I'm so sorry for not updating in almost two months. I've had a lot going on as we get closer to the end of the year, and to be honest, the fact that both email notifications and traffic stats are currently not working with no indication that the admins are doing anything to solve either issue hasn't exactly helped my enthusiasm for writing…but I'll try to do better. If this site hasn't regained full functionality by the end of the year, I'm going to seriously consider joining Archive of Our Own even though I prefer FFN's formatting; one way or another, I will continue writing and posting my stories somewhere.
The day after her misadventure in the tavern, after weighing in on her attackers' punishment and happily taking part in the first round of produce-throwing, Kenzi took a break when Gwen came out to inform her that Gwaine was awake. He hadn't asked to see her, but Kenzi, being curious about her unexpected co-rescuer, decided to visit him anyway.
She found him lounging in the patient's cot in the infirmary, though he sat up straighter when she entered. "My lady," he greeted her in a tone laced with surprise. "Didn't expect to see you again."
"The name's Kenzi," she replied while sticking out her hand, which he took after a second's hesitation, "and why not? You kinda saved mine and my friends' butts last night, then you passed out before I could say thanks. So, thanks."
"No thanks needed, Lady Kenzi; I couldn't sit there and watch a woman be assaulted…even a noble one." He added that last part under his breath, but she heard him anyway.
"What, you don't like nobles? Is that why you never said word one to me until fists started flying, even though you were obviously checking me out earlier? Yeah, I saw you looking," she confirmed, meeting his startled look with a slight smirk.
"All right, I may have sneaked a look or two," Gwaine admitted, his natural confidence quickly reasserting itself. "Pretty girl like you, who can blame me? But when I saw your fancy dress and jewels, I figured there was no point in trying to talk to you. A great lady like yourself would never take notice of the likes of me." A bitter note crept into his voice at the end, though it wasn't directed so much at her as at the aristocratic class in general, all of whom seemed to think anyone on a lower tier was worth less than them.
"Again with the noble-hating," Kenzi observed, tilting her head curiously. "I'm smelling a story here."
"You're not going to leave me alone until you hear it, are you?" Gwaine tried to sound surly in hopes of putting her off, though deep down he couldn't deny that he felt a certain amount of reciprocal curiosity about her. There was no doubt that she was indeed a lady – the bejeweled black and green gown she'd worn the night before was testament enough to that, as was the fact that she was now decked out in an equally fine dress of white and gold; no peasant girl could ever hope to afford even one outfit like that, let alone two – yet it seemed that there might be something different about her. In all the places he'd passed through, he'd never seen a noblewoman set foot in such a disreputable establishment as the tavern where last night's festivities took place, nor had he ever seen one knock back ale like she had…and if he wasn't mistaken, she had also cheated those men at the card table, and quite skillfully at that.
"Nope," she replied, insolently popping the P, which served to further confirm his impression that this was no prissy courtier.
"Fine, if it's the only way I can get some peace. My father was a knight in Caerleon's army. He served his king faithfully, even died for him…and when my mother went to the king to ask for help, he turned her away. We were left with nothing. That's when I learned that noble blood doesn't make a good person; in fact, those who think their blood makes them better than everyone else are usually the worst."
"Tell me about it," Kenzi agreed with a sympathetic scoff. "Rich snobs suck."
This earned her a suspicious look from Gwaine. "You say that as if you're not one of them."
Kenzi gave him a wounded one in return. "Way to judge a book by its cover, dude. For your information, I kinda just stumbled into this whole 'lady of the court' gig. I was nothing even close to a blue blood in the place I came from, but then some old sorcerer randomly dumped me and my best friend here, Uther assumed we must be noblewomen because Bo's just that awesome, and chilling out in a palace with all these fancy dresses and shit looked like our best option at the time – actually, it was our only option – so we just went with it."
"So you're not really a lady?" Gwaine verified. Part of him had trouble believing anyone could pull off such a deception, but if it was true, he would unreservedly call himself impressed.
"Hell no," Kenzi insisted almost indignantly, as if actually being a pampered noblewoman was something to be ashamed of, and it was that disdain that convinced him she was telling the truth, since it was the exact same attitude he had cultivated in the years following his father's death. "What I am is a damn good con artist; I've always been able to be whatever I need to be to get by, so this is just the latest persona in my chameleonic repertoire. And I'm sorry about your dad."
