"I like the sound of that."  William said with a smile, pulling out his canteen and taking a drink.

Bella nodded.  "Flowing drinks and coin, and proper beds - yes, put me down for all of the above."  She bent her head to the side stretching out her neck.  The aches in her body were enough to make her want to gut Merrick if the coin wasn't.

"Well, all thoughts of the city aside for a moment, maybe we should set up shifts for sleep tonight."  Will offered.  "I'd rather not be surprised by bandits or forest spirits."

Bella groaned and rolled her eyes.  "If we have to... I'll take first watch but I do so under utter protest.  I'm going to be so glad when this is over.  The great outdoors indeed!  I truly have not yet seen anything to make me understand why someone would coin such a phrase."

"What do you say Ranger?  Second or third?"  Will asked.

Gavin chuckled. If they got surprised by a leshen, it wouldn't matter whether they had a watch or not. But still, wolves and other monsters, not to mention bandits, could certainly be an issue. 

"Three shifts, Sir William? Surely the two of us should split the night between us and let the lady get her rest?"

Bella beamed.  "And people say chivalry is dead?  Take note, you could learn a thing or two from Lord Gavin, Sir William."

Will scoffed, annoyed again at the use of his old title.  "I wouldn't call her a lady too often, it'll go to her bloody head and you'll never get her to stop.  She's like one of those colorful birds from the southern port cities... damn pretty once she hangs up on a word she won't ever let you forget it."

Bella rolled her eyes and slid down into her bag.  "Just for that Sir William, I do think the Lady will take her rest.  You gents can figure out the watches if you need them to be at ease.  As for me... I must get my beauty sleep.  I'd sooner be eaten by wolves than wake up without a full night's sleep."

Will shook his head and looked to Gavin.  "Well, guess I'll be taking the first half of the night.  Best get some rest while you can, Ranger, I'll wake you a few hours pre-dawn."

---

Bella stirred when a chill crossed her.  The fire, it seemed, had gone out.  She blinked her eyes and tried to find shapes in the darkness.  She could see the sleeping form of Gavin, but where had Will gone?  As silent as she had ever moved before, Bella slipped out of her bedroll and moved to the wall of the cave and began to inch towards the opening.  

She listened.  The night sky was dark and moonless.  The wind through the trees was far louder than she ever figured it might be as she never heard such noises inside the city limits.  Still, the wind was all she heard.  Looking around she spotted Will just outside the cave, standing as still as a statue.

"Will?"  She whispered.

The former knight held up a finger to his lips indicating the need for quiet and then touched it to his ears.  He seemed to want her to hear something.  So, she listened, but still, she heard absolutely nothing.  Bella could not fathom what Will was hearing that had him so on edge that he had his hand on his weapon and that he'd put the fire out.  She glared at William who now dared to barely move his lips and breathe the words, "Wake him.  Quiet." 

Bella slipped back into the cave and came alongside Gavin's bedroll.  She reached out to touch him but his eyes came open a moment before she could make contact.  She whispered, "I think Will heard something."

Bella held still as the dead.  The wind was the only sound.  No bugs.  No frogs.  No night creatures of any kind... to a woman who had spent her whole adult life in cities this wasn't odd.  To the young man who had spent his adult life in the wilderness, it was as bad as a wailing banshee.  Creatures of the forest went silent when they knew predators were about... animals too stupid to sense such things only went silent when something affected them with a fear that was anything but natural.

Gavin was both annoyed and amused by "Lord Gavin"; if she kept that up, he'd have to ask her to stop. That was a worry for another day. As he turned in to "bed", he found himself glancing over at Bella, who was facing away from him. For a few moments, his imagination indulged in the possibilities if William weren't around- but he soon chased them from his mind.

In fact, he managed to chase everything from his mind, as he was sleeping in moments.

When he awoke, he looked up into the woman's face with visible confusion, perhaps related to his thoughts about- no, something was wrong. The silence was deafening. Gavin was up in a second, slinging on his quiver and stringing an arrow- although he didn't draw his bow yet. He moved silently to a position behind Will.

Isabella traveled light for a reason, this was it.  One just never knew when, in the dead of night, you'd need to make an expeditious retreat or end up fighting for your life.  Granted in the city that felt like a much safer prospect than out here in the woods where she didn't know her way, but that was what they were paying the ranger for.  Tonight he'd earn his damn keep if they kept their hides intact!

