JessieLightyear – okay, so you pull the top cookie part off
Merlin – Is this really necessary?
JessieLightyear – YES, now pull it off
Merlin – alright, alright (Merlin separates top cookie of Oreo from Oreo)
JessieLightyear – okay, now take off the icing, and dip the cookie in the milk (Melrin dips Oreo and breaks the cookie) UGH, this is insane! A five year old can do this! (JessieLightyear runs from the room)
Merlin – um, alright, OH look she dropped something. (picks up card and reads) "JessieLightyear still doesn't own the Merlin series."
Merlin and I walked into the prince's room. It was a mess! Dirty clothes that were covered in mud lay on the floor. Somehow there were even more clothes on his bed, I looked all around and just saw more mess. My brother lived in a pig sty.
"He's nasty." I said leaning down to pick up a shirt. "This is not acceptable at all." Merlin smiled taking the shirt from my hand.
"That's my job."
"Well you need some help. How could you ever get this done?" Merlin shrugged. I sighed.
"Please let me help? You've done so much for me it's the least I can do." Merlin smiled. "If you pick up the dirty clothes and I pick up the clothes that need mending well be done in no time."
"Alright, the clothes on the bed need to go in a basket for mending. The rest are dirty." Merlin told me. I nodded and picked up the wicker basket at the end of the bed. I started throwing the clothes into the basket.
"How does he go through so many clothes?" I asked.
"He's a prince. He has to wear his evening wear, change for the morning meal, then his training attire, sometimes he can wear the same thing he wore for breakfast down to lunch, but generally not because it's the temperate has risen since that morning. After that he changes again into his evening wear." I sighed.
"And here I was complaining about the lack of variety in my wardrobe." I said putting the last thing in the basket. Merlin threw a shirt at me. It landed on my head and I glared at him. My scary face would probably be scarier if I'd taken the shirt off my head, but Merlin looked at me and just laughed.
"What was that for?" I asked pulling the shirt off my head and throwing it into the basket.
"Sorry it goes in the mending." He said. I picked up something off the floor and threw it at him. It landed across his arm, and I laughed. He picked up the shirt and threw it in his basket.
"Alright, we're even now." He said and one of my eyebrows rose.
"I don't play to get even." I said as a sly smiled came across my face as I threw some clothes at Merlin. Most of them hit him and then fell to the floor, but a few stayed on him. He laughed and threw stuff at me. We both started grabbing clothes off the floor and throwing them at each other until finally I fell back onto the bed. We were both in a laughing fit now. I grabbed one of the soft red pillows and threw it at him. Merlin threw it back to me and said,
"I've got to make that bed you know."
"Sorry, guess starting a clothes war didn't help either." I said. I picked up the pillow I'd thrown and put them back in the basket.
"Its fine, everyone needs to smile every once in a while." He said.
"I smile!" I said, knowing that he smiled every other minute practically.
"You just seem like a serious type of person." He said picking up some clothes.
"I have to be." I said as I knelt down to help him. He looked up at me and I hadn't realized how close he was.
"Why?" He asked. I could feel his breath on my face. It made me shudder.
"I'll explain later." I said as I stood up. I turned away from Merlin and kept picking up clothes. This job was taking too long. I'd let my guard down, I needed to be in control always.
We finally finished getting the mending and the cleaning and went back to Gaius's chambers. When we got there I set the basket on the table. Gaius was looking at a something in great detail. I knew I shouldn't disturb him, so I just looked over the books he'd set out. Hopefully, Merlin would forget about what happened in Arthur's room. He came over and sat across the table from me well he worked. I kept my eyes on the book. I could almost feel him look over at me every so often trying to start a conversation. When I traveled with my mother, she made sure everyone knew she was a sorceress. I couldn't do that, so what do I do now? Would it be better to just get it over and done with? Would it be easier to explain to him the whole story, or would it just scare him? No, it's never easier to tell the truth and push people away than it is to lie and keep your friends. I learned that from my mother. Merlin finally finished with whatever he was working on and said,
"I'm gonna work upstairs."
"That's fine." Gaius said. I heard Merlin walk upstairs.
"Ashlynn, come take a look at this." Gaius said. I stood up and walk over to see the leaf. It was infected, but I couldn't tell how.
"What happened to it?" I asked Gaius.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out. Could you get me the third book from the right on the fifth shelf in the bookshelf upstairs?
