Did I forget to mention that I do not own Merlin? Much as I would like to own it, it actually belongs to the BBC and Shine Ltd. Neither does the song Forever Young by Youth Group

Remembering

Song played: Keep Your Eyes Ahead by The Helio Sequence

Chapter 1:

"Hurry up Morgana! Or else we're going to be late for the meeting," a woman with pink hair urged while knocking on a grey door frantically. Eventually she gave up and stalked off to another part of the building.

However, on the other side of the plain, matte grey door was a room blooming with life. The room was tiny, actually it was the size of a office cubicle. But this said cubicle was converted into a makeshift studio and looked as if an artist was given all the time in the world to perfect their craft. A plethora of sketches were thumb-tacked all over the walls hiding what little wall there was in the first place. But if the walls didn't say enough about the owner of the DIY studio, the room itself was cramped beyond belief. Morgana Pendragon or nowadays Morgana le Fay had somehow crammed three bookshelves, a desk, four easels (each with a painting drying) and a stool.

Of course this miraculous cramming of objects was the work of magic, she did not bring her work back home with her. The Great Morgana Pendragon even after one-thousand-four-hundred years still preferred the luxuriant life she had as the unofficial Princess of Camelot, but nowadays these materialistic items she provided herself came in the form of a penthouse in West End London, a Mercedes SLR McLaren, designer clothes, the whole kit and caboodle. And as one would expect with a person having such conspicuous lifestyle and a never aging body she had a couple of issues in changing or hiding her identity. But for Morgana, a couple of threats and well aimed spells and curses was all she needed, it was simply child's play to her. Though by the 1970's she didn't even really need those any more, just some hacking skills into government networks and bada bing bada boom she just 'inherited' everything all over again from another distant relative.

Soon enough life didn't contain the excitement it had a those many centuries ago. Everything was too orderly and organised in the new millennium. Honestly the last time she found life truly exciting was probably the around the 1960's and 1970's, the Age of Experimenting. At times Morgana sometimes found herself reminiscing about the old days, when she and Merlin would have magical duels, weaving complicated spells in attempt the bring each other's early demise, while Arthur and Mordred would pit each other's armies for the throne of Camelot and essentially the Lands of Albion. But those days were long gone and this modern life it was too convenient. So convenient she rarely used magic any more, not that it was getting any easier to tap into her magic. Over the centuries she found that it was getting harder to tap into her magic and she wasn't sure why though. Was it because she was old? Because the world today has distanced itself from its ancestral roots? Whatever it was Morgana did not like it.

Another thing that Morgana did not like was being disturbed while deep in concentration. Her brow was slightly crinkled from frowning for she was delicately placing the finishing touches to her painting. This was her focusing look and added to that, her tongue was poking out, a little quirk she developed a century or two ago.

"Forever young, I wanna be forever young. Do you really wanna live forever? Forever, forever," went her mobile.

This distracted her and caused her to smudge the paint the wrong way on the portrait she was working on. The woman in her painting was sitting by a fire that illuminated her face in a romantic light and instead of having blood red lips it just looked liked she just became a vampire which finished off her latest meal.

"Grrrr, this better be good, it's the second time I've been disturbed," Morgana grumbled to herself, regretting why she became a graphic designer slash artist for the next couple of decades. She quickly wiped one hand clean and picked up her mobile.

"Hello."

"Hello am I speaking to Morgana le Fay?" asked a woman with a lightly cultured accent.

"Yes this is Morgana. Who am I speaking to?" She replied slightly annoyed. Morgana looked at her owl shaped clock on the other side of the studio. It was already three o'clock and she still hadn't finished her painting for the meeting she was already late to.

"This is Jennifer from The Graceful Lion Bookshop and I would like to inform you that your copy of The Concise Collection of Arthurian Legends from Mold has arrived and The Druidic Cults of the British Isles has arrived too."

Morgana smiled slightly, so good news at last, "Why, thank you. I'll come pick them up this afternoon. What time do you close?"

"We close at five-thirty during weekdays and are open on Saturdays from ten to five and are closed on Sundays."

"Thank you. I'll be there today to collect them. Bye."

"No problem. I hope you have a nice day. Bye."

Morgana pressed end call and sighed a breath of relief. Finally a good thing happened today. She quickly flicked her eyes at the clock again and realised she was already ten minutes late. She looked at her ruined painting that she was apparently going to show at this so called urgent meeting and sighed again.

"Onmétaþ,"she whispered and the smudge disappeared and was replaced with a pair of lips smiling seductively.

