A/N: Thank you GuestM, Eris, pallysAramisRios, Guest, and Buckhunter for reviewing!

I wouldn't say Gwaine was jealous, just that he felt, "well, Lancelot's got this covered and he doesn't really need the knights around." Lancelot was once one of their close-knit group and now he's this lone warrior figure. It's not jealousy so much as not knowing where they fit in relation to each other anymore. And that's something they're all struggling with.

Hmm, I don't know if Lancelot could heal trees. He could manipulate the vines into grabbing people like Lily did. Intriguing thought. And I'm glad this chapter was a nice break after work. :)

Chapter 5

Lancelot's muscles trembled from the amount of mental exertion he was pouring into holding the sphere of water. Water was heavy and wanted to fall back to the ground, and it was taking all of his concentration not to let it. He had no idea how he was ever supposed to wield it with the fluidity and ease that the other element masters had.

He inhaled and exhaled steadily, tensing when the orb of water wobbled and threatened to spill over. But he managed to hold it. It was all about mental acuity to bend the elements to his will, and each one was challenging in its own way. Air may have been weightless compared to water, but that made it more flighty and difficult to hold onto. Fire could simply burn out if its fuel wasn't kept in balance with its energy output.

Balance, that was what Hayao told him. Find the balance within to exercise the balance without.

Lancelot breathed in again and focused on the shimmering water, focused on holding that shape until his task masters said he could release it.

The common room was filled with boisterous carousing, which almost but not quite drowned out the drumming rain outside. Arthur and his knights sat around on cushions and fur rugs, drinking mead. Training had been cancelled due to the horrendous weather, and it was pouring so hard that everyone had shut themselves away indoors to escape it.

Arthur caught sight of Lancelot entering the room, looking hesitant and uncertain. He'd been scarce of late, keeping his distance. The incident on the training ground had spread like wildfire through the castle, adding to the unease a lot of people still held toward the knight turned sorcerer. Which wasn't entirely fair; it had been an accident and no serious harm was done. Elyan wasn't even holding it against him. But it seemed Lancelot was just as nervous of them as they were of him.

"Lancelot," Arthur called out.

The man froze like a deer caught in the woods.

"Join us," Arthur invited.

Lancelot tentatively made his way over to where Arthur and his closest knights were gathered on the floor and eased himself down to sit. A servant came over to offer him a mug of mead, but he politely waved her off. Chatter and friendly banter went on around him, but Lancelot didn't join in. Arthur couldn't help but study him out of the corner of his eye. He looked like a stranger, dressed in the garb of another land, and yet his shy hesitance reminded Arthur of when he'd first come to Camelot all those years ago and had fumbled around trying to find a place among the knights.

He had found it, though, had made a place and name for himself. That hadn't changed. And then Arthur remembered what Lancelot had said about time passing differently in that other realm in the afterlife. A hundred years. That length of time would change anyone, he supposed. He tried to imagine what it would be like, to one day be in one life, and the next to be in another, and then to return to find everything and nothing had changed because you were the one who was different.

"So, Lancelot," Gwaine said, finally directing the conversation to the silent knight. "Did you meet any legendary heroes in that afterlife place?"

Lancelot faltered for a moment. "Well, supposedly everyone there was granted admittance for their great deeds in battle. Though they were from so long ago that their names might no longer be in recorded history."

"Except yours," Elyan pointed out.

Lancelot looked embarrassed at that.

"I'm curious about them," Arthur put in. And he out of the rest of them would have studied the histories of great battles and might know some of the names.

"Well, Hayao is the grand master, and the head of the order, the one who forged the path to ascension."

"The what now?" Gwaine said.

"Apparently they never died but found a way to shed their mortal bodies and ascend to a higher place of existence."

The knights shared perplexed looks at that.

"For what purpose?" Percival asked.

Lancelot shrugged. "Enlightenment, I suppose. They didn't teach me that since I was already dead."

Gwaine snorted. "Higher existence, huh? Can't be all that great if a man can't have his ale." He raised his mug and then knocked back a long swig.

Several sets of eyes rolled in response.

"Who else?" Leon asked curiously.

"There was Evaine, a fierce warrior who drove me hard during our training. No doubt she was formidable in life as well. In all my time in the hidden valley, I had not once bested her in a duel."

"Do you think we might end up there?" Elyan mused out loud.

Percival gave him a cheeky grin. "There's probably a height requirement."

Elyan shot him a dirty look in return.

Arthur, however, was contemplative. "So, there were no other knights there?" He had lost men in his time, both as king and prince. He had never given it thought before, but now he wondered where those poor souls had ended up.

Lancelot shook his head regretfully. "I was the first in a long time, and only because of this mission they had for me. If not for that, I don't think my soul would have been taken there."

Arthur didn't know whether he was disappointed or not. "Well, to fortuitous interventions," he said and raised his mug in a toast.

