Serenity was beginning to panic. She’d gone through adrenaline, dazed numbness, focused, efficient calm and now… What do you do? She had gone from working on her archaeological dig site in England 2067 to the middle of a battle field in… 1067? 1069?, looking after an orphaned boy and trying to handle drugged, traumatised Norman nobles… Okay. Yep, she'd gone crazy.

No doubt about it. Not only was she living in her nightmares, which felt far too real to contemplate, she was acting recklessly, getting herself as close to being killed as a girl can among well-armed, well trained, drugged soldiers can. And then to top it all off, she was having romantic feelings for the first time ever… for a medieval figment of her imagination… and her captor… Yep, definitely crazy. Even if she could imagine, just imagine, that this was somehow all real, why the blazes did she have to have her first real romantic feelings for man who tied her up, barely talked and killed people for a living? It's not fair. She wanted to fall in love achievable at least. Someone nice, safe, a secure modern gentleman. Someone who shared her interests and didn't own acres of land, soldiers, serfs and a very sharp sword!!!

Serenity sighed. You've had your hissy fit, now you have things to take care of, a five year old being the most important at the moment.

Looking around the large hall she had just entered, she looked for some water for the little one. She walked over to the long wooden table and seated the child next to her. He didn't want to let go and certainly wouldn't be wondering far from her side for a while. And who could blame him? He had just survived the destruction of his whole village, seen his mother and presumably sisters killed before him and was now under the power of the man who was responsible. He must be terrified. Poor mite, she'd make sure to keep her promise and keep him safe. For as long as she was here… wherever here is…

Serenity was roused from her contemplations of the reality of dreams and the reality of… reality by the entrance of Lord Robert and two other men whom she recognised from the many soldiers she had encountered at the battle site. They came to stand before her as she sat at the long wooden table with the child on her lap. The big noble knelt down so he was face to face with the boy, who, though scared, bravely looked back into the man's eyes. He must have seen something there because he relaxed infinitesimally.

"Child, what is your name?" He waited but when Lord Robert was given no response he gave a little sigh and continued. "Child, I am sorry for what has happened to you and your family. What happened was not our intent, I promise you will be safe under my keeping. I'll make sure you want for nothing…"

After a further silence with no response, the Norman got up and turned his attention to Serenity, no doubt to begin asking the numerous questions he had brewing within him. Before either of them could speak, the boy spoke so softly into his chest that both closest to him barely heard it.

"Osgar"

Pleasantly stunned, Lord Robert smiled down at him and Serenity hugged Osgar closer. It was the first thing he had said since she found him, hopefully the shock was beginning to wear off. He may never again be the same but at least he was not broken beyond healing. Looking up into Lord Roberts smiling face, her own relief evident, Serenity suddenly saw a vision of who this man was, regardless of orders and title, and all that he could be despite them.

She saw a man who would be the support of his King, who would help build a Kingdom that would endure for centuries. A man who would embody the original meaning of the title gentleman. Protector, warrior, incorruptible, just. A man whose name and house would stand by their kings for generations, making them what they are. A man whose integrity would mean his descendants would abandon a Monarch not worthy. An integrity that would transcend time and wait until they were needed again, to once more be the foundation of progress and all that is right. A man beyond his time…

Blinking, Serenity looked away from the man and the vision and doted on little Osgar. Wisely deciding not to push too far, Lord Robert simply said, "Well met Osgar" before turning once again to her. "My Lady, I would like to talk with you. Would you like to sit by the fire and we can partake of some food while we speak." Nodding her ascent, Serenity stood up with Osgar in her arms and walked the length of the hall with him in pregnant silence. She was not uncomfortable but she had no idea what she would tell him. As little as possible while still telling the truth was her best option she thought. He could fill in the blanks with his assumptions and contemporary knowledge, she wouldn't correct him unless necessary. Her intuition and that vision made her believe he would do the right thing by her and the child.

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They came to the hearth, which was huge, and Lord Robert indicated her chair. She sat, feeling warm and comfortable and a little sleepy. She waited for him to give out orders and sit opposite her. It was not long before the food had arrived along with small mead and a healer who Lord Robert insisted look at her wounds, most of which were just scratches. Well ministered too, the healer then left and the pair ate in companionable silence… until he asked his first question. The moment of truth, or mostly truth in her case, had arrived.

***

"Where are your kin my Lady? I will do my best to return you to them."

