THE LOWER TOWN – TANYA'S HOUSE
Merlin knew what it was to grieve.
He knew what it was to keep secrets…
In hind sight he knew now that he should not have demanded an answer from Tanya during her father's funeral.
He sighed heavily and reached up to knock on the wooden door.
He waited, yet no answer came.
"Tanya?" He called and knocked again.
There was still silence.
He swallowed.
"Tanya I was wrong to speak to you like that… I shut not have pressured you, not when you feel…" He shifted, speaking through the wood, "Tanya please you can talk to me… you should not be in here by yourself… I did not see you at all yesterday, please… I was worried when none of us saw you after yesterday morning, after you ran away from me in the forest…"
Again there was silence.
Merlin knocked harder.
"Tanya."
The silence was never ending.
The young warlock narrowed his eyes and pushed open the door.
Stepping inside the house he peered around.
Dust motes floated in the air and the sun that streamed in through the still open windows.
It was clear to Merlin that Tanya had not been back there since she had left with Merlin the day before to her father's funeral.
Merlin gasped in worry and turned and sprinted from the house.
THE FOREST OF ESITIA
The morning of the next day dawned bright and cold, and made Tanya sniff and wipe at her eyes as she pushed herself to sit up against the tree she had fallen asleep, slumped against.
She was freezing.
Her eyes peered around the dawn forest and winced when she moved her body, for it felt creased and ached after being hunched over in her sleep against the grief and confusion she felt.
As she lifted her heavy head up to sit upright she reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out the small creased letter Eveline had sent her.
She swallowed bitterly and turned it over, not wanting to believe or understand the words that were written there.
The cryptic opening line had made her read further, but she would not repeat those words in her mind.
'I am writing you to advise you on your path, which I see most clearly… and also, tell you of your role in Merlin's future, or rather, the role you do not play.'
The sound of footsteps throughout the forest made her snap her head up and look around.
Once more there was a sound of a broken twig, and Tanya stumbled back slightly, standing on the hem of her cloak and tearing at it.
The clasp that held it together tore free and landed in the leaves unnoticed.
She grabbed the cloak around her and turned, not wanting to be found or worse spoken to by anyone.
She wanted to sit in her grief and try and clear her head.
She could not face Merlin?
Not after what her father had told him, what he had asked, and the letter from Eveline?
Her head spun.
She cried out when she stumbled, her eyes stinging with tears, and fell blindly forwards.
Her hands cut into the dirt and twigs as she rolled down a small hill and into the undergrowth.
She gave a cry and she fell into what seemed to be a dark hole, the sun high above her head in the sky, barely touching the dank dark hole she found herself slumped in.
Landing on her knees she gave a grunt of pain and peered upwards.
Down in the bottom of the pit Tanya pushed herself, rubbing her hands over her sore hip from where she had fallen.
She also reached up to push some of her tangled hair away from her face, smearing dirt on her cheek as she did so.
She sighed and sniffed, tearing her ruined cloak from her shoulders and letting it drop to the floor. She realised that the clasp was missing, and figured in that moment that it must have fallen in the dirt high above her head on the grown beside the hole she had fallen into.
She sighed and let her cloak drop to the floor.
THE ROYAL CHAMBERS
"Arthur, Gwen, there is something I need to talk to you about!"
Merlin declaration as he stormed into the royal chambers was greeted by a groan from the king and queen.
Merlin skidded to a stop at the foot of the large bed as he watched Gwen pushed herself to rub at her eyes and sit up, one hand on the mattress, the other pushing her hair from her face.
"Merlin why don't you knock?" She sighed with a smile, but it faded when she saw the worry in his eyes.
She stared at him, "What is wrong?"
"Merlin…" Her husband muttered where he was laying on his back at her side, arms out either side, eyes closed ad jaw locked.
"Get out."
"No this is important!" Merlin stated stubbornly, "I haven't seen Tanya this morning."
While Gwen narrowed her eyes in concern Arthur simply groaned and covered his face with one arm.
"That is what you came barging in here for unannounced?" Arthur gritted out, "you want to know where your girlfriend is?"
"For your information she is not my girlfriend…" Merlin snapped.
"It was her father's funeral yesterday." Gwen remembered and Arthur sighed sadly, "it seems so long ago… perhaps she just needs time alone Merlin, I know you care and want to help but…"
"But she is not in her house!" Merlin informed them.
"You went to her house?" Arthur lifted one eyebrow groggily, pushing himself up onto his arms to stare at his manservant at the foot of the bed.
The king was at least wearing clothes in bed, as was the queen, for Merlin realised that walking in unannounced could have made a bad situation worse…
He pushed it from his mind.
All he wanted to do was know that Tanya was safe.
"I went there before I came here." Merlin stated.
Arthur glanced at the dawn light outside and groaned, flopping to lie back flat again, "Well no wonder she didn't answer the door…"
"She is probably still asleep Merlin," Gwen said gently, still sitting up on the bed, "she is likely tired of all that happened yesterday…"
"There we go, mystery solved," Arthur yawned and rolled over to pull the covers up over him, "Mystery solved, goodnight Merlin…"
"But I went inside the house and she wasn't there!" Merlin cried.
