A/N: Hey guys, how are you? Hope you all enjoyed my last update - I enjoyed updating so much that I'm giving you another one, regardless of whether you like it or not! If you're wondering why I'm such a cheery mood (if you didn't think I was, re-read this note in a cheery voice), it's because it's sunny. In the northwest of England. Quelle surprise - literally. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

But uh oh, I love her because
She moves in her own way
The Kooks - She Moves In Her Own Way

'This just isn't working for me,' Elaina declared, her expression forlorn.

Arthur glared at her before narrowly dodging out of the way of Sir Leon's sword.
'If I'd been hit then –'

'It would've livened things up,' Elaina muttered darkly. She shrugged when Arthur glared at her again. 'I'm just speaking my mind – this is idiotic though!'

'Do you want to rip your shoulder open again?'

'That's basically like asking me whether I want to be stood here, watching you "train" with your knights,' Elaina said sharply, adding quickly, 'The answer will always be a simple, clear-cut "no".'

'The only reason you're being so moody is that you hardly slept because you thought it would be a good idea to sneak off to the jail cells whilst I was preoccupied with Merlin and spend half of the night –'

'It was morning,' Elaina interjected grumpily.

'- talking to somebody who tried to kill you.' Arthur now realised what Elaina had said and rolled his eyes, pushing Leon back to his starting position. 'It was dark, Elaina, it doesn't really matter whether it was morning or not.'

'Of course it matters – how would you feel if you told Merlin to wake you up in the early hours of the morning but he woke you up in the middle of the night?'

Arthur frowned, confused.
'Why would Merlin do that?'

Elaina shrugged, waving a hand.
'Oh, I don't know – maybe because his master thinks that as long as it's dark, nothing else really matters?' she suggested.

'You are the definition of tetchy,' Arthur muttered beneath his breath, now suggesting, 'Why don't you go and get some sleep and when you're in a better mood, we can debate this further?'

'Because I'm not tired, prat,' Elaina replied sharply, now saying beneath her breath, 'You're the definition of dollop head.'

'It's not even a real word –'

'Words – as in the plural sense.' Elaina raised an eyebrow, daring Arthur to argue with her. When he didn't, she carried on. 'Anyway, it's idiomatic.'

'You've been spending a little too much time with Merlin, Elaina.'

'I could say the same about you and Gwen,' Elaina replied coolly, walking away and giving Uther a polite curtsey as she passed him. 'Your highness.' The words almost made her gag and she couldn't escape from Uther's presence soon enough. The man who could've been involved in her death… Well, the sooner she found out, the sooner she would know. Still, today was not the day to delve into Uther's mind – today was the day to ask for favours.

Merlin looked up as Elaina walked into Gaius' room – Gaius was not present as he was conducting his daily rounds. He smiled at her.
'Arthur forgiven you yet?' he asked, sorting out leaves and powders into different bowls.

'Not even close – I need a favour from you, Merlin,' Elaina requested abruptly.

'Anything – just as long as it's not something that will get me into trouble.' When Elaina merely stared at him, Merlin sighed and nodded in an exasperated manner. 'Doing favours always gets me into trouble – what do you want?'

'I'm going to break Emilie and Gwaine out of prison tonight.'

Merlin began choking on thin air. Spluttering, he asked,
'What?'

'I'm going to break Emilie and Gwaine out of prison tonight – Gwaine's a dying man and his only chance of survival is through me healing him. With magic. So, I'm going to break them out and take them somewhere safe. I need you to be eyes and ears, here in Camelot,' Elaina explained, her hands behind her back as she looked at Merlin.

'Right.' Merlin dragged this word out for a little longer than he should have done. 'And what will I be listening and looking for exactly?'

Elaina smiled.
'When Uther begins to suspect that I am involved, he will naturally have the guards burst into my room and when he finds that I am not in my room, well, I'll be declared a traitor and an enemy of Camelot. When this happens, I need you to contact me and tell me everything that's happening – how close they are to finding where I am and things like that. Can you do that?'

Merlin nodded warily.
'This is risky, Elaina – where are you taking them?'

'Nathan's – I'm going to take them to Nathan. I'll be safe there.'

