#BUT YEA RONETTE ILY THANK YOU FOR SENDING THIS TO ME I HOPE YOU LOVE READING IT

[filipofmounthonora]

tara 💗 bc we both love it 🥰 you can either write smth wholesome or maybe emotional?(like that jaric/j and s scene kinda) but yea I’d be happy either way :]

:] tara my best childhood friends tara 🥰 not offering any explanation to other people about why certain people arent dead but <3 also you get script form to shake things up

send me a pairing and/or prompt idea and i'll write something about it! <3

The Woods are often dark, deep, and cold, but for now, sitting around a cozy campfire, the Avalon Quartet let themselves forget it. TEDROS and CHADDICK sit side-by-side on a mossy log. Across the dividing campfire, YARA perches on a large boulder, and ARIC, eyeing the Woods behind them and the stick he's whittling down, uses her as a backrest. A freshly-caught rabbit roasts on the spit; several more are skinned and and salted in cloth for the journey.

TEDROS: (prodded by Chaddick) I can't believe you caught them all bare-handed. Never seen you move so quick, even in Swordplay.

YARA: (bashful) Well, there wasn't much for a kid to do in Avalon. I spent most of my time scrambling after snow foxes and (gesturing at the fire) rabbits. Once I chased a Frostplains tern right off the parapet! I dropped right into Lady Nimue.

She chuckles at the memory, rolling up her pant leg to show off a faded scar. It runs up along the bone.

YARA: We're both pretty lucky she's made of water. (no time to process) My dad taught me to play the lyre while I was stuck in bed, so I lured that tern back in with a ballad I wrote and—

ARIC: Isn't it bad luck to kill a Frostplain tern?

YARA: Albatrosses—it taught me bird calls, Aric, don't be absurd! But now I speak some cormorant, king eider, and a bit of white-tailed eagle.

Chaddick nods solemnly, pieces slotting together, dots connecting.

CHADDICK: That's why all the squawking in the School for Girl.

YARA: (laughs, imitation of a goose) I was just a lot more shy. Believe me, if I could've gotten away with never speaking anywhere else, none of you would know what I sounded like. Except for Ted, of course. (beat) Storian's Point, it feels like a lifetime ago, doesn't it?

Tedros grins.

TEDROS: Back then I could actually win matches. Now you just keep dodging all my jabs—it's really unfair.

YARA: (teasing) Well, it's not my fault my teacher's one of the best Knights in the Woods.

CHADDICK: (idea sparking) And is he one of the best dancers, too? (off Tedros' curiosity) You should've seen her performance at graduation; half the Class couldn't pick their jaws off the floor.

YARA: (waving him off) It was a group—there were other girls there, too, you know! It wasn't all about me...

But she blushes red from the compliment, and even brighter from the impressed look Tedros gives her.

TEDROS: I'm sorry to have missed it.

YARA: Oh, well... (off Chaddick's Pointed Stare) Maybe I could show off a few steps—

She stands up, dusts herself, counts off the beat in her head—and throws herself into a whirling, enthusiastic jig, her movements snappy yet graceful, effortlessly stunning as she skips circles around the fire. With a complicated flourish, Yara concludes to a standing (or lounging, in Aric's case) ovation from Chaddick and a particularly flustered Tedros. She takes a giddy bow.

TEDROS: That was... (uncharacteristically meek) You're really good.

YARA: It's easier than it looks! Especially when you have the music to keep you in time—(gasping) Aric!

Aric twists his head back warily. He's got an inkling of her coming request, and he isn't that obliging. Yet.

YARA: You know the song, right? It's—oh, I forget the name—the one that goes...

She starts humming the opening bars of a Foxwood folk tune. Aric nods reluctantly, finishing the rest of the line.

YARA: Could you play it for us? Please?

CHADDICK: (mock stern) You heard the lady. Otherwise we're tying you to Tedros for the rest of the trip.

Ignoring Tedros' cry of protest, Aric eyes the other two for a long while. Then, with a belaboured sigh, he rummages through his cape for his mandolin.

ARIC: (not a promise) One song. Then I sleep.

Yara cheers, hopping up and down, and Chaddick ruffles Aric's hair before slouching down beside him. As Aric picks out the melody at half-speed, Yara takes both of Tedros' hands.

TEDROS: Wait, what are we doing?

YARA: I'm teaching you! First off: can you feel the pulse? One-and, two-and; one-and, two—(Tedros starts counting) you got it! Now you kick—not me! You kick here; and in-between we step like this—

Tedros awkwardly picks it up, gaining confidence as Yara guides him around slowly—but not enough to let go of her.

YARA: Got the rhythm now? Then we can go faster. Aric—!

She didn't need to remind him; the tempo speeds up to something upbeat, getting Chaddick to clap along. He heckles when Tedros stumbles, but Yara just laughs and soon Tedros is too. All the while the music gets faster and faster, and Tedros doesn't mind that he forgets how the footwork goes, because Yara's fingers are enlaced with his, and her smile glows brighter than the flames, and when a stray kick collides with his shin, toppling them breathless and giggling onto the dirt... Tedros doesn't mind that either.

ARIC: Another song!

He immediately launches into a Foxwood love ballad.