Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.
When Hunith first gave birth to Merlin, her life was quite difficult. It was not so much that she had to raise Merlin all by herself. It was the way people looked at her and the way they treated her. The other women in her village would whisper quietly as she walked by. They would stare at her and her son. Some of the older women would give her disapproving looks.
She did her best to ignore them and not let their actions bother her. After all, none of them knew anything about what she had gone through. None of them knew that the love of her life had been forced to flee in order to stay alive.
Hunith knew that she was loved Balinor. She knew that the only reason he had fled was to protect not only him, but to protect her as well. She was able to ignore what the others did as long as she reminded herself of Balinor's love.
Sorry about not updating this yesterday. I was having computer problems.