs over her wound she hissed in pain lowly.

"Almost done…" Tristan said. As he looked over her his eyes went to a red mark under her binding. "I think you have a few more injuries… I'll tend to them as well if you'd like?"

"Sure if you see anything…" his hands went to the bottom of her binding and lifted it. He looked over a deep cut around the wrapping. He quickly realized it wasn't from a stray arrow or left over from the bear attack. It was self-inflicted. Caused by the tight wrappings around her body in an attempt to make herself look more like a man.

"Can we remove the binding?" He asked carefully.

"Why?" she asked quietly as she looked over her shoulder.

"The cloth you've used, it's cut into you…"

"Oh you don't have to tend to it, I've had that for years it's fine." She said going to pull her dress back up over her shoulders. Tristan rested his hands over hers halting her movement. "Tris-."

"Let me tend to it Aria…" he said quietly. She looked down at the bed for a long moment. "It… It looks painful… Let me tend to you…" Her jaw clenched before she slowly nodded. .

"If you feel you must…" She said softly.

"I do… But we have to remove the binding…"

"Can't you just work around it?" her voice was barely above a whisper. Tristan slowly sat back making sure his hands were completely off her body.

"I would never try to…" he looked up in thought. Trying to choose the right words for what he was about to say. "I would never try to do something to you… Like… Like James…"

"I know that." She said without skipping a beat. "It's just it's like a second skin it has to come off slowly or it can hurt."

"I'll be careful…"

"Here…" she moved her dress up revealing her thigh holsters with daggers resting in it. "You'll have to cut off…" she handed a dagger to him. He took it in hand his eyes going to the wrapping.

"If it hurts tell me…" she only nodded her eyes closing. She wasn't a vain person but the damage done to her body from years of binding wasn't a pretty sight, she hardly could look at it she didn't know how Tristan would be able to. She felt the blade sneak its way under the wrapping before cutting its way through the cloth.

Tristan slowly and carefully began to pull the cloth away. Aria bowed her head cringing as the wrapping slowly pulled from the blood that had grafted it to her skin. Sometimes she wouldn't change her bandages for days, not wanting to deal with the pain that went along with removing it. In this case she hadn't changed it in over five because of the mission.

"It's bad isn't it?" she asked after it was released from her body and she took a whole breath for the first time in near a week.

"No… No it's fine… It could have been worse… You're pretty bruised though."

"Well it's been binding me for about six days…" she pressed her blanket against her chest to cover herself. It hurt to be so released especially after being bound for so long. Tristan let his eyes slowly move over the skin he had just revealed. There were scars, so light it stood out against her already porcelain skin. Then there were the cuts, some old some very new, some just torn open by him removing the wrapping.

"You should maybe think about not binding yourself…" He said carefully as he began to tend to her wounds.

"Feels wrong not to…" she admitted quietly. "I've been doing it for so long… As I said it's like a second skin…"

"That second skin is ripping up your first skin."

"You didn't have to tend to it…" She said instantly feeling self-conscious.

"Someone had too… How long has this been going on how long has it been cutting into your skin?" He asked starting to get angry that she had put herself through such unnecessary pain.

"Well I've been doing it since we were little… So since then…"

"Well everyone knows you are a girl so you can stop now Aria." He said and she could tell he was ticked off by his voice.

"I told you I can't… Besides… if I'm more flat chested the men around here they don't look at me much…" she admitted quietly. "I don't like it when they look at me."

"It can't make that much of a difference."

"It does though…" she protested.

"I'm done." He sat back and Aria pulled her dress back up slowly. She took a moment before turning and looking to him. She had expected him to glance down but he didn't not once, and the fact made her smile softly. "You need to stop… You're torturing yourself for no reason Aria."

"It doesn't hurt that much." She said shaking her head. "Besides I don't know how to do anything without… I don't even think I'd fight the same without the pressure… Even breathing feels foreign."

"Because you're taking full breaths." He said. "Aria… You don't have to hide yourself anymore."

"You're wrong though… I do… I have to hide myself all the time…" he looked at her for a long moment.

"What do you mean?" He inquired.

"It doesn't matter because it doesn't make a difference…" she said quietly as she stood. "Thank you for tending to me, you're very kind to do so…"

"Aria what did you mean?" He asked following her movements.

"It doesn't matter to you…"

"Yes it does I want to know…" he hated knowing that there was something he didn't know about Aria.

"No I mean it doesn't matter to you because I don't hide around you." She said looking to him. "In all honesty you're the only one who gets to see who I really am…" She said with a soft expression. "You're the only one who doesn't judge me for being a woman… Even the others judged me… At least they did when we were children… You never did though… Not ever."

"You proved yourself from the beginning…" He said with an honest look.

"Can I ask how I proved myself to you?" he walked over to her with a soft expression, the softest Aria had ever seen upon the knights face.

