For the Grail: chapter 2, round 2

[Twillie]

Who or what do you fight for?

Ser Percy offered his loyalties to King Arthur of course, being a knight of his court, a high honor. With the work he had put in to reach such a position, it would be foolish for let his loyalties stray elsewhere.

On a deeper level, perhaps it could be said that Ser Percy fought for his own honor, his dignity, to prove he was more than his humble origins. Or rather, perhaps he fought for his family's honor. That would be a more noble way to look at it. Regardless of perspective, though, Ser Percy made sure not to wear this on his sleeve, for fear of appearing desperate to any other knights. He was not here to try and prove himself, he was here to do the job he already knew he was capable of.

Seeing his fellow Arthurian knights, though, Ser Percy couldn't help but wonder if he truly had to worry about sticking out. Several had homes and occupations from beyond England, one not even human, and.... there was a horse seemingly trying to communicate with the knights? Ser Percy had to remind himself that he trusted Arthur, even if his methods were beginning to look rather odd. He gave his loyalty to Arthur for good reason. He hoped so, at least.

[June Scarlet]

Thomas noticed King Arthur's own steed, Lady Gwyne, had gotten loose. Again. Setting down the shield he was polishing, Thomas got up and approached the horse. "Come on, girl," he said, offering an apple. "Let's get you back where you belong."

Thomas sometimes wondered if the horse, who seemed to almost be trying to communicate with the knights, was somehow a gift from the Lady of the Lake. Her gifts always came with strings attached, and a strong-willed horse would qualify, at least in his mind. Or maybe that was just her personality.

RielCZ Coaster

[June Scarlet]

Thomas' problem was that no one took him seriously. He was just a squire, a nobody. Sure, his mother loved him, but how far would that get him in life? No, he was ready to become a fearsome knight, someone who demanded respect, and got it too.

Thomas was loved already. He was ready to be feared for once in his life.

***

Would you rather be loved or feared?

[Kyn]

Who helped you at your lowest?

SPOILER: Click to show

Young Kay slept only fitfully after his mother's disappearance. One night, after he had jolted awake from yet another nightmare, little Arthur padded into his room and quietly asked to sleep together. The reason: "I'm afeard of the bogeyman. Can you protect me, big brother?"

How could he have said "no" to that?

Yet, when his brother held tightly onto him, it felt less like the vice of a fretful child and more like an anchor reminding him that he was not alone.

It helped, even if just a little.

Liou

[Liou]

Do you consider yourself a good person?

Ser Reel still recoiled every time they emerged from the suit of armour, crawling out of its humanoid form like a carcass they might have consumed. It was only fitting, what with the way they were deceiving their fellow knights, using them and this expedition for their own devices, woven into the group just like the silken harness they strapped themself into to control the armour. As the inches-tall knight crept around camp in search of scraps of food, they could only keep swearing to repay the others by finding some way, any way to be of use to them later. Always later. Always a burden. Next time, they would be good enough. They had to be good enough.

[Thorn]

4. The Knights are Unwillingly Separated

SPOILER: Click to show

It happened so fast. A challenge was issued somewhere far away, sounding to Cael like the trill of a distant flute. One moment he was riding alongside his fellow knights, the next he and a few others were on the shore of Fairy Island.

He was positive it was Fairy Island, because standing before them were a significant number of non-glamoured fairies.

"You have been challenged for the throne," declared his daughter Cerys.

"Why?"

She rolled her eyes. "You abandoned your people to chase some fool human errand."

Well. He supposed that did make sense.

[RielCZ]

Lady Gwyne whinnied appreciatively at the young lad who offered her the apple. How thoughtful! There was a knight amongst the King's cohort who knew what respect looked like. What was his name? Thomas? She'd have to remember that one.

(June Scarlet)

***

The steed looked on in confusion. One moment, she was galloping through the grass, King Arthur on her back, as all should be.

And then, in a flash, she was... no longer doing that. The weight on her back had been lifted -- where was King Arthur!? She brayed and looked wildly around. She picked out a few knights she recognized, and also some... odd, strangely familiar creatures.

"You have been challenged for the throne."

"You there!" she neighed, calling out to the... fairy? "Where am I? What have you done with my King?" She rapped her hooves against the ground, then paused and added with a fabulous air, "And are there any apples here?"

(Thorn)

[Kyn]

Kay quickly picked up that he had been spirited away to the Otherworld. The realization struck him like the blow of a hammer.

"Could it be... Annwn...?" There was a tremor in the tall knight's voice. His body swayed precariously in the saddle, but he managed to keep himself from falling off his horse.

Noticing that Arthur's own horse was now riderless, he rode up beside her and stroked her mane reassuringly. "Whoa, girl, Arthur will be fine." Well, apart from a sore bum and bruises from falling at the sudden loss of his mount, but Kay knew Arthur would survive that. Right now, their current party had more pressing concerns to attend to.

Kay turned to address the assembled fairies, hoping that the tight mix of anxiety and hope in his tone was not discernible. "I hail the Fair Folk and implore your grace in dispelling mine doubt: Come we to the blessed realm of Annwn?" Then, the implications of the lead fairy's exchange with Cael finally clicked in his brain, and he whipped around to stare at the fae monarch with dawning horror. "You can't be King Arawn?!"

The lead fairy cast a strange look in Kay's direction, but replied, "That he is not. You stand upon the shore of Fairy Island, the dominion of Queen Caelia." She glanced meaningfully at Cael. "For now."

At the fairy's clarification, a whirlpool of emotions swirled across Kay's features — relief, disappointment, yearning, grief. It all cleared away in an instant, replaced by Kay's usual proud and self-assured demeanour. He thanked Cerys for her answer before seemingly engrossing himself with soothing Gwyne.

RielCZ Thorn

[June Scarlet]

One moment Thomas was with the knights, the next, he was with about half the knights. He hadn't moved, yet some had mysteriously disappeared. He looked around, trying to gauge who was left.

"Sers?" he called out.

A wicked, terrible thought crossed his mind. What if his own knight had disappeared? Would he then take over his duties? Was this his chance? He dismissed the thought as quickly as it came. That was not how knighthood worked, and besides, that was not the kind of luck he had.

[Lizica]

Across the grassy field, the knights who remained heard a sound. A bubbly, chortling sound--like a babbling brook or even laughter, maybe...which then steadily, surely grew into a voice:

"Well then," it said. "Well then, well then, well then, well then!"

At first the voice seemed to come from the knights' left; then their right; then above; then below; the sound's origins flipped and flopped and danced about them. It seemed almost to come from the very air itself--and then they noticed a strange shape ahead. In the side of the verdant hill was a tremendous field of clover, and as the clover undulated in the breeze, swaths of leaves caught the sunlight, while others angled and cast shadows upon the ground.

And somehow, this interplay of light and shade in the waving clovers gave the illusion of a moving humanoid figure with a cap and bells upon their head.

"Well then!" came the voice again. "What a party you have! I hear you're seeking for the grail, but I see both your king's and your queen's places have been turned on their head, with an even odder number of you besides. You've a marvelous definition of the word motley! And I should know. See, I'm a jester, a Joker, a question invoker. And now, my odd number, with your secrets and brawn, someone answer my question before you move on:

"What is the most precious object you packed for this quest that you haven't yet shared with your companions?"

[June Scarlet]

"It's none of your business what I packed!" blurted out Thomas.

This was a mistake. Instead of focusing on the jesting voice made of light and shadow, the remaining knights were now focused on him.

"What would a wee boy like you bring on the sly?" questioned one.

"What are ye hiding?" asked another.

Thomas' face turned red. "It's nothing," he muttered.

Then Arthur, King Arthur himself, separated from his horse but still as regal and commanding as ever, said, "Hail, Squire Thomas, reveal thy hidden object."

Looking at the ground, Thomas reached into the slit in his clothes for a pocket, and pulled out a scrap of pink cloth, frayed and worn with use. He held it up for a brief moment, then stuffed it back where it came from.

He was still a boy, no, a baby, with a baby blanket, and now they all knew.

[Twillie]

He had turned his head for one second. Just one second! And suddenly Ser Percy found himself with far less company than just a moment ago. Where did the other knights go? Was this a prank??

Scowling for a moment at the thought of being abandoned due to a lack of prestige, Percy's demeanor quickly changed when he saw his king seated in the grass, legs splayed out in an admittedly less than graceful manner while he held his back in pain. Percy averted his eyes for a moment to allow King Arthur to compose himself, and then slowly he guided his horse in Arthur's direction.

"You, uh- Are you alright, sir?"

"Well then!"

A foreign voice interjected before Percy could receive an answer.

"Well then, well then, well then, well then!"

What manifested before the remaining knights was a magic being beyond description, but the first words Percy could think up were "a strange little guy." Considering how they were only one day into their quest, Percy figured he should get used to these magical happenings quick.

The strange little guy challenged them with a riddle: what was their most precious packed object that they have not yet shared?

A puzzle! Percy had always loved puzzles. If he had it his way, every knightly quest they went on would have them.

"It's none of your business what I packed!"

