Hello everyone. I'm back with another chapter for this story. Thank you for your kind patience in waiting for an update. Sit back and enjoy.

Diclaimer: The characters and show belong to their respectful owners. I'm just writing this for the fun of it.

Previously on Careful Choices:

"Kin! Heir! Throne! Destiny! Future! Dragon Lord!"

The words rang loudly in his head as he struggled to get up from where he lay on the ground. He looked at the boy once more and noted that the boy's eyes flashed in a sort of shocked recognition. Wait… recognition?

That was his last thought as both the mysterious boy and Morgana faded away into thin air and then, his entire world fell into darkness.

Chapter 3

A small whirlwind appeared in front of the entrance to the hovel in the woods. Morgana looked about frantically as she held onto little Mordred's hand and quickly ushered him into the hovel, following close behind him.

The moment they had entered, Morgana sunk down to her knees and turned Mordred to face her. She was still panting from the incident earlier at the market. Her eyes darted about wildly, checking all over to see if he was fine.

"Love, are you alright? Oh, thank the gods you are… yes, yes, you'll be fine. Everything's going to be okay." Morgana rambled as she ran her fingers through his raven black curls.

"Mama, I'm fine! Who was that man mama? I was rweally scared. I wanted to stay at the market place longer but then you said we had to run from that man!" Mordred said fearfully.

Morgana tried to catch her breath before answering him.

"I… well… that man…" She trailed off, not knowing what to say.

Mordred stood quietly, expecting an answer from her. He blinked owlishly up at his mother who continued remaining silent. Mordred opened his mouth once more and proceeded to ask his mother more questions.

"Mama, are you okay? W-who was that man just now? It was so scary! But I think… I think I've seen… Mama, do you know him?"

Morgana's heart began racing wildly at the question. Her eyes widened considerably and her breath hitched upon hearing her son's words.

"That man… he is dangerous. Mordred listen carefully to me. If you ever were to meet him again, ever at all, you must promise me that you will do whatever you can to get away from him. Do you understand? That man has tried to come after Mama before so you mustn't ever go near him. Run off and don't stop running if he ever finds you. Promise Mama you will." Morgana cried out.

Mordred was starting to become increasingly afraid. He had never seen his mother behave like this before. She was desperately asking him to make that promise to her. She looked as if… as if she was very frightened. But that was impossible! His mama had powerful magic. She never became afraid. Never…did she?

"Mama… did that man scare you too? Your eyes are big and you're bweathing funny mama. Just like I do duwring storms and thunder!" The observant child continued.

Silence ensued. Morgana was getting more panicked with each passing second but she knew she couldn't show it to her son. She knew she had to stop the questions and divert his attention while she began planning what she should do next. And so, she plastered on a smile that seemed a little too cheery before giving off a weak chuckle.

"I'm sorry for worrying you Mordred… Mama was just so concerned about you when I saw that bad man. After all, you are mama's darling little boy and mama couldn't bear for you to be hurt! Remember what mama told you about the man. Alright then, why don't you go ahead and put away your new toys and books? Mama needs a moment to rest from all the running we did earlier. Oh, and Aithusa promised that she will be visiting later today, didn't she? I think you should get ready to meet her since she'll be arriving soon." Morgana hurriedly said as she began thinking of an escape plan.

Mordred's face brightened immediately and he nodded eagerly as he began to walk off to keep his new presents. Morgana let out a quiet sigh of relief as she rose up and began pacing around the room. She had to start packing now. They had to leave immediately.

Unbeknownst to her, Mordred had turned back to look at her and his cheerful smile had faded away and disappeared altogether, only to be replaced by a small worried frown.

Why did mama lie? The little boy thought to himself.

Mordred knew that she had not told him the truth. Even though his mother had looked calm and normal, he could tell that she had been trying extremely hard to fight down the rising panic inside her. He had seen it in his mama's eyes. She was terrified of that man they had seen earlier today at the marketplace.

Who was that man…and why does it feel like he knew that man?

Little Mordred could still hear the words that the mysterious voice had shrieked out earlier. They made no sense to him at all. He knew what he had to do. He had to find out more about what was going on. Those words reverberated in his head once more.

"Kin! Sire! Kingdom! Prophecy! Fate! Dragon Lord!"

