As lady Juliana walked through the hallways of Camelot she heard some shouting from a closed room. It was the voice of her daughter, and what she said sounded oddly familiar:

'You are the sickest, smuggest piece of junk in all of England! I don't even know why I'm talking to you! I will never understand why I wanted you to come with me, I must have been out of my mind. You could as well just have stayed in that forest of yours 'til you were all covered with mud.'

'I could have', agreed Garrett's voice. 'And then who would have saved your ass all the time?'

'Somebody way better than you', she said. 'Somebody who was kind to me and never told me to shut up, who was all gallantry and nice behavior. Somebody who wasn't just hair, chin, shoulders and a bad attitude. A gentleman!'

'Who are you kidding? You'd hate a guy like that!'

There was a small laughter from the girl. 'Yes, I suppose I would.'

Lady Juliana sat down and sighed. She and Lionel had been saying exactly the same kind of things to eachother. Maybe they hadn't been quite so mean, but still... She could recognize every tone in her daughter's voice. Good lord, was it really twenty years ago? She wasn't quite sure that she liked feeling this old. She had gotten used to the fact that Lionel was gone, but some part of her still wanted to be that young loving girl. Garrett was as good a man as Lionel, and that comforted her, but in some selfish way she was even more comforted because he really wasn't the same sort of man, at all. And how could he be? Lionel had, as the cousin of the greatest knight ever, been given all chances. Nobody had given Garrett a chance. Nobody, that was, except Lionel himself. Her husband had been certain that the important thing was confidence. He had tried to give confidence to these two eager young people, and apparently he had succeded. In some strange way they were both his children, because they were the two people in this world who had known to appreciate him as much as she did. And now they had both lived up to his beliefs, and they quarreled in the same loving way she used to.

The door opened and Kayley came running out. Her hair was undone and her cheeks red.

'Oh, hello, mother!' she said. 'By God, don't tell me it's time for the knighting already?'

'Not quite', admitted Juliana. 'But the King sent me to make sure you were ready.'

'Ready??' Kayley laughed, amazed. 'Christ, mother, I've been ready all my life.'

'With your hair like that you look more ready for a fight', answered her mother dryly.

'He pulled it!' exclaimed Kayley, and her beautiful brown eyes became even bigger. 'Can you believe that?' Then she laughed heartily. 'Not that I mind. We're worse than Devon and Cornwall nowadays, but in some strange way I like it. It's like...' she hesitated. 'I never love him more than when I call him a gingerhaired little fathead.'

'Well you get down', said Juliana, 'and I'll have a word with your... fiancé?'

She didn't mean for it to sound like a question, but it did. And Kayley just shook her head.

'Oh, he's not! Not yet, that is. He asked, but I thought it was exciting enough right now and we ought to save the marrying part to a dull year.'

Juliana made a sound somewhere between a sigh and a laugh. 'You'll never change, girl! And please don't. Just...' She stopped.

'Go down there' added Kayley pointing towards the stairs. 'Alright, I will.'

And she did. Juliana hesitated. Why on earth did she want to talk to Garrett? She had already met him, and she had nothing in particular to say to him. Maybe that was it. She ought to have something to say to the man that had captured her daughter's heart. At least she had to understand why. So she knocked the door.

'Come on in, lady Juliana', said Garrett's voice. She opened the door and stepped into the room. Garret was standing looking down the window. No, not looking, she reminded herself. Just standing there, his hands leaning towards the windowsill.

'How did you know it was me?' she asked. He turned around with something in his face that wasn't quite a smile.

'I heard you talking to Kayley. Not that I was eavesdropping', he added.

'Me neither', she said. 'I mean...'

'You overheard our little "conversation". Yes.' There was a silence. Juliana found that she wasn't quite comfortable with it, since silence usually makes you try and communicate with the eyes. When she was speaking to Garrett she could forget his blindness, but not when they were both silent.

'Christ', she thought, 'he'll most likely be my son-in-law, and I can't relax in his company.'

'What were you doing just now?', she asked to break the silence.

'Breathing', he said. 'I feel like someone hit me in the stomach real hard. And I don't mean Kayley right now, her fists aren't heavy enough.'

