Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition

~ James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room

Chapter 5: Hunith

Balinor and Kilgharrah spent two days trudging through Essetir as they avoided bumping into people. They might be out of Uther's borders but they didn't need Cenred sticking his nose into their business. Kilgharrah found the village the night before and also found a system of caves close by that would be an ideal place for him to hide in. Balinor promised to check back with him that night as he scoped the village to see if Gaius' suggestion of this place's safety was worth taking after all. He rode in past the brush and came upon the clearing that housed the village.

Balinor's first thought was that this village was simple. There were a couple of huts scattered around that looked in good firm condition. He could see fields in the distance with some people already working them. He looked and didn't see any sign of Cenred's army anywhere around. This was an outline village but with it the closest to the border leading to Camelot he expected some military presence. He rode closer until he was being approached by some people. They didn't look hostile but they looked cautious of him nonetheless.

A distinguished looking man came up to stand right in front of his horse. "Welcome to Ealdor. I'm the headman Jack."

"It's nice to meet you," he said getting off his horse. "Balinor," he said extending his hand to the headman.

The headman looked at the hand for a few moments and Balinor almost took it back when he went to return the handshake before he could. "I'm sorry, this is an outlying village of the kingdom. We don't get too many visitors here so excuse us for seeming…a little cold towards your reception."

"No, it's alright. I understand. Rest assured, the last thing that I want to do is bring any trouble to you and your village. I was simply looking for a place to stay. I promise that I won't be in your way."

When the excitement of his arrival was over Balinor went off to place his horse in the village stable leaving the other men watching after him. One of them leaned over close to the headman.

"Jack, are you sure it's smart to let a complete stranger come to the village like this. We are right in the middle of the harvest and the last thing we need is unexpected complications."

The headman breathed heavily out of his nose. "Simmons, if you had it your way then this village would be cut from the outside world completely."

Simmons just looked at Balinor's shrinking form. From the finely groomed horse and the above normal quality of clothes he had he guessed that someone like that looking to settle in an out of way place like Ealdor was involved in a few things. Things that could eventually follow him and involve them at one point. "There's just something about him that feels like trouble to me."

"You think new born babies are trouble Simmons," snorted another one of the villagers.

Simmons stomped off to distance himself from the small laughter that erupted after him.

He saw that their stable was nice enough for his horse to be comfortable with the others in the village before he set off to try and meet with Kilgharrah. He walked through the village set to go the woods beyond them when his sight was drawn to someone walking ahead of him with two baskets full of carrots. One of the baskets had been filled too high and it was getting hard to balance it. Balinor saw that the basket was about to spill and he went to help.

"Careful," he said reaching to take the overfilled basket out of their hands. "You don't want to spill those."

"Oh, thank you."

Balinor looked up at the carrier to see that it was a young woman. She had deep brown hair and a fair complexion with deep blue eyes. She was dressed in simple clothes but he thought they complimented her figure perfectly. She wasn't wearing any makeup or powders but it seemed that she didn't need such things. He'd never met too many village girls that seemed to be naturally beautiful. She was like a blossom in rocky soil. The woman readjusted the basket she was still holding before she went to extend her hand to receive the one he was holding back.

He cleared his throat before he could be caught staring. "It was my pleasure but maybe you shouldn't be carrying too much at once."

"It's okay. I do this all the time," she said insistent on getting the carrots back.

Balinor wasn't having it. "Please I insist. What kind of man would I be if I let a woman shoulder so much on her own?"

"Well…who says that I even need a gentleman?"

"Maybe you don't but you have one anyway. Might as well bask in it wouldn't you say?"

Hunith smirked a bit but shrugged. "Fine then. I can see you're set to hold it and I'm not going to be standing here all day arguing over who carries a basket of vegetables to the storehouse."

"Lead the way," Balinor smiled as he silently savored his victory.

The woman giggled but helped show him to the storehouse.

"I haven't seen you around here before. I would've remembered being in your company before. I'm Hunith," she said as they walked.

Hunith…that was a nice name. "I thought it was the gentleman that was supposed to introduce themselves first?"

"You already won the chance to carry my basket. I had to beat you at something."

Balinor chuckled. "Very well then. I'm Balinor," he said when he settled down. "I just arrived in Ealdor today."

Hunith froze in her tracks and looked back at him with wide eyes. "Balinor? The Dragonlord?"

His heart ran cold. "You know about me?"

The villager headman and those others hadn't reacted to his name. It wasn't surprising as while the power of dragonlords were well known they weren't known by their names except by certain circles. The news of his escape might not have had time to reach this far out of the way yet as the headman had no reaction to his name but this woman did?

"My uncle wrote me and told me that I should be expecting you soon though after over a month I thought that you had gone somewhere else."

"Your uncle told you to expect me?"

Hunith nodded. "He's the Court Physician in Camelot."

His memory flashed back to the man that had slipped him the means for his escape from Uther's captivity. "Gaius is your uncle?"

Balinor slipped away close to dusk to connect with Kilgharrah at the caves that he had told him about. It was a relief to know that he was safe where Hunith was concerned. She had no misgivings about magic and those who used it as long as they didn't use their power to prey on innocent people like her fellow villagers. He quickly assured her that he wasn't the sort to prey on people like that. She further explained that Gaius wrote her saying that he was a truly good man and that he was trustworthy in that regard. It did help explain where Gaius had gotten the spells from that he passed on to him to aid his escape. It turns out that he used to practice himself. She assured him that his secret was safe with him and that he could stay with her for his stay in Ealdor for however long he was staying to recover. He offered to give her some gold for her trouble of housing him but she said that it was no trouble at all. He wasn't sure just how long he would be staying here for though a part of him hoped for a while.

