A Friendly Face In A Familiar Place

[Arthur Pendragon]

Arthur was just leaving his shared chambers with his wife. He had arrived at the castle with Merlin during this late hour not long ago. The warlock had gone to Gaius to quickly explain what was happening, and Arthur in the meantime had wanted to check on his wife. She was sleeping, and looked so peaceful, that he did not wish to awaken her until they had a better understanding of what was happening. He needed to see Gaius first, and maybe they could all determined a plan of how to reveal this news, first to the queen, then to the knights and then ultimately, the kingdom. Whilst in their chamber, he had found his cloak which would prove handy in a moment such as this. He felt both surprised and saddened to find his things still here. He knew he shouldn't feel the former, and it was the latter emotion that had made him sit on the edge of the bed where his wife slept, lean down to kiss her forehead and whisper I love you before exiting their room. The excitement to see her was overwhelming, but rationality kept him from waking her, aware that she would have questions and they needed to have some answers.

Perhaps the three of them together right now could find out the circumstances of Arthur's return. And he desperately prayed that it was permanent. He couldn't bare to leave Guinevère and his family of heart again. Right now, this was his greatest fear -- as was the danger that Camelot filled with at the threat of a two front war. So that also helped in his determination to catch up on all that had happened with two people he greatly trusted. The cloak helped provide some concealment, and he chose the more unused halls in the castle, ones that he knew would not be patrolled by the guards. While the castle physically looked the same, the air felt different about it. And he knew that it was more than the hour being late and the fact that everyone was asleep.Hearing footsteps approaching, Arthur ducked behind a corner in the hallway until the footsteps faded. He kept his eyes on the men and began to walk backwards, not realizing that there was someone behind him.

Not until he bumped right into them. He quickly spun around, not having his sword on him -- for Merlin had taken it so that Arthur would be less noticed as it was a very recognizable sword. Arthur kept his head down to further hide his face from whoever he collided into, knowing that it could make him look more mysterious and a potential threat. So unable to help it, he slightly raised his gaze, keeping his head down but able to see enough to recognize the person. Lady Elenora. She had always been a good friend to both him and Guinevère, and while he knew her well, he was unsure what to do in this moment. Should he speak? Should he just walk off? She couldn't see his face right now, but . . . would she call out for the guards? It would make sense of she did, but Arthur couldn't allow her to do that. So instead, he just gave a slight bow of apology, and stepped to the side to walk past her, though somewhat cautiously as he was still awaiting her response to bumping into a hooded figure in the middle of the night.

_{Setting: Camelot Castle
Time of Day: Middle of the night
Timeline: Four years after The Diamond Of The Day II
What If: Albion's need for their king has come, and Arthur rises from death
Tag: Lady Elenora}

[Lady Elenora]

Four years had passed since King Arthur had passed away, leaving his wife Queen Guinevère to rule the kingdom. And while it was so heart-breaking that Arthur had died so young, Nora was proud of everything that the Queen had achieved since his untimely death. However, not everyone agreed and Camelot was facing tough times, with huge threats of a two front war. It was one of the reasons since King Arthur's death that Nora decided to visit the castle more frequently to be of assistance to the Queen and the kingdom. She believed so much in what Gwen was trying to achieve that she felt it her duty to help in any way she could. Though, she was a noble lady, she hoped that she had some skills or knowledge that could be of use.

It was late night, the anniversary of King Arthur's death today and Nora had trouble sleeping -- she could feel a illness coming on her. There was to be a feast to be held to honor the King's life tonight and of course many people would be in attendance.

Not wanting to be sick when she really wanted to attend the feast, she decided to go and see Gaius. So she made her way towards what she thought was the right hall way to his chambers. But it turned out it was rather the longer way of getting there, due to her headache and fogginess, as well as the lack of light, Nora had trouble seeing where she was going. That was until she head footsteps coming towards and 'thump' they collided into her. She tried to look up at who she bumped into, but they were wearing a cloak with the hood up hiding their face, though there was something that felt familiar when she looked into his face. Or what she could see anyway.

He gave a small bow of apology, before he slowly went to walk off. Yet something was holding him back. "Sorry Sir, I did not mean to walk into you." She tried to get up, before another wave of fogginess hit her and she fell back down again.