They were outside. It was still dark, the sun only just starting to peep over the horizon. The morning was cold, and Fira could see her breath. She could also see Aland's breath, but that was beside the point.

"You're a good boy," she pet him on the nose, feeding him an apple.

Fira had just finished attaching her saddle bags and tacking up Aland. She'd led her horse out by the lead rope into the courtyard where she joined Elyan, Tor, Morholt, Percival, and Galahad. Gwaine and Leon were talking to Arthur as he stood on the steps. Merlin was behind him.

"Ay Gwaine," Elyan called, "Where are your brothers?"

"Calm down," Gaheris called, leading his horse out of the stables, "We're coming. It's not like we're that late."

Gareth shook his head humorously behind his brother.

Leon and Gwaine returned to their horses and the entire company mounted up.

"What you set off to do today is a quest of tremendous danger and importance. I've chosen each of you especially for this job because I believe in you, and I know you can succeed. Camelot is counting on you today and every day that follows," Arthur proclaimed to his friends.

"And Fira," Merlin said telepathically, "I don't need to stress how important this is. There's more to it than mercenaries. Remember the Emerald Lady and the Green Knight. They are behind this, I can feel it. You must stop them."

Fira nodded at Merlin, her eyes betraying the fear, the excitement, the hope, and the pain she felt. Whatever lay in store for her would test her very being. This threat was beyond that of anything she'd yet faced. But she was ready. Merlin had trained her well. He had prepared her for the day when he wasn't there to help her. And Fira embraced the challenge.

Yet in the back of her mind were the mocks and jeers of her fellow servants. The hurtful remarks of her peers affected her more than Fira wanted to admit. There was now a seed of doubt in her mind that hadn't been there in quite some time.

But for now she pushed these thoughts out of her forefront and instead focused on what she needed to do for now. Fira needed to focus on the knights. She had Galahad helping her keep a eye out for magical creatures, but even then one could never be too careful.

By the time Fira got back around to listening to Arthur, the King had finished his speech. Leon wheeled his horse around, followed by Elyan, Tor, and Morholt. The second subgroup was Galahad, Gaheris, and Gareth. Finally came Fira, Percival, and Gwaine, all three of which had been assigned the rear guard.

They rode out the gates at a fast canter, capes flowing in the wind: the red capes of Camelot's knights, the brown capes of Gwaine's brothers, the green capes of the knights of Somerset, and the black cape of the druid girl. Any townspeople who saw them would have been filled with awe, for they were a force to be reckoned with by all accounts.

Sirs Tor and Morholt rode alongside Leon, instructing him on how best to proceed. They knew they needed to head south, of course, but south was a broad direction. Tor and Morholt had to describe the ways that both had approached Camelot and together the three decided that riding via Ealdor was the best course of action.

Elyan dropped back to inform Gaheris, Gareth, and Galahad. Similarly the latter reported the news to the rear guard. All were glad of this because Ealdor would be the last safe haven before wild country. They planned to make for Ealdor and then head due south from there. Within a day's ride they'd exit Cenred's kingdom and enter the Perilous Lands. For they would have to cross through in order to reach the southern kingdoms that Tor and Morholt spoke of.

They rode all day, stopping once and awhile to give their horses a break. Because their company was larger this time, the journey went faster than before. They reached the edge of the woods by mid-day and the other side by late evening.

"We stop here for the night," Leon ordered, dismounting. It was an area of the woods where a small stream ran alongside.

They dismounted and each set up their bedrolls. Leon asked Fira, Gareth, and Galahad to prepare supper, Gaheris and Elyan to gather fire wood, and Percival and Tor to fill the water skins and water the horses.

When dinner was over, the group gathered around the campfire, laughing and talking. They were sharing childhood stories, each taking a turn.

"And so there I was, sitting in the middle of a mud puddle, a frog in my hair," Sir Tor was explaining, struggling to keep from crying tears of laughter.

"Very good! Your turn Fira," Elyan grinned.

"Fira?"

"Where's that girl gone to," Leon groaned.

"I'm here," she called, coming from where the horses stood.

"It’s your turn to tell us a story," Gwaine poked her.

"Ouch," she whined, sitting down, "Well alright. When I was about seven years old, my camp decided to move again. We did that a lot to avoid detection. Anyways, the adults were all packing up. Now, I didn't want to leave because I'd made my own little fort in this area. So I decided to take matters into my own hands. Every time a grownup finished packing a bag, I unpacked it and then ran and hid."

"Of course you would," Percival chuckled.

"Well eventually I was caught and needless to say, no one was very happy with me. I had to carry double the packages during the move."

"You are so strange, you know that, Fira," Elyan laughed, and the others joined in.

"Yeah well," she said, maintaining a false smile for the knights' benefit.

"Like the way you talk to animals," Gwaine added, "It is a bit unnerving at first."

"Yeah."

"Well," Leon interrupted, "we should turn in. I want to reach Ealdor as soon as possible tomorrow."

They nodded and dispersed to their sleeping places. Elyan, Morholt, and Gaheris had first watch. Fira lay down and fell soon asleep. Her dreams were nightmares filled with the taunts of her peers and her knightly friends.

-*-

"I could have sworn I saw something," Gwaine insisted.

It was about eight o'clock in the morning and the knights had already been riding for an hour. They were barely within Cenred's kingdom when Gwaine had called a halt.

"What did you see," Fira asked excitedly.

Gwaine turned to see her urging Aland up to where he sat on Gringolet.

"I thought it was a blue cape. But then again I'm not sure."

"Gwaine, Leon, don’t move from this spot. Tell everyone they are not to attack if they see someone," she insisted.

Fira dismounted before they could protest and disappeared into the trees, the ground sloping down away from them and running into rocky formations.

Suddenly Fira stiffened. She closed her eyes and remained standing where she was, the center of a small flat clearing.

"Fira. You have returned."