As Balinor reached the cliffside he saw the grand opening into the mountain wall and the dark caverns beyond them. "Hello?!" he called off to have his echo sound back like the cavern was returning his greeting.

A few moments later there was some rustling followed by a great shape coming out of the cave entrance. "Hello," Kilgharrah answered back.

Balinor took a moment to look at the surrounding area. High trees blocking the sight of Ealdor and seemingly out of the way of most people. This place seemed like the perfect place for a dragon to have his peace.

"I think we found ourselves a nice spot then."

Kilgharrah chuckled. "Yes I believe we have."

Kilgharrah and Balinor walked off to a green clearing in the woods that had some flowers waving about in the breeze to sit and talk as they watched the sun start to go down. They got to talking about what they had been up to all day. Kilgharrah explained that the caverns here ran deep and had many twists and turns which made it perfect to hide himself in. There was little evidence of human presence within them so he guessed that the villagers avoided this place which further complimented its position for him to rest and regain his strength. It seems as if the binding magic of those chains had done more to him than he had been willing to admit. He would need perhaps a few weeks before he was his old self.

"What about you?" he asked when he was done talking about the caves. "Did you find anything in the village that might be a problem?"

"Actually," he said leaning back on his arms. "I found nothing but good things. It turns out that Gaius, the man who freed me, his niece lives here. He must've known that this place was perfect to go to because of what he knew from her."

"Who is she?"

"Her name is Hunith and she helps with the farming as do most of the villagers."

"Does she know of you?" he asked.

Balinor nodded. "It seems that Gaius wrote to her to tell her to expect me. She's offered to allow me to stay with her for the duration of our time here."

"Do you think she can be trusted?"

He nodded. "Yes, she seems to be a good and trustworthy person."

Kilgharrah raised his eyebrow at him. "Really? Is that your gut instinct telling you that or is it something else?"

Now Balinor narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Why would you ask that?"

Kilgharrah chuckled a little at the sight of Balinor's face. "I was just taking into account the face you made when you were talking about her."

"What face?"

"The face that you human men seem to make when you seem to begin to be taken in by the females that you meet."

"Oh really?" he snorted. "And what would a dragon know about faces in regard to human relationships?"

"Because it was the same face that your grandfather made when he first met your grandmother."

That took Balinor by surprise. "Really?" he asked eagerly. He hadn't heard much of his grandparents. They had died before he was born.

"Yes…it feels like only yesterday," he said looking off into the distance. "You looked just liked him down to the sparkle in your eye when you first told me her name."

Balinor was feeling the heat rise to his cheek. "I do? I did?"

"She must be quite lovely." His face fell though. "But make sure that you aren't blinded by that Balinor. These are dangerous times and while we are in this kingdom where magic isn't prohibited there are those that would take advantage of the entire situation in Camelot and use it to their advantage."

But Hunith wasn't one of them; Balinor was sure of that. She had good clean fun with him as they playfully bantered at each other over that basket and she flat out refused any money even when he insisted. That wasn't the makings of someone untrustworthy or who took advantage. "I know but she can be trusted. I truly believe she can."

Kilgharrah was silent before he nodded. "Very well. Perhaps you should return then. It's going to be dark soon."

"Have a good rest my friend."

"You as well…but not too good."

"Kilgharrah!" he scolded as Kilgharrah walked back to the caves chuckling to himself.

Uther's kingdom wide search for Balinor was turning up empty handed. The knights headed off into the direction that he and his dragon had flown after their escape but found no clues whatsoever. Not even a sighting of the dragon was found by any of the villages and towns in that direction. The knights were ordered to spread out their search to see if Balinor wasn't doubling back and trying to confuse them in making another attempt to seize Camelot.

Sir Tate was riding though the countryside looking for any sign of the Great Dragon but he had come up empty handed and he knew Uther wouldn't be happy. The king was getting frustrated with the lack of news about Balinor or his dragon. Tate didn't understand what Uther expected. This wasn't a normal escapee that they were looking for. Balinor and his dragon could travel great distances in a short time without leaving a single trail. It had been weeks since the escape and with that kind of time it might be impossible to find them. For all they knew Balinor was in some distant foreign land by now. Yet he and others who shared his thoughts didn't dare say anything about that to the king. The last thing they need is to set Uther off especially with the current state of things. Sir Ector's execution was still fresh on their minds and none of them were eager to follow him to the block anytime soon.

He was showing a sketch of Balinor around and was taken aback when he heard something different from usual.

"Yeah, I've seen him before."

The one who said that was a herdsman in that village.

"You have?" asked Tate. "When?"

"He bought one of my best horses from me a few weeks ago."

"You're sure it was him?"

He nodded. "Yes sir. I remember him because he paid me a little more than my horse was worth."

"Did you happen to see where he was headed?"

"All I know is that after he bought the horse from me he asked where he could get some more clothes and I told him where the village tailor was."

"Tell me then."

He was directed to the tailor and he heard that Balinor had bought a complete set of clothes from him. He also discovered that he was seen heading east of the village. He called his men together and they headed east as well. This news might pacify the king somewhat now that there was actual information instead of fanatical heresay. As they were leaving the village he couldn't help but wonder why Balinor would buy a horse when he had a dragon to ride anywhere he wanted.

End of Chapter 5

A/N: I was nervous about this one because I wanted Balinor and Hunith's meeting to be fitting the future parents of Merlin. I figured that Merlin's quirkiness had to come from somewhere and I think Balinor might've been it though years of being alone and away from Hunith might've washed it away from him when they finally met. Now where I'm planning to take this, that won't be an issue.