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Gwaine was always thrilled to see Merlin, and he would never refuse his company. Then again, he would never let his friend refuse his company either. He was one of his closest friends, and yet, he still could not understand what kept him running after Arthur all day long. In his opinion, Merlin was mental, but then, who was Gwaine to judge? He had been a nomad for the majority of his life, a lifestyle which most would dub as stupid, ridiculous and simply dangerous. Funnily enough, those were all the traits which had appealed to Gwaine when he had set off on his travels all those years ago.

He embraced his friend with a sharp clap on the back and a wide, trademark cocky grin. Gwaine was sure whatever gruelling treatment Arthur put his knights through at training, he put Merlin through far worse in his day to day training. Gwaine could sometimes hear the shouts from his chamber when Arthur was in a particularly bad mood; it was a small wonder that the pair of them didn’t keep most of the castle awake most of the time. Gwaine’s grin only increased when Merlin agreed to join him for the evening, of course, Merlin didn’t know what he had in mind yet, so he was putting himself at great personal risk but Gwaine wasn’t going to mention that just yet.

His grin turned slightly sheepish when Merlin mentioned being quite hungry, though he brushed this off with ease. Rubbing his belly, he nodded with a serious look about his face, “Merlin, if I had anything to eat I would have already eaten it by now.” He explained, and looked up and down the corridor. Even though Gwaine had only literally just finished eating, he still felt hungry. He was never full, that was the long and short of the matter. “Let’s go and grab something from the kitchens. Then, I’ll buy a round at the tavern; Arthur had to let you have the night off once in a while.”

Really, Torrin could be as miserable as he wanted to be, it wasn’t going to change Gwaine’s mood in the slightest. Now he had concocted his little idea, nothing and no one was going to be able to put him off completing the task. Most of his time was spent winding Iwan up, he was fond of his fellow knight, but he was just too easy to wind up and Gwaine enjoyed it far too much. He wouldn’t get away with it with any of the other knights, but he was sure that deep down Iwan did think of him as a dear, and close friend. Which was why he was still breathing. Gwaine almost laughed at the thought, the only reason Iwan hadn’t killed him yet was because the charge of murder probably wouldn’t sit well with him. Plus, Iwan was far too honourable for anything like that.

Gwaine raised an eye brow at Torrin and folded his arms at him. The jester always looked bloody miserable lately, Gwaine looked the man up and down, wondering if he should ask him what was actually wrong, or whether that would be seen as over stepping the mark. Gwaine knew Torrin from around the castle, and from the odd ale in the tavern, but it didn’t feel like he really knew him “Somehow I doubt that.” Gwaine reflected and frowned, “Anything you want to get off your chest?” He asked, a little more casually than he meant to. Gwaine wasn’t very good with considering the feelings of others when he hadn’t had a drink.

Rubbing his hands together, Gwaine took a few dramatic steps up towards the castle, and turned round to grin at Torrin. Really, if he weren’t a knight then Gwaine was convinced that he would be the perfect rival for Torrin in the art of being a jester. His ideas were just too good. However, he had to think of a more dramatic way of describing the prank, because ‘we’re going to mess up his room’ sounded too petty, even for Gwaine. “We’re going to mess with his head a little, you know what he’s like. I was thinking we could start with his room…”

Gwaine granted Isabel a small grin. She might think his words were a lie, but because of the nature of Gwaine’s lifestyle, and that he was a nomad, it meant that he could pick up and leave whenever he wished. So he could be leaving tomorrow morning for all that she knew. However, he had to grant that she was a lot sharper than he had been willing to admit. “Some of us aren’t restricted by the daily grind, I can leave whenever I wish.” He said with a pleasant grin and looked around him. Gwaine couldn’t imagine settling down, not ever. He hadn’t lived under a proper roof or with a structured family around him since he had been a little boy and nothing more. Gwaine never regretted leaving his home to become a nomad, it had been a lifestyle choice that defined him and that he was proud to have. He could come and go as he pleased, and he didn’t have to answer to anyone or worry about the opinions of others. If he wasn’t liked in a town or city he could just up and leave as quickly as he came. Now was no exception.

