This will be a calmer chapter, after the initial part due to the previews one. Also, with this chapter we finally reach the end of the day, which means three days of fluff before the witchfinder arrives. Or probably not. Still, with this we'll be outside the first seven minutes of 2x3, and we'll fully depart from that episode, list of suspects aside.

In between the various rewrites and fixes I ended up settling for a different style for the dialogues, but it was worse, so I changed it back. Thanks for the review. I also ended up stretching a bit some characters as I'm not good enough of a writer to pull off another chapter of drama without it feeling wrong, even if I think it would have been more realistic. So, instead of a Morgana vs Gaius we got a chapter more in line with the future tone of the story. Hopefully.

Chapter 3

She just walked out of her disastrous meeting with Uther, ignored the guards, and quickly walked down the hallway, when Arthur caught up with her. She wasn't running from him, but she surely wasn't in the mood for this. Whatever this was, because her mind was blank as she was trying too hard to think of what happened and how to solve it. Sadly, she had walked herself into trouble again, as trying to clear her thoughts by walking brought her to a seldom used hallway where they were alone with Gwen, so he spoke up "Morgana!" she stopped and turned toward him. "Did you get what you hoped for?" she just stared at him, but for some reason his expression softened "Why did you bring that up? I can catch them, and I will. You don't need to worry: I'll find them, the real culprits, and I assure you he won't call any witchfinder."

If she didn't know any better she would have been reassured by his words and his dependable demeanor, but right now she could only pity him, his certainty, and the certainty she had when she decided to talk to the king. "Sure, Arthur..."
Then a servant passed and Arthur waited for him to be far enough before resuming their discussion "Still, if you just didn't stir him up like that in the first place-"
"What? They would have died even if I didn't say anything!"
"I would have more time to investigate and catch the culprit, and no innocent would have died." Then he stopped, and briefly looked elsewhere to calm down "Still, while it's true that father is a bit blind when magic comes up, he didn't condemn those people before. If needed, we would have been able to convince him for sure."
"No," she reaffirmed "he didn't condemn them only because his honor wasn't at risk. Someone attacked the one he promised to protect, and you know how he thinks: let's kill them all... just in case. Even if it's obvious that it'll do nothing, he won't stop at anything when he feels threatened by his delusions." She ranted, making Arthur look around to see if anyone could hear them, and he did notice someone in the distance. He looked back at her, but she ignored the hint and kept going until the end. After all, it was just a servant holding stuff while passing by the opposite end of the corridor, and she was careful not to mention explicitly who or what they were talking about.

After she finally stopped speaking -and the threat of someone reporting them passed- Arthur's body relaxed, to then show that he mostly agreed with her, but as usual he complained "You should have tried to convince him when -and if- the case arose. The fire would have been further away by then, and your attempt would have been more likely to succeed. Now it won't work anymore." Then he added with a more juvenile tone "Keep on like this, and I'll have to give you lessons on how the court works."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I know, it's really complicated for a beginner, but sometimes you need a bit of tact when- Oh, come on!" he uselessly called once she turned her back and walked away. Truly insufferable.

When she was sure he couldn't hear them anymore, she turned toward Gwen to send her to inform Merlin, while she took some time alone. It pained her to admit it, but Arthur was right. She opened her mouth, but instead of speaking she turned back and decided to go to Merlin herself. Gwen was a bit confused, but she followed her nonetheless. He probably wasn't there at this hour, but she could tell Gaius... but at remembering what he did, her thoughts derailed into a silent tension. It wasn't so different, was it? They both made a mess while trying to fix things. If anything this was the proof that her tendencies of exonerating herself were wrong. Like she didn't forgive Gaius for lying to her, Gregory's wife wouldn't forgive her for taking her husband away. Even more importantly, she knew she wouldn't forgive herself if she couldn't prevent that man's kid from seeing those horrible thing. She had to do something, and if not to prevent the witchfinder to arrive, then to make him stop before anyone gets hurt.

"I'm not angry at you anymore," she claimed in front of a worried Gaius, who seemed relieved and was about to walk closer to her when she continued "but I won't forgive you," he stopped "like I won't forgive myself." At which he raised his right eyebrow "Still, I'll do my best to stop my mistake from doing any harm."
Her voice was tense, which made his worried "What are you talking about, my child?"
"My plea had the opposite effect, and Uther will call the witchfinder. I could do nothing more than delaying it for three days, but Arthur won't find the culprit."