'How do you plan on doing that? Uther's men will follow you.' Merlin frowned – suddenly, Elaina was nowhere to be seen. 'Elaina? Elaina? Elaina, where are you?'

'Why, I'm right here, Merlin!' Elaina laughed as Merlin jumped and wheeled around to see where she was stood, right in front of his bedroom door. Within a blink of an eye, she was standing behind him. 'Do you really think that Uther's men can follow me now?' She shook her head. 'No.'

'You're really powerful,' Merlin said, slightly scared of Elaina when she was being so reckless and carefree.

'Yes, Merlin, I am. Now, this –' Elaina pressed a translucent orb into Merlin's hands. '- will be how you'll contact me tonight. Hide it well, Merlin – if anybody finds it, we're both dead.' Elaina paused, thoughtful. 'Well, you'll be dead, I'll just scare them all by coming back from the dead.' Elaina looked around the room, restless. 'Well, this has been nice conversation, Merlin – I thank you in advance for your help. I'll be off now, other favours to ask for and things.'

'Elaina!' Merlin called, watching her turn back around to face him. She tilted her head to one side, an eyebrow raised and Merlin stared at her. 'Your eyes…'

Elaina blinked very deliberately.
'Yes, Merlin? What about my eyes?'

'They look different today,' Merlin told her, a hint of caution in his voice. 'Darker than usual.'

Elaina shrugged.
'Oh well. I suppose it's just one of those things – I mean, it's not as if something is taking over is it and changing the colour of my eyes?' She laughed derisively. 'Because that wouldn't be obvious at all – bye, Merlin. Remember what to do!'

'Nathan!'

Nathan turned around as he saw Elaina approaching the entrance to the cave and a bemused smile appeared upon his face.
'E.V. – what a pleasant surprise.' He was even more pleasantly surprised when Elaina hugged him tightly and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. 'You really are full of surprises today, aren't you?'

'Believe me, I've not even started yet,' Elaina assured him with a smile.

Still visibly surprised, Nathan crossed the main chamber to pull his shirt on.
'I like surprises – especially when you're the one giving them.' He looked at Elaina, who was looking at him thoughtfully. 'Yes?'

'Nothing, Nathan – I'm doing something dangerous tonight, I need to use your home as a sort of safe haven.'

'You know me well enough not to even ask,' Nathan murmured, grinning at Elaina. 'I'll be waiting for you, Elaina – what is it that you're doing?'

'Breaking a couple of people out of jail so I can save one of their lives,' Elaina explained casually.

'You can never do things normally, can you?'

'Not where it involves magic,' Elaina said, unfastening her cloak and setting it down on a rock beside her. 'It'll be a sudden arrival – I'm using magic to break them out of there and to make sure we get here without being followed. Make sure you're alone,' she added, almost as a warning.

Nathan shrugged.
'Apart from our little, mutually beneficial meetings, I'm always alone.'

'I hope you're talking about the meetings we have with Morgause and Cenred.' Elaina raised an eyebrow, absent-mindedly playing with a loose curl of hair.

Pulled, Nathan slowly walked over to Elaina, asking in a deep voice that caressed Elaina's mind like silk,
'What other mutually beneficial meetings could I possibly mean, my lady?'

Elaina merely raised her eyebrows, a playful smile on her lips.
'I suspect you'll find out soon enough. Thank you for your help, Nathan – I'll be seeing you in a few hours.' She walked over to him, kissing him lightly on the cheek.

'Just one thing, E.V.,' Nathan now requested, looking down at Elaina.

'Anything,' Elaina told him sincerely, refastening her cloak.

'Make sure that I'll be able to stand these people you're bringing with you – if it's an almighty idiot, I can't be held responsible for my actions,' Nathan warned her.

Elaina grinned, shaking her head.
'With any luck, no almighty idiots will be following me – they can't. I've got to go now, I've got to enlist the assistance of one more person.'

'Oh, E.V.?' Nathan said quickly before Elaina could leave.

'Yes?' Elaina looked at him with an inquisitive look upon her face. 'What is it?'

'Your eyes… They look different – darker than usual,' Nathan told her; in an appreciative murmur, he said, 'They look nice – dark is good on you.'

