I do not own any BBC Merlin characters!
Chapter Eleven
Hunith woke with a knot of worry already formed in her stomach. Staring at the ceiling of her tiny home she felt it weighing down on her, curling in on itself. There was no doubt to what it was, the feeling was horrible but familiar, and it nearly always had something to do with Merlin.
There had been no letter, no messenger or panicked Arthur at her door, so perhaps the feeling was one of those rare times when the trouble brewing had nothing to do with her son. Hunith discarded the thought almost as soon as it arrived. Merlin, Camelot and trouble seemed to be one and the same in recent years.
Dragging herself from the bed, Hunith pushed away the worry to the back of her mind, focusing on the chores instead. There was nothing else she could do. Taking off to Camelot would mean a two day walk at least, a dangerous undertaking for a woman, never mind one of her build. Not only that, but there was no guarantee Merlin would be in Camelot, or that he would still be in trouble when she got there. Even then, what could she do if he was?
Staying where she was seemed like the most logical decision she could make. It was sensible. Though sensible didn't mean she had to like it.
The knock on her door came around midday. With her sleeves rolled up to her elbows and bread dough coating her hands Hunith refused to look in the direction of the sound. Her heart had frozen at the sound of panting on the other side of the door, heavy and loud she recognised the creature.
Setting her shoulders she quickly scrubbed her hands with a nearby cloth, dumped it down on the table next to the unfinished dough and moved confidently towards the door. With each footstep she began to reason with herself. Hunith had known that this day would come eventually. Secrets always had a way of worming their way out into the open, especially the sort she had been carrying around.
Pulling open the door Hunith blinked, fixated on the person stood in front of her. Surprise had written itself across her face, striking her dumb as her memory work to bring up the image of a much younger girl than the one before her.
"Kaida!" she managed, still unable to quite believe her own eyes. The child had grown up, as all children do, but the young woman before Hunith barely seemed to resemble the child that had once been in her care at all.
"Hunith." Said Kaida, razors edging her words.
As if waking from a spell Hunith suddenly remember her manners, dropping down into a sweeping courtesy.
"What are you doing?" Kaida hissed, "Get up!" catching hold of Hunith arm she pulled her step-mother's old maid back up to full height, ushering her and Hemlock inside before anyone in the village took too much notice.
"It's bad enough that I turned up with Hemlock! You'll have every tongue in Kingdom wagging!"
Pressing the door closed behind them Kaida hurried over to the windows and pulled the shutters closed. There had been a few strange looks when a girl and a wolf had wondered into the village, but it would just be passed off as another strange traveller, unless there was reason to believe she was something more.
"I didn't expect to ever see you at my door m'lady." Hunith said quietly, watching Kaida's movements and admiring how silent each movement was. Even as a child Kaida had been more interested in swords and fighting than dresses or sewing, interests which had driven the girl's grandmother to distraction.
"Kaida!" chastised the Queen as her granddaughter came racing into the castle from the rain, followed shortly by her cousin Erin. The five years olds had been playing in the rain after escaping the clutches of the castle's nursery maid.
"Look at you!" the Queen sighed, placing a hand to her temple in the hopes of soothing the starts of a headache.
The children were covered from head to foot in mud, their indignant squeals filling the entrance hall as the staff attempted to dry them off.
"Why can you not endeavour to spend your time on more lady-like pursuits?" pleaded the Queen, crouching down so that she was almost at the same height as her granddaughter. "This gallivanting about in the mud and rain will do you no good when it comes to finding a husband."
In true five year old style Kaida stuck out her tongue and made a sound of disgust.
"Boys are icky!" she said, grinning at Erin as he shot her a reproachful look.
"Hey." He muttered, "I'm not icky."
"You're the ickiest." Kaida assured him. "I don't need a husband!" The second statement was directed at her grandmother but Kaida's attentions had been turned to wrestling away from the maid who was rubbing at her hair a little too vigorously.
"Hunith!" The Queen called, a hint of desperation tingeing her voice. "Can you not do something with this girl?"
"I will do my best your majesty." Hunith assured her, hurrying from her place in a nearby doorway and grabbing hold of both Kaida and Erin's hands.
"But Hunith!" Kaida protested. "I want to be a knight, not a princess! I don't want to marry!"
Hunith hushed her quickly, but the Queen was already out of earshot, reassured that her granddaughter was in capable hands.
"You will always be a princess Kaida." Hunith said, leading the two children back towards their chambers.
