Warning: here be dragons! I'm also using this chapter to further explore the 'destiny' theme that's so prevalent in Merlin canon, except as you'll see my version has certain characters reacting very differently to the idea that they have to play out the roles destiny has scripted for them. I'm Team Free Will you know.

Arthur was not enjoying his jaunt with Merlin and Morgana. Riding through the countryside had been pleasant, but then the horses inexplicably shied and began trying to bolt for home. Merlin said they were spooked by the dragons' proximity, so at his suggestion the three nobles left their mounts and walked the last mile to the mountains. When they finally reached their destination, there was nary a dragon in sight. Arthur wasn't terribly disappointed - after his last encounter with dragons on the battlefield, he wasn't exactly eager to meet more of the beasts, though he would never admit it.

"I don't see any dragons," he complained, folding his arms.

"They live up there." Merlin pointed at the peaks above them.

Arthur groaned. "You mean we have to climb all the way to the mountaintops?"

"You and Morgana don't have to unless you want to see a full-grown dragon. The younger ones are more curious, so they come down into the foothills to meet anyone who comes near their nesting grounds."

"Why aren't they here now?" Morgana asked.

"They are. Look over there."

Following Merlin's gaze, she caught a fleeting glimpse of a reptilian head disappearing behind a boulder. "Are they hiding?"

"Yes."

"Why?" Morgana couldn't imagine a dragon needing to hide from anything.

"They're scared," Merlin explained with an odd little smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

"Should I take off my sword? I don't want them to think I'll hurt them - unless they attack," Arthur quickly qualified.

"Your sword isn't the problem - they're afraid of Morgana. They've never seen a human female before so they don't know what to make of her," Merlin explained, finally giving in to the urge to laugh at the little dragons' reaction to his fiancée. "They think she's funny-looking."

Arthur grinned widely. "Well, they're right about that."

This launched Morgana into a tirade about what a horrible person Arthur was. Merlin knew there was no stopping her when she started on one of those, so he left the foster siblings to their bickering and tried to coax the dragons out. "Come here, little fellows. I know you haven't seen anyone like the Lady Morgana, but you don't have to be scared of her. If you behave, she promises not to eat any of you."

A conveniently timed pause for breath let her hear those last words. "Eat them?"

Merlin shrugged. "They'll be less likely to set your hair on fire if they think you can."

Fourteen young dragons slowly crept out of their hiding places. They greeted Merlin like an old friend and seemed to find Arthur very interesting, but only the bravest came near Morgana. Once they had satisfied their curiosity about the humans, most of them began playing amongst themselves. Their games mainly consisted of chasing each other and tussling, but Morgana noticed two dragons harassing a third, smaller one by nipping at its wings and tail. Distressed by their behavior, she tugged on Merlin's sleeve and pointed them out to him. "Look at those bullies biting the little white dragon! Can't you make them stop?"

"She doesn't need my help. Watch."

The small white dragon let out an angry squawk and cuffed the purple one who was chewing on her tail with her forepaw. He squealed and let go. Her tail freed, she spun around and swatted the silver dragon who was nibbling on her wing, then chittered angrily at the two as they slunk off with their tails between their legs.

Morgana laughed approvingly. "I like that little dragon."

"Her name is Aithusa. The others pick on her because she's a bit of a runt, and because there aren't many dragons of her color, but they never quite get the better of her. Aithusa!" The white dragon looked up. Merlin put out his hand and beckoned her. "Come here." She obeyed, voicing her complaints about her age-mates in a series of plaintive squeaks that only stopped after Merlin picked her up and healed the wounds left by the other dragons' bites. "That's better, isn't it? How would you like to do something important?"

Aithusa chirped agreeably.

"I need you to look after the Lady Morgana for me. Stay with her until I return."

"That won't be necessary, Merlin. I'm coming with you," Morgana said sharply.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think that would be a good idea. Kilgharrah wishes to speak with me, not you or Arthur. I should go to him alone. You'll be perfectly safe here, and you'll have Aithusa for company - you won't even notice I'm gone."

Morgana relented and let Merlin transfer the little dragon into her arms. She didn't see the worried look in Aithusa's blue eyes as he walked away.

###

Soon after Merlin's departure, Aithusa tried to wriggle out of Morgana's grasp and Morgana set her on the ground with a small sigh of relief; Aithusa was adorable, but she was also heavy. She scampered off a short distance, looked back over her shoulder, and squeaked. Then she ran back to Morgana and nudged against her legs.

"What are you doing?" Morgana wondered aloud. "Are you playing a game?"

Aithusa sat back on her haunches and slowly shook her head from side to side. Morgana was intrigued - the dragon understood her and was attempting to communicate. She had seemed to understand what Merlin said to her, but Morgana had thought that must be due to his latent dragonlord powers. Apparently she was wrong. Perhaps with a bit of practice, she too could learn to converse with dragons. The idea sounded absurd even in her thoughts - Uther would think she'd gone mad if he ever found out she had so much as entertained the notion of speaking with a dragon, as if it were a rational being - but Morgana decided there was no harm in trying. As long as she wasn't required to use magic, it couldn't be a very wicked thing to do.