"It was a long time ago," Gwaine said at once, brushing off her condolences almost reflexively. "I don't remember him that well, to be honest." He did have a few memories of his father, but he preferred not to talk about them, especially with people he didn't know well…and yet, something about the way Kenzi's voice had softened at the end, her flippancy fading to allow a note of genuine emotion to creep in, made him wonder if perhaps she could relate to his loss.
Sure enough, her next words confirmed his suspicions. "Well, maybe that's not such a bad thing if it makes it hurt less. My dad died when I was little, and I missed him so much it was like having a constant stomachache; I know that sounds cliché, but it turns out that really is a thing. And that was before Mr. Verbally and Emotionally Abusive Stepfather came on the scene… I hope you at least didn't have to deal with that."
"No, my mother never remarried, at least not that I know of. I left home as soon as I was old enough so that I wouldn't be a burden. Since then I've travelled wherever the road takes me, doing whatever I can to get by…with the exception of an honest day's work," he confessed with a playful grin.
"Me too – just swap out 'not wanting to be a burden' for having enough of my stepdad's crap and Mom being a total pushover for him just because he paid the bills – but yeah, I was as much of a drifter as you can be without actually leaving Toronto's city limits, though in my defense it is a big city, or at least it will be…until I met Bo."
"This is the second time you've mentioned her, and you call her your closest friend, but the woman who came looking for you last night is named Gwen," Gwaine observed. "Where is this Bo?"
"She's not here. She did something stupidly heroic to save Camelot a while back and got herself cursed, so our other friends had to take her away to find a cure."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Wherever she is now, Bo's going to be fine; I know she is," Kenzi said fiercely, before adding in a quieter tone, "She has to be." She swiped the back of her hand over her nose, which had recently developed an unfortunate tendency to get runny whenever she dwelled too long on what might have befallen her best friend, and got up from her perch on the edge of Gwaine's cot. "Wow, this conversation just got way too depressing, so I'm gonna let you do the whole 'rest and recovery' thing while I go throw some more rotten food at those rape-y jerks outside. That should be an instant mood picker-upper."
Gwaine watched her go, reflecting that she wasn't at all what he'd thought when he first saw her in the tavern – partaking in some strange form of tourism, he'd assumed then, coming down to see how the less fortunate lived before retreating back to the lap of luxury where she belonged – and, now that he knew she wasn't just another haughty aristocrat, he could let himself appreciate how good she looked in that clingy satiny gown.
###
When he was able to leave his bed the following day, he got another surprise in the form of Prince Arthur seeking him out to personally thank him for helping Kenzi, Lancelot, and Gwen out in the tavern brawl.
"I don't know why my friends decided not to bring me along on their little adventure," he said with a reproachful look at Gwen and Lancelot, "but I'm glad you were there to aid them when I wasn't."
"You don't have to thank me, since I didn't do it for you," Gwaine replied, ignoring a twinge of disconcertion at the prince's use of the plural 'friends', which seemed to imply that he was including the two servants in that label, not just the girl he thought was a lady. "I helped them because it was the right thing to do."
"Of course you did," Arthur said at once, not wanting to insult the man by inadvertently implying that he was looking for some sort of reward or accolade. "Nevertheless, I want you to know you're welcome to stay in Camelot as long as you like, as my personal guest."
Gwaine considered his offer for roughly half a second before shrugging and saying, "Sure, why not? I hear there's a tournament being held soon – should be fun to watch." In fact, it was the prospect of said tournament – and the accompanying festivities, which generally had plenty of good food and alcohol – that had drawn him to Camelot in the first place. Experiencing it as a prince's personal guest should be even better, and when else would he get a chance to do that?
Nevertheless, he was going to leave as soon as the tournament was over; aside from the fact that he never stayed in one place more than a few days, he could only stand the stink of nobility for so long, even if Prince Arthur seemed like he might actually be a decent person underneath it all… But he quickly banished that notion before it could gain any traction in his mind. Kenzi was all right because she wasn't really a lady, but real nobles were all the same, always willing to use and abuse those they saw as beneath them for their own selfish ends. After what he'd lived through, he would be a fool to think otherwise.
###
Gwaine spent the rest of the day testing out his leg, and when he'd determined that it was healed enough to allow him full mobility, even if he wasn't up for riding or walking for hours on end just yet (another good reason to stay in Camelot awhile), he decided to go out for a night of fun and enjoy the best of what the city had to offer to a guest of the crown prince. He invited Kenzi to go with him, because the company of a beautiful, fun-loving woman made everything better, only to find that thanks to Arthur, she had been banned from every drinking establishment in the capital.
