Little Girl Lost [Open]

[Romily de Braose]

Camelot was a very large town. Yassia had commented that Romily might become lost while she was there. She had been right.

Romily had spent the morning looking at the stalls in the market – choosing to explore Camelot at an earlier time of day so as she didn’t disturb Yassia and that she could see it when all was calm. When Romily had ventured into the town, the stalls were already being set up for the days trade. Materials, foods and jewellery all being laid out for potential buyers. The people were friendly too, saying good morning and talking to her.

Soon enough the townspeople were out and about, bustling to and fro, trying to avoid any collisions with one another. Romily had never known a place to be so busy! Now she had no idea what direction she was heading in or whether she was actually going the right way.
If Yassia were with her, she’d have led her into the direction she should be going with ease. Romily wasn’t sure whether she could think of Camelot as her potential home yet. Sure she liked the scenery and she wanted to break free from Eldon and Agnes, but when she had no clue of where she should be, she wished she were back in the village just walking wherever she liked.

Romily looked around, trying to figure where to take her feet next. Left, or right? She’d probably end up outside the city walls with her luck. Anyone watching right now would think she was just another lost soul.

In a way, she felt as though she was.



Timeline: After the end of Series 3

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Tristan had been informed several times that walks were good for the soul - so far he had discovered the opposite was true. Walking gave him time to think, and in his current mood he wasn't one for thinking at all. Everywhere he looked the world was full of happy people, throwing their lives away because they had nothing to care about. It made him sick. They were so simple, did they not see the world for what it really was? Did they not see the pain and destruction and evil?

He stopped in his tracks. No. His aim had been to improve his mood, not damage it even further. With a deep exhale of breath he marched on, determined to find something to cheer him up. If all else failed he would find an inn - it never took much to get him drunk so it didn't matter that he hadn't much coin on him. But he'd only wake up in a very undignified manner and receive yet another reprimand from Kay. So maybe drowning his sorrows was not the best way forward.

Luckily - many of the events in his life happened this way - he was quickly distracted by a young woman looking rather confused. He approached her rather cautiously, he wasn't good with people but he couldn't leave her by herself. "Erm...excuse me? Hello, you look...well you look confused. I hope there's nothing wrong?"

[Romily de Braose]

Finally! A friendly…oh great! A Knight of all people! Camelot was huge so why on earth did she attract men of this rank! She’d had enough of them for the time being. Gwaine – having not seen him for the last few days thank goodness – and Frederick had been bad enough, and now here she was being approached by another.

She bit her lip as he stated that she looked confused. Yes, correct – well done sunshine. Romily looked at him and nodded, “you could say that – Camelot is a very confusing place” she mused, “and im lost if it’s any consolation, and seeing as you’re bearing the crest of the knights of Camelot, I hope that you can help me find my way back – im staying at the Rising Sun?”.
Romily, in her view sounded a little haughty – she wasn’t that kind of person but she was still incredibly pissed at Gwaine. Gwaine and his secrets and lies that he’d kept from her and thought that he could get away with it!

If she had a pillow right now she’d be in the mood to punch it in frustration. She didn’t so it wasn’t worth the bother of becoming like that. Not when Gwaine was the one to blame for all of this. She sighed, “Im sorry if I sound snappy, im not exactly having the best of times here so far – I’d appreciate your help if an offer still stands?”

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Tristan was a little taken aback by her reaction. Or maybe he was very taken aback. Unsure quite how to react by her tone he simply stared; maybe she wouldn't notice. He was about to reply when her speech continued.

“Im sorry if I sound snappy, im not exactly having the best of times here so far – I’d appreciate your help if an offer still stands?”

Tristan relaxed, "Yes, yes of course. Right this way." He offered his arm - was that too formal? He wasn't sure. It hovered in the air like a bee trying to find the best flower before eventually deciding that he was supposed to be being chivalrous. "So you are not from Camelot?" He inquired, his mood was quickly improving and he was finding himself much more conversational. It was often the way, left on his own he had far too many problems to dwell on, but this woman was giving him a greatly received distraction. Why, he was improving by the second.

[Romily de Braose]

He was offering her his arm? Now that was new – she looked at him and then back at his arm, a little unsure as to whether she should take it or not. In the end she did, and felt her arm tense a little as she slipped it through his.

She shook her head when he asked if she was from Camelot, “Carmelide originally” she told him, “then I left there and found work in a different Kingdom as a barmaid. Im just visiting a friend of mine here – but so far it’s not exactly…gone to plan” she sounded bitter at the last part. Darn Gwaine. Romily shook the image of his face from her mind and proceeded to walk along.

“So” she started, “Do I have the pleasure of knowing your name? Or are you just going to be known in my mind as ‘that knight who helped me find my way back’?” she asked, “You are a knight aren’t you? Because if you’re not then you’re doing a very good job at acting like one”. Just as they should do – no lies, no deceit. Just pure chivalry.

Romily sighed, “You must think me so haughty for my own good – im sorry you had to stumble upon me in this mood. I really haven’t had the most memorable of times so far” she admitted, “Really, I am far different once you get to know me”. She didn’t want him to think badly of her, but then again she could blame this on Gwaine.

Wait. If he was a knight the surely he would know Gwaine? Oh great. Questions would most likely be asked and she knew that she would end up ranting on about him and his ways. She felt sorry for the man who was now with her, he really had no idea just what he was getting himself into.

