A/N: In the first chapter, I had mentioned that Hunith was Gaius's half sister but in the last chapter, I mentioned as his niece. Sorry for the confusion. But I guess I will go with Hunith being Gaius's niece itself. I will try to change it in the first chapter as well.

Once Arthur had woken up from his impromptu nap, ('I did not faint, Gaius!') he started panicking. He paced the length of Gaius' chambers, muttering about the evils of magic and then alternating with wondering about why Merlynn of the Knights of Essetir would heal the villagers or if magic was truly evil how could it heal which was not an evil deed. Gaius tried reaching out to Arthur a couple of times, but the agitated Prince did not hear the old physician and so he just shook his head and went on to research what he could about the Dragonlords and their soulmates.

It was this scene that Morgana, the King's ward and Sir Leon walked into. Both of them took in the scene of a half naked Arthur pacing and muttering to himself, while Gaius was fully immersed in his research that neither of them noticed the new arrivals. Morgana and Leon exchanged a look with each other before turning back to the Prince with concern, which was when Morgana noticed the tattoo on Arthur's back.

"ARTHUR PENDRAGON!" Morgana shouted, causing the distracted Prince and the Physician to startle out.

"Huh, Morgana and Sir Leon, when did the both of you come here?" Arthur asked.

"We've been here for the past five minutes, but seemed to be distracted. By the way Arthur, when did you get your back inked?" Morgana asked Arthur who freezed like a deer caught in the headlights.

Arthur quickly snatched up his tunic and wore it, but the damage had already been done. Morgana was like a dog with a bone if her curiosity was raised, and Arthur's and Gaius's reactions to the tattoos with Leon's expression telling her that this is the first Leon even saw the tattoo meant there was more to this. So, Morgana being tenacious in her efforts had Arthur spilling all he knew about the tattoo to Morgana and Leon after extracting a promise from both that they would never mention it to anyone else.

"Oh! That is so romantic. A person who compliments you in every way and would love you no matter what. How lucky!" Morgana sighed.

"Lucky? Lucky? Morgana, did you listen to what I have been telling you? This is because of magic! Magic is evil! How can I be lucky when I am touched by evil?" Arthur burst out hysterically.

Morgana just slapped him on the head and waited for the Prince to calm down. "Magic is not evil, Arthur. I think you have come to the same conclusion as well. Otherwise, I think you would have told your father the true events that had occurred in Ealdor. I think magic is a tool like any other weapon. Neither good, nor bad. It is how you use it that matters. You would protect others with your sword while Princess Merlynn protected the villagers with her magic. Magic can also heal. It has given you a person who will love you unconditionally. A person who will compliment you in every way. You will have differences, who doesn't but you can always be sure of their love for you. That is a beautiful thing. That is not evil." Morgana said.

"But-"

"No buts. Now, tell me more about my soon to be sister." Morgana said, cutting off Arthur's protest.

"Soon to be a sister?" Arthur spluttered. "Morgana, that girl is the most high handed, irritating and insulting person I have ever met, and I know you! She is not your soon to be sister."

"You doth protest too much, Arthur. Now, she sounds just like the kind of person I would love to meet."

"Before getting ahead of ourselves, what do we know about the Essetir Royal Family?" Sir Leon asked for the first time since the conversation started.

Gaius sighed. "I do not know anything about King Cendred. King-Consort Balinor on the other hand was actually Lord Balinor Ambrosius and was a very close friend of Uther and Ygraine. Lord Balinor comes from a long line of Dragonlords. The Dragonlords are those who are able to command the Dragons. Usually the talent is passed down from father to son upon the death of the father. Dragonlords do have soul mates but most do not even meet their soul mates. As I have already told Arthur, the children of a Dragonlord and his soulmate, inherit the talent from birth no matter the gender of the child."

"Back to Lord Balinor, there was a quarrel between him and Uther, before you were born. Ygraine tried her hardest to reconcile the two of them, but both were headstrong. After you were born Arthur, the Great Purge started. A year later, Balinor was captured as Dragonlord powers are very closely linked with magic. I knew Lord Balinor was an honorable person. He never practiced the Dark Arts. So, I freed him in the middle of the night and had him go to my niece in Ealdor. He stayed with my niece Hunith for a few months and they fell in love. When Balinor proposed, that was when they found out they were soulmates."

"Then, Uther found out where Balinor was and sent a few knights to capture him. While Balinor was prepared to run so that Hunith would not be in danger, Hunith was head-strong and would not hear any of it. So both of them left Ealdor and went further into Essetir where Hunith was captured by a hunting Cendred and they found their third mate. A few months of their courtship and they were married as well as bonded with magic. Princess Merlynn is their only daughter. They do not have any sons. Merlynn was born with magic. She had turned both her fathers hair blue as soon as she was born. As far as I have heard, the people of Essetir love their princess very much. She is very kind hearted, fair and very beautiful." Gaius finished.

"Now, how do we meet with the Princess without Uther finding out?" Morgana asked.

