Merlin slowly pushed his room's door closed and carefully released the handle. He could still hear Gaius snoring on the other side. He let go a sigh of relief. He was sure there were dozens of better places to hide the witch, but it would be dawn soon and he was too tired to think properly.
"I don't think he heard us," Merlin whispered to the witch as he turned to her. "You can take the bed, I'll arrange something for myself."
He took some extra blankets and a pillow from a drawer and began to prepare a makeshift bed on the ground by the window. He watched the witch sit tiredly on the bed.
"You don't look too well," he noted. "It's the spell, it was very draining, wasn't it?"
"Actually I think it was more using your magic that exhausted me."
"Really?" he asked, genuinely surprised.
She remained silent and observed him as he continued setting up what would be his bed for the night. "How do you do it?" she finally asked.
Merlin looked up to her. "How do I do what?"
"Keep it under control. I mean, your magic. Aren't you ever overwhelmed by it?"
Merlin shrugged, unsure what she was talking about. "I guess not. Were you?" he asked as he remembered the way she had hurried to break the contact.
"Well it's... very strong and... I don't know... Raw?"
Merlin was quite astounded to hear that. His magic felt so natural to him he had a hard time imagining it could be otherwise to anyone else. "I don't have any trouble with it."
They both settled in their respective beds.
"By the way, I've been to Raguenel, and I met Elias and Dunstan," Merlin informed her.
The witch briefly smiled at the mention of her friends, until her face dropped. "They must be worried sick..."
"Actually, Dunstan wanted to come all the way here to Camelot to rescue you."
"Really?" She smiled again and absent-mindedly played with the ring on her annular finger, her gaze suddenly distant.
"Hey, er..." Merlin paused, puzzled, and racked his brain. He suddenly realised after a while: "I don't even know your name... I'm quite sure Elias and Dunstan must have mentioned it, but I can't seem to remember... And Arthur and I didn't even bother to ask tonight, that was so rude of us..." he admitted with embarrassment.
"It's Livia."
"All right. Livia," he repeated.
"Think you can remember that?" she teased.
"I'll try..." Merlin replied with a smile. "So, Livia," he articulated slowly in jest, "I've been meaning to ask... Dunstan, your friends, the people you know... They all know you're a witch, right?"
"Of course."
"Wasn't it hard to tell them?"
"I didn't have to, they knew from the start. I make a living of magic. Well, almost."
"Really? How?"
"I'm a healer. I generally travel from village to village. There aren't that many physicians available around the Kingdom, especially near the borders, so people are usually grateful for anything that could cure their loved ones, despite the ban on magic. Those who can give me a coin or two. Others just share their meals with me or let me spend the night in their house."
Making a living of magic... Merlin was envious. Being able to use one's talents to earn one's life...
"So I'm guessing, none of your friends know you're a warlock, do they?" Livia realised.
"No," Merlin admitted in a sigh.
"Why not?"
"It's complicated."
"Try anyway."
"I just... I don't want to bring trouble to any of my friends by telling them."
"Don't you feel lonely, not being able to talk about it to anyone?"
Merlin remained silent. He did feel lonely, sometimes. Gaius was the only one he could talk to about magic, but he didn't even tell him everything. He probably wouldn't approve of half the things he did. Like hiding an escaped witch in his room.
"You could join our group of sorcerers. That's what it's for," she suggested.
"It's made to talk about magic with total strangers?"
"Isn't it easier to talk to a total stranger who can relate, like me, than to someone you care about who might judge you, like one of your friends?"
Merlin nodded, realising he'd been doing just that for the last few minutes. "Point taken... So, is it all you do in that group of sorcerers of yours? Talk?"
"Well, we don't all have fancy magic books like yours, so we've got to learn new spells from somewhere."
Merlin was aware it probably wasn't the best thing to say, but he really needed to clear his mind about it: "Do you also use these meetings to plot against the King?"
"What? No!" Livia exclaimed, outraged.
"All right, sorry, sorry," Merlin apologised while waving her to quiet down, hoping her outburst hadn't woken Gaius.
She sighed. "Look. We all grew up in families where having a gift for magic wasn't considered a burden. That's what got us together in the first place. We all have parents, uncles, cousins, who also practise magic and who are old enough to remember how it was like before the ban and to tell us about it. So of course we talk about how great it would be to have that back. But whatever we may say, they're just words."
"They may just be words now, but who knows what those words will turn into in a few months, or in a few years?" Merlin remarked. "Magic opens up so many possibilities it's easy to sidetrack from all this righteousness. It shouldn't be too hard for an organised group a young sorcerers to assault the whole kingdom and destitute Uther."
Wow. He almost sounded like Gaius there for a moment.
In the dim light of the moon, Merlin saw Livia turn around in the bed so she wouldn't be facing him any more. "You should have warned me you planned on picking up an argument. I would have asked to stay somewhere else for the night."
"I'm not trying to pick up an argument," Merlin clarified. "You're offering me to join that group of sorcerers, I'm only trying to understand what it's all about. I remember you told the King you didn't know any offensive spell, but I have trouble believing that."
"I learnt magic from my mother. Do you really think she'd teach me how to cast a fireball even if she knew how?" she asked with a snort.
