Strength and Honor

[Arthur Pendragon]

Arthur: King of Camelot. He had not quite yet fully adjusted to the title, as it was certainly something new and unexpected. While he had not expected to be king this way, he was not dwelling in the surprise of this position; not like last time when he was forced to take the role of acting king. This time, it would be something a bit more long term . . . perhaps even permanent? Either way it was necessary for the kingdom needed proper leadership and his father was in no condition to give this. Camelot was repairing itself from the damages of Morgana's tyrannical reign, and this was in terms of both physical reparations and emotional healing, as many had died under her very temporary rule. Within one week, she had killed so many and spread so much fear. Arthur could not believe that it was the same woman that he once knew who always seemed to have had the people's interests at heart.

But there was a time to dwell on this betrayal, and now was not it. He was returning from their storage rooms, making sure there was suitable grain and such for the people. Who knew what sort of damage Morgana had done to the castle itself. He remembered that one of the first things he had when they regained control was remove her seals and put the Pendragon crest back on the walls. But that was just for symbolic purposes. Luckily, she did not seem to have touched their food supply, or at least not squandered it to make the people further suffer. It was a small blessing, but at least it showed they had resources left after the war. That among all the ways the people had suffered, starvation was not one of them.

As he made his way through the halls, dressed in his royal attire -- which was not becoming an every day garb -- he caught sight of someone. He would have recognized this man from any distance for he was literally so very impossible to ignore. Not because he was boisterous and loud; but because of his size. He was huge! And Arthur remembered thinking exactly that when he first met him. His cape had been shorter than it was on other men -- except for maybe Leon -- and the custom made chain mail for him cut off at the sleeves for his own preference. It gave him a unique look; each of the new knights possessed a certain, originality among them. "Sir Percival?" Arthur both called and questioned. It was strange for him to be in this area of the castle and there was really no need for a knight to be wandering around. Which led him to the conclusion that the man was quite possibly lost.


_{Setting: In the Castle of Camelot
Time of Day: Mid Day
Timeline: After The Coming of Arthur II
Tag: Sir Percival}

[thecheater]

Right right left left right left right? Or was it right right left left right right left left? Or maybe that was a first left and then two rights? Percival stopped walking before he got more lost. He looked around but the only thing he could see was stone walls that just so happened to look all the same! The hall ways were wide but he became to feel trapped! If he could find a window he would just climb out and re-enter the castle and try to find that left again. Or the right again.

He was standing there was the was the King walk by, and pause to look his way. Percival just stood there watching him, hoping that he would not guess the non-est knight-knight was not lost----again. He called his name and Percival grinned feeling sheepish, "Sire. I was just--" He looked around for a moment before giving up, "--coming to find you." Percival jogged over to him and came to land near him. "Can I walk you out?"

[Arthur Pendragon]

Arthur watched him as he approached, and then offered to walk him out. The king had to hold back an amused smile and instead replaced it with a friendly one. There was no need to ridicule the man for what Arthur knew was true. He did not blame him. The castle did get a bit of getting used to in terms of knowing exactly where one was going. He had grown up here, it was his home so he knew every inch of the place . . . which is what gave them the upper hand when storming in to save the king. "I'd be honored," he told him, not going to reject his company when the poor man didn't know where he was going. And of course, it was always nice to catch up with him. He was the one who Arthur knew the least well even though he trusted him completely.

"How are you settling in?" He asked as they began to walk. It had not been too long since the recent additions to the army -- Arthur's brothers -- had settled into the castle, into their own chambers. As they had no land for they were no nobles, he had made sure they had suitable living accommodations in the castle. Most were used to far less he could imagine, but it was part of the benefits of . . . well, of being knights of Camelot. "I hope everything is to your liking," he added, just wanting to make sure as it was of course the king's responsibility to make sure his men were looked after. Especially the group that Percival was associated with. They tended to be a bit more segregated from the others for he knew it was an odd sort of adjustment for both parties to make. He knew that eventually, the tensions would subside.

[thecheater]

The KING was honored to walk with him! Percival fell into place a few steps behind him both in a form of respect and because while the hall ways were large enough for people to walk in twos or threes, Percival was large enough that it would be more comfortable for him to be just behind Arthur, rather then beside him. "I am still learning the castle." He admitted sheepishly, "From the inside it's hard to tell where your going."

