The trumpets started to sound, announcing the arrival of the King, and the guests began to take their places at the two tables. I stayed in my place with Gwen, not sure what else I was supposed to do and unable to immediately spot Gaius as I looked around. The King entered, making his way down the walkway to his place at the high table with Arthur and Morgana, coming to a stop in front of the middle chair and addressing the gathered guests.

"We have enjoyed twenty years of peace and prosperity. It has brought to the kingdom, and myself, many pleasures but few can compare with the honour of introducing Lady Helen of Moira." He sat, the guests clapping as they followed his example and took their seats.

Lady Helen breezed into the room, going to her place atop the platform that had been set up for her at the other end of the tables, furthest from the royals but central so they would get the best view. Two standing candelabra placed at either side of the stage, causing the firelight to glimmer off all the jewels in her neatly entwined hair. Without pause, someone began to play the harp and Lady Helen opened her mouth to sing.

The sound spilled from her lips, weaving its way through the crowd and entrancing each and every guest. Myself included. I had never heard such music before, her voice rose and fell with practised ease but I had no idea what she was actually singing. It was all in another language. I couldn't help myself as I began to move along the wall, easing myself closer to the High Table, as I tried to get a better view of her. She took a step down from the platform, slowly making her way down the aisle as she continued to sing, her hands gracefully moving through the space beside and in front of her as though dancing.

I caught movement from the corner of my eye, distracting me from the enchanting performance, and turned to see one of the castle servants slowly sinking to the floor. I began to look around, seeing if anybody else had noticed, only to find them all beginning to drift off. Their arms crossed on the tables in front of them, their heads resting atop them. Lady Helen showed no surprise at her audience's reactions to her voice, she knew exactly what she was doing. She was using magick! I hurried to cover my ears, unsure why I had yet to be affected, and looked between her and the Royals she was still slowly advancing on. I watched as the candles dimmed, as though a blanket had been placed over them, and cobwebs began to materialise, growing around and over the slumbering guests.

Her voice grew higher in pitch, almost a scream, as she came to a stop a few feet from the High Table, pulling a dagger from her a sleeve. Her eyes locked on Arthur. With my heart in my throat, my eyes began to search the room, looking for anything I could use to stop her. They landed on the chandelier. Directly above where she was now singing, her arm coming back as she prepared to throw it straight at the Prince. Without a word I dropped the chandelier on her, watching in a mixture of relief and horror as it pinned her to the floor. Crushing her beneath it. I removed my hands from where they were covering my ears, her song at an end, and watched as the guests around me began to awaken, murmuring in confusion and dusting away the cobwebs. Uther stood from his throne, looking down at where the Lady Helen lay, Arthur following his lead and we all watched as she rose from the ground, her elbows supporting her, and looking up at the Royal table in hatred. But it wasn't Lady Helen.

It was the mother of the man Uther had executed, Thomas Collins, and she was getting her revenge as she had sworn she would. Using the last of her strength she retrieved her dagger from where it lay beside her, using all her power to throw it directly towards Arthur. Straight at his heart. Time slowed around me and before I had time to process what I was going to do I was already running, pulling Arthur towards me with a strength I hadn't known I possessed, both of us flying to the floor as time sped back up and the dagger impaled itself in his chair. Arthur had tried to turn us as we fell, trying not to land on top of me, and caused us both to land on our sides on the stone floor. I rubbed my hip as I sat up, thankful that he had succeeded in avoiding me. My own weight had been painful enough.

I looked towards the dead woman, I hadn't meant to kill her... I had just wanted to stop her singing. A hand appeared in front of me, blocking my view and I looked up to find that it was Arthur, offering me a hand up. I accepted it, gratefully. Allowing him to pull me to my feet. He didn't release my hand until his father stepped toward us, dropping it as though I'd burnt him, and I made a show of brushing the dust off my dress before facing the King. He had one hand on Arthur's shoulder, staring at me with gratitude clear in his eyes.

"You saved my boy's life. A debt must be repaid." I shook my head, unable to force words out of my mouth but he continued. "Don't be modest. You shall be rewarded." I felt my cheeks growing red from the attention, everyone in the room now looking at me, and forced myself not to cringe away.

"No, honestly, you don't have to, your Highness." I curtsied, careful not to topple over in my unbalanced state, looking to Arthur for help. He just continued to stare at me, giving me no alternative but to look back to the King.

"No. Absolutely. This merits something quite special." He had tears in his eyes, a sign of humanity I hadn't expected from him. "You shall be given a position in the royal household. You shall be Prince Arthur's servant." Say what? He started to walk away, Arthur finally coming out of his stupor as I stared at him in horror.

"Father!" He seemed as agitated as I was by the thought, I didn't know whether or not I should be insulted. Besides, weren't male royals supposed to have male servants? For bathing and things? The crowd was clapping and I had no idea what to say or do. Arthur looked at me dumbstruck, not expecting the King to actually turn back to him.

"Yes, my boy?"

"Erm… I mean no disrespect but has it escaped your notice that this lady is… well… a lady?" I chuckled slightly. Lady my ass. Is it possible? No! Surely he knew who I was. I didn't look that different. Did I?