Knives in hand she came up alongside the two of them.  The wind had died down and now the silence could almost be felt.  Will and Gavin were looking out across the landscape.  Gavin had chosen a fantastic vantage point really, they had the safety of the cave behind them which they knew what was in there... and outward they could see anything approaching for some distance.  It was perfect and yet, there was nothing.  It seemed they were waiting on shadows to become something more and every passing second left her feeling more the fool for it.

And then, a lesson from her past crept up on her.  In the cities, her mentor had taught her that there was a rule they should strictly follow.  A folly that most average citizens fell prey to because only people who used it thought to be afraid of it.  Marie would always tell her, 'Look up lest death fall on you.'

And so, even though there were not great buildings surrounding them, Isabella did what came natural - what she'd been taught, and turned to look up at the rocky earth into which the cave was set.  At first, she saw nothing, just blackness, but as her eyes came to rest on the area they sat... the crows began to move.

Gavin looked up at the sound and then Will immediately after.

"That's a lot of birds..." Isabella said nervously, taking a protective stance as the birds began to vocalize, breaking the silence of the night.

Gavin moved immediately, tossing some leaves into the fire to ignite it before creating a makeshift torch. He hissed at Bella and William.

"Leshen! Follow me- now!"

They moved single file, Gavin's torch first as he scanned the ground; they changed direction twice based on what he saw there. As they moved toward the hill, a wall of roots suddenly sprung up from the ground in a single violent motion. Gavin threw the torch at it and the wall began to burn. He shouted now- no more point in being silent.

"When the barrier's down, head straight through- get to the river and follow it upsteam!"

They heard a horrible shreik in the forest- an unnatural chorus of the dead. Will and Bella glanced at each other, then headed through the burning wall of roots. Bella seemed to want to pick up the torch, but Gavin was there first, plunging the base of it into the ground and lighting the tip of an arrow.

"I need that. Go!"

The leshen roared as it approached at the far end of the clearing; it towered above them and its skull shone in the moonlight. Bella and William ran, while Gavin fired his bow as quickly as he could aim. Three fire arrows struck their mark in quick succession before he had to move; he traveled diagonally away from where Bella and William were headed, but at a slower pace to keep it chasing him.

The next half hour felt like a lifetime; Gavin spent the entire time retreating and dodging, and he had spent half his arrows before he managed to throw the torch where it lodged into the body of the leshen. With an inhuman roar it began clawing at itself, and Gavin took this opportunity to make a permanent exit. He sprinted away, knowing that the leshen wouldn't be dead- but hoping that the fire would keep it occupied long enough for him to disappear.

***

A few hours later, just before dawn, Gavin continued to follow the trail of William and Bella along the river. They weren't hard to track, and he found them in a makeshift camp; William was sleeping, while Bella appeared to be sharpening a knife. Moving silently, Gavin decided it might not be healthy to surprise her. He spoke softly from his safe space behind the tree.

"Hey, it's just-"

He heard a knife embed itself forcefully into the tree. A good throw. Good thing he'd trusted his instinct.

"-Gavin."

Isabella sighed when she realized she nearly skewered their Ranger in her still shaken state.

"Sorry."  She said softly standing up to go get her knife out of the tree.  All levity that she normally wrapped herself in seemed to be forgotten for the moment as she pulled the dagger from the tree.

"Glad you made it."  She added heading back to where she was sitting.  "We should let him sleep a bit longer.  He tried not to..."  She smirked and shook her head.  "Stupid, noble, fool.  He'll be useless without a little bit longer."

She looked Gavin up and down, seeming to examine him for injuries.  "How are you holding up?  It didn't hurt you, did it?" 

Gavin held out an arm, showing how his cloak was tattered near the bottom. He unconsciously reached inside his armor to rub his lucky pendant with the royal crest of Hibernia. He spoke softly, so as not to wake Will.

"A few close calls, but I got lucky enough. No idea how to go about killing a thing like that, but I managed to keep it occupied for a while."

He followed her over to wear she was sitting, close enough to Will to keep watch over him but not so close that they'd wake him with their conversation.

"You know, most people never see one of those, even if they spend their whole lives tramping through the forest. No idea why one would be so close to a city like that... you've got some real luck, there."

Gavin grinned reassuringly.

Isabella shook her head.  "Yeah.  Some luck."  But she couldn't help but notice how he put his hand into his armor to grab at something.  Jewelry perhaps? 

