Arthur's POV
I watched her walk away completely dumbfounded, I mean COME ON! Why won't she tell me her name?! she does realise I'm a prince right? Why do I care so much anyway…
I can hear Gwaine sniggering at me so I quickly close my mouth and turn away storming off in the opposite direction to whatever her name is.
Jaylynn's POV
I love how people react whenever me or my friends tell new acquaintances that they have to earn the right to earn my name, I know its strange but It means only the people I trust learn my name. Then I'll never regret telling anyone-in theory
After about 10 minutes of walking around trying to find Gaius's room I realise that I have absolutely no idea of where I am meant to be going. I walk towards a group of boys who seem nice enough.
"Excuse me, do any of you know where to find Gaius?"
The tallest lad is the first to respond
"Erm… Gaius… YES! Oh I know where to find him do you want me to show you ?"
"That would be great thanks"
"I'm Leon, by the way" he says extending his hand to me
"I'm Birdy" I say smiling at him
"Oh! Gwaine's friend?" he says in excitement
"You know Gwaine?"
"Yes he is one of my best friends"
"Small world, especially when you go to the same university" I added as an afterthought causing Leon to start laughing.
"Birdy isn't your real name is it?" he asks suddenly causing me to stop and turn to look at him
"No…" I say sheepishly
"Will you tell me your name?" he asks kindly
"well I have a rule where people have to earn the right to know my name, basically I have to trust them…" he 'hmms' in agreement
"I understand, you don't have to tell me"
"Well you have been really nice and helpful and if Gwaine trusts you then I suppose I can tell you… My real name is Jaylynn, Gwaine just calls me birdy because my brother calls me jay like the bird. He thought it was funny" I say causing him to laugh
"Sounds like Gwaine, and I won't tell anyone your name"
"Thank you, Leon" I say releasing a breath I didn't know I was holding in
"Anyway… this is Gaius's room"
"Ah, thank you" I say relived
I give Leon a hug and he leaves, I turn and knock on the door to Gaius's room. There was no response so I tried the handle. I made my way into the room looking around, the shelves were lined with row of herbs, plants and spices.
"Gaius, Hello… Gaius" I shouted making my way to the centre of the room, I stopped once I looked up and saw an old man standing on the ledge above the room sorting through books
"Gaius?" I say a little louder causing the old man to turn and fall through the flimsy railing.. upon instinct my eyes flashed gold and slowed time giving me enough time to find a bed to move under the falling man with another flash of gold. Once I was satisfied that the old man would be ok my eyes flashed gold one last time returning time to normal letting the man fall and land on to the bed. He got up way faster than I thought a man of his age could move.
"What did you just do?!" he asked a hint of anger and concern in his voice
"Me" I said pointing towards myself
"Yes you" he said in an accusatory tone
"OH…IDIDN'TDOANYTHING"
"I know what you did but I want to now where you leant how to do it… And who are you?"
"I'm Hunith's daughter"
"Ahh yes Jaylynn I assume… But I thought Merlin was the one with magic
"Yes he is…and him and mother both doesn't know about me and….. you know"
"But where did you learn how to do magic and why don't they know?" he asked curious
"Well I assume that my mother told you merlin was born with magic" he nodded in acknowledgement and gestured for me to sit down, which I did "Well… I was too"
"but the difference is that merlin has always been a very open person and his magic was revealed days after he was born, he made objects float around and caused furniture to sing and dance. But I have always been less trusting and I never really talked about stuff and I only did magic when I was alone, I spent a lot of my time in the forest near our house and well they never found out.. magic was always Merlin's thing and my mother always had a hard time trying to keep him under control, I didn't want to worry my mother having to worry about both of us and I didn't want to take away from merlin he is always so happy when he is using his magic it makes him feel special. I didn't want to take any of that away from him"
"I see" now that I was sat across from him I had time to take in his appearance properly. He was an elderly man in his late 50s I assume, he had silver hair that was down to his shoulders and as of now a impossibly arched eyebrow that caused me to sink backwards in to my chair. Even with his intimidating eyebrow he had a kind glint in his eyes and a wise aura about him, he felt like home. I felt safe with him.
"Jaylynn, I understand why you didn't tell them but this is an important part if you, you need to tell them" he said looking at me kindly
"I don't think I can Gaius, I don't tell people my name if I can help it. Only those I trust, and I trust merlin with my life but I can't not yet"
"I understand my dear but do not wait too long or it with hurt them more"
"Ok thank you… mother said you needed my help with something" I said trying to change the subject.
"Ah yes, your mother said you were a fast learner and were interested in herbalism"
"yes?" I responded confused
"Well I am the teacher for medieval history as well as the herbalism course, it only runs for 6 weeks and not many even know it is still a thing and since young people nowadays don't appreciate herbalism and just go the pharmacy instead and don't think about the alternatives, so this year I am going to take on an apprentice. And I thought maybe you would be interested"
"YES YES YES. thank you Gaius" I said flinging my arms around him, at first he seemed confused and shocked but eventually he returned the hug.
"Now that is the response I was hoping for" he says smiling kindly at me " but you should get back to your brother and your friends"
"Ok" I hugged him one last time and walked out of the room with a bounce in my step that wasn't there when I had entered.