"Ádrúgaþ." Her eyes flashed golden and the painting dried up immediately, "Perfect." Morgana grinned, picked up her painting and walked off to join the others at the meeting.

When Morgana arrived she realised that wasn't the only person late. One of the good things working at a graphic design company, everyone got caught up with their own work they too lose track of time and today that included the person who called up the meeting in the first place.

"Aww Morgana darling I totally dig your outfit today," complimented Alfred, one of the few friends Morgana allowed herself to have. Alfred in short was the stereotype of gay. He has wavy hair that reached his shoulders wore thick rimmed glasses, a tight pink shirt and tighter pants. Not that she really cared, maybe back in the day she would thought the idea to be absolutely absurd but as time went by and she came to accept it.

"Thanks Alfred, I quite like it too," Morgana replied with smiled. She did indeed like her outfit today. It was a dark green chiffon dress with little purple flowers embroidered at the hem which she then matched up with a pair of brown strappy wedges.

Then came the boss, the person who organised this stupid meeting and pounded Morgana's door and still arrived late to the meeting even though she left more than ten minutes ago.

"Hi guys, sorry I'm late," she welcomed cheerfully and not sounding really sorry at all. Morgana would have said she looked liked a pixie, but the sad thing is she already knew what a real pixie was and to her boss' credit she didn't look like one those. She just appeared to be those new age pointy faced pixies with cropped, spiky hair and in her case a bubblegum pink.

"Well Amanda, why are the ten of us here all cramped up in the tea room?" inquired Alfred.

"I was about to get to that,"she snapped back.

That was the thing with Amanda. She appeared like the cool happy-go-lucky kind of people with strange alternative ways but in Morgana's opinion she definitely did behaved like a pixie.

"Well, what is it?"

"Ok, ok what's the rush for? No need to get snappy with me." Morgana resisted to roll her eyes but a few other people in the cramped room couldn't.

"In a few months it'll be Halloween,"she announced and a couple of people sighed, "Hey hey guys it's not like that hokey pokey commercialism the Americans turned it into but a the traditional Celtic Samhain."

Morgana looked up suddenly more interested in the talk as previous she was playing with hem of her dress and staring to nowhere in particular.

"Oh come on Amanda, is this why we were all called up to? We have a deadline for several of our projects remember?" whined one of the staff.

"Well I think, after all are projects are finished I thought we should have a little break on Halloween but celebrate it the way they had in the old days, you know with a bonfire and whatnot. You know me, willing to try something new."

This was getting interesting thought Morgana, and Amanda being one of your weird, alternative people you just happened to know trying to replicate a traditional Samhain in the Druidic way was going to be funny to observe. The last time when she tried to be Buddhist for a week she ended up chanting her sutra that was meant for luck and good fortune but instead she turned it into a curse which made her cutlery to disappear when she needed it for a week. That is another reason why Morgana was drawn to this place, the little amount of magic the permeated the air here both found in her friend Alfred and crazy nut bag Amanda.

"Also it means you guys all get the day off so it'll be a long week end."

Now that gave her everybody's full attention.

"Morgana, could you come here and show me the painting I requested?"

Morgana straightened up and walked as gracefully as she could in the crowded room (a habit she never lost after living so many years at King Uther's court) with her painting and handed it over to Amanda. Morgana was secretly glad that she used magic to touch this off and speed dry it, maybe it'll give her a pay rise? Not that she really needed one.

Amanda took hold of the painting and examined it for a couple of seconds until she declared, "Perfect! Morgana you're in charge of preparing the festivities for Samhain."

What? She was stunned, wasn't this the nut case's idea to celebrate Samhain, why did she have to do it? Morgana hasn't celebrated Samhain properly since her sister's Morgause's sacrifice on that fateful day so many years ago. Morgana composed herself and answered, "I will be honored to organise the party for Samhain Amanda, but I do not think I'll be able to pull it off authentically though."

"Nonsense Morgana," retorted Amanda with a gleam in her eyes, "I have every ounce of faith in you. I mean look at this painting it like a Celtic girl celebrating by a bonfire. All your designs are actually, medieval fantasy. You know in a land of myth, and a time of magic full of knights and dragons, where druids once roamed the woods. Exactly how I envision it to be. And by the way Morgana, we all know you're very good a researching especially when it concerns Arthurian legends and Druidic cults."

There was no way she could get out of this one, everyone knew she never went holidays outside of the British Isles, had no friends or lovers to spend time with and was the only 'heir' to inherit the vast amount of money to support her lifestyle.

