CAMELOT – TWENTY SEVEN YEARS EARLIER
THE COUNCIL MEETING
The words that Arthur had spoken to the council still rang in Merlin's mind.
"Our long state of unrest with Odin has finally come to an end. He is now our ally, as is Queen Annis, and both have agreed to offer their aid against Morgana."
The young warlock, still a secret warlock, but not to those who mattered, shifted.
"Yes, that is the one dark spot in our news this morning. The Lady Morgana lives. The day will rise when we need to defeat her, and defeat her we shall."
Arthur had 'sent' Guinevere to bed hours before, as the council dragged on.
Arthur had continued to speak.
"My next announcement is the most important and most grave. It is good news, but not to be taken lightly by any of you."
There had been murmuring.
"Magic has been banned in Camelot for over twenty-five years now." Arthur had declared, "Many people have been put to death, hundreds of them innocent. I will not rule the way he did."
Arthur had cleared his throat.
He had spoken and all gasps and hell had broken loose.
"I hereby proclaim that magic is no longer banned in Camelot."
Hours later, there was still shocked chaos throughout the room.
Lords stared at the king with wide eyes, their hands mildly shaking.
"My lord you cannot be serious!"
"Legalising magic!"
"What about the person at your side you wanted to have with you, to show you that magic is without fault in some cases…"
Arthur listened to them all, arms folded and face stern.
They had been at this all afternoon, all day.
The gossip through the taverns had spread.
King Arthur was legalising magic.
The king, tired and annoyed at the incompetent people on his council, flashed a look to Merlin who stood at the side, silent and staring.
He nodded once at the king.
His eyes showed that he was willing to be silent.
Morgana could not know that he was Emrys, or that he even had magic.
Arthur stood upright and spoke over all the lords.
"We should not punish those with magic just for having it. We should punish those for the actions they do with it. I am not my father, and I will not rule the way he did." Arthur declared.
Murmurings continued.
"Change has come to Camelot." Arthur stated, "And it has come in the form of this man."
He gestured to Merlin who simply flushed slightly and stepped forwards.
Arthur watched them all carefully.
"Merlin is my manservant and friend, and he recently stood on trial for magic, a crime that I now no longer have outlawed." Arthur informed them all, "He is my most trusted friend and now advisor, and it is his knowledge on magic which makes me sure that we will have the right of magic on our side, against the evil that Morgana has."
The murmurings and mutterings grew to a massive height and Arthur straightened as Lord Pierson stormed red faced forwards.
"My lord!" He declared, "But Merlin is a sorcerer, and a servant at that, a no one… he cannot be given status."
Merlin winced for the man.
Arthur's left eyes twitched.
A hushed silence fell over the room.
Arthur folded his arms.
"Lord Pierson in what station was the queen born?" He demanded.
Pierson realised what he had said.
He swallowed and looked down, "She was a servant my lord…"
"Louder."
Pierson straightened, "She was a servant my lord."
"And are you suggesting that your queen is not befitting the station she now has, as my wife?" Arthur hissed.
Pierson started to stammer, "No… No… no of course not…"
Arthur narrowed his eyes at him with a furious protectiveness over his wife.
Merlin winced further at the anger there.
"out." Arthur snapped.
"What?" Pierson gasped.
"You heard me, out!" Arthur stated.
"But Sire…"
"Guards!" Arthur snapped his head in their direction.
They moved forwards and took both Pierson's arms, backing him from the room, before closing the doors on the council, and silencing Pierson's protests.
Arthur turned his eyes back on the council and it made Merlin smile.
"That is the last I will hear said on the subject." Arthur declared firmly.
"Magic is no longer outlawed. All magical cases brought to me will be overseen by Merlin, my advisor," He stated.
"That is all that there is to say."
THE ROYAL CHAMBERS
Hours passed.
Gwen was lying in bed with one hand on her small rounded belly, her other arm behind her head on the pillow, acting as one also.
Her white sheer nightdress gleamed in the flickering light of the candles and fire in the room, while the winter weather lashed through the dark night at the windows.
The covers settled at her waist, heavy and crimson and warm.
She turned her head slightly to look at her husband as he pushed open the door and trudged into the room, rubbing his eyes and removing his jacket.
"How was the council?" She whispered.
He trudged towards her, sinking to sit on the edge of the bed, putting one hand beside her hip on the mattress.
"Why are you still awake?" He breathed.
"Don't change the subject," She poked him in the chest, "Over protective fool."
He watched her as she pressed her hands to the mattress and pushed herself to sit up.
As the covers fell away he could not help his eyes falling to her small rounded belly.
He smiled slightly as she shifted and made herself comfy, wriggling her toes and leaning back against the headboard.
She patted the mattress beside her once, "Tell me."
Her husbands kicked off his boots and sat fully on the bed beside her, resting against the head board.
She moved to straddle his lap, her knees digging into the bed either side of him.
