The king smiles at his new subject as her parents bow, a healthy three days old baby girl, and now a recognized citizen of the kingdom of Eldor. The parents don't hide their surprise when the king descends from his throne to delicately take the baby's hand and softly kiss it. In the same room the king had heard so many news; the announcement of his father death, the cheers of his people when his son was born, the day he had to declare an never ending war, and when Gaius walked through the main doors looking as death itself to pronounced the loss of the queen. So, Balinor had learned if something as joyful as a new born baby wanting to get her citizenship walks (or is carried) through those doors it should be treasured. Balinor straightens himself as the king he is, congratulates the parents on their beautiful baby and offers them a night on the palace; the parents must be tired.
The King returns to his throne with a smile in his lips, his eyes flash golden and the door opens to receive the next citizen who has asked for a hearing with the king. When a lanky boy enters the room the King's smile rapidly drops; the boy is the latest manservant of the prince, and has been on duty for only six months which is a record. The boy unable to meet the king's eyes just speaks directing the floor: he says how sorry he is, and that the prince is an incredible sorcerer and will be a magnifying and witty king, but he needs a more... capable servant. The king hears in silence, and wonders if there even is a more capable servant for Merlin.
A young man walks through the old paths of Camelot; they were once well-kept, but now they are barely a dirt road. He ventures through the forest, swims across the lake with his backpack floating on wood collected from an old broken boat, climbs the mountain, and he finally sees the tallest tower of Eldor's palace. Arthur fights the urge to turn back, even when it seems like the most logical choice; Eldor is a place of magic or the capital of magic, and intruders, not magic practitioners, are executed. The scenarios in which he is found and killed start playing inside Arthur's head, but he quickly pushes them out: he will not be found out, he is going to live in the bottom of the palace inside a tiny room and never go out until the right time to complete his mission comes. Someone owes his mother a favor and his mother had promised they would deliver. The thoughts of how everything could go wrong still luring in Arthur's head, but he walks faster than the thoughts chasing him.
Once inside the walls of Eldor Arthur struggles with his hands more that his head, he feels his fingers instantly flying to his closest sword or knife or maze. A centaur eyed him like Arthur was the strange one, a tiny shining lady was selling tiny diamonds, and ravens flied carrying papers and objects. Down the street are a couple of kids playing with a ball; most of them look normal, but there is a filly centaur that has trouble circling around the ball to take it from his friends, and a girl with long rabbit ears that keeps pulling her older rabbit brother's cloths; Arthur lets himself be amused by the creatures. The centaur calls the filly that rushes to the older man/horse side, and he waves bye and tries to stand in his back legs. Arthur smirks at the bold act, and keeps walking feeling more secure that he will survive. The other kids were pushed a side, away, inside their homes by their parents; then Arthur hears the bells of the palace and rushes with many others to the source of the commotion.
A man is forced into a wood platform, and held above the ground with an invisible grasp. From the balcony of the palace the king appears and explains to his people that that man is an intruder and a thief; a non-practitioner that has being stealing from the fairies' diamond caves. The king says that those who do not have or can't understand magic as the spark of life will no longer oppress the old creatures of magic. The sentence is announced; death. The invisible grasp tightens and the man lets out a scream before becoming silent. The crowd passively reacts, and moves on; except for two men and a woman that silently grieve the man's death.
Arthur ignores the trio and moves to find the court potion master.
Gaius tightens the scarf that covers his mouth and nose, and crosses through the purple-ash smoke trying to find the small bottle where all the dark fog was coming from. The door suddenly opens allowing the smoke out.
"Close the door! Close it!" the old physician screams from the center of the fog, and the startled young man obeys.
"um...ugh, ack! What is that terrible smell?" Arthur fast covers his nose and tries to move away from the fog which is not very possible with the smoke covering the whole room, but he remembers this should be kind of a natural thing and continues with his initial issue.
"Are you the Potion master, Gaius?" the older man either ignores or doesn't hear the question.
"if you see a small black bottle in the floor pick it up, young lad" Arthur searches in the floor for the container in hopes it would help to make the insufferable fog disappear, and his young accurate eyes eventually find the bottle. "I got it!"
"Great!" Gaius moves closer to the voice he hears. "Now make a condensation spell and concentrate the liquid into the bottle...can you perform the second spell?" If the smoke wasn't in the way it would had been visible how pale Arthur's face was, but he has always been able to keep his voice steady when he speaks or lies.
"Sir...I cannot. I wish I could but...I never... learn" Arthur almost smile of how convincingly sad he sound. "Oh! Well, then go and open the windows" the young man obeys fast opening every window he can find, and the smoke starts dispersing making the room visible for the first time and the men who are in it.
The old man standing in front of an stranger gives a uncertain look, after a moment Gaius understands he doesn't know this boy. "Who are you?"
Arthur, making sure he doesn't seem nervous, answers right away "Arthur"
"Arthur? Arthur the son of Ygraine" The blonde man nods. The old man gives Arthur a long look, he doesn't look helpless as the physician's friend, Ygraine, described him but she must had been trying to ensure her son approval into Gaius' care. The old man thinks of the promise he had made and for some reason he suddenly fears he made a mistake.
"Arthur...you know what to say if you are asked 'where are you from' or 'do you have any family'?" The young man feels his chess get tighter but nods convincingly. I'm the royal heir to the lost mighty kingdom of Camelot, "I'm from a small village from the west called Amok," I'm the son of the fallen warrior King; Uther; and sweet triumphant Lady Ygraine. "I lost my uncle James, the only family I ever had, last winter and he told me to come to Camelot." The old man smiles satisfied and takes the other to his new room.
Arthur looks to the tiny room with the thin mattress, is not fit for a price but perfect for fallen royalty. The blonde man thanks Gaius, and starts unloading his small bag of cloths and the many weapons and metal scraps he carries with him. The young ears pick up a groan, and Arthur leaves the room to find Gaius picking up bottles from the floor. The young man quickly moves to aid the physician, and picks up all the bottles, throws away the broken bowl, and fixes the shelf that was move during their blind search. Gaius obverses, suddenly feeling fortunate to have gained a young helpful man as an assistant, and the fear is disappearing from the old man's mind. However, before Gaius could get comfortable with Arthur's presence a question must be answer.
"Why did you come here?" The question was soft, not a whisper but it still felt like a secret. Arthur was taken by surprise and he puts the last glass bottle into the cupboard, "if someone asks I will say 'to live with my uncle's friend Gaius, and to see the capital'" the listener makes an 'o' with his lips, and waits for the answer. "I want to say...because of my mother's worried words..." Gaius move closer understanding that what he is about to hear is a secret. "I want to live. I really do, but I can't. Nor I can die." Arthur tries to smile but the corners of his mouth don't seem to go up enough. "I can't live there: all I see is what Camelot used to be, learn dead history and honor a dead honor code, I see my mother 'a queen' polish the floor while missing a father who I cannot remember or forget, from those bedtime stories. I can't live and be a prince of a ruined nation or die and just be another tragedy. I have to-" Gaius puts his hand in the boy's shoulder, he doesn't need to say it; he has said enough. The old man pulls the young man into a hug and doesn't let go. Arthur lets the hug sink on him, he has discover that he likes Gaius and it hurts to lie to him...
No, Arthur hasn't lied to him completely, he meant most of those words but to make them true he would have to finish the last sentence of his tale differently; I have to- I have to do something.
I have to avenge my people, and make our oppressors feel our pain. The queen has given me her blessing, and Camelot deserves retribution.
It is my destiny to destroy Eldor.