The reprieve didn't last long, a high pitched giggle warning the pair before Merlin half-stumbled into the house, running up to Hunith to tell her all about his game, and the hare he saw, how he had managed to hop himself. Noticing the freshly skinned knees and elbow was secondary to seeing his triumph at finally managing to repeat the action Will had mastered early. Grinning widely she caught him up and spun him around as he squealed excitedly as Balinor leaned back against a wooden support, watching their antics. When she set him down again Hunith glanced up towards Aine, the flush on her cheeks all that gave away the infrequency with which she played now. "Can I clean these scrapes, Merlin, before you go back to playing, you must have been having fun."

He nodded and started to explain all the different crashes and what he had to change to make hopping work with jumping. Gathering the few things she needed Hunith managed to whisper unnoticed to Aine, "Can you treat the other one for the injuries he's been pretending don't hurt. I'm not going to lose him to some stupid infection after all this. The screen will give some privacy if he is obstinate."

"I'll even tell him you command it dear."

Looking over to them Balinor arched a thick eyebrow "I can hear you talking about me you know."

"Then why aren't you behind that screen already?" replied Hunith tartly.

Balinor grumbled without any heat and did as he was told, "I know when I'm beat." Merlin listened closely, the words sounded like an argument but their softly smiling faces said it wasn't. He tried to reach for Balinor's mind and found that it was more closed than earlier, but when he poked at it a feeling of reassurance flowed through him, and the look his father sent him said he felt the question.

"It's okay lad, just a wound from the fight, better get used to people caring again early I think, I'm fine, but it would be silly not to let proper healers heal us wouldn't it." He winked and stepped behind the reed screen, removing jerkin and tunic.

Aine's air of playfulness sobered as she saw the gash that her son had only wrapped and gritted her teeth, "You...You!" She switched to mental communication, "Continuing like this was foolhardy Balinor, what were you thinking?"

He rolled his eyes, "Well to be honest I was thinking about getting us to a safe haven without losing anyone else, and trying to get my head around Hunith being on the same road I was unintentionally, oh, and that I have a son. Not only do I have a child, but he is the strongest warlock I've ever seen, and terrified of his own self. When we finally got to that safe place had to someone that her husband burned- my friend, if it matters, and then, then I got married with rings from Dryads who seem to have invited half the spirits of Albion. So yes, I've been a little distracted, forgive me if the bleeding fleshwound was not a priority."

"Always so melodramatic Bal, but I take your point. Don't let it happen again, you got lucky this time, there is no heat to indicate infection, but that's no guarantee." Her tone conveyed her absolute seriousness. Infection killed a man just as often as bleeding out did, without any of the kindness of speed.

"I promise Mother." He was quiet as she searched for the honey required, gasping when she placed a hand near the edge of it. "Sorry, unexpected. I've been trying to work out where he'd have seen those marks. They were nowhere in Ealdor, Camelot's men would have razed it the first search if they did. You know Uther banned the language the day she died. He never understood it, never cared to try, just decided that any language spoken by the druids was a tongue of magic and nothing else. He didn't bother to learn the written form either the stubborn prick, just shrugged and said that if he needed to know he had Igraine and Nimue to translate. The man can't tell the difference between a word and an illustration unless it's in the language of Rome or Wessex. I never showed Hunith much of it because it would have placed her in danger if we had been overheard. There's no sign in his mind of someone breaking in, feeding him information. Yes there seems to be someone accidentally watching us on occasion- who was terrified by the way that I am not her 'friend', and furious he's hurting. I was tempted to let her know he is safe, but I don't want to reinforce a connection between them. Certainly not before he's less vulnerable."

Probably for the best, thought Aine. Emrys should not be exposed to witches right now. Or perhaps not ever. Prophecies were not easy to live under.

"I think I need to stitch this Balinor, sorry. It won't take long but I need to soak the gut for a few minutes. It's the last of the protective liquid we had, which is unfortunate, but I can use the plants at Home soon to replace it, they'll be stronger anyway. Stop fidgeting! You're as bad as he is, and an adult too. Men are the worst patients."

"Who was it? Please mum, if you know something, please. I can't help him if I don't know what he's fighting."

Destiny. He's fighting destiny, and Fate, and darkness.

She couldn't say it though, and Balinor saw her holding back.

"So it's like that is it?"

