Merlyn watched her younger, surrogate-brother worriedly as he continued to cough up blood in his fitful sleep. His skin was paler than usual, almost transparent, and his brow was on fire. The druids had no remedy, and were all worried about the youngest of their camp.

"You should rest Emrys." Langet, Mordred's father, told her as he, too, watched his only child suffer in near silence.

"There must be some way to heal him, maybe Iseldir-" Merlyn began, cut off when her second father figure shook his head.

"Iseldir is many days from here, healing the southern camp. They were raided by Cenred's men." The elder of the two informed, he had already thought of it after all.

"Then I leave for my uncle Gaius, he will at least be able to slow the sickness." Merlyn sighed as she slipped into her thicker boots and dark green cloak, her blue eyes hardened with her resolve.

"But he lives in Camelot!" Langet protested futilely as his daughter-in-all-but-blood equipped her numerous weapons and stalked out of the cave system they currently inhabited.

"My father said him to be trustworthy; I have no reason to doubt him." She calmly replied, swinging her agile body onto her oldest friend, a brown and white paint named Ari. "I will return in three days at the latest."

"May the goddess be with you." Langet prayed with a bowed ahead.

"And with you." Merlyn recited before turning her attention to the issue at hand. "Come on Ari!"

Merlyn rode up to the citadel without stopping, and smirked when the guards gaped at her. Apparently they didn't get many visitors who rode bareback, much less a woman who was wearing pants and no shoes.

"Could you please watch him for me?" she asked a younger guard, who blushed at her smooth voice and squeaked out a 'yes'. "Thank you."

She eventually found her way to the physician's quarters after asking several servants and getting lost twice.

"Excuse me, Gaius?" she called out cautiously, scanning the room for her great uncle. She spotted him on a higher level just as the banister gave way, and he began to plummet to the ground. Her magic acted on its own, wrapping around the elder man, stalling his descent while simultaneously bringing a bed over just in time for him to land on.

"What on-? Did you do that? How?" he demanded in a rush, his face red and pupils blown wide from adrenaline.

"Technically it was my magic, but yes I suppose you could blame me."Merlyn shrugged nonchalantly, shocking her uncle with her bluntness.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" he continued watching the girl warily.

"My name is Merlyn, and my little brother is very ill. My father said you smuggled him out during the Purge, and could be trusted."

"I only smuggled one man out of Camelot and that was…" Gaius trailed off in realization before he relaxed his guard slightly and had her describe the symptoms.

"I would have brought him with me, but this is, well, Camelot." She explained, Gaius already muttering to himself as he deduced the illness and started preparing a remedy.

"I would call you foolish if you did my dear."

"I have no money, but I am willing to work for you if you like." Merlyn informed him as he put the finishing touches on the remedy and capped the vial.

"I would be most grateful for your assistance, I'm afraid I'm getting too old nowadays." Gaius complained good-naturedly as he handed his work over along with a list containing the names of various ingredients. "Most you can find in the market, the rest are in the forest."

"I understand uncle, thank you very much." Merlyn grinned, accepting a small pouch of coins before booking it out of the room and down to the citadel where Ari had several children playing around him, having never seen a horse like him before. After shooing them away gently, she wandered the market area for a while until she came upon a group of knights terrorizing a servant boy who tried to run with a target the proved to be too heavy for his scrawny frame as he tripped, and it rolled to her feet.

"Didn't Daddy ever tell you it's not proper to pick on opponents that won't make you stronger?" Merlyn mocked as the servant scurried out of range with the target—awe smothering his face.

"Didn't yours tell you not to anger men as it could get you hurt?" the ringleader retorted with venom as he stepped up to her.

"Actually no, he was too busy teaching me how to knock a self-righteous prat off his pedestal." She replied, her father had also taught her to never back down for anything.

"I could have your head." Blondie threatened, his confusion at being defied masked in anger.

"You will never gain the trust of your people through stunts like this. Good luck with your short reign, little prince." Merlyn retaliated as she turned to head back to Ari and leave the damned city already, but she was stopped when blondie grabbed her upper arm harshly.

"I do not require their trust, only their respect." He hissed in her ear. She turned to face him, blue locking onto blue.

"Funny thing about respect, I find that respect without any measure of trust is often synonymous with fear." Then she was gone, leaving a frozen prince pondering her words in silence.

Langet watched his son and daughter worriedly as she fed the boy the potion. Mordred went straight back to sleep, however his skin seemed to regain some color already.

"I have to leave now, Langet, I have yet to repay my uncle for his kindness." Merlyn stated as she tucked a deer pelt turned blanket around her brother snugly.

"Be careful Emrys, Camelot patrols have been getting close, we will have to move on soon." Langet told her, halting her steps as she was just about to exit the cave system once more.

"You are young Emrys. Powerful, but young. You cannot always rely on us like a child, his mother. I think-" he cut himself off with a sigh.

"You think I should leave camp. Fulfill my destiny?" Merlyn demanded through gritted teeth, her ocean blue eyes exchanged for a molten gold, "My destiny is taking care of my people, my family, Mordred is only eleven!"

"Mer-"

"NO!" she yelled, causing the entire cave system to tremble, and all magical creatures to shoot up, fully alert, at Emrys's distress. Unfortunately, this also meant Mordred who only managed to open his eyes in alarm. "You cannot ask me to leave them for a boy who spends his time taking cheap shots at those he deems beneath him."

'Emrys?' Mordred asked. Merlyn sighed and took his hand in hers, conversing with him quietly.

"I do not like it either Emrys, but it is the way it must be." Langet responded soothingly as he came up to his children and took them into his arms.

"I love you both. If you ever need me you come and call me, understand?" Merlyn commanded sternly absently wiping Mordred's tears away before leaving the caves for the last time with heavy steps.

Merlyn took her time walking through Camelot's market, browsing mindlessly while her mind dwelled on what Langet told her not two hours ago.

"Come to offer your head then?"

Merlyn paused both mentally and physically before turning to face blondie who had three of his 'knights' behind him.

"That depends, have you offered your cheek to your father yet?" she fired back calmly, pleased that she found a harmless—for her—way to work out her frustrations with destiny and Langet.

"I could take you apart in one blow." Blondie threatened.

"I could take you apart with less than that." Merlyn replied with a taunting smile.

The ensuing fight was exceedingly entertaining for the witch, and enormously frustrating for the prince who couldn't land a single blow. They only stopