Gaius entered his chambers having been watching Morgause defeat Arthur in an unfair fight. Arthur was a boy of honour; he wouldn't harm a woman. He held back as she hammered away at his sword. What sort of person would it make him if he had played to the knights' rules and killed the girl?

However, Arthur got a cut in to prove his abilities, even if just to Morgause.

His father Uther would never look so deeply into what that strike had actually meant. A warning that he would win, but for her sake Arthur would not push his efforts to do so in the fight.

There was something about her Gaius couldn't shake. He had tended to her wound and it was like he knew her. the air she carried, it almost made him want to sit and speak with her awhile. A young woman to whom he sensed needed comfort in her life and that he wouldn't mind bearing a couple of burdens for. It was a strange urge for someone he had never met, but similar to his instincts towards Elaina and morgana, when he had met them properly as well.

He had assumed that with them, the connection he felt came from their mother. A high priestess he had felt honour bond to serve, in what ways he could considering his past with sorcery, as all with magic would in fear not to obey their will, for to go against it was often suicide. He had been particularly fond of Vivienne, in her admirable choice to live as a civilian within Camelot. As not many who was as powerful as she would turn their back on it. yet she wanted nothing more than a family.

Shame; after the birth of her first born…

Gaius stopped in his trial of thought.

"of course…" he gasped.

Morgause, she was also a daughter of Vivienne. The same one who he smuggled from Camelot the night of the purge. Her loss was the the point that turned everything Vivienne represented into ash. That bracelet he recognised on her daughter's wrist; he himself had made sure that the priestesses gave it to her as a token from Morgause's mother, as she requested.

Vivienne was gone and he had been reluctant to admit that he had been pleased she passed before she could unleash the hatred she had felt towards Uther and Camelot for separating her from Morgause. But it seems her daughter has become a successor, to bring about what she did not have the chance to.

And here he had only worried about the future of morgana and Elaina, because the looks that resembled their mother so much when they beheld the king would send shivers down his spine often. Elaina could refrain it sometimes, with more help from merlin these recent years because of what they fought for. But morgana, he was still unsure…

Speaking of the daughters of Vivienne; he found one sitting at his table. Her head was weighing down heavily on her hand and she looked ever so slowly upward at him. Those eyes were like deep pools making it difficult for her to hide whatever it was she was feeling, and he noticed straight away that their usual sparkle was missing.

"Elaina, what is it child?"

Gaius flung his medicine bag down and came beside her, his old knees appreciating a good seat now more than they ever had.

"Arthur is alright?" she asked, as reassurance more than a genuine worry indicating that she knew already that he was.

except for wounded pride, which merlin probably wasn't helping with, Gaius confirmed that he was fine. Morgause spared him for whatever reason, which did nothing to settle her.

"that doesn't surprise me after what she said. To ensure he doesn't end up like Uther…"

Gaius never knew where he was with Elaina. Her gifts sometimes put her miles ahead of him when something was going on and here was such an instance. What took him a little while to figure out, it seemed she already knew exactly who Morgause was and had confronted her.

"Elaina, you went to Morgause didn't you?"

She nodded in reply.

"what did she say, why has she come now to Camelot?"

She explained everything that happened in the room and more, "the end of this fight wasn't enough. She didn't come to see for herself the man Arthur is. she wants more from him, if not death alone. I just can't predict what."

"she has shielded herself from your gifts. Well, I don't know what she might have to her leverage. She has not been in Camelot for a long time. How can she possibly turn Arthur against Uther? The boy has witnessed his father do terrible things Elaina, if that hasn't deterred him…"

Elaina couldn't bare the defence for a moment while she was trying to think. Even without the visions, she still looked at things from every angle although it can often put those she cared about in an awful light. However, she needed to see reality for what it was, to make sense of things.

"maybe that's the point," she exclaimed, "He has gone behind Uther's back a few times certainly, but has he outwardly objected to Uther's actions? called him up for all his wrongdoing's during the purge. Has he ever once given us hope for a better tomorrow for those with magic…"

She felt terrible for saying it out aloud, but it was the truth and a reason for Morgause to come to Camelot. In fact, it was a reason why everyone who held hate for Camelot came after Arthur both in the past and now the future. She herself has waited with bated breath for him to do what she cannot, without being heaved off into the prisons, while he had the power and respect to do so. It was infuriating how he followed Uther like a pup sometimes, even when he berates Arthur publicly.

"what are you saying child? Don't tell me Morgause has gotten to you. You know what it is he and merlin will build."

Elaina, leant back on her chair staring out the viewless window that was marred by dirt. Clearly merlin was too busy in trying to gain that future, that he neglected such chores she joked.

"I do, but it's not coming fast enough. Look at morgana; Gaius if I can't make Camelot safe for her I'm scared I will lose my sister. How many times has she run off now? one day she'll keep on running and not return."

Gaius took her shoulder, "she loves you Elaina, in time if all is revealed to her she'll understand that you only acted in her best interest."

She quirked a brow, "that's what I keep telling myself. that it's all in her best interest. Why can't I just tell her that what she has long suspected is true. Why can't I tell her that she is sorceress, that I am a grimoire, that we are the hope for our kind. I'm aware of all of this and I'm not doing anything wrong."

Gaius had enough of the discussion. He had even had merlin at his throat concerning morgana's powers and behind his back searched for a way for her to better understand who she was and it led to him only making things worse. Morgana has lived in fear seeing what Uther intends for those with magic. She will not take kindly to living with a man who would see her and her sister dead. Needless to say, Gaius could not predict how morgana would respond with the fire of a priestess's wroth within her blood. In the end, not even their mother could escape their legendary nature that could made them a source for fear among many.

"Elaina, leave it! if you want your sister close, you will tell her nothing. And let us hope Morgause does not stick her nose in your affairs either."

Again, she was being attacked by opposite sides in what it is she should or shouldn't do. It rattled her nerves but as she couldn't see Morgause now, Elaina actually had never been able to read morgana's timeline. Unintentionally, she must be doing the same thing in shielding herself.

Furiously, Elaina pushed her chair back and without any further acknowledgment of the physician, stormed her way back into her chambers bouncing the door off its hinges on her arrival.

She didn't sleep that night. She couldn't; and when morning came with a carefree morgana looking rested to join her for breakfast, there on her wrist she wore a beautiful bracelet. It bore the mark of a great house, one they all shared a connection with, only it had been enchanted with a powerful healing spell.

The last person she saw wearing that bracelet, was Morgause.