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Back at the marketplace

"Oh god! Merlin! Oh no, oh no. Merlin! Can you hear me?! Please Merlin! Wake up!" A feminine voice cried out.

Merlin let out a groan as he felt someone holding on to his right shoulder and shaking his arm in an attempt to get him to wake up. His eyes blinked opened groggily and his hazy vision slowly swam into focus until he could somewhat get a hold of his surroundings.

Queen Gwen was kneeling on the ground to his right, looking close to tears as she stared down worriedly at him. On his left, Sir Gwaine and Sir Percival were looking at him with similar expressions of concern. It seemed like he was in the same alley where he had been blacked out. His whole body was sore and aching. Merlin let out a pained moan as his joints creaked in protest when he moved to sit up.

"Oh, thank goodness you're awake! What happened? How are you feeling?" Gwen asked worriedly, helping him to sit up.

"I'm fine, just having a terrible headache right now." Merlin replied, rubbing the back of his head and wincing from the pain.

"Well, we're really glad you woke up Merlin. Our boy Percy over here had to calm her majesty down because she was getting really anxious when we found you lying on the ground like a sleeping princess." Gwaine said teasingly, receiving a glare from the queen for joking about the situation.

"Ugh… my head hurts so badly… what happened?" Merlin asked groggily.

"That's what we'd like to know Merlin! When you didn't show up back at our meeting place, I waited for you together with the knights. After a while, you still didn't show up and I started to feel that something was wrong. I got a bit worried and decided to start looking for you with Sir Gwaine and Sir Percival. So, you can imagine how scared I was when we found your unconscious body lying here in this alleyway." Gwen replied.

Merlin rubbed his temples and closed his eyes in concentration as he tried to recall the events which had happened earlier at the marketplace. Suddenly, everything rushed back to him in a flood of memories.

"Hold on, what time is it?" Merlin asked, his head snapping up quickly before he groaned as another burst of pain came.

"Merlin! Take it easy! It's been about an hour or so since the time that we were supposed to meet back at where we parted earlier on." Gwen assured.

The memories of what had happened before he fainted played through Merlin's mind once again.

Seeing Morgana alive… the mysterious young boy with her at the marketplace… chasing after the both of them… cornering them at the alleyway… Morgana's terrified face… Morgana casting out the teleportation spell… the young boy looking at him… the strange and mysterious shrieking voice… wait a minute, shrieking voice?!

Merlin's eyes snapped opened as he let out a loud gasp of shock. The words said by the voice replayed clearly in his head.

Kin! Heir! Throne! Destiny! Future! Dragon Lord!

What was that all about? He couldn't understand what had happened. He had to find out more. Who was that boy and why did he feel as if he knew that boy?

"Goodness Merlin, what's wrong with you! Snap out of whatever you're dreaming about!" Gwaine exclaimed.

"Merlin, are you okay? What's wrong?" Percival's asked softly.

"Merlin, whatever's the matter? What are you muttering to yourself? Boy? What boy are you talking about? Merlin, are you listening?" Gwen said worriedly.

Their simultaneous voices brought him out of his reverie. He blinked at them in confusion, having not heard a single word they had said.

"Err… huh?" Merlin finally said.

Both Gwen and Percival sighed simultaneously. Gwaine just chuckled.

"Merlin, you were muttering about some boy… is everything okay? Will you tell us what happened at the marketplace please?" Gwen asked gently.

Merlin looked at her while he contemplated on what he should do. Should he tell them what had happened? How would they take it?

Gwen? She had lost her husband to Morgana's blade. Even now she still grieved Arthur's death. And Gwaine? He had been tortured to within an inch of his life by the very same witch. It had been sheer luck and a complete miracle that Merlin had managed to save Gwaine from the claws of death after Percival had brought the dying knight back to Camelot.

Merlin knew that just like the others, Percival too, would not react well to finding out that Morgana was alive after all these years. Finally, he opened his mouth and spoke.

"I… well... My memories are so foggy right now. I can't really remember much. One moment I was walking in the market and then the next thing I know, I was lying on the floor feeling dizzy. I-I had some sort of vision and there was… a boy running away? Yeah, I saw a boy...I think…"

He couldn't tell them the truth. No, not yet. He wanted to be left alone with his thoughts so that he could try and figure things out. He had to change the subject quickly and divert their attention.

