"Knows-" Gaius spluttered. "Knows what?" He spun around so hastily that it looked like his sleeve was about to catch and topple a vial of dark fluid. But after it quivered for the second time, almost tipping off the edge, the vial suddenly stood upright of its own accord like a film played on reverse. I caught Merlin's eyes and swiftly looked away, averting his gaze.

His eyes.

They flashed a tiger-sharp amber before fading back into his cool emeralds.

"There's nothing to see here" Gaius's face bleached white, he made to usher me out of the room but Merlin put a hand out between us and stopped him.

"There's no point, Gaius. She knows." Merlin's already perceptible Adams apple bobbed slightly as he swallowed and he looked slightly apologetic. He always looked apologetic. Like his existence was a crime.

"Knows what?" Gaius's voice dropped to a dry whisper. They locked gazes and Gaius groaned loudly. He spun away but I could still see the war breaking out in his head."I knew it! I could tell she was trouble the first time I saw her, she's a witch!" He shot me a strange look, but it wasn't filled with hate or revulsion.

"I'm not a witch!" I gasped, torn between hilarity and abhorrence. Of all the things I could have been accused of by the worlds greatest wizard, it had to be a witch!

"Then how do you explain your clothes?" he asked me. Gaius looked controlled and suspicious, and although his face didn't change as much, there was a sort of power radiating from his person, it felt only natural for him to be in control over things. Even when his young prodigy of a near-son had been discovered.

"God!" I was near to laughing despite the mess I was in. "What is it with my clothes?"

"There aren't any flaws at all in the needlework" Gaius answered. He slowly circled me, so carefully that I wouldn't have noticed it if I wasn't feeling so tense at the moment "I noticed this when you were unconscious; each stitch is approximately the same length and in a perfect line. No mortal hands could have sewn it!"

"God!" I repeated for the second time and crossed my arms around my upper torso. I suddenly felt very self conscious. "You measured my stitches?"

"And you're wearing pants." Merlin added helpfully, his ears glowed.

I looked down at my jeans and felt my cheeks color then looked back at the pair. "Ok, back up." I brought my hands up to my chest, palms out in a defensive stance. "Lets just get this straight. First off, I'm not a witch, or a sorceress or whatever whacked idea you might get in your head alright? Merlin is, so lets just-"

"Keep your voice!" Gaius shushed abruptly, his expression of one of sharp concern. Merlin's eyes were scanning the surrounding quarter for any potential eavesdroppers. "Do you want us all to lose our lives?"

"I'm not a witch" I avowed.

'Our lives' He said...lives were at stake.

"I believe you." Gaius sat back in a chair wearily

I shut my mouth and stared at him in silent stupefaction once his words set in. "You do?" Merlin's voice masked over mine as we both asked the same question at the exact same time. His eyes quivered towards mine and instantly flicked back towards Gaius.

"Yes my dear, I do." Gaius nodded "I may not see a lie when it is deftly hidden but I can tell a truth when it is out in the open…even if everything else points to sorcery." He added tiredly but kindly. "You must leave immediately and never breathe a word of Merlin's powers to anyone. Camelot is no place for a broadminded lady like yourself; you'd stand out too much here."

I nodded and exchanged looks with Merlin, he looked concerned and a little worried.

"But Gaius." Merlin protested after the silence that followed his caution"She has nowhere to go."

"Is this true?" Gaius peered at me kindly through his wizened face "You have absolutely nowhere to seek refuge?"

"And she won't tell me where she came from." Merlin added, with the shadow of a whine in his otherwise earnest voice.

Gaius chuckled. "Everyone is entitled to hold their own secrets, Merlin. You, of all people should know that." Gaius tutted and turned to me once more. He looked worryingly at me "But what do we do with you?"

"I."

I stopped.

I honestly didn't want to be cast out into an alien world, where there was no one to talk to, or relate to, or go to when in need. But it was already too much to ask anymore of Gaius and Merlin. The two were a pair of father-son figures who were already living an average life with their own share of troubles and predicaments and all of a sudden I was barging in on their delicate bubble of normality, threatening to pop it.

Thankfully, before I could complete my refusal, Merlin cut in.

"We have to take her in, at least until she finds a way home." Merlin's eyes were earnest and untainted "Come on Gaius, you never said no to me."

"I knew your mother." Gaius huffed. "However…oh, all right. But we'll have to sort out a few things first, starting with your clothes." He huffed again as Merlin smiled broadly.

"But it's all I've got." I protested. My brown T-shirt and jeans were also the last pieces of memory I had to latch on to. Made by machine and commercially pressed – Things like that wouldn't even exist until a thousand years later.

"I'll go borrow some clothes from Gwen." Merlin offered and darted out of the room as soon as the words left his lips.

"But will she suspect anything?" Gaius started to shout, but by 'anything' Merlin was already well out of earshot. "Impulsive boy." He grumbled petulantly - however the look in his eyes showed only affection - and turned back to me. There was a short pause. "Well, let's just have a look at you."

"Excuse me?" I asked, taken aback.

Gaius smiled wisely "I'm the court physician, it's a simple procedure."

*

Five minutes later Gaius nods his approval and I jump off the chair, only too happy to move again. According to his words, expressions and patently incredulous muttering and jotting down on a small notebook, I had perfect teeth, flawless skin, a healthy heart and not a single indication of ever having endured a grave ailment. In other words: the closest thing to a witch.

