A Marriage that Started a Legend

by IJustShowedUp

Follows canon but with my own arranged marriage spin on it. What happens when Hunith makes a mistake and is forced on the run with her infant son? What happens when Camelot knights find her twenty years later? What happens when Arthur learns he's betrothed to a peasant boy? Will Merlin be able to stand among royalty? Will these two different boys survive each other? Review!

101. Chapter 101

Mary had the thunder roaring in her ears, her speech making her stand out in ways that she'd never been before. And she was doing it for the kind and sweet consort Merlin had shown himself to be. She actually felt pretty proud about herself for a hot minute there, until she saw Keira scowling at her. And the other girl opened her mouth to say something that would most likely be a very scathing comment. But Keira only got interrupted, when Julia threw the dress she'd started to scrub, down into the tub. It caught little waves and a dip in the water as some skidded out over the lip of it.

"What I think you mean, is what has Merlin done for any of us!" Julia sneered, as she rose onto her feet to glare over the large tub to Mary, her hands planted to her hips, as if she was looking for a fight. Looking like a wild stallion, prepared to take off across the grassy fields in defiance over somebody sitting on her back. In this case, that person was Mary. And in Julia's eye, Mary needed to be squashed underneath her slipper like an insect. "You say that he's done all of that and yet, I am still here, working with so little pay that I've might as well be living in indentured servitude."

And Julia glared daggers down at the tub of swirling soapy water, wanting nothing more in the world then to shove the thing onto it's side and allow the water to flow free down the drain. It wouldn't do anything, as it would be far too easy to fill it back up. But she would feel better…she'd been washing clothing and living with prunes for fingers close to ten years now, and she wasn't any closer to getting out then she'd been when she started. She could always go and get reassigned to the kitchens or the everyday cleaners that dusted the castle and other odds and ends. Or even one of the delivery girls that moved around the castle. But she would still be a servant. Unless she's the next lucky one that gets to marry big, she would always be a servant. And while she was fine with this, the least that stupid peasant boy could have done for them was advocate a little. Maybe give them a better pay so she wouldn't have to save for always a year to just buy a new dress. And not even a fancy dress. All that money would go to buying the fabric and she, as most servants, had to mend her own.

"What did you think was going to happen? Were you thinking Consort Merlin was just going to come down here one day, so soon after he became a member in the Royal family in the first place, and declare that we are all free?" Mary demanded, and blue eyes starting to narrow. She wasn't ready to throw in her towel just yet, not when she still had so many things that would need to be said to Julia. "Because I'm not sure if you have noticed, but we're not slaves! This is our job, it's what we do to pay for our living and our food and the little personal items that we can get our hands on. So Consort Merlin isn't going to just let us live off of the Royal treasury while we eat ourselves fat. That's the order of the world. We do manual labor, and get our pay from the castle. The Consort isn't exactly going to change that! Him being one of us isn't going to go and change the fact that somebody needs to do the work. And that somebody is us! Even if you seem to think of yourself as 'indentured'."

Unlike what Julia seemed to be thinking, Mary had a much more realistic head on her shoulders. Sure, she knew there had to be something Merlin could do for them, but she wasn't expecting it. She was pleased only by their being someone who knew their struggle up on the throne, because who would know better in the world-knew the things they needed-then a man who had lived among them. What did Julia expect to have the consort do? Did she really think Merlin was going to completely knock down the serving system that had been in effect since the beginning of time? Mary was proud of her work, and the meager life she lived. It was an honest living, as far as she would be concerned. She knew the nobles would be lost if any one of them was forced to do their own laundry. And forced to make their own meals. Or even be forced to dress themselves for some of the more stick-in-the-mud type of nobles. Hell, some nobles had not once had their feet touch the floor, and had servants carry them on a chair from place to place. While not a thing usually seen in Camelot, it would be amusing to see a man like that have to use his own feet for once. But it wasn't Merlin who was going to change the basics of their lives. They work, they get paid, that was it.

"What I was thinking, was there would be at least a bit of change with a peasant tied to the Royal throne like Merlin is!" The disrespectful way she spat out the consort's name was clear in the air, coming out of her like one would sling a whip. "Maybe I'm just being the one that's unreasonable-" but it was obvious she was thinking she was being anything but unreasonable, "I just thought we might be getting better conditions to work in. An increase in our pay for all of the long hour after hour that we have to work. And why would I be thinking that! Because there is somebody up there in the family that makes the rules, knows how hard it is for some of us to make ends met!"

Her voice came out all high and shrill, looking at Mary as if she was the enemy, when servants should band together with their lack of power in this world. Just to make it a little less lonely then before. But even Mary could see those were not the completely outrageous requests she was expecting. Julia wasn't looking with taking out an entire system-causing their world to go collapsing around itself when the nobles didn't get a hot meal and the servants got not pay for working. It wasn't wrong to want better in the laundry room, just opening the high windows would allow a much better breeze into the room. But they were always kept right on closed, because that was the way things were and the matron in charge of keeping things moving along in the laundry room refused to change that. But that also meant that things got hot in here. If a group was lucky, somebody didn't mix the water properly and it was cooler. Otherwise, the water was supposed to be hot. Not so hot that it would burn them as they were working, but the steam rising often caused their hair and clothing to stick to them, leaving them sweaty or unmanageable in the hair department.

How Merida kept her unruly locks uncovered would forever be a mystery to everybody, the humanity and the stem making it far worse then it looked when she didn't work in the laundry room. But anyway, she cast a glance over towards the tables along the oven vent where several other girls were using the heat coming off the stones to take out all the wrinkles. The nobles had these fancy riding gloves, all thick and leather so it was perfect for protecting their hands. Obviously, it was not something they could get their hands on. But surely there was some kind of much cheaper glove in the world that they could use. It's not like every girl in there needed her own pair. The matron could keep a handful of them in stock, to be used and shared with the cleaning girl's. It would definitely minimize on the burns, and Gaius wouldn't have to send the matron a shipment of burn ointment every month.

"…He's only been here for three months." Mary said in a calm and rational tone as she turned back to the other girl. Three months would be absolutely nothing in the span of a lifetime. Three months might've been far too soon for them to see any real change. But the one thing Consort Merlin needed was their support in helping him become the very best Consort he could be. They couldn't help him if they were too busy with trying to tear each other apart. "You cannot assume to know that nothing has been done. You and I both know that Uther is a stubborn man. Agreeing to that marriage to make the prince happy is one thing, but not even he would agree to the consort moving these things around in his own castle. We cannot expect to have change just dropping as fast as one would with dropping a hat."

Change, Mary knew, happened far more gradual then that. According to the oral histories her mother once read her it had taken ages for the Pendragon dynasty to become as grand as it was now. Arthur's ancestor had taken the time to plan how he was going to build a kingdom right where they stood now, back when it had been nothing but a forest. There was also some kind of hidden rumor about how a sorcerer had been the one to help him, and had laid every stone making up the castle wall with it's magic, keeping the land it was on fertile and strong. But that was just a fun little fact that the few people who had even heard of it and had not put much stock into it. If the first king to rule over Camelot had been anything like Uther, he would have rather worked his hands bloody trying to put all the stones together himself. Rather then risking help from a sorcerer, of all beings…

"And why should I not expect for change to drop like a hat?" Julia shrieked, leaning forward and planting her hands on the rim of the tub in front of her, being just shy of tipping into the bucket if her wobbly was any indication as her slipper skidded along the damp floor. But she didn't care. Not as long as she got that one inch closer to Mary. "Change happened already! It has come and gone the day Prince Arthur decided to defy his expectations put on him from birth, and all to marry a peasant! And look at where that decision got us! We all thought it meant things were changing if the prince could look at a peasant and see there is something there. But three months of waiting for just a bit more change is long enough. It's more obvious then ever that Merlin has forsaken where he's come from!"

Julia spoke of being a peasant as if it was something to be proud of. And in her twisted mind, it was Merlin who should be proud to be a consort. But everybody knew if the rules were reversed, and Julia had been a lucky maiden and married Arthur in Merlin's steed…it was her that would have forsaken them all. Julia, who would have taken her new life and ran off with it, not bothering to look back at all she had left behind. The consort didn't have anybody he had left behind, not in Camelot at least. He was a foreigner, after all. So, there was no real way of telling if Merlin would leave it all for the riches given to him, if they didn't have an idea of who he was before the riches came into play.

