A/N: Okay, I know this is slow going, sorry for that, guys! Future episodes shouldn't take this long, I think it's just because I'm still trying to get everything set up.

I don't own Merlin.

"This is grave news, indeed," Gaius said, gazing at the top of Merlin's head. The boy was sitting with his head on the table, weary. Gaius couldn't imagine how much pressure his ward was under. And to have his secret not only known, but told to others… "I'm sorry, Merlin, but the involvement of the Sidhe… the kingdom may be in great peril," he said, hating the words even as he said them.

Merlin's face came up, eyes red, as though he had been crying. "What do you mean, peril?" he asked warily. He was mentally and emotionally drained, but he had responsibilities, and he wouldn't shirk them, no matter how he felt.

Gaius sighed, frowning. "Pixies don't tend to involve themselves in the affairs of humans," he said slowly, as he stood. "For this one to be involved with the Princess…"

"Means the Princess isn't human," Merlin finished for him, rubbing his eyes. "Cameron mentioned protecting the Princess from me. I couldn't figure out why she would need to, but…"

"Of course," Gaius said, turning suddenly. "The Princess, she's clumsy, unkempt… and guarded by a pixie," he said, looking at Merlin intently. "She's a changeling."

Merlin blinked. "A what?" he asked, trying to keep up.

Gaius was walking towards one of his bookshelves. "A changeling is a child that is inhabited by a fairy, usually at birth. Oftentimes the person possessed doesn't even know they are, but the presence of the fairy within them causes severe lack of balance and inhibition. It would be rather like living your whole life intoxicated," he said, frowning thoughtfully.

"That sounds like Princess Elena," Merlin said, nodding. "Can the fairy be taken out of her?" he asked.

Gaius pulled two thick tomes from the bookshelf, and brought them to the table where Merlin was still sitting. "I'm afraid there is only one way to find out," he said, handing one of them to Merlin, who audibly groaned. "These contain much useful information about the Sidhe, hopefully we should be able to find a spell for extracting one from a living person," he said as he opened his book.

"Great," Merlin sighed as he got to work.

The day had seemed to fly by for Cameron. The Princess had spent much of the day with her father and with Prince Arthur, and while Cameron and Grunhilda attended her at mealtimes, for the most part their duties were light, and they spent much of the time talking. Cameron loved hearing stories of Avalon, and about pixies, and the Sidhe. The way Grunhilda described the beauty of it all, Cameron's initial nervousness about meeting the Sidhe king that night had given way to a bit of excitement. What would it be like, living in Avalon? Would she meet other Unborn?

She had asked Grunhilda about the Unborn, about what it meant, and was rather surprised that, though the pixie was more than happy to educate her all about the Sidhe, on the subject of the Unborn she was a bit vague. Cameron didn't think she was being purposely evasive, but rather that she just didn't seem to know a lot about it. She didn't complain, of course. What she had learned about this thing she was supposed to be, was disturbing enough.

According to Grunhilda, the Unborn were souls that never started out in life, for one reason or another. The way the pixie described it, Cameron would have been born, but then something had happened to cause her parents not to have her after all. Grunhilda said that destiny played a larger role in life than people knew, and that when destiny was meddled around with, sometimes it caused people who were supposed to be born, not to be born, and that's what had happened to her. Cameron wasn't sure how to feel about that. It was sort of like finding out she was an orphan all over again, only, not only did she not have parents anymore, it turned out that she never had parents. She wasn't just abandoned… she had never even been thought of in the first place.

Except, someone had thought of her. Grunhilda said, to give an Unborn human flesh would have taken a tremendous amount of magic, that only a powerful sorcerer could have done so. If what Cameron had said about magic in the 21st century was true, it only left Mr. Emrys. Grunhilda said she was almost certain of it, that for some reason, Mr. Emrys had pulled her Unborn soul from beyond Avalon and manifested it into human form.

Which made absolutely no sense to Cameron. If Mr. Emrys, who she knew to be a good man, had created her, why have her grow up all alone in the Home? Why didn't he just raise her?

Perhaps, it was because he was poor, though, Cameron didn't think that was it. She had spent enough time with Mr. Emrys to know that his apparent homelessness was more a personal preference than an issue of need. He always had food with him, though it was sometimes meager, and during one of their herbalism lessons, he had told her he had a garden in which he grew many of his herbs. He also frequently bought her sweets, which Cameron thought was just as much because he loved them, as it was that he liked to encourage her rebellion against the strict dietary protocols of the Home.

