"Alright," Tristan grinned, scanning the faces of his friends gathered around the old tree trunk. He tapped the old map with his index finger. "Everyone clear on what they need to do? Where they need to be?" There was a general mumbling of agreement, a few nods, a couple of smiles. Tristan nodded. "Excellent," he enthused, "we'll rendezvous here at sunrise tomorrow and go from there."

"Yes, boss," Alex laughed, clapping him on the shoulder a little harder than necessary, "good to have you back."

Tristan returned the favour. "You say that now," he chuckled, running his fingers through his hair, combing it back and away from his face. "We'll see how long it lasts."

He set about rolling up the map, and pushed it carefully back inside the tube the trader had helpfully thrown in. The strip of fabric attaching the lid had rotted through, and had worn out in patches along the length of the tube itself, but it did its job admirably. That was what mattered.

"Bugger off then," Tristan told his companions, "enjoy the rest of the day, you won't have chance tomorrow."

In dribs and drabs they began to peel away, disappearing back amongst the trees. It wasn't long before he and Alex were alone.

"You doing okay?" Alex asked, studying him thoughtfully. Tristan shrugged, letting his smile dim a little.

"Better, considering," he conceded, "you don't have to keep worrying about me."

"Sure I don't," Alex smiled, pulling him into a hug. They slapped each other's backs. "Stay out of trouble."

Tristan grinned. "Don't I always?" he asked.

"Do you fuck," Alex snorted. He paused, his gaze settling on something emerging from the trees behind Tristan. "Speaking of trouble," he laughed, tipping Tristan a wink. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Tristan frowned, turning to follow his friend's gaze. His smile grew. Elina stopped just short of them, her hand resting on a neatly cocked hip.

"And what wouldn't you do, exactly?" he muttered to Alex as his friend slipped past him.

"You know," Alex grinned with a shrug, "I haven't found out yet."

---

"Got to go sugar," Elina said, pulling away from him with a final parting kiss.

"Where?" he asked, turning to watch her as she started to swim back towards the bank. The water gradually covered less and less of her. Best view in the entire fucking forest he grinned to himself. He almost heard Celidon rolls his eyes.

"King or no king," she called back, "ain't none of your damn business."
"Fair enough," Tristan laughed, rolling over onto his back. He spread out his arms and floated on the surface, looking up at the blue expanse of the sky. "See you around."

"If you're lucky," she laughed, shimmying back into her dress.

And with that she was gone, disappearing back into the trees.

The waterfall thundered on his left. Above his head, birds flittered back and forth, singing through the afternoon. For the first time since he'd left his tent, Tristan finally allowed himself to stop smiling. He took a deep breath, using his hands as paddles to adjust his position in the water, and then lay flat again. For weeks, he'd been trying to keep busy, eager to do something, anything, useful, anything to keep his mind busy.

He was tired of his mind. It exhausted him.

The plan. He could think about that, work through the kinks for the hundredth time, make sure everything was ready.

The thought of the look on Mordred's face if they pulled it off brought a different kind of smile.

Little steps, uncle he sighed, "but I'm coming for you."

put all your faults to bed

TristaN

you can be king again