Warning: this starts off with the Morgana/Freya smackdown that's been several chapters in the making…but since they're girls, instead of fighting it out they end up having a talk-fest and braiding each other's hair. Just kidding, there's no braiding of hair here. Freya's backstory is taken from the 'Lady of the Lake' episode as she related it to Merlin, but I've expanded it a bit. How did her family die? Why did that sorceress' son attack her? Here are my answers to those questions, as well as how she escaped being cursed.

When morning arrived Morgana rose from her bed despite Gwen's protestations that perhaps she could use more rest and ordered her friend to help her dress. She chose her darkest gown to match her mood and adorned her throat with a dark ruby necklace; the overall effect was imposingly regal. Then she sent Gwen out so she could be alone with Freya, who was setting out her breakfast. She approached quietly from behind, then loudly cleared her throat.

Freya whirled around with a startled little cry. Morgana was so close she could feel the lady's breath on her face. Suddenly feeling that she might be in trouble, Freya gulped and glanced around for help, but Gwen was nowhere to be seen. She was alone with her angry-looking mistress. "S-Sausage, my lady?" she asked, voice shaking just the tiniest bit.

"No, I do not want a sausage." Morgana spoke coldly and clearly, with an icy calm that seemed at odds with the simmering fury behind her eyes. "Sit down, Freya."

"My lady-"

"I said," Morgana hissed, "sit. Or does your disrespect for me run so deep that you think you can disobey a direct order from your mistress and future queen? I should point out that your prince isn't here to protect you."

Freya sank into the chair she had pulled out for Morgana, now looking baffled as well as worried. "I don't disrespect you, my lady," she protested.

Morgana trapped the other girl by gripping the chair's armrests and leaned forward until her nose almost touched Freya's. "Liar. I was awake last night - I saw you behaving far too intimately with Prince Merlin, and I heard him say he'd prefer to marry you, but that will never happen. Whatever feelings he has for you, your affair ends now. I will not have my fiancé and my maid carrying on in my own chambers! Don't think you can make a fool of me in this way!"

"Nobody wants to make a fool of you, my lady. I was just trying to cheer Merlin up because he's my friend. But he's only a friend, I swear."

"I don't believe you. How did a serving girl come to befriend a prince? I heard he brought you to live here in the palace - why would he do that if not so you could be his lover?"

"To save me from a horrible fate. He protected me when no one else did," Freya said softly.

Morgana straightened up, her jade-colored eyes still hard as she stared down at the serving girl. "From what did you need protection?"

"A woman...a sorceress. She tried to put a curse on me." Freya shuddered.

"Why?"

Freya bowed her head in shame. "I killed her son," she whispered.

"And Merlin took it on himself to protect a murderer?" Uther never would've done that; he would have had her beheaded. No, Uther would already have had Freya burned at the stake for being a witch before she had a chance to murder anyone. "I trust there were extenuating circumstances?"

Freya nodded. "The man I killed attacked me. I only wanted to defend myself, but I was so afraid he was going to kill me that I put too much force into my spell. I just meant to push him off me, maybe knock him out so I could run, but I broke his neck instead."

"Why did no one help you? Where was your family?"

"Dead," Freya said sadly. "A fever took my father one winter, and my brother drowned not two months later. We lived near a lake; in the winter the winds whipped it into such huge waves, you thought they were going to crash down and take away all the houses, but in the summer, when the water was calm, it was like heaven." She smiled, remembering happier times from her childhood. "We couldn't wait for summer to come so we could go swimming again...but that spring my brother didn't wait long enough. It was starting to get warmer and there had been three weeks of good weather, so he said it would be all right to go in the lake just for a little while." Her expression darkened. "I wanted to go too, but our mother made me stay and help her in the vegetable garden. I was furious - I argued with her until all of a sudden a storm blew up. We ran down to the shore to look for my brother... We were too late. After that the grief was too much for my mother; she didn't seem to care about living anymore. She started to waste away bit by bit, and then she died too." She closed her eyes as a single tear slid down her cheek.

Morgana moved to her side and laid a hand on her shoulder, unsure if Freya would accept comfort from her since she had dredged up those painful memories in the first place. She half expected her to flinch away from her touch, but instead Freya clutched her hand like a lifeline. "I am so sorry that happened to you."

Freya sniffled and continued her tale. "I provided for us as best I could with my father and brother gone, but even with my mother eating less and less we barely had enough to survive. The sorceress' son had asked me to marry him once before, and I had refused him. He was angry, but my father said it was my choice who I married and sent him away. When my family died, he thought I would be desperate enough to accept."

"Which you obviously did not," Morgana observed. She felt a stab of envy; poor as Freya might have been, at least she was free to determine the course of her own life.

