He didn't think he had ever been so happy, nor felt so guilty before in his entire life.
Merlin had left the dining room and was on his way back towards his chambers when he bumped into Morgause. He cursed mentally, growing frustrated once again at the fact that he would still be unable to read the letters. He tried to weasel his way out of accompanying the woman, but his attempts were pretty much useless. Much to his dismay, the woman knew him far too well to fall for his excuses, and she was able to easily pick apart his attempts at lying. He did not exactly like the fact that the woman knew him as well as she did, but if his counterpart had spent years living with this woman and working with her, it was to be expected. It didn't exactly make his job easier either, considering how he barely knew the woman himself.
He now found himself walking with the woman, opting to lag a step or two behind her, staring holes into the back of her head. Why did it have to be Morgause, of all people? Why couldn't it have been Mordred? He supposed he already knew why it couldn't have been Mordred, because from the looks of it, Mordred had only been a young boy at the time.
He found his heart almost stuck in his throat as Morgause spoke, startling him to the point where he nearly jumped.
"You are being awfully silent, Merlin. Is something the matter?" the woman questioned, slowing down until she was walking directly besides the young warlock. A cheeky grin appeared on his face as he shook his head lightly.
"No, everything is fine. Splendid actually, now that I think about it" he responded, the most innocent expression plastered upon his face in attempts to keep the woman from pressing the matter any further.
"Are you certain? You've been acting a bit strange." she stated, glancing towards him from the corner of her eye. He proceeded to nod. "Yeah. Like I said, everything is just fine. I'm a bit tired is all, hence why I wanted to return to my chambers. By the way, what are we doing?" he questioned "I kind of lost track of which day it is" he added quickly, in order to keep himself from sounding completely clueless. He heard a sigh escaping the woman.
"Council meeting, Merlin. You did not attended the last two meetings as you should remember. Unless you somehow forgot that you were gone for two weeks, which I highly doubt. I would have let you rest, but they have been on my case about it." Morgause stated.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that." He plainly responded. Great, council meetings. It was just what he wanted. Being stuck in a room with several people who could easily see through him should he make the tiniest mistake was exactly what he wanted to do.
"As much as I appreciate you being so silent for a change, it is beginning to bug me. What exactly happened in Camelot, Merlin?" The woman finally asked after they had walked for another short while. She came to a halt and turned in order to face the young warlock, her brows furrowed with a concerned expression upon her face.
"Nothing happened. You can stop being concerned. Everything is just fine, I swear."
"I don't believe you. What did they do? Did they harm you in any way? Did they torture you? You must tell me, for I can not help you if you don't." the woman pressed on, seeming to fight the urge to raise her voice with every fiber of her being. She looked genuinely upset at the mere thought of it.
"They did nothing but place me in a cell from which I could not escape." he let out in response, peering the woman dead in the eye. Her brows remained furrowed for a short while, skepticism clearly visible on her facial features, before her expression eventually softened.
"If you say so. Come. We must go before we are late" she let out as she turned around continuing to walk down the hallway. He would follow her once more, lagging a bit behind the woman. He was somewhat stressed, for he did not think that she had believed him. He was convinced that she would bring it up later on.
It did not take long before they reached the council room, the members of the council already present. He didn't know any of their faces or names, but he was met with respectful greetings. He found his way to the chair which he assumed to be his, taking a seat after gesturing for the rest of the council members to do the same. It was so very weird, and he found himself fumbling his way through the meeting, making decisions to the very best of his ability to the matters that was brought to his attention. It wasn't an easy task, not at all, considering how little he knew about this place. He kept an eye on Morgauses facial expression, and whenever her face revealed that she seemed to disapprove, he changed his decision as smoothly as he could, attempting to avoid suspicion.
He felt himself sinking deeper into his chair as the meeting dragged on, and he found himself wondering if these people liked the sound of their own voices more than anything else. It seemed like people had expected his interest to dwindle at some point, for when he had sunken low enough in the chair, their attention of the council members was directed towards Morgause without even as much as a disapproving mutter. He had tried to be engaged and interested, but he now understood why Arthur had loathed the council meeting as much as he had. It didn't matter how you looked at it, it was boring as hell, and he was frankly surprised that he had been engaged for as long as he had.
He tried to slip away from the meeting room but found himself interrupted by the woman he was attempting to get away from. "Hold on, Merlin." a female voice spoke from behind him, which prompted the young warlock to curse lightly under his breath. He cast a glance over his shoulder, catching a glimpse of the woman finishing up a conversation with one of the council men, Jonathan or something. He didn't quite remember. He had no choice but to wait at the door, exchanging a few words with the council members that still didn't feel like they had done enough talking. What had his counterpart thought when he had this council made? Probably that it was a good idea, or perhaps it had been Morgause's idea. Wouldn't surprise him.
She eventually finished speaking, and caught up to him at the door. "All right, let us go." she spoke, exiting the room. The young warlock soon followed, like an obedient dog.
"You did well today. I don't think I have seen you this engaged for that long in a meeting. You wouldn't mind making it a common occurrence, would you?" she asked as she glanced towards him with a raised brow.
"Well, I was under the impression that they were annoyed that I hadn't been there the last two times.. Where are we going now, by the way? I was kind of hoping that if I applied myself at that meeting, that I'd be able to go rest afterwards" he merely spoke in response.
"I am afraid that you can't rest quite yet. You have to be present at the recruitment trials, and afterwards the court session we have been postponing for a week. I can handle the rest afterwards if you are so desperately tired." she let out, the final portion spoken almost in an accusatory tone. He frowned lightly, but merely nodded.
"Wait, court session? What for?" he questioned, picking up the pace ever so lightly in order to fully catch up to the woman.
"We found a non-magic within our walls, usually the trial would have been done with already, but you were not present."
He felt his heart sink in his chest as he heard those news. What he had been told was true. The Sanctuary did in fact persecute those without magic. He had hoped that it had merely been malicious rumors that had been spread in order to discredit the sanctuary, or make the sorcerers that resided here sound like monsters.
He didn't think that he would have to deal with something like this so soon. He hadn't had any time to mentally prepare, and he didn't know if he could even make himself pass judgment on someone, just like that. Not for being who they were. This was where he'd notice the biggest difference between himself and his counterpart. Their feelings on this matter must be polar opposites. He did not like this at all, nor deem it just, where his counterpart clearly did, or else those laws would not be there in the first place.
He did his best to not reveal his emotions on his face, silently accompanying Morgause towards the back of the main building, exiting through a door which lead out towards what seemed to be another training area that he hadn't seen when he arrived.
When he saw the amount of recruits, mostly young teens, with a few adults mixed into the masses, he concluded that this would be a long day, but he secretly hoped that this would drag on for a long time.
**I found myself with a bit of a writers block, trying to figure out how to drive the story forwards. I know what will happen in the end, but the path that leads to that result was a bit unclear. I've therefore decided that I'll post a couple more chapters in order to finish this day, and then there will be a time skip, covering the span of a few months, to really let him settle into his role at the sanctuary, so that we can fully dwelve into the plot. I'd love to hear all of your thoughts about this.
Also, as always I am very thankful for all the reviews, follows and favourites. I am happy that you've all been enjoying the story so far!**