Elaina smiled – it was a shy smile.
'Thanks, Nathan – I'll see you later.' With a wave, she left the cave, confidently making her way down the rocky mountain slope.

'Elaina!' Morgana was a little more than surprised to look up and find Elaina standing in front of her, tapping her foot impatiently. 'I didn't hear you knock –'

'That's funny because I often find you and a few others in my chambers without hearing any of you knocking,' Elaina said pointedly, 'so stop complaining. I need you to do something for me tonight.'

'Straight to the point, I see – is this anything to do with Gwaine and that woman in the dungeons?' Morgana asked, standing up and walking over to her open window. She looked across at Elaina, who had followed her over. 'What are you planning?'

'I'm going to break them out of jail and take them to Nathan – Gwaine is dying and he has a slight chance of surviving if I help him,' Elaina informed Morgana shortly.

Morgana smiled.
'By "breaking them out", you don't mean stealing into Arthur's room in the middle of the night and stealing the keys before leading them to that dreary cave, do you?' Her eyes widened when Elaina shook her head. 'You're going to use magic!'

'Don't sound so surprised, Morgana,' Elaina replied. 'There would be no fun in stealing the keys – in fact, it'll be much more confusing for Uther and his men when they see the bars in the cell and a lot more fun for me.'

Morgana frowned.
'You could be jeopardising everything I've been working for – you were allowed to stay in Camelot on the basis that Uther trusts my every word.' Morgana paused, thoughtful for a moment, before adding in a matter-of-fact voice, 'The fact that Arthur now has strong feelings for you probably counts for something too.'

'Doesn't it always?' Elaina placed a hand on Morgana's shoulder, shaking her head. 'No, Morgana, Uther will always trust you, no matter what. But if you could just help with one thing tonight – I need you to lie to Uther for me. Don't worry, you'll be backed up by Arthur –'

'How do you plan on getting that to happen?' Morgana asked scornfully.

'I'm going to tell him a half-truth – that I'll be with Nathan, nursing him back to health.'

'Arthur will protest –'

'Let him protest, Morgana – I will simply tell Arthur that if I don't help Nathan then Nathan will die and Arthur will be forever responsible for letting an innocent man die.' Elaina raised her eyebrows at Morgana's shocked expression. 'It's not a lie – if Arthur doesn't let me stay with Nathan for tonight and chooses to lock me away then an innocent man will die.'

'You're talking about it as if Arthur has a choice,' Morgana said dryly.

'Oh, I am, aren't I?' Elaina shook her head. 'I have to do this, Morgana, or things could get far worse, far too quickly and then everything you'll have worked for will have been for nothing. Anyway, I'll just need you to tell Uther that I'm helping a friend –'

'Spending the entire night with another man?' Morgana asked dubiously. 'I think Uther will want you in the dungeons for adultery and blatantly insulting his son, never mind using magic to undermine him.'

Elaina shook her head, smiling.
'No… I'll make sure that Arthur is convinced of my faithfulness to him and only him.' She frowned, adding, 'That should be easy enough, seeing as I am in love with him.'

'How can you be in love with Arthur yet be involved with helping me to take the throne?'

'Because I'm not actively doing anything to help with the second one, am I? Anyway, I've seen Uther and the way he rules this kingdom – he's a tyrant. Arthur will be a good king – then again, with your involvement, he'll never be king, will he?'

Morgana shook her head, a cruel smile on her face.
'If I get my way, Arthur will never even touch that throne.'

'Why are you my friend again?' Elaina asked with a frown, holding up a hand before Morgana could respond. 'Yeah, I know – part of the deal we made, I don't rat you out and you don't rat me out.' Elaina sighed. 'And I thought I'd got things sorted out – obviously not. I'm off to "ask permission" from Arthur now –'

'You're not asking his permission at all are you?' Morgana asked, walking with Elaina.

Elaina shook her head almost immediately.
'No, I never do – I just thought that he might appreciate the pretence of it,' Elaina admitted. She reached Arthur's door and looked at Morgana, asking quietly, 'Can I trust you to do as I ask?'

Morgana nodded, a sincere expression upon her face.
'Yes, of course you can; when the time comes, I will know what to do.'