"Of course." I said running upstairs and getting the book. It was thinner then the books I'd been studying from, but if Gaius said it could help, then I'd trust him. I brought him the book and flipped to a page in the back of the book. He went back and forth from the book and looking at the leaf.
"Tell me, do you think this leaf matches the description in this book?" he asked handing me the magnifying glass, book, and the leaf. The leaf looked fine until I put the magnify glass over it. There were dark red and in a clear pattern. I looked back at the book and then at the leaf. They were exactly the same. I told Gaius this and he nodded.
"Good, a second pair of eyes is always good."
"What happened to it?" I asked.
"It's a mild virus that shows up from time to time in this type of plant. It's easily curable once it's found and has virtually no effect on humans."
"Well that's good."
"Go down to the market and find Alexandria. She'll be at a stand with herbs and flowers. Ask her for a spring of holly pagent and winter's lily." I nodded and threw on my cloak. Then, I ran to the market. Alexandria's stand wasn't hard to find. She had flowers wrapped around the poles of her stand and powders of all types along the counter of her stall.
"Excuse me, Alexandria." I asked. She looked up and smiled at me. Every one of her features was as delicate as a butterfly's wing. Pale blond hair down to her shoulders framed her pale face. A small nose set in between a pair of rosy red checks surrounded by freckles just barely darker than her skin. The only part of her that was not clear and perfect was her stormy pale blue eyes.
"Yes, what do you need?"
"Gaius told me to ask you for a spring of holly pagent and winter's lily." I said. She let out a gentle laugh. It twinkled like a million little bells.
"He did always ask for difficult ingredients." She shook her head and twirled gathering the plants. She hummed under her breath. It was a familiar tune, but I couldn't place it. Alexandria turned back toward me and gently put two flowers in my hand. My skin brushed hers and I found it was very cold despite the fact that her stand was in the middle of the sun. She smiled at me and said,
"Tell Gaius if he continues to ask from spring plants in the fall I'll need some manor of time travel to help him." I nodded and turned away from the stand and slowly walked back to Gaius's workshop. Something about her made me want to go back and stay at her stand for a while longer. I opened the door and closed it quickly.
"Ah you're back." Gaius said.
"Of course, I only went to the market." I said hanging up my cloak on an empty rod. Gaius nodded, but there was a strange look on his face.
"Bring the plants here." He requested. I brought them over and handed them to him. Gaius put the plants in a green bowl. I looked in and saw the bowl was empty.
"What goes in next?" I asked.
"We have to soak the plants in water and wait for 24 hours." I nodded.
"I should get back to studying." Gaius laughed.
"You've work hard enough for one day. If you try to remember anymore you'll forget it all."
"Well, can I go look around?" Gaius nodded.
"Try to be back before dark." He said. Was it just me or did he sound concerned? Gaius turned back to his work and I sighed and headed back out. I knew I wanted to find out about Camelot. The castle or the market first? I'd seen part of the market so I turned left and headed up stairs to explore the castle. It all looked the same, smooth white polished stone that looked as if it had always been there. I tried to remember the pictures on the wall so I could find my way back when I was done.
I was so high up, that when I looked out the window I couldn't tell who the people were, just that there were people. I smiled standing in front of a window. The spring air blew in gently. After finding no one in the hall way, I threw my arms open letting the fresh air fill me up. There was a sound of footsteps echoed in the halls. I had no idea if I was supposed to be here or not, so I hitched up my skirt and ran in the opposite directions. There was a split at the hallway between a tight spiral staircase or another hallway. The staircase didn't offer many other options, but it was the less likely option and since I really wasn't in trouble right now I ran up the staircase.
It stopped 58 stairs later (I have to count steps when I climb them, force of habit.) there was only one door. After looking around, I tested the door knob. It was open in a way. The knob took some forcing, like no one had been here in a while. I walked in and found a room for a princess. The bed was covered with the softest sheets I'd ever seen. They were the whitest white. Five pillows with light violet flowers delicately stitched into the fabric were on the top of the bed. Light green curtains surrounded the bed and darker green curtains covered the windows. I looked at the jewelry on the top of the desk. It was all covered with a light coat of dust. I couldn't help but walk over to them. They would look prettier if someone would open a window in here and let them shine. I went to open the curtains, but stopped when I heard the doorknob turned. I found myself face to face with Arthur and everything fell into place. Someone wanted this place to be shut up and forgotten: that's why no one had been here in weeks, that's why the bed hadn't been slept in, that's why the knob had been stuck. I was suddenly very afraid for what this room was.