Merlin walked back to Gaius's room, Morgana floating behind him. Without Morgana consciously sustaining it, the ageing spell was wearing off, so that Morgana was back to her normal appearance and age by the time Merlin got back to Gaius's chambers.
He entered and his eyes flashed gold. Morgana floated over to a cot, where she was laid down on, and Merlin pulled up a chair next to her.
The room was silent for a few seconds, before Arthur said, "Now what?"
Merlin looked up at Arthur. "She'll wake up in a while," he said. "There is something I could do in the meantime that could bind her magic."
"You could?" asked Mithian timidly.
Merlin shrugged. "I've done it before," he replied. "The spell itself is easy enough, but sustaining it against someone as powerful as Morgana could be a bit hard."
"Why?" asked Arthur.
"It's a matter of magical stregnth," said Merlin. "Imagine you're trying to hold a door closed. If force that's trying to open the door is stronger than you, the door will open. The same principle applies here. I would be effectively pushing against Morgana's magic, which would require greater magical strength than her."
"Is it strength that you have?" Arthur asked.
"Sort of," replied Merlin. "I can suppress her magic in this way for a while, but not forever."
"Is there anything that you can do to suppress her magic permanently?"
"Kilgarrah might know something," said Merlin. "I'll go talk to him later. For now, I'll use the spell."
Merlin quickly crafted a poppet. When he was finished, he said, "Ontende eallne þæs drycræftes hire sawle!"
The poppet burst into flames. When it was finished burning, Merlin placed it under the cot Morgana was on.
"So it's done?" asked Arthur.
"For now," replied Merlin. "There are still some things we need to discuss."