Again a thank you to all my reviewers, hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 4; Carrots and Potatoes

"It rained a weeks worth of water in a night!"

"But no one was hurt!"

"Arthur, that is not important, whoever did this must be accounted for; we cannot let people get away with this!"

"Uther, it is autumn; the weather is unpredictable"

"Morgana do not interrupt me"

"Sorry"

"Father, I have already sent men to the single house that was damaged last night and I have been ensured that nobody was hurt at all"

Uther sighed "Both of you leave my chamber"

Morgana and Arthur walked out of Uther's chamber and remained silent until they had turned the corner.

"Does he think everything is caused by magic in this world?"

"Morgana do not let this affect you"

"Arthur, I live here too, he is a father figure to me and I hate seeing him like this."

"I know, I'm sorry, but I do not know what we can do about it, he thinks magic is behind everything, I cannot make him change his mind"

The two of them inwardly sighed and remained silent.

"Arthur, you know that new woman…"

"Rose? Yes, she's an old friend of Merlin's, why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering who she was, that's all"

Gaius carefully put the two bowls of porridge down on the table, warning Merlin and Rose that they were extremely hot. Merlin picked up his spoon and played around with his, slopping it around and occasionally taking a mouthful, rose on the other hand, was eating it all. Merlin looked up at her with a shocked face.

"How can you eat this stuff?"

"Merlin! My food is not that bad!"

"Gaius, let us be thankful that you are a physician and not a cook"

Rose let out a laugh. "It's not too bad, trust me, I've had worse. There was this one man I met travelling who out raw carrot and onion in his porridge claiming it gave it an exotic taste!"

"Did you not foresee that incident?" Merlin said trying to make his question sound as innocent as possible.

Rose shot him a dirty look; Gaius dismissed the banter and rummaged around on his bench looking for a sheet of parchment.

"Ah here it is" he said, pulling the piece out from underneath a book "I need you two to go to the market for me" Merlin looked up at Rose and smiled

"What do you need? Carrots?" Merlin could barely contain his laughter and Rose was biting her tongue in an attempt to stop her giggles.

"Yes…why how did you guess?"

"Just a wild guess. I thought we were quite low on potatoes too"

"Merlin you're on fire this morning" Rose chipped in, giving him a glare.

"Rose, there's no need for dirty looks!"

Gaius came over to the two and stood at the end of the table, with Merlin on his left and Rose on his right. He glanced between the two, trying to decipher what was amiss.

"Would someone like to include me in on whatever joke this is?"

Rose turned to face him. "Merlin knew that you were going to need potatoes and carrots because I told him so last night"

Gaius looked at her shocked "Your powers; the gift. You can see into the future."

"Yes"

"I do not need to warn you again that Uther must not hear of this"

"No and thank you for keeping it a secret"

"It is no problem"

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"I think he took it well" Merlin said as he walked alongside Rose, the two were heading along to the market with the instruction to buy as many root vegetables as possible; Gaius had not explained his need for the food but Merlin had a sneaking suspicion that being in the stocks was going to become a lot more violent and hurtful.

"Merlin"

"Yes?"

"What?" Rose looked up at him.

"You said my name"

"No I didn't. I think you're hearing things"

Merlin smiled, now realising who had called his name. And it meant he had to make an extra trip today which he wasn't particularly interested in taking.

The two reached the first stall which Merlin had led them to claiming that it sold good produce for a lower price. Rose was surprised that Merlin knew what was good from what was bad but believed him and was impressed with what she saw in front of her, they picked out 5 potatoes and a few turnips and handed the market stall owner the correct number of pieces of silver. Rose carefully placed them in the basket she was carrying and the two walked off to the next stall. After the third stall Merlin seized his chance after deciding that Rose had got the hand of this market-malarkey he showed her to the right stall and then left promising to be back in a few minutes.

Rose looked at the various carrots and picked the six ones that looked the best. She slipped them into her basket and then reached into her pouch for the coins. She dropped the two pieces into the stall owners hand and smiled.

"All alone?" Rose turned around to see Arthur.

"Yes, Merlin had to go off, he'll be back shortly"

"Well in the meantime you can join me and my friends, we were practising our archery, and we're just about to start a competition"

"And whose going to look after my food while is shoot?" Rose questioned as they reached the archery butts.

"You think you are going to compete?"

"Why ever not?"

"You're a girl!"

"Well observed"

Merlin held the torch in front of him as he walked down the flight of stairs; he saw the cave entrance and smiled slightly as the dragon flew down to sit on his rock.

"You called"

"Yes indeed I did Merlin"

"What is it?"

"Impatience is not a virtue Merlin, you have met Rose, finally, she took her time."

"You've called me down here to tell me something I already know!"

"Your confidence is extraordinary. Rose is important Merlin, a key part for your future, she will play a large role, but will it be too late?"

"Why do you also speak in riddles?"

"Because it is fun, and more rewarding once you find the answer"