S

"And he has done nothing but leave the rest of us to rot down here, while he shares what he wants only to those, I suppose, he likes." Julia spoke brashly, with her eyes looking more crazier than anybody's should look. Her face flushing red as she continued with her blustering, fingers tightening around the rim so tight that her knuckles had turned stark white. If she had been an unflattering sight before, then it was nothing compared to now. "He seems to speak only with the one's he wants too, and not at all to those who need his help far more than a bit of idle conversation. He's only ever seen with Lady Morgana! Or…"

She stopped just long enough to glare spitefully at Gwen, who hadn't uttered a word as she scrubbed at Morgana's undergarments now, keeping her head low as she always did. Everyone had practically flooded the other girl when she had first returned to her work after her ordeal, asking a million of questions as they tried to figure out for themselves what had happened to her. But Gwen wasn't talking now, and she hadn't talked then. There was speculations that Gwen had lost her voice due to the trauma, but Julia thought it was horse dung, that was. For one, what trauma had she possibly gone through. Gwen had lived through it, did she not? She should be bloody grateful, and be done with this whole charade. And second, Julia had sworn she could see Gwen talking softly to Morgana in low tones, not loud enough to be heard unless one was right on top of her. Gwen had caught her trying to peek in on the conversation, trying to see if they'd give away any insight on what had happened that led to Gwen's arrest. But Gwen had clamped her mouth shut and refused to let out another word as long as she stood there. It had made Julia feel snubbed, and she had been bitter towards Gwen ever since.

Gwen didn't seem to notice the glare being shot in her direction. The dark haired girl only dipped the undergarment further into the water to make sure it was completely clean. Not a word to defend herself or any other uttered from her lips, and Julia gritted her teeth as she once again went ignored. Did Gwen think she was better then her now? Just because she had lived through something when it was rare for one accused of witchcraft to end up released, definitely did not make her any better then Julia was. And Julia wanted to put Gwen in her place, and remind her that she was a servant just like the rest of them. The least she could do was talk to them. Tell them all the horrid details of what had happened to her, and then maybe Julia could decide for herself rather or not it was bad enough to keep silent about.

"The Consort has done more for us then even you're willing to admit!" Mary shrieked back at her, looking almost as wild as Julia was in that moment. They had all been talking earlier about some kind of civil war in the kingdom if Arthur had died from the beast he had slayed to save them all. But did they not see that the same could be said if Merlin hadn't dragged away the prince before he was ruthlessly killed by the witch on their wedding day? "You speak of him as if all he ever does is sit around on his bottom and count out all his new wealth. And yes, he does talk to Lady Morgana, and to Gwen, and he's talked to me as well! What is so wrong about that? I bet he would talk to even you as well, if you just walked up to him without being all demanding like you are now!"

Mary hadn't liked the way Julia had said those words earlier. What? Just because Merlin was the consort, did she think he was not allowed to have his friends? Obviously he would have grown close to the Lady, as they were practically family now. It only made sense that they would hang out together to get to know the other. And Gwen was so sweet, Mary had no problem with seeing how Merlin would find that as a attractive trait in a friend. Merlin couldn't spend everyday doing whatever it is that consort's did! He deserved to have a bit of downtime when things in the castle were-for a moment-peaceful. It wasn't like Julia was hanging out with people she didn't know, or didn't like. Why should Merlin be any different in that regard? Mary could wager a guess and say Julia wouldn't just walk up to somebody and strike up a conversation, unless she wanted something from them, of course.

"So, you all can say whatever you want about him, I'll be sure that nothing I say can stop you from thinking whatever you want!" Mary started finishing up all her yelling, as she gestured wildly, throwing her arm out to their half of the tub where most of the girls who'd gotten involved in the argument was sitting. "But I do know the truth, which is more than I can say for any of you! Just try and deny what bite you now! Is Arthur only alive today because the consort saved his life by dragging him away from the dagger's pointed edge at their own wedding?" She landed her glare sorely on Julia, who crossed her arms over her chest before scoffing hotly at her. Julia knew what she happened to be getting at: her and Mary were the only two girls sitting at this tub that had been working the party on that night. Well, them and Gwen, but she obviously wasn't going to cut in anytime soon and add her two gold coins into the conversation.

"And was it not him, who tried to warn Arthur about that knight with all the snakes? Just because not one soul believed him when he said it, didn't mean he did not speak the truth! And he was proven true, not that long afterwards, if you care to remember since all of us were sitting in the stands and watching!"

She stopped long enough to take a large mouthful of air before she literally talked herself to death, as her chest had started squeezing unbearably tight at the lock of air reaching her brain. But while she stopped, she looked at Merida, who wore this shit eating smirk and looking pleased as punch with the switch going on in Mary's usual gentle demeanor. Mary might have been upset once upon a time, she wasn't usually the type of person to let her anger get the best of her at any time. But right now…Mary felt like she didn't have a choice in the matter. If nobody else was going to be the one to stick up for Consort Merlin, then she'd do it with pride.

"And i choose to believe with all my heart that he did really help the physician in discovering what it was in the water that was making everybody sick." She said in a final tone, turning her pale blue eyes onto Keira to finish making her point. People had been a bit iffy about the water after it got out exactly what they had been drinking. And some had even refused to drink a bit of it from the pumps, which had only lasted a day or two. Water from the pumps was all they had, so it was either that or die from thirst. People had gotten over themselves by instead choosing to dump out all and any water they might have already collected in buckets to prevent anymore people from drinking the poison. "So yes, Merlin was instrumental with freeing us all from what was plaguing us."

There was this silence all around the took, where the sound of Mary's heavy breathing as she tried to get all of her emotions under control, seemed to be only accompanied by the ever swishing of the water that was being pushed and pulled as the group of random girls sitting on the other side continued to do all their work with due diligence. Mary took in the three girls that had started this with her. Merida still had a smirk on her face, not even noticing how her unruly red hair was falling into the tub, the long lengths working with the water to be weighed down and coated in a layer of cleaning soap. Keira and Julia-one standing, while one still sat, were sharing identical 'When the Fuck' did Mary get a backbone, looks. When nobody said a word for a minute there, Mary straightened back her shoulders and lifted her chin up a bit. It seemed as if she had stunned them all into silence, Good. Then it meant no more throwing digs or accusations onto a boy who didn't deserve their ire. Maybe now, they'd stop all their complaining and get back to work, since the group couldn't leave the tub until every girl was done with her load of laundry. It was supposedly this rule that kept too many girls from walking between the buckets at once, and causing a massive pile up when somebody slipped and knocked over another five girls in the chaos. Their ten leaving the bucket was nothing compared to the time fifty girls had tried to leave all at once.

But Julia wasn't done yet, and made that known by pointing her finger harshly in Mary's direction, only the tub between them preventing her from touching and poking the other girl in the chest, "Well, if you're choosing to believe that drivel, then I'm going to just choose to believe that it really was Merlin who'd been the peasant boy that attacked Arthur before they got married. If I was Arthur, I would have gone to cancel the wedding completely, because Merlin may as well have committed treason that day!" And Mary sucked in a horrified breath. Treason was so out there, and it was an unnecessary accusation. Sure, she could say she didn't altogether understand the dynamics of the relationship between Merlin and Arthur, but surely if the prince had thought his actions were treasonous to him, then the wedding wouldn't have happened at all. And could it have been considered treason? Since Merlin was a foreigner, as mentioned before, and had no loyalty from birth to the Camelot throne.

"And I was on cleaning duty after the throne room was being emptied out after Merlin had the gall to go and humiliate the prince in front of the entire court. I heard what all those nobles were giggling about with themselves as they left the room. Our 'consort-" she sneered at Mary in distaste, the mocking spewing off her tongue like one would poison. "Was seen to be nothing but a joke to them! Which makes Camelot to be nothing more than a laughing stock to everyone that comes here!" And Mary felt her lips thinning in disgust. It didn't surprise her that Julia was listening to the nobles, it was her favorite activity, and it was something most servants did anyway since it could be a big lifesaver. Leaving the listener to warn other servants to stay away from somebody in particular if they were in a bad mood, to avoid the pain of a lash against their back if they insulted them accidentally. And helped the servants learn things before the rest of the kingdom if the nobles were discussing a thing they didn't want to get out. But if the nobles talked about Merlin, then it was clear that none of them had taken the time to get to know him at all. He was just a boy, no different then any of them. But to Mary, that trait made him more special then anybody else that could have been chosen as Arthur's bride.

"And don't forget, whatever involvement he had with the tragedy that has befallen our kingdom, was only because of speculations and rumors-" Julia kept on in a heated tone, nearly spitting by this point, acting as if she wasn't the one that would happily spread all of the nasty little rumors that were in no way true, to everybody else. "And by the way, here's my little idea on the matter. I think Merlin started those up himself! He probably started telling lies to anybody who came to him, because he didn't want to make it seem as if-while everybody else was in panic mode-he'd done a bit more than just being a glorified errand boy for the physician!"

