Previously: "That's nice of you to say, but he doesn't look very much like me." She took a deep breath to steel herself for what she was going to do. God, she hoped she was making the right decision. "He looks more like you actually."- "What?!"- "Balinor. He's your son."

Oblivious

Chapter 11: Revelations

Balinor froze for the second time that day and seeing that he wasn't responding, Hunith hurriedly continued, blinking away the moisture gathering in her eyes.

"I'm sorry I haven't told you before. And I really hope you can forgive me for this, if not, I understand but please give me a chance to explain." She pleaded.

"Does Merlin know?" Balinor surprised himself by asking.

"No. Not yet." She wiped away a few errant tears. "I wanted to tell you first." He could tell she was struggling to maintain her composure and he carefully put his arms around her and hugged her.

"Shh, don't cry. I hate it when you cry." She hugged him back and sobbed openly.

Balinor was still shocked about this new revelation, it was still sinking in. He knew that eventually he would be upset at having missed twenty years of his only child's life but he could not bring himself to blame Hunith. He had made the decision to leave, he had abandoned any responsibility he might have left behind and he had not left Hunith with any means to contact him. If it was anybody's fault that he did not know about Merlin, it was his own.

Their moment was abruptly ended by the arrival of the aforementioned son. They belatedly pulled apart, unwilling to have been caught in such a position.

Merlin, who was completely unaware of the events of the past few minutes, was more than a little confused but he resolved to put it out of mind until he could question Gaius. Balinor moved so Merlin could hand Hunith the water.

"Thank you, Merlin." She smiled at him fondly. Balinor shuffled awkwardly, unsure how to act or behave now that his whole world had been turned upside down. At the movement, Hunith turned to him. "Balinor, we can continue talking about our business later, if that is okay with you?" He nodded and speedily walked away.

"What was all that about?" Merlin asked curiously once Balinor had left.

"He's an old friend." She told him vaguely, "and a good man. A little pigheaded and stubborn at times but good." She sighed, "I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do about this housing situation."

"You could stay here, we could find something." Merlin suggested.

"That's very kind of you Merlin, but you shouldn't have to. I might go stay with my brother, he did offer a few years back. I'll send him a letter tonight."

Merlin did not think this was a terribly good idea, his Uncle William had succeeded in getting ahead in life and had become snobbish and stuck up as a result. He only offered Hunith to stay with him so that he could make himself look better and had made little effort to hide his disgust at her illegitimate child. If his mother did go live with him, he would probably put on a big show of it to make himself seem like a caring, considerate brother. It was because of Uncle William that Merlin had always felt uneasy and dislike for nobles.

He hoped that an alternative solution could be found soon.

Later that evening, Balinor and Hunith met up in private to finish their talk. Hunith filled him in on everything he had missed of his son's life, she apologised for not knowing much about more recent times but Merlin had not kept her informed about the goings on of Camelot.

"I don't think he wants me to worry, that's probably why he keeps so quiet about it…" she admitted.

"He has your best interests at heart. He can't be faulted for that."

"True." She sighed, "I'm surprised the King hasn't tried to force you out of Camelot yet." She changed the subject.

"He wouldn't dare, he's tolerating my presence at the moment. Have you sorted your housing problems yet?" he asked concernedly.

"Not yet. But I have a solution. My brother-" He interrupted before she could continue.

"I thought you didn't like your brother!" It was more than just dislike, he remembered the rant that had ensued from the condescending letter she received from William along with a small bag of gold. She had refused to spend a penny in retaliation.

"I don't. But I don't have any other option unfortunately. Anyway, enough about that, we need to talk about how we're going to tell Merlin." She looked at him seriously, "I think I should do it. I don't know how he will react."

"I understand." He squeezed her hand comfortingly.

"I'll do it tomorrow." She promised.

The following morning, Merlin went about his usual duties. He had not been as discreet as he had thought when even Arthur asked him what the problem was. Grudgingly he had admitted to his mother's housing situation and how he was trying to find a solution to it.