She instantly wondered if it was valuable.  Most men didn't wear necklaces, less so Rangers and simple folk, so why was this one?  Was it sentimental?  Had to be.  Sentimental usually meant old... and old normally meant worth cash money.  For a moment she considered how easy it might be to lift such a thing.  The ranger would have to sleep at some point or maybe when they finally got back to the city where she could properly treat him to a night of distractions and then walk away with something for her troubles. 

But only a moment.

The Ranger had saved her ass, and Will's too.  She wasn't without some scruples, but if she didn't say something, the boy would lose his favorite object to a thief with less conscience than her.  So, she decided to do what Marie would have done - turn it into a teachable moment.  Looking away from him, focusing on her knife again and trying to finish sharpening it, she spoke to the knife so she wouldn't see his reactions.  Hopefully, he'd appreciate her not rubbing in how foolish he was.

"You need to be careful about who you touch that around."  She said softly.  "Rangers and poor boys don't wear jewelry and while it might be a trinket someone made you, most people don't keep checking on trinkets especially after a long night of running through the woods like they might their valuables.  You're damn good out here in the woods, and I'm grateful to have had you with us tonight, but in the city, that little tell could get your throat slit and your pockets emptied."

When she finally did look back to his blue eyes she added, "And it would be a damn shame for such a pretty neck to be blemished in such a way ... so be careful, okay?"

Gavin fought the urge to reach back for his pendant when it was mentioned. Shit. How many times had he done that without thinking?

"Sorry. I guess I got in the habit out where no one could see me. And it is lucky, but it's worth more to me sentimentally than for what it's actually worth."

Not a lie; it might be gold, but it's worth to me is much more than that. 

He thought of anything else he could add before just speaking simply.

"Thank you."

He smiled, then changed the subject.

"We're still not as far away as I'd like. He's been sleeping for a little while, yes?"

Bella nodded.

"Want to get him up? I'm sure it'd be a more pleasant experience coming from you."

With a grin, Bella turned toward Will and roused him; a few minutes later, they were packed and hiking in the early grey of the morning. As they traveled, Gavin explained his plan. They were still several hours away from the canyon where he hoped to find the bandits; he didn't know precisely where they were, but he figured that they'd arrive around ten o'clock. He may have slightly underestimated how quickly the tired city-dwellers could move, but they couldn't argue with the logic of his plan. They approached the canyon around noon; Gavin left and scouted ahead while the weary Will and Bella leaned in the shade. He returned an hour later wearing a grin.

"Well, there's someone in there. Looks like bandits to me. No way to tell if Merrick is there until we're in, of course. I know that you weren't a fan of the morning march, but I saw a clearing a little ways away. We should be able to spend the next 8-10 hours sleeping, relaxing, eating. If the bandits were going to head out somewhere, they'd have almost certainly left by now- which means they'll be in the same place tonight. We spend the day resting, and by the time that they're tired, drunk, or sleeping... we'll hit them, and we'll be fresh."

Will and Bella begrudgingly agreed, and they spent another twenty-five minutes walking to the clearing Gavin had mentioned. They were far off any path and the odds of anyone stumbling across them were close to nonexistent. A line of trees seemingly created a totally secluded area with a stream running through it for water. Gavin read the ground and saw no recent signs of animal activity- well, maybe rabbits, but nothing threatening. All three had exhaustion catching up with them, and they were soon spread out in the clearing, napping in the shade of the afternoon.

***

When Gavin awoke, the sun was settling in the sky. He was warm, having slept in his armor- better to be uncomfortable and prepared than the inverse. Standing, he removed his cuirass and cloak and stretched. Glancing behind him, he saw that Will and Bella were still sleeping. Wearing a loose white shirt and pants, he slipped into the water briefly to cool off. 

Isabella woke first.  Noticing Gavin missing she sat up and looked around.  When she heard the water of the stream being disturbed she couldn't help but look.  Standing quietly she moved towards the water, trying to use trees to remain out of sight.  

The Ranger was fetching and gifted at his trade - but he clearly had other blessings as well.  As she watched his lean body cutting a path through the water she considered the idea of him working with her in the city and the misadventures they might get into for a time.  True the handsome younger man clearly had dreams he wanted to chase in time, but she suspected she could keep his interest for a little while at least.  With Will bent on settling down, it was good to know she had a new companion to help keep her amused.

"Like what you see?"  Will's voice caused Isabella to turn around abruptly.

"I was just making sure he was okay." 

