"Gwaine, what are you doing?" Anna asked in a tone of longsuffering.
He laughed. "Can't I surprise my sweetheart sometimes?"
"When you take my arm and lead me toward your bedroom, I think I'm allowed to be a little suspicious."
He merely grinned. "Here we are." He gestured toward the door of his room. Anna narrowed her eyes at him. "Well? Go on!"
She pushed the door open and laughed with delight. There was a feast for two on the table, with a bottle of wine, chicken, and fruit.
"I thought we should celebrate a little," he said, holding her chair out for her.
"How on earth did you get Cook to give you all this food?" she asked in amazement as he served her and poured her some wine.
"Leftovers from the feast," he said. "Eat up!"
When they had both eaten their fill, Anna leaned back in her chair. "If I keep eating this much every day, I'm going to get terribly fat."
"Why should you? I never do," Gwaine pointed out with a smile.
Anna looked at him for a moment, then leaned in and kissed him.
"What was that for?"
"I can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"I don't want to inflate your ego."
"Oh, really?" This was clearly a challenge. He pulled her off her chair and into his lap and kissed her. "Tell me."
"Nope."
He kissed her again. "Tell me."
"Huh-uh."
"Third time's the charm…"
The door flew open, and Anna sprang up so quickly she almost hit Gwaine in the face. Merlin looked at them curiously. "…Were you two snogging?" he said suspiciously, momentarily distracted from his mission.
"No," Anna said quickly.
"Yes." Gwaine smiled broadly. Anna flicked his ear.
"Well, you'll have to postpone. Gaius needs you in the surgery. A child's hand was crushed, and he wants to use magic to heal it."
Anna, who had been heading toward the door, stopped in her tracks. "Magic?" she said uncertainly. "Why?"
"It's the only way to fully restore function. Besides, Gaius thinks it'll be good to show people how much magic can help them."
"Can't Gaius do it? He has magic."
"His magic isn't strong enough. He needs mine—and I need you in order to use it. Come on!"
Anna still looked uncertain. Gwaine stood up and tucked her hand into his arm. "Come on, Anna. Someone needs your help," he coaxed, and she went with him.
When they reached the surgery, Gwaine was almost sorry he'd come. The child was in shock, his father was near a state of nervous collapse, and when they unwound what seemed like an endless succession of towels from the child's hand, it was enough to make him feel sick to his stomach. It was no wonder Gaius wanted to use magic: the hand was horribly mangled. Even if infection or gangrene didn't kill the child, it was likely the hand would have to be amputated.
Gaius arranged the child's hand, putting the pieces (Gwaine had to look away) as close as possible to their healthy positions. Anna gently covered the child's hand with her own, and Merlin put his hand on top of hers.
"What are they doing?" the father asked.
"They're going to use magic," Gaius said quietly.
"What?!"
Gwaine went to the father and gently held his arms from behind, afraid that the man would interfere. "It's alright," he said calmly; "they know what they're doing."
Anna didn't look entirely sure of that, but she took a deep breath and shut her eyes in concentration. "Þurhhæle! Ic hæle þina þrowunga," she said, and opened her eyes. They flashed golden along with Merlin's. She lifted her hand a bit, and Gwaine thought the child's hand was looking better. Anna and Merlin repeated the process three times. When they had finished, the hand, though still lacerated, was in one piece and was shaped right again.
The father stared at his son, who was flexing his fingers in curiosity, and then up at Anna and Merlin. Merlin looked satisfied, Anna a little apprehensive. "You did it," the father said blankly. "You healed it."
"I must keep Adeon here overnight," Gaius said calmly. "He has lost a lot of blood, and as you can see, the hand is not entirely healed. We will give his body some time to adjust and then finish healing it."
The father was still staring. He suddenly leapt to his feet and threw his arms around Anna. "Thank you!" he exclaimed.
"It—was mostly Merlin," she said dazedly.
The father hugged Merlin too, for good measure. "My wife will never believe this!" he said.
They cleaned the child up and put him to bed and the father left to tell his wife the good news. "You do realize he's going to tell the whole town," Gwaine commented.
"I hope so," Gaius said with an arch smile.
Merlin laughed. "You planned this!"
"Well, I didn't plan for a child to be hurt," Gaius clarified. "But I planned to publicly use healing magic as soon as possible. It's the most obvious and dramatic way to demonstrate to the people of Camelot how great a force for good magic can be."
Anna looked a little worried. There would clearly be no way now for her to hide her magic. "It'll be alright," Gwaine said quietly, touching her hand. She pressed her lips together in a smile and nodded, but he knew she was unconvinced.
000
"Arthur's hoping that more magical recruits will show up as the proclamation is read across his lands," Gwaine was saying as he walked Anna home that evening. Adeon was stable and there was little to be done in the surgery, so Gaius had let her go earlier than usual. "He only worries that some people might think it's a trick to get them to confess to using magic."
"Mm," Anna said.
He glanced down at her. "What is it?"
Anna didn't answer, but he followed her gaze and saw that there were a number of people staring at them—or more specifically, at her. One woman approached them and they stopped.
"Is it true?" she said excitedly. "Meilyr says you healed his boy with magic. Did you?"
"Yes—Merlin and I did."
"He said it was all healed up—perfect!" There were more people gathering around them now. Anna looked nervous, but Gwaine began to smile.
"Not quite perfect," Anna said quietly. "We straightened the bones, but there are still the lacerations to be seen to…"
"She's being modest," Gwaine said proudly. "I watched them do it—it was amazing."
The townspeople chattered excitedly. "Will there be any side effects?" a man asked worriedly.
"No, not at all," Anna reassured him. "There may still be some symptoms from the original injury—blood loss, and so forth. But the magic will do him nothing but good. He had some supper just before I left, and he was getting some color back in his face."
One woman, the boy's aunt, stepped forward and gave Anna a hug. "Thank you," she said emphatically.
Anna gave her a big smile. "You're welcome."
It was a little while before the crowd would let Anna go back to her house, and by that time she was beaming. Gwaine smiled to see the expression of excitement in her eyes.
"I have patrol tomorrow morning. Will I see you at luncheon?"
She nodded. "And maybe I'll ask Gaius to teach me some other spells," she said thoughtfully. "He's been offering to show me how to light a fire with magic."
Gwaine smiled and gave her a kiss. "I look forward to seeing you do it."
TBC
AN: Trust Gwaine to express love through food.
By the way, I'm going to be chaperoning a youth group trip from the eighth through the fourteenth. I'm not likely to have computer/internet access during that time, and I don't know how much time I might have for writing. But I'll be back to work on this fic as soon as I get back!
(We're going to be helping out at Jill's House, a camp for kids with intellectual disabilities. Check it out at jillshouse dot org!)