Anger flashed in Freya's dark eyes. "I had just finished burying my mother when he told me I needed him to take care of me. I said I'd rather starve than marry him. Then he said if I wouldn't be his wife he would just take what he wanted from me and be on his way."

"I can see why you killed him."

"I didn't mean to," Freya reminded her.

"I would have," Morgana growled.

"When his mother found out what I'd done, she said she would curse me to kill forevermore. I was terrified...and then Merlin was there. He was passing through the village, and it was my good fortune that he saw the sorceress threatening me and stopped her. She was arrested for attempting to use dark magic but allowed to live because he understood her grief over losing her son and felt sorry for her. I thought I was going to be arrested too, but once I explained that it was an accident Merlin decided to let me go. When I told him I was afraid the sorceress might try again to take her revenge, he offered to take me back to the capital city and find work for me. I said yes; there was nothing for me in my village anymore, just bad memories and danger. We became friends, but we were never more than that. In all the time since I met Merlin I've never known him to love anyone except his father, and he's never seemed interested in women at all."

"You mean to tell me he's never been with any woman? Ever?" Freya shook her head, and Morgana's eyebrows shot up toward her hairline. She and Arthur had both had sporadic, short-lived flirtations here and there - they had even tried flirting with each other for a while when it looked like Uther was seriously considering officially making her a Pendragon, but their efforts at kindling romance had been horribly awkward and soon fizzled out, although they were able to remain close friends afterward. For the most part they had avoided becoming too attached to anyone who caught their eyes, knowing that when they married their feelings would have little to do with the matter.

That could be Merlin's reason for avoiding romance altogether, and it was just as well that he had so no hearts were broken when Balinor ordered him to marry Morgana . . . or it could be that finding love simply held no interest for him. Morgana didn't know if this was a good thing or very, very bad. On the one hand she was relieved not to have competition for his affections; on the other, how was she supposed to win the love of a man who apparently kept his heart locked up tighter than the vaults of Camelot?

Freya started talking again. "Nobody really knows why he hasn't, although some say he sort of closed himself off from other people after his mother died. Another theory is that he did fall in love once and it went badly for him."

"And who might the object of his unrequited love have been? Not Lady Sirenia, I hope?"

"Oh, no! Merlin never would've gotten involved with her! No, if he ever had feelings for someone it's not anybody who lives here."

"Hmm." Morgana nibbled her lower lip as she considered this, then turned back to her maid and smiled. "Thank you Freya, you've been most helpful."

Freya smiled back. She was starting to realize that even though the Lady Morgana seemed almost like a goddess of myth - beautiful, graceful, dignified, and occasionally terrifying - deep down she was just a girl like any other, wanting to get closer to the man she was falling for but unsure of where she stood with him. "Don't mention it, my lady. Now, why don't you eat your breakfast? You'll need your strength if you're not going to take any more time in bed to recover from the bloodstone curse. Then maybe you should go for a ride. Merlin usually exercises his horses about this time - you might run into him."

Morgana nodded and finally sat down to eat.

###

In the stables she encountered Gwaine and Lancelot, who confirmed that Merlin had indeed ridden out earlier and pointed out the direction he'd taken. "I suppose now you want me to saddle your horse?" Gwaine asked.

"I don't expect I'd catch up to him on foot, so yes, I do - if it isn't too much trouble for you," Morgana replied dryly.

"Not at all, my lady. I live to serve," Gwaine said sarcastically as he sauntered off toward Justinia's stall.

"If you'll allow me a few moments to saddle my own horse, my lady-" the honorific sounded much more respectful from Lancelot's lips "-I would be happy to escort you."

"That won't be necessary, Sir Lancelot." She had sent Gwen to keep Arthur busy so she could be alone with Merlin; the last thing she wanted was Lancelot chaperoning them in Arthur's place.

"As you wish, my lady." Lancelot wasn't entirely comfortable with letting the future queen ride off by herself, unprotected - if anything happened to her and he wasn't there to stop it, he could end up in the dungeon for dereliction of duty - but he assured himself that she would be safe. She would be with Merlin, and Albion's most powerful warlock had already shown that he wouldn't hesitate to spill blood in her defense. In all the years he'd trained and fought alongside Merlin, Lancelot had never seen him lash out so aggressively. Lady Morgana will probably be safer with him than she would be with a whole battalion of knights.

Lancelot also noticed Morgana didn't have Gwen attending her; if the lady didn't want his company, perhaps he could offer it to her maid instead.

This is a little short by my standards, and yes I am aware that I'm torturing you all with the lack of Mergana scenes. Sorry about that. My reason is that I haven't updated in a long while, and if I started writing about Merlin and Morgana together I wouldn't be able to stop, which would make the wait for a new chapter much, much longer. So I decided to go ahead and post something, even if it's probably not what you were hoping for. Next time I promise to write a longer chapter exclusively about our favorite couple.