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Griff was staring up at Lucan, expecting him to argue or tell him that he didn't know what he was doing. It wouldn't matter if he did though. Griff was determined to have a go so Lucan was just going to have to accept that- which he did...he narrowed his eyes at his brother. Why was he being nice? Lucan wasn't nice. Lucan was...Lucan. Only he wasn't being Lucan right now because he was handing Griff the sword. The younger boy took it before anyone could change their mind about him having a go. It was a lot heavier than he'd been expecting and he almost dropped it but managed to hold it all the same. Right...now what? He hadn't thought this far ahead. He bit his lip and scratched his neck. Well, he wasn't going to ask Lucan, of that he was certain. Griff Aubert didn't need to ask anyone for anything, well, except when he couldn't reach things but that was different.

"Father didn't save me." Griff lied as he started swinging the sword slightly like a pendulum. "I...decided to do this. It's better." He was ignoring the fact that this would contradict his first words to Lucan but that didn't matter. He wanted Lucan to think that he could do what he wanted, not what their father or Thomas told him to do. After all, he was nearly ten. It was time they stopped bossing him around. Lucan was only seventeen and he got to do what he wanted. In fact, as long as Griff could remember Lucan was and as Lucan was eight years older that meant they'd stopped bossing him around then. It wasn't fair. His mother and father should have another son and then he'd be the one being told what to do all the time instead.

"Come on then, show us what you've got"

Griff was still biting his lip. This would be better if Lucan wasn't watching - he was putting him off. A quick glance behind them told him his father and Thomas were watching too. Even when he was allowed a sword they still wouldn't leave him alone. He was going to spend his whole life being watched and told what to do. Well as soon as he was big enough he was going to run away and never come back and do...anything, everything. He'd just go anywhere and it wouldn't matter where because his father wouldn't be there and Lucan wouldn't be there and...well, Thomas could be there if he really had to be but there wouldn't be any lessons. He'd do grown up things like...like go to taverns and talk to girls and actually find out what Thomas had meant when he said Griff didn't "know" Alice. Griff had thought he'd known her for six years, ever since her mother took a position in the household but Thomas was convinced Griff didn't. It was one of those grown up things he wasn't allowed to know about. Well, when he was older and he ran away he would know about it.

Anyway. His life plan wasn't important at the moment because Lucan, Thomas and his father were all still watching him rather expectantly. His lip was released from his teeth and he took a step towards the dummy. Lucan's legs were too long so where he had been standing, and where he'd handed the sword to Griff was too far away for the younger boy. He swung the sword with as much force as he could, but it missed the dummy by miles and he almost ended up falling over, the sword being thrown out of his hand and landed a few feet away from him. He looked at it for a moment before looking back up at Lucan. "Swords are rubbish."

Thomas was too slow for Griff's liking. He was the one that actually wanted to be outside and continue with their lesson, so why was he taking so long getting here? It was rather annoying. He looked back, Thomas was at least...a hundred feet behind. Well Griff couldn't be bothered to wait so he continued until he found the bench nearest to where his brother was. Lucan wouldn't be able to appreciate just how clever Griff was if they were too far away. While he was waiting for Thomas to eventually catch up, he watched Lucan. He didn't look to happy. But then Lucan was always grumpy. In fact, now that Griff thought about it, Lucan wasn't any fun at all. He never laughed or smiled and he never played with Griff. He was a rubbish big brother.

"Are we happy to proceed now?" Thomas asked as he sat on the bench, pulling Griff from his thoughts.

Now that they were actually outside, Griff was decidedly less enthusiastic about continuing his lesson. He'd much rather be climbing trees and then he'd be taller than everyone and wouldn't have to do anything he was told. That's what happened when you were tall - you got to do what you wanted. It was a fact. "Do we have to?" He asked, still desperate to get out of it.

"I thought you wanted to do everything Lucan did?" Griff just frowned and bit his lip. "But you want to be cleverer than him?" Thomas surpressed a smirk. He knew the boy well enough to know that he wanted to cleverer than everyone. He wanted to better than everyone in general. "Shall I take that as a yes?" When his pupil didn't reply he took that as an admittance of defeat. "Right...where we were? Oh yes, you were telling me all the kings of Glouchedon, weren't you?"

Griff began to list them off, albeit rather begrudgingly, arms folded tightly across his chest. He was naming them all correctly though, so he must have been listening to Thomas at some point. Just as we was coming to the end - with increasing speed, Thomas noted - his father, Corneous, approached.

"Griff, why not have a go at sword practice with Lucan? Im sure you can allow him five minutes Thomas?"