"But I want to be a knight like Daddy was!" she said with a pout, allowing herself to be dragged along. "Why can't I be a knight?"
"Girls can't be knights, it's not allowed." Erin piped in, sounding rather pleased with himself as he did.
Kaida elbowed him in the ribs.
"You're just saying that because I always beat you in a fight." She teased.
"I let you win." Erin scowled, trying to protect his ego.
"Why can't I be a knight?" Kaida asked again, looking up at Hunith expectantly. "Being a Princess is stupid, Knights are much better."
Hunith sighed with much the same exasperation as the Queen just had.
"Princesses are not supposed to fight in battles Kaida." She explained as kindly as she could. "It's not what is expected of them."
"But I want to!" she wined, pulling on Hunith's hand.
Hunith simply shook her head and continued walking.
"I will be a knight." Kaida said firmly. "I will be a knight and no one is going to stop me."
Hunith found herself laughing, earning a look of complete bemusement from Kaida who had finished checking all the windows and was now leaning against the fireplace with Hemlock at her feet.
"What are you laughing at?" Kaida asked, searching the room for the source of Hunith's personal joke.
"Your grandmother was so sure that you would outgrow the need to run around with swords and shields." Hunith spluttered, her chuckles trailing off as she managed to regain her composure. "She called it a phase."
Kaida snorted in amusement.
"I think she gave up trying to convince me that I was wasting my time, and then Imogene hatched and she stood as much chance from stopping me doing what I wanted as a cobweb rope."
"Imogene?" Hunith's brow furrowed in confusion.
"My dragon." Kaida clarified. "She hatched after you vanished."
"Of course." Hunith said, trying to mask the hurt that flashed across her face. The accusation was clear in Kaida's voice but she thought better than to mention it.
Kaida's hand strayed to her belt, brushing against the hilt of her dagger nervously.
"Everything is falling apart." She said, her voice cracking slightly. "I was supposed to come here and find my baby brother! Not end up in Camelot, fighting to keep this massive web in one piece when the people who tangled it up are tearing it apart!"
"You know about Merlin." Hunith said softly, finding herself unsurprised by the idea. "I suppose it was inevitable, how did he take it?"
"Not all that well." Kaida said dryly. "He was struggling to cope with an attack on his life, an estranged sister from his royal Dragon Lord father, an estranged grandmother who's a Queen, finding out his mother is not his mother and having a pet wolf whose about as normal as its master."
Hunith gaped at the sudden burst of information.
"Oh, and I almost forgot." Kaida added hysterically. "I'm pretty sure I spotted Eleanor wandering into Camelot just before Hemlock dragged be this tiny village in the middle of nowhere!"
"Hemlock brought you here?" Hunith whispered, glancing at the wolf who seemed half asleep.
"Is that really the bit you want to focus on?" Kaida scowled, "I would have thought that seemingly the entirety of Merlin's family decided to spontaneously descended upon him. Let us not forget that baring Eleanor, none of them are even supposed to know he exists!"
Hunith collapsed onto a small stool beside the table, dropping her head into her hands.
"This wasn't supposed to happen." She moaned, her heart wrenching as she thought about her son in Camelot. Despite his birth he was still her son.
"Well it did, so what are we going to do about it?"
Looking up Hunith locked gazes with Kaida. The girl had grown into a woman made of steel, unyielding and stronger than anything a person could throw against her. Hunith envied her that strength right then, wishing for a moment that she could stand fight for Merlin the same was that Kaida could. She couldn't bring a sword of dagger against his foes, she could only provide comfort and support in the aftermath.
The horrible realisation hit her. She couldn't even off comfort or support this time, since she was the foe, or at least part of it. She had lied and plotted with the rest of them, hiding the truth even from Merlin.
"Hunith!" Kaida said sharply. "What are you going to do?"
There was silence as Hunith thought over her options.
"I will have to face my son." She said ruefully, tears glittering in her eyes as she stood up and brushed off her skirts. "There is nothing else to do."
"He's not your son. Not anymore." Kaida reminded her, though some of the previous edge had gone from her voice.
"He will always be my son Kaida." Hunith told her. "Even if he hates me for what I have done, he will always hold a place in my love as my son."
Such a sappy ending I know! I couldn't help myself. I must say thank you to servant123, they filled my inbox the other day with reviews on this story. It's the main reason why I got going to wrote an update, the guilt got me to pull a new chapter to the top of my to do list. Hopefully I will get the next chapter up soon, until then, keep reading! It's good for your brain.