Everybody was far more interested with watching the stand off going on between Julia and Mary, that not a single person noticed the pausing of Gwen's hand as she held limply onto the newest item she had started to watch. Gwen bit down on her lip, hard enough she could feel the little marks forming in her skin. But she said nothing, these girls didn't know anything. None of them knew Gwen had been force feeding Merlin to get him to eat before he had stopped taking anything in his mouth. They didn't know Gwen's trauma had all but ruined her, it felt like. She only talked to the ones she felt the most comfortable with, the ones that had seen her at her worse while she was in her cell, those that had came back for her despite the hopelessness of her situation. Selective mutism, Gaius had called it the first time she had gone to see him after the awful ordeal she'd been forced through. When she noticed how tight her throat would get when she tried to talk to somebody else, when she started realizing it was easier to keep quiet instead of forcing words she did not want to say out of her mouth. When she knew for herself that there was nobody in the world she would talk to besides Morgana, Merlin, and her father. Just explaining this to Gaius had been more of a hassle to her then it should have been. But easier then talking to these other girl's…Gwen scrubbed harsher on the cloth in her hands, almost worried it would make her hands start to bleed…

But Gwen didn't care. It was so unlike her, but even she could feel the stirring inside of her that told her to lash out. Gaius had said that would happen, but it wasn't something Gwen had expected to feel with so much ferocity. Dealing with something as traumatic as she had, it wasn't uncommon for her to feel angry that it had happened at all. It was something that she needed to be aware of before she lashed out towards the wrong person. This entire month, Gwen had only been able to go through the motions. Doing her work by habit and muscle memory as she stayed inside of her head. Distracting herself by throwing herself into helping Merlin the best she could, though what she'd been doing wasn't good enough since Merlin seemed to grow worse by the days. But hearing these girls as they talked about things they couldn't possibly know of Merlin…it started an itch under her skin. It was the first time Gwen had wanted to talk, but she felt like it would be impossible to keep her anger in check. She wasn't an angry person…Gwen rubbed harsher at the stain in order to distract herself from saying things to the other girl's that she might regret later, once she'd calmed and went back to her mutism.

"Are you completely out of your mind!" Mary shouted at Julia in horror, the implication that Merlin would be such a bad sport, an untruthful liar…that he would go out of his way to say untrue things to put himself in a better light was completely ridiculous to her. And as far as Mary was concerned, completely unfounded. Merlin had already done so much for their kingdom, as she had already told them all about the deeds the consort had done in his short time in the city. He did not need to make up lies to get noticed. Merlin was already a good man, and as far as Mary was finding herself concerned, that was worth a lot more these days, when a good man was hard to find. "He's our consort! He's not going to go making things up like that! Why would he?"

They should be building each other up, Mary thought to herself, hating it when she felt the tears starting to brim her eyes. It was the one thing she hated about herself the most. She wasn't even sad, but that never seemed to matter to her body's chemistry. She's only frustrated, because nobody could see the things she saw, and it was like talking to a brick wall, since there was no possible way that Julia would ever admit she was wrong about anything. Not unless she had some huge personality transplant, that made her far more opened and less hostile towards any kind of change being made. Julia was the only person Mary knew in the world who actually tricked with change, because it was something new and exciting. But when it didn't happen to her, and when the excitement and gossip had died down…she could become downright mean.

"Maybe because he has nothing better to do? But it could be because Merlin thinks he's not getting more attention then he wants these days. It had been a few months since the wedding, maybe the news is finally starting to die down and he needed something new to spice things up again?" Julia suggested, sneering at her as she tightened her grip on her own hips, and making her dress bunch in her fists. "It's not like any of us know anything personal about him! Where does he come from exactly, other then 'not Camelot'. Why and how did he meet Arthur in the first place? How'd Arthur go from expecting to marry a princess, and go marrying him instead? These are the questions that we still don't have the answers for. So really, how can we believe anything he says, if we don't know a thing about him. We all know how nobles lie right through their teeth, and act as if you should be grateful when they do it."

Every girl in this group knew exactly what Julia was on about. Nobles were known for their silver tongues, and carefully worded promises. Only to other nobles of course, because a servant wasn't worth any of the extra attention for a noble to bother with. But nobles were the masters at promising everything among the words they used, but somehow wording it just right so that it meant nothing at all. The servants knew this very well, having heard all the promises made in their presence as they worked around them. And some of the nobles were particularly dangerous if they took a fancy to one of the servants. Most stated plainly with what they wanted, as if the servants should've been grateful to be treated like whores-but they knew the nobles that should be avoided at all costs. But their were some nobles that got a thrill at getting the hero worship they would receive after making promises of taking the servant off to live in their estate, being the one to 'save them' from a life of work. Before running off back on his merry way after he had gotten what it was he wanted. Nobles lie all the time, and their new consort would be no different.

"In case you've forgotten, Consort Merlin has not yet been scene in quite some time, so he's definitely not spreading talk!" Mary exclaimed, desperate fro get a single person on her side. But the only person Mary saw was interested in what she had to say, would be Merida. And Mary was pretty sure she was enjoying the snow and the conflict and the chaos, more then she was actually believing in her message. Mary gave a few heavy blinks of her eyelashes, trying to force all of her frustrated tears away, but it only seemed as if she was making it worse. "The consort is one of the people. He's one of us. He's not spreading rumors, or giving us false promises, or being mean or ungrateful or rude or arrogant…he acts nothing like one of those nobles do. Surely you can see that."

Mary looked to Keira, but the girl only cocked one of her eyebrows up at her. And it was obvious that Mary would get no more support from her then the nothing she had already been getting. Mary turned to Gwen at her side, sure that even she would be willing to try and step up at this point. But Gwen could probably feel the heavy weight of her gaze on her, because all this did was cause Gwen to hunch her shoulders up to her ears. And scrub harder at a cloth that must've been scrubbed raw by this point. Mary's expression softened, knowing Gwen was hurting. But if even the other girl couldn't find the strength to stand up for a friend, then that meant it was up to Mary. Just like it had been the entire time…

Julia snorted, a smug and satisfied smirk fluttering on her features as if she had finally won against Mary in her own game, "I think that has got to be one of the stupidest things you have said all morning. But I could be wrong, I mean, you have said a lot of stupid things in the past hour alone." And at her side, Keira gave an unladylike snort, bordering on cruelty as she smirked at Mary. Keira's ordeal had changed her, and not for the better, in Mary's humble opinion. And she could feel the stain of blush spreading along her face as she was being ganged up on by the other two girls in front of her. "One of the people, is he? Well, I have proof that Merlin hasn't been one of 'us' the moment he stepped into the city."

The entire group of five girl's went silent, even Gwen had paused in her scrubbing to listen in on what was being said. Mary's breath seemed to hitch, looking at Julia in disbelief. Because if she had known anything that proved Merlin to be anything other then what he portrayed himself as, then there was no way that she would have kept it close to her chest until now. But it caused a trickling of doubt inside of her, wondering if it was actually something substantial. Or just another petty rumor being thrown in her face as if she should believe it without question. But with her eyes doing a massive search of Julia's scrawny features, it yielded no results. Julia was as smug as ever, and looked like she was pleased to be having her audience sitting on the edges of their chairs, waiting to be entertained to the tune of whatever gossip she would announce in her next breath.

"Just come on already, and spit it out! We know you want a little show, but some of us have better things to do then to wait you out." Merida suddenly shouted as she stood up to join the other two girls standing to their feet already. It startled the five girls, making all of them look to the red head, though that shouldn't have. Merida had no problems with making herself known, and along with her fiery personality was her impatience. Merida shrugged under their looks, "You were all thinking it." She said, and she sounded as if she was completely unapologetic about interrupting.

She wasn't wrong, Mary thought, turning back to the servant Julia. Julia was trying to bait them all around, as if they were a bunch of fishes just waiting to get to be the one landing on her hook. A greedy life sucking person like Julia…she would probably only be making something up like she always did. Wanting to relish in the five minutes of attention it would give her. Julia in response to Mary's penetrating gaze, gave this heavy and irritating sigh, as she shot a glare to Merida, who only smirked cheekily at her. Probably hoping Julia's head would burst into flames if she got irritated from them all enough.

"Fine, fine. You have all dragged it out of me!" Julia said in a dramatic tone, putting a hand over her heart in an exasperated manner, as if any one of the girls in the group had literally tried to drag it out of her. Then there was a pause, where everybody could only keep staring at Julia. Julia had squeezed her eyes closed, as if it was literally paining her to say something that was negative about Merlin, as if she hadn't been the one spewing negativity from the start. But when not one person tried to beg her for answers, Julia slowly peeked out from behind her eyelashes, and huffed in a sour manner when she saw the unimpressed looks everybody was giving her. "Alright!" She finally cried, and throwing her hands into the air. "Fine! Merlin will never be one of us because he sleeps on a bed filled with silks, that is worth more than my entire house!"

Julia crossed her arms over her chest, clearly waiting for the group to start kicking a fuss over the idea that Merlin was sleeping on a bed fit for royalty. Because he was Royal…Mary's head was starting to hurt, since this could not seriously be happening. Did Julia think they were going to try and take up arms before…they were led out, with Julia as the leader, to do what? To boycott Merlin's role as consort? He already was, so nothing they did were going to change that. All of the theatrics because…Merlin had something that all the nobles had? Mary might have said Merlin was one of them, but she hadn't meant Merlin didn't get any of the perks that came with being royalty.