"So, you are not playing?" she asked, staring down into Aithusa's surprisingly intelligent eyes. The little dragon shook her head again. "Then what are you doing?"

Aithusa butted her legs again, forcing Morgana to take a stumbling step forward.

"You want me to move?" she guessed. Aithusa chirruped and darted ahead, then looked back at Morgana. "You want me to follow you, don't you?"

The dragon's head bobbed up and down.

Morgana glanced around nervously, certain Arthur wouldn't approve of a dragon leading her off on some wild chase. Arthur, however, was not paying attention to Morgana - a black dragon had made a game of batting Arthur's scabbard and, unable to dissuade the creature, he was trying to take it off but had only succeeded in tangling himself in his sword-belt. Morgana took advantage of his distraction and slipped away, snickering at his plight. She could have easily freed Arthur from his sword-belt, but if he was too proud to ask for her help, she wasn't going to offer it.

###

Following Aithusa took Morgana along a treacherous path of slippery scree and precariously placed boulders that would crush them if they fell. Negotiating the dangerous landscape demanded so much of Morgana's concentration that she didn't realize how high Aithusa's spiraling route had taken her until she found herself in the shadow of an adult dragon. She froze, clinging to the steep mountainside. "Aithusa!" she whispered. "Merlin said I wasn't to come up here!"

"Shh!" Aithusa hissed at her. Morgana's mouth fell open. Had the dragon just shushed her?

Aithusa flattened herself to the ground and crawled onto a jaggedly protruding fang of rock. Morgana followed on her hands and knees and peered down past the sharp end of the ledge, which overlooked a low, relatively flat place between the highest peaks. Several dragons had congregated there, arranged in a loosely circular formation with a gigantic golden male in the center. Morgana's knees and elbows went weak at the sight of the behemoth - his size was unbelievable! She estimated a single fang in the gaping cavern of his mouth to be equal in length to the height of her entire body. Even if she stood on her toes, she doubted the top of her head would reach the deadly sharp point of the monster's tooth.

Merlin appeared almost comically tiny next to him, yet he didn't look intimidated at all; on the contrary, he was talking to the gold dragon like an old friend. "Prince Arthur is a noble man with a good heart, and the finest warrior I've ever met except maybe for Lancelot, but he is also a complete buffoon! Are you absolutely certain my destiny lies with him?"

"The ancient prophecies leave no room for doubt on this point, young warlock - you and Arthur are the Once and Future Kings who will bring everlasting peace to Albion, but that is not why you are here today. I summoned you because a new player has entered the field, one who can destroy this great future before it begins."

Merlin frowned; he'd anticipated bad news - Kilgharrah wouldn't make him risk his neck climbing the mountains just to tell him all was well - but he hadn't expected anything this dire. "All right then, tell me who this new player is and I'll deal with them."

The dragons chuckled, as if they were all enjoying a joke Merlin had been left out of. Their laughter - or rather concern over what might be causing it - pricked him like a needle in his subconscious.

"She is already known to you," Kilgharrah informed him. "Indeed, it seems you know her well - when I touched your mind, you called out for her."

Merlin thought he remembered, though the details of that conversation were hazy; he had been asleep after all. There was only one person Kilgharrah could mean...but it couldn't be...

"The one of whom I speak is the Lady Morgana. She is your destiny, and she is your doom."

Merlin gaped up at Kilgharrah in stunned silence for a long moment before finally recovering enough to say, "There must be some mistake."

Kilgharrah's eyes narrowed. "I assure you there is not."

"There has to be, because there is no way that Morgana is my doom. I know her, and she has a good heart."

"The prophecies speak not of her heart; they only name her as your downfall. Whatever relationship exists between the Lady Morgana and yourself, you must end it at once."

"That'll be difficult since Morgana and I are engaged to be married."

An orange dragon quietly scoffed at Merlin's 'silly human customs'.

Merlin rounded on her. "If you think my human customs are so trivial, consider this: Morgana is like a sister to Arthur, and he would never forgive me for leaving her."

"Then you must dispose of her by other means," Kilgharrah said calmly.

If Merlin had been shocked by Kilgharrah's prediction that Morgana was going to derail his destiny, it was nothing to how he felt now. Dispose of her? That sounded like Kilgharrah wanted him to... He refused to even think of what those words implied. Merlin had always had a great deal of respect for Kilgharrah; he admired his wisdom, trusted him, was grateful for the things the Great Dragon had taught him, even thought of him as a friend of sorts. How could Kilgharrah advise him to 'dispose' of anyone? And Morgana of all people? "This is insane."

