Without further words he was clashing down the buckets in front of the main house, leaving the old hag without any explanation. There she stood in her front door watching after him questioningly. When Merlin entered the barn and he saw Mab and a wave of relief was flowing through him. Then, when she wasn't looking up to him, he was alarmed again. Hastily he rushed over to her.
"Mab, what is it?", he was worried, "Is everything alright?"
She held her hands before her face, so that he couldn't see her.
"Don't look at me.", she was hissing hiccoughing.
"Why? Mab! Are you alright?", he repeated trying to take her hands and pulled them away from her face.
She was still mumbling, "Don't look at me… don't look!" She tried to move her head out of his sight.
"What is it?", he asked again very warily. He gave her a moment. Then he gently cached her cheek with his palm and locked her gaze directly with his.
She was trying to suppress her sobs and with a low voice she nearly whispered lying an emphasis on every single word: "I _ have _ cried." –
Another moment of silence.
"Yes, I can see that.", he stated in neutral tone. She hesitantly shook her head.
"No, you don't understand. I have cried! I am Mab, Queen of the Old Ways and I never do cry!"
"So why have you cried? Was there somebody here?", he asked in return, hoping Frik had not been there.
She looked at him a little bit irritated, "No, how could... I mean I wasn't to leave here… and I just… I just want my old life back!"
Merlin watched her for a moment. Of course she did, he should have expected this. She was weaker than a mortal and dependent on her arch nemesis and of course the circumstances would cause her a nervous breakdown.
When he realized that nothing seriously had happened in his absence, Merlin started to laugh. He began with a chuckle boosting into hysterical laughter.
Mab was looking at him in disbelief. She had just poured out her soul in front of him and he gave nothing but laughs. She was enraged by that.
"What the bloody gnomes are you laughing at?"
But Merlin did manage nothing but a giggle.
"You … you … you…", she had no words for him. Instead she flung her hands at him trying to slap him. Luckily for Merlin that she had no real power to do him any harm.
Effortlessly he caught her hands, pulled her closer and took her into his arms. After a few moments of useless struggling she gave in and collapsed exhausted against his chest, again. There she sobbed hardly, trying not to start crying again.
"You are making fun of me, You bastard.", she murmured.
But Merlin only was patting her back. "You have no idea."
He had quickly noticed how easy his former icy Queen could be calmed down if he just took her in his arms. He knew that arguing with her had been useless for many times, but this new method seemed much more effective. So when there were no words left, he just overpowered her and silenced her in an embrace.
"Outside these walls there are death and treachery roaming the streets and you cry because… you cried?", he asked after a while.
"I never do. I am a Fae, I don't need to.", she answered offended, "I don't need to eat, I don't feel, I don't cry and most of all I don't let myself be touched by mortals!"
Merlin chuckled at this only to stroke her back a little more with his hands. She only snorted for an answer.
"Just look at me, what have I become?", she mentioned after a while.
"Yes, what a monster!", Merlin chortled.
Some minutes later they were having their dinner. Some soup with bread. Mab ate in silence. She still didn't like it, but the gnawing feeling in her stomach got better. Then she remembered how upset Merlin had been at first when he had returned.
"What have you found out today?", she asked.
Merlin nearly choked on his soup. "What?"
"You wanted to talk to that king Marc, about that plague.", she reminded him.
"Oh yes…"
Merlin wondered how much of the information he could give her. It was not that he didn't trust her, but thinking of her condition, upsetting her not any further, seemed absolutely necessary to him. So he couldn't tell her of his encounter with Frik, nor could he tell her about the strange behavior of that gnome.
They had to leave, that was clear.
"Well it seems that the king is not really getting this under control."
He still had her attention.
"He says the disease is spreading, so we are leaving tomorrow."
Mab could feel that there was something he had not told her. But she didn't dare asking him.
She would approve it if she finally could leave the rotten barn and their straw made bed. Her back was aching from all the laying and she felt miserable. And knowing that she was in Dun Tagell, where Mordred had been born and raised, made her feel even worse.
"Where are we going?", she asked.
He looked at her thinking for a moment. He had asked himself his question before they came here. But back then Mab had been still comatose and he had tried to find help. Now they didn't needed anybody else, so he believed at least. So he just answered: "Home."
And it felt strange calling a place home. Home had always been with people he loved. His home had been with Ambrosia, it had been with Nimue and it had been with Arthur.
Now he took Mab with him, that won't be easy, he thought.
But Mab still watched him in disbelief.
"Which home?"
He believed this to be a rhetorical question, but Mab had actually asked him.
"We are going to my hut of course.", he stated.
"But why don't we go to my realm?", she asked, "Or why can't you just bring me there? You… you wouldn't have to stay there. I can handle it quite well on my own!"
It pained Merlin but he had to admit, that he wouldn't want her to handle it alone. Despite that he couldn't believe, that she was ready for that. She needed him and he knew it.
Furthermore he had no idea how he could bring her back. The last time he had tried to enter her realm, he had asked the Lady of the lake for help, but she had denied him this help. She probably wouldn't help them if he returned again. Besides he had a nagging feeling, that they were not welcome there. What if her sister tried to hinder them in the end?
And he needed to keep an eye on Mab. So there was indeed no way he would bring Mab somewhere else, than with him to his own home.
So he simply shook his head.
She pressed her teeth together, looking suddenly very defiant. Swiftly she turned around and staggered to their bedding. She didn't face him anymore and she didn't spoke with him for the rest of the evening. He was sure she would get over it, so he just left her in peace. When he joined her, she made no move for cuddling towards him.
On the morrow he got up very early. Mab still slept so he did not disturb her sleep. He returned to the castle of Dun Tagell while most of the town's people still slept too. He reached the rocks of the fort just when the sun was rising. The golden rays broke their light in the morning mist. He still knew the secret passage ways through the castle, so he didn't need long to find the chambers of the king, now that he once had been led there by Tristram. There he found a piece of parchment, ink and feather. He pondered a moment about what he could write to the king without getting accused of the whole dilemma.
So he just wrote about his suggestion, an idea he had last night in a dream. The king should try to close the well and to find different water resources. Maybe this would help or maybe Frik had only bluffed making a fool out of him. He couldn't imagine that the gnome would poison water in the whole country just for… for what purpose in the end? And how would he accomplish this?
It was a riddle to him. Until he knew more he would keep this mystery to himself. So he left the letter and unseen he went back to the barn.
There he began packing their stuff; fed Sir Rupert; paid the old woman. Then he woke up Mab. The Fairy Queen was still intent on ignoring him. She barely was looking at him, nor did she talk to him. He led her out of the barn, and helped her onto the horse. Just like they had entered the village, they left it again, seeing only the old man watching them distrustfully.
Then they were making their way through the Goen Bren, the moor of the river Fowey. They got back to the old Roman Road and headed for Twyverton. Mab didn't spoke with him for the entire journey.
Only when it began to rain, she shortly swore: "Suckin'elf, that's my day!"