Elaina smiled at Morgana.
'Thank you,' she replied gratefully, 'you've saved a man's life.' She was about to open Arthur's door when Morgana called her name. 'Yes, Morgana?'

'Your eyes – they look darker than usual. I just thought…' Morgana stopped herself, holding up a hand. 'Never mind – it doesn't matter. Good luck with Arthur.'

Arthur turned around as he heard footsteps behind him. When a pair of cool hands slipped over his eyes, he smiled and in an exasperated tone, said,
'Merlin, I thought I'd told you about not doing that.' He turned around to face Elaina when there was a long silence. 'Hello you.'

Elaina gazed coolly up at him, muttering,
'The fact that you thought that my hands were Merlin's makes me question whether I have really manly hands or whether he has really feminine hands.' She took her hands away from what was now the back of Arthur's head and inspected them. 'They look like a pair of women's hands,' she said, more to herself than to Arthur. A new question now popped into her mind and she arched her eyebrows, now looking at Arthur with a shrewd look on her face. 'Is Merlin in the habit of sneaking up on you and putting his hands over your eyes?'

Arthur shook his head, kissing Elaina softly.
'No, he's not – you sound jealous when you talk like that.' When Elaina managed to raise her eyebrows even higher, Arthur shook his head again, reassuring her with another kiss. 'Don't worry – I like it.'

Elaina smiled.
'I'm glad.' She groaned now, looking a little uncomfortable as Arthur looked at her. 'Arthur, I need to talk to you about something.'

Arthur was far too happy to think that it could be anything that he didn't like. He instead pulled Elaina closer to him and placed his hands on her back.
'Anything for you,' he told her sincerely. Maybe it was the weather – the sunlight with the slight breeze – that was making him feel so happy. It was probably the fact that Elaina seemed to have lightened up that was making him feel so buoyant though.

'I'm glad you said that actually because it's not going to be something you'll like,' Elaina told Arthur, adding quickly, 'But it would mean a lot to me if you'd let me do it.'

Arthur stared thoughtfully down at Elaina.
'It's not something I'll like but something that will mean a lot you and you felt a need to talk to me about it before you did it. Except now that I think about it, it sounded more like you were asking permission.' He was silent for several moments before shutting his eyes and asking through gritted teeth, 'It's something to do with Nathan, isn't it?'

Elaina nodded, taking a deep breath.
'I visited him a few hours ago – he was so sick, Arthur, and I'm scared for him. I honestly think that he might die if he's not… Well, if there isn't somebody with him to make sure that he makes a recovery then I know he'll die.' She looked up Arthur with wide eyes, waiting until he had opened his before pleading, 'Let me be the one who looks after him, Arthur –'

'No!'

'- it'll only be for one night, that's all; it'd put my mind at ease if I knew that Nathan was better. And even if he does die –' Elaina cringed at the thought; it obviously caused her a great deal of pain. 'Well, at least I'll know that I did everything that I could to save him and I won't have the death of an innocent man on my conscience forever more.'

Arthur sighed.
'And if I don't let you go, we both will. But,' he now said, obviously unhappy with the two options he had, 'if I do let you go to him, I'll have an uneasy conscience whilst you're gone. I saw the way he looked at you when we ran into him in the woods –'

Elaina looked up at Arthur, her eyebrows raised again.
'It sounds like you don't entirely trust me, Arthur,' she said in a voice that told him that agreeing with her would ensue in one of the biggest arguments Arthur had ever known.

Arthur quickly shook his head, able to see the warning signs on Elaina's face.
'No, no – I trust you entirely. It's just Nathan that I don't trust – or his intentions,' Arthur muttered, staring innocently down at Elaina when she shoved his chest – he just held onto her even tighter. 'What?'

'Arthur, I'm not sure with how much intention a person can be at Death's front door with.' Elaina shook her head, trying to figure out Arthur's logic. It just gave her a migraine.

A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed that chapter, the next one should be up fairly soon (I'm using "fairly" in the loosest sense of the word; it is me, after all) but don't hold me to that. In other news: WOO! COMIC-CON 2012 BABY! :D *is shot with tranquiliser gun and headbutts keyboard*
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Grace x