Immediatly the boy stopped, eyes lit up but only for a second before he realised the decision lay with Thomas. He looked at his tutor, bottom lip quivering. Of course Thomas wasn't going to say no, Corneous had not actually given the man a choice, but decided that his young son was going to have a go with a sword. "Of course, my lord." He said, inclining his head and looked at Griff. "Go on then. The kings will still be here when you are finished."

Griff didn't hear the last part of Thomas' speech, he was too busy running towards his brother. When he reached Lucan he looked up at him rather triumphantly. "Father says I'm to have a go at sword practice."

Griff was bored. His brilliant plan had turned out to be not so brilliant, and although he was no longer stuck upstairs with Thomas, his tutor, being told why he should know about the "majestic history of their fine kingdom", he was stuck in a cupboard. This was bad thinking on his part. He shuffled over to the door and pressed his ear against it, trying to see if anyone was in the room. Hmm. He couldn't hear anyone...but grown ups were sneaky. Silences could not be trusted - he'd made that particular mistake too many times. He bit his lip. Opening the door was going to be quite the risk, but if he didn't he would just have to stay sat in the cupboard, and that was even more boring than his history lesson. Lucan was so lucky he didn't have to have them. He got to spend all day doing what he wanted, whereas Griff was always stuck with Thomas, usually doing stupid things.

He hadn't heard anything for quite some time now...he might just have to risk it...anything was going to be better than the cupboard. It took him a few pushes to get the door open, and then he scrambled into the room and into freedom! Or rather, into Thomas's leg. Griff just looked up at him, a rather unhappy expression on his face.

"What are you doing?"

The young boy didn't reply, he just remained on the floor, arms crossed against his chest. He'd stayed in that cupboard for...well...forever really and now all that time had been a complete waste.

"Come on, back upstairs with you." Thomas held out his hand, unsurprised when it was refused. He bent down so he was on the same level as the child. This was not the first time he'd lost Griff in the middle of a lesson. In fact, it was becoming quite the tradition. Unfortunately for Griff, he wasn't imaginative enough to find different hiding places, and so whenever he did wander off all Thomas had to do was wait next to the cupboard door.

"But Luc doesn't have to have lessons. It's not fair."

Thomas just smiled, a rather amused smile, "Lucan is older than you. He's already learnt these things."

"He's already done everything."

Thomas cocked his head, he'd come into the household five years ago - Lucan already had a tutor, it was decided Griff should have his own. Consequently, Thomas didn't know the oldest Aubert son all that well, most of his information coming from his young pupil. "Well don't you want to everything too?" He paused before adding, "Don't you want to do everything Lucan's done?" He raised an eyebrow. The quickest way to get the boy to do anything was usually through Lucan. He could see Griff thinking this over - trying to decide whether his desire to get out his lessons was greater than his desire to be better than Lucan at everything.

"Fine." Griff forced out.

"Good, I tell you what...why don't we do it outside? Lucan's out there, and then he'll see how clever you are." This time his hand was accepted but as soon as Griff was on his feet he was half way out of the house. Thomas just rolled his eyes and followed.

Griff bit his lip and turned his head towards Gwaine. He'd really needed to hear those words, especially from someone like Gwaine. He was the one that had convinced him to come back to Camelot, without his...wise...words he wouldn't be sat here now. He'd probably be in some other tavern, drinking and flirting with some woman and generally regretting everything. But now he waiting to hear news that his child had been born. Now he thought about it, everything seemed to be happening so fast.

It seemed like only yesterday when he'd first met Caitrin by the stables and sort-of-stalked her into the woods. He'd loved her from the second he'd met her, he just didn't realise it yet. Naturally she'd loved him from that moment too, but she had been far too stubborn and far too Mercian about the whole thing. And then, after a few...hiccups...they were married and he couldn't imagine being happier. The prospect of a child had of course changed that, but now he was in danger of losing it all and for once it wasn't his fault and there would be nothing he could do. "Thanks, Gwaine." He pressed his lips together, managing a small smile. He wanted Gwaine to know he appreciated his presence. He definitely couldn't do this alone. In all honesty, he could barely do it now - the waiting, the worrying, the not being able to do anything but sit there uselessly. He absolutely hated it.

Griff gave a small laugh at Gwaine's words. He probably would laugh at this - or just pretend he hadn't quite so nervous because that was hardly the manly thing to be doing. He hoped Gwaine was right, he just couldn't lose Caitrin, not again, not after he'd fought so hard to get her back. As for losing the baby...well that didn't bear thinking about either. "You speak rather knowledgeable for somone who doesn't havy any children." Griff said with a small grin, feeling a little better and hoping some banter would keep his worries at bay. "Then again, there seem to be an awful lot of children about who don't look like their fathers..."