She took both his hands and held them in hers in between their chests.
She had always been a wonder to him, but the changes in her body and habits fascinated him.
It annoyed her how much she had started to sleep, and it irritated her further how much her changing body had allowed Arthur to be protective.
New security measures had been laid on and most of them frustrated her.
But they had waited a long time for the child she carried, so she let Arthur have his protective way most of the time.
He sighed and shifted.
"The council have taken the news about as well as you would expect…" He muttered, looking down at his hand on the mattress, "Merlin was silent and just stood there… making it clear that he doesn't want anyone to know who doesn't have too…"
"He is a good man." Gwen whispered, "One who will help us build this kingdom… and make it great… show everyone that it is people who we should fear, not their magic."
"mmm… my beautiful queen is right…" Arthur murmured lovingly, lifting his other hand to push some hair away from her face, resting it on her forehead.
She smiled softly, watching his face in the candle light.
"How are you feeling?" He asked.
She sighed and closed her eyes, letting her forehead be stroked by his hand, "Tired…"
"Mmm…" Arthur chuckled quietly, moving his hand to rest on her belly under hers.
"Have they been moving today?" He murmured, looking down at it.
Gwen shook her head tiredly, "Not yet… although the midwife said any day now… that I am still small for how far along I am."
"Mmm…" Arthur leant over her, rubbing his nose against hers, "I love you."
She giggled as he pressed his forehead to hers.
"I love you too."
MORDRED'S ROOM
"Ignore the fact that the place is a total mess… please…" Mordred stammered slightly as Tanya entered his room and walked, laughing slightly, towards the bed.
She sunk to sit down on the mattress and Mordred scrambled to put things away as the door clicked shut.
"Perhaps it just needs a woman's touch…" Tanya rolled her eyes.
Mordred coloured up to his ears and Tanya flushed also.
"I just mean…" Her words lapped over one another as she blushed, "That all the knights rooms must look the same, not that I know that... I mean…"
Mordred spluttered and coughed through his laugh.
Tanya sighed at herself and shook her head.
As Mordred moved to take a seat beside her on the bed he knocked into the small table at her side.
It wobbled and a book, stuffed full of separate loose pages fell to the floor.
Mordred stiffened ashes she bent forwards and picked it up.
It fell open in her hands and she stared at the pages.
A smile spread over her face and her eyes were almost proud, "I did not know you were an artist…"
Mordred swallowed, "It's a … a hobby… I…"
He held his hands out to take the book from her but she grinned at him, cradling the book to her chest and remaining sat on the bunk, opening it to gaze at what was inside.
Mordred did not sit beside her now.
He stood watching her nervously.
She started to turn the pages.
A drawing of her in grey charcoal smiled up at her, she was surrounded by flowers….
Flip.
The soft noise of her turning the page and looking at more and more of his work made Mordred stiffen.
In the next drawing she was sat on the stairs looking up at the sky, as she had done with Merlin just after the king had returned from his failed attempt to sacrifice himself in order to give Queen Guinevere a child, and Eveline had died.
She swallowed.
Flip.
In the next she was walking along what seemed to be walking along a beach, her skirts in her hand, sun in her hair and her bare feet pressing into the soft sand.
Mordred folded his arms.
"I look quite pretty…" Tanya smiled, turning the book slightly in her grip so that she could see it more clearly.
Flip.
A portrait of her, her hair over one shoulder, eye shining with her small smile.
"You have got rather close haven't you?" She smiled and laughed lightly.
The knight could see something stirring behind his eyes.
Mordred sighed and lifted one hand to rest it against his forehead as he closed his eyes.
Flip.
Flip.
Flip.
Tanya stared at another image of her and swallowed, glancing up at Mordred as she ran her thumb long the edges of all the pages, seeing more and more images of her, drawn by him, smiling out at her.
"They are all of me." She whispered and lifted her eyes.
His throat closed up.
She stared at him.
"I…" She swallowed, "I…"
"I am sorry; it is embarrassing for you… I…" He made to take the book from her, "I should never have…"
"No." She whispered and stared at him with wide eyes, holding the book to her chest.
She barely blinked as she kept his gaze.
"Why did you never say?" She asked quietly.
"What?" He shifted.
"Mordred." She sighed, "You know what."
He stared at her for a moment before he sighed heavily and sunk to sit on the bunk beside her, his hands clasped, elbows on his knees.
"I… wanted to… I really did… but you have always been Merlin's, to everyone else anyway." He murmured.
She swallowed and looked down at the book in her hands as she stroked the pages.
"Not anymore." She whispered.
"No." He sighed slightly, "But to him… you told me all of why you have let him go, for his destiny, for all of us and the future…"
"Because it was the right thing to do." She whispered.
"I know." He said and nodded, "And I did not want you to think that I was acting on you… making a move… simply because of what you had confided in me about your feelings for Merlin, and who you really are."
