Morgana and Leon Knight were sitting in a crowded auditorium they were about to watch their eldest child receive her Noble Peace Prize. With them were their son and closest friends. They were all extremely proud of her and the fact that even though she was only in her late twenties she had done so well that she was being recognised in this way.
There was a polite round of applause as the striking young lady stepped out to receive her award, for services to Peace and Reconciliation. After the citation had been read out she stepped up to the microphone and spoke.
"Yours Majesty, Mr President, Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen I am honoured to accept this award for my work in promoting peaceful resolutions to conflicts throughout the world. However I would not be here today had it not been for the help and friendships I have made and also the two men whose deaths made me decide on the direction my life would take. My speech is longer than normal and I thank the committee for allowing me this time to tell their story" she paused and looked round the room, seeing her parents she continued.
"I never met the two men in question, but it is fair to say that without one of them I wouldn't be even alive today. Let me take you back twenty eight years when my mother and her future brother in law, Merlin were in a café. It was my uncles wedding the next day. They were waiting for him and my father to finish a board meeting. As they walked to their table a man entered the café and shouted "You all die for Allah, to pay for the sins of your countrymen" With that he blew himself up. As he shouted Merlin, who would have been my uncle by marriage threw himself at my mother and cradling her they fell to the ground he used his body to protect her." the young lady paused briefly before continuing.
"As debris rained down and the screaming began my mother opened her eyes, at the same time the man who saved her life said his last words "Tell Arthur I love him" then "Tell him to be happy" with that he died. He was twenty four years old. My Uncle Arthur was heartbroken, Merlin had been the love of his life, all who knew them said they were soulmates, two sides of the same coin. Arthur couldn't bury his fiancé for a month. Before the body was released my mother found not only had Merlin saved her but she was pregnant with me. So he saved two lives that day. My uncle, unknown to the family, had made plans and the day Merlin's body was released Arthur took an overdose and died Merlin's photo clasped in his arms. He couldn't life without his 'husband' they hadn't managed to marry but that's how he thought of Merlin. The letters he left showed that had always been his plan. He had found a way that the two of them could be buried in the same coffin, wrapped together for their eternal sleep. Everything was planned, they were buried as Arthur wished. Arthur, my uncle left another letter for their friend to read at the funeral I have it here and will read it. It was this letter that decided my future when I read it for the first time when I was sixteen.
Today you bury my husband, for even without that piece of paper that's what he was. Merlin was the gentlest, loving and forgiving man alive, he forgave me when I left him for a month, I was a fool and was frightened of my feelings for the beautiful man, I was scared to admit I loved a man, that I was a homosexual. I'm still not sure if I am. I think I was Merlinsexual. That month apart was the worst time of my life. I vowed to him then we would never be parted again. I have kept that promise, I do not wish to live my life like my father did, in hate and grief, as he too lost his other half, at a young age. When Merlin was murdered I felt a great hatred for those that planned and carried out the bombing. Until my death, no matter how long I had lived, I would have without question ripped those responsible apart with my bare hands, after killing all who they loved in front of them, such is my grief. Yet even in my hatred I could hear Merlin's voice. We had may a discussion on war and its effect. He would say "By bombing and killing we create hatred and continue the circle of death, if you kill a person's family and those they love they will kill yours. We should stop and talk, find a place where we can accept each other or we will never have world peace. Someone has to make that first step" That was the man he was. In joining Merlin on this last journey I am doing as he asked and being happy, I can only be happy with him, my mind is not disturbed it is at peace, I am with my love…forever."
I cried as I read that letter, but it made me decide that's what I would do, get people to talk, before they used force. Stop the circle of hate. After reading the letter my mother hugged me and told me the reason she had given me my name, to honour my uncles. I hated my name, it was old fashioned and would have changed long ago if I could. So she explained 'Had you been a boy your name would have been Arthur Merlin" now incidentally my brother's name. Merlin had always said he wouldn't name any child with his name he had suffered to much teasing. As for my name the 'M' is for Merlin without him I would never have been born, the 'atha' is of her brother who she loves to this day hence Martha. I am proud of my name and that is why I dedicate this award to my uncles. To Merlin for saving my life and Arthur for giving me a path to follow"
There wasn't a dry eye as Martha finished her speech, just as there hadn't been when Gwaine had read the words at the funeral all those years before. As Martha went to her parents and brother she had her husband at her side. The son of the man who had first read out those words so long ago. Martha was hugged by her parents then by her in laws. Gwaine, who had tears running down his face looked at his daughter in law "Oh Martha they would have been so proud of you, we all miss them so much, I just wish you could have known them."
"So do I, but it feels like I did somehow" Martha said then she turned and hugged her parents "I will make sure they are not forgotten."