He really had little idea why he was still continuing this conversation with Isabel and why he hadn’t just upped and left by now. He could be occupying his mind with more deserving, well rounded women. Isabel was nothing in truth. Gwaine had met many noblewomen in many different kingdoms, and she didn’t differ from the worst of them. They all thought they were so unique, but they all had the same underlying quality of pride. It was there in all of them, no matter how small or unique the flare was.

The tavern that Gwaine was being directed to looked simple enough. Any place where he could get a good ale would be a start. Perhaps he could get so drunk that the woman in front of him might start looking attractive inside and out. Heh, now that was a thought and a half, “Anywhere with ale will do.” He grinned and opened the door, stepping back and letting her go in first so that she could step in before him. He was a gentleman after all, if nothing else.

Gwaine was quite enjoying his time away from the jousting ring. He had thought that the wait in-between his jousts would be quite boring; he had been quite naive to even think that really. He was never really at a loss to do, he just needed a push in the right direction sometimes. So far he was quite pleased with how this was turning out, Rowan was after all quite beautiful, what man wouldn’t be pleased to hold her attentions for a while? Gwaine wasn’t going to lead her on of course, she blushed too easily, which told him she was young and inexperienced. Gwaine wasn’t in the habit of hurting women if he could avoid it, and he knew when to stop. That was one of his many talents. Gwaine grinned at her, feeling a lot more in control of this situation than Rowan was. Well, that was to be expected of course. The young girl still had pink cheeks, which amused him. He loved having that effect on women, it was too easy sometimes, but Rowan had such an agreeable nature that he didn’t much care if she was blushing or not.

“It was eye catching enough to lead me here my Lady.” He winked at her, and took her hand again, placing a small kiss upon it, hoping it was not too much. He rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb before realising it slowly, flashing her a little smile. He frowned a little as she told him that one of her brothers had abandoned her, and the other was taking part in the tournament. If this was the sister of one of his fellow knights then they wouldn’t be that happy with him. However, that wasn’t going to put him off, Gwaine liked to think of himself as having gained some morals since becoming a knight, so he wasn’t going to be too risky with his advances, “Would I know either of your brothers?” He asked plainly, looking around the stands.

He looked Rowan up and down, and decided that it was hard to charm a woman whilst fighting to be heard over the roar of the crowd, and whilst trying to avoid the sight of his fellow knights bashing each other black and blue. He didn’t feel threatened that Rowan’s head would be turned by any of the other knights of course. “Would you like to take a walk my Lady?” He asked gently, “Somewhere, a bit quieter maybe?” She could take it however she wanted, but this was only going to progress one way or another.

Gwaine was more than sure that he could charm Caitrin if he was given a real chance, how hard could it be really if Griff had succeeded? He was sure that he had been winding Caitrin round his finger when he had accidently flirted with her that time in the tavern. Gwaine hadn’t really gotten a chance to explore just how far he was able to charm the lady in question on that particular occasion, given Griff had gate-crashed his efforts. He had felt incredibly bad after that incident, given it was generally a rule of thumb for him not to intentionally flirt with his friend’s ladies. He would do so in jest yes, but not seriously. Griff didn’t have to know that though. “You just can’t come up with anything.” He said with a wide grin on his face; there was no reason why Caitrin shouldn’t fall for Gwaine’s charms. Well, the fact she would have a babe in arms might put her off being charmed somewhat, but Gwaine was sure he would be able to work past that. He’d done it in the past, so why not now?

There had never been a point of his and Griff’s friendship when he had ever thought that ‘Griff’ was short for anything. Griflet wasn’t an incredibly attractive name, well, when compared with the shortened version anyway. Gwaine looked at his friend as he voiced his distaste towards the name, and just shrugged. His parents must have liked the name enough to give it to their son, well, not the eldest son it had to be said, but the point still stood. Kind of. “So I take it when you finally get to name a son after yourself, it’ll be Griff, not Griflet?” He teased softly, and nudged his friend in the arm with a soft chuckle. No doubt in a few years his friend would have children running round his legs, driving him absolutely crazy; and Gwaine was sure that one of them would be called Griff.

