Merlin stormed into Gwen's house, and immediately spotted Livia at the back, alone. "Where's Gwen?" he asked her hurriedly, somewhat worried.
The voice on his left caught him off guard. "Gwen just left, she will be back soon."
Merlin turned to face his unexpected interlocutor. "Morgana? What... What are you doing here? Didn't you go back to the castle?"
"Oh, I did, just long enough to reassure Uther," Morgana replied. "Then I came back here. I figured Gwen hadn't planned on having any guests tonight but wouldn't dare to leave her neighbour alone. So I came to keep an eye on him, while she went to get some food and water."
Merlin nodded, but Morgana's reasons for coming back sounded rather flimsy. He suspected there might be another reason she didn't want to mention.
"Speaking of Gwen's neighbour, I just saw him walk out of here. He looked... healthy."
"Yes, Livia finally managed to heal him," Morgana explained.
Merlin looked at Livia, but she kept staring at her feet uneasily. "That's great news..." he eventually said. But had she really managed to heal him?
He had a really hard time believing Livia could have lied all along. When they had shared their powers to heal Gwen, her magic had felt so insignificant compared to his... Deep down, he was convinced she truly couldn't have healed that old man alone. But then, if she hadn't...
His gaze fell on Morgana again. A witch in her own right, even if she had no control over her powers. A woman who currently looked a little too tense for someone who was just waiting for her friend to come back.
Could Livia have used Morgana's powers to heal that man just like she had used his to heal Gwen?
"Merlin, would you mind waiting here until Gwen comes back?" Morgana asked. "I'm suddenly feeling rather weary, I believe I'd better get back to the castle to rest."
"Of course," Merlin agreed, noticing she did seem exhausted.
"Thanks. Good night, then," Morgana concluded and left.
As soon as she was gone, Merlin immediately turned to Livia, resolute to get some explanations.
"Why did you do that?" he demanded. When Livia remained hesitant, he insisted: "Come on, I know Morgana is a witch!"
"You do?" she asked with surprise.
Merlin sighed. "You shouldn't have let her get involved in this."
"But she wanted to try!" she retorted. "I didn't think it would do any harm, I was so convinced it wouldn't work..."
"Why wouldn't it have worked? It worked with me, so of course it also worked with Morgana!"
The witch frowned. "Wait, what are you talking about?"
That was when Merlin realised they weren't talking about the same thing. "About how you healed that man by tapping Morgana's powers...?"
She shook her head.
"But if you didn't heal him, then who did? And what was Morgana's role in..." Merlin didn't finish his sentence. He had barely started it when he understood. "Morgana? Morgana healed him?"
Livia confirmed with a nod.
"Alone? But how?"
"Once we were alone, she asked me for the spell. She said she wanted to make herself useful, so I told her the incantation. I honestly didn't think it would change anything, because of the whole dryad magic issue. So I figured I might as well let her try. And it worked," Livia finished with a shrug.
"Then that would mean Morgana has dryad blood too..." Merlin sighed. "No. I must have been wrong when I assumed it took someone with dryad blood to cast those spells. Maybe it just has to be a witch, and not a warlock?" he suggested, desperately trying to explain how both witches had succeeded where he had failed, but he knew this attempt at an alternative was absurd.
"No, I'm convinced you were right in the first place," Livia insisted. "I still have trouble to wrap my head around the concept of... dryad heritage, but... Something has been bothering me for a while now and it would make sense if we had this sort of... characteristic in common."
"All right, what is it?" Merlin invited, having absolutely no idea what she may be thinking about.
She hesitated for a second. "The Lady Morgana has... another gift..."
"Yes, she's also a seer, but I don't see how it would have anything to do with any of this."
Livia stared at him. "So you know she's a witch and a seer, and yet you never told her you were..." She sighed. "You know, I really don't get you. You both keep lying all day long while -"
"Anyway..." Merlin cut short. "The night you and Elias were made prisoners, she had a vision of guards from Camelot attacking your group, is that what you're referring to?"
Livia nodded. "When she came to visit me in the dungeons, the Lady Morgana thought Elias was my brother, while he's my cousin."
Merlin shrugged. "So she was wrong, what difference does that make?"
"You're missing the point. Elias and I grew up together, I do think of him like a brother. How could she know that?"
"I don't know, but I still don't understand why it's upsetting you so much," Merlin replied. "She's a seer, isn't that what seers do? Know things they're not supposed to?"
"Yes but not that sort of things! That's not something you can see in a vision!" Livia exclaimed. "That night, I felt a presence. Why did I feel a presence? It's like she was there! I mean actually there, in my head! How else could she know that?"
Merlin was beginning to understand what she was hinting at: Morgana may have seen farther than a common vision thanks to a combination of her powers as a seer and of a special link due to both of their dryad heritages...
He had to admit he didn't know much about Morgana's family. All he knew was that her father had been a close friend of Uther's, but he knew nothing about her mother. Maybe Morgana took after her when it came to magical abilities...
Merlin noticed Livia was biting her nails nervously, and realised the current situation was thoroughly distressing her.
"All right. Then she has dryad blood too..." he finally admitted. "Well, what were the odds..."