"Look at me, Merlin." Kilgharrah's tone was uncharacteristically gentle. Merlin slowly looked up. "It was not my wish to upset you, and I am sorry. I had no choice but to warn you. Your destruction and the destruction of all you love is nigh, and you must act to prevent it. You must rid the kingdom of the danger that threatens it. The sacrifice of one girl is a small price to pay in exchange for all the lives that will be lost if the Lady Morgana is allowed to fulfill her dark destiny-"

"I won't do it!"

Frustrated, Kilgharrah thumped the ground with his tail, creating a shockwave that knocked Merlin on his rear end. "She is dangerous!"

"Do you have any proof of that other than the words of a few old prophecies?"

Kilgharrah glared down at Merlin, silently seething - why couldn't the obstinate little human see that he only wanted to protect him? - but said nothing. There was no proof of Lady Morgana's wicked nature yet, and in fact Kilgharrah couldn't even be sure she was evil. Unfortunately the prophecies didn't say she had to be; she could destroy Merlin without meaning to. Kilgharrah actually pitied her - it was tragic that she was destined to bring about only doom and darkness although she might be the most pure-hearted, well-intentioned person in the world - but he refused to let his sympathy for the girl's sad fate stop him from doing what must be done. Merlin was more important, and if Morgana had to be sacrificed to keep him safe, so be it.

Merlin stood up. "I didn't think so. Whatever your prophecies say about her, they're wrong. Now, I am going home, and unless Morgana does something that shows she has evil in her heart you will not say another word against her, is that clear?"

The Great Dragon heaved a huge, rumbling sigh, but bowed his head in submission. He saw that saying anything else against Morgana would have no effect besides making Merlin angrier and damaging his own credibility.

"Good." Merlin looked around at the dragons gathered around them. "That goes for the rest of you as well."

###

High on a ledge overlooking the dragons' meeting place, Morgana was frozen in disbelief and distress. How could she be destined for evil? It made no sense, it wasn't fair, and Merlin's dragon mentor thought she deserved to die because of it? At least Merlin disagreed with him. Merlin didn't believe she was evil...

Aithusa nudged her and tugged her sleeve. Morgana realized with a start that the dragons were dispersing, and if she stayed where she was they would discover her. Without Merlin there to defend her, they would probably prevent her destiny by roasting her on the spot. She scrambled backward off the ledge and started climbing down.

Fear of being caught and cooked made her go faster and less cautiously than she had on her way up, and near the end of her descent her foot landed in a patch of scree that broke loose under her weight and tumbled the last few feet to the mountain's base. Unable to regain her balance after her foot slipped, Morgana tumbled down with it. The fall was short but the landing was hard, and she knew as she slowly pulled herself to her feet, wincing at the little aches that had erupted all over her body, that she would have bruises tomorrow.

"Morgana! Where are you?"

She closed her eyes, wishing she didn't have to deal with him just then. "I'm here, Arthur."

"Where have you been?" he demanded as he strode up to her. "I've been looking everywhere for you." Then he noticed the condition she was in. "What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Your hair and dress are in disarray and you're stooped over like you're in pain, so don't tell me nothing happened. Are you hurt?"

Arthur reached out to her, but Morgana flinched away from his hands. "I was climbing on a boulder and I fell. I'm not mortally wounded, so don't worry about it."

###

Aithusa watched as Morgana's human friends helped her onto her horse and took her away from the mountains, then ran and hid in the foliage-filled circle of stones that served as her nest. Of course it wasn't long before her mother found her there. The older dragon discovered what her offspring had done in a matter of minutes, and then Aithusa was scooped up in her mother's talons and carried off to face the Great Dragon and be disciplined for befriending Morgana.

Aithusa's mother deposited her in front of Kilgharrah on a large, flat rock that offered nowhere to hide from the huge gold dragon towering over her.

He didn't speak right away, just letting Aithusa feel the weight of his disapproving stare. It worked much better on her than it had on Merlin. At last he said, "Explain your actions today, little one."

Aithusa was too young to speak as Kilgharrah did, so she communicated with him in a jumbled outpouring of emotions, describing her conviction that Morgana was a good person and how seeing the way Merlin cared for the witchling had moved her to try to help them avoid their fate. Then, focusing her young mind on what her mother had taught her about the use of language, Aithusa formed a short sentence. Morgana should know. Doesn't have to be evil.

Smoke rose from Kilgharrah's nostrils, expelled by an impatient snort. "Have you learned nothing? It matters not what is in the witch's heart; the forces of destiny are at work even now, and the witch cannot escape them. She will fulfill the destiny that has been written for her in one way or another, even if she does not do so knowingly."

Aithusa let out a squeak of protest. Couldn't you help? If no, I will.

"Yes, you have already shown you are willing to interfere with destiny; only Merlin was meant to hear the things I told him today, not the witch. I can only hope your recklessness has not doomed us all."

So Morgana made a new friend, and everyone loves cute little Aithusa, right? We'll see more of her, I promise. In fact I think I should devote the rest of this story to Aithusa and throw out the whole Mergana storyline… Yes? No?