"Oh! I'm so sorry! It was an accident. Please, I like my job."

"What?" An amused smile crept across the Lady Morgana's features. Daniel stared into her beautiful blue-grey eyes, they met with his and stared into his vibrant green with a brown ring around the iris.

"I'm sorry. I'm not meant to be doing this, but I'm helping my friend with his impossible chores and I—"

"It's ok." Her calm voice was so sweet and almost amused at his blustering. "I don't think you can see over this mound of clothing." She bent down and helped him gather up all of the material scattered across the floor after they had ran into each other.

"Not really, but I shouldn't be walking into royals none the less."

She looked up at him. "I'm not a royal, I'm just under the kings protection."

"Same thing for me. You're higher than me so I shouldn't even be talking to you."

"Nonsense. If everybody lower than me never talked to me, I'd be very lonely."

"Well you have the king and his court... and Arthur."

"Arthur's a pig."

"Yeah, he is." Shock and dread swept over his features.

The Lady only looked even more amused.

"I should not have said that. Please don't have me flogged."

"Don't worry. It'll be our little secret." She smirked and winked at him. "What brave man dares to insult their crowned prince in front of a courtier? You must have a very brave heart."

"Or a stupid mouth which doesn't know when to shut up when its needed to."

"I'll go for the heart, sounds better."

"Indeed it does. But alas it's not true."

"So come on, what's your name?"

"Daniel."

They both stood up, having collected all of the material, and he held out his arms for her to place hers in them, but she merely tucked a black, curly lock behind her pale ear, and held onto them and started walking.

"Milady, please, let me take them."

"I can carry them fine. Where are you taking them?"

Daniel was slightly taken aback. No lord or lady had ever showed him that kind of kindness before. He blinked a few times before answering. "To the kitchens to be washed. I will be fine if I carry them by myself if you would prefer to go wherever you were going."

"Are you saying I can't carry a bundle of clothing? It's ok, I'm not going any where. I was just walking around the castle aimlessly, so now you have provided me with a distraction. Besides, we can't have you possibly walking into someone else because you can't see."

"Ok. To the kitchen it is."

They started walking, servants bowing to The Lady Morgana as they walked past.

"So, who are you helping with chores?"

"Merlin."

"Oh of course you are."

"You know him?"

"He's Arthur's servant, of course I do. Arthur has him at his beck and call, so the poor boy is almost always by his side, never mind all the chores he has to do as well."

"He's helpless, but he does have an overwhelming amount of chores he is required to do everyday, so I try to help out."

"He is helpless." She agreed. "So I suppose this is Arthur's dirty clothing."

"Yes."

"He has an awful lot."

"Merlin hasn't been able to clean anything for the last four days. Arthur's had him take care of the knights also staying here."

"You know, sometimes, I think Arthur really has no idea that Merlin is a human being. He's practically asking him to do magic."

"You speak treason my lady."

"Well now you have a secret about me as well. So what do you do? I assume you already work in the castle."

"Yeah, I'm a cook, mixed with scullery work. So obviously I have access to the kitchens to help him wash the clothes."

They rounded the corner and entered the kitchens teaming with bustling servants preparing for dinner. They all seamed to halt as they noticed Morgana standing in their midst, holing a pile of washing. They all bowed, slightly confused why she was carrying clothing and standing next to Daniel.

He headed over to the basin, placed all of the washing on the table next to it and rolled up his sleeves. He expected Morgana to simply place the washing on the table and leave, but she in turn rolled up her sleeves and placed a t-shirt into the water and started kneading it. He hesitated for a second, unsure of how to proceed, but then went up next to her and did the same.

"Why do you look so bewildered? I may be the king's ward but I can actually do manual labour, and this, this is easy."

He raised an eyebrow. "Do you actually have a maid, or do you do all of your own chores?"

"Don't joke about Gwen, she's a charm."

"Gwen?!"

"Yes?"

"I didn't know she worked for you."

"You know her?"

"She's my sister. Well, her family took me in."

"Really? So you'd be the one who didn't leave without any warning."

"Yeah. Doran just kind of left. He said he had a great job opportunity somewhere and then vanished the next night. I know it was his decision to make, but I can tell Gwen's silently hating him. I am too I suppose."