Serenity took a small sip of the warm mead. She seemed nervous, understandable for a young woman in her position, without family and under the protection of a stranger. A stranger whom she had seen do terrible deeds. Even if those deeds were not truly their own. Robert was not sure if he would ever forget that night. She was to him a salvation. Her presence had prevented worse atrocities, and revealed the danger in their midst. He felt he own her a life debt. She had saved his honour and the honour of his men. He would do all he could for her.

"Sir Robert, thank you for your offer but I don't know where my father is, or in fact, where we are He is my only kin in England at this time, I know of no other. But you do not have to care for me, I will not be a burden on you or your people."

Robert was adamant in his response. "I cannot allow you to be unprotected. You have my protection for as long as you need it. You are no burden. Now, there is a Lord William Neville, close friend to King William. You are not related to him? There are very few Neville's in this land."

"I do not know him or if we are related. As I said it's just my father and I in England. He is the last of his family and my mother's family…" How do you tell a medieval Lord that her only family are hundreds of years away?

"They reject you? Forgive me but you are not full Norman are you? Your colouring is Norman, beautifully dark, but your height and eyes are Saxon if I'm not mistaken."

There was a pause in their conversation and Robert feared he had offended his young charge. And she did look so young, vulnerable. And yet, her every action and word showed a maturity he did not expect. She was honourable, responsible… and beautiful. He could not deny it, though the way she acted, it was as if she herself did not know it. Which was ridiculous, anyone could see her attraction.

"N-no. I'm not sure. I don't know much about them…"

"Very well. I will inquire for you among the Neville family. They may know of you or your father. He must be worried for you. Now, do you know where you and you father were last, or where you were headed?"

Robert felt he had skirted the issue long enough. He was burning to know how this surprising you woman had ended up alone in strange garb in the middle of a battle ground. What about her upbringing or people made her so… any other young women who had witnessed what the Lady Serenity had or found herself alone in the world, as she seemed to be, would be hysterical by now.

"I do not yet know the names of this land well. Do you have a map so I can show you where father and I were. We were staying with an acquaintance of fathers. The last I remember was being in my private room before waking to the sounds of battle in the field… Something is missing, I know there is more…"

Robert watched as she bit her lip with growing frustration. He began to have an idea of what may have happened to her. The fact she could not remember suggested a shock or head injury. This was worrying. Why take a girl and leave her in the middle of nowhere so close to battle unless… unless someone was trying to kill her. Pass her off as one of the fallen. What if her father… no if he was ashamed of her lineage he would have done so long ago. And when Serenity spoke of him he felt warmth in their relationship. No something else was going on here it he suspected it tied in with his experience at the battle and the malevolent feeling from the woods.

Robert had a map brought and Serenity showed him where she and her father had been, an area to the south he was unfamiliar with, that belonged to a faintly familiar Lord of comfortable wealth and little political ambition. It was unlikely her father or his acquaintance was involved. Robert only hoped her father was unharmed. If Serenity herself was taken so easily, what had become of her guardians?

***

Serenity was agitated. Lord Robert's questioning was gentle and she had not had to lie to him, thankfully. She suspected he thought foul play was involved, he seemed to become very protective when he looked at her. By the end of his questioning, and reassurances that she would have his protection for as long as she needed it, the hall had filled with his soldiers and the people of his house. She relaxed into her chair watching over Osgar as he slept, tucked up on her lap. Lord Robert excused himself with a murmur and went to his people, promising to return soon. While she waited, Serenity thought back over her dreams and that missing gap before she appeared here. Something about all this pulled at her, as if someone had orchestrated it all, pulling the strings.

As she thought, the voices around her faded and an icy shiver slowly slide down her spine. She sat up in the chair, her eyes unfocused and her head tilted back to fix on the balcony above them. The hall was silent and her breathing slowed… it was here.

***

He held back a gasp. Wrapped in his shadows he knew no one could see him but she was fixated wholly on his position. Fear and pleasure washed through him at the realisation. They were connected somehow, it was more than he had ever hope for. Soon, she would come to him, she couldn't help it, their destiny was pulling at them. Together they would tear history apart and re-write it. Whatever had brought them both here had blessed them with this opportunity and he was not going to waste it. She would join him or suffer with them.

Still gazing at his love and his bane, he glided down to the bailey in silence. It was time to see how far he could go…