Merlin smiled, thinking about his own mother. "Probably not... Look, I'm sor-"
"My mother was a healer," she interrupted, obviously still upset. "My grandmother was a healer. And maybe her own mother was one too, and her mother's mother before her. All the magic I know is about healing or anything that can be useful in the household."
Merlin had to admit his first contacts with magic had certainly been very unlike Livia's. Until he came to live with Gaius, he had never had any warlock around while he grew up. Would his approach of magic have been any different if he'd been supervised from a younger age by someone else than his mother? By someone who knew magic?
Livia turned round to face him again. "I'll admit you're probably right. With time, we could drift away from our original intent. But that wouldn't happen if we had a leader. One that would keep us all on the right track."
"Yes, maybe," Merlin agreed. Then he managed to catch her insistent look despite the darkness. "Wait, you mean, me? A leader?" He gave a quick laugh. "No... Really, I... I'm not the leading kind of guy."
She shrugged. "You're more powerful than all of us together, and you're in a position to actually do something. That's all it takes."
"I'm not a leader," Merlin reasserted.
"All right. Just think about it," she finished.
After a couple of minutes spent in silence, Merlin's train of thoughts led him to call her again: "Livia?"
"Hmm?" she answered sleepily.
"You know, Arthur, he's... He's not like his father."
"I know. I came to realise that tonight."
"Things will be different when he's King."
Livia sighed. "If I promise to tell my group of terrorists that when we take over Camelot we can spare him, will you let me sleep?"
Merlin smiled at her answer.
Things would be different when Arthur became King. He'd make sure of that.
Arthur was sitting patiently by Gwen's bedside. He slowly took her hand in his, and gently rubbed his thumb against its back. The wooden appearance and texture had entirely disappeared, and her skin was just as smooth as it had always been.
He wondered how this had all happened. How she had gotten cursed. But more importantly, who had dared curse her and why. Gwen was one of the sweetest persons he'd ever met, always kind and caring. How could anyone ever even think of cursing her? Now that she was healed, he would be able to investigate this.
Arthur felt a slight squeeze on his hand. He immediately snapped out of his thoughts to look up at Gwen: there she was, all awake at last and smiling at him. He smiled back.
"How are you feeling?" he asked gently.
"Tired and sore, but alive," she murmured back. "Thank you."
Arthur shrugged it off. "I... didn't have much to do with it..."
He couldn't take his eyes off hers. He just couldn't. He had prayed so many times over the last hours for her to just open her eyes that he feared she'd close them again if he looked away even for a second.
"You're here... You're always here..." she stated in a soft whisper.
He wasn't sure what she was talking about. She sounded like she was mostly speaking to herself.
Gwen looked down at something. Arthur followed her gaze and realised he was still holding her hand and had kept stroking it with his thumb the whole time. As he froze, he had a sudden and nauseating vision of her and Lancelot holding hands, that night he and Merlin had helped them escape Hengist's castle.
He immediately let go of her hand. "Well, since you're feeling fine, I guess I'd better let you rest. I shall leave you alone. Good night," he finished abruptly as he stood up and turned to leave.
"Arthur, wait!"
His heart skipped a beat. "Is anything wrong?"
"I... I'd rather you stayed."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Please."
He couldn't. He really couldn't. But above all, he shouldn't. "All right," he surrendered, like he always seemed to. But he decided to settle on a chair at the table.
Gwen sighed. "Don't be ridiculous, come back over here."
"As you wish," he replied as he obeyed like a child and sat close to her again.
Apparently none of them knew what to say, so they both remained there in an awkward silence during several long, long seconds, not even looking at one another. Arthur didn't want to bother her with questions about how she could have been cursed just yet.
"We... didn't have the opportunity to talk since the other day," Gwen spoke up at last. "I mean actually talk. About what happened."
Arthur shook his head. "There's no need to, it's fine."
"No it's not. What I did... I was wrong. I hurt you. I'm sorry."
"You don't have to apologise," Arthur kept dismissing. "Really, it's all right."
"I should have realised before. You're the one who's always here for me, whenever I need it."
Arthur hesitated. He wasn't sure where they stood any more. "That's what friends do," he finally settled for.
"Friends," Gwen repeated. "Right." She sounded disappointed.
"Aren't we friends?" Arthur asked while giving her an expectant look, challenging her to say otherwise. His heart started to race when she remained silent. He wondered what was going on in her head.
As an answer, she eventually crept her hand back into his. Her own boldness made her blush furiously, but at the same time her gaze was daring him to withdraw his hand again.
Arthur's heart was now beating wildly. He smiled and, never stopping to look into her eyes, he lifted her hand, brought it to his lips, and laid a delicate and courtly kiss on its back.
His smile widened as Gwen blushed even more.
Merlin...
Merlin woke up as he heard his name. There was no mistaking that cavernous voice resonating in his head.
Merlin...
The dragon kept calling. He straightened up on his elbows and gave a look towards his bed: Livia was sound asleep.
Merlin...
The warlock decided to ignore the call and to get back to sleep. He was too tired. Whatever the dragon wanted could certainly wait until the next day.