"What the hell," she complained loudly after being turned away from the third tavern in a row. "Did he seriously make it so I can't get a freaking drink anywhere in this whole freaking city?!"
"Not to worry, my lady," Gwaine said soothingly. "I know where we can find plenty of good food and drink." During his explorations of the palace, he had noticed that the larders were exceptionally well-stocked, so it was there that he turned in his quest to salvage their evening.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Kenzi asked from the doorway where she stood guard while he raided the pantry. "This stuff's probably meant for the big blowouts that seem to go along with these tournaments. Whatever else you can say about Uther, dude does know how to put on a hell of a shindig."
"Come on, I doubt he and his noble guests will miss a couple of bottles. If they do, it's not like he can't afford to replace them."
Kenzi had to agree that this seemed like perfectly sound logic, and anyway, she wouldn't have had to resort to pilfering if Arthur hadn't gone to such lengths to keep her from having any fun, so she raised no further protest as Gwaine finished grabbing all the food and liquor he could carry.
They took their loot up to her room, which had seemed way too quiet lately without Bo next door (though admittedly, she did not miss the noises that used to drift through the connecting door whenever Merlin and/or Morgana slept over, and had always been grateful that they usually held their all-night marathon sessions in Morgana's chambers instead).
Tonight, however, there was plenty of noise as she and Gwaine worked their way through their stolen refreshments amid much talking and laughter (the latter growing increasingly louder the more they drank, even as the quality of their conversation arguably declined). At some point they got up and danced around the room together – a somewhat awkward experience since dancing meant something very different to each of them, though they just found their lack of coordination hilarious – before falling back into their chairs and reaching for the liquor once more.
"You know," Gwaine began as he attempted to refill their goblets without spilling too much, "when I first saw you in that tavern, I thought you were some stuck-up noble out to satisfy your curiosity about how those beneath you live… I can't believe how wrong I was. I've never met anyone like…" Before he could finish that thought, he abruptly slumped forward over the table, the mostly empty bottle falling out of his slackened grip and rolling away.
"Did you just pass out on me?" Kenzi giggled. "Guess we should've made sure whatever pain meds G-man gave you were all out of your system… I bet some of them probably weren't supposed to be mixed with booze. Oops."
She watched him for a few minutes, vaguely aware that the chemical interactions between alcohol and certain medications could potentially be dangerous, but when she saw no sign of an overdose (of which she'd witnessed one or two in some of the rougher places she'd hung out), she decided he had the right idea with the whole 'going to sleep' thing and staggered to her bed. It's been a good night – first one in a while where I wasn't totally miserable until I got too wasted to care, actually – but I'm all maxed out now. Time to hit the proverbial hay.
Collapsing sideways across her mattress, face down and fully dressed, she was instantly dead to the world.
###
It seemed like only minutes passed before she was awakened by Gwen's voice, raised in dismay. "What in heaven's name happened here?!"
"Gwen?" Kenzi raised her head – not an easy feat when it felt like it weighed a hundred pounds and every tiny movement caused firecrackers of pain to explode inside her skull – and blinked until the maid came into focus. "Has your voice always been this screechy?"
From somewhere across the room, Gwaine moaned, "What's going on?"
"That's what I'd like to know," Gwen snapped. "Where did you get all this mead, ale, and wine?" She took a closer look at the detritus left behind by last night's revelry, and her voice rose another octave. "Hold on… I remember watching the vendors unloading these bottles a couple of days ago. These were meant for the tournament feast! Do you have any idea how much trouble this will cause?"
"Well, we wouldn't have had to take it if Arthur didn't have me blacklisted from every bar in town," Kenzi reasoned.
"Besides, there was still plenty left in the larder," Gwaine said reassuringly.
Gwen, however, refused to be placated. "There may be enough left for the banquets, but you're sorely mistaken if you think Uther won't find out about this somehow…and when he does, you can be certain there'll be serious consequences."
###
Sure enough, Uther summoned his entire court to the throne room right after lunch that very day and angrily demanded to know who had dipped into the food and liquor he'd ordered specially for the celebrations that were to accompany the melee tournament. Most of the courtiers were simply appalled that anyone would have the audacity to do such a thing, while those who knew the truth behind the purloined party supplies tried to hide their nervousness.
Kenzi had forgotten just how scary an angry Uther could be (though this was nothing compared to the fury any hint of magical involvement would have brought on). Gwaine had never seen Uther angry before, but he had a sinking feeling he might soon be joining Kenzi's would-be assailants in the stocks, which was not an appealing prospect in the least.