"I'll do it Amanda," Morgana replied cheerfully as she forced a smile, "And you guys better enjoy it since I'm the one doing the hard work." She eyed everyone up.

"That's the Morgana I know, the determined, exceptional hardworker. As a reward for this I'll let you the rest of the day off."

"Thanks Amanda, you'll won't regret this." Morgana walked out of the room with a smirk on her face while planning ways to get back at Amanda on the day. Oh yes she'll have an authentic Samhain.

**M**

Morgana parked her Mercedes near by the Wandsworth Council building. The building was a gleaming white with the borough's crest displayed proudly in front of the main entrance. It depicted a blue and yellow shield that was supported by a dove and dragon. Morgana thought it looked kind of ridiculous, how complex coat of arms have become since her time when they were generally a single emblem. To further highlight the ridiculous coat of arms the banner underneath had their motto as 'We Serve'. Definitely not the way old crests were used. Coat of arms were meant the represent power not submission.

Morgana quickly brushed the train of thought away and looked at her phone to see this bookshop was. She never actually been to The Graceful Lion Bookshop, she just came across it one day while searching the internet about the Druids and her slight obsession of Arthurian Legends. She enjoyed the ways authors and historians depicted her...as long as she had a sort of power with it.

When she finally located the place, which was a tiny store wedged between two massive chain stores. The only reason she actually spotted it was because of the hanging overhead of a prancing, yellow lion swaying in the gentle breeze. The tiny window display held a variety of books, but mainly they were history and antique books. Morgana pushed the wooden door open and entered the premises.

The inside was not Morgana what expected. Sure the store appeared tiny from the outside but that was a deceiving. Inside was actually quite large. Some tasteful music playing softly in the background but then, once again the place was very cramped. Why she always tended to go to crowded places confounds her. The shop contained a manner of bookshelves of all sizes jammed in every corner of the room. Some were tiny that held books no bigger than her mobile while other shelves could have easily been more than five meters tall. There was a man at the registers who was currently stacking books precariously on the shelf behind him and adjacent to that was a tinier cafe with only two tables of three. There were a couple of customers lining up at the cafe counter, yet the single barista was already busy with her back facing them and retrieving another packet of roasted coffee beans.

Morgana walked up to the registers where the skinny yet lean man, Morgana noted was stacking more books. She could tell the poor guy was going to fall any second, even for a guy who appeared to be at least six foot would not be able to reach the top shelf while standing on apparently what seemed to be a stack of old Yellow Pages.

"Umm excuse me," Morgana decided to announce herself. She then counted one, two, three...

CRASH! The Yellow Pages buckled underneath him he fell down with a couple of the books that the man was stacking landed on top of his head.

"I'm Ok, I'm ok," the man repeated with his back still facing towards her and brushing off the dust on his dark, blue polo.

"Are you alright there?" called the barista from the other side.

"I'm ok Jen! Just a small fall and maybe a couple of bruises to my head, nothing out of the norm,"he reassured the barista called Jen in joking tone. This was probably Jennifer who called her earlier on today.

"Ok if you say so."

"You sure you are ok?" enquired Morgana.

"Yeah I'm fine, I'm just a tad clumsy...so they say," he replied in an accent that was English but sounded like some Irish undertones too, or so Morgana heard. He then turned around and asked, "How can I help you today ma'am?"

Morgana's eyes widened and her mouth became dry. No it couldn't be. Could it? He was suppose to be dead. He died at the Battle of Camlann and that was one-thousand-four-hundred years ago. But he had the same jaw structure, defined cheekbones and enormous ears which make you want to squish them back into place. But it was those eyes, those cheerful, twinkling eyes that seem too know everything and challenged every little thing you did.

"Merlin?"

The man looked at her weirdly, "Yeah, I'm Merlin. The all powerful warlock."

Morgana was speechless, and that hasn't occurred in a very long time.

"If you think I'm some old guy with a beard and a pointy hat," he joked, "So while you're standing here looking a bit gobsmacked, I suppose you're Morgana who's come to pick up two special orders. Am I correct?" he asked with a small smile playing on his lips.

What an idiot she was! Why in the world would Merlin be here in the twenty first century if he has been dead for over a millennia. Sure this guy looked remarkably like him, so much so she couldn't tell a difference except that his hair was a bit longer and his hands weren't those calloused servant's hands but smooth, long fingered hands. Why was she even thinking about that?

"Yep, you're correct. I'm Morgana. Though how you knew puzzles me."