Will crossed his arms over his barrel chest, "For a rogue, you sure are a piss poor liar."

She rolled her eyes.  "Well, since I'm a rogue, how do you know I'm not pretending to like the turn of his calves just trying to make you jealous?"

Will chuckled.  "His calves?"

Isabella blushed and smacked Will gently and quickly walked back towards the make-shift camp, "It's a thing some women like.  I'm not saying that I think his calves are nice, just that some women do like calves."

"Oh."  Will pretended to believe her.  "Well, I'm sorry for getting that all wrong.  Rest assured that I'm quite jealous.  Overwhelmed with jealousy, in fact."

Isabella turned around to face him, "You're mocking me.  How do you suppose I'd ever want to marry a man who has absolutely no respect for my feelings?"

"On the contrary, I have the utmost respect for your feelings..."  Will stepped closer to Isabella and took her hand and put it on his chest and the look in his eyes became something all-too-familiar.  "Feeling here."  He leaned his head down and brought her hand up to his own lips.  "And feeling me here."

He then bent down to kiss her lips.  For a moment Isabella returned the kiss, enjoying the feel of him again, like an old piece of clothing you just couldn't part with no matter how worn it was because it fit your body so well.  His arms wrapped around her, and for a moment they stood there in the failing sunlight like they had in the early days of knowing one another.  Two besotted youths, running from their pasts, with no future ahead of them.

But William had a future now.  He had a future he desperately wanted and it was down a path that Isabella knew, in every part of her heart, she just couldn't walk.  She had to end it.  Now.  

Isabella could hear Gavin emerging from the river and she pulled away slightly speaking in a whisper so low that Will alone could hear,  "I can't." She shook her head.  "I'm sorry William... it's a fine enough dream, but... it's not mine."

Will stared at her for a moment, as if considering whether she was truly serious or not before nodding.  "No chance of changing your mind?"

"No."  She said sadly. 

"Well,"  He said putting a hand on the side of her cheek, "One last adventure then?"

"One more."  She agreed.

"I'm going to miss you."  He lamented.

"You'll see me every fall in Dewsbury when you bring your wagon load of vegetables and children to market."  She laughed.  "I'll have to do my best not to look jealous at whatever buxom barmaid you convince to settle down with you."

Will laughed, genuinely this time.  "Why must my future wife be a barmaid?  Perhaps she'll be a seamstress or a baker..."

She shook her head.  "You know what ... maybe you're right."

William stopped laughing, "That may well be the first time you've ever let me be right."

"A parting gift."  She said with a wink, turning to face Gavin who was rejoining them.  "And once we've finished this job maybe I'll convince the young lordling here to join me in opening an illicit bathhouse in the Capital!  I can charge mischievous young farm girls a silver penny to watch the ranger bathe."

Will picked up his things.  "If you've got any sense at all boy, you'll flee this mad woman's side the second she pays you your cut and not look back."

"If he's got any sense at all he'll enjoy the ride for as long as I'll put up with him like every other good man I know."  She slapped Will's ass and grabbed her things.  "We ready to do this, Ranger?"

Gavin emerged from the water without drying himself; he'd rest, eat something, and by the time he was dry night should be falling. He grinned as he heard Will and Bella speaking.

"Ready to enjoy the ride. Well, nearly. Night is still a little ways off; the longer we wait, the more drunk and tired the bandits will be. Perhaps we'll share a meal and a story or two? There must be more about the city you can tell me."

"The city?"  Isabella said.  "Only a country boy would speak about 'the city' as if there were merely one."  She chuckled sitting back down.

"Oh there are cities - such cities that you're mind would break at their beauty.  Cities in the great north that look like fortresses on the banks of great lakes they call lochs.  Cities in the south where there is so many people they have to keep building the buildings upwards to make room for all the people."

"The streets smell of piss and shit in those ones, don't let her paint it like they're museums."  William added.

"Bah.  One man's hell-hole is another's heaven and as someone who has spent the better part of her life in those hell-holes I can tell you that they are heaven, you just have to know how to see it.  People who ain't never had nothin' they don't know they're missing anything and they're happy.  Well, content.  And isn't that all you can ask for in this life?"

"I'd like my life with a little less excrement."  Will remarked.  "But she's right, the cities have their moments."