He wasn't entirely happy with Gwaine's defeatest attitude when it came to what the child would be called. He'd been expecting Gwaine to be all for a son to be named after Griff. To him, it seemed like the only logical name for a son of his to be given, but apparantly Gwaine didn't agree. Or maybe he just knew what Caitrin was like. "Supportive as usual." He replied, with a slight eye roll. Yes, he was certainly feeling a bit better. The more he focussed on things like this, the less he'd be worrying, so that could only be a good thing. But how Gwaine expected Griff to know how long Caitrin would be in labour for was a mystery. They'd already established he didn't know anything about this sort of thing. "As long as it takes, I suppose..."

Griff was still confused as to why there was some random blonde man in the middle of the room. He was well aware that Caitrin had a reputation to match his own but really? He'd only been gone a few hours, this was perhaps a little premature. If he was slightly more in control of his movements and speech he would have said something, but as it happened he was currently distracted by the thought of being in bed. Ah, bed. Bed was nice. And warm. This was a good plan. Why was he not there already? What kind of operation was Caitrin running?

Such thoughts quickly left his brain when the blonde man spoke, and Griff found himself not liking him even more. It was one thing to be in the middle of his chambers at night with his fiancée, it was quite another to start insulting him. They were his chambers too! Again, if he wasn't quite so drunk he would have done something he'd probably regret. Luckily, he'd gone past the stupidity stage about an hour ago and was now safely in the not-really-understanding-what-was-going-on-but-going-to-carry-on-anyway-with-quite-some-gusto stage. "Now hang on-" the hand was waving about again but he'd quite forgotten what his point was. Before he could remember it Caitrin was speaking so his hand dropped and he just stood there, trying not to fall over.

Wait...Griff narrowed his eyes at Caitrin before slowly turning his head towards the man-Payton...de...Archer...oh. He was already scratching his neck. If he could just be sober right now that would be excellent. It would be really, really excellent. He was trying to think of something, anything he could say to salvage the impression he was making so of course he was drawing a complete blank and just stood there rather uselessly. If Payton didn't kill him now, Caitrin was definitely going to kill him when her father had left. Either way, his demise was inevit-

It took him a second to register what had just happened but already he could feel the anger building inside him, which probably wasn't going to mix well with the alcohol still in his system and before he knew exactly what he was doing it was too late to do anything to stop himself anyway. His fist collided with what he could only hope was Payton's face. Jesu that hurt his hand. He started shaking it but that wasn't actually making a difference. "No one touches my fiancée, you...Mercian!" It wasn't that greatest insult, especially as Caitrin was Mercian too but given the circumstances he thought he was doing quite well...in a round-about sort of way.

Griff wasn't entirely sure why Caitrin's niece was coming to live with them - or stay with them, whatever she was doing. When it came to the affairs of the de Archers Griff just nodded. He saved himself many a headache that way. Having said that, the addition of another de Archer probably meant a lot more headaches were coming his way. He was sure Caitrin had told him something about Aoife, but all he could remember was that she was a teenager and she'd lived in Mercia all her life. Griff could already imagine all the fun they would have together. It was dangerous enough living with one hormonal Mercian woman. What if they joined forces? Already he was convinced this wasn't going to end well. The girl hadn't even arrived yet.

"What do you think?" Griff muttered to Arthur. The pair of them were sat on the floor, Griff with his legs stretched out and Arthur in between them. Of course it hadn't occurred to Griff that Arthur didn't actually know what he was supposed to be giving an opinion on, but the child bit his lip which Griff assumed was an answer of agreement. "I thought so too."

Arthur was just staring at him. Well that was just rude - the fact that he was yet to understand English was entirely besides the point. He looked up at his wife, unlike their son she would actually pay attention to him. Actually, that wasn't true, but he could get annoyed at her whereas he couldn't get annoyed at his son. "I was just saying to Arthur how worried he should be," Griff began, having to twist his neck slightly to see Caitrin. By "telling Arthur" he meant thinking it, but he was fairly certain he and Arthur already shared a psychic bond and the child understood everything he thought completely. Well, not everything, he was far, far too young to understand everything. "Another Mercian in the house, and not just any Mercian, a female one." Griff grinned. He and Arthur were going to be outnumbered - alright, there was Rouland who could be called upon to make up numbers if they got desperate, but he wasn't an Aubert or sociable so he didn't count. If all else failed, they could always make Esmae an honourary boy - she was an Aubert after all.

What a stupid question! Was he okay? He was a lot of things - ecstatic, terrified, nervous; okay was far too much of an understatement. He noticed his brother's frown. How could anyone be frowning? This was not a time for frowning! It seemed Lucan was just being ridiculous today - asking stupid questions and frowning when he should be spending his time hitting Griff in the face and telling him to calm down and to breathe, because breathing was probably only going to help.

