The broken pendant
A few days had passed since Arthur completed the Fisher King's quest.
Merlin was currently in Arthur's chambers, performing his morning chores, when Arthur, who was eating breakfast, said
- Today I need you to help me order and organize the things I have stored in the trunk - Arthur said, pointing to a small chest, which was always locked and which Merlin had never seen open.
- What do you have there? You never let me open it...
- Several things... Mainly mementos of my mother... Some stuff of when I was little... - answered Arthur vaguely - I don't remember well, the truth is that I haven't opened it for a long time
- Oh... I didn't know you had mementos of her
- Yes... Mainly they are things that I acquired without my father's permission... You know that he never spoke much about her... - said Arthur - My father always said that he had nothing of hers to give me, and that it was not worthy of a prince to keep objects just for sentimentalities...
- Oh, I don't think that's a bad thing Arthur
- No, me neither, thast why I keep them... A few years ago I found a trunk with his things in the vaults... I took what I could and hid it here...
- Oh...
- I got them, but since I didn't want to make my father angry, I just hid them, without really checking what I had took... A short time later I asked Gaius why my father had said that he hadn't kept anything from her. if I had found the trunk... And he told me that in his sorrow my father ordered, immediately after my mother's death, that all her belongings be gather and destroyed... but that some of the maids decided to keep some things hidden of Uther, so that I would have them as a souvenir one day...
- That's... Great... Very brave of them.
- Yes, I'm glad they did it...
- Why didn't Gaius tell you before?
- He-he said that after a while he forgot about it, and that he only remembered it when I mentioned it to him...
- You're not thinking of taking them to the vaults again, right?
- Of course not, unless it's something really useless or has nothing to do with my mother
- And why now? You said it's been years since you got his stuff back
-I've been thinking about it for a while... After Morgause I couldn't stop thinking about my mother for several weeks... And the other day while she was trying to find a mission, she came back to my mind constantly
- I see... Do you want to do it now or later?
- Now... During the afternoon I have training with the knights
- Ok... Do you have the key? I'll take things out while you finish breakfast
Arthur handed Merlin a key that was among the ones he always carried on his belt.
Merlin moved the trunk to the center of the room and began taking things out of it, placing them carefully on the table so Arthur could see them and eventually decide if he wanted to keep them or send them back to the vaults.
Among the first things that Merlin was taking out was a small toy horse, some small children's shoes and a small wooden crown.
-Yes... All that is from when I was little-- said Arthur, taking the horse in his hands--I loved to play with this horse... Until my father forbade it
- Let me guess... It wasn't worthy of a Prince
- Exactly
- How old were you?
- I don't know... 6 or 7...
Merlin preferred not to answer, and decided to continue taking things out of the trunk.
In this case it was obvious that they were things of Arthur's mother
He took out a small white silk bag, a beautiful diadem, another small silk bag (this time pink), a beautiful notebook, a beautiful oval box, a beautiful hand mirror, a gold brooch, a beautiful silver comb, two packages wrapped in paper, and finally a package wrapped in a beautiful lilac cloth
Arthur got up and began going through each of the things that Merlin had left on the table. He decided to start with the cloth package, assuming that out of everything it would be the least exciting thing to review.
In the package he was able to find some beautiful white silk gloves with beautiful gold thread embroidery, two handkerchiefs that matched the gloves, and a magnificent veil attached to a beautiful diamond diadem.
- It's beautiful ,- Merlin said.
- Yes, I'm sure she used it for his wedding…- Arthur replied before carefully putting everything back, and handing it to Merlin so he could put it back in the trunk.
He then opened one of the packets of paper, in it he found nothing relevant, just a lot of papers and letters from people he didn't know. This would definitely go back to the vaults
The second bundle of paper also contained a lot of irrelevant papers, along with torn hunting gloves, a man's belt, and a small rusty dagger. Definitely back to the Vaults... or in the trash maybe
Then Arthur looked carefully at the diadem, the mirror, the brooch, and the comb. They were beautiful and very delicate, surely they were the favorites of his mother. He very carefully took them and handed them to Merlin.