And that was another thing. Mr. Emrys severely disliked the Home, and Cameron knew he had good reason to. Not only was it a soul-crushing, high-security facility that restricted creativity of any kind and basically reduced the children to numbers; it was also one of Price's pet projects, and Mr. Emrys was constantly lecturing her to use the utmost care when she snuck in and out of the place after hours. There was no way that he would ever intentionally place her in the Home. He just wouldn't.

So, was there another powerful sorcerer in the future, one Mr. Emrys hadn't told her about? One thing was certain… even if Mr. Emrys hadn't created her, he probably knew what she was, and he probably knew who did it.

If only she could ask him.

That evening, she had gone home to find Gwen already there, crying. The young woman had stopped immediately upon seeing Cameron, but the girl merely closed the door and went to sit beside her, draping her arm over Gwen's shoulders. Gwen's lips tightened, and she started sobbing again. Cameron let her cry, lightly stroking her back, the way Mr. Emrys had done once for her. She didn't have to ask what was wrong… for all of her talk about not indulging in fantasies, Gwen truly loved Arthur, and he was about to commit his entire life to someone else. Someone who he didn't even love, and who didn't even love him! 'Stupid rules', Cameron thought. After a long moment, Gwen stopped, drying her eyes, and busied herself around the hearth, not meeting Cameron's eyes. Cameron understood, and began her own nightly chores, and the two shared dinner in companionable silence. Cameron washed the bowls and pot so that Gwen could get to bed a bit early. By the time she was done, Gwen was fast asleep, emotionally exhausted, and Cameron snuffed out the candles before putting on her cloak, and sneaking out the door.

Cameron felt helpless. Her friend was in pain, because she wasn't allowed to be with the man she loved, and he was being forced to marry someone else. Why couldn't Uther just leave them all alone? Of course, Cameron knew this rule wasn't really Uther's, but he was the one forcing his son to marry, wasn't he? She had never wished someone would die before, but here she was, wishing it of King Uther. The man was a monster, and the world would be better off without him.

Of course, she was helping as much as she could. She had found magical creatures, who wanted to make a change, and she was doing her best to help them. At least something good would come of Prince Arthur's marriage to someone other than Gwen… it would put a creature of magic on the throne, and maybe Princess Elena could reverse some of the damage King Uther had done. Perhaps in this way, Arthur would be more willing to fulfill his destiny and bring magic back to the world, if his own wife were a creature of magic.

Cameron gazed down at her hand as she passed a torch along the wall. The bird was pointing down the way, and she followed it out of habit, knowing it would lead her nowhere, but following all the same. When it started to circle, she stopped, and sat down on the ground by the wall, closing her eyes. "Mr. Emrys," she whispered, and a tear rolled down her cheek. "You always told me to follow my heart, and I'm trying, but I just don't know what to do. I need your help," she sobbed quietly, her throat tight. "You told me to seek you in Camelot, and I did, but I can't find you. And now the Sidhe might send me back to Avalon, and I don't know if I can stay, even if I want to. Everything's all backwards here, I'm lost, and everyone else has their idea of what I should do, but the only one I want to follow is you. Mr. Emrys, where are you?!" she choked, her voice raising just a bit more than she intended, and she heard footsteps coming toward her. Pulling her cloak tightly around her, she stepped into the shadows, biting her lip, but it wasn't a guard coming, it was Grunhilda.

"Oh, there you are, child!" the pixie whispered, glancing around furtively to make sure she didn't attract the attention of the guards. "Come along, then, I'll show you how to sneak past the guards at the main gates," she said, grinning mischievously, and Cameron returned her grin, waiting until the pixie turned around before she quickly wiped her eyes.

It had been a hard day for Merlin. Between research and chores for Arthur, he had very gratefully slipped into sleep the moment his head had touched the pillow. He hadn't even been aware of Gaius coming into his room to snuff out his candle. He was having the strangest dream… he was in a world of great metal dragons that flew past him, roaring loudly, where great castles shot into the sky like spears bursting from the ground, and light seemed to come from everywhere. But, amidst all the noise and wonder, he felt alone, cold, as though he had been drained of life, and were slowly dying. He cried out, but couldn't hear his own voice over the noise.

Then, suddenly, he heard a girl's voice, crying out: "Mr. Emrys, where are you?!"

Merlin awoke with a start, covered in sweat and breathing heavily. In the stillness of the night around him, he thought he could hear people whispering below his window. Looking down, he saw two figures making their way towards the main gates. One of them was unmistakably Grunhilda.

Which meant the other was Cameron.

Merlin quickly pulled on his boots and jacket, and quietly snuck past Gaius and out of the physician's chambers, intent on finding out what they were planning.