"Any idea where he might have gone?"

"None, besides the fact that I know it's not overseas."

"What makes you think that?"

"Oh, well he told us that it wasn't."

"You are very perceptive."

"Why thank you."

They talked all the way through the washing and drying, Morgana never complaining about how much there was, only that Arthur was a pig sometimes for making Merlin do all of these on top of everything else. Daniel occasionally allowed himself to agree with her, especially when she bullied him into it. And to Daniel's horror she and touched him—a number of times—but none more so than when she had ruffled his chestnut brown hair with her soap ridden fingers. He had splashed her with a bit of water before he knew what he was doing and he saw the amazed looks of passing servants giving him stern looks at his audacity.

They were finally heading back towards the castle when Daniel realised what the time was. "Shit!" He exclaimed and started to hurry. He realised what he had just said and that he had said it in front of the king's ward, and he almost stumbled. "I apologise profusely, that kind of language is inexcusable, especially in front of a Lady like yourself."

"It's fine." She smiled. "It shows you have balls."

He almost stumbled again at her words but caught himself and smiled. "Thank you. I really need to go now. The head cook with have my neck if I'm not there soon, especially since she saw me with a lady."

"Worried she'll think we've been doing something inexcusable instead of work?" She gave him a coy smile.

He did stumble that time, almost face planting into the stone stairs they were ascending.

She laughed hysterically, stopping in her tracks and bent over. "Your face and—" A laugh smothered the rest of her words.

Daniel tried to straighten and smooth his clothes down, trying to brush off what he'd done, but half of the people in the courtyard had seen him trip, and the cackling woman next to him was drawing even more attention. "I've never heard a lady say such... foul words."

"Well that would make me no lady?"

He opened his mouth but then closed it, remembering the face of the cook who would skewer him if he didn't go now. "I have to go."

"Nice to meet you, Daniel."

He didn't get the chance to reply as he was sprinting through the doors.

"You work for Morgana."

Gwen almost jumped out of her skin. She had just arrived home—one that she shared with her father—and she hadn't expected her brother to be there. He hardly visited their house any more after getting enough money to buy his own, and he normally only visited in the day.

"Jesus Dan," She clasped a hand over her heart. "I didn't know you were going to be here tonight."

"I wasn't, but I met Morgana today and she told me that you worked for her. Well done."

"I didn't think that it was important." She pulled the string of her cloak loose and shrugged it off.

"Gwen," he got up from his chair and approached her. "It's amazing, you got a spot in the royal house."

"Yes, that's what happens when you work very hard."

"Now you're just being rude."

"Yes well why are you making it such a big deal?"

"Because—" He cut himself off. "Why aren't you? You must be earning so much. And she actually seems nice."

"Yes, she is. Why are you here, Daniel? I'm sorry but I'm really tired and drastically need sleep."

"I came here to talk to Dad. He has something he is very proud of to show me. He'll be back soon, then we're heading out, so you'll have the house all to yourself. Get the desperate sleep you need."

"Daniel..." She trailed off.

Daniel studied her rich brown eyes. They twinkled in the candle light, but they seemed like had a shadow behind them, as if they were actually dull.

"Has someone hurt you?" Daniel said as he noticed the dark bruising around her left eye.

She looked away. "No. I tripped yesterday with Morgana's food and the edge of the plate almost gouged out my eye. Gaius says I'll be fine in a week or two, it'll just be a little sore."

"And if I go to Gaius and ask if he treated you for a plate hitting you when you tripped over he'll tell me that it actually happened."

"Of course."

"I've known you for eleven years, Guinevere. Don't think you can lie to me. You always look away when you're about to lie. You're too good a person, sister, to look someone in the eyes and lie. Who did this."

"It's ok."

"Gwen, you're still looking away."

"Yes I am."

"Gwen..." Daniel reached for her arm but she tugged it away.

"You don't know what it's like, Dan. You're ok, you're normal. You don't look any different to everyone else outside these walls. You have fair skin and fair eyes."

"I like to think of them as 'vibrant green', but ok."

"Daniel... You don't know how lonely it is. You aren't always paranoid that someone is going take you into a back ally and beat you up because of the colour of your skin, because your foreign. I'm lucky enough to have grown up here and have your accent, but my poor father, he will never rise from the status of blacksmith. In fact I'm surprised that he got a position there."