Evidently, not everyone felt the same way as Percy. The squire that made this outburst did not hold their ground for long, though, as King Arthur ordered they reveal their possession for everybody's sake. Slowly, the squire pulled out what appeared to be a small, worn blanket. A baby blanket?

It got very quiet.

"I, uh, mine is this letter my mother wrote me." Percy had quickly rummaged in the sack he had strapped to his side, holding up a small paper.

He just wanted to break the awkward silence.

[Moni]

Sir Fer was not very confident in her horseback-riding abilities, and so was not surprised that she tripped off her horse. When she got up, however, she noticed that the scenery around her had changed; it could have been that she was so bad at horseback riding that she'd either launched herself into some other realm or had hit her head so hard she started hallucinating that she had. Either way, the headache was splitting.

The fey--a little like the patupaiarehe of her home. If they were anything like them, then they should not have been trifled with. Sir Fer was about to suggest that they leave their lands immediately, but then she heard Sir Cael having that conversation with his daughter, Cerys.

Apparently he was their ruler. Still a little dazed, Sir Fer lightly nudged Cael with her elbow. "Are you going to have to fight for your title, or are we your merry band of knights now?"

"Do you take these humans as your representatives?" asked Cerys.

[Celestial]

One rarely expects to be teleported to a strange new land, away from one's companions. If such a thing was to transpire, one expects this to happen only once in their lifetime. To witness such a thing happen to another is almost as maddening,

Ser Genji nevertheless remained calm as him and his companions disappareared. At least he was not alone this time. With his othe friends and his lord, surely, they could quickly make a plan to find-

His lord? Where was King Arthur? Oh, there he was, but where was his horse-

His attention was momentarily pulled away by the voice that seemed to echo around them, before coalescing into a creature. It was definitely not human, but not a yokai he was familiar with. Of course, a foreign land would have its own strange beings. Ones called the Jester.

"What is the most precious object you packed for this quest that you haven't yet shared with your companions?"

Ser Genji gripped his sword. "That I shall not reveal to you, monster. My secrets are my own to keep, not ones to reveal to ones such as you, who have spirited our companions away into another strange, new world."

He glanced at the squire, the boy who took out his blanket. Ser Genji stepped over to the boy, putting himself close in case the yokai wished to do something.

"Bad idea, boy. Now it knows it has power over you. I would advise you to stash that blanket and not reveal more of yourself to such beings," Ser Genji said in a low voice to the squire and lifted his head to Ser Percy. "Same with you, friend."

He did not dare speak to the shadowy creature, but the answer appeared in his mind, unwilling. Hidden in the folds of his clothing was a small omamori charm. A small slinken embroided pillow woven by his dear sister, made for him before he left as a boy to become a ward for his lord. It would guard him from enemy sword strikes and injury, and ensure he would return, safe and unhurt.

Ser Genji turned his gaze upon the shadow creature, his hand on his sword. "Where are the rest of our group? What have you done with them, you creature?"

June Scarlet Twillie Lizica

[Lizica]

The odd being in the field of clover delightedly clasped their hands together when the young squire Thomas answered with his well-loved scrap of blanket, and they seemed to positively swim in the deliciously uncomfortable silence that followed. And at the reveal of Ser Percy's letter in kind, the being of sunlight and shade flipped upright with a sprightly clap like the beginning of applause or like emphasizing a dance.

When the one named Ser Genji responded with protective suspicion, however, the silhouette in the field of clover absolutely fell over upon themselves laughing. The illusion of their image (and their uproarious laughter) switched upside down and back, over and over, while the being kicked their heels and held their sides in absolutely wild giddy glee.

"My my my, my dear isekai is-a-knight, no need to burn a bridge and give the unknown such a sharp and pointed rebuke! I have no intention of following suit or following suits. It's merely my turn to question those who pass this way."

The figure suddenly inverted 180 degrees on their head. "As for your companions--they were summoned, called, forced from hiding: a real royal flush, to be sure. Though for their sakes, you'd best hope not down the discard. I've heard the fae can hold grudges when presented with a weaker hand.

"But! That is either here or there, and here, well done! Two of you have dealt with my ask quite famously! So despite your misgivings, and despite all your snubs, I bid you move on: You've gained forward passage from the Joker of Clubs."

With an upside-down bow and a great flourish of the figure's arm, the shadow in the clover flipped upright again. There was a rush of wind that tittered like baby birds and jingled like sleigh bells--it ruffled the field of clover clear like a branch through words written in sand, and it swept forward past the knights with a raucous glimmer of their armor.

On the path through the grasses ahead, the air was clear and bright and now quiet--though perhaps just as mystifying as ever.