There was silence for a moment.
Arthur flopped the covers back and sat up beside his wife, narrowing his eyes at his manservant, "What?"
"It didn't look like anyone had been in there all night, or yesterday, since I collected her and we went down for the burial." Merlin finished.
Gwen stared at him, "She hasn't been home?"
"It didn't look like it." Merlin shook his head and looked between the king and queen, "And I am worried, not coming to work last night would have not been like her but it would have been understandable... not coming home… that is not normal…"
Arthur watched Merlin carefully.
"Where did you last see her?"
"Just a little way from Henry's grave… after you had all left, we waited for a bit, and then she ran off in tears…" Merlin shifted and looked away.
Arthur narrowed his eyes, "What did you do?"
"Nothing!"
"Shh…" Gwen pushed herself off of the bed and pulled on her roe, walking then to Merlin and touching his arm, "Tanya is a smart girl; I am sure that she will be fine wherever she is…"
"I am just worried about her." Merlin insisted, "I haven't seen her since she was running through the forest… I am worried something could have happened…"
DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
The crack of what seemed to be a twig underfoot just behind her, when she had not moved an inch, made Tanya turn her head.
The hole was dark, yet shafts of light from the sun high above shattered down into it and made Tanya blink her eyes.
A flickering white light appeared and her eyes widened.
A figure stepped towards her and Tanya straightened.
Her voice was a small gasp.
The ghostly figure floated towards her.
"Eveline." Tanya whispered.
All the Parlevine girl did was incline her head.
"Tanya."
The serving girl straightened and swallowed, "Are you a ghost?"
"In your language yes…" Eveline smiled a small mocking laugh that made Tanya angry, "in truth my gifts have always been so powerful that they cannot die, even after my body has fallen I have the power to see that is, all that was, and all that will be…"
The serving girl scoffed and turned away, looking for a way to get out.
Eveline watched her carefully, "You should know that by the letter that I sent you…"
The serving girl wheeled back to face her and ripped the letter from the pocket on her dress, "You have no right to send me such things…"
"I am here to warn you away from your love for Merlin." Eveline stated.
Tanya swallowed, "I don't know what you are…"
"Oh stop it Tanya we both know what you feel for him!" Eveline tried not to shout, "I mean, what is not to love? But more than that, and more importantly, we know what Merlin feels for you?"
"'More importantly'?" Tanya scoffed.
"Yes." Eveline snapped.
Tanya glared at her sharply, her voice turning low and rough, "I bet you think you are really funny don't you… really clever… sending me a letter telling em of the danger that falling in love with Merlin with incite…"
"If it was just danger to you I might have been able to overlook it, for I am not supposed to interfere… as it is Merlin has a destiny, and loving you destroys all chance of that, and I cannot allow that to happen."
"This has nothing to do with you!" Tanya shouted.
"It has everything to do with me!" Eveline cried, "Do not think for one moment that you are the only one who cares for Merlin…"
"How dare you stand there and try to frighten me away from him?"
"I have tried to make you understand, to make you see enough to know that stopping loving him is the right thing to do…"
"You can't just stop loving someone no matter who asks!" Tanya threw her hands out at the enormity of all the ridiculous…
"Then give him up."
The words from the Parlevine girl were so simple and crisp that Tanya felt her heart flinch.
She swallowed and shook her head at the girl she so ached to despise.
"No…" Tanya stated, "how do I even know that this is true, any of this?"
"You do not trust me."
"Not really no…" Tanya snapped.
"Even though I know your secret and have not shared it?" Eveline lifted an eyebrow.
"I never thought much of you with regards to it, I am not stupid, I know that you know everything, you say it often enough…" Tanya hissed.
Eveline's ghost stepped closer, "I also know that you have not admitted it to Merlin…"
"How can I?" Tanya demanded, "If I admit it then Merlin will pity me and love me and you say that that is wrong, if Albion falls…"
Eveline inclined her head in victory, "So you are hearing what I am saying?"
"Yes..." Tanya snapped and then floundered, "no… I…"
Eveline drew in a breath and spoke firmly.
"The kingdom of Albion and the legend it and Merlin with father lies in the hands of a child yet to be born. If you continue to love Merlin on this path that you are both on, it will lead to events in which Merlin will chose you over Arthur, and that cannot happen… for the kingdom will fall, your friends will crumble, and the legend and the child will bleed away and turn to ash."
Her bitter words made Tanya swallow.
"All of that cannot happen through my love for Merlin…" She whispered.
"Love is the most powerful force on this earth…" Eveline stated, "You have seen it between the king and queen, felt it for your father, and only begun to imagine it with Merlin…"
Tanya swallowed and felt her throat and heart close.
Eveline lifted one eyebrow in a challenge.
"Shall I show you what shall happen if you do not give Merlin up at once, one strand of the dark side of your future, and one you will create at that?"
Tanya also straightened and lifted the metaphorical gauntlet Eveline had thrown at her heart.
"Yes."