"Don't, Balinor, if I had an answer I'd give it, but I haven't seen anyone, or felt any dark powers around him since I've been watching him. He was at ease last night though, and spoke of seeing things before that he was not allowed to mention. Perhaps, it might be possible that he has seen them on a visitor before, or that he is reaching for something he thinks is pretty in the minds of Others. He did say some are from dreams."

Balinor scrubbed his face with his hands, dropping his head back in frustration. "The worst thing is that I'd rather it was some dark witch feeding him knowledge that is dangerous, than any of the other options. No good ones spring to mind that would leave no traces on his mental walls, permeable as they are."

Aine handed him a leather strap. "Here, bite down on it, you know the drill." He watched her thread the needle carefully, smaller than any other type. Mighty Dragonlord or not, Balinor found himself grateful for the leather before the end. Carefully making the last knot, Aine removed the strap, stroking his hair back and waiting for the shakes to stop.

"I realise it's frightening, I have concerns too, and I think you are doing the right thing Bal, but you are too used to having to be on guard and fight all the time. You could be overthinking this, and I don't think that one more night waiting is going to change everything for him. Or you. Try to enjoy this time with them, and speak to one who knows more about your troubles. Tomorrow is only one sleep away love. Just like when you were his age and counted down to Yule."

"Does Kilgarrah know about him?" He asked abruptly. "About his existence or his magic?"

It wasn't something Aine had considered before, she really ought to have. "I don't know. I would expect him to, but you didn't, and he seems to almost be shielded from perception."
"I need to find out."

"Sit down, silly man, let me at least bind it first before you go stomping about the place."

"What if he does?"

"Does what?" she responded automatically, wrapping the strips of cloth firmly around him.

"Does have a perception shield- well, net, obviously some creatures can sense him properly. He leaks power, and his magic is instinctual. What if his desire to hide and not be seen, to 'keep the magic secret' as Hunith has been forced to teach him is manifest, he can see a life force and pause time, chats to dryads and other creatures, is it too much to think he might accidentally be filtering what is seen, or influencing it."

"No dear, I don't think that is a stretch at all. I hope it isn't the case, but you'll be free to address it with Anhora, and the unicorns might be able to help that. Left unchecked that could become dangerous, or choke him. They might just have had very unobservant neighbours in Ealdor."

"Perhaps. A few of them would make you long for the conversation of a goat, but I doubt even they would miss this. Although if Kilgarrah knew and has been concealing it all this time…" Balinor took a deep breath. "We'll be having words anyway after this, whether or not he is feeling co-operative. Though the conniving bastard would probably give me several good reasons- or what he thinks are good reasons for not saying anything, he never does act without reason. I worry for what imprisonment will do to him. He told me the world wasn't flat you know. I refused to believe him and he took me out beyond Eirre, high enough to see the horizon curve. It's true you know, he has some wild theories about the arrangement of the heavens if anyone will give him the time to lecture. It's his second - well, third favourite subject, after destiny and it's trappings, and legends. It's amazing how often he manages to entwine them all together."

He probably would too, and if he told Balinor the boy was Emrys, Aine would make sure there were consequences for the beast. Maybe it was for the best that they were estranged, because she couldn't imagine Kilgarrah being happy to use the given birth name of Emrys, rather than the name he would know him by.

"Could he be responsible for introducing them do you think? Be interfering?"

"I doubt it. In theory, I suppose he could but really it would have been a lot of trouble to go to for no tangible reward, and would likely have been damaging before. It would make sense if this was the first time, with his mind being so raw and open, but he says he's show Hunith before and been told not to use them, so no, it seems unlikely."

Balinor grunted. It was too tidy a solution. Still, written language was taught, not knowledge that a child was born with, and Merlin hadn't had the kind of experience with mental speech that indicated he was accustomed to conversing in such a way. So either he was lying about the lack of teaching, which seemed unlikely, or his benefactor was intentionally hiding, and sneaking in and out of someone's mind without consent was widely acknowledged as a violation.

