Uther's Tale

Morgana couldn't sleep. Merlin went to sleep immediately, so she watched him across the fire for a little while. He looked so peaceful when he slept; far more peaceful than ever when he was awake. She wondered why he trusted her, and encouraged others to do so. Not for the first time, she asked herself why she trusted him. She hadn't asked him to sample her food since the ice cream several days ago.

It wasn't as if anything he'd done anything signifigant to prove himself. The only thing he'd done was defend Morgana against the judgement of others and comfort her after a nightmare. And he showed her kindness after Morgause's death. She hadn't really considered what she thought of him until now.

He was just - Merlin. She had known him for years. In the first few years of knowing him, he had been the one person she could trust. She didn't even realize it until she told him about her magic. She forgot his kindness when he poisoned her. Merlin had recently explained to her why he did what he did, and she regained her confidence in him. And him stabbing her she understood. That life had brought so much suffering just by living it. Death was better than what she had been in.

The one they call Emrys will walk in your shadow. He is your destiny and he is your doom. Ever since she heard that advice from the Cailleach, all she'd heard was that he was her doom. She never considered what him being her destiny might mean.

Merlin shifted a bit, bringing Morgana back to the present. He smacked his lips in his sleep. Morgana laughed softly. She found herself suddenly tired, so she laid down and let Merlin's soft breathing lull her to sleep.

0O0O0O0

Merlin and Morgana arrived back in Camelot just before noon. Merlin was about to rush up to the council chambers, but Morgana held him back.

"Wait," she hissed, dragging him behind a pillar where they couldn't be heard. "Ygraine is a witch; she might know these people! She might be friendly with them!"

"It's possible, but once she hears - "

"Merlin!" Morgana whispered exasperatedly. "That's not what I mean. I mean that she might be friends with the enemy; that Nimueh will ask her for help!" Merlin looked at Morgana in shock.

"Are you sure? I don't think Ygraine would do that," he said. Morgana looked at him with disbelief.

"I thought you only saw bad in people," she said. "Now suddenly you refuse to believe that anyone can betray loved ones? You've changed your tune." Merlin gave her a look. Morgana ignored it. "We can't tell her," she said. There must have been something in her voice that Merlin noticed, for he looked at her seriously.

"You really don't trust her?" he asked. Morgana shook her head. Merlin nodded at her. "I trust your instincts. But Arthur will want to tell her."

"I know," Morgana admitted. "But we can find a way around that, can't we? We can say ... that unneccesarily worrying the queen is a bad idea." Merlin raised his eyebrows at Morgana doubtfully.

"This is Arthur we're talking about. The crown prat. He will tell Ygraine; he'll feel obligated to, now that she is the mother he dreamed of." Morgana took a deep breath and raised her head proudly.

"There is a way to find Ygraine's true intentions," she started hesitantly. Merlin nodded for her to go on. "Uther."

0O0O0O0

Uther was hudled in the corner of his cell when Morgana decended into the dungeons. She motioned for the guards to leave, but they didn't budge.

"I am Prince Arthur's sister, you will do as I say!" she ordered, remembering the tone she had used to those who served her during her time as a lone witch. The guards looked at each other, and finally departed. Morgana approached the bars of the cell. It was the same one she had been held in for defying the very man who sat destroyed in it now.

"Uther?" she asked gently. It was a hard voice for her lips to form after so many years of hatred. None of that feeling was gone, but there was some pity. There was also the feeling no one, not even the darkest of murderers could shake; the familiarity of the one who raised them.

"What do you want?" came a voice from the hudled form of the fallen king. "Have you come to gloat?" Uther raised his head and stared with his green eyes into hers, so similar. The moment they met, confusion spread across his face.

"Vivienne?" he breathed. Morgause had once told Morgana that she looked like their mother, but she had no reference to check this claim's validity.

"No. I am her daughter though," Morgana told Uther. He shook his head, and she was reminded of a madman. Perhaps that is what these cells do; turn kings into lunatics.

"Vivienne had no child," he muttered. "Ygraine had no child. These are all lies, all lies." Uther bowed his head into his drawn up knees again so that his face was hidden. In a split-second decision, Morgana pressed her hand against the lock and opened it magically. She prayed the door didn't creak as she opened it, and was not dissapointed. The guards didn't appear, so she sidled in and knelt beside her father.

"Ygraine told you about me and Arthur, didn't she?" Morgana asked. "She told you that Arthur is your son."

Uther looked up again. "You said that you are his sister," he realized. "But you said Vivienne was your mother. Is Arthur not a spawn of mine?" Morgana bit back resentment and other, stronger emotions that arose.

"He is your son," she said carefully. "And I am your daughter." Uther's green eyes searched hers. Gorlois had had brown eyes so dark they were almost black, so Morgana had always assumed that her green was from the mother she never knew.