'You're nervous', said Juliana and smiled. 'That's natural. I don't know why Kayley isn't.'

'Kayley hasn't hesitated for a moment.'

'No she hasn't, and that probably makes her unique. Lionel was dead frightened, I promise you.'

'But at least he was sighted', he mumbled.

It's not like Juliana hadn't given that any thought herself, so she could answer in complete honesty: 'It won't make any difference. You and Kayley got Excalibur back when all the others failed. You revenged my husband's death. Are you trying to tell me that doesn't qualify you as a knight?'

He smiled, a big, warm smile in amaze that the world wasn't such a bad place after all. 'You know, all of a sudden you sound just like Kayley', he said.

She couldn't answer, because all of a sudden she had seen the likeness she did not want to see. When the warmth of the smile lit up Garrett's face and gave life to his eyes, even though there was no outer resemblance, she was reminded of Lionel.

'History repeats itself', she mumbled. 'Oh, Lionel, I bet you knew this all the time. I bet you're not really gone, somewhere you see this and are so proud of yourself.'

'What?' said Garrett, and she realised he had overheard what she said.

'Nothing. Well, if that's clear, maybe you're ready to be a knight', she said.

'Maybe', he said with a sigh and took his staff that was leaning towards the wall. They walked downstairs and then, halfway through the courtyard, he stopped.

'You go ahead and meet Kayley, Lady Juliana', he said. 'I just have somewhere I want to go.'

She hesitated, and he got an annoyed but amused wrinkle between his eyes.

'For heaven's sake, I'm not trying to run off. I just need a moment alone. Will you give it to me or will you be just as stubborn as your daughter?'

Lady Juliana shrugged and left. Garrett stood still a few seconds, then he headed to what he still thought of as the 'new' stable, although, as he reminded himself, it was ten years old by now.

He opened the door with an unreasonable fear. Of what? His Past (with a capital P) sneaking up behind him? But there was no smell of smoke or heat of flames as he entered, just the pleasant smells of hay and horses. One horse puffed his sleeve, asking for treats. He stroke it gently. It was a mare, and it was none he had met before. She couldn't be more than five or six years old anyway. Something moved in the hay and his head jerked up, unprepared.

'That's Blossom', said a very young and very sleepy voice. 'She's my favourite.'

'Is that so?' he said, rather annoyed at himself for not noticing there was a human here. 'And who might you be?'

'I'm Robin. I work here', said the boy and rose -apparently a bit too fast, because Garrett heard him stumble and then lean on the wall. Then the boy's voice changed, grew excited. 'Hey, I know who you are! You're the new knight, who got Excalibur back! Sir', he added.

'That does sound familiar', said Garrett.

'Oh, boy!' said Robin happily. 'I mean, I knew I had to see you SOMETIME, but I couldn't think I'd talk to you -I mean actually talk', he explained. 'Not just "get that horse for me, boy". And old Cedric said you might not ride a horse at all, since you're... well, you know, sir.'

'Such a bad horseman?' suggested Garrett lightly. He couldn't quite understand Robin's excitement. Camelot was full of valiant knights, and even if he and Kayley HAD done a good thing lately, it certainly didn't put them in the league of the Dulacs or Orkneys. 'Listen, Robin, there was a horse here many years ago called Rascal. You wouldn't know what happened to him?'

'Oh, he's still here', said Robin, glad to assist. 'Just over there.'

'How many boxes?'

'Three.'

Garrett walked past three horses and then turned towards the fourth. His hand touched the horse's head, gently. Yes, this was Rascal. Good old Rascal, he was old now, but not yet too old to be a good horse.

'Hello, old boy', he whispered to the animal. 'Remember me? I used to give you carrots a long time ago.' He blew carefully into Rascal's nostril, and the horse put his nose next to Garrett's ear and sighed. It tickled.

'Old Cedric says you used to work here, sir', said Robin. 'It's true then?'

'Yes', said Garrett.

'Just like me, then!' said Robin with a dreamy voice. 'And now you're a knight. Isn't that something!'