To his liking!? He was a knight in the greatest army there ever had been and the KING him self seemed to take an personal interest in his training! Yeeaaahhhh! Everything was to his liking. "My room is the size of the whole house I grew up in." He said sounding a bit excited for everything that was happening. "I did not expected all this when I joined Lancelot to come here." He had assumed they would spend years fighting for the kingdom back, not win it back in a single hour. When Arthur had knighted him he had taken it so seriously, and vowed to him self to be as noble as Leon and as strong as Arthur seemed to be when doing his knightly jobs.

[Arthur Pendragon]

Arthur was not surprised to hear Percival was still learning his way around. As he previously recognized and completely understood, it took a bit of getting used to and could indeed be overwhelming at times. "It takes some adjustment and getting used to," he told him encouragingly, not doubting that he would find his way around it soon enough. "Where were you heading before crossing paths with me?" Arthur asked. He made sure it did not sound like he was accusing Percival of getting lost -- even though he was fairly certain he had -- but rather, he just asked out of sheer curiosity. He was wondering where Percival had intended to go so that he could point him in the right direction for the next time, or even now if he needed to stop somewhere along the way. He doubted the knight would want to end up in the food storage areas. Arthur gave a bit of a smile when she spoke of comparison in terms of size between his house and the room he was now residing in.

"I did not expected all this when I joined Lancelot to come here." That was something else that Arthur was not surprised to hear, but did not want Percival to feel like that he did not deserve it. He remembered first meeting the knight, and how shy he had been, because he was meeting a prince. At the time, he was not a prince though; he was Arthur. He was an equal among them, as he always believed he would be. If he thought otherwise, he would not have knighted them. "You earned it," Arthur told him with a strong confidence in his words, his belief and decision on this, unwavering. "Things did not turn out as any of us would have expected them to," Arthur added, his mind already formulating a list of things that this pertained to. "But out of curiosity, what did you have in mind when joining with Lancelot and coming to our aid?" Yet another thing that Arthur was wondering about, just out of interest.

[thecheater]

"The the training yard, sire, to look for the others." He admitted, as he had been coming from his rooms and heading out there in hopes of finding Lancelot or Gwaine, or even Elyan. Some of the others didn't seem to approve of them all being out there and he didn't want to fight against them until they were more used to him. Besides, he wasn't a skilled swordsman, like they were. He'd not trained since birth. However if he got a hit or two in, the battle was over. He knew to aim hard, and where to aim.

How had he saw things? "I did not expect to be a knight." He admitted, still finding that part beyond surprising. "I thought we would fight for years, before anything started to turn in our favor." Not fight an hour and be named victors. "I guess I thought we'd be more bodyguards then knights." He joked with a smile and laugh. He's thought the prince (who is now KING) would travel from kingdom to kingdom seeking aim and he's be there to make sure this Morgana and her stolen men from Cenred did not get to him before he could do his job.

[Arthur Pendragon]

The training yard? He was quite some distance away from the armory. "Come then. I will show you how to get there from here." It had gone from Percival escorting him, to now Arthur showing him how to get around the enormous castle. Which really, had been his intention all along but now, there would be no need for embarrassment. Arthur then listened to him explain how he had thought they'd be fighting for years, rather than hours. That was still more optimistic that what Arthur had thought, for he believed that they wouldn't have even lasted . . . that there was a low chance of survival. Which was precisely why he had asked them who was willing to join him in this endevaor of extreme danger. The last time he had done that was when he went off to face the dragon in the field; twelve men had stepped up and Arthur lost every single one except for Sir Leon. He feared that it would happen again this time, and could not even begin to express his relief when that had not been the case. The most that had happened was a minor injury to Elyan and a minor injury to Lancelot.

"A fair assumption," Arthur told him. Fighting for years . . . and they had achieved it in one night. It was remarkable really. He then smiled when Percival spoke of how he expected to be bodyguards if nothing else. "I suppose you still are to some extent," Arthur said jokingly. He would often get the men -- especially Percival -- to escort Guinevère if she needed to go somewhere. Percival looked like the most intimidating, so he tended to be the one Arthur sent off with Guinevère the most, though he trusted them all the same. "Only you're bodyguards with capes," he further joked, hoping to lighten the mood a bit so that they did not have to talk about what could have been; what could have happened if things had not worked out so perfectly well. "And who also just happen to have a title thrown into your names," he added, kiddingly making the title of Sir sound more trivial than it actually was. All in good humor of course.