"Arthur, I am very certain that Merlin is indeed a female, yes. Is there a problem with that?" I noticed how Uther didn't refer to me as a lady but what shocked me was the fact he knew my damn name! The King of Camelot knew my name! I began scanning the room again, searching for Gaius, and finally spotting him at one of the tables. He smiled toward me, pride filling his eyes, not trying to find a way to get me out of this. Of course, he wouldn't. He'd already mentioned finding some paid work for me. This was perfect for him! He wasn't going to be the one who had to deal with Arthur on a daily basis. Speaking of Arthur, he was currently staring at me, slack-jawed and wide-eyed. I put my hand up in a wave, shrugging, and watched as the King walked away. Arthur losing his chance to argue it further as he just stared at me in shock.

I had rushed back to my room as soon as I could, wanting to get away from all the strangers that kept approaching me to offer their congratulations and well-done's. They had meant well but I hated getting so much attention, wishing I could have just stayed in the corner with Gwen, out of the way and making a friend. Instead, I had been forced to make polite conversation with noble-men and women, feeling Arthur's eyes on me the whole time. Even after servants and guards had removed the fallen chandelier and old woman's body, people beginning to eat and drink as if it had never happened, the line of people waiting to say hello had remained.

I stayed sitting at my vanity for a while, not having bothered to clean up and get ready for bed yet, just staring into the candle's flame and thinking over everything that had transpired tonight. I didn't regret killing the Witch, it couldn't even really be counted as me killing her considering the chandelier had been responsible. Her frail body had been unable to take the weight. I had expected it to just knock her out. Still, I had ended a life today. And I didn't regret it. What did that say about me? Plus, the Dragon seemed to have been right. I couldn't escape my destiny. Even if I wanted to, it kept forcing Arthur and I into each other's paths and I had saved him without even thinking about it. Like it was normal.

Gaius returned after a couple of hours of me running out, making his way straight up to my room with a big smile on his face and something under his arm.

"It seems you're a hero." He announced and I laughed, there wasn't much humour in it though. My mind was still elsewhere.

"Hard to believe, isn't it?" At least, it was for me.

"No. I knew it from the moment I met you. You saved my life, remember?" That hadn't counted. Had it? I mean, I had just acted without thinking. Much like with Arthur.

"But… that was magick." I reminded him, wondering why he was congratulating me on using it when he'd been so adamant for me not to before.

"And now, it seems, we've finally found a use for it." Great. Not only was the dragon saying I had to use it to keep Arthur safe but now Gaius was too.

"What do you mean?" I asked, checking we were thinking along the same lines.

"I saw how you saved Arthurs life."

"Ohhhh no." I groaned, remembering that I would now have to deal with him all the damn time. And listen to his orders. And do his chores. And not smack him when he was acting like an ass.

"Perhaps that's its use for it." Great.

"My destiny." Sometimes I truly hated that word.

"Indeed." He placed the square concealed object he'd been carrying in my lap. "This book was given to me when I was your age but I have a feeling it'll be of more use to you than it was to me." I slowly took it in my hands, uncovering it to discover a book. It was simple, apart from the metal shape in its centre and the fastenings on its side. I began undoing them, opening the book and flicking through the pages. When I realised what it was I almost choked, this was... it was... but...

"But this is a book of magick." I couldn't help but grow excited at the thought of being able to learn real spells but why had he given it to me? I was supposed to keep my magick hidden. Not use it.

"Which is why you must keep it hidden." A huge smile broke out on my face and I leant forward, enveloping him in a bone crushing hug.

"I will study every word," I promised, shaking my head in wonder. He hugged me back before a knock on the door downstairs had us breaking apart. The pair of us going down to see who it was. It didn't seem common to get a visitor so late at night.

"Merlin. Prince Arthur wants you right away." A man's voice shouted through and I groaned. It was late and I wanted to read the book Gaius had just given me. Surely, any jobs he had could have waited until tomorrow.

"Your destiny is calling. You'd best find out what he wants." Gaius urged, struggling not to laugh at the look that must have been on my face. With a sigh, I nodded and handed him back the book, asking him to put it in my room for me and began heading for the door, turning back just before I opened it.

"Gaius, how did the King know my name?" I asked, remembering what had been bothering me earlier.

"I do talk about you, occasionally."

"To the King?!" My voice went high in surprise and a little bit of fear. The last thing I wanted was for the King to begin paying attention to me, it would only make it harder to keep my secret hidden.

"Well, not usually, but one of his guards had noticed that a young girl had been staying in my chambers, he wanted to know who you were. So I told him." Why did the King even care what Gaius was doing? Were they... friends? Surely not. If Gaius was a friend of the King he would have given me up, wouldn't he?

"What did you tell him?" I asked, choosing the easiest question for him to answer.

"That your mother had sent you to me, hoping you would be given a better life here than what she could provide in her village." It was true, I supposed. He'd just left out the part where she had wanted him to help me learn to control my magick. With good reason.

"Oh."

"Merlin, the King has done some dreadful things during his reign but he does have some good traits." I looked at him in surprise, disbelief clear in my face. "He does care about his people, especially those that have shown their loyalty to him. You saved his son's life and he gave you the opportunity to build a life for yourself here, as I had told him you wanted. He can be stubborn, and cold and completely unreasonable at times, but he loves his son and his ward, he does the thing's he does because he truly believes it is in their's, and the people's, best interest. Try not to judge him too harshly, as much as you may have reason, there are always two sides. Perhaps, in time, you will find Arthur to be the same." I could never agree with Uther killing my people but Gaius may have had a point. He couldn't be all bad. No one was. Which meant that perhaps, in time, Arthur would show he had good in him too.

With that thought in mind, I went to go and find out what my Destiny wanted.