Servants bustled frantically through brightly-lit hallways as moans of excruciating pain echoed after them, urging them to move faster. A short, heavily-built woman shoved her way through the doorway. "Hot water for Ygraine!" she called, and the others made way. Merlin stood rooted to the spot as time passed unnaturally quickly, shadows lengthening and starlight replacing the sunlight streaming through the windows. He found he could move at last as the cries of agony weakened, replaced with the unmistakable wail of a newborn baby. Upon entering the room, Merlin immediately realized subconsciously where he was. This was the scene of Arthur's birth.

A beautiful yet deathly pale woman sat regally in the curtained bed despite the lines of pain creasing her face and how her baby was grasped in her arms with the last strength she could muster. A man entered the room, seemingly unaware of Merlin's presence and ran to Ygraine's bedside, hugging her tightly. "It's all going to be okay now," he insisted, stroking the hair from his wife's sweaty forehead. Merlin supposed this man must be Uther, yet he could summon no anger; only pity.

Ygraine clutched at Uther's wrist, staring into his eyes with unearthly intensity. "No, Uther. You don't understand. For a life to be given, one must be taken. That life is mine, and I willingly give it for my son. He will be a great man someday, and a great king. For he is the one the prophesy speaks of; I can feel it." She looked down at the infant, brushing a light kiss across his forehead; the one and only kiss he would ever receive from his mother. "His name is Arthur," she breathed. And Ygraine was gone.

Uther stared in complete disbelief at his dead wife as his world shattered into a million pieces. "No!" He screamed, and his pain resounded throughout the city. The halls were deserted now, no servants dared to risk Uther's deadly grief and anger. He collapsed onto his wife's corpse, sobbing and begging her to come back, as if he could revive her with the rawness of his grief. He turned to look at his newborn son, sleeping soundly. The babe's eyes flickered open, and Uther's tears flooded anew as her saw HER eyes in his son's face. Uther roughly lifted Arthur from his mother's cold arms, a new desperate madness filling his gaze. "I will destroy those liars who took my love from me!" he vowed.

The scene shifted, and Merlin was shocked to recognize his own home back in District eleven. He pushed open the familiar front door and recoiled at the crowd that filled the small space. "It's a boy!" a voice called out, and Merlin suffered a second stroke of realization. This time the dream was showing him his own birth.

Time jumped again, and his mother, looking much younger and more carefree, sat alone gazing at a bundle in her arms. At him. A golden glow filled the room, and his mother gasped. The golden semblance of a strange triangular symbol smoldered on the wall next to the chair in which she sat, and an orb of light floated over his newborn self.

"He is the other half of the coin, a child of prophesy. He possesses extraordinary gifts, and shall be the companion and savior of the once and future king. Together they will rise above all opposition to restore Albion."

Merlin sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes wearily. These dreams provided nice insight, he supposed, but they really disrupted his sleep patterns. As he rose to dress, he remembered with a moan that today was supposed to be used to prepare for his interview the next night, and tomorrow he would have the exquisite pleasure of spending nearly ten hours with his stylist and prep team. Fabulous.

He was the first to the breakfast table for a change, and took his time helping himself to a large stack of toast, as there was no porridge this morning. He wondered to himself if Gwen and Gaius had requested the lack of his favorite breakfast food. They had looked rather disgusted at his recipe the last few mornings…

Gwen was then next to arrive, then Gaius and a disheveled Celeste, who was busy muttering something about vodka and late-night parties. Gwen and Merlin exchanged smirks.

Gaius stood and cleared his throat. "Ahem. So today we're going to be deciding what angles you two want to use in your interviews," Gaius announced. "Merlin, you will be first with me, and Gwen will be first with Celeste to work on… erm… presentation. After lunch we'll switch. Come on, Merlin. Let's go."

The room slowly emptied as Gaius led Merlin over to the couch. "Now your interview angle should be extremely easy to determine and won't require much acting on your part. I was thinking wither being mysterious or just being your usual bright, plucky self. With your training score, the sponsors are already practically lining up at my door to offer you whatever you need, so it's purely up to you which angle you choose. Whatever you think you can pull off and that the crowd will fall for."

Merlin shrugged. "I don't know, Gaius. You're the expert after all. And I don't really care what the Capitol thinks of me anyway. They'd all turn on me without a second thought if they knew the truth."

Gaius let out a long-suffering sigh. "Just humor me. Let's try both and see which one we like better. Pretend I'm Caesar Flickerman and answer whatever questions I throw at you to emulate the actual interview. Now Merlin, how do you like the Capitol?"