Chapter 2

The first night Regan spent in Camelot was cold and clear. Unable to sleep because of her excitement of where she was, her worry about getting back and her slight homesickness, she got up from her bed carefully and went through the curtain to Merlin's side of the room. There she opened the window and leant out, in awe of the city spread below her. She still couldn't quite believe where she was.

After a while the cold got to her, and she quietly closed the window. Merlin had kicked off his blankets and was shivering, so she picked it up and tucked him back in, feeling strangely mother-like as she did so. Caught up in the moment, she even brushed some of his hair back from his forehead before she realized what she was doing and hurried back to her bed. She, too, was cold; her thin nightdress she had found in the bag that contained clothes and other useful items was not keeping out the chill very well.

That bag was strange. Everything in it was her size, though she had never seen it in her life. And it had the book in it. The book from the library, which, when she looked inside, was completely blank, except for three words on the first page: stop the curse. She knew what that meant, but she also knew that the person casting it would not arrive for a while. She settled back into bed and waited for sleep to arrive.

On the other side of the room Merlin waited until he heard the sound of regular breathing before he sneaked into Regan's room. While he lay there, he pondered what had happened earlier that night. Much later he crept through the curtain and started to search through her bag. He found only what he had seen before, but he examined the book with interest. He opened it and read the three words on the front page, frowning in confusion.

Stop the Curse. Now what could that be about? Merlin found nothing else, and with one flash of his eyes, replaced everything as it was. Then he sneaked back to bed, his mind buzzing with even more questions than he had had before searching Regan's bag.

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'Take this to Lady Morgana, and this to Kieran, who has a slight fever, and this…' Merlin let Gaius' instructions roll off him as he ate his breakfast. For once, they weren't directed at him, but at Regan. She looked like she was struggling, as she tried to take in what Gaius was rattling off while juggling about ten different jars in her arms. Merlin was torn, but finally his sense of chivalry overtook his laziness, and he hauled himself up from his chair and walked over to the bemused girl.

'I'll come with you today,' he said, taking a few of the jars. 'Just so you know what you're doing.' She smiled at him in relief.

'Thanks.'

'Hurry up then!' Gaius said, shoving them out of the door. 'I need you back soon so you can help me make some tinctures.'

'Right,' Merlin said, peering at the first label. 'This way.' He decided his need to be with Regan was simply so he could figure her out, but something in his mind knew this to be only half-true. She trotted after him, frowning. He gave her a strange look.

'I'm trying to remember the way,' she said. He nodded.

'Soooooo… can you remember anything before waking up?' he asked her as they turned a corner and started down some steps. She bit her lip.

'Well…' She gave him a penetrating look, as though she was working out whether she could trust him or not. She had just opened her mouth to speak when an annoyed voice rang out behind them.

'Merlin? There you are, I've been looking for you.' Arthur strode up, and, ignoring Regan, started on Merlin. 'Yesterday was your day off! I've been waiting for you for ages!'

'Sorry sire, I forgot,' Merlin said hurriedly. 'I was just helping Regan do her rounds for Gaius. She's not been here long and she doesn't know her way around…' Merlin trailed off when he realized Arthur was no longer listening to him, but had turned to Regan.

'You're Gaius' patient,' he said. She nodded, looking awed and slightly nervous. 'I thought you were ill.'

'I…' she began, but Merlin chipped in.

'She recovered from her fever but the poison that caused it gave her amnesia,' he told Arthur. 'She's staying with us until she gets her memory back. She's doing my old job, since I can't do it when I'm washing your clothes and polishing your armour.' He said the last bit pointedly, but it slid off Arthur like water off a duck's back.

'You can show her round today, but I want to see you on the training field ready to practice after lunch. You're lucky I have to do patrols with father this morning.' With that, Arthur strode off the way he had come. Regan looked slightly miffed.

'I can speak for myself, you know,' she told Merlin.

'I know,' he said, good-naturedly. 'I just thought that meeting new people can be nerve-racking sometimes, and you might want some help.' He carried on along the corridor, followed by an apologetic Regan.

'Sorry,' she said. 'I didn't mean for you to give up your other work to help me, when Arthur seems to be very demanding.'