Gwen had much less reason to be nervous than those two, not having been involved in the theft herself, though she was still worried about them. She'd been worried about Kenzi for some time already, and even though she disapproved of the other girl's irresponsible behavior, she understood that she was only acting out because she was hurting. As for Gwaine, she didn't know what his excuse might be, but she thought that deep down – perhaps very deep down – his heart was in the right place, and didn't want to see him punished too harshly.
Arthur and Lancelot also knew what had happened, the latter having been present when Gwen informed the former earlier, and were likewise concerned for the two perpetrators. Of course, Arthur's concern was mixed with a healthy dose of annoyance that they had gone and done such a thing, especially after he'd invited Gwaine to stay on as his personal guest, which essentially made him responsible for the man's actions. Part of him was tempted to let them suffer the consequences of their own bad judgment…but, while he was fairly certain his father wouldn't deal too harshly with Kenzi, the same couldn't be said for Gwaine.
The same thoughts passed through Kenzi's mind as well, and she knew the right thing to do would be to step up and own her bad behavior, but before she could do so, someone else beat her to it.
"It was me. I did it."
Kenzi's jaw dropped when she realized who had spoken, as did several other people's, but no one looked more shocked than Uther.
"Arthur!" the king exclaimed, leaning forward on his throne in order to peer more closely at his son, as if to make sure his senses weren't deceiving him. "What is the meaning of this?!"
"I was catching up with some old friends I haven't seen in several years who came for the melee," the prince explained (luckily, Uther hadn't wanted to insult his guests by insinuating that any of them could have been responsible for the theft, so none of the foreign competitors were present to contradict his story). "We used to get into a bit of trouble together, as boys will, so when we got together again, I wanted to impress them. It was a foolish whim, one I shouldn't have given in to. I'm sorry, Father."
"As you should be. I am very disappointed in you, Arthur," Uther said sternly. "I thought you had outgrown such immature antics. You will pay to replace what you and your friends took out of your personal allowance, and if you ever do anything like this again, there will be more severe consequences. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sire." Arthur bowed his head as he accepted the reprimand, then quickly left when Uther dismissed him, but he didn't go alone. Gwen, Kenzi, Lancelot, and Gwaine all followed as soon as they could slip out unnoticed, and of course they had plenty to say.
"That was a very kind, noble thing you did," Gwen told him, her dark eyes shining with admiration.
"What'd you do it for, though?" Kenzi demanded while punching him on the shoulder. "I was about to fess up and take the rap myself!"
"Yes, well, I know you've been going through a…difficult time lately…"
"Is that why you made it so I can't get a drink anywhere in the whole damn city?" she retorted, narrowing her eyes at him. "'Cause you know, I wouldn't have had to resort to boosting booze if it wasn't for that."
"It wasn't entirely her fault," Gwaine chipped in, feeling a strange urge to defend her. "She actually tried to tell me it was a bad idea, but I persuaded her to do it. If anyone had to bear the consequences, it should've been me."
"True, but you're a commoner; my father wouldn't have been so lenient with you." Privately, Arthur thought it was worth enduring a scolding from Uther and the loss of some coin to have earned the glowing look Gwen was still giving him, but that didn't mean he was willing to let Gwaine off completely scot-free. "Don't worry, I'll find a way for you to pay me back."
He then walked away before Gwaine could protest. Lancelot hung back, hoping Arthur could get by without his manservant for a few minutes – which seemed like a fairly safe bet since Gwen had followed him, probably intending to express her appreciation of his selflessness with more than verbal compliments. With them gone and Gwaine grumbling to himself, Lancelot turned to Kenzi and asked, "May I have a word?"
"Sure. Have a whole sentence, even."
He took hold of her arm just above the elbow in order to gently guide her into a more secluded alcove, and she forced herself not to react to the contact, because there was no universe in which she was pathetic enough to get all hot and bothered over a guy merely touching her arm, even if she did subsequently find herself sharing a confined space with him that forced the two of them to stand much closer together than they normally did, so close that she could feel his warm breath fanning over her face as she gazed into his mesmerizingly soulful deep brown eyes…
Then he opened his mouth and promptly ruined the mood. "What you said to Arthur – you know he didn't ask the local tavern owners not to serve you just to persecute you, don't you? He's worried about you. We all are."