He shrugged and turned his back to grab two medium sized books from the shelf, "Not sure really, just had a feeling that's all." He turned around again to face her again and placed both books on the counter, "Here you go Morgana, The Concise Collection of Arthurian Legends specially ordered from Mold and The Druidic Cults of the British Isles."

Morgana picked up one of the books and pretended to examine them, though she already knew these were the correct ones. It reality she was actually checking if this man had any magic. And truth the be told she was surprised.

He had none. Yet it wasn't the fact that he had none, it was the fact was that she couldn't even sense him at all. On any scale, magical and non magical. He was a puzzle, and anomaly, something waiting to be solved. This made Morgana more confused and intrigued with this Merlin doppelganger.

"These are the correct ones," replied Morgana while taking out her credit card and handing it to him.

He took the credit card, looked at it quickly and tried to suppress a grin while swiping it through the machine.

"What's so amusing?"asked Morgana curiously.

"I suppose you're parents really liked Arthurian legends and it rubbed on to you Miss Morgana le Fay," he emphasised her last name with a cheeky smile.

Oh, two can play at one game, "And how do you know that I just didn't happen to marry a man with the surname of Le Fay?" she paused, "Mr..." Morgana looked around at his person and saw a name tag.

Síoraí.

"Síoraí," finished Morgana with a smirk.

Síoraí chuckled lightly, "Well Miss Le Fay, firstly you don't have a wedding ring on your finger and secondly you seem too much like an free spirited woman to even consider marriage yet."

He was very observant this Síoraí thought Morgana, or he can read her like a book a one glance, a thing Morgana prided herself as impossible to do on her.

"By the way you're one of the few who can pronounce my name correctly on your first try," he continued with an easy smile.

"Yeah, I speak a couple of languages fluently and Irish happens to be one of them," she replied. Yep definitely a few languages with some dead ones too. A millennia and a few centuries was plenty of time to learn some new words. "And I suppose your name means 'timeless'?" asked Morgana.

Síoraí handed back her credit card and started placing the books in a paper bag with a prancing lion printed on it. "Well I was going to say 'forever' or 'eternal', but timeless seems bout right to me."

"Isn't that a bit girly? Isn't Síoraí generally a girl's name?" Síoraí frowned slightly, "Not that it's a bad thing," Morgana quickly added.

"No it's alright, you just happened to be the second person too say that to me, the first was the prat."

Now that was a insult Morgana hasn't heard for many a century. She tried not to show her surprise and then said, "He can't be that bad, but still Síoraí, you have to agree it is a girly kind of name."

Síoraí must have saw the flicker of surprise and misinterpreted it and then said, "Nahh really the prat is actually my best friend. Easy to get along with if he doesn't have a stick up his ass which actually seems to be around forty percent of the time. It was worst apparently before I met him. And as for my name it was either Síoraí or Marlin according to my parents. I'm glad they chose Síoraí cause Marlin makes me sound like a fish."

Síoraí then handed the bag to Morgana who giggled a bit for Marlin did remind her of fish and then for some strange spur of the moment action Morgana accidentally slipped a question she was not meant to ask, or so she told herself afterwards.

"Would you care if I had your number Síoraí?"

Síoraí obviously was very surprised by the question. Who wouldn't ? When a pale, dark haired beauty with exotic green eyes asks for your number what do you say? You say yes of course.

But no."Ehmm," was Síoraí's reply as he stumbled into the more Irish side of his accent and tried to look somewhere else that wasn't her face and then behind her, "I shouldn't be socialising with customers really."

"Oh sorry," Morgana looked behind herself too and realised there was a bit of a line forming. She then quickly opened her card holder and gave him her private graphic design business card that had her email and number. "Call me when you can," she said with a bright smile and walked out he shop.

When Morgana out of the store, she felt rejuvenated oddly. As if the tingle of magic suddenly became stronger within her. She wasn't sure why, but she did know for a fact that The Graceful Lion Bookshop had something in it that was drawing her in.


Author's notes

Ok guys, it appears that I updated earlier than expected. Really I think you guys deserve better than the lousy prologue :), however really I should be studying for my exams (shakes fist at muse). And I hope I caused no offence to anybody about my references to gays (one of my best friends are gay) and American commercialism. Also did anyone spot the Merlin intro reference? :D

As with Síoraí 's name I think it is pronounced: Seer-o-ree, o as in cot. Any Irish speakers please correct me if you can.

By the way, with the spells I just made them up with the help of an online Old English translator. Hope to use more from the actual show.

Onmétaþ: it paints

Ádrúgaþ: it dries

Hope you enjoyed the update. 4/11/2011