'He's alright once you get to know him,' Merlin said. 'We're more friends than master and servant, really. He just hides it well in public. And I've got the morning off, which gives me a chance to do nothing for once.' They reached another stop, and Regan knocked and handed over a tonic. After much tramping all around the castle and city, they returned to Gaius' chambers and sat down, Regan massaging her feet.

'These shoes have no sole,' she complained. 'I might as well have worn bare feet!'

'I wouldn't if I were you,' Merlin said, lying back on his bed with his arms under his head. 'You don't know what's on the floor.' He watched absentmindedly as Regan searched through the bag he had found near her in the Darkling forest, pulling out a knife with an intricately carved metal handle, and a plain wooden box.

She opened it to find several long thick strips of cloth. Realizing what they were for, she shut it quickly, blushing. Merlin had no idea what it was, but felt that he shouldn't ask. Regan put everything back and then lay belly-down on her bed, head on her hands, staring at him.

'What?'

'Could you show me… err, you know.' She waved a hand vaguely, looking embarrassed.

'Do you want to see some magic?' Merlin asked, excited. It would be nice to be admired for a change. She nodded, and Merlin checked for any people who might see or overhear. Gaius seemed to have forgotten about the tinctures and had left to collect something or other, and his chambers were still. Merlin shut his bedroom door after a few furtive looks around, and then came back in and sat on his bed, facing Regan.

He reached forward, whispered a few chosen words and gently pressed his index finger to Regan's cheek. She gasped as a tear welled in her eye and slid down her cheek. Another whispered word, and Merlin's eye's flashed gold. Regan almost missed seeing the teardrop detach itself from her cheek, hover into the air and form into a perfect pearl, so entranced was she by his golden eyes.

'Wow,' she breathed, as Merlin reached out and caught the tiny jewel in his palm. He handed it to her. 'That is amazing.' Merlin grinned and fidgeted uncomfortably. He wasn't used to being complemented, especially when he was called an idiot more than twice a day by a certain prince, and sometimes even Gaius.

'What were you going to say earlier?' He asked, remembering his question from when they were distributing the medicines.

'Hmm?' Regan asked, distracted, as she examined the pearl.

'Can you remember anything?' He asked, and then he lay back on his bed and waited for an answer. He glanced over and saw her looking nervous.

'Promise you won't tell anyone?'

'If I do, then you can tell the King about my magic,' Merlin said, firmly. She bit her lip.

'Ok… Icomefromthefuture,' she said, all in a rush.

'Pardon?' said Merlin, sitting up quickly. She sighed heavily.

'I… I come from the future,' she said reluctantly. Merlin opened his mouth to speak but she held up her hand. 'Let me explain. I found a book in my library, about… you, and Arthur. It wasn't finished, but there was a recipe for a drink that would answer all my questions. So… I made and drank it. And woke up here,' she said, looking around. She looked at him sheepishly. 'I was kind of lying about the amnesia thing, although I can't remember the story very well.'

'So you can't remember what'll happen?' asked Merlin eagerly. She shook her head sorrowfully.

'I know something bad is going to happen, but I can't remember what,' she frowned at the floor. 'All I know is I've got to stop a curse. But I don't know more than that. I suppose everything changed when I came.' Merlin absorbed all this information.

'This means Arthur could be in danger soon,' he thought out loud.

'Yes, from a very powerful sorcerer,' Regan said, and then she looked surprised. 'I don't know why I said that.'

'Perhaps your memory is coming back!' Merlin said excitedly.

'No… It just came to me.' His face fell slightly.

'Well, we'll need to keep on our guard,' he said, getting up, opening up the loose floorboard by his bed and getting out his book. 'Maybe we can work it out using a spell of some sort.' She joined him on his bed as he feverishly flicked through it, muttering to himself occasionally and running his hands through his hair, making it stand on end.

Suddenly the door to his bedroom banged open, and they both jumped guiltily. Merlin shoved the book down out of sight, but there was no need; it was only Gaius.

'What are you doing?' He asked sternly. Merlin gulped.

'She knows, Gaius. About my… gift.' Gaius nodded grimly. 'She won't tell anyone!' Merlin said quickly, and Regan nodded emphatically.

'Weren't you supposed to be with Arthur on the training field at noon?' Gaius asked, staring at Merlin.

'I forgot!' he yelped, jumping up. He dashed away, stopping only to hide the book back under the floorboard and grab a hunk of bread before he sprinted out the door, which banged shut behind him.