Merlin suddenly wondered, indeed, what were the odds... Having in the city two witches with dryad heritage the very same night an epidemic caused by dryad magic appeared... One not powerful enough to heal even one person alone, while the other... The other...
He eventually reached the conclusion he believed upset Livia so much.
"You think Morgana is responsible for the epidemic," he whispered with a shiver.
Livia remained silent. But he didn't need her to answer to know she thought Morgana responsible.
"No. No, no, no, she can't be! She has no control over her magic!" he reasoned, trying to convince himself just as much as Livia.
Livia snorted. "Is that supposed to be reassuring?"
No. Merlin refused to believe Morgana could have been the one how provoked that disease. And yet, slowly, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
He remembered Livia had said dryads cursed people only when they felt threatened. Morgana had started to feel threatened from the day she had had that vision, realising she could have been one of those sorcerers, hunted by Camelot's knights.
Gwen was with her, discussing the sorcerers killed that night, when she had begun to feel sick...
And lastly, three levels above the dungeons in the castle's south wing, were the Royal chambers: the King's, Arthur's... and Morgana's, where she had been so worried about Gwen she had been unable to sleep, the very same night the curse hit Camelot...
Merlin sat down at the table and buried his face in his hands. "It is Morgana..." he admitted in a whisper, devastated. Then, suddenly worried: "You didn't tell her, did you?"
"Of course not! I didn't want to upset her..."
For the first time, Merlin picked up on something in Livia's voice, something that had been there all along their conversation. "You're scared of her... You're scared of Morgana!" he exclaimed.
"Aren't you?" she asked back. "She cursed hundreds of people!"
"Morgana isn't a bad person, she didn't do it on purpose," Merlin objected. "So, she's powerful enough to cast a curse that affects hundreds of people at the same time. But I'm powerful too, you said so yourself, and yet you're not scared of me."
Livia sighed. "Men never get this. It's not just about power, it's also about control! Yes, you are powerful, maybe even more than you realise yourself. And... And that thing you did this afternoon to distract the guards, without any incantation, without even saying a word... I have absolutely no idea how you did it. But you obviously know what you're doing, so I'm fine with it. She, on the other hand, doesn't know what she's doing! Do you even realise how dangerous that makes her?"
In the heavy silence that followed, Merlin wondered: should he? Should he consider Morgana as dangerous while she hadn't intended to harm anyone?
"This has gone too far. I want to go..." Livia declared with a trembling voice and tears in her eyes. "You don't need me any more. If you need someone to cast dryad magic, she can do it. I don't want to stay here with her around."
Even though Merlin had briefly doubted her sincerity, he didn't doubt her any more. You couldn't fake that fear.
"You're not held here as a prisoner," he spoke softly. "You're free to go if you decide to. I would advise you to wait until the middle of the night to sneak past the guards and leave through the tunnel, but... You've trusted me until now to take the right decision, so please trust me once more and stay. I'm not sure we should encourage Morgana to practise that sort of magic if the need arises," he concluded with the dragon's warning in mind.
"Dunstan is somewhere in the city. I know you have other priorities but... if you see him, could you let him know I left? I'll wait for him at the... He'll know where."
Merlin nodded. "For the last time, please stay," he tried once more, but when she refused to look at him in the eyes, he knew it was no use insisting. She had already made her decision.
The front door opened, giving way to Gwen, coming back home, a basket of food in one hand, a bucket of water in the other. "Oh, Merlin," she said with surprise while dropping everything on the table. "I didn't think you'd come by again today, it's already quite late..." She paused when she looked at Livia and noticed her wiping her eyes. "Is anything wrong?"
"No... No, everything is fine, we're just all very tired..." Merlin explained. "Your neighbour was healed, he's fine, he went home. Morgana already went back to the castle, and I think it's high time I left too. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night."
Later that night, Merlin kept turning and tossing in his bed, unable to find sleep. He couldn't help pondering over his ominous discovery regarding Morgana's role in Camelot's current situation, trying to find some way to invalidate his conclusions. But as hard as he may try, he couldn't find any.
He also wondered a lot about the dragon's warning. It wouldn't be the first time the dragon warned him about Morgana, so why hadn't he named her this time? He had always believed the dragon to be blatantly exaggerating when describing Morgana as a threat to the kingdom, but he couldn't avoid finding a connection with Livia's own words.
Do you even realise how dangerous that makes her?
Merlin was beginning to realise that apart from those of the dominating, trying-to-overthrow-the-kingdom kind, he hadn't crossed the path of that many sorcerers. Had it biased his vision of magic enough to make him unable to evaluate dangerousness?
Morgana was without doubt the key to healing all villagers. But what should he do? Should he push Morgana to save them, all the while lying to her so that she wouldn't discover her original implication? Or should he follow the dragon's advice and let everybody die to prevent her from experimenting with her powers any further?
Better hundreds now than thousands or more later.
The dragon's words kept echoing in his head like a bad omen.
Exhaustion finally got the better of him, and after hours of insomnia and inner turmoil he fell asleep at last. But when he woke, dawn was long past, and his awakening was both brutal and extremely unpleasant.