Thank you once again for the reviews and story alerts/favorites.

So the plot moves forward more in this chapter...kind of... the action is coming fairly soon so don't worry.

Please Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.

CHAPTER THREE

Merlin POV

We sat there in a warm silence for quite a while, each of us just smiling. Eventually that silence had to be broken.

"Merlin…" Gwen's voice sounded oddly unsure for the first time in this whole conversation. "Would you mind…um.."

"What is it?" I asked, now curious.

Gwen began to fiddle with the hem of her skirt and her eyes wouldn't meet mine. Instead they were firmly fixated on the ground.

"Just ask, I'm sure whatever it is I'll be more than willing to give an answer." I tried to coax the question out of her. A strange and wild curiosity beginning in my mind.

"Well…" she began and I stayed silent, waiting for her to continue. "I was just wondering if you might…showmesomemagic." the words were spoken so quickly I had to blink several times as my mind tried to make sense of the noise.

Eventually I gave up on the task of understanding what she had said and although I didn't want to make her even more uncomfortable I had to know what she asked to give her an answer. "I'm sorry…what did you ask?"

I watched, curiosity boiling just beneath the surface of my demeanor, struggling to become free as Gwen took a deep breath and began once again. This time slower. "I was wondering if you would…show me some magic?"

I blinked once slowly; the request took me by surprise. I knew that she had accepted me, but for her to accept my magic so fully as well sent a torrent of emotions through me.

"Really?" I was ecstatic! I loved to use my magic and for someone to actual request the use of it felt like a dream.

"Yes. I'd like to see what you can do…Plus, what you were doing earlier was amazing." Gwen replied with a huge, genuine smile.

I smiled right back, not being able to help myself as pure unadulterated joy overtook me. "Then, of course! Did you have anything specific in mind?" I asked the question even though I knew she did not know much of magic, I didn't want to alarm her by doing something that she wasn't prepared for.

Gwen took a moment to consider. "Well, would you mind showing me how you did what you were doing before?"

I smiled and nodded. "Sure." I was relieved at her request, I was afraid she may have asked for the impossible.

With a flick of my wrist most every object in the room began to float several feet off the ground. I grinned as I felt the familiar thrum of magic tumble through me, settling as it always did in my eyes. This type of magic had begun to become easier and easier for me as of late. My powers seemed to be growing even more, if that was possible. The magic that I had once required words to activate was now easily done with just a thought, an instinct. At first I was worried that I would lose control of this new found power that had begun to build inside of me. Now I realized that it was just another part of me which I would live with and most likely enjoy.

I turned to look at Gwen, my eyes still burning with magic. Her expression was one of happiness and inquisitiveness. As she turned to look at me her smile grew and in turn so did mine. This simple innocuous display of magic felt so right. So natural. I felt a pang as I realized I wouldn't always be able to do this.

"Can you show me more?" Gwen asked in a quiet voice, but her eyes were still boring into mine, unflinching.

I nodded and continued to smile. Leaving the items floating I brought my palm up slowly. With no words a ball of luminescent fire about the size of my fist burst into life an inch above my palm. With a thought the flame turned an electric blue and burned higher and hotter. Raising my other hand I conjured another ball of flame, turning this one a dark, shimmering purple. As the flames danced in my hands I looked up at Gwen. Her eyes were flickering between the two fires as if she couldn't decide which to stare at. She seemed enraptured by the light they produced.

Looking back at the conjured fire I quickly changed the temperature of the blue flame. The change occurred so quickly that it froze, deceptively looking as if it was still in a state of motion. Frozen Fire, I thought with a smirk, this may come in handy.

The Frozen Fire, as I now called it, was scintillating under the rays of sun. The Frozen Fire was in actuality ice, but if I so willed it could move and burn just like fire. The effects it could have in battle would be devastating. The enemy would be engulfed by something even more potent than fire. The Frozen Fire would feel as hot, or perhaps even hotter than fire, when in reality it was just so frigidly cold it burned.