"There were two things, the first was when that guard kicked you into the cell you didn't so much cry out in pain… The others did… Even I did… Then…" he took her hand in his and showed the spiral scar up her arm. "You took that whip for me… It cut you deeper than it did I, still you never complained about it not once."

"I would have done it all over again even if it was to cut me deeper…"

"Why did you halt the romans whip?" He asked suddenly making her look to him.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked quietly as she looked down at his hands which held hers.

"No…" She smiled softly as she took a small breath before she raised her eyes to his.

"Then you aren't to know the answer just yet…" before he could say anything she walked away her hands slipping from his, and instantly Tristan missed the contact. "We should go see to Lucan…" She pulled on a cloak and headed out of the room while Tristan jumped out the window. As she made it to the doctors room so did Tristan and she couldn't help but smile. She would have to get a pass into her room for him from Arthur. "How is he?"

"The Arrow nearly did him in but they say he'll be fine…" Jameson said looking to her. "Aria… You saved his life…"

"No… I just helped him along he would have been fine-." He moved forward and wrapped his arms around her. She stood unsure of what to do for a long moment. She was sure after all that had happened nor he or his twin were fond of her.

"You risked your own to save his…" He said and she slowly returned the embrace and felt him ease up in her arms. "I'm sorry if we ever doubted you."

"It's fine everyone does in the beginning…" he pulled away with a smile. "You alright?" she asked. "You're kind of acting like a woman." He laughed as did the others.

"Yeah, well someone has to in the group if you won't." She punched him in the shoulder and he laughed.

"You're laughing now just give it a second…" Gawain said.

"What?" Jameson asked with a smile before it faded. "Owe… Owe… Owe!" Aria gave a cheeky smile.

"Enjoy that. The pain is going to linger for a few days…" Gawain said as he looked down at a bruise on his shoulder from years of her punching him.

"Be glad it's how she tells you she likes you." Bors said with a laugh.

"Great…" He drawled with a smile.

"I'll be back to check on Lucan…" She said. "I'm going to go tend to the horses."

"Jols already is." Arthur said.

"Oh…" she said shifting uncomfortably. She was okay with Jameson, he had apologized for his indiscretion, but the others she was still fairly upset with. She really needed an excuse to get away from the group of men in that moment.

"Nice dress…" Lancelot said and she didn't even bother to glare at him. Arthur looked around at his knights and knightess. There was something wrong, he could tell that a rift had been formed.

"What's going on here?" he asked.

"Nothing." Lancelot said.

"The round table now." Arthur said before storming off. Everyone looked to each other before heading off after him.

"We keep this to ourselves." Lancelot muttered and Aria just rolled her eyes. When they got to the round table room everyone took their seats while Arthur looked at all of them with a scrutinizing gaze.

"This place is a place of mutual respect…" Arthur said his hands on the table. "Here at this table we are all equal… At this table we are all one… But right now we aren't. There is a rift that has broken apart our circle of mutual respect, friendship, and equality…" He looked around. "Who wants to tell me what has happened?" They all looked away.

"Lancelot?" he shrugged. "Bors?" he didn't say anything. "Gawain?" he took a sip of wine. Aria watched as Arthurs eyes fell on her. "Aria…" Her jaw clenched. "Aria what has happened?"

"You should ask the boys there the one who started it." She said quietly.

"We were to keep it to ourselves." Lancelot said to her with a narrowed gaze.

"I won't lie to him." She said. "Not to him."

"I wonder why that is…" He fired back.

"Alright you want to know what's going on?" She asked Arthur. "Everyone here besides Dag and Tristan think that you and I are sleeping together… Or that I am at least sleeping with someone else."

"My question would be…" Arthur said. "What business of it would it be of yours?" he inquired as he looked at the men.

"Thank you." Aria said, glad he was taking her side.

"So are you with her?" Gawain asked Arthur.

"Aria do you want to me even answer that?" Arthur asked.

"If you think it would do any good." She said as Dag poured her a goblet of wine. "Thank you…" she said quietly.

"The relationship I have with Aria and she has with me is just as deep as the relationship I have with any of you and you have with me." He answered.

"What about her sleeping with someone else?" Lancelot muttered.

"So much for blood vows huh?" Aria asked and he looked at her for a long moment. He slowly averted his eyes and Aria took a small breath before standing. "Listen here… I could understand Jameson and Lucan wondering about me and doubting me, but the rest of you? I can't understand it…" they looked to her and saw the hurt expression. "For years I have trained beside you, fought beside you, I have bled for each and every one of you…" she stated her voice shaking. "I thought that blood had bought me respect and friendship now I see it didn't buy me anything. I've been hit by arrows, knocked around by bears, suffered the end of a roman soldiers whip upon my back but I have never felt such hurt as when you all looked at me with accusation…" She shook her head as she gathered her thoughts. She wanted to say more but her jaw clenched and she slowly sat down. "There's nothing more I can say… I wish to go tend to the horses." She said her voice breaking slightly, something only Tristan had ever heard. "I want to tend to the horses Arthur… Please…"

"Go ahead." Arthur said.