Arthur's tone had been vaguely mocking when he'd asked what was wrong, but it abruptly changed to absolute sincerity when he offered that Hunith could stay in Camelot for however long was needed until she could find somewhere new. Merlin had half suspected that Arthur was trying to thank him in his own way for all the times he had saved his life and the other half suspected that Arthur was offering this due to his own soft spot for Merlin's mother since he had never had one and Hunith had always treated him as her own. Either way, regardless of the reason, Merlin was grateful to him.

Merlin decided he would pass on the message when he saw his mother, which would be around midday since she had asked him to meet her to discuss something important. She had given no other clue and Merlin was stumped as to what she might want to talk about.

Soon enough he met her in the Court Physician's rooms, where Gaius was conspicuous by his absence. Normally he would at this time be preparing tonics for any and all ailments, but today he was not. Hunith smiled at Merlin uneasily, he could tell that something was worrying her, she gestured to the chair in front of her, urging him to sit down. Warily he did so.

"What was it you wanted to talk about, Mother?" he asked.

"Something I should have told you a while ago." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "It's about your father." Merlin's surprise was obvious, he had often asked when he was younger but she had never wanted to talk about it.

"I'm sorry it has taken me so long to tell you, but I couldn't risk you trying to find him. If you had been followed…" she shook her head putting away the unpleasant images.

"Why?"

"Your father has a magical background, the King had been hunting him down before we met, and that was the same reason why he had to leave." This was no great revelation, Merlin had guessed as much, his own magic could not have come out of nowhere.

"Why are you telling me this now?" Hunith steeled herself.

"I-I saw him again… recently. And the King is no longer chasing him." Something in this story was starting to sound terribly familiar to Merlin and then it hit him. Yesterday. The dragonlord and Merlin's mother. Hugging.

"Merlin?" she asked worriedly, he had gone very pale and silent.

"I have to go." Was all he could say.

He was shocked, there was no other way to describe it, he felt like the entire world had been tipped on its side and nothing made any sense anymore. Everything he thought he knew was now drastically altered. His mind kept swimming, he couldn't make sense of anything. The image just kept running through his head. Had he known at the time? Was Merlin the last person to find out? Gaius would have known, why had this been kept from him for so long? Didn't he had a right to know?

He marched out of the castle, his thoughts still racing around, he ended up walking about a league into the forest not caring about the time, his duties or anything else.

His magic, which had been bottled up inside him, reacted to his raw emotions and he was dangerously close to losing control of it. Eventually he could not keep a hold of it and he no longer really wanted to. Pure power poured out of him and blasted out, knocking over trees and pulverising rocks.

Merlin sat down in the now bare clearing, put his head in his hands and breathed out a breath he had not been aware he had been holding.

When Balinor walked into the physician's apartments, the first thing he saw was Hunith wringing her hands. He gently took hold of her shoulders and held her still, preventing her from resuming her frantic pacing in an attempt to calm her.

"Hunith. What happened?"

"I don't know! I was halfway through telling him and he must have guessed! And then he just ran off!" She paused to get her breath back, "Oh God. I am a terribly mother."

"You are not." He told her firmly, "He was probably just shocked. It is not your fault."

"Gaius! Have you seen-" Arthur stopped abruptly when he realised that Hunith and Balinor were there instead of Gaius. "Oh. I'm sorry, have either of you seen Merlin? He's been missing since midday?" Hunith shook her head.

"He left around that time." She told him.

"Do you know which way he went?" Arthur asked, both of them shook their heads. "He's probably at the tavern. Again." Arthur grumbled to himself. "I'll find him."

AN: And we have another round of **** hitting the fan. With Merlin not having the best of reactions. Got distracted by xmas film, sorry for lateness!

Thanks to reviewers: ebonypol, blackwolfs900, FlaviusD, MegamiTenshiHime, shell22, SuperHeroFanGurl, IndiaMoore, Pichicha123, rmatri540, bloodyhell95, Lientjuhh, Laughy-Taffy the Grape, Method in Madness, Amethyst M, WE-ARE-SHER-LOCKED, MamzelleHermy.