Isabella smirked, "Will's not being generous enough - we're talking about the sort of places where your every desire can be fulfilled within a few blocks of one another.  Great dance halls with music from every corner of the world, drinks and food you've never dreamed of trying, beautiful men and women from every walk of life -- if your goal is to join the gentry one day Ranger, you'll have to learn a few things about how to move among that sort.  Luckily for YOU I've had the reason to practice such courtly arts."

She smirked.

"I've had jobs that have taken me into the great courts in nearly every kingdom for one reason or another and if one means to swim with sharks you've got move and think like one.  I bet a country boy like you has never even had a chance to dance properly!"  She laughed.  "Would you like to practice some of the courtly niceties?  I can show you a few things.  Like... how to properly greet a lady, or how and whom you must bow to and who it's okay to simply lift your cap to."

"You know, I still regret not having seen you in that element."

"You had your chance, Mister!"  Bella scolded.  "I did offer to let you come with me on the last misadventure to the Capital.  You could have been my date to the spring fling but ... nope.  I had to go with... what was his name again?"  She considered.  "I don't know... some minor lord, I can't even remember his name.  He was a poor dancer and a worse kisser."

William roared with laughter.

Bella turned to Gavin, "Well, would you like me to show you a few things?  Like you said, we have time and it might come in handy for you to know some stuff when we get to 'the city' ... and by that I mean something bigger than Dewsbury."

Gavin found himself caught by the hand and led along by Bella's description of the cities; for him, there was both the promise of something new and the nostalgia for his old life- especially as she mentioned the great courts. He grinned.

"I'd be happy to see your courtly niceties, if you'll share them."

This, at least, should be entertaining. He, admittedly, was a rookie when it came to wandering around a city by himself- but that was largely because he'd grown up in the court, absorbing etiquette and manners as much as riding and fighting lessons.

"Most of it is in a few key things,"  Isabella began.  William settled in leaning against a tree, watching amused.  "The first is eye contact.  Common folk put their eyes down.  Courtiers don't.  They probably don't know what the damn floor looks like really.  So, chin up,"  She touched the underside of his chin.  "Stand up straight.  Eyes out.  A smart man uses this to his advantage and scans for threats and opportunities but - that's another lesson.  More advanced."

"More thief-like."  Will added.

Isabella smirked, "Yes, well, be that as it may... so parts are harder than others.  Deference only to those higher in station which means learning who is who and where your fictional or assumed identity is among your peers.  Obviously those of the crown get a curtsey always, a bow in your case.  The lower the bow, the deeper your respect.  So, to a member of the royal family it's very deep, but not obscenely so or you'll be noticed for trying to kiss ass too much.  And the point when trying to make them think you're one of them is to blend in, not stand out."

"Figure Dukes, Earls, and Barons you're safe to bow to, but anyone titled Sir, Dame, Lord, or Lady you can probably get away with simple polite greetings.  Most people assume folks at courtly affairs belong there, it's weird how once you're in the scrutiny is almost non-existent.  Rich folks have this weird arrogance about their own safety.  Most aren't willing to consider the person next to them is going to kill them until you've put a knife in their gullet.  Admitting other nobles might kill you, even if you know they want to, is a crime of its own sort.  Damn fools."

"Next lesson, that kiss of yours... you have a talent for it.  The way you took my hand in the tavern, I almost believed you'd done it before.  Light touch, guide my hand to your lips, and barest brush.  Courtly love is an art and entertainment.  The royalty and gentry of most countries live for it.  Who is romancing whom, who is stealing the heart of another's lover... the whole thing is a back and forth like fighting or dancing if you will.  So things like this kissing of the hand business, the giving, or wearing of tokens - well, wars have been caused over such things or so the bards' tales say."

"So..."  She offered him her hand to kiss as he'd done in the bar, "... try again and then add a bow to the end of it and ask me if I would like to dance.  Do it with enough grace and I'll take you through a few basic dance steps enough that you'll be passable if you get stuck not being able to decline a dance."

Gavin listened, curious about Bella's perspective. It was strange to hear an outsider break down the world he'd grown up in for so much of his life. She was almost entirely correct- impressively so. And she possessed a keen insight into a world that she didn't belong to- insight, perhaps, so accurate because she didn't belong to it and it needed to be that accurate.

Gavin leaned forward and kissed her hand, intentionally trying to disrupt a movement that still came as naturally to him as breathing- disrupt it just enough to straddle the line between impressing her while avoiding looking foolish.

He "copied" her motions for the bow, again aiming to do it just well enough to be good without being too good.