"What happened, Gwen?" He said tentatively. "Did someone do that to you?"

"Yes." A singular tear ran down her face. "It's not new to me. Ever since I got my position as Morgana's personal handmaid, I have had abuse almost daily—mostly verbally."

"Is that why you didn't tell me?"

"Partly, yes."

"Well," Daniel said approaching her. He cupped her face in his hands and stared down into her eyes. "One day you are going to look down on everyone and revel at how far you have come. Who knows, perhaps you'll even become Queen."

Gwen chocked out a laugh. "Wouldn't that be nice, a foreign peasant girl ruling over Camelot."

"With Arthur at your side."

She slapped his chest playfully. "Oh I'd rather die. Kill me now."

They both laughed, and were too caught up in it that they didn't hear door opened and their father come in, already cloaked.

"Gwen," He smiled.

Daniel took his hands off her face and steppe away to face his father.

"Daniel and I are going out for a bit so you don't have to wait up, or make dinner. We'll probably go to a tavern so we'll eat there."

Daniel slipped on his cloak and pulled the hood up to shield him from the cold outside, at least that's what he hoped Gwen thought. He nodded to her as he passed her and exited the tiny house. His father followed and too pulled up his hood to cover his face.

"You found him?" Daniel asked.

"Someone who knows. But they have a price, that's why I need you."

"In what way? I can't fight for the life of me."

"Well they want gold, a lot of it, and I need you to help me to... You'll see. And I'll also need you to protect me physically, if things go south."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you once we get to the forgery."

"How are we going to get gold? All of us only earn enough to survive on. Well I suppose Gwen must get more."

"Don't be mad at your sister, she is under a lot of stress from her duties, and on top of Doran leaving, I'm sure she couldn't handle falling out with her other sibling."

"Well why didn't she tell me she was Morgana's maid? Does she think I'll use that as a way to get leverage on someone?'

"I'm sure she has reasons, or maybe she just hasn't seen you since she got the position."

"So now you're making me the bad person."

"I was doing nothing of the sort. Daniel we are doing this all for you. Don't ever think that we would do anything against you, or ever not love you."

"I'm sorry, he's had it instilled into me. I can't—can't stop expecting someone to betray me."

"We're your family, Daniel. We would never do anything against you."

"My father did."

"Your father was obviously a bad man. Don't let him win by you never trusting anyone ever again."

He smiled slightly. "Thank you. You will always be my true father."

"Don't forget that." He wrapped an arm around the young man.

"Wow, you're so good at making me feel good again. Your services are wasted as a blacksmith."

"I reserve my amazing powers for my family."

"Powers they are indeed."

They rounded the corner and found the forgery already open.

"Did you invite them in already." His brows furrowed.

"Yes." His father paused, then inhaled. "Whatever happens in there, please just... don't ask any questions. You are not who you are, you're just there as another keen associate of mine."

"Ok."

They walked through the doors with a reasonable distance between them, and then didn't bother to remove their hoods. Neither did the figure standing on the only source of light in the darkened room, their face still obscured by the shadow of their hood.

"So you want my help?" The figure said.

"Yes. I can help you do anything if you give me the information." His father said.

"Anything?" Amusement lay behind that word.

Daniel could tell the figure raised an eyebrow, even with their face still hidden. Something about the voice was bugging him. Like something in his subconscious was tugging at him to get away from it.

"Yes."

"There are two things I want." They approached them. "I need your steel, swords, axes and gold, and I want him." The figure pointed their finger towards Daniel.

The words were swept off him as he noticed the feminine hand. He was taken aback, what would a woman be doing here? How could they possibly help?

"What do you want with him?"

"You, blacksmith, supply me with steel, and this man, will be the weapon."

Daniel's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I would like to tell you that in private. Too many ears—" She cocked her head to his father "—and the whole thing could come crumbling down."

"If you want steel, I can't give you gold." His father said.

"Get a pot of lead and melt it." She commanded. "Now."

Daniel hissed at her, but his father complied, walking over to the other side of the forgery.