Whatever effect he had hoped to produce with this statement, it only served to irk her; while it might have been nice to hear that he was concerned about her state of mind, the way that he only admitted to worrying about her as part of some generic 'we' wasn't exactly heartwarming. "Whatever," Kenzi scoffed. "I don't need your worry."
She tried to push past him, but Lancelot blocked her path. "I think you do, because you haven't been yourself lately. Going to questionable establishments, letting a man you barely know talk you into stealing from the king, inviting him into your chambers and carousing all night – it isn't like you to be so reckless and irresponsible."
"How do you know? You've only known me when Bo was around." Before meeting her best succu-buddy, her sister from another mister, 'reckless' and 'irresponsible' were two words that had frequently been used to describe Kenzi, and not inaccurately, she had to admit. "Now that she's gone and we haven't had any monsters of the week to deal with in a while, what's wrong with me having a little fun to take my mind off things? You know what, I'm glad Gwaine's here; at least he gets that and can handle girls blowing off steam without getting a big ol' bug up his butt. And what's it matter to you who I carouse with all night anyway?"
Personally, she thought 'carousing' might be too strong a word to describe her mini-bender with Gwaine; yes, they had drunk a lot and danced together, but she'd been to plenty of parties that were way rowdier, and it wasn't like they'd made out or anything. Her stomach did a little twist as she recalled that there had maybe been just a hint of some very minor feeling-up action during their clumsy attempt at dancing, and he had peered intently into her eyes for a second or two before passing out, but she quickly tamped down the feeling of discomfort.
Nothing had actually happened, nor was she entirely certain if she ever wanted anything to happen, but if she did, so what? Gwaine was cute, he had that bad boy charm while still managing to be a decent person underneath his rougher edges, and best of all, he was available. If she wanted to hook up with him, Lancelot had no right to complain when he'd been hung up on Gwen throughout their fake relationship, which was over now anyway. Bolstered by that thought, this time she successfully slipped past him and walked away without a backward glance.
As he watched her go, Lancelot felt a nearly overwhelming urge to follow her, to tell her that it mattered a great deal to him, but something stopped him. She had made it very clear that she only saw him as a friend, had already done more for him than any friend could reasonably be expected to do when she found a way for him to stay in Camelot without keeping Gwen and Arthur apart, so how could he possibly ask more of her now? He had no right to burden her with his feelings, and if she had developed an interest in Gwaine, even if he thought the antics the other man had induced her to engage in were beneath her, there was nothing he could do about it.
###
Despite his resolve not to interfere in Kenzi's personal affairs, Lancelot still wasn't thrilled when Arthur decided Gwaine could atone for his theft by helping to polish the knights' boots and armor in preparation for the melee; since this task had already been assigned to Lancelot, the two of them ended up working together for the next two days. At first, he tried to bear what now felt like as much of a punishment for him as for Gwaine in stoic silence, but at last, when the drifter's complaints became too much to tolerate, he snapped, "You brought this on yourself, you know. You should not have abused Arthur's hospitality after he invited you into his home."
That shut Gwaine up for a moment, before he said in a much quieter tone that held a hint of perplexity, "I'm still trying to figure out why he did that."
Lancelot couldn't suppress a soft snort at that. "There's nothing to figure out. It was a gesture of gratitude, as he said."
Now it was Gwaine's turn to scoff. "In my experience, royals don't show gratitude to men like us."
"You don't know Arthur. The first time I came to Camelot, I was pursuing my life's dream of becoming a knight-"
"What on earth did you want to be a knight for?" Gwaine interrupted, thinking of how much his father had sacrificed to serve King Caerleon – so much time he could have spent with his family, and ultimately his very life – only for his service to go unrewarded after his death.
"The knights of Camelot are the finest warriors in the five kingdoms; I aspired to join them so that I could protect the innocent, as I was not able to defend my village when it was attacked by raiders," Lancelot answered shortly. "Anyhow, I soon discovered that only nobles are eligible for knighthood-"
"Of course they are," Gwaine butted in again, before muttering bitterly, "Idiot snobs won't let just anyone die for them."
Hiding his annoyance at the continuous interruptions, Lancelot went on, "I was ready to give up then and there, but a friend convinced me to pretend I was the son of a nobleman from Northumbria… No, it wasn't Kenzi," he clarified upon seeing the assumption in Gwaine's face. "She probably would have done it if she'd been here, but this was before she arrived in Camelot. It was Merlin, Gaius' former ward and apprentice. He's left the city now, but I think you would've liked him. Of course, Uther soon found out my seal of nobility was forged and had me thrown in the dungeons, but Arthur got me released. He said I had proven my worth – even made the case to his father that I should be allowed to remain a knight of Camelot."
