It was a bright and brilliant day, a few days before the official jousting tournament was in session. Arthur had been training heavily since departing Ebou Dar, moreso than he would have had he not departed for Fandom: no matter what Hannibal thought, his idea of jousting was a poor substitute ( Read more... )

Fandom had always brought with it a curious insistance on 'being yourself': of pushing aside layers of protocol and appropriate behaviour to show some nebulous quality underneath. Arthur had always seen a reason for such layers - self-protection, a map of rules to be used and bucked where needed, expectations that laid a groundwork you could fall ( Read more... )