Gavin smirked.

"Dancing, eh?"

"Like a duck to water."  Will said.  "But a woman teaching a man to dance is like birds teaching fish to fly.  It ain't gonna work so well for you."

"I can teach a man to dance."  Isabella protested.  

"There's more to it than just the foot positions,"  William said.  "You'd know that if you were a man."

Isabella scoffed.  "Ignore him, Gavin.  Now watch my feet a moment but remember, when we do this in a courtly setting NEVER look at your feet.  Nothing screams novice like looking down to see if you got it right and no noble born man your age would be so poorly practiced at dancing as to need to look down.  Better you step on feet than look down as if you had never done it before.  Stepping on feet can be excused as boorish or poor talent, but looking down screams peasant."

Will shook his head as Bella walked him through the steps to a simple repeated four count, adjusting the placement of his hands, and giving critique on the mechanics of the dance.  Will, for his part, shook his head.

"You're missing the most important part."

Isabella huffed and stopped.  "And what part is that, Sir William?"

William stood up and walked over to Bella and nodded Gavin to step back.  He took hold of Isabella, a little forcefully and spoke to Gavin.  "The only time you dance like she was teaching you is if you're dancing with another man's woman, your mother, your sister, or your grandmother... otherwise this is all you need to know about dancing."

He looked back to Isabella, "Your eyes are on hers.  You don't let her look away.  The way you talk to her is through your eyes, and with your body.  You need to wield her like a weapon.  As comfortable as you are with that bow... you have to be with her.  Hand placement isn't about being polite, contrary to what she thinks... it's about this..."

Will pushed and pulled and used his hands and their placement to with the most subtle of movements indicate the way he wanted her to move.  "See that?  How she responded to me.  I step in here... she compensates.  It's natural for her to do that.  It's not like I told her, but I sort of did... grip matters.  Now watch this."  

Will tightened his handhold on her waist, Isabella stood taller, came closer her bosom heaved up ever so slightly.  She gasped.  It was an intimate hold but he'd barely moved his hand at all!  "We're touching." He said to Gavin, his eyes still locked on Bella's as their fronts brushed each other ever so slightly.  "I wouldn't pull that move on a woman you're not intimate with... you might get smacked."

Bella glared at him and Will let her go back into a relaxed position.  

"Point is, LEADING is what it's about.  It's about showing her that you have control, that she's safe with you, that she can trust you not to hurt her or let her down.  Each step is a reassurance both for her, in how you lead, and for you in how she flawlessly follows.  You rise together, you fall together, you rise together, you fall together..."  He said moving with Isabella in time to her previous repeated four count.

Will stopped and stepped away from Isabella leaving her a bit stunned. 

"Now you try."  He said to Gavin as if he'd just shown the other man sword forms not how to seduce a woman.

Isabella smiled at Gavin sheepishly, "Well... he might have a few good points worth listening to... if you want to try again?" 

Gavin increasingly bristled as he listened to Will. This man seemed so sure of himself. Too sure of himself. Right or wrong, he felt like the man was challenging him, the way that he strutted in and grabbed her like that- and Bella's seemingly smitten reaction wasn't helping.

The internal monologue that warned him to be cautious was drowned out by a desire to have William eat his words- and, he admitted to himself, out of a desire to have Bella look at him in the same manner she'd looked up at William.

He scoffed at William.

"I don't think it's quite as difficult as you make it seem, Sir William."

Gavin moved to Bella and winked; whereas Will had rested his hand on Bella's waist and wielded her 'like a weapon', Gavin instead placed his hand at the small of her back, spreading out his relaxed thumb and pinkie finger vertically. As they began to move, he was able to lead her by applying a light pressure in any direction. His left hand met her right hand in the air and their fingers laced as if they'd spent a lifetime together. With a shared smile, they began.

Gavin moved gracefully, like water. He moved with a natural grace and lightness on his feet that nevertheless had been shaped by his early years of instruction. He started slowly as he and Bella revolved around an invisible central point in the clearing, using that hand at the small of her back to not only guide to her movements, but to sense where she was going and respond.

After thirty seconds or so, when Bella's initial pleasant surprise had faded and she'd grown comfortable, he began to sing. His voice was light, clear, and he wore a smirk that seemed to proclaim he wasn't taking himself too seriously. The song was peaceful, lending itself to slow, graceful movements. 

"Alas my love you do me wrong
To cast me off discourteously;
And I have loved you oh so long
Delighting in your company.