After a brief moment of uncertainty he tried to console her, but while it showed good intentions, she doubted he would have consoled Arthur like this. After insisting that she wasn't to blame, she finally added something interesting "By chance, did Merlin give you any magical artifact or book? You'll need a good place to hide them, the sooner the better. If you don't have a place I can hide them for you."
"Oh no, he didn't give me anything, yet. Still, he will teach me magic, right? It may end up being useful."
"You are not planning to fight the witchfinder with magic, right? Because that would be suicidal." Her reaction betrayed what she was about to say, because Gaius became visibly disappointed.

She would have still claimed that she would only use it in life-or-death situations, but Merlin interrupted the flow of the conversation by opening the door. He immediately noticed them and smiled "Lady Morgana! How was the dinner with the king? While cleaning Arthur's chain mail I decided the first spell to teach you. It's-" Gaius just eyed him. "What?"
"The witchfinder is about to come," Gaius explained "You need to hide the book." Merlin nodded and Morgana decided she'll surely inquiry about it when Gaius isn't around.

Instead sought Merlin's confirmation "You will teach me magic, right?"
"Of course!" He replied
"No. It must wait until the witchfinder is gone."
If it was up to her, she would have just ignored him, but Merlin valued his opinion "What if I set the room ablaze again while he is here?"
Thankfully Gaius agreed "But you must not use it during his stay."
"Sure!" She instantly replied. He didn't buy it.
"The witchfinder is a force to be reckoned with. Nothing good will come out of taking him lightly." Couldn't he trust her judgment for once?
"I know..." She slowly replied with a lower voice. Then she added "Merlin, shouldn't you be hiding the book?"
Merlin's reaction to Gaius' support didn't need words to say 'Right now?'
"Yes, now Merlin."
"I'll help you." Morgana promptly added. She wanted to see that book. She looked at Gwen behind her, and they moved toward his room.

The room was a mess, the blanket and the sheets were everywhere, same for the clothes. "This is so clean..." Morgana commented in a sincere and surprised tone "I'm sure Arthur would love a room like this one!" She wanted to add something else too, but then a book on the floor caught her attention, and she just walked forward to grab it. "Is this it?"
"Yeah..."
Morgana was holding the book open with her left hand, and moving the pages with her right, when she distantly heard Gwen ask "Are you not afraid of leaving it there? If Uther found out..." The book seemed really useful. She wasn't interested in the monsters, but more on the herbs and the spells. Surely there must be one that fitted what she needed, particularly when the book itself was brimming with information, annotations, and additional sheets of papers where the pages weren't enough. A lived book that he either had for years, or someone gave it to him. She really couldn't understand how Gaius helped this boy he had met only recently, while at the same time he refused to help her, who he had known for ages. "-Morgana?"
She raised her eyes, they were both looking at her, and Merlin was offering her a hand.

She pretended to not know why he did that, even if he was holding a piece of wood, and there was a hole on the floor next to him, a hole that seemed to have made exactly to hold the book, but he noticed that she noticed, so she had to say something "I just opened it... can I borrow it?"
"If you convince Gaius..." She shut the book and quickly gave it back to him, a bit too quickly as he didn't manage to grab it in time and it fell, sheets of paper everywhere.
Merlin went for the book while she and Gwen started to gather the papers. "I'm sorry, I just..."
"It's fine. I'll sort them back later."

She lowered her head to see if there was anyone left, when she saw something wrapped in cloth under the bed. She quickly grabbed it out of curiosity, and started unwrapping it.
"Wait, it's dangerous!" He claimed, but she had already unwrapped it.
"A walking stick? Dangerous? If anything it seems valuable with this stone... did you steal it?"
"No!" It was the 'I'm lying' kind of no.
She looked at it again to see if she knew who he stole it from, and now that she thought about it, it was somewhat familiar "Have I seen it before? I know you took it from someone, Merlin."

He was hesitant, but he ended up talking "You remember the noble girl you had a vision about? The one that tried to kill Arthur?"
How could she forget? Wait- "It's hers? It's sure like it." then she looked back at him "I doubt she would have let you take it."
"Well, she died while I was trying to save Arthur, and it didn't seem right to leave something so dangerous lying around."
"I see..."
"Did you kill her for it?" Was Gwen's shocked reaction
"No!" Now, that was a shocked 'no!' worth its salt "She was keeping Arthur under water," Merlin continued "he couldn't resist as he was under the effect of her enchantment, and her father was good at offensive magic... I had no choice if I wanted to save him."
"I see," Morgana replied instead of Gwen "and what happened to the staff of the father?"
"Ah. I think it exploded?" Too bad...
"Do you have a hiding place for this one?" She proposed "I can hide it for you."
"The hole to stash it under the bed should be ready in time, and it would be better if you didn't hold it until you learned to control your magic." He said while taking it from her hands.
Then Merlin hid the book under the floor, the cane under the bed, and they left the room.

