A/N: This one-shot is set in the same universe as Another Path, but can also be read as a stand-alone. Note that this is NOT the promised continuation of that story, but that I am still planning on continuing it! I know it's been forever since I posted the first chapter, but school has been insanely busy this semester. Now that it's summer though, I should be able to think about it more seriously, and with any luck, you'll see something there in the next few weeks!
Written for Merlin Ladies Week 2021 Day 3- Angst or Fluff. I hope you enjoy this shameless ball of Mergana fluff! Thanks for reading!
Morgana sat behind a squirming Vivienne, gently brushing her hair and taking longer than was strictly necessary in the hopes that it would soothe her daughter so that she would eventually calm down enough to sleep. It wasn't looking particularly likely.
This time of day might just be Morgana's favorite. Due to her role as advisor to the king, she couldn't always be here to put Vivienne to bed, but she did it whenever she could. Yes, the girl had a perfectly capable servant who could do things like this, but somehow Morgana felt that these (relatively) peaceful evenings with just her and her daughter were the most important bonding experience they had. Besides, Morgana had spent far too much of her childhood without a mother, and she would do anything to make sure her little one never had to experience that.
A little while after Morgana had gotten all the tangles out of Vivienne's hair and had moved on to putting it into a neat braid for sleeping, Vivienne spoke up. "Mother, do you want to see what Father taught me today?"
Morgana immediately tensed. Last time she had been asked that, it was after Merlin had had the brilliant idea to teach her how to create fire. She loved her husband, but she still couldn't believe she had to explain (not as calmly as she intended) to him how stupid it was to teach a six-year-old to play with fire and that, no, just because he could do it naturally at that age did not make it okay for Vivienne.
But nonetheless, she tried her best to hide her apprehension, and because it was very important to her that her daughter be encouraged in her magic, she said with a levity that she certainly wasn't feeling, "Of course I would darling. What have you learned?"
She held her breath as she waited, praying that this wouldn't be anything dangerous, as Vivienne stood and faced her. She didn't have to wait long before the girl cupped her hands in front of her, confidently said, "Gewyrcan lif," and her eyes flashed gold.
Morgana let out a small chuckle in her relief as Vivienne opened her hands a moment later and a swarm of vibrant blue butterflies began to fly throughout the room. She smiled brightly and clapped her hands. "Well done, love!" she exclaimed brightly, pulling the child into her arms and kissing the top of her head. "They're beautiful."
It was moments like this, looking around at the pure beauty and innocence of the butterflies surrounding her, that Morgana wondered how her father had ever considered magic to be evil. Even though it could certainly be used for dark purposes (and Morgana knew her past was plenty evidence of that), could anything purely nefarious create something like this?
Her heart swelled with gratitude that she and Merlin had been able to help her brother see the light so that she could raise her daughter in a world where her gift was not only accepted, but celebrated. She would never have to hide who she was like her parents had, and therefore would never have to fear that she was a monster. She would never be alone.
Grinning, Morgana held her own hands out, repeated the spell Vivienne had used, and when she opened them, a swarm of purple butterflies joined the blue ones. Vivienne clapped and jumped up and down in delight. When she stopped, Morgana gathered her close again, settling her on her lap.
"You are so special my love," she said softly, drawing Vivienne in to cuddle against her chest. "Do you know that?"
"Yes, Mother," she responded simply. She said it with such confidence that Morgana's heart swelled within her chest.
"Don't ever forget it." The two of them sat like that, Morgana gently swaying as Vivienne's eyelids began to droop. "Come, love," she said eventually. "It's time for bed."
It was a testament to how tired she was that Vivienne didn't argue as Morgana gently lifted her and carried her across the room to her bed. As she set her down and tucked her in under the covers, Vivienne asked sleepily, her eyes barely open, "Can I train with Uncle Arthur tomorrow?"
Morgana chuckled quietly. That was her girl. "We'll see. You can ask him at breakfast. Now it's time to sleep. Goodnight, my Vivienne." She placed one last kiss on her forehead before she stood and blew out the candles.
"Goodnight Mother," Vivienne mumbled, barely audible. A moment later, she was fast asleep. Morgana stood and watched her for a moment before quietly leaving the room, shutting the door behind her.
"Thank you for teaching our daughter how to do something other than light the castle on fire," Morgana said teasingly as she walked into her chambers. Merlin was sitting at his desk, scribbling away at something or other. Probably Arthur's next speech.
Merlin looked up with a smug grin on his face as Morgana walked over to him, grabbing his hand and pulling him to his feet so that she could step into his arms. "I take it you view the butterflies as more… how did you phrase it? Oh, yes. Age appropriate." he asks, appeasing her by wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Much," she replies. "When she asked if I wanted to see what you had taught her, I was terrified that she would throw something against the wall or something."
"I was saving that for next week," Merlin replies with a smirk. Morgana rolls her eyes and cuffs his ear lightly, but any annoyance she was trying to portray was betrayed not a moment later when she successfully kissed the smug look off of his face.
"She's already asking to train with Arthur again, you know. It's not like she needs to learn any violent magic right now to compensate," Morgana says once they draw apart again. Then she looked straight into Merlin's eyes and quirked up one corner of her lips, knowing how he would react to what she said next. "We'll make a knight of her yet."
Merlin groaned rather dramatically. "Great, just what we need. Arthur training Vivienne in his prattish ways."
Morgana can't help letting out a laugh. "Hush, you. It'll be good for her to learn how to defend herself. Just because you can't use a sword to save your life doesn't mean she shouldn't be able to."
"Hey!" Merlin says, putting on his best affronted face and pulling back slightly. "I seem to remember beating you in a sword fight once!"
"You used magic! That doesn't count!" Morgana retorts as she once again cuffs Merlin's ear.
"So were you! Face it, we were evenly matched. If you're insulting my swordsmanship, you're insulting your own as well," he finishes with a raised eyebrow.
Morgana rolls her eyes. "Fine, maybe you aren't quite as incompetent as I implied. But I still hope Vivienne takes after me."
"Oh, she does. Believe me," Merlin says, his eyes widening slightly.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Morgana demands, pulling away and crossing her arms across her chest.
Merlin blushes faintly and replies a little too quickly, "Nothing love. Just, um. She has your looks, you know? She'll be the fairest maiden in all of Albion. Well, next to you, of course." He fixes his face into as innocent an expression as he can manage. As if she would buy that for a second.
Morgana raises an eyebrow, clearly communicating her utter disbelief, but simply shakes her head and says, "I know that's not what you were thinking, you enormous flirt. But I suppose I'll let it go for now. Come to bed?"
Merlin laughs. "Give me just a few minutes. I'm almost done with this speech for Arthur."
Morgana can't help the slight smirk that crosses her face at the verification of her suspicions. "Alright," she replies as she reaches up to kiss him quickly on the cheek. She moves across the room to prepare for bed as Merlin finishes his work. True to his word, it only takes a few short minutes, and then they are cuddled up together under the covers on their bed.
"There are going to be so many butterflies around for a while, you know that?" Morgana says into the darkness.
Merlin laughs and raises his head off the pillow slightly to look down at her with a grin. "I'm sorry, Morgana. Would you rather I hadn't distracted her from setting things on fire?"
"It wasn't a complaint, Merlin," she says. Then, much more seriously, she added, "I think they're beautiful. And more importantly, so does she."
Morgana can just see the soft smile on her husband's face in the dim light from the moon. "I'm glad. She should never have to see it as anything other than beautiful."
"No, and she never will. I'm glad she has the support that we were so deprived of," she replied.
"Me too," Merlin says softly, earnestly, as he draws her closer to him. "Me too."