Then Arthur took in his hands the beautiful little oval box. It had precious stones embedded in its lid. Inside were some gold and silver jewelry. Rings, earrings, bracelets and pendants. The jewels, despite being beautiful, it was obvious that they were old, probably a family heirloom.
- Wow... They are very beautiful, simple but beautiful
- You're right... They are much less ostentatious than the ones Morgana normally wears, but they are more beautiful - Arthur replied, putting everything away carefully and then handing it over to Merlin
.
Then Arthur took the little pink silk bag, inside it he found a couple of small hand-embroidered handkerchiefs, one had an A on it, and the other was still half finished... In fact it was so little that it had been embroidery that could not identify the letter that had been embroidered
- Could she have embroidered them? Merlin asked.
- I don't know... I guess so...
- But why two different ones?
- I don't know Merlin,- Arthur replied before putting both handkerchiefs back in the bag.
To be honest, he would love to have that handkerchief his mother embroidered with him all the time, but there was a good chance it would get dirty, lost or damaged... So it was best to keep it safe in the trunk
Only two objects remained on the table, the notebook and the small white silk bag.
Seeing the notebook Arthur quickly remembered that thanks to it he was able to guess that all the things he found in the Vaults belonged to his mother... It was his diary, back then when he found it in the vaults he had read a couple of pages before taking everything else and run to hide it in his room. This is why he decided to leave the notebook for last, so that he could read it calmly.
Bearing this in mind, he decided to open the little white bag. Inside was a beautiful pendant and what appeared to be a letter
The pendant had a fine silver chain and a small amulet with a very interesting design. The amulet seemed to be incomplete... Broken in half... It seemed to be in the shape of a beautiful tree within what was once a complete circle. The tree was very detailed, formed by many small silver threads that generated a kind of silver spider web and gave the tree its shape.
- Why is it broken in half? - Arthur asked, getting no response from Merlin.
Arthur left the pendant on the table and began to read the letter, perhaps in it she explain why it was broken. Knowing that Merlin would end up asking him about the contents of the letter, he decided to read it out loud.
"Dear Arthur
I know that I have little time left on this earth, and that makes me very sad, but with the little time I Had I need to tell you something important about this amulet
As soon as I knew that you would come into our lives, I wanted to give you a special gift, that you could always carry with you and thus always take me with you. That is why I had this pendant made, which represents how much you mean to me, a small seed inside me that grew, and will continue to do so over the years to become a great King.
That was my original idea, but you can't always have everything as you plan, can you?
You may wonder why the amulet is broken in half... Well, I can only say that life gives you surprises, and life gave me a wonderful surprise the day you were born.
A surprise that forced me to break the amulet in half, so that I could give one half to each of my beautiful children, halves that make a whole when joined... Two sides of the same coin.
I know that this is probably something difficult for you to assimilate, but believe me... what I had to do, I did it always thinking about the future of you two, to keep you both safe... Especially your brother
Uther never knew of its existence, and it's best that he never does. I hope that when you read this letter Gaius is still alive and can help you understand everything better.
I love you so much my son
Ygraine"
As soon as Arthur finished reading he looked up to see Merlin for help. The letter contained very relevant information about his life, and he was having a flood of emotions inside him that made it very difficult for him to understand what he had just read.
To Arthur's surprise, he looked up to see Merlin in a state he hadn't expected. He was shaking from head to toe, his eyes were red and his cheeks were full of tears and he was shaking his head over and over again.
- Merlin? - Arthur asked.
Puzzled, he approached to try to understand what was happening to Merlin, but when he took just one step towards him, Merlin backed away in fear and then ran out of the room at full speed.
Arthur hesitated for a moment whether to follow him or not... On the one hand he was worried about Merlin... But on the other, he was totally overwhelmed by what he had just read... He had a brother!
Is what the letter says true? Had his mother really written it?... He couldn't be sure, he had never seen his handwriting, he had nothing to compare it to... The diary!
Arthur quickly flipped through his mother's diary in order to compare the two writings... Yes, she had definitely written the letter...
"Perhaps in the diary she has written something that she did not include in the letter?" Arthur thought
Arthur turned to the last diary entries... They were from the morning before the delivery... The only way to know if this was real was to check with Gaius