Gwaine was visibly stunned at hearing this, and for once had no witty or acerbic comments.
"Perhaps he might even have succeeded in talking the king around, but I had realized it would be dishonorable to keep a title I had won through deception. I left, though I still hope that one day I might truly earn the privilege of calling myself a knight…and if that day should come, I have every confidence that when Arthur is king, he will grant it to me."
Gwaine's astonished silence lasted for a blessedly long moment before, refusing to be rendered speechless forever, he finally thought of something to say. "So he's not just trying to impress Kenzi?"
"No," Lancelot replied curtly. "They're friends, but I can assure you Arthur has no interest in her beyond that."
"You do, though, don't you?" Gwaine surmised, correctly guessing the reason for his companion's sudden bout of irritation at the suggestion that there might be anything between Arthur and Kenzi. "You were the one who came looking for her in the tavern that night and rushed to her defense when that man put his hands on her." He paused to gauge Lancelot's reaction and then, when the other man didn't deny having feelings for the silver-eyed beauty in question, went on, "Look, nothing happened the other night-"
Now it was Lancelot's turn to cut him off. "It's none of my business what did or didn't happen. Whatever feelings I may have for Kenzi are not mutual, so she is free to pursue whomever she wishes. My only concern is that she doesn't fall prey to bad influences. Her closest friend fell ill recently and had to leave Camelot in search of a cure, and I think Kenzi feels a bit lost without her. I wouldn't like to see anyone take advantage of that."
"I wouldn't do that!" Gwaine protested. "Maybe raiding Uther's food stores wasn't the best idea, but I thought it would do her good to have some fun. I won't do it again, though; you don't think I want to get stuck doing more chores around here, do you?"
"Good. As long as that's understood, if you want to court Kenzi, I won't stand in your way."
Lancelot held out his hand with a slightly pained smile, and after a second's hesitation, Gwaine shook it. He wasn't entirely sure yet whether his interest in Kenzi was strong enough for him to consider actually courting her, especially since he didn't intend to stay in Camelot too long, or if she would be open to it under those circumstances; all he knew was that she was the most alluringly intriguing person he'd met in a long time, so it was good to know that she was unattached, just in case.
###
Lancelot watched Gwaine and Kenzi carefully after this conversation, and was pleased to see that the vagabond appeared to have taken his warning about being a bad influence to heart, as neither of them got into any further mischief. Though he tried not to admit it to himself, he was even more pleased by the lack of any overt signs of a romantic attachment forming between them; perhaps her banter with him over dinner (which the two of them, along with Lancelot and Gwen, ate in Arthur's chambers, ostensibly because they were either royal guests or the servants of said guests and royalty, though everyone who knew Arthur suspected it was really because the prince wanted their company – probably due to his missing Merlin, despite his frequent and vehement denials) held some flirtatious undertones, but they went their separate ways afterward with no indication that they planned to meet again later.
As Gwen waited for Kenzi to bid Gwaine good night, she shot Lancelot several pointedly impatient looks, her eyes silently asking why he was letting another man get closer to the girl he fancied without even trying to fight for her, but he just shook his head and looked away, though he could still feel Gwen's accusing stare boring into him even as he stubbornly refused to meet it.
Strangely, just before Kenzi swept out the door, their eyes met for the briefest instant, and he almost imagined that he saw a similar look in hers. He couldn't fathom why it should be there – surely she didn't want him to contend with Gwaine for her affections – but as his brow furrowed in confusion, she rolled her eyes and turned away.
He spent the rest of the night lying awake, wondering what could possibly be going on inside Kenzi's inscrutable mind; when the next day dawned, however, something happened that made him forget all about the look he thought she had given him. The last competitors for the melee had just arrived, and while Sir Oswald and Sir Ethan greeted Arthur cordially enough, as soon as the prince turned his back, Lancelot caught them giving Kenzi, who had ventured out to watch the spectacle of the last new arrivals coming in, a look that was definitely not just his imagination, and not at all hard to interpret. The two men's eyes were filled with loathing so intense it almost felt like a physical force, along with a dark sort of glee that sent a shiver down Lancelot's spine.
Beside him, Gwaine lowered his voice to ask, "Why are those two knights glaring at Kenzi like that?"
"I don't know," Lancelot replied in an equally hushed tone, "but I think we'd better keep an eye on them. I have a bad feeling about this."
