Disclaimer is in Chapter 1

Tamura

Chapter 2

The first few months of training were brutal. All of the new recruits were drilled hard and fast. Every morning they were up at dawn and every night they fell, exhausted into their beds. The normally chatty Lancelot was quieter and the nervous Galahad was too tired to worry over anything.

Winter came up quickly, more so than in their southern homeland. It was biting cold and fierce with winds and snow. It snowed the heaviest on their first free day. Tamura was up early as her usual. She was often awake before the others and often the last to sleep, her thoughts always running a full speed. That particular morning they were granted a free day. She stood in the doorway of their barracks and looked out across the new fallen snow. It was crystalline and brilliant white, even in the shadows of the early dawn. She wrapped herself in her cloak and started toward the stables. Halfway there, she heard a quiet crunch behind her. She crouched and spun, almost losing her footing in the slick moisture. She looked carefully but didn't see anyone behind her. She turned again and started back to the stables. Suddenly a hard lump impacted her back. Some of the snow made it past her collar and slide icily into her shirt. She turned again, this time with a fierce glare on her features, to see Arthur, the small boy she'd seen first by the river when they arrived. He was holding another snowball in his hand.

Arthur was a mischievous child. His father had been the previous commander of the knights. He was always around when they were sparring. He loved to watch. She caught him sometimes play fighting with sticks when he thought no one was looking. All in all he was intelligent and brave and loyal. She liked him, for all he was still a boy. Now, he grinned up at her, face holding innocence not yet lost, much like the cherubs he'd once described to her. Without warning, he chucked the snowball at her, this time hitting her in the chest, and dart between the barracks and the wall. Tamura looked down at herself and smiled. This was going to be too much fun.

"Oh, Arthur!" She called gently, looking for any sign of him.

"Yes?" She heard him call timidly from around the corner.

"This means war, little man!" She scooped up and quickly compacted a ball of snow. She didn't make it too hard because she didn't want to hurt the boy. She quietly crept the other way around the building so as to come up behind him. She moved quickly, footsteps light and silent. She peered around the final corner and found him looking around the far corner for her. She stepped out and gently lobbed the snowball at him. When the cold snow hit him square in the back he gave a shriek of laughter and darted out into the open area. He was ready for her when she appeared and lobbed one straight at her face. The snow fight that ensued was legendary.

The other recruits quickly joined the foray, dodging and careening in the snow. Arthur stayed close to Tamura as some of the older boys began to play rougher. The knights looked on with amusement. They knew how precious little time was allotted to the trainees to be children and didn't deny them their fun.

One by one, the now soaked recruits filtered off to find dry clothes and warm food. Tamura took the time to walk Arthur home to his mother. The lady was standing at the door waiting patiently when they arrived. She smiled warmly at her and ushered him in with a scolding to put on dry clothes before she turned back to Tamura.

"Thank you for escorting my son home. It was nice to see him find some small measure of happiness in something so simple."

"He is a good boy. And we all needed a little entertainment." She paused. "Has he his own horse yet, my lady?"

"No. I have not thought it wise just yet. When he enters training, then I will get him a horse. Why?"

"He asked to go riding on the next free day we have and I said I would take him so long as you approved." The lady appeared to be lost in thought.

"So long as you are with him, then I do not mind. I know you will watch out for him. Now go find some warm clothes of your own before you freeze." It was said with a thankful smile. Tamura nodded and waved to Arthur who had appeared next to his mother. She wandered back to the barracks and then sought her own lunch.

"Mother?"

"Yes, Arthur?"

"I like her. Why is she here learning to be a knight?"

"From what the commander's wife has said, her father had no son to send and she volunteered. I like her as well my son. That is why on the next free day you will go riding with her." Arthur smiled happily up at his mother.

Tamura joined the rest of the recruits in the dining hall. Dagonet pushed a full bowl of stew towards her as she sat between him and Lancelot. She nodded her thanks and tucked in. A few moments later a hunk of bread made its way into her field of vision, again from Dagonet.

"Dag, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to fatten me up before the kill." He just looked at her before a small twitch of his lips gave him away. He was by far the gentlest of them. He always seemed to be looking after her.

"You don't eat enough." His quiet statement and the look in his eyes made her heart beat a little faster and a warmth filled her in ways that weren't related to the stew.

"I try to eat more then, since you asked so nicely." Again he twitched his lips. It seemed there was nothing that could rile Dagonet and the more sarcastic she became; the more he appeared to find amusement in her words. And when her sarcasm started to become irritation he could always make her smile. Dagonet was a rare man. Lancelot elbowed her in the side and she quickly tore her eyes away from her fellow recruit to glare at him.

"Quit make cow eyes at him. It's disgusting and you're ruining my lunch." Tamura raised an eyebrow at him and at Galahad who snorted softly around his own meal.

"Just for that I should make you wear your food instead of eat it, but I'm feeling generous today so I'll leave you too it and kindly remind you to keep you childish thoughts to yourself, boy." She said it with a smirk on her face. She knew that there was nothing he hated more than being called 'boy'. She waited for the reaction she knew was coming.

"Boy? Boy? Just for that I should make you wear your own meal." He scowled at her, all trace of good humor gone. Her smirk was still firmly in place.

"You started it, Lancelot. Its not my fault you cant take an insult." She shrugged. This time it was Dagonet's turn to laugh, which only seemed to anger him more. Suddenly Gawain was there, leaning over them both, smiling at their antics.

"If I didn't know better I'd swear the two of you were related. You fight like siblings." He commented dryly and sauntered off. Tamura called truce without really saying anything and Lancelot did the same. They both turned back to their meals.