After locking the door of the main room -and listening to Gaius' recommendations of not using magic- they finally started. Gaius was searching something in his books behind Merlin, Gwen was sitting beside her, and Merlin on the opposite side of the table. A candle in the middle.
Just after sitting Gwen asked "Is magic linked with fire?"
"Not particularly," was Merlin's answer "but I think it'd be easier for her as she already used it. Can you capture the feeling you had?"
Her eyes widened a bit "Do I have to?" The room was full of books, precious potions, not to mention the wooden tables...
"Don't worry, I know the spell to put out a fire. It's totally safe." Behind him Gaius raised his eyebrow, but continued to pretend to be reading.

Morgana closed her eyes. She remembered that night very clearly, after all not even a day has passed since then. It was dark, with a storm raging outside of the window, lightnings, thunders, and the many moving shadows. That was nothing compared to her life spiraling out of control, or that dreadful dream of death and destruction. When that explosion-like sound woke her up, things were creepily out of place. That candle wasn't there when she fell asleep, and Gwen had no reason to move nor light it. Before she could do anything, the fire become bigger, taller and the whole room was caught in it. Morgana opened her eyes, felt those sensations again and tried to push them on the candle she was starring at, but nothing happened, not even a spark. Something cold touched her shoulder from behind, and she jumped up, turned -probably screamed too-, and... it was Gwen. She knew that there was no one else in the room, but she didn't notice her absence from her side. Gwen was staring behind her? On the table the candle was burning like a twisted mockery. She looked at Merlin and he shook is head. He didn't do it? She didn't know if she should be scared of doing it without wanting to, or being happy for her success.

"Was it necessary to scare her like that?" Gaius had stopped pretending to do something else and walked next to Merlin, with the book in his hands "You should have done it like I told you."
"But it worked!" He cheerfully replied "I told you she was just like me."
Gaius didn't seem to agree, but then Merlin looked back at her and explained "Some sorcerers start like you, with magic happening naturally to them, while others need to study it for years before being able to use spells reliably. I learned spells only later, so I thought I could teach you like that too."
His cheers faded a bit when he looked at Gwen, who asked "Is that what happened last night?"
She was scared, and it was Gaius who answered her "Yes, but it should be safe once she learns how to control it." The effect it had on Gwen was like removing a drop from an ocean.
Merlin noticed, so he pushed the candle toward Morgana and asked her to put it out. As soon as she did, he said `Draeca`, his eyes turned gold, and the smoke reshaped itself into a cute little dragon. Merlin smiled at Gwen as that managed to calm her "Magic can be used to do tricks, heal, and protect too."
"It's beautiful." Gwen observed, which made Merlin smile proudly.

Gaius walked away shaking his head when he saw the dragon, to then returning to pretend to be reading the book. Still, he did seem relieved.
"Can you do it again?" Merlin asked her.
"I think so" After all, when she realized what she had done she noticed in her memories that there was a distinct feeling, it was similar to when she tried to push her emotions into the candle... but it wasn't about the candle. It was dread of the unknown behind her, just dread. While thinking those things, the candle she was looking at caught fire.

They all congratulated with her, but she wasn't trying to do it yet. Gaius was surprised at her speed, and Merlin wanted to make her try something else, but when she explained they let her try it for a while. When she was rather confident about it -and wanted to try one last time to make sure- someone tried to open the door, to then knock incessantly when that didn't work "Gaius! Open the door!" It was Arthur. Merlin stood up and walked toward the door, but Gaius was closer and reached it first.

While all this happened she moved the candle aside, nearly in time for when Arthur entered. "Did you see-" he hurriedly asked, interrupting himself when he saw her "Morgana? You should have told someone that you came here. The guards at your room were waiting for you and you didn't show up. What did you do here all this time anyway?"
"Nothing, sire." Gaius replied. "She waited for me to prepare a new potion as she feared her dreams would worsen after what happened last night. I thought it wouldn't take much, so we decided she should wait here."
Arthur looked back at one of the guards and nodded, at which the man left the room, probably to convey that they had found her. "Next time tell someone." He said while looking at her, then he looked at Gaius "And is this potion ready?"
Gaius moved toward a table "It is, I was giving her new instructions when you arrived." He then reached the table and picked up a small bottle, to then repeat her the exact same instructions of her current potion.

Does anyone know what Morgana does all day? I mean, beside being a decoration at Uther's side on formal occasions, and a prize for tournaments. I know Gaius said she spends a lot of time with horses, but all this should leave her plenty of time. Arthur has to train the knights, handle the security, read documents, attend meetings, and he has the free time to go hunting. In comparison, Morgana seems to just hang around in her room with nothing better to do...