"I'm sorry, I think I might have misunderstood you." Merida was the first one to get her bearings back in order, all of the other girls still staring at Julia like she was a weird looking insect, and they weren't exactly sure what to make of her yet. "Are you like, seriously putting us all on right now? Because I know you can't be seriously upset about that. Nobles sleep on silken sheets, it's the natural order of things. It would have been weird if he wasn't-" Merida stopped when Julia turned a furious glare onto her, staring her down into the pits of her soul.

Merida narrowed her eyes sharply at Julia, a look like that was a fighting look. And if Julia was going to go ahead and give her the death stare, then she best be having something to put behind it. Because Merida was not afraid to get into an all out brawl right here on the laundry floor. It became very evident that Julia thought she had every right to be upset over Merlin in his silken sheets, while she slept on scratchy fabric that wasn't even a blanket. Just a potato sack she'd cut opened and decided to make use of so she would not have to use her grocery money on something far more proper for her bedding.

"I'm not upset that he sleeps on silken sheets! Even if I was one of the girls that was assigned to clean up in his suite! I felt those sheets with my bare hands when I put them on…" Julia moaned at her lost. She could still feel the soft fabric sliding between her fingers as if it was made out of water, silky and smooth directly under her touch. She had wanted to curl up under it, and declare the fabric as hers. But she'd only end up arrested if she tried to sneak the large fabric under her dress for her own home…it would have been only a lost cause anyway. Her dress wasn't nearly as large as it should be to fit it. But Julia shook away all those thoughts and refocused on her anger. "I'm only upset because Merlin gets the fancy bed! And he gets all of the food we can only hope to try, forced to smell it as we serve them about their fancy parties. Merlin gets to join them as a guest of honor, and gets to wear the fancy clothes that he apparently doesn't even bother with since I don't think I can remember him wearing a single thing a peasant wouldn't!"

And once again, the group of five girls could only do one thing, and that was staring at her in disbelief. It was obvious that Julia thought she was saying not a thing wrong, but each one of the girl's could see the jealousy as it wavered off of her. That kind of talk she was spewing, was the kind of talk that could have got her arrested if she was overheard by the wrong one. It caused Mary to scan their surroundings, and look until she found their matron, who had just started to fuss at one of the girl's across the room who'd gotten a burn on her hand for the fifth time this week. Just because Mary didn't agree with Julia's views, it didn't mean she wanted to see her get arrested. It definitely didn't mean she wanted to see her turn out like Gwen had, if she managed to get released.

"And this 'bitch!'" There was a startled gasp coming from somewhere in the group, but Mary could only look at Julia in horror as she spent out the word with so much venom…you would have thought Julia would want her dead. "Goes on about how Merlin is one of us? That…even if Merlin had been one of us at some point, I think those days are long gone!" And Julia let out a bark of massive laughter, even though they saw nothing funny in this situation. Julia sounded almost more hysterical, then she did anything else. This was very unsettling for the group of girls surrounding her.

Mary blinked rapidly, over and over again as the tears started to fill her eyes. Her attempts at forcing them back was only enough to make them flow far more freely then she would have liked. Large globs of the tears started sliding down her cheeks when it soon became evident that her eyes couldn't hold onto the liquid anymore. Mary gave a sniff so loudly, one may have thought she was sick. But Mary only brought up her hands, and started rubbing at her eyes, trying to erase the track of tear marks working their way onto her face. She had never been called a bitch before, it upset her far more than she would have thought. And if Julia was feeling any guilt for making the other girl cry, she showed none of it.

"That is enough." A soft voice spoke up, so softly to the ear, that it had barely been heard by any of the other girl's. Keira was the first to turn, looking at the quiet serving girl sitting on the other side of Mary in shock. It had been so long, she had almost forgotten what Gwen's voice sounded like. It was wobbling and weak in volume, more rough then it had been before the trauma, but it was unmistakably hers. Merida who was looking just as shocked by Julia's sudden venom was the next to whip around as she recognized Gwen in full tandem. The red head couldn't have looked all that more surprised if she tried, not even if a naked man suddenly emerged from the tub they had been washing their clothing in. And finally, Julia flickered her gaze down to Gwen, before turning her glare to Mary. But evidentially, her curiosity got to be far too much for even her, and she settled her gaze onto the other girl. "You are completely way out of line. It's not right, Mary hasn't done anything to earn your ire."

It took every bit of strength Gwen had to drop what she had been using, and to use the side of the tub to push herself up. Everybody in the group of five girls was watching her, and she felt strangely vulnerable. She hadn't talked in front of these many people since …since what had happened to her. And her hands felt as if they were shaking, these uncontrollable spasms that she felt was best hidden behind the tub so that they were out of view. Her throat tightened, and the only thing she wanted to do was retreat to Gaius', so she could try and coax Merlin into eating just a bowl of soup that would end up getting wasted. Anything was better than forcing the words out, her mouth had clinked shut all on it's own, as if she didn't have any more words to spear for the girl's.

"Well, well, look whose finally decided to talk with the rest of the world. I would have thought you would've forgotten how." Keira said with a distasteful sneer to her lips. Gwen flinched at the mocking in it, and her hands spasmed harder than they had been before. It was all too much almost, everything becoming just a bit more vivid then it had been before. The lights just a bit more brighter to the eye, the sounds coming as if somebody was trying to hammer them all into her head at once. One would have thought, considering all of the trauma Keira had been through during her time outside the walls during the sick, she would've been a little more understanding of the trauma that Gwen was going through. But perhaps everybody in the world decided to face their trauma all in different ways. Gwen had gone quiet, throwing herself into her work and helping Merlin. Keira had turned into the far more meaner version of herself. "But I suppose that you only talk to your buddies, huh? Lady Morgana? It is now apparent you speak for Mary. Do you speak to Merlin as well." It was as if it a little torch had shot off in her head as the thought occurred. "Oooh, I bet you know where he is? You're all buddy-buddy with him as well, surely you know where he's been hiding out nowadays?"

Julia searched Gwen's face at these remarks, as she remembered Gwen hadn't been apart of their earlier conversation about what Merlin was doing. But Gwen only thinned her lips, and allowed her curly hair to fall into her eyes, shadowing the top half of her face. She refused to say a single thing, something that came all too easy for her. She wasn't about to tell these group of girls what Merlin had been doing. She wouldn't tell them that Merlin wasn't sleeping on the silk sheets in the suite that Julia had been admiring, he'd slept only on the creaking bed above Gaius' chambers. And she was not going to explain how Merlin hadn't ate a bite of noble food that she had seen in the last month, he had been eating food provided by Gaius before he'd stopped eating at all. And while the food would have been considered nicer then what most peasants was able to afford, it was nowhere up to the standards a noble was expected to eat. And as for clothes…that consort of theirs hadn't worn anything other then his old sweaty nightshirt in more than a week. But, Gwen was not going to expose Merlin in front of this nest of vipers, only wanting more information in order to try and sully Merlin among the others.

"You know, I can't help but notice that Gwen hasn't given us any of her thoughts on what she thinks of our new consort. You've all said what you thought, so Gwen should get her turn as well." Merida suddenly cut in, grinning to herself. It was obvious that the girl was just trying to add a bit of fuel to the fire, trying to see what else she could do to make Julia go off the deep end. "Of course, that's probably because Gwen wasn't talking. But now that she is, I think it would be fascinating to hear from someone who doesn't think Merlin's bad at what he's doing. Like you said, Julia. The two are friends, so surely Gwen has a bit more insight on the situation that might persuade you into thinking Merlin isn't all bad."

Julia scoffed at the mere idea that Gwen would have anything she was interested in hearing, as she had already made her opinion abundantly clear, and that opinion was not going to change anytime soon. But Merida only ignored her, and gestured a hand to the dark skinned girl in front of her, encouraging Gwen to go on. But when Gwen opened her mouth, it was as if the words had died in her throat. Everybody among the group was staring at her, and it was as if the eyes were searing into her flesh. She wanted to run away from it all, so sure that one wrong move would leave her being tossed back into the dungeon cells. What she wanted to do was return to Merlin, because the boy was safe, and didn't make her feel worse about what had happened to her…her feet were stuck onto the floor though, her slippers moving even an inch to give her space to run. And then Gwen met eyes with Mary…

Mary who still had her hands up near her face, but was now watching Gwen attentively. She had been able to stop her crying, thank god. But the evidence was still on her cheeks, the tear tracks making Gwen frown concerned. She had never been able to turn away from somebody in need. And as she had been able to learn from her experience in the cells, some people felt the same when it came to her. That was why she was doing this, why she was forcing herself to talk even when it was hard…for Mary. Who didn't have anybody else in the group that would stand up with her. For Merlin, who didn't have anybody inside the entire kingdom other then a select few that were helpless to help him when their prince was doing the damage…Gwen couldn't say a word to Arthur for fear of ending back in the cells. But she could take a first step in defending somebody who needed her just as Gwen had needed her friends.