Greensleeves was my delight,
Greensleeves my heart of gold
Greensleeves was my heart of joy
And who but my lady Greensleeves."

After dancing face to face, Gavin adjusted their stance as easily as breathing, sliding next to her so that they were lined up side to side but facing in opposing direction; he turned his head to the left to face her as she mirrored the same. Their closest arms naturally draped across the chest of the other, resting on the opposing hip. They continued to dance, both revolving and sliding with each other, as Gavin used the side of his hip to both guide her and read her own movements- before returning to their prior position.

"I have been ready at your hand
To grant whatever thou would'st crave;
I have waged both life and land
Your love and goodwill for to have.

Greensleeves was my delight,
Greensleeves my heart of gold
Greensleeves was my heart of joy
And who but my lady Greensleeves."

As he reached the final note, Gavin gently spun out Bella and dipped her back, leaning forward as his blue eyes gleamed. As he raised her to stand in front of him, he performed a perfect bow in front of her and kissing her hand.

Before either had much time to react, he winked and headed off to pick up his bow and get into his armor, calling back over his shoulder.

"Thanks to both of you- excellent teachers."

He could hear Viggo chastising him, but he mostly just enjoyed the stunned silence. 

For a moment, when he dipped her, she thought that Gavin might kiss her.  No.  She wanted him to kiss her and as much as his singing and dancing skills shocked her, the fact that she wanted it so much caught her off guard all the more.  As he walked over to get his bow and armor, she struggled to find the words, the right words to cut wise and instead all she could do was struggle to catch her breath.

"Hrmph."  Will broke the silence.  

Bella looked to Will who was smiling strangely at her.  

"What?"  She asked him.

"Just saw something I never thought I'd see.  That's all."  With that, he walked over to pick up his own weapon and armor.  

Pulling herself together Bella followed the men, contemplating what had just happened and how she'd lost control of the situation - something she was not used to what-so-ever.

Gavin led the way through the growing darkness of the wood and William brought up the rear to ensure they didn't have anyone sneaking up on them.  Bella stayed between the two men, listening to the night animals coming to life all around them and, after some time, the growing sounds of a merry encampment not far ahead of them.  

The scent of meat cooking over a campfire made her mouth water.  The men were loud enough to indicate they didn't fear being found here and also that the amount of mead being imbibed was considerable.  She knew they were going to be butchering men tonight, it wasn't something she thought they could avoid nor something that particularly troubled her, but it was odd how much her mind kept wandering to the food, drink and the state of mind of their Ranger.  

Weirdly, his song was stuck in her head and the memory of his touch lingered.  These were not things she needed to be focused on right now.  There would be time for food and drink and ... other things later.  Right now she needed to focus on the task at hand and the coin necessary to give them those comforts she so enjoyed.

Gavin signaled for them to halt and get low.  Bella did as she was told and a moment later she could see why - one lone man, wandering away from the others to take piss was a stone's throw from them.  

No sense in fighting more than we have to...

Bella motioned to Gavin and Will to stay put and moved as quietly as she could across the forest floor towards the drunken man, pissing on a tree, humming to himself as he did so.  Around one bush, over a small log, pulling her dagger she came up behind the man and on tiptoes covered his mouth while giving him a second smile.  

A rush of crimson covered the trunk of the tree and only a soft gurgling noise and sucking for air could be heard before finally, the body collapsed to the ground her grip.  His friends back at camp were none the wiser and now there was one less bandit to be concerned about.

 Gavin already had his bow drawn and pointed at the man's head when Bella moved silently... well, almost silently. She had an abundance of natural talent for sneaking up behind a man- something to remember- but she was obviously not in her element in the woods. Gavin kept the bow trained on his target as she snapped a twig, but the man didn't even seem to notice. And then he didn't have a chance to notice anything ever again.

Gavin nodded at Bella as she lay the body down in the brush, and he crept forward to get a good look at the camp. Five men gathered 'round the campfire drinking... and he saw at least two pairs of boots sticking out of tents. He whispered to his companions.

"At least seven. Possibly more in the tents. I can't imagine they'd have more than 10-12. I propose I travel 'round the far side and shoot down from that hill. I can probably hit two of them before the others have a chance to react. Once they turn toward the hill, the two of you can strike directly from the front entrance and surprise them. Assuming most of them focus back to you, I'll help out by shooting where I can. Agreed?"