The other knights echoed it and drank.

The storm continued to rage outside, battering gales rattling the windows and momentarily distracting from the conversation. Horizontal rain slashed across the panes, completely washing out visibility. Then the peal of the warning bell echoed against the wind. Everyone surged to their feet and rushed to the windows, struggling to see through the streaming water.

"What is that?" someone breathed.

Arthur squinted, then his eyes widened in shock. It was difficult to see at first, the gray mass mixing with the rain like mist. But it was drawing closer, and Arthur could see it was a massive cyclone bearing down toward the city.

"Evacuate the lower town!" he ordered, and everyone went sprinting from the room.

They barreled out into the rain, the deluge immediately soaking their shirts. Most of the knights hadn't been wearing their chainmail, which on the one hand meant less weight to bog them down but the frigid gusts of wind were ripping at their thin tunics and blasting them with ice.

The tempo of the warning bell changed as Arthur's orders reached the guard tower. Still, he and the knights ran throughout the town, trying to yell above the howling winds for people to evacuate to the castle. They burst through doors, startling villagers, and practically dragged them out. People went slipping and sliding through the mud as the hurricane force gales threatened to knock them off their feet, and the thatched roofs of the houses shook as though ready to go flying clean off.

"Can't you stop this?" Gwaine yelled at Lancelot.

Lancelot's face was set like steel, and he turned to face the oncoming tornado. With a series of hand movements, he thrust both palms outward, and Arthur saw a wall of counter winds go spiraling up into the sky. The intensity of the gusts raging around the rest of them decreased, enough for them to pick people off the ground and continue their retreat to the citadel. Once it seemed as though everyone had made it safely into the courtyard, Arthur turned at the gate to look back. Lancelot was holding his ground, the winds whipping about him and splattering him with mud. The twister was just reaching the edge of town.

"Lancelot!" Arthur bellowed.

Lancelot threw a look over his shoulder, then dropped his arms. The released gusts of wind slammed into him, knocking him into the side of a house.

"Come on!" Arthur shouted. The guards were struggling to get the gate closed, but Arthur wasn't leaving a man behind.

Lancelot struggled to his feet and pushed forward, fighting against the winds working against him. The wind turned from howls to shrieks.

Arthur braced himself on the edge of the gate and stretched out his hand, grasping frantically for Lancelot's jerkin once he was within reach. Then Percival was there and seizing hold of him as well, and together they hauled Lancelot through the gate into the courtyard, and the guards slammed it closed. The high stone walls blocked out some of the gales, but the tornado was just outside them, and the knights finished ushering everyone inside the castle and slamming those doors shut as well.

Arthur backed up, water streaming down his face and his hands and feet numb, as the stone walls of the castle rattled and shook with enough force that he feared it might come crashing down on them.

"Arthur!"

He turned as Gwen came rushing down the steps, eyes wide with alarm. "Get everyone further inside," he said, waving his arms for the knights to get moving. He then pushed his way through the throng of frozen, soaked bodies until he spotted the bright red of Lancelot's garb. "Can you use your magic?" he asked.

Lancelot regretfully shook his head. "I can only manipulate the elements, not control things on such a massive scale."

Well, that was discouraging.

They all retreated deeper into the castle which would hopefully afford them sufficient protection. Even so, they could still hear the roar of the tornado and feel it battering against the walls. But eventually the sounds petered out, and after several minutes of stillness, Arthur decided to venture out to take a look, his knights right beside him.

It was just the rain now, pattering forcefully against the window panes. They cautiously unlocked the main doors and pulled them open. Debris littered the courtyard, but the gusts of wind were gone.

Arthur stepped outside into the rain and went up to one of the ramparts. Half of the lower town had been devastated, rubble spread all throughout the streets and dropped on houses that were still standing. In the distance, two more tornadoes were careening away, ripping up trees and grass and casting a green hue across the sky.

Arthur turned to Lancelot again. "I suppose this is part of that end times you were talking about."

Lancelot just gave him a grim look.

First darkness, then disaster.

What else were they going to have to face?

Merlin hurried into the great hall with another armful of blankets he'd managed to scrounge up. Gwen intercepted him, wordlessly taking them off his hands and distributing them to the townspeople crowded into the hall, everyone wet and shivering. Gaius was checking them over for any injuries they may have sustained in the mad dash to the castle. The walls had stopped shaking and so it seemed safe to be gathered in the hall where there was the most room, but the storm was still going full force outside.

Merlin pulled up short as a low keening echoed on the wind, prickling the hairs on the back of his neck. It seemed to go away, but he stayed still, listening hard, until he heard it again, an almost mournful wail.

He turned and went over to Gaius. "Do you hear that?" he asked in a low voice.

"Hear what?"

"Something crying, in the storm."

Gaius furrowed his brow and seemed to listen, but after a few moments he shook his head. "I don't hear anything, Merlin." He went back to tending his patients.

