Several hours had now passed since Morgana had joined the chase, but night was drawing in. Finally, they gave in for the day, as they would not be able to see anything in the dark.
"Let's stop for the night. We can continue tomorrow," Arthur suggested. It did not take long for the other to be persuaded.
"I should probably go and tell Gaius about what's happened," Merlin said glumly.
"Do you want us to come?" asked Morgana, supportively.
"No, I'll be fine" Merlin said, with a forced smile. "I'll let you get some rest,"
They said their goodbyes, and departed from each other, Morgana and Arthur to their rooms, and Merlin to Gaius' room.
***
Gaius tidied up his workbench, wondering once more as to the whereabouts of Merlin. He understood that he had duties to Arthur as well as himself, but he was sure that he had made himself clear when he told Merlin to bring the flower as soon as he could. He looked out of the window and frowned when he saw how dark it had become. If Merlin didn't return soon, he might have to go and look for him himself.
Right on cue, Merlin walked through the door.
"Where have you been" Gaius questioned. "I've been getting worried"
"I'm not that late. It's only just got dark." Merlin said, hanging up his coat.
"Yes, but I haven't seen you since I sent you to go and get the flower." Gaius shook his head, pushing a plate of food in front of Merlin, who had seated himself at the table.
"Well?"
"Well what?" Merlin asked.
"Where's the flower? You did get it, didn't you? I knew I should have given you the picture of it." Gaius frowned.
"Hey, I did get it"
"Then where is it?"
"Well…"
***
"You're telling me that a pixie has the flower?"
"Yes. Gaius, I am so so sorry. We looked everywhere but we just couldn't find it"
"We?"
"Yes, uh, Me, Arthur and Morgana."
Gaius rolled his eyes "You have to find that Pixie before Uther does. That flower is very rare – you know how much difficulty you had finding it in the first place. You have to get the flower back. And not only that, Pixies can be very violent, especially to humans. Luckily, they don't tend to carry illnesses, but still…"
"I know. We're going to look for it again tomorrow, when we can actually see where we're going"
Gaius nodded. "Fine. But you should go and get some sleep, so you're ready for tomorrow. From my knowledge, pixie's are very difficult to catch"
"Tell me about it," Merlin muttered.
"You were right not to look for it now. Once it gets dark, pixies will find a place to hide until the next day."
"Yeah," Merlin finished his food, and stood up. "Anyway, all this searching has tired me out. I'm going to go to bed. See you in the morning."
Gaius nodded, and returned to his work, rolling his eyes, once Merlin had left the room.