Chapter 9

Two chapters, One day! This one is a bit longer than the last one. Hope you like it!

"Good morning my lady," Alyssa walked into Guinevere's room and quickly went to open the curtains to fill the room with some sunlight. Guinevere was already up and dressed, surprisingly, but Alyssa guessed that was what happened when you were a maidservant for most of your life.

"Good morning Alyssa. By the way, when it's just us, you can call me Gwen. Save the proper stuff for the public okay?"

"Of course Gwen." Alyssa smiled at her, "would you like me to bring you some breakfast from the kitchens or would you rather eat downstairs?"

"I will eat downstairs in the dining hall Alyssa. Have you seen Merlin this morning?"

"Yes, I believe he was going to wake up King Arthur."

"MERLIN!" Arthur's voice suddenly came from the room next door as a clattering of metal rang through the hall. Guinevere was already out the door, heading out to save Merlin from Arthur's wrath, and Alyssa quickly followed after her.

After Gwen had calmed Arthur and taken him down to the dining hall for breakfast, Merlin and Alyssa were left in the king's chambers to clean up Merlin's little incident. He had somehow managed to get food everywhere.

"Merlin how did you manage to get it on the ceiling?"

"The platter went straight up when I slipped. Some of its contents must have ended up going a little higher than others." Alyssa smiled at him as she climbed the ladder she had found with a red rag in her hand. He was too clumsy for anyone's good, but she thought it was adorable. If she had met him in New York, she probably would have gone out with him.

"How is your day going? I mean it's still pretty early and all and I know I've kind of been here for all of your morning, but-"

"It's going fine Merlin," she quickly cut off his rant. For some reason, he tended to talk too much when it was just the two of them. "Guinevere is very kind and she's treating me more like a friend than a servant."

"That's Gwen for you. She's a very kind person, to everyone."

"Yes, she is a very kind queen. It's not the kind of thing you would expect."

"Your majesty? I was told that you- oh. I'm sorry. Hello Merlin. Can either of you tell me where King Arthur is?"

Alyssa wasn't going to turn around. She was going to control herself. She wasn't going to let her emotions get the best of her. She couldn't help it that the ladder started shaking. Her anger and despair was getting the best of her magical control. The ladder tipped and Alyssa landed in someone's arms. Problem was, they didn't feel like Merlin's skinny arms. They felt metallic.

"Are you okay?"

Alyssa opened her eyes and looked into Mordred's face. She felt her anger getting the better of her and she pulled away from him, but of course she tripped while saying yes and ended up in Merlin's arms. Could this day get any better?

"Alyssa are you okay?" Merlin was speaking now.

"Yeah, Merlin. I'm fine," she looked up into Merlin's eyes, and couldn't pull away. His sea blue eyes were bright and full of worry. She couldn't remember the last time someone had worried that much about her.

"Ahem," Alyssa and Merlin froze, just now realizing that they were close enough to kiss and also not alone. They both stepped away from each other. Merlin was blushing a color as bright as Mordred's knight cape and Alyssa suspected that her face looked the same way. She looked into her brother's eyes and saw something strange in them. There was almost what looked like a bit of anger in there, as if he suddenly felt a little protective of her. Maybe he did remember, he just couldn't remember her specifically.

"Could you please tell me where Arthur is? I'm supposed to be training with him today."

"I believe he's in the dining hall with Lady Guinevere. They went down there to eat breakfast together," Alyssa told him quietly.

"And that's where we should be right now, Alyssa," Merlin grabbed her hand and led her down to the dining hall quickly. She looked at him questioningly and he gave her a look that said 'I'll tell you later.' And she knew he would.

The rest of the day went by without a hitch and Alyssa soon found herself heading back down to her room next to the physician room. She passed her door and went straight for Merlin. She was going to find out what his problem had bee earlier that day.

"Hey Gaius," she found him at one of his worktables. He was bent over a cauldron, stirring some kind of potion that smelled horrible. "Where's Merlin? I need to talk to him now."

"I think he's still helping Arthur. He hasn't been down here."

"Oh, okay. Is there anything you need help with then?"

"Yes, actually. Could you go out and gather these from the forest for me? I need to make another sleeping draught for Sir Mordred."

Alyssa tensed and prayed that Gaius wouldn't notice. She was hoping for too much again.

"Are you alright Alyssa? Every time someone mentions Sir Mordred you tense up and become very quiet."

"It's nothing Gaius." Nothing she wanted to tell him right now anyways.

"Alyssa you know you can tell me anything right?"

"Yes Gaius. I know that. It's just, I don't want anyone else to know about it and I know you tell Merlin everything so…"

"I don't tell him everything Alyssa. Trust me on that one. You can tell me when you're ready. All right?"

"I'll think about it Gaius."

Alyssa loved the forest here. She had missed the wild feel of the woods of Camelot when she was in New York. There, they had only Central Park. It wasn't the same.

She wound her way through the forest, stopping to pick up things that were on Gaius's list. She kept walking, and eventually, she had everything she needed. She started to walk back the way she came, slowly. Then her necklace suddenly started glowing. Well, looked like Crystallus had finally caught up with her. She groaned.

"Crystallus. Stop glowing and come on."

"What do you think you're doing here," she asked as the glow faded from the necklace and she appeared in front of Alyssa. She was mad, Alyssa could tell.

"Well, I thought I would just try to say hi to my brother, but he doesn't remember me at all." Crystallus sighed. She looked sad suddenly.

"I know. And I can tell you why."