"You know what? That isn't important right now. I actually feel really terrible. This pounding headache is exhausting. I think we should just head to the castle so that I get some rest and figure out what exactly happened. I'll have to leave Camelot soon anyways. Maybe after resting I may recall more what happened earlier?" Merlin continued hesitatingly as he got up from where he was sitting.

Gwen gave him a slight frown of concern as she too rose up to stand. She knew that Merlin wasn't admitting the full story to them but decided not to prod further. He would talk when he was ready. Now, he needed his space.

"Merlin, I know that it's important that you get back quickly to your lands soon but don't push yourself if you really can't okay? I worry for your health… Well, come along the Merlin. Sir Gwaine and Sir Percival, we best be making our way back to the castle now," Gwen spoke.

The company of four began walking out of the alleyway so that they could return to the castle. Gwaine moved closer towards Merlin as they walked, his eyebrows furrowed as he watched the uncharacteristically quiet warlock from the corner of his eye.

"There's something you weren't telling us earlier Merlin. What really happened?" Gwaine probed quietly.

"It's as I've said before Gwaine. My memories are really hazy. I don't know what happened." Merlin quickly answered, not looking towards his friend as he did so.

"Look, we should really head back soon. I'll let you know if I remember anything else, okay?" The dark-haired warlock continued with a brusque tone as he hastened his pace, not wanting to speak anymore on the matter.

Seeing how reluctant Merlin was to continue the conversation, the knight fell silent as he kept casting worried glances towards his friend. Everyone in the group made their way back silently, each not speaking as they were too caught up in their own thoughts.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

At Camelot's citadel

Merlin paced back and forth in his chambers. He was in his own world as endless thoughts flickered through his mind. The morning's events replayed in his head. Morgana's unexpected reappearance had unsettled him greatly.

At first, he had thought that his eyes had been deceiving him but then he remembered that the stall vendor who he talked to had seen Morgana too, so it wasn't a trick of the mind and he really had seen her.

She looked so different from the vengeful and embittered witch that he remembered she was. When she had gazed at him so fearfully in the market place and then fled off timidly, for a moment there, his mind had been brought back to the time when she had first discovered that she had magic. She had been so terrified back then.

And then, there was the matter of that child. He had gotten a glimpse of the dark-haired boy when he first spotted Morgana. The lad had been clinging to her hand as if his life depended on it. Merlin had only managed to get a good look at the boy when he had cornered them in the alleyway.

It had been there that he managed to confirm that the child was in fact Morgana's son. The little boy had called her his mama. In addition to that, he also had raven hair and green eyes the exact same colour as Morgana's leaving no doubt as to who his mother was.

But how was that possible? The child looked to be around five years old. By Merlin's estimations, the boy would have been born somewhere around the time during or after the final battle of Camlann. As far as knew, Morgana hadn't been with child back then. Had she adopted? But then, the child looked far too much like her not to be blood related.

What was even more perplexing, was the fact that the child seemed so oddly familiar to him and yet he couldn't place where he had seen the boy before. To add on to that, the words he had heard in his head at the last moment before Morgana vanished with the young boy brought along more even questions than answers. He tried to recall exactly what the voice has screamed out.

"Kin… Heir… Throne… Destiny… Future… Dragon Lord…" Merlin whispered.

"I don't even understand what they mean at all. They just appeared out of nowhere when I made eye contact with that little boy." Merlin sighed out.

"Kin… kin… heir… heir… child… heir… child… kin…" Merlin muttered to himself.

All of a sudden, the warlock's eyes widened considerably and he stopped pacing. Could it be?

"But it isn't possible… I mean sure, if you think about it, the boy does have an uncanny resemblance to me and – By the Triple Goddess! Snap out of it! Stop entertaining such wild thoughts Merlin!"

Merlin growled and his magic flared up. The idea seemed so far-fetched and yet… for some reason it was… probable. Letting out a huff, Merlin resumed with his pacing.

"Grrrr… answers… I need more answers. It just doesn't add up… there are too many missing pieces!"

Turning to his study room, Merlin walked up to his scrying table. There, positioned in the middle of the black marble table and surrounded by taper candles, rested a stone scrying bowl carved with the design of a dragon.

His eyes flickered gold and the candles were set alit instantaneously. Another flash of gold and the scrying bowl began filling up with water.