"Thank you…" she stood quickly and walked from the room her cloak dragging behind her as she did. The door closed and Arthur slowly stood.

"These words are not for Tristan or Dag seeing as Aria believes they are the only ones who truly respect her." He looked around at the men. "By accusing Aria of sleeping with not only myself but someone else you have called into question not only her honor as a woman but her honor as knight… Which is odd because most of you sitting here have slept with a woman some time in your life… But that fact doesn't call in your honor because you are men."

"We just let out words get away-."

"I wasn't finished." He said cutting off Lancelot who glared slightly. "You all have a luxury in life that Aria may never know. You all will find a woman you long to be with and will spend countless nights with her… Even if Aria found a man she truly loved she wouldn't be able to spend even a night in his arms for fear she would become with child and have to forfeit her honor as a Knight... Who knows if she'll ever get to spend a night in the arms of a man she cherishes, the life of a knight is often short, you saw what almost happened to Lucan today… And I'll remind you it was by the sheer bravery of Aria he made it back here…"

"We should apologize…" Galahad said.

"Yes you should and in a very big way." Arthur said. "It's less than what she deserves, I doubt you could ever come up with what she does deserve but I expect you all to try your hardest to meet it… You're dismissed." He said as he sat back down slowly everyone raised and walked from the room. They all instantly headed to the barn only to have Dag step in their way his arms spread.

"You will leave her alone tonight…" he said and no one dared to speak against him.

"I have things to speak of with her." Tristan said.

"Oh you can go." He said stepping aside.

"Why him?" Bors asked.

"Because she isn't upset with him." Dag said with a glare. Tristan walked down a stone stairwell and into the belly of the barn. He walked to see Aria brushing down his horse as she fed him an apple.

"There you are love…" she said. "Almost done getting the burs out..."

"You don't have to tend to mine…" She smiled as she looked to Tristan who stood at the entrance of the barn.

"I don't mind." She said with a smile as he walked to her. "I was thinking of going for a ride would you want to join me?" he only nodded. Aria mounted Teleri and rode off Tristan quickly following not even having to command his horse to do so.

They rode through the town by drunk towns people and roman soldiers alike. They didn't stop at any watering holes, or any eateries they just kept riding until they got to a familiar lake. Aria smiled as she looked down at her horse.

"Good choice…" she said.

"Good choice?" Tristan asked.

"I let her decide where we were to go…" She said to Tristan.

"You have a lot of trust in that horse."

"She's earned it… You should trust yours more…" She dismounted the horse and landed easily on the ground despite her dress. They walked to the lake together Teleri walking to Tristans horse and rubbing her nose against his neck. Just like their riders the horses were very close companions. Aria sat down at the shore and looked out across the lake with a smile.

"I thought you would still be heated from the meeting." Tristan said joining her. "Yet you are smiling."

"Because I know the guys right now are hitting themselves… Tell me they are hitting themselves. Figuratively or metaphorically either one will make me happy." She said looking to him.

"They aren't actually hitting themselves but they are upset with themselves."

"Metaphorically I'm happy then…" she said. "Wish they were really hitting themselves." He smiled before looking to her shoulder as she un did her cloak.

"How is your shoulder?" He inquired.

"Just fine." She said with a shrug. "Thanks for tending to it."

"Don't have to say thank you." He held out an apple and she smiled as she took it in hand. Before he could pull away she revealed a pear and he smiled as he too took it.

"Thank you…"

"Don't have to say it…" she looked over her shoulder and smiled. "I think our horses may be lovers now…" he looked and nodded.

"Maybe…" she slowly returned her gaze to the lake and Tristan couldn't help but gaze at her. She looked quite stunning in that moment. Her porcelain skin lit up in the moon light her long blonde hair flowing around her majestically from the cold breeze. "Do you wish you had a man?" Tristan in that moment wanted to stab himself in the leg.

"What?" she asked with a surprised smile. "Did you ask me if I wished I had a man?" he only nodded knowing it was way too late to take his question back. "Why would I want another one I have all you guys."

"Not what I meant…" he said picking at the grass in front of him.

"You mean do I wish I could take a man like you and the others take a woman now and again?" he looked to her wondering why she would think he did such a thing. Before he could protest she sighed. "Sometimes I do…" the answer surprised him. "There are times when it's late and I'm lying in bed not able to sleep and I think maybe I would be able to rest better if I had someone there next to me… I don't even need the consummation just the presence of someone there would be enough to chase away what keeps me up…" she shook her head. "But then I remember James and I think I don't ever what a man next to me in bed…"

"Maybe you'd find someone you could trust." He said picking at the grass some more.

"The only person I really trust is you." She said softly.

"Then maybe someday we'll share a bed." They looked at each other for a long moment before laughing.

"What a thought that would be…" She said with a smile.

"I'd have to palm a blade the whole time."

"Tristan!" she punched him in the shoulder and he fell back laughing.