"Whoa.. wait, wait. What is this about meeting that- that- irritating human?" Arthur asked.

"Oh, Now I know that you are truly intrigued by the Princess, Arthur. I have never seen you so flustered by a girl." Leon teased his friend.

Arthur just gave a disgusted look to both Morgana and Sir Leon before marching away from Gaius's chambers.

Although Arthur was determined not to think about a certain Princess, Morgana kept nagging at him telling him that Merlynn deserved to know who her soulmate was, at the very least, while Leon just smirked teasingly at Arthur whenever he caught him staring off into space. Arthur was reminded of the Princess in some way throughout the day which made him put more effort into training so that he did not have time to think. During the nights, even if he fell into an exhausted sleep, he would dream of the blue eyed, black haired princess. A few days later, Arthur gave up as he felt exhaustion creeping up on him and he was unable to concentrate on anything.

Finally he just relented and let Morgana drag him to Gaius.

"This cannot go on, Arthur. Merlynn has a right to know who her soulmate is as well. Does she really deserve to keep on searching for her soulmate till the end? If you are not interested in her, then at least have the decency to inform her directly to her face, so that she can move on with her life. I am sure there are many other men out there who can appreciate her for herself instead of hating her for something she was born with." Morgana ranted.

"I don't hate her, Morgana. But if I entertain the idea of being with Merlynn, then I would be setting up myself for disappointment. Do you think my father is just going to accept me marrying Merlynn, especially when he knows that she is the daughter of a Dragonlord? Before that, remember magic is illegal in Camelot, and the Princess was born with magic! My father will execute her as soon as she steps in Camelot. As for letting the Princess know who I am, do you think it will be a good idea to let her know through a letter? No. I would have to let her know about it directly. And how am I to go to Essetir when our Kingdoms are at war? What will I tell my father about going to Essetir? Then what about her parents? Will Lord Balinor even accept our union especially when my father betrayed him?" Arthur shot back, frustrated with the situation.

"Oh Arthur! We will think of something. None of these are impossible. Well, except for your father accepting magic. But despite Uther believing he is invincible, he is not. And you are his only son and heir. So, when you become the King, you can repeal the anti magic laws. First, let's think about how to go to Essetir to meet with Princess Merlynn." Morgana said compassionately while Leon clasped Arthur's shoulder in support.

Now that Arthur had let out most of the concerns he had, he felt that he could breathe again. Morgana's support meant a lot to him, after all he considered her a sister. They had their rivalry but it was a friendly one filled with constant ribbing of each other. Similarly, Leon was one of the only friends who told him when he was being too arrogant, although he never said the exact words. Gaius was like another father to him. He felt like he did not have to find a solution all by himself. Although Uther would disapprove of Arthur not keeping to his own counsel, Arthur felt comforted by the other three pitching in to help him.

Over the next few days, the four of them met up at Gaius's chambers to bounce ideas, but each one shot down by the others. Most of the ideas included Arthur going on a hunt, but when it was pointed out that the King would not let him go alone and would expect him back within a couple of days, that would not be enough time, they agreed it would not be a feasible idea. Gaius too thought of Arthur having some mysterious ailment, that the cure had to be found with one of the physicians in Essetir, they were sure Uther would tell them to send for the physician instead of them traveling to Essetir. Leon's idea of hunting for a magical creature was shot down with Uther sending a handful of knights with them due to paranoia instead of letting them go alone.

Finally, a fortnight after the discovery of the tattoo, Morgana came up with the idea to go to her father's estate to see what state it was in and that Morgana could ask Uther to send Arthur and Leon to accompany her along with her maid. She said they could tell Uther that Arthur and Leon could just inspect the outlying villages without drawing too much attention to themselves instead of sending many knights. Since the Le Fay estate lay near the border of Essetir and Fallcairn was only a day's ride from the Le Fay estate, it would be easier for Arthur to ride to Fallcairn without anyone the wiser.

Once it was agreed to be a feasible plan, Morgana approached Uther during their shared supper and received Uther's approval. Uther did try to persuade Morgana to take more Knights with her, but when Morgana pointed out that the Le Fay estate bordered Essetir and increase in Camelot Knights there might raise red flags to the Essetir Knights which may lead to unneeded attention had Uther conceding to her being accompanied by just Arthur and Leon, who were more than capable of protecting Morgana.

A week later, all the necessary preparations had been done with word sent ahead for the estate chamberlain to prepare the rooms for them, Arthur, Leon, Morgana and Gwen set out to the Le Fay estate early in the morning. It took a day and a half for the party to reach the Le Fay estate. The estate was a very beautiful one and was also well maintained despite Morgana not being physically present. The three nobles were shown to their rooms to take a rest from their journey.

A/N: Hope you liked this chapter. Was I too fast in making Arthur accept the magic and Merlynn? I thought with him already confused and Morgana nagging at him, that he might theoretically be okay with magic. But he might have some setbacks here and there. Anyway, Review please.