Merlin cast an intent look out the window. He knew he heard something.

The doors creaked open as Arthur and the knights entered. Merlin cast about for a spare blanket, but there were none. He wedged his way through the crowd just as Gwen met them and began to give a report on the status of their supplies.

Arthur nodded as he listened, eyes roving over the frightened townspeople. He was sopping wet still, as were the rest of the knights, and Merlin was worried they'd catch a chill.

"We'll move some people into the common room," Arthur said. "Keep the fireplace burning. Hopefully we have enough dry wood stored."

"I'll check on that," Gwen said and hurried off.

Elyan came jogging in. "Water is building up in the courtyard."

Arthur's mouth pressed into a thin line. "Open the gates again, try to drain some of it. And try to fill a bunch of sandbags to shore up the castle doors."

"I can help direct the water outside," Lancelot said, and he and Percival went off with Elyan.

Merlin made his way back over to Gaius. "This can't be natural," he said quietly.

Gaius cast a guarded look over his shoulder and responded in kind, "Once we've finished up here, we can look through some books."

Merlin nodded and returned to helping the townspeople get dried off and settled. After that, there wasn't much assistance to be offered, not until they could start returning to their homes, and the rain still had not let up. Not to mention there were whispers of worry over whether another tornado would strike. So everyone stayed clustered in the main halls, and Merlin and Gaius finally retreated to the physician's chambers to do some research.

"Ah, here we are," Gaius said, tracing a finger across the page he was reading. "This text mentions elementals, the ancient spirits of nature."

"They'd have the power to do something like this?" Merlin asked.

"They certainly would."

The door opened and they both stiffened, Gaius tucking the book against his chest, but it was just Lancelot. The still sopping wet knight shook out his hair as he came inside, sending water droplets everywhere.

"You're going to catch a chill," Gaius chided, setting the book down and getting up to get a towel, which he tossed at the knight.

Lancelot caught it and rubbed at his face. "Trust me, I won't," he said.

"We think we found what's responsible for the storm," Merlin said, pulling the book Gaius had been reading toward himself. "Elementals."

Lancelot came around the table to look for himself.

"No dripping on the books!" Gaius snapped.

Lancelot grimaced sheepishly and backed up. "Does it say how to appease them?"

"Um…" Merlin scanned the page.

"They are not evil beings," Gaius put in. "They're neutral. I don't know what could have stirred them up like this."

"Maybe we should ask," Merlin suggested.

Lancelot nodded and draped the towel over the back of the chair. "I'll go with you."

"Merlin," Gaius huffed. "You can't just go waltzing out into weather like this, especially if it is in fact being caused by these magical beings."

"Sure I can," Merlin said with a confident grin. "Don't worry, Gaius, I've got my own personal shield." He flashed that grin at Lancelot, who shared it.

Gaius grumbled to himself as they headed out.

The two of them snuck out of the castle yet again, but Merlin figured if they were going to try talking to an elemental spirit, they should do it away from everyone, just in case. He shivered as the rain quickly soaked him, even down to his toes. Lancelot didn't seem bothered by it, and Merlin was suddenly envious that he probably wouldn't catch a chill but Merlin might. And then Gaius would never let him hear the end of it.

They stopped in the meadow outside the city and Merlin used his magic to call out to the spirits, hoping they were in a listening frame of mind. At first it didn't seem like anything was going to happen, but then the wind picked up, circling up into a spiral, and Merlin's heart jolted with fear that another twister was going to form right on top of them.

But then he felt a presence in the cyclone, and the winds began to take on an amorphous, androgynous shape that towered over them like a giant. Lancelot visibly tensed, his hands slowly moving into a ready position should he need to wield his magic. Merlin put a staying hand on his arm and turned his attention up at the ginormous being.

"Why are you doing this?" he shouted to be heard. "Aren't you peaceful? All about maintaining the balance of nature?"

The elemental threw its head back with a raging bellow. "Peace. Balance. We were woken from our slumber, and now one of our own has been taken captive."

Merlin exchanged a look with Lancelot. "Taken captive?" he shouted back. "By whom? And how?"

"Only a powerful sorcerer could have accomplished it," the elemental spat. "We are the foundations of the earth. We are no one's slave!"

"Morgana?" Lancelot suggested in Merlin's ear.

He nodded in agreement.

The elemental continued to howl with rage. "We will lay waste to the earth until our kin is released."

"If we find and free the captured elemental, will the rest of you stop?" Merlin yelled.

The massive being of wind and rain leaned down to peer at them intently. After several long moments, it reared back up. "We will."

And with that, it spiraled back up into the clouds where horizontal lightning went forking out in every direction with a sharp crack and sizzle.

Merlin swallowed hard. Well, that had gone…better than expected.

"So how are we going to find Morgana?" Lancelot asked.

That, Merlin didn't know.