Alright, Gwaine had been the one to tell Griff to leave his lover, and just move on with his life, but somehow that had led the man back to Camelot, and now everything was fine. Gwaine was sure that his advice had worked in a strange way, but it had worked nonetheless. Noting the look Griff was giving him, he decided against pressing the matters of his genius mind, as really he didn’t want to annoy Griff at the moment, given the man was on edge anyway. He couldn’t imagine what he was going through, as Gwaine hadn’t been given the privilege of this situation yet. Gwaine looked across, and put a sympathetic hand on Griff’s shoulder before pushing himself up to listen at the door. This was too still and too slow for Gwaine. He couldn’t say it was quiet of course; there was quite a lot of screaming coming from the room.

Wincing as he pressed his ear back up against the door; only to be met with a blood curdling scream. Jesu, it was worse than being on a battlefield. It almost made him feel sick. He had never given childbirth much thought until now, seeing as he had never had a reason to, but he couldn’t imagine it being incredibly pleasant for the woman involved. He knew from Griff that Caitrin was quite a strong woman, so if she was screaming like that then it was for a reason. Gwaine was quite aware that his words had just caused Griff to panic; he’d meant them in jest but obviously his friend wasn’t in the mood for jokes. “Don’t panic.” Gwaine said rather quickly, though he knew that it wasn’t going to calm his friend down. In a way, Gwaine was feeling quite excited, he knew that he wouldn’t see the baby tonight, or anytime soon, but he was excited for his friends. “It’ll be fine, understand? In a few minutes you’ll have a baby, and an exhausted missus to look after.” Gwaine wouldn’t want to be the one who had to look after Caitrin after this was all done with. Gwaine went to go to his friend to comfort him, but there was another scream from the room, and he darted back to the door, and heard Meghan shouting something about the baby, then a soft cry followed; a babies cry. Gwaine turned back to his friend with a wide grin on his face, and collapsed beside him, “Griff, I think you’re a father.”

Though Gwaine would never, ever tell Brynn his plans for her geese, he was sure that he would never abandon said plans He never got on with those animals, they had it in for him specifically and he didn’t care what Brynn said in that respect. Since day one those geese had had a vendetta against him, and really if someone wanted to take over Camelot all they needed was a army of geese, because no one would mess with them; they were vicious creatures and they shouldn’t be underestimated. Gwaine had made that mistake once, but now he was a new man; enlightened he could call it. He knew those geese were evil, perhaps they were even deceiving Brynn; Gwaine wasn’t sure, but he knew about the beasts and that was all that mattered. They wouldn’t be aiding any take-over, not on his watch.

Brynn pulled him from his thoughts with her words, she really had a habit of doing that, not that he was complaining of course. Gwaine had taken a shine to her younger brother in a sense, and most of her family really. He came across Meghan enough in the castle kitchens when he was trying to steal food, no doubt eventually she would ruin his knuckles with a wooden spoon, or the like. He wouldn’t blame her for the attempt either. Gyrth had become quite special to Gwaine in a way, he enjoyed their little sessions, and the boy was a delight to teach. Gwaine had always said to Griff, his close friend, that if he had sons then he should just point them in his direction and he would make knights out of them without a second thought. Really, Griff had no choice, he just didn’t know it yet. “Well, as long as its quiet he can always join me up here for an hour or two, most of the time its pretty safe anyway, with him up here it’s not like anyone would dare attack the kingdom anyway.” He grinned at Brynn, she would know he was joking of course, but he just wanted to be certain.

He looked on at Brynn, not really knowing what to say. He could see where she was coming from, with the view that she was boring, but that didn’t mean he agreed with it of course. Sure, she was a little less free with her affections and was a lot more modest than most of the women he encountered, but that wasn’t a bad thing. No, in his opinion it was a very good thing. After all, if everyone was the same then what would be the point in living at all? “You aren’t boring. You’re Brynn, and that’s all there is to it.” He smiled reassuringly, not sure if that was the right thing to say or not. He didn’t want her to listen to anyone else’s gossip, if anything it was quite liberating that Brynn didn’t feel the need to show herself off to every man who smiled her way.

Really, Gwaine was the wrong person to be giving this kind of speech in the first place, and he had no idea why he was even trying. He couldn’t even sort out his own emotions, so what hope would h have of solving someone else’s issues? He bit his lip, trying not to say anything that could upset Brynn, and thinking everything through incredibly carefully. “All ends are beginnings, even if the start isn’t clear at the time.” Gwaine said with wisdom which shocked him; but he spoke from experience. When he had left home it was hardly what he had wanted to do, and he could not class it as a happy time, but it had led him here, and he had honestly never been happier in his entire life. “You aren’t a fool, any man in Camelot would be lucky to have you!” He said confidently, what with the social mobility of Gwen who knows, Brynn could even be dancing amongst the ladies before long if the times really were changing.