"Diegol cnytte, gewitte me yst, aliese hie. (Illuminate the darkness, let me see through the rough water, deliver her.)" Merlin chanted as he waved his hand above the water surface.

The water in the scrying bowl began to ripple and slowly, an image faded into view. Staring intently, Merlin quickly recognised the familiar looking background.

"Found you..." The warlock muttered drily, making a mental note that Morgana was currently residing in her hovel.

He observed silently as Morgana appeared in the scene. Clad in simple and modest garbs, she looked just like any other peasant village girl. It seemed that she was... what exactly was she doing?

The whole chamber was in a disarray as if thieves had ransacked the place. He watched as she rushed back and forth hurriedly about the room, frantically tossing books and supplies into a large gunny-sack satchel lying on the ground near her.

In the background he saw the little boy staring up at his mother with tears were streaming down his face as he trembled where he stood. Merlin watched attentively as the little boy's eyes flickered between green and gold. It was clear that the child had magic as well.

"Mama, what are you doing mama? Why are you packing everything? Stop it mama, I'm scared!" The boy cried out.

Hearing the child's fearful voice seemed to jolt Morgana out of her frenzied state. She stopped what she was doing and moved towards the crying boy.

"I'm so, so sorry for scaring you love. But we have to pack up. We're leaving this place because it's not safe here anymore. We have to go little one. I need you to be a strong boy now. Can you do that for mama? Calm your magic like how mama taught you." Morgana asked as she quickly wiped away the tears from her son's face.

Merlin watched as the little boy nodded quietly and started taking deep breaths. The magic flickering in his eyes quickly faded away. Interesting. So, it seemed the child had a rather good control of his own magic.

"Yes, very good, let's continue packing, okay little one? Alright, remember the summoning spell you did before? Can you try doing that again for your things? Bring them here in front of us so that we can pack your stuff as well." Morgana said gently.

Merlin continued to observe as the child nodded again. With a look of concentration and a slight jut of his chin, the little boy began chanting silently and his eyes flashed gold. Around the messy room, objects began to rise off from the ground. Clothes, books, toys and other possessions that belonged to the boy floated towards where Morgana and her son were.

Merlin was stunned by what he was witnessing. For one so young, the boy had just displayed a tremendous amount magic.

"Your magic grows stronger each day love. I'll have to start teaching you verbal spells soon so that you can further focus your –" Whatever Morgana was about to say next was cut off by a loud, beastly roar.

The young boy's eyes widened at the sound and his expression morphed into one of excitement.

"Mama, it's Thusy! She's here. We have to meets her and tell her what happened! Thusy can help us, right?"

"Come on then, quickly now Mordred. Let's go outside. Mama needs to speak with her." Morgana hurriedly reached out to grab hold of her son's hand.

"She actually named her child after Mordred? Really now?!" Merlin muttered to himself incredulously.

The warlock continued to watch as both mother and child proceeded towards the entrance of their home and headed outside. The image in Merlin's scrying bowl faded out for a moment before being replaced by a new one.

The water now showed Morgana and Mordred standing in a forested area. Merlin could see the entrance of the small hovel in the background. He watched as the boy suddenly grinned widely before breaking into a sprint.

"Thusy! I'm so glad to see you! We need your help Thusy!" The child cried out.

There, standing majestically on four feet and waiting for the boy to approach was...

"Aithusa?!" Merlin cried out in disbelief.

Aaaand that's all for now folks. Yes, that's right Sir Gwaine is alive in this story. He's my favourite knight in the show. I don't care about what actually happened in the canon episode of The Diamond of the Day, he lived on in my head!

If anyone's interested in how Merlin's scrying bowl looks like, you can google it. Just search up for "Dragon scrying bowl" or "Dragon design scrying bowl" and the image should be the first one that pops up. The design looks like the dragon's wings are curled around the bowl. That's how I imagine the scrying bowl to be.

Anyways, this chapter was a bit shorter than usual and yes, it ended of as a cliff hanger. Muahahaha, the plot thickens. I'm evil aren't I? Sorry (not sorry) everyone! Do stay tuned for more and thanks for reading! Leave a review if you will, reviews help a lot with the plot and character development. Would love to hear your opinions and get some feedback so I can come up with even more fresh ideas for this story! ^_^ Well, until the next update, have a nice day!

~Faye

(Updated: 31/05/2020)