Then Garrett realised why the boy was so excited. He considered Garrett a soulmate -a freaking roadmodel! He had to stop himself from laughing.

'That's right', he answered, kindly. 'And Rascal was my favourite horse, just like Blossom is yours.'

'Well, Rascal is a fine horse', said Robin. 'I like him a lot, even if he likes a prank now and then. But I do have some respect for those big hoofs. They are big, aren't they, sir? He stepped on me once by accident, and it hurt really bad. Has he ever done that to you?'

'Worse. Kicked', said Garrett, leaning down to feel the hoofs. Yes, they were gigantic, it wasn't just a boy's memory.

'Kicked!' said Robin, half shocked, half impressed. 'Boy, that must have hurt like hell! Where did he kick you?'

'In the head', said Garrett, rather short in the tone now. He didn't want to think about that right now. Poor Rascal, he had been scared out of his wits, it wasn't his fault.

'Really?' said Robin. 'Jesus! Talk about a hell of a place to get a hoof like that. I'd have thought it would have... oh.' He suddenly seemed to make a connection.

'Actually, I found it quite pleasant', asid Garrett sarcastically.

Robin was silent, and Garrett regretted saying that. If he was to be a knight and live among people, he had to learn to cut down the sarcasm a bit. It wasn't too bad with Kayley, but it wasn't fair to a kid.

Rascal put his mouth in Garrett's hair.

'Looking for the scar, pal?' he asked the horse, smiling.

'There is a scar?' said Robin shyly.

Garrett moaned as Rascal tried to eat his hair. 'Sure there is', he said, and parted his hair until he found the familiar place. 'Right here, give me your hand.'

'I can see it', said Robin, but his hand reached out anyway. 'It doesn't hurt, does it?'

'Not the latest decade or so', said Garrett with half a smile. 'But to begin with I thought my head would explode.' He took Robin's hand and turned towards him. 'Listen, if you'd like to be a knight I'd love to train you.'

'You would?' Robin's voice became light of joy. 'You're not kidding me?'

'Certainly not', said Garrett. 'And furthermore, if you ask Kayley -the lady knight, that is- I'm sure she will too.' Robin sighed like a baby after finishing a meal. Then he recalled something.

'The Knighting, sir! You can't come to late for that! You have to go now!' He almost pushed Garrett out the door and over the yard, and then shouted, still afraid it would all be a dream: 'You promise then, sir?'

'Promise!' shouted Garrett. Then he proceeded, lighter to his heart than before. 'Here we go, SIR Garrett', he mumbled to himself. 'We can't disappoint the kid, can we?' A chirp from above made the laugh inevitable. 'Oh, come on, Ayden!' he shouted like a child. 'The blind stable boy will be knighted, who'd have thought?'

As he walked to the hall, he remembered sir Lionel. It seemed like lady Juliana was right. Things repeated themselves. And maybe sir Lionel WAS still there. Today he could believe anything.

When Garrett and Kayley returned from the knighting, the boy's voice shouted for them.

'Milord! Milady! I've gotten Rascal ready for you!' Even though Kayley didn't know what had happened before, she understood the horse and the eager young boy.

'So, sir Garrett', she said and mounted the horse, 'where do you want to go? Forest?'

'Let's just ride into the sunset', he answered. 'I've always wanted to do that.'

They rode off, and after a while Kayley started to twist in the saddle. She leaned so far backwards he had to grab her so she wouldn't fall off, and then she started to laugh. 'That little...' she exclaimed. 'He has put a sign on the horse?'

'A sign?' said Garrett, puzzled. 'What kind of sign?'

'A sign saying "Just Knighted".'

'Well, we are', he said and kissed her.

Sir Lancelot had only two earthly loves: their majesties. He had liked his cousin Lionel, but no more. Still two sights after sir Lionel died had almost broken his heart. The first was a young boy standing by the stable with a white face and tears streaming from his blind eyes. The other was Lionel's daughter running from knight to knight looking for her father.

One sight had made his grave heart smile. It was the sight of both these young people leaving Camelot as knights of the round table, smiling, kissing and quarreling.