She glanced at him and smiled slightly.
"You have a gift Mordred." She breathed, "You are king, brave, and loyal… and you see people."
He smiled and reached for her hand, squeezing it slightly.
"I see you."
She straightened her neck and her eyes brightened at his touch.
"And?"
He smiled and glanced down at his hand around hers as he chuckled almost silently.
"Why would I not want to draw you?"
His words made her laugh and she shook her head as she did so, before she leant towards him, still holding his hand, to rest her temple on his shoulder.
Mordred's cheek touched the top of her head as he chuckled.
Both of them let out happy sighs.
FOREST OF ESITIA
A white light blinded the air for a second.
When it vanished two figures, joined by the hands, remained.
Eveline dropped Tanya's hand and watched her carefully.
The young princess stared at the trees around her.
"It looks… it looks the same…" She whispered.
Eveline inclined her head, "It is the same forest… just younger… like your parents…"
"Yes…" Ava gasped and her eyes flew around, "Where is Camelot?"
Eveline folded her hands, "The same direction it has always been."
Ava smirked at her and wrapped her arms around herself, "It is cold…"
"That hasn't changed either about midnight?"
Ava sighed shortly, "Well off we go then."
She stared to walk.
Eveline watched her for a moment but did not move, "I will return for you in one day."
Ava stopped and spun, "What! You are leaving me alone?"
"You wish to see your father. You have one day to do so…"
"But you cannot just leave me?"
"Why not?"
"Because I don't know where I am! The least you could do is point me in the right direction." Ava snapped in frustration.
Eveline smiled at how like Arthur she was.
With a lazy gesture the Parlevine pointed to her right.
Ava curtsied sarcastically, "thank you."
She strode off and Eveline stopped her with her voice, "don't you have any questions?"
Ava turned her head and her eyes were almost distant, "my parents…"
She swallowed and Eveline walked to her side as she asked, "How young…?"
"Your mother is in the first part of her term carrying Llacheu."
Ava swallowed, "So they don't know that I will exist."
"But they soon will… as a woman, not as their daughter." The Parlevine was firm in her ear, "You cannot tell him who you are."
"Why not?"
"I am serious Ava; he cannot know you are his daughter from the future."
"But why? What would that change? Why can't I tell him…"
"Because it would kill you when he did not believe you."
"Can we be seen?"
"Yes." Eveline nodded, "In this instance it is important that you are really here."
Ava narrowed her eyes, "I don't understand…"
"And there is one more thing." Eveline took Ava's arms and made her face her.
Ava looked down, "how can you touch me if you are a ghost…"
"I appear, I disappear… but my heart doesn't beat. I cling to life with all my powers, now listen." Eveline tried not to snap, "No matter how much your father you cannot stay here in this time…. I will come back for you and find you in one day… do not attempt to run from me … whether you want to or not, and believe me, you won't… you have to return to your proper time."
Ava stared hard at her, "I won't just leave my family will I…"
"you will want to."
"My parents in this time have each other," Ava snapped, "my mother in my time has no one."
"She has you. These two don't." Eveline sighed shortly.
Ava held her gaze, "Why would it be so wrong to stay and let them know who I am…"
Eveline's eyes changed to be dangerous, "Because you are forever in risk of changing things and cancelling out your own birth or any other major event! Travelling backwards or forwards in time and creating a different permanent life for yourself is forbidden?"
"By who?" Ava whispered.
"The Parlevine council…the ancients of my kind who make sure that people are not interfering. There are certain points in time that are fixed… ones that have to happen! We are allowed to travel backwards and forwards in time to learn but not to live."
"But…"
"I travelled backwards in time! I was alone and scared so I travelled backwards form my present and met a man… I fell in love and we got married and had a child… and the Parlevine council waited, they waited for my child to be born then they took her from me and sent me back to my own time. I was parted from her. They left me stranded in my own present where she was already a woman who didn't know me. She was raised by someone else and they took my powers to travel through time from me until I was dead! They wiped the memory of the man I loved and by my time he was older and had no idea of what we had lost… I gained everything and lost it all… you cannot stay here forever."
Eveline's voice had risen to a shout and tears had filled her eyes.
Ava stared at her and drew in a stuttering breath, "I did not know that."
"No one knows in this time yet." Eveline spat out and wiped at her eyes.
She drew in a long breath to calm herself and swallowed bitterly.
"I will return for you in one day, no matter where you are I will be there… just… just don't tell anyone and don't build a life for yourself… for heaven's sake…" She muttered and stepped away from Ava.
"Wait…" Ava gasped.
Eveline shut her eyes and disappeared into a white light, leaving Ava stood by herself in the dark forest.
She heard someone stumble behind her and curse.
Before she could turn of her own accord a startled voice made her do so.
"What are you doing out here?"
She spun and saw a man, younger than she had ever seen him, staring at her with wide eyes and his hands on his hips.
She gasped.
Merlin.