"I think that…Merlin has been doing an excellent job as consort." Gwen spoke out, clenching her hands so tightly into her skirts as she tried to stop them from shaking as they were. Because maybe she was doing this for herself as well as Mary, and Merlin. Gwen was tired of being terrified in a place she had always felt was safe. She had allowed herself to believe a place under Morgana would keep her safe from those that would seek to keep a servant in their place. "And he's doing especially well considering how new he is with the lifestyle…"

Gwen could only picture what Merlin was doing right at this very moment. He was probably wrapped into those blankets of his, maybe staring blankly towards the wall as he sometimes did. She honestly was not sure if he heard her whenever she tried to talk with him, it had been quite a while since she and Merlin had been able to talk. But they had both been going through serious issues, and while Merlin knew about hers, Gwen knew precious little about his. Other then how everybody talking about him was becoming too much for him, though she was sure there was much more she didn't know about, to have made him go to a near vegetable like state. Merlin had saved her life, it was only right that she try to stop some of the talks that hurt him.

"Of course you would say that, it's no big secret how you feel about him." Julia said, with this heavy and far too over exaggerated roll of her eyes. Gwen pushed her shoulder's back, her hands tightening up among the folds of her skirts at Julia's disrespect came out worse then before. They could say what they wanted to about her, Gwen knew she was considered a freak nowadays since she didn't talk. She was always there doing her work, but when she wasn't with Morgana or Merlin or her father…it was like she wasn't there at all. Just going through the motions, so to speak. Just doing what she used to do daily, but not getting into the chores as she once had. But to speak to her face about Merlin…it had been easier before, to tune them out as they complained. They always complained on and on about everything that came to mind. But she found it much harder now to turn her back on them, especially as Julia continued with a dismissive roll of her wrist in Gwen's direction, "I though though, that you might be a bit prejudice on the situation and are not thinking correctly. Merlin did save your life, after all. Isn't that a thing? Where people grow unhealthy attachments towards people who saved them?"

Gwen's mouth dropped open a little in surprise, since she felt there was absolutely nothing unhealthy with the attachment she had to Merlin. He…he saved her life! The innocence she had may have been gone but she could hardly fault him for that! And it's not as if he were a stranger, Merlin was her friend long before she had ended up in that cell. He was the reason she stood here today as a free woman. He had saved her once before when Morris had started getting on her case, and he had done it again with the cells…he was only that good of a person. And there was this deep protectiveness she hadn't felt in all of her life started to shift and make a home for itself somewhere inside of her chest. Merlin had protected her…but who was going to protect Merlin?

"You're right about how he saved my life…" said the handmaiden, speaking up more louder than she had been before, a bit more sure of herself the she had been. She had no doubt that her voice would go all quiet again soon, probably when the adrenaline of this argument wore off of her. But for now, she was going to take every advantage that she could before it went away again. "He went out of his way, stuck his own neck out for me-" she still remembered how far Morgana had told Merlin he'd gone, how he had gone and made a deal with Uther, and almost ended up on a pyre next to her. "And freed me. Which is more then I could say any of you would have done if things were different and one of you had been given the title that is 'Consort'."

Gwen had no doubt in her mind, if in some kind of awful and twisted universe where either Julia or even Keira had been given the Royal ring, and the title that went along with it, her life would have been lost king before she was actually burned at the stake. Neither of them were the type of girls that would have gone out of their way to try and help somebody else if the situation didn't involve them. The situation she was in hadn't involved Merlin either, but he had made it his problem. And Gwen would stand by his side just like he had during her ordeal. She would nurse him back to health all day long if she had too, and get him back onto his feet. And Gwen would love content, happy to stand by his side as the first among many who would someday bask in the light of things Merlin had yet to do.

Maybe there was a bit of hero worship growing inside of Gwen, but it was muffled. People who were able to see their heroes, like Julia had mentioned before, she knew it wasn't uncommon to see them as gods. A life saved…someone else literally holding your life in their bare hands…Gwen could see people being awed with their saviors. But Gwen didn't see Merlin as a god, as all she could see was the human he was. Somebody who cried, and somebody who had tried passing his hope onto her as she laid in her own filth inside those bars…

But if people knew what effect Merlin would have on Camelot over the course of the next ten years alone, Gwen included…maybe everybody would have been treating Merlin as a god. But that was neither here or there. Because Merlin was the Unwanted Consort, so that was all there was to most people.

"I could have saved you, and did it less publicly with all of the stunts he did!" Julia exclaimed back. Julia could remember being in the servant quarters, it had been late and well after nightfall, when the knights had stormed into the room that house fifty sleeping girls on cots, some curled up on the floor of that one particular room once beds had ran out. The quarters master had ran out of his own private room when the noise of his screaming girls had alerted him to being invaded, if one wanted to call it that. The knights had simply said they were looking for the consort, and he had left it at that. By the time they left, all of the beds had been flipped over in case Merlin was hiding away underneath their sheets. The one closet door was off it's hinges and their extra clothing pilfered through or thrown on the floor. People had speculated that their consort might be in danger if the knights were going to look for him. But it would be later before they had heard the knights were going to arrest him. Though the actual story behind that was a mystery, even as most people managed to find out it had something to do with what was said behind the doors of a closed meeting. Julia figured Merlin must have gone too far on the King's temper, and was left wondering why he had recalled the order later on. "He was completely out of line, stepping on toes and doing things that he shouldn't have been doing! I would have at least had a bit more class then what he did!"

Julia could have imagined it so vividly that she could almost taste the wealth and power that would have came along with being consort. She would have sat at the king's table, at his very right hand. Wearing an elaborate dress made out of silks, and with so much added poof that it would have overfilled her chair up completely. She would have worn rings of gold along her fingers, proudly displaying the one that marked her as the beauty that had landed the prince. Even a little tiara would have adorned her hair, just to make it clear to others on sight exactly who she was. Unlike Merlin though, Julia wouldn't have made herself out as a bad impression to the people. And she would've talked sense to the king, using words she would have never used in a serving girl capacity, but would have made her sound sophisticated. The king would either agree with her because he trusted her word, or he'd decide Gwen was too dangerous to keep around. But either way, it would have been no skin off Julia's nose either way it fell.

"Him being out of line is the only reason that I am still alive to face you today. Are you saying he should just have up, and allowed me to die? Gwen said bluntly, it caused the other girls to go wide eyed as they slowly shifted their glances from Gwen to Julia and waited to hear her response. Julie clenched her jaw tightly, because it was one thing to brush Gwen off if she'd really been the consort. But it was another thing to go ahead and admit it to her face. Everybody would know how heartless Julia was if she uttered such a thing. "If you were the consort, you would have no doubt told me that I had better 'wish for more luck in my next life'. And that would be only if you bothered to visit me at all! Which Merlin did, so you go ahead and tell me which is the better consort? The woman who-" Gwen tilted her head in Julia's direction just to indicate what woman she was talking about. "Would like to spend her life counting her many jewels? Or is it the boy, who nearly lost life and limb just to save another?"

As soon as the last words left her lips, Gwen allowed her lips to seal shut, unable to believe she had been able to utter so many words. She had hoped getting a few meek words out would have been a good sign, but the little speech she had given was things Gwen thought was far beyond her capability at the time. It was either a good sign, because maybe that meant it was finally time for her to heal, which she doubted as she was still facing too much hardship ahead of her. Or it could mean that she had tired herself out, and it was more likely she wouldn't be able to say anything for another week, not even to Morgana or Merlin.

"You…what…how dare you!" Julia blustered, though it was probably an accurate assessment, and the blush stained her face an ugly puce color. She knew she'd be counting her jewels, just as Gwen had said she'd be doing if she was consort. But having it said that she was shallow so bluntly…Gwen had painted them a very different picture from the one Julia had tried to paint for herself earlier. Instead of talking with the king and trying to convince him the once that Gwen couldn't have done what she was charged with, this was a world where Julia didn't speak up at all. She'd eat her meal, and drink her wine, and play with all of the jewelry that adorned her body as she nodded up and down her head. Looking fascinated and hanging onto every word the king said, being the perfect and most beloved daughter-in-law he couldn't asked for. A much better prospect compared to the son-in-law he was stuck with. She wouldn't have risked her new found position in the court and the king's good grace for Gwen of all people. "You can't just talk to me like that! I think you have gotten out of line, Gwen! Acting as if you're a ruffian! You're 'trauma' is not an excuse to behave like that!"