The Balance underpinned all of the magic of the Earth. Light and dark, good and evil, life and death. It was at the core of it all, but it had clearly been an unfamiliar concept to Merlin outwith the kind required to hop. Otherwise he would have shown some reaction to the dryad who told him he was good at it when he tapped into what ought to be unreachable; that still chilled him. His dark and light wolves were an ancient symbol he recognised from some stories he'd been taught with the others around a fire. They overlapped a little, but none had been the type to reassure a boy, other than that they did not apply to him. A horrible, creeping foreboding told him that they may well apply to Merlin. He only hoped Merlin was on the side of light. Darkness consumed people. Piece by piece, often hardly noticeable at first, and it was almost impossible to turn someone from the path once they chose it.

"There, you're done. Be careful with it Bran, you will need to change the dressing frequently, tell me if you suspect any infection, immediately. The bruised ribs will just need time. Go on, you can think about it later. Get dressed and you can help me get ready for the arrivals, I don't know if they will require any medical care or just feeding and a decent sleep.

"Have you warned the kid that his mum is due soon?"

"Gods no! I've no idea what kind of shape they're in, only that they are near. If she's looking worse for the wear I want her to have the chance to clean up first. You appearing to us blood covered and battle weary was rough enough, and Hunith and I are adults, and Merlin is...Merlin. She might be fine, but I don't want him looking out for her just in case that's not the case."

The dragonlord frowned, disapproving of the plan to leave the child unprepared, but trusting his mother enough to know those she travelled with and their likely reactions.

"Will you at least consider speaking to Kara or Devin, I think they'd appreciate the warning, and you can tell them not to mention it to the boy."

"You think that they need the time to prepare themselves?"

"I do, I think that they need some time to make some decisions, and they were unsure of her return."

"Alright, I'll speak to them, but the consequences if it goes wrong are yours."

"I'll take that risk Mum." He rolled his eyes. Sometimes she held back more than was necessary. It was common in women trained by the druids and priestesses when they sometimes 'knew' too much, and all of them had a couple of horror stories from before they learned. He doubted this was one of those times.

"Right, well thank you for fixing me up, and getting me out of trouble for neglecting scratches, but I really don't want to further delay you."

"Thanks Mum." He added warmly as he stepped out from behind the screen.

"Do you want to go and check on Merryn love, maybe see if she'll want some of the broth? I don't think she is ready to see me, but she should have warning of a few travellers before they arrive, she's had enough distressing shocks."

"I should. Would you mind watching Merlin for a few minutes while I do? I'd suggest taking him for a bath, but I don't want you to get a fresh bandage wet."

Balinor shrugged, "The leather jerkin should protect it."

Hunith looked piercingly at her mate over Merlin's head "He won't go near the water without me Bal, especially with men, there were…..threats….made around him. Don't push him." nodding once, his expression grim, Balinor turned to Merlin. "Your mother says you need a bath. So when she comes back, we're all going to make our way up to the river together, ok? I had mine last night, they wouldn't let us in the grove all mucky, but my tunic is still pretty rank smelling, which means Aine isn't pleased about it against my cut. Would you mind me coming up with you and Hunith, so you can get clean and so can my clothes. I might be able to spear some fish too while we're up there which we could smoke for travelling, or giving to the village."

Merlin was quiet as he studied the man. "The water is not meant to hurt us." He held out a hand to strengthen their connection and check. "You use it properly. Never to put out people's lights." He nodded and let go, "It's ok, you can come, you're safe there, just not for fish." Looking to Hunith he half mumbled "It's a 'don't scare them away' time, isn't it."

Hunith smiled at the boy with too much heart, and too much magic for their world. "Yes Merlin, it's a don't scare them trip. There are extra people today, and not enough saved in stores so early in the season to feed them all, so we have to hunt today."

"I'm going to have to learn to use more greens, amn't I."

Hunith smirked at him, "They are good for you, and I know that you can cook. You just prefer what I make, or Aine's cooking."

"You are both delightfully skilled, I'm a blessed man."

"Flatterer."

"Simple truth." He replied.

"We'll make sure it's fast for them son. If you don't want to learn I won't force you to, but you'd need to pay extra attention to learning plants then."

Merlin shifted, he remembered the cold winter, and when there wasn't enough. He remembered the time the men had come and taken most of the harvest, and all of the mums had to use the rats because nothing else had babies fast enough, and he learned to make acorn flour. He remembered the village weeping. The words wouldn't come out properly, so he reached for Balinor and instead showed him the memories. "I want to learn. Always know how to find food, whatever the land is. Just in case. Mum knows which roots can be eaten, but stringy roots aren't best for some people, even with the strings broken up."