Gwaine wondered if this was truly the start of a new age for Camelot. He had heard about the great purge, and how Uther had chased magic from the land, and how he had moulded the kingdom into his own idealised view. Perhaps Arthur was gradually doing the same thing with his rule, though he was sure that his friend would have a rounder view on how to rule than his father had. Gwaine had travelled to many lands, most of which allowed magic, yet none were overrun with anarchy or misery. Magic was respected in other cultures, and though Gwaine now sought to protect the citizens of Camelot against magic, he sometimes wondered how far he actually believed in what he was fighting for, and to what extent he was just following orders blindly. He had seen his friends possessed by magic, others cut down by spirits released by Morgana and much more beside. Even given all that, Gwaine knew that in some kingdoms those with sorcery were respected and only used magic for good. He wasn’t sure though, he had never really thought on it seriously.

At the moment though he didn’t have to think about magic, and his personal views on it though. Gwaine instead was just enjoying relaying his own tales at the moment, rather than thinking about where Camelot would go from here onwards. Right now he was living in the past, and enjoying every moment of it. He hadn’t expected her to have visited the kingdom for diplomatic reasons, she had after all only introduced herself as a lady and nothing more. Perhaps she meant something along the lines of marriage, or as accompanying her father or suchlike. “Did you enjoy your stay?” He asked out of courtesy more than anything. Mercia was a kingdom either loved or loathed in Gwaine’s opinion.

Her question brought a grin to his face and he stretched out a little and ran his spare hand through his hair. “Most of the rest of it is nonsense; a lot of them believe they relate back to the first men of Albion, and hail dynastic lines from there.” He shrugged, Gwaine had never paid much attention to that kind of thing, “And of course they are the best warriors, and they all claim to have a sorcerer in the family.” He chuckled a little, “If you ask me, they spend too much time out in the cold. Affects their heads.” He tapped the side of his head to emphasise it, and chuckled again, “Now my Lady, where would you like to hear of next?”

So far Gwaine had really done little that could be hailed as productive during his day. There hadn’t been any training this morning, so he’d done a little practise on his own with a bow and arrow. He was never going to use the thing in a battle, but it was his weakest area, and needed work. He was tired of being shown up at the archery contests and constantly coming last. Really, he would need to be training at this for years for it to make a real difference. He had used a bow in his youth, but that was another lifetime ago. The session today, in itself, had gone quite well. At least his shots were starting to get more on target. The poor serving boy who had been helping him with the targets was getting a little more confident that he was going to escape Gwaine’s sessions without being shot by accident now. In fairness, Gwaine had only shot him once in the arm, and he had apologised. The boy was still here wasn’t he?

Now Gwaine was bored, which was never a good thing, well for anyone but him. There was little to occupy himself with either, most of the knights he was familiar with were on guard duty or on patrol. As much as he wanted company, he wasn’t going to go and work extra shifts just to find someone to talk to; that was a level of desperation that Gwaine hadn’t sunk to just yet. He was on patrol this evening and he didn’t intend to extend his stay up in the ramparts. Gwaine ran through a quick list of things to do in his head, and ruled out the tavern without hesitation. He’d turned out for an evening watch half cut once before, and it had been the most horrific experience of his life.

He then had an idea, which was brilliant and only half formed. Grinning to himself, Gwaine picked up his pace to the courtyard, and ran his hands through his hair. At training yesterday Sir Iwan had been his regular smug self, and Gwaine had vowed to get him back, well, now was the time to take action. Not in a violent sense of course; there were better ways of pulling one over on Iwan. Gwaine hadn’t really had time for many pranks since arriving in Camelot, but perhaps now was the time to start. As he walked up the steps, he noticed Torrin sitting not far away from him, it was as if the spirits were helping him along. A jester would surely not say no to a prank? “Torrin, aren’t jesters supposed to be merry?” He asked with a grin, crossing over to the man and winking, “I shouldn’t worry, I know just what will cheer you up.”