Vivianne listened, making no moves, never taking her cold black eyes from the young knight. When he came to the part of his honor, she had to smother a derisive sneer. Finally, he finished his statement and she said,<br/>"Walk with me."<br/>The two of them went into her inner chamber where there were no eyes or ears to bear witness to their conversation. She gestured for him to sit in the low slung chair made of cow hide and she settled on the padded bench by the fire.<br/><br/>"Nimue is young and a romantic. She also is restless. You notice how she chatters like the sparrows among the leaves. Given half a chance, she would follow you anywhere until the next, more romantic solution comes along. Your very existence as a Christian knight is a diametrical opposite of the way the Lady of the Lake gives interpretation of the natural world. I would protect Nimue, for she will be of great benefit to the sisters of Avalon, for she is gifted in a way that few are."<br/><br/>Vivianne rose to her full heights and paced the flagstone floor with her soft velvet slippers making a shushing sound as she walked. Her long black hair, streaked with grey, flowed along with her steps for the ladies of Avalon did not bind their hair but counted it as a talisman of magic. Suddenly she turned, her silk gown swirling around her in an aura of red.<br/><br/>"Would you allow her to go with you? What would you do if you found her laying at your feet in your camp one morning? What of our ways? Would you work to dissuade her of our reality or the rightness of our ways?"<br/><br/>Vivianna stopped to pour herself and Maric a goblet of red wine, drank and then sank back on the bench.<br/><br/>"Why should I not just kill you and tell the lady Nimue that you left the other way? I would spare her the disappointment at the hands of yet another man. You know of her late husband? So tell me, Sir Knight. What should be done?"