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In a matter of minutes Tristan's mood had completely changed, and his happier, funner side was starting to emerge. It was always the way - nothing in the world was good, or pure or could ever be so again...until he discovered what they would be eating for dinner or, in this case, he found someone who didn't know him well enough to roll their eyes and wander off. It was a rather new sensation. He liked it.

He listened to her story intently, having to restrain himself from interrupting, but this was the first actual conversation he was managing to have in weeks and he'd like it to last at least another five minutes.

"My name is Tristan - and yes, I am knight, although I can't say I agree with you." He shrugged. "No matter."

She sighed. Why did she sigh? Was she trying to dampen his mood? This was not to be allowed. Quick - lighten the mood. He smiled, smiling usually worked, well, it worked on Galahad, most things did. "I fear I'll prove to be the same. We'll just have to stop being ourselves."

[Romily de Braose]

Sir Tristan. Well hopefully he’d live up to expectations of being a chivalrous Knight then.

“Pleased to meet you” she nodded, “Im Romily,” she may as well tell him her name. She wasn’t going to have him call her Millie. Gwaine called her Millie more than anyone else. In fact he was the only person to do so now. Eldon hardly ever called her that anymore and chose to go with her normal name. To have Tristan call her Millie too would be rather painful in her opinion, so she kept it at just that.

“You don’t agree with me?” she frowned at this. Why not? She hadn’t come across many knights who seemed to have low opinions of their rank or job – then again she’d avoided most of them for about three years.

She smiled as he did, “You are a curious character Sir Tristan – not in a bad way” she replied. She remembered Lancelot had been just as curious as he – his company (no matter how much he thought of himself as boring) had been nice when he’d stayed at The Ram. Her mind wandered as to where he was now. Hopefully he’d managed to gain his knighthood back in a different Kingdom. She remembered that he’d served there in Camelot before leaving.

“Where to now?” she asked as they turned down a small side street and into the busyness of the town, “places like this with lots of crowds make me a little nervous”. She had her father, depriving her of company during her childhood and when she’d grown, to thank for that.

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When she replied with her name he copied her action of nodding in acknowledgement. He hadn’t spent that much time in social circles – most of his time had been spent on his own, much to his uncle’s disappointment. He stopped his thoughts. His uncle was something he didn’t think about ever. Because it would lead back to her and if that happened he would end up in a horrible, probably drunk, mess. He was trying desperately hard to keep his mood, and thoughts away from all of that. This, he reminded himself, was his fresh new start. Dwelling on his past was not a fresh new start. Of course it always helped when he wasn’t talking to strangers who had no idea of the fragility of the eggshells they were treading on, or even aware they were there.

“No, no I don’t.” He replied in a way he hoped was dismissive enough so she wouldn’t ask him anything else. Kay had, on many occasions, tried to reinforce the idea into him that instead of wallowing in self pity he was to quickly end the subject before he could ‘become too traumatised’, which, to Tristan seemed like an awfully long-winded way of saying ‘get over it, nobody cares’. No one was going to sympathise with him, so it was no wonder he was having to be self-indulgent about it. But that wasn’t going to happen now. He had made his mind up: no matter what Romily said he would remain positive. New start and all that.

He smiled at her comment – see, things were improving already, soon everything would be perfectly happy and the world would be full of joy and rainbows again and he would be annoying every living soul with his horrendously out of tune singing. “Curious is good – I like being curious.”

In a rather helpful way, Tristan wasn’t quite sure what he could say to make her feel any less nervous. He’d been using up so much of his energy and effort making sure he didn’t melt into a pile of melancholia he hadn’t bothered to see if her mood was improving. In short, he wasn’t being chivalrous at all. “Not to worry, we’ll soon have you back.”

[Romily de Braose]

Now this knight was certainly a different breed. “They say curiosity killed the cat” she chuckled lightly, “I suppose I live up to that expression, and I guess you do too”.

They turned down side streets – Romily knew that she would never have found her way back. She was certain she’d get used to Camelot, but right now she needed people like Tristan to point her in the right direction. He was now saying that they would be back soon. Thank goodness. Romily knew now that venturing out into the city at night wouldn’t be a good idea. If she couldn’t find her way around during the day then she wouldn’t be much better of an evening.

“How long have you been a knight of Camelot for?” she asked. Romily knew that conversation would be very little or very awkward should someone not choose a topic to speak of. “I know one – you may know of him”.

Why? Why had she chosen to say that? Gwaine seemed to be the nightmare of her dreams at the moment. Now suddenly he was waggling her way into her conversations as well as her thoughts. Romily knew that deep down she was still very much in love with him. The way he would kiss her, speak to her. Every one of those things, even the littlest would make her either angry or broken. She hoped that Tristan’s spirits would lift her a little more. He seemed nice enough.

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"Curiosity might well have killed the cat, but it will have some trouble killing me. There's a bit of a queue..." He trailed off, once again reminded of what would happen to him should his uncle ever find out about his...feelings was probably the best way to describe it seeing as it never really had been a relationship, but whatever it was, he would certainly be trouble. Not that it would matter much anyway, nothing could be worse than being stuck in Camelot with nothing but the knowledge that wherever she was, she would be with him. He let out a meloncholy sigh and ran a hand through his hair. Self-pity wasn't helpful, but it was just about all that he could manage.

Luckily, before he could have another breakdown in the middle of the street, Romily pulled him from his thoughts. "A few months?" He wasn't sure exactly, a few months sounded right. He could've been knighted yesterday for all he knew, although it felt like forever. Life before was a world away now. "What's his name? I might at least know of him."