Normally, Gwen probably would have apologized for herself. She would have never said a word like that in her earlier life, but maybe she just didn't care about it anymore. She was gentle, and she was kind, that was always going to be her personally. And she was going to do whatever she could to help the people she saw hurting in front of her. She had started this to protect Mary, but she would end it by protecting Merlin. And she would not allow Julia to walk all over her, just like Morris seemed to think he could. She could muse to herself about this new surge of confidence later on, if she didn't have Julia constantly trying to put Merlin down right in front of her.

Merida started to laugh, the tension between Gwen and Julia sparking didn't seem the phase her in the least. As Merida calmed down, she turned to Julia as her signature cheeky grin appeared, "I mean, I think she has the perfect excuse to say whatever the hell she wants. I know I'd be spewing curses at anybody I thought even looked at me wrong if I got out of that situation. And besides," Merida leaned back on her stool, as her cheeky grin turned into a more cocky smirk. "She has you pegged. You would definitely be counting your jewels, rather then helping all the little people you left behind down here."

Julia glowered at her darkly, before whipping around her head to scowl just as darkly as Gwen. It looked as if she wanted to grab Gwen by her curly ponytail, and drag her head underneath the water in the tub, being blissful as Gwen squirmed and kicked and tried with all her strength to get her head out of the water just to get a single breath of fresh air. But Gwen wasn't all that scared, not of Julia at least. Somehow, sitting in the dark cells and waiting for the hours to pass until it was time for her to die, made other people just a bit less scarier then whatever the king could do.

"…The Merlin that you seem so protective of, isn't any better then any of us. Just because he stands beside the prince now, doesn't mean a damn thing." Said the cruel girl, her thick eyebrows coming together as she glared at Gwen. Gwen blinked, and wondered exactly how obtuse Julia was to think Merlin wanted to stand at Arthur's side. Julia spit out her next words, a glob of it landing directly in the tub and making several of the other girls on the other side of the tub squeal in disgust. Agitated because this meant they would be forced to empty the whole bucket and start fresh for sanitary reasons, "He was once a dirty peasant. And he will always be a dirty peasant."

Gwen froze, feeling something electric shooting right down her spine. How could…how could anybody say a thing like that about Merlin. Merlin, who was barely able to lift up his head because he was so depressed with everything. Merlin who she would hum softly too as she wiped down his sticky face with a washcloth and some water. A dirty peasant? It occurred to her, that some people may have said the same about her in the cells. Gwen had always taken pride in keeping herself well-groomed, she was anything but dirty. But Gwen could only imagine that Julia meant something deeper then just physical appearance. Something far more under the skin, that couldn't be washed away or cleaned no matter how hard one tried to scrub at the dirt.

"…He'a braver than all of us combined." Gwen told the other girl, ignoring the stares burning across her skin from the other girls. She could feel her energy as it started to crumble, her will to talk was starting to wane. She'd been at this for too long, and it was past time for her vocal muscles to take a well needed break. Or maybe it was her mind itself that needed to have a break, considering there was nothing actually wrong with her speech. Gaius had looked down her throat enough times to make sure on that one. But it was her mind that couldn't handle the strain, but she had just enough energy to get one more line to come from her lips, "Who here among us, would have had the nerve to stand against Uther, to save just a mere serving girl?"

Every other girl in the group-even spirited Merida-had looked away from her, faces etched in guilt. Only Julia didn't, but Gwen could see a muscle in the girl's jaw starting to spasm. They knew, Gwen realized with a pang in her chest, all of them knew that not one of them would have tried to help her. Not if it meant the possible messing up of their new life within the kings court. Gwen would never be able to trust these girls in which she often worked beside for hours at a time when she wasn't attending to Morgana, combining all their laundry together like they were now. Or taking a seat together if their lunch breaks happened to have been aligned that day. Gwen didn't blame them for it, of course. How could she blame people for how they would have reacted during a hypothetical situation. It didn't make her feel any better though and the young handmaiden was as alone as she ever was. She may as well be back in her cell, for all of the support she was getting here.

Julia huffed, before launching herself down onto her stool, the rickety old chair wobbling underneath the sudden weight. "Whatever." She said grudgingly, and looking content to ignore Gwen, as if she's nothing more then a pest. Keira tried to 'comfort' Julia, and gave her a pat on the arm in solidarity. And that was weird to Gwen, imagining showing solidarity towards a person like Julia, who had started all of this. If Julia ever came to Gwen for help, then she would help her, but that was because Gwen wasn't like all the other girls. She used to like making herself useful, even if she had kept her head down this past month to try to reduce attention to herself. But that didn't mean that Gwen had to like Julia very much either.

Gwen decided she wasn't much in the mood to be in here, it had been more taxing on her then it had been the one other time she had came by to do laundry in the past month since her imprisonment. But that one other time also hadn't involved Gwen getting into this debate. She had been lucky this time. If this talk had happened before, Gwen wouldn't have been able to do much more then squeak, an embarrassing side-effect that happened when somebody tried to force her to talk, and she couldn't string more then two of her words together. Morgana had tried to get her to ease back into her work when she had returned only a few days later, but Gwen had declined. Explained it as best as she could…the work gave her something to do. Something other then staring at the walls of her childhood home, flinching at every sound since she was sure the crackle of somebody walking past was really a guard come to take her away. Gwen had taken to sitting outside, leaning against the walls as she waited for her father to come home…the walls she had known like the back of her hand had felt as if they were suffocating her. Closing in, and leaving it impossible for her to escape. Just like the cells…

The room she was in now was vast and grand, would have to be to be able to fit all of these large tubs and the dozens of girls working around them. But that did not stop Gwen from feeling as if they were closing in on her. Working her fingers down to the bones wasn't helping her today, not after exhausting herself as she had. Gwen wasted no time in fishing out what clothes she had in the tub and she didn't raise her head even when Merida tried to strike up a casual conversation with her. It was rude, yes and the Before Gwen would have been horrified at her behavior. But the After the Cells Gwen, couldn't find it in her to care. She tossed her clothes into her basket, picked it up so that it was hiked up onto her hip, and started towards the doors that led out into the grassy fields where the girls got to hang their clothes to dry.

Gwen had only made it as far as the opened archway when she stopped, and looked over her shoulder to the group she had just abandoned. Mary was the one that was still standing, and was watching her as she left. But as soon as Mary saw her looking at her, the blond girl nodded her head generously. Just a silent thank you for getting herself involved and standing up for both her and Merlin. Gwen didn't nod back to her. She turned on her heel and walked out onto the planes of endless grass in front of her before finding an empty spot in front of one of the many strings that were stretched across the yard for her to hang up her wet clothes.

Once upon a time, when Gwen had been much more innocent that she was now, she had thought having a position as Morgana's personal handmaiden would have been enough to protect her from the worse. But she had learned the hard way that this didn't matter one bit. And look at her now? Suffering every single night, waking her father as she screamed herself till she was hoarse from the nightmares. Working herself half to death because she just wanted to forget. Not talking unless she had too, like she had too just now ….as Gwen hung up one of Morgana's dresses for it to blow dry in the wind, she couldn't help herself but to start wondering…

Was this really her life right now?

And would she ever be able to move on?

Would she ever be better?

Or had the experience fucked her up too much that she'd never be normal again.

X

Miles and miles away from where the greatest of the five kingdoms stood, Nimueh was at it again. Doing a good bit of spell work because a month was enough time to have Uther start relaxing his guard. And all of his people had started enjoying their lives again. She saw them, walking throughout the marketplace with smiles on their faces. Knights training with the sword in the fields, striking each other down. The king was often seen sitting on his throne, signing parchments that needed his signature. The prince could often be seen in the training fields and working hard on all the new recruits, trying to rebuild them up into Camelot's standards.

The normality of everything meant it was finally time for Nimueh to enact her next plan. She had planned for every possibility, had predicted how people were going to react, had watched enough of them to know exactly what who would do in a situation like the one she had carefully detailed out. And this time, unlike her afanc, she would not fail. Because once she got rid of Merlin, she would have free rein to go after the king himself. She had all of the ingredients that she needed to cast her wicked but surprisingly simpler spell work. She just needed to cast the spell herself, and then start planting a few choice incidents to get her plan to work…

Nimueh carefully picked up a bright yellow flower she had plucked from a cave wall days ago. And she only plucked one of the flower petals off of it, the spell did not require for her to use the whole flower. The only thing needed was a piece of it, for the connection to be forged. And Nimeh cheerfully dropped the flower petal into the silver bowl of water she usually used to spy on the city. The sorceress leaned forward, dark hair spilling over one of her shoulders as she bent to watch the flower petal sticking its way to the bottom of the bowl.

Nimueh started to chant, slow at first before all of her words started to speak up. The ancient Latin spoken in days long since past, spilled from her tongue much faster then the English language could have. It was a powerful surge of magic that raced through her veins and the cave she lived in started to shake as if there was an earthquake. But there was no earthquake and Nimueh feared nothing that the earth could've given her. She stayed steady on her feet, the shaking earth didn't even cause a pause in her spell-casting. She only grew faster, her voice raising and raising till she was almost screaming louder then thunder coming down from the heavens could have.