She stepped up to Daniel, leaving only a few inches between their two faces, and hissed up at him, "You're lucky I have a use for you, boy. If you didn't you'd be dead already."

"You would kill me? You're a woman."

She ripped back his hood and grabbed hold of his short, brown hair. "It makes no difference what sex I am. I will rip your throat out if you speak of any of this."

He straightened as he felt the dagger pushing at his stomach painfully.

"And what is it I am doing?"

"You work in the court, don't you?"

He gulped, confuse as to how she would know that, but answered, "Yes, only in the kitchens."

"Good, I require someone to be close to the king."

"What for?"

"Do you know how to fight?"

His eyes widened as he realised what she was implying. "You... Are you speaking treason?"

"Can you fight." She persisted.

"No."

"Well you'll need to learn."

"How; why?"

"You know why. You're a man who has easy access to the king, something which I don't have."

"I can't."

"You will if you want to find your father."

He snapped his hand around the wrist still holding his hair too tightly. "What do you mean."

"I'm not stupid. It's your biological father you seek. I know exactly where he is, but I'm not telling you until you do what I want."

"Commit treason."

"Yes. Uther's reign has been tyrannical and unjust. He has murdered thousands and has tricked the kingdom into thinking something so peaceful is only a thing of war and destruction. He's sewn the seeds into everyone's minds, and a web of lies has blossomed from it." She paused. "He took my sister. I only wish to show him what it has done to me and what he has done to my kind."

"Look, I don't agree with his purge on magic, but that doesn't mean that I'll kill him. I've never hurt a man in my life. Why must you use me?"

"It wouldn't really work if I got caught. I'm supposed to be dead, I don't want to become it."

"You want me to take the fall."

She cocked her head. "I'm sure you'll think of something if you get caught."

"And if I say that you told me to do it."

"You don't even know my name."

He ripped her hood off before she could register it. Then a knife was at his throat, but he didn't care as he took in her features. Blonde locks framed her face, pale skin, and those eyes... those pale, blue-grey eyes with a ring of brown around the iris he had seen all day, once filled with kindness, now glared at him. He was frozen to the spot, both by the knife at his throat, but those eyes. "Who," he rasped out. "Who did you say your sister was."

Her glare seemed to intensify. "I'd advise you to stop talking." She gritted through her teeth.

"I've just never seen eyes like that. Only once before. In the King's court."

His father came over to them, holding in tongs the melted steel.

The woman stepped away from him, removing the knife from his throat, and ordered his father to put it down on the bench top, pulling her hood back up. When he had done it she placed her hands over it and started to enchant. Both of the men stepped away from her, realising what she was.

Dread swept over Daniel.

If they were caught with her, the king would have their heads, but if he didn't do what she told him, she could probably do something much worse to him. Especially if she was so willing to use her magic in front of them both.

Her eyes flashed yellow and then she reached into the mould. Daniel didn't bother trying to warn her that it would be excruciatingly hot, but she simply up ended it, and out slid gold. Shining, beautiful, pure gold.

Both their eyes widened as the sorcerer turned to them. "This will be enough for now." She said as she picked it up. "I will find you later."

Daniel knew she was talking to him, even though her face was obscured completely.

"If you tell anyone," She walked up to him, and whispered into his ear. "I will gut you."

And then she was gone. A swish of her blue cape and she had disappeared through the doors.

His father looked quizzical at him. "What did she want you to do?"

"I... I don't think I can tell you. I can hardly believe it myself." But then he turned to his father accusingly. "You allied us with a sorcerer?!"

"Daniel, I didn't know. I didn't even know she was a she. I've taken a very long time to find someone with such good information, I didn't think to think about why she would know such things."

"This is a disaster. I need to get into the library. I need to..." He trailed off, his mind running too fast.

"What did she tell you to do."

"Learn to fight."

His father looked even more concerned and puzzled, "What does that mean?" He said, but Daniel was already running home. He had too many things going through his head. He couldn't face it, any of it.

Those eyes had made his day so much more cheerful, but now they haunted him.

Those stupid, beautiful, blue-grey eyes with a ring of brown.

AN: Hello anyone reading this! I've and this idea in my head for a very long time and have finally plucked up the courage to post it. Everything's mapped out already and I have big plans for this so you just wait and see.