He was just standing there, staring at his brother, not quite sure what to say. Well, he knew what he was supposed to be saying, it was the actual saying of it that was the difficult part. Telling Lucan made it all that much more real. He was going to be a father, he and Caitrin were going to be parents, were going to be expected to have a child and be responsible and keep it alive and not mess everything up like their own parents had done. And Lucan was going to be an uncle! That hadn't actually occured to him yet, he'd just been pre-occupied with his own position and completely neglected how this would affect his brother. Uncle Lucan...it had a nice ring to it.

Said brother and soon-to-be-uncle was just looking at him and Griff realised he hadn't actually said anything yet. He scratched his neck again and cleared his throat. Well...the best thing to do was probably to just say it. Subtlety had never been Griff's forte. "Thing is Luc...well, I'm going to be a father!"

Griff was running late, which wasn't actually that surprising. He should have known this and told Lucan to meet him later. Oh well, he was there now. And he was only...slightly late. But no matter, his news would make up for his lateness. Lucan would obviously be thrilled about the news. Well, Griff didn't care what Lucan thought. He was happy about it, so his brother was going to have to be enthusiastic too, whether he was pleased or not.

"Luc!" He greeted him enthusiastically before practically falling into the chair opposite him, his grin made all the wider when he saw Lucan had already got him a drink. "I am very good." He replied, leaning forward and taking a swig from his drink. Now that Lucan mentioned it, it had been a while since he'd last seen him. Griff had been spending the majority of his time at the de Archer estate, and Lucan was busy doing whatever knights of Camelot did all day.

"I've been very busy." Griff began, still grinning because quite frankly it was quite impossible for him to not grin at the moment. Lucan had that look on his face though, that disapproving look. His brother had presumably already decided that whatever the reason for their meeting was, he wasn't going to like it. How little faith he had in him. Well, Lucan was going to be pleasantly surprised. Griff wasn't in trouble, wasn't asking Lucan for anything, he was just telling him some very good news, and hoping his brother shared in his happiness.

It's true that Griff Aubert was a runner, but usually he was high-tailing it away from danger, not towards its aftermath. As soon as news had reached him of Cenred's attack he'd been trying to get to the city but Lucan's uncle would not allow it. It was far too dangerous, Allard had said, especially for someone who didn't know the first thing about self-defence. Well, Griff hadn't cared for self-defence, he did care for Caitrin's safety though. He knew her well enough to know that it would take more than an army to get her to leave. She was was stubborn as they came. Stubborn and a bloody idiot, that was Caitrin. If anything had happened to her he-no. He wasn't going to think about that. Caitrin might be an idiot but she could look after herself. And Rouland was definitely not an idiot and would look after her too. Caitrin would be fine, anything else just wasn't an option.

He'd arrived in the city as soon as he could, which wasn't actually that soon. Camelot was no longer in any immediate danger, it was waiting for its people to pick up the pieces and try and return to their ordinary lives. At the moment it was in a sorry state, not that Griff really noticed. He was far too occupied. He'd been told that the injured had been taken to the Hall in the castle as there were so many. He'd also been told a young girl fitting with red hair had been taken there, but the man who told him didn't know Caitrin so couldn't give him any more useful information.

The Hall was packed with people - those that were injured, those that were trying to help them and those like Griff, desperately trying to find loved ones and holding out hope, unwilling to fear the worst. He hadn't seen her yet, but he didn't know whether that was good or not. He ran a hand over his face. He really needed to find Caitrin, right now, that would be nice. He needed to find her completely unharm and laughing at how ridiculous he was being. She'd make some comment about how she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself and he'd nod and just be grateful that nothing had happened. There. That was what was going to happen, he would convince himself. But every second that passed, every step he took, every face he saw that wasn't her just told him how wrong he was. Caitrin could be injured or dead, and all the while he'd been hiding at Allard's, waiting for the danger to pass until it was safe. He was a runner, after all.

He was leaning against part of the wall, scratching his neck and trying to convince himself that everything would be alright when he saw a man walk past who looked like he might know what he was going. "Excuse me, sorry, hello, I-I'm trying to find someone. Caitrin de Archer, Lady Caitrin de Archer. Please, do you know her? Have you seen her anywhere? She's got red hair and-"

"I'm sorry, but I'm needed. There are people who need immediate assistance and I can't stop to help you look for Lady Caitrin." The man replied, rather sympathetically but left Griff all the same.

"Wait- you can't just-leave...I need to find her!" Griff tried to get the man's attention but he'd managed to disappear. Griff let out a frustrated sigh, banging his fist against the wall before falling back onto it and scratching his neck again. Where the hell was she?

Tagged: Arthur Pendragon
Timeline: Series 3, during The Tears of Uther Pendragon
Notes: If memory serves, those that were injured were taken to the Hall. If I'm wrong I'll pm admin and ask if they can move it.