But still, Gaius refused to revert to his previous assumptions of my being a sorceress, and for that reason plain and alone, I grew even fonder of the grandfatherly guardian to Merlin.

Merlin soon came back with a few sets of weathered cloths and it took a few more glimpses to tell that they were in actuality, worn clothes. Brushing my hand against the first collared shirt as Merlin handed to me promptly told me what I needed to know about the fabric's texture. It was wearable. Despite the coarseness of its stitched areas like the sleeve and collar portion, the rest of the textile was worn out and smooth feeling. There were the occasional patches or two but I was more than happy to put it on.

"You can use Merlin's room to change." Gaius indicated a staircase leading upstairs and Merlin led me to the steps, helping me up the moment he reached the top.

At his room, Merlin looked sheepish and guided me in. I swept the room with my eyes and picked out the sight of heaps of clothes lying…well, just about everywhere. And books scattered across the floor...and bed "Wow it's a mess." The words came out of my mouth involuntarily before i could register them "Oh, sorry!" I apologized to the sound of Gaius's riotous laughter emerging from downstairs.

"Never mind." He said, smiling apologetically at me. "Tell me when you're done." And Merlin closed the door, leaving me alone to swap clothes and my life.

I came out of that room that day, feeling like an entirely different person, but still in someway the same. Merlin was waiting outside the door and gave a startled jump as I pushed it open.

"You'd make a lousy guard" I grinned. I handed my clothes into his arms - instinctively stretched out and waiting for the laundry out of force of habit.

"You spend too much time changing." He joked and matched my grin. I flushed and followed him downstairs. To tell the truth, I'd only spent five minute's swapping clothes with Gwen, whoever Gwen was, and spending the rest of my time looking at my ethereal reflection in the mirror in Merlin's room. As I looked into the glass, I felt myself captivated by my eyes - they were sad and hollow. So, so hollow and I couldn't help but think: Was this he start or the end?

"My goodness you look perfectly natural now." Gaius exclaimed as we made our way down. He stood up, pushing the chair behind as he got up and came closer to me. There was a recognizing light in his eyes. "Merlin…" His voice dropped "Don't you think she looks just like…" His voice dropped off.

"I do." Merlin nodded. "What's your name?"

I began to grow anxious at their suddenly extricating stares. Who were they talking about? Who did I look like? A hundred, a thousand possibilities flew through my mind only to be pushed away by a new notion, each worse than the other. A felon, a convict, someone guilty of countless massacres.

"My lady?" Gaius's voice broke through my train of thought and my eyes focused on the room once more.

"Huh? What?" I asked.

"Merlin was asking for your name?" He repeated Merlin's question

"Oh, umm. Clarissa." My legs felt exposed in the sunny yellow and brown dress I was wearing and I sat down on a chair sitting nearby and looked up at Merlin and Gaius, instantly feeling a lot more vulnerable and small.

Gaius turned to Merlin. His eyes widened and stared at me some more, the light of recognition getting brighter and brighter. "She looks exactly like Vivien."

"I'm sorry" Merlin frowned as he thought hard "Who?"

"Her father is one of King Fortigan's people." Gaius looks intently at Merlin, as if, by some stroke of brilliance he'd remember. "I treated Vivien once, never forgot her eyes. Of course…she was just a young girl at that time, much younger than Cle…" He drifted off, absorbed in his own thoughts, then snapped back and looked in anticipation at Merlin.

"Err" Merlin says after a long pause "No." He grinned "Sorry" Gaius gave a grunt and Merlin continued "I was about to say she looks a lot like Nimue."

I gave a small start as the name hit my conscious mind. Nimue…the same person as Vivien or Vivianne…Almost instantaneously, an entire year of researching Arthurian legends rushed into my head, filling it to the brim with all the contradicting stories and names I memorized for the winter play. She was the one who ended up destroying Merlin.

I think.

All along, I'd never had any problem with Merlin's death, partially because all my life, he'd been just a fabricated character, an imaginary individual. But now, with him looking concernedly at me, through his clear, emerald eyes, over his orange scarf and past his earnest face, he looked so real. I couldn't accept that this boy would soon be at the painful mercy of someone. To think that I knew his end, and how it would come was too painful to bear. Even for the minuscule amount of time we spent together, I'd already grown terribly fond of Merlin. And I was afraid it was more than just fondness too.

"She does look like Nimue as well." Gaius agreed and looked at me in a different way altogether. It made me feel even more susceptible sitting down.

His eyes seemed to bore deep holes under my flesh and his face froze rock solid. Gaius's eyes were harder than before and almost cold if I didn't know him. Finally I couldn't stand having anyone look at me with that much disgust and coldness, even if the rest of his face didn't show it. " Please don't look at me like that." I whispered back to his unwavering gaze.

"I'm sorry" Gaius's gaze softened considerably and he backed off a few steps. Only then did I realize to my discomfort that the two had been unconsciously edging towards me like I was some fascinating toy.

"But Gaius" Merlin brought up "We can't call her Clarissa, not in here."

"You're right, we'll have to come up with a different name."

"What about that…" Merlin racked his brains "That name you mentioned earlier – that Vivien."

Gaius looked at Merlin in wonder. "You can use your brain after all!" Gaius complimented him affectionately and Merlin's ears flushed. "It's a suitable name, but it's up to her."

"OK" I swallowed; the saliva was cold and ominous, subsequent to the name I was given. "Vivien's fine by me."