Merlin didn't understand why Balinor looked like he might cry, but hugs usually made him feel better, so he decided to try that, surprised at how tightly he held him.

Hunith knew why, not having withdrawn before Merlin showed him. That would require some explanation she knew, with the adult contribution.

"Well, if you pair are settled I'll just go and speak to Merryn and her girls. Try not to break anything, either of you."

Merlin looked at Balinor confused and his father chuckled, "The first time your mother left me alone in her home I tried to do something nice, and instead ended up breaking her favourite pot. Without magic it was very difficult to repair."

"Oh. Was she cross?"

Balinor smiled, "Only a little, she had me make her a replacement so that I'd remember the effort that goes into a good one. It worked. I never forgot again."

"I think I've broken too many pots for us to have good ones. Only by accident though." Merlin looked guilty, "Sometimes I fix them before she sees when we couldn't get a new one, she guessed once because it made a big crash, so now I don't fix things if it could be heard breaking."

"I understand, Merlin," His father's voice was gentle and warm, "You haven't had an easy time, and sometimes there isn't one good reaction and one bad, just two differently tricky things. We're going to stay here again tonight, and the druid Isildur is going to come later, then tomorrow Hunith, you and I are going to travel on to a place called Gedref. Aine has to visit someone first but then she will come back to us. We don't know about the others yet, but I do know they will need a rest as much as we did!"

The child frowned and Balinor wondered if he should try to delay it, though the longer they remained, the higher the chances of aberrations being noticed and not ignored.

Relief and amusement washed over him when Merlin finally voiced his foremost concern."Does that mean lots more walking?"
"No son, a good day's walk, but no sleeping under the stars needed if we leave early, and I can carry anyone who gets too tired before we reach it."

"How early in the morning is early?" Balinor laughed and ruffled the hair of a now smiling Merlin.

Aine meanwhile, was finding it more challenging than expected to explain to two young druids what was happening. Mostly due to their being stubbornly asleep, and not aided be a quite thorough entanglement of limbs. She wasn't entirely sure which ones she ought to try poking. The woman who was allowing them to stay in her home peered in the doorway. "I hope you don't mind, but I took young Glendon here up to the field earlier. That pair needed to resolve some things without young ears about." Her sly smile belied the quiet demeanour, clearly she had fully intended the pair to be unavailable, though Aine couldn't say she had any objections, and might well have done the same thing herself.

"We're just about to go fetch water for tonight if that's alright with you. Maybe give them another half hour, after that I'm afraid they're getting displaced for the housework and will just have to deal with any mortification without sympathy."

She liked that the woman was not fretting about inappropriate behaviour or insisting they leave her home and said so.

"Oh please, after what so many have been through, and I've seen a lot, likes. I'm from Camelot me, left when I saw what was coming, my sister was on their lists see. Take comfort where you can find it I say, and never try to rob someone of what love they can find in amongst the madness. It's a precious rare thing these days. This pair though are still new, ain't they? Poor kid was so awkward, fallin' over himself with her, an' her blushing. Doesn't seem like she's a blushing type usually. Managed just fine until Glendon fell dead asleep and they were alone." She grinned wickedly, "Fortunately for her that seemed to be about the point he remembered how to speak, and what to do with a girl."

Aine smothered an undignified giggle.

"Oh well, I suppose half an hour won't hurt, but that's their limit, they can catch up on sleep tonight. I can't give them longer though as we need to be organised and Kara may be needed."

"Alright. I'm Alice, by the way, and I've met Bran before, he's safe in this place with any friends. I knew Hunith a long time ago too, but I doubt she remembers me any more, we've both changed, and if she did I don't know how she would feel about me. If she remembers, please tell her I'm not in contact anymore and her secrets are safe, completely. Anyway, best get that water, hadn't we. She called to the boy who had been kicking a rock around, "Hey, don't think you're getting out of this, you told me you helped women, and even proved how strong you are, I'm not letting those muscles got to waste young man!" She grabbed several waterbags and a large jar. Before they were out of sight of Aine she heard a mental cough, "If you want to speak to someone a little more… advanced in years….tonight I will be around, it seems you've not had much in the way of such company recently. I see the pain you hide from them and I share it. You had left the Court life before I was there, but you were well remembered. My Lady." She caught the wink Alice threw her way in surprise.

