Positive Thinking...

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When Tristan awoke the next morning he felt absolutely terrible. His head hurt like hell and he was still freezing. Overall, it was not a pleasant experience. Turning his head, very slowly, he saw that Idris had gone – presumably to start the day’s work. He should probably think about getting up, but it was far too early for that sort of thing, and he really, really didn’t feel up to it. It was not, by any stretch of the imagination, knightly behaviour but he was finding himself becoming less and less so in general. Ever since his uncle’s wedding he had failed to see the point in much. No amount of slaying monsters or rescuing damsels would prevent him from feeling like a complete and utter failure. No amount of feasting or tournaments would make him any happier. So what, exactly, was the point in trying to be the “perfect knight” full of chivalry and charm and all those other things he was supposed to be if it meant he was just constantly reminded of the fact that no matter what he did, or where he was, he was, and always would be, alone.

If his brother were there he would hit him, pull him out of bed, march him outside and tell him, in a much wordier manner, to sort his life out. But then Kay had never been the most sensitive of people, and was far too busy getting frustrated about everything to care that Tristan’s life was crumbling and no amount of “positive thinking” was going to make it any better. There was only one thing that was going to make it better, and as that was impossible Tristan had no choice but to turn to alcohol and pretending he didn’t care, something he was horribly bad at.

Truth be told, he’d never really wanted to be a knight. It was forced upon him by his father’s expectations and his own inability to want anything else. But he’d worked hard for it, most of his life, if only to live up to his father’s approval. Now, however, nothing in the world mattered; certainly not his position, and certainly not his life.

[Idris]

Idris had been up before the sun had even risen. She’d had some jobs to do, and she knew the earlier she completed them then the more of the day she would have as her own. She’d finished helping fetch the breakfast for the Royals and had helped to clean the kitchens; all by mid-morning. She grinned at her own achievement and walked back to the servants quarters with a spring in her step, she had no serving duties now until she helped serve dinner.

She figured Tristan would have already fled, hoping never to see her again. If she were a knight then she would have been incredibly embarrassed at being aided by a serving girl. But that was Idris, who knew what was going through Tristan’s head.
She opened the serving quarters, wiping her hands on the rag cloth held at her belt she physically jumped as she looked up at the figure sat near her bed.

“Oh, Sir Tristan? I thought you would have gone by now?” She wasn’t overly bothered he was still there, now she was wondering what the other servants were going to think of her. She had been intrigued by him last night, and now he was sobering up maybe she’d get a little insight into the life of Sir Tristan. Plus, didn’t he have serving duties to do? She knew that the knights completed sword and archery practice in the mornings, or went out hunting.

There were, unusually, no other servants awake in the chambers. There were two asleep by the fire but that was it. Taking care not to wake them she walked over towards where Tristan was sat down, and sat opposite him on the bed,

“Hows the head?”

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Tristan, sat on the edge of the bed, looked up on hearing the familiar voice. “I don’t have any training today, thankfully.” He rubbed his hand over his face and through his hair, messing it up at the back, an action which had become an almost morning ritual.

He shrugged in answer to her question. It still hurt. A lot. But he was trying to redeem his knightly credentials by pretending that he was fine. “Not as bad as it was, thank you.”

No doubt Idris had already spent the morning working and what had he done? Slept and felt sorry for himself. Well done Tristan, he thought before another and rather unexpected thought appeared in his head. He stood up, far too quickly, and decided that he wasn’t going to move at that speed for a while. “I owe you for looking after me. So. To prove that I’m not a complete disaster I’m going to be your servant until I’ve repaid you.” He grinned, pleased with himself and having found something to keep him occupied.

[Idris]

Idris nodded as he said his head wasn’t hurting as much as he expected. Well he had gone to bed relatively early which always helped. She was sure his head and his reputation would have been much worse if he had ended up in the castle dungeons for breaching the curfew and being drunken in the castle. She settled herself sitting on the bed opposite him, studying him. He wasn’t a bad looking knight, but none of them seemed to be bad looking. However, he wasn’t clean shaven and whatever was eating him up inside showed in his physical appearance. He looked a bit raggedy, even from a servants perspective. But maybe that was a result of the previous night?

She watched him stand up and as he spoke she raised her eye brows higher than she ever had before. She half giggled and caught it in her hand,

“My servant?” She repeated and stood up to his level, cocking her hips to one side and folding her arms, “You sure you could hack it?” She put her head to the side and just raised one eye brow, pursing her lips and giving him a small smile.

Then, giving up the pretence she put her arms to the side and gave him a little giggle, “Are you being serious? What would I need a servant for?” She asked, folding her arms casually across her chest. She didn’t really need any help in completing her jobs for the day because she’d already finished before her evening duties. She had been thinking she could go into the centre of Camelot for a few hours and see what the city had to offer, “Well, if you are serious, maybe you could show me around the markets in Camelot? I’m free for the rest of the day you see.”

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Tristan was slightly taken aback by her reaction. He was being gallant! He was sacrificing his own needs and comforts to repay a debt and she was laughing at him. And making him feel quite uncomfortable. He wasn’t used to women being so cocky and wasn’t quite sure how to react to it. He cleared his throat. “I’m a knight of Camelot.” He replied, trying to appear casual and nonchalant. “I can “hack” anything.”