"-Pe Ty Merlin!" Nimueh finished off her spell and her red painted lips spilt into a dangerously wicked smile as she watched the water in her bowl starting to swirl and swish until another image had formed inside the water. She could see Merlin, freshly clean from being scrubbed down, Gaius standing over his shoulder as he frowned heavily. Merlin had just climbed back into bed, turning his back on his uncle and slipping close his eyes, as if he was trying to go back to sleep. The water across the bed sheets for some odd reason did not seem to disturb Merlin even as it soaked into the fresh clothes that he wore.

Nimueh watched, pleased, when the image inside of her bowl disappeared. And the flower petal emerged from the depths of it. She carefully plucked it out of the water, holding it between her fingers and making sure she didn't rip any edges from the delicate thing. It was hard to imagine, such a delicate looking petal, would be able to kill someone. But that was what she found the most fascinating about magic. How any of the most common, or most innocent of looking, items were about to wreck havoc. Completely unnoticed by the world as the cause until it was too late to do one thing about it.

The flower petal was transparent now, and Nimueh was able to see straight through it to the soft delicate shape of her palm. Good, she thought, the colors had bled out of it completely. Taking away any of the pure sunlight it's bright colors had tried to emulate. It may have been easy to see the shades of yellow peeking out through the wine if they caught a glimpse of the petal just right under the glint of the light. But a petal so translucent…would make it much harder to notice at all. Nimueh was pleased. And pleased she'd stay, she was sure of it, as she would get a first hand seat to the show of destruction she would wreck. Her plan needed a bit more of a…hands on approach, then the plan with the afanc had been.

Nimueh would need to be inside of Camelot's walls to get her plan to work. She would have to move about the castle she hadn't seen physically in over twenty years, but she knew the layout like she knew how powerful her magic was. It wouldn't be too difficult-or difficult at all, to get what she needed set into it's rightful place. And Uther was expecting a very large amount of guests in his castle within the next days or so that would come to pass. It would be like a child's play to blend in among them, unnoticed as she was stalking the halls of the place she once considered a home.

Uther had always been a paranoid king, something that had gotten only worse ever since the death of his beloved Queen…the woman Nimueh had thought of as a best friend. But even with all of his paranoia working against him, Uther's pride was considered his greatest fault. He was cocky, and would not once think Nimueh might come and see to her next plan personally. But after her last plan had failed, Nimueh wanted to make sure that nothing amiss would go with this next one she had concocted. It would be quite amusing though…to walk by Uther with the face of an innocent, the king made unaware that her very presence had returned to wreck her havoc.

Nimueh picked up a silver goblet she had settled on the table next to her. She studied the goblet, having used her magic to perfect it into the perfect replica of what she had seen using her magic. Merica would be visiting Camelot, and it's king would be passing out goblets just as this one to it's Royal family as a sign of good will. What a load of hogwash, as it this measly goblet could foster such an emotion from the one's that ruled Camelot. But she was pleased by the results nonetheless. The details on the goblet looked exactly as the original one she had seen the servants to the Mercia King packing, through spying with her looking glass of water. Nobody would be able to tell the difference.

Nimueh pressed the flower petal onto the inside of the glass, smoothing her fingers over it until it stuck to the bottom. The petal was so transparent that she even had trouble seeing that it was still there, but she knew it was. And that was all that mattered. With the flower inside of the goblet, whatever liquid they were going to pour inside of it, would instantly be coated in a layer of her poison. The petal meeting with liquid would cause a reaction, and its toxin would spread, until even a single sip would end up with the drinker on the floor. But there was only a single person that Nimueh intended to have drink from a goblet such as this.

Nimueh held the goblet up as far above her head as she her height would allow, and started mumbling in Latin once again. Only, the ground didn't shake as it had before, and Nimueh finished her words smiling, breathing out the last word like a prayer, "Merlin." It was when the goblet in her hand started to warm up but not hot enough to burn, did she know her prayer had been answered. Most of these new aged witches who tinkered around with magic, would never be able to understood how things had used to be done, back in the times of old. Where magic had been freed to do as it pleased, roaming the land as it should.

The spell she was using might have been simple for someone of her caliber, but the havoc it would wreck was not. And that was why she had asked to be given the blessing of the triple goddess, old crones known to watch over those with magic. They could see what would happen, and was task with the curse of being able to know all. But were unable to interfere with the lives of men. Which was why there were people like her, priestesses of the old religion, to carry out what justice they could not. And a burning goblet against her palm meant that they approved of her plan.

Good, Nimueh thought as she started to pack only a small bag of what she may need to bring with her to the castle. She wouldn't need much, but one such as she knew better then to leave her dwelling without a bit of preparation. And as Nimueh tucked the goblet into her pouch, swinging the back over her shoulder, she grinned to herself once again. Getting revenge on Balinor's son hadn't been one she had thought of much over the years, her hatred consumed by Uther more then anything. But she had never forgiven that Balinor, for spurning her when she had offered him a bit of sanctuary when the raids had firs started and sorcerer's were being round up in the streets. Balinor had been naive enough to think Uther could still have a chance to be reason with, by that point. She'd seen enough though, and had no plans of sticking around long enough to see if what Balinor thought he could do would happen.

It was no surprise to her when she later learned that Balinor had fled the kingdom only days after she had left.

And it was no surprise to her when she realized that the prince's new 'bride' had been the son of the man who preferred being on his own then in her company. She had been there, after all, when the contract had been struck. She had been there through it all. Her only surprise had came from learning Hunith ended up with child, as she hadn't been pregnant yet, the last time Hunith had seen her. But she knew things now, had conversed with the mouthpieces-the disirs of the triple goddess-only months after she'd been exiled into these woods. She had known he'd come eventually.

So while getting revenge on Balinor's heir had never been a key point in her plan, she wouldn't exactly be the high priestess that she was if she didn't take this opportunity while she could. After all, when the disirs had first warned her of this sorcerer they would call 'Emrys' coming, she had been hopeful for a far better future then what they were being given by Uther. But after coming to the conclusion that this 'Emrys' was Balinor's heir…had twisted her way of thinking. And then seeing him in the flesh…she hadn't believed he could be the one. Until he had destroyed her afanc…she honestly should have known far sooner that it would come down to this.

To her and Merlin.

And to the poisoned goblet at her side.

With no Emry's to rein in the future, Camelot's throne was as good as dead.

X

It had been two days. Two days since Gaius decided to wrestle Merlin out of his bed for a much needed sponge bath. And it had been two days since Julia and Gwen had gotten into a fight right in the middle of the laundry room over Merlin. But Prince Arthur Pendragon didn't have any idea that any of this had been going on. He had been too busy with his own situation to think much about Merlin in the last few days. Though Arthur did find him lingering inside the back of his mind, constantly appearing at the worse moments. Just like a pest that would need to be on the squashed side of a shoe.

But that was neither here or there. Bayard was due to arrive at any moment and Arthur had been running to make sure everything was going smoothly in order to have everything go off without a hitch. His father was going to be doing most of the work, treating Bayard to only the best Camelot had to offer. There would be dining and parties to celebrate the signing of a treaty both of their kingdom's desperately needed. And the prince needed to make sure he made himself a good impression on Bayard. Enough to be looked at with a bit of favor. Camelot would be his, one day, and the prince didn't want to do anything that would ruin all his father had been spending months in preparation for.

Which was why Arthur strode into the throne room far earlier then he should have been, with Morris on his tail as he finished dusting invisible lint off of the back of his jacket. Arthur had made sure to dress for the sole purpose of impressing, and the brown coat he wore emphasized his shoulders well. The red shirt he wore underneath showed off his kingdom pride, his brown troubles clung to his legs and were tucked into his leather boots. His blond hair was carefully combed down by Morris within an inch of its life, not a single unruly strand out of place to ruin the effect he was going for. First impressions were everything, and Arthur didn't want to accidentally insult the king of Mercia by wearing the wrong article of clothing.

"That's enough, Morris!" Arthur snapped, yanking his shoulders away from Morris as soon as he saw Uther was already inside and waiting. The scouts they had watching the roads had already came forward, and they had reported seeing the blue flags of Merica on the wagons and the horses-a sign that they came in peace-was already being made up the street that led to one of Camelot's main entrances. They would be at their doors within the next hour or two, and it was not a good look if they saw their prince being fussed over like a child. Though having servants waiting on you at your beck and call was usually seen as a sign of wealth and power, Arthur needed to stand tall. And not be distracted by Morris constantly tugging at one thing or the other as if it was out of place. And Arthur knew nothing was, he had checked everything over for himself. Twice. "Just go make yourself useful and clean my room. I have no need for you anymore."