Damn, well remembered indeed. Easily forgotten would have been much more useful for these recent years. If she'd known what was coming she would never have allowed anyone to see her; but if she'd known she would have fled as a girl and never looked back. So would they all. She closed her eyes against the bright sunlight. It might have worked for some, but Merlin being Emrys, Destiny would probably have found a twisted way to send her right back.

It certainly explained why Kilgarrah seemed to get unusually frustrated with her antipathy towards it and vehement rejection of predetermined paths, even more so with Balinor specifically. It had been important to him that the young man understand the concept properly, and his impatience with it unsettled Kilgarrah, yet never put him off. Balinor thought the old dragon was just obsessed with it, but Aine had known him longer and seen the changing focus. Not that Kilgarrah had ever been disinterested in prophecies and destiny per se, he was a dragon after all, but he hadn't always been as fixated on it. Now she completely understood why it had mattered so much, why he appeared to need them to pay attention. The Purge, the End, the Emrys, the Beginning.

The cryptic bloody lizard had been warning them all for years, and they had ignored him. Dismissed as wise-but-old, misunderstood, and it was too late now. She'd had enough time these few years to think about it, and what she had come to realise was that he thought he was being perfectly clear. Obvious even. The human minds had heard riddles and half-truths from self interest. Now she wondered if he wasn't just relaying the parts that were directly interesting to him and leaving out the 'boring' parts and ones he regarded as irrelevant, which were not by the same parameters as for humans and dragonkin. She wasn't a dragonlord though, so she couldn't exactly call the Great Dragon up to answer her questions, and the Last Dragonlord was Emrys' father, so she couldn't go through him either.

She hoped that it wasn't Kilgarrah feeding Merlin written runes, spells, or fragments. So much could be lost in translation between species, gods help them if the Great Dragon was his only source of magical guidance! Her own father had a special room for sulking and ranting in after particularly frustrating draconic conversations or news that made no sense. Adding to all of that their complete lack of comprehension of short time frames- which to creatures which lived for millenia were years long, interpreting important messages often required a council of Dragonlords. Which no longer existed. It seemed extremely unlikely though. All things considered, Aine would be astonished if a Creature of Magic like Kilgarrah did not recognise Merlin, indeed she'd be shocked if he hadn't felt the child's birth into their world. It would be unlike him though to approach anything he did not consider an adult, or at the very least no longer a juvenile. To many, when dragons were common enough, it had seemed like a snub, and confirmation that they did not consider humans worth bothering with. Really it was far simpler, yes they found humans in general boring and predictable, but staying away from their minds was a mercy. Even the High priestesses were warned not to try it. To try warped both as the magics would attempt some symbiosis that was natural for Dragonlords, but it destabilised both minds to twist them so unnaturally. The dragon could sometimes heal from an attempt, but the Priestess never would. It had been written into the Dragonlord's Law that no one ever allow such an attempt to be made again after the few that failed, and that be explained to every hatchling. No one else had ever pursued it, and the High priestesses were the only others to draw draconic interest. No reason had been given, but Aine's own theory was that they felt the magic of the goddess through them and mistook the power the a priestess was merely a vessel for. A young dragonmind feeling The Mother, and yet unexpectedly finding a second soul could nudge, or damage it she supposed, maybe even leave it torn between the spirit realm and this one. The rare occasions were serious enough for each to have been recorded. Kilgarrah was mentioned in one such account as having intervened when one such woman had attacked a fledgling in a panic, he had struck her down declaring that her soul was gone, leaving an empty shell. That Merlin was struggling precisely because he didn't have that connection satisfied and automatically took on Others was not lost on her. What he would have done in the absence of Balinor didn't really bear thinking about, because she had treated children with head trauma without knowing if they would wake up; some of them didn't, and it was an agony you never forgot. Merlin on the road's other prong would still be unconscious, unresponsive or screaming. This was better. For now at least.

That wouldn't do, they didn't have time for her to let the bleak thoughts overtake her, she sighed and opened her eyes, muttering near silently to a man long dead, "You'd better appreciate all my cheeriness and efforts you mad bastard. I've earned a dragonride in Avalon for this you know."

She squinted at the sun, deciding she had long enough before she was needed to make a trip to the sacred grove to leave an offering without getting caught or followed and set off.