She was still laughing at him, irritatingly so. She clearly wasn’t aware of how hard he was trying here. “Yes, I’m being serious. I want to thank you, and I-” He was picking at the skin on his fingers with his nails, something he often did when he was nervous. In this case, he couldn’t quite explain himself and was trying desperately to do so without offending her, making an idiot of himself, or both. “I was thinking about how hard you must work and well, I felt bad. I’m not doing anything. So. Here I am. Doing something.” That wasn’t particularly articulate, but it was the best he could manage at the moment. It was far too early.

Tristan found himself nodding enthusiastically at her suggestion. This wasn’t exactly part of the plan, but showing the young woman around was probably going to be more fun than polishing armour or whatever it was she did all day. This was actually something he could do. “It would be a pleasure, milday.”

[Idris]

Idris had to stop laughing, she knew he was trying to be kind and considerate towards her, but this probably would never ever happen to her ever again. She loved the fact he sounded incredibly confident as he said that he could hack anything because he was a knight of Camelot, and that it ebbed away as she had asked him if he was actually serious. Tristan obviously wasn’t very used to women at all.

She stifled her giggles and smiled apologetically at him, “I’m sorry, but it’s not something I hear everyday, or indeed have ever heard.” Now Idris felt bad as he was saying that he felt bad about how hard she had to work. She shuffled her feet slightly uncomfortably and bit her lip, “You shouldn’t feel bad because I’m a servant.” She said briefly, “I chose this position.” It was half true, she could have probably sought employment somewhere else, but she had been in desperate need of work.

She smiled as he said he would take her around the town, “Excellent,” She enthused and went to grabbed her blue cloak. It was a bit worn as it was her only cloak really. She tied it enthusiastically before edging back towards Tristan, raising an eye brow and tossing her hair back slightly, “So, Sir Tristan, will you accompany me on this fair afternoon?”

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Now this was more like it! They were getting along, like normal people, and he was coping rather well with the situation. He was rather looking forward to spending the day with Idris. It was something to take his mind off life in general, which was always a good thing. And now he was bordering on irritating her again... "I didn't mean because you're a servant-I meant, I'm not sure what I meant. Let's forget that." A good, strong, intelligent reply, good one Tris. Still, at least he was forming proper sentences now. This was an improvement. He was starting to feel more at ease now, which was probably showing.

He watched her, rather awkwardly, as she put on her cloak before realising that he was still in bare feet and quickly pulled his boots on. A little too quickly. Still tired and slightly hungover, he managed to lose his balance and fall back onto the bed. Slightly embarrassing, well, more than slightly. At least he couldn't make any worse of an impression, she had had to drag him through a corridor last night.

Having managed to successfully pull on his boots he ran a quick hand through his hair. He needed a shave and a wash and a change of clothes and maybe a bath. He really could do with a bath actually...

He cleared his throat again. He was getting off track and Idris was waiting for him, it was terribly impolite. Being unhygienic was just something he was going to have to cope with for the forseeable future. So he straightened his clothing, trying to hide the fact that it was rather creased, and with a smile he offered her his arm. "That I will, milady."

[Idris]

Idris was well aware Tristan was still half hung over, and that would probably make the morning more interesting. If he was just being polite then he wouldn’t be able to keep his mood sweet throughout their walk. It wasn’t that Idris didn’t trust him, she just wasn’t used to people being this nice in Camelot; but of course she wasn’t complaining. Idris smiled and nodded as Tristan said he was ready to accompany her. She was glad to get out of the stuffy castle and enjoy some sunshine, maybe she’d even catch sight of the other knights training. Idris had never been a sucker for a knight in armour, but nevertheless it was an understatement to say any of the knights were bad looking. Well, excepting a hung over knight who probably looked better after a bath and a shave. He was sweet though.

She felt her dress and held up her hand to stop Tristan as he looked raring to go,

“One moment, I just need my coin purse.” Now she was half glad she hadn’t made it to the inn last night, it meant there was more money to spend on things down at the markets. She tucked it in one of the pockets of her dress then prompted Tristan with, “So, are you ready to go Sir?” She still had to remember her station, which knights seemed to make it difficult to do in Camelot; they could speak down to you but you had to speak up to them. It was all incredibly confusing.

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As he watched her getting ready to leave he wondered, briefly, what on earth he was doing taking a servant into the town when he could be recovering from last night. He stifled back a yawn – probably making a terribly attractive face in the process – and stretched his arms and fingers, feeling a click in his elbow. Last night had not been the most comfortable, and while he was not the tallest man in the world he did prefer sleeping in a bed where all his limbs could fit under the quilt, if could be described as such.

He realised he was still staring at Idris, and so looked away rather awkwardly and was now staring rather forcefully at the floor. Well. This was going well. As if his performance last night hadn’t been embarrassing enough he was now having a staring competition with a floor. On the plus side, this was no worse than almost bursting into tears in a corridor, in fact, it was probably an improvement. He was doing well!

She was finally ready to go and now looking at him expectedly. He’d been ready for at least five minutes. Anyway, that wasn’t important. The important thing was that he was managing to repay a debt and enjoy himself in the process. He was determined that today was going to be an enjoyable one and wouldn’t end, as most seemed to, in the nearest inn drowning his sorrows in an annoyingly predictable manner, and so, with a smile he nodded and escorted her out of the room.