I snapped out of my thoughts when Gwen asked for me to show her more magic. It was exhilarating, she really wanted to see more, she was even impatient to see more.

Flicking both of my wrists both balls of fire leapt from their positions above my hands to float and twirl several feet above our heads. The next spell I was going to do required words and I hesitated. Although I knew that Gwen would be accepting she never had never actually heard me incant anything before. Taking a deep breath to steady myself and after a plethora of reassuring thoughts racing through my mind I was ready.

"áscildan." Even though I whispered the word it still came out deep and resonated through the room. The power of the Old Religion being enlaced in the word it was no surprise. I raised my palm and focused my eyes on one of the twirling flames above my head. Immediately a soft sparkling gold box appeared around the flame, encasing it. With a thought the flame grew out of control, pushing at the sides of the shield, trying to escape but to no avail. The shield shimmered gold as the fire "attacked" it.

The flame inside began to swirl, faster and faster. Due to the encasing surrounding it the spiraling flame appeared to be gold.

"Gehíwlæcan." with the one simple word the shield changed from its box shape to that of a sphere. The color also changed to one of a swirling blue and gold, the colors seemed to be in a never ending battle for dominance, neither one ever gaining the upper hand.

I curled my fingers slightly and the sphere became smaller, more compact. The fire inside rebelled becoming even more violent and unstable for several seconds before calming down to a slow swirl once more. The flame inside took on the color of the shield, the pattern it created became mesmerizing. Even though there were only two colors the shades that each held were seemingly infinite.

I pried my eyes unwillingly away from the display to gauge Gwen's reaction. Her mouth was slack-jawed and her eyes fixed upon the shield and fire unblinking. It took most of my will power to not laugh at how much she seemed to love my use of magic. This was the best reaction to my magic I think I'd ever get or gotten. Although Lancelot had taken the news well there wasn't enough time for me to really tell how he had reacted. Plus, he hadn't known me for very long once he found out my secret. I hadn't lied to him for years before he found out.

"Would you like to see more?" I asked, my voice perhaps just a bit too excited. Gwen, still fully focused on the spherical shield just nodded her acquiesce. The smile that had been plastered on my face grew even bigger than it already was.

I shook my head minimally and flicked my wrist, a light breeze suddenly blew around us until it settled into a mini-whirlwind in between us. With another minimal flick of my wrist another whirlwind appeared to the right of the other. They circled each other, spinning faster and faster. My short hair was picked up by the force of the wind and blown in as many directions as the wind seemed to manage. The feeling was in an essence euphoric. The wind was soft, not biting, and warm. It seemed to caress the skin and warm the body.

Looking at the two small, but majestic, spirals of wind in front of me I couldn't help but laugh. This type of magic used to be so difficult. Memories of hours spent trying to accomplish these spells filled my mind. The spells never seemed to cooperate with me until I had truly given up! Just when I thought that it was useless, that I had no chance at getting the spell to work, POOF, the spell began to work for me. Now whenever I learned a new spell it worked almost immediately, sometimes it even worked on my first try. Something had changed within me, whether it was for better or for worse could only be told with time.

I was becoming high on the use of magic. I never wanted to stop. I wanted to be like this always, using my magic for silly non-battle related things. I wanted to help the harvest grow, make it rain when there was a drought, or even just use it to conjure up toys for the children in the village. I wanted to be care-free. I wanted to be me. It was an impractical dream. Eventually I would be able to tell Arthur and everyone else about my magic, but for now I needed to remain in hiding. I needed to remain in disguise.

With a look from my blazing gold eyes the two mini-whirlwinds began to make lazy circles around the room, sporadically coming closer to the middle of the room only to recede back to the edge once more. I followed the movement of the wind even though I didn't need to anymore, they would still move without my eyes. I just loved the open display.