When she learned of her true parentage, she'd secretly searched Uther's features for something that made them the same. She wanted to find nothing. She hadn't told anyone, not even Morgause. It hadn't had anything to do with her plot, she'd just wanted to know that they were different. Their faces were so different, and yet the eyes were the exact same shade. They could be just as hard and just as determined.

Uther's right eye had a tiny flaw, a wedge of brown. It was the thing that kept Morgana so determined on causing his death. If there hadn't been a difference, then perhaps she would have realized other similarities. If realized that they were in the least bit the same, she might have stopped her quest for revenge.

Now, however, there were bigger problems.

"Uther, I need to know. What exactly happened between you and Ygraine?" Morgana asked. Her father took a deep breath.

"I fell in love with Vivienne," he admitted. "Which I'm sure you know, if you are indeed the product of that union. I never stopped loving Ygraine, you must know! But I fear she didn't."

"Can you really blame her?" Morgana burst out, then silenced herself and allowed Uther to continue.

"Gorlois was a true friend, and he never suspected his wife and me. Vivienne did love him, more that me, I'm sure. When he died, she was broken-hearted. I turned to magic for help in easing the pain."

"Who did you ask?" interupted Morgana eagerly. Uther looked at her wearily.

"Ygraine," he said. Morgana looked at him in shock.

"You asked your wife to cure the broken heart of your lover? No wonder my mother died! How did you trust her to - "

"Because I didn't know!" Uther shouted. Morgana quickly rushed to the bars to check for guards, but none came. She returned to her father and waited for him to continue. "I didn't know it was her. In those days, magic was free. Anyone could be a sorcerer. I asked Ygraine to help me find one, that's all. She disguised herself."

Morgana had a newfound respect for Ygraine. She had killed her mother, but what she had been asked to do was barbaric and patronizing. For a man to be so entitled he couldn't chose one love so he asked his first to help keep his second? Barbaric.

"I didn't know who the woman was, and I didn't ask for details. She was just one sorcerer among many. All I cared was that she claimed to be able to do as I asked. She gave me a necklace. She said that if I hung it 'round the broken-hearted's neck, her worries would never plague her again. I did what she said, and I suppose Ygraine didn't lie. Vivienne is in a better place, I know. She is with her beloved husband."

Morgana knew Uther too well to feel sorry for him. "What happened after that?" she demanded. Uther startled at her tone, but he continued.

"I outlawed magic, of course."

"Of course," Morgana muttered, but Uther didn't seem to hear.

"Ygraine didn't agree, but I couldn't think why. It was then that she changed. She became secretive and distant. I tried to tell myself everything was alright, but I knew it wasn't. She grew away from me for nine years. A year ago, the rebellions began. Minor attacks on Camelot from neighboring kingdoms. They were always quite strange."

"How so?" Morgana asked, curiosity getting the better of her bitter pride.

"The knights came to arms unusually slowly," Uther explained. "And during the battles, not a single drop of blood was spilled. The enemy army would find its way into the palace, ignoring the lower town. And after every skirmish, if they can even be called that, bright lights filled the sky."

"Magic," Morgana guessed. "A show that magic will always find its way to the heart of Camelot." Uther sneered.

"Turns out it always was there," he said bitterly. "Last week, Ygraine came before all of Camelot and declared that magic would once again be legal. I protested. I think you know what happened after that."

Morgana nodded. Here was the hard part.

"I have been given a list," she started. "Of warlocks that are potentially dangerous to Arthur." She handed him the scroll and he scanned it. "Do you think that Ygraine would side with any of these people?"

"Against Arthur?" Uther laughed. Seeing Morgana's confused face, he said, "Ygraine loves that boy. She has always wanted a child. I can see in the way she looks at him that nothing he could do would tear her away from him."

"She just met him," Morgana exclaimed. "Why does she trust him so soon?"

"I am not so quick to place my loyalty in a stranger either," Uther said. "It seems we are alike." Morgana stood quickly, snatching the parchment out of her father's hands.

"We are nothing alike," she hissed, exiting the cell and locking it after her. The guards she passed on her way up the stairs, if asked, would say that nobody looked so much like Uther than she did then.

Did you like this interaction? I hope Morgana isn't too OOC. If I messed anything up in their talk, I feel like I saved it in her last line.

In most of my chapters, AndreKI makes an interesting point that maybe even I didn't see! Last chapter, they said "it feels like Morgana is Ygraine's daughter. Two proud, stubborn and mostly emotional women. Can be a cool fight of wills OR a real connection." I love my smart readers! Can't wait until you all read next chapter!

The story is nearing its end I think, but not quite yet! I still have some funny surprises waiting... So anyway, I just want to infuriate everybody who reads this.