'Now, I need help with these tinctures,' Gaius looked at Regan, raising an eyebrow. She got up and followed the old man into the main room, where he handed her a pestle and mortar and told her to grind some herbs. As he took her through the process of making a cure for a hacking cough, she found that she enjoyed the activity and was eager to learn more. Gaius was pleased at her interest and gave her few books to read.

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A little while later, when Gaius boiled something over a flame and she was reading the ingredients to ease a sore throat, Gaius broke the silence.

'You can remember what happened before you were poisoned,' he said, without taking his eyes of the bubbling liquid in front of him. It wasn't a question. She nodded.

'Everything except the important stuff,' she sighed.

'And you aren't from here, are you?'

'No.'

'I won't say anything. There must be a reason to your coming and I'm glad to have an apprentice. As much as I love Merlin he really has no interest in what can be done with herbs and tinctures when his head is full of magic.' Regan looked up from her book, surprised.

'Thank you, Gaius,' she said, trying to put all her gratitude into that three word sentence. He seemed to understand.

'When you've finished that page you can come and shred this sarsaparilla. Little Mary's eczema got worse over the past week.' She nodded and grinned, putting the book down and going over to the work bench.

Much later a very tired Merlin staggered in, remnants of armour hanging off him where he'd forgotten to take it off.

'Back so soon?' Gaius said, surprised. Regan was confused. It was almost sunset.

'Soon?' She was ignored as Merlin slumped in a chair.

'I slipped and Arthur got me in the leg,' he said, hissing slightly from the pain.

'Not again, Merlin,' Gaius groaned, before starting to collect the necessary items together to create a poultice for Merlin's leg. 'Although I must thank you; this will be good practise for Regan.' Gaius handed her various ingredients and Regan set to work, trying to remember the instructions she'd read not half an hour ago.

'What?' Merlin asked, slightly dazed with pain.

'Regan is my new apprentice,' said Gaius, and Regan was sure she could hear a hint of pride in his voice. The poultice done, she went over to Merlin and, finding the tear in his trousers, ripped it open more so she had a clear view of the cut. Merlin gasped with pain as the material fibres parted from his leg, where they had fused slightly with the dried blood.

'Ouch,' Regan said, on seeing the large cut. 'Can you not dodge his sword or something?'

'It's harder than it looks,' Merlin said, his knuckles white where he clutched the arms of the chair.

'If you kick me I'll kick you back,' Regan warned as she began to smooth the paste onto the cut. Merlin gritted his teeth through the whole thing, but didn't move a muscle in his leg. Gaius watched as Regan carefully bound his leg with a clean cloth and stepped back, wiping her hands.

'Very well done,' he said, inspecting it. Merlin groaned when he put weight on it.

'Can I use magic to heal it? Please?' he begged Gaius.

'Do you not think Arthur would be suspicious if your leg miraculously healed?' Gaius said, ever the voice of reason. 'You should be thanking Regan.'

'Sorry Regan. Thanks,' he said, looking at her apologetically. She busied herself with cleaning up the bowl she'd used.

'Thanks for giving me practise,' she said, shy all of a sudden. He grinned.

'You'll be getting plenty of that from me. I can be such an idiot sometimes.'

'Sounds like Arthur's a bit sword-happy,' she grinned.

'Tell me about it,' Merlin groaned. 'Still,' he said, brightening, 'I might be able to get some more time off because of this,' he motioned towards his bandaged leg. Gaius snorted.

'I doubt it. You've had one and a half day's off already, and you had to work almost straight away after recovering from that poison.'

'What's that?' Regan asked. Merlin launched into the tale of the time he'd been poisoned by Nimueh, and Arthur had ridden out to get the plant. He ended up telling her a lot of the adventures he'd had since coming to Camelot, as they ate the food Gaius gave them.

'You're a hero Merlin,' Regan said. Merlin blushed.

'Not really. Nobody knows.'

'It doesn't mean you aren't just because it's a secret,' Regan said earnestly. 'You're a hero, disguised as an idiot.'

'I'll take that as a compliment,' Merlin laughed.

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AN: Chapter 2. I hope you enjoyed it, and even if you didn't, please tell me. Btw, how amazing is the second series?