Morris quickly bowed his head and backed out of the throne room, but Arthur paid him no attention. A little weasel he was, bloody grateful he was still allowed in Arthur's employment at all. Morris had clearly seen it had the opportunity for a second chance, something Arthur wasn't often willing to give, and was working in overtime to get back into Arthur's good graces. He had the manservant mucking out the stalls everyday for three weeks as punishment for trying to cause the prince distraction last month. Morris had returned to full duty as his manservant only in the last couple of days. He might not have fired the moron, but Arthur also hadn't let him off easy. But now Arthur seemed to be stuck with his simpering, and there was already so much he was willing to take. Especially being as anxious as he already was.

"Oh, good Arthur, you're here." His father said, when he spotted the prince making his way to him. There was at least a dozen knights and various other men from the council who was milling around the room as well, waiting for Bayard's caravan to arrive. They did have a few servants waiting on the sidelines, ready to offer up refreshments the second a noble waved his hand in their direction. But as for right now, the blond paid then no attention, and straightened up when he saw his father scanning his outfit for approval. It was apparent he wasn't the only nervous one around, but his father seemed to wear it better, hidden behind a layer of hardness developed from being a king. The prince felt the tightness of his chest loosen up only slightly when the king nodded. At least Arthur would not have to concern himself with his outfit anymore, like a dainty girl would have. "Have you been able to see your consort anywhere? I don't believe the boy's made his appearance yet."

And just like that, Arthur's stomach tightened up as he froze. What was his father asking about Merlin for …? Uther had been surprisingly silent on the Merlin front since the sickness had ended. He wasn't trying to push them to 'spend more time together' or act as a more 'in love couple when in public', that he often tried to reinforce. To be honest, Arthur had only seen Merlin one time since the boy had started spouting on about how 'abusive' Arthur apparently was. And it hadn't been because he wanted too. It had only been because Morgana had goaded him into it…sort of.

It had been about two weeks after Arthur had hidden Merlin's neckerchief in his drawer, and Morgana had approached him in a righteous fury. She had almost looked as if she was seconds away from spitting out flames at him. He couldn't even understand her until he demanded to know what she was going on about. Morgana had bared her teeth at him and said simply 'just keep your distance away from Merlin. God only knows he needs a break from you.' Before storming off to only god knows where. Arthur hadn't known at all what that had meant, but it had stroked a bit of his curiosity. Just enough to decide it was probably time to make sure his consort hadn't gone and offed him self during their time apart.

Arthur had ended up milling around outside of Gaius' tower in the yard, trying to pretend he wasn't trying to gather his courage and go up there to see exactly what Merlin's damage was this time. But Merlin had already called him an abuser once. If Arthur showed up, he was sure he was going to get 'stalker' added to the list. Arthur had only left when he had glanced up and seen Merlin walking past the window. It had been enough for him to know the boy was still alive, and he was content to leave Morgana's for as her just being an emotional girl at the time. Probably on her cycle or something, she always got a little bit more vicious during that time…

"No father, it's still quite early, I haven't seen him just yet…" Arthur said quickly, clearing his throat when he noticed Uther now looking at him. He made it sound as if today was the first day he hadn't seen him, as it would displease the king if he knew just how long the time has been since Arthur had seen the other boy to his face. "It's a very good chance that he's still in bed right now. I've gotten the impression that he's a bit of the lazy sort. Irresponsible, you know. May I acquire why you wish to know where Merlin is?"

Arthur rushed out the last part when he saw Uther's lips starting to thin, hoping the question would make the king forget what he had just said. Arthur had only been trying to hide the fact that he hasn't seen that boy in quite some time. And truth was, Arthur didn't have any idea if Merlin was the sort of boy that would try to sleep all day long if he could, or if he was more of a morning type, jumping up and ready to greet the day. That was probably something a husband should know, so Arthur figured it was probably a good thing nobody had tried to question him about Merlin or his sleeping habits. But he didn't want to get Uther back on the, let's try to find a new way to have Merlin get execution. Which was probably where it would have been headed if Arthur hadn't corrected himself, and tried to continue on with more of Merlin's faults.

"Because obviously, it's time to introduce him toward the other kingdom's. Bayard is going to be expecting to meet him upon his arrival, and he's going to make a bad impression on all of us if he isn't here on time." Uther hissed at his son, looking agitated with Merlin's continued absence. But Arthur paled, feeling as if he had an uptick in his heart. This…this wasn't good. To parade Merlin in front of the entire kingdom that they were trying to impress…they might as well just go on and rip the peace treaty in half themselves. Since the boy was going to ruin it for all of them. "The one and only thing we need to do is rush through it. Make the quick introduction, and then hurry Merlin behind you. We can always say he's getting over the flu or maybe he lost his voice if Bayard asks."

…Arthur hadn't even thought that obviously, Merlin would need to attend these things. His father had sent out notices upon his marriage, letting everybody know he was married and to expect a new Pendragon in the family. Arthur would be fending off questions about it left and right, and for all he knew, Merlin may just stumble right across them. Bayard would see him as a liar, rather then somebody who could honor their treaty, if he tried to make up some kind of lie about Merlin being unavailable due to thus sudden bout of illness. This would obviously need to be handled with care.

"As long as we keep him out of focus, we'll be fine as long as we get the treaty sign and can make it pass all of this. We have been preparing for their arrival for weeks. I am confident that you thought to teach your consort a few decent manners in that timeframe, and he won't hopelessly insult our guess. At least, he had better not insult Bayard, I have been working on this to bring it into fruition long before your marriage. So, obviously Arthur, it's up to you to make sure he does not do anything to cause Bayard to retract his offers."

Arthur jerkily nodded his head, but he could feel a bit of the color starting to fade from his face. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He hadn't thought Bayard would be expecting to meet his consort. And he hadn't thought his father would expect for him to be coming. Did Merlin even know he was supposed to be down here? He could really still be in bed for all Arthur knows! And no, he had definitely not thought to teach his consort what he should say or do in this situation. He hadn't been seeing him! But he couldn't tell his father that he had once again chosen to ignore Merlin's presence in his life, rather then teaching him the fundamentals that all good royals should know. He'd end up in the very stocks himself for his own incompetence. All his days had been filled with preparation for this moment, but Merlin…had gone completely amiss in what he had to do before today.

"…This is taking far too long." Uther announced, and showing his impatience a bit as he waved a hand to the prince, forcing Arthur's attention entirely on him. "Bayard will be here at any time, and your consort is only going to drag attention to himself if he's late for this. Again." And Arthur winced, knowing that he was talking about the meet-and-greet months ago. When they had all those knights in attendance to meet the Royal family. Merlin had shown up late, and the doors had been slammed behind him before the announcer announced his presence. Everybody had watched as the new consort scuttled across the room until taking his spot standing next to Morgana. Bayard was much more important than that, this was about fostering all of the good will between their kingdoms. And it could be something that carried on for the next generation or more. "Maybe it's best if you go and see what has taken him so long. And get him down here on time."

Arthur's head whipped around horrified, as a thought that had absolutely nothing to do with their situation hit him out of the blue…his weird thoughts. The last time Arthur had seen Merlin, before the boy started unfounded accusations about abusing him, he had gone off the deep end when it came to those horrid thoughts. Just as he had several times before, and Arthur had only been able to come to one conclusion to combat it. He needed to stop seeing Merlin. Arthur had never thought those things in regards to others before, not until Merlin. So clearly, Merlin's defiance and constantly fighting against him was the reason for why those thoughts had developed to begin with. Not seeing Merlin at all anymore, would probably be a big help to diminishing them…

"Father, I really think that I should be here. Surely the boy can find his way here without my assistance," the prince said quickly, making his excuses as he took to scanning the room. He had hoped Morris would show up and make himself useful by taking care to do that himself. At least Arthur wouldn't have to worry about it, but of course, Arthur had sent him away, and that manservant of his was nowhere to be seen. "Bayard won't find my absence nearly as understandable as we can excuse Merlin's…"

And Arthur's excuse might of worked if his father was not an impatient man. And it was clear the king would not be buying anything he was saying. But surely, the boy's own manservant could get him here on time to stop chaos from insuring when Bayard would ask for Merlin eventually. It was normal to act interested with other people's lives and Bayard would most likely end up asking Uther how he had been since the last time they had corresponded. Arthur realized that he didn't have any options other then to go track Merlin down and bring him back here before Bayard arrived. But it didn't have to be all bad…maybe there would be time to spare for Arthur to drill in a few hurried lessons for Merlin before parading him in front of a king.

"…Of course, father. I'll be back momentarily with the boy." Arthur said, giving a short bow to his head just to show his father a bit of respect. His father worked far harder then Arthur had during this past week, he didn't deserve to have Arthur trying to argue against something when they both knew Merlin needed to be in attendance. No matter how much disdain it was for the both of them to have to go through the pains that it took just to get him where he needed to be. Arthur only had one thought though, as he turned onto his heel and walked out with the steady stride a man of his station should use.

He hadn't dressed like he had to just go and impress Merlin, of all people.