Fixing my eyes once more on Gwen I smiled my cheekiest grin at her before clapping both of my hands together while I felt my eyes burn with more intensity than before. Right as my hands connected together all of the dust in the room sprung up off of the ground and rushed to the area just above my clasped hands. The dust condensed until it was one rock like object the size of a mug. When I lifted my head the rock followed upwards until it stopped a few inches from the ceiling. With one last mischievous smirk I unclasped my hands quickly. At the movement the rock exploded in a flurry of multi-colored lights and smaller explosions.

I looked at Gwen, if she had been impressed before, I don't even know how to describe her facial expression now. It wasn't awe, or fear, it was something else. It was adoration. That's the only emotion I could think of which could cause that type of expression on someone's face.

"It's beautiful." Gwen murmured more to herself than me.

Nothing else coming to mind, I said the first cheeky thing that came to mind. "Thank you."

Gwen turned to me and laughed slightly. "That's right, you did make this all happen didn't you. For a second there I was so enthralled I forgot!"

I laughed along with her. My thoughts kept going back to the fact that she had accepted me, that she was comfortable around me and my magic. My thoughts kept going back I knew because I could barely believe it.

"Do you want to see anything more?" I asked, still hesitant even though she had proven she trusted me and wasn't going to turn me in.

"Yes….I would love to see more." There was that word again, love. I had heard it a lot but never really pertaining to my magic. Sure I had used it when speaking of my magic, but for someone else to do the same was startling. It threw me just the slightest bit off balance.

"Alright, because I was going to do more anyways." I retreated into my teasing attitude in an attempt to settle myself. I really shouldn't have been this unsettled by the fact that she had accepted me. Yet, I couldn't help myself. The fact that for my whole life I had been taught to keep this a secret, that if I did tell anyone they would hold nothing but animosity towards me was playing a big factor in my uneasiness.

Gwen for her part just laughed lightheartedly and smiled, waiting. She seemed to like the bright and alive magic; so that's what I was going to give her.

" Fromum feohgiftum on fæder bearme." As soon as the words left my mouth a familiar ball of swirling energy and light appeared in my palm. It glowed brilliantly. The energy twirled, a mixture of gold, blue, and silver. A rush of memory from long ago entered my mind. Hazy images of Arthur stuck in a cave so dark it seemed like death itself. Images of Gwen and Gaius conversing in hushed, worried tones. I shook my head at the memories, dispelling them. The energy continued to swirl and as the energy became brighter another orb formed to the right of the first one. This orb was spinning slower, it was calmer than the first. Staring at the two orbs I once again lost myself to memories, the ones that were supposedly forgotten or not even known. It seemed I would be lost to the world forever, reliving these memories.

"What. Is going. On?." the harshly spoken words made the once light atmosphere immediately stiffen. I was pulled back to the world, a feat that only could've been accomplished by two things, the first being the fact that someone was in danger, the second being if someone had walked in on my open display of magic.

Depending on how you look at it the actual reason I was pulled back to reality could be a blessing or a curse. Someone had just walked into the room where there was currently, two whirlwinds spinning about, a bunch of lights still sparkling in the air, two balls of fire floating above Gwen and my heads, one of which was surrounded by a golden sphere, and two balls of light bobbing in the space between me and Gwen. Not to mention that every single object in the room was still hovering a few feet above the ground. This was the room that this unsuspecting resident of Camelot had walked into. A room where magic was so present; a room where my eyes were still burning a deep, luxurious gold.

I felt so evil leaving it there...anyways, I hope you enjoyed.

I keep debating with myself about the time line so if you could I would appreciate it if you gave me your input on whether Arthur should be King or not at this point. Or if he should be Regent or something...please?

Here are the definitions for the spells I used.

áscildan- to protect

gehíwlæcan- to form shape fashion color

Fromum feohgiftum on fæder bearme.- With his father's friends by fee and gift. (I got this definition from a website which had spells Merlin has used in the show on it…so I don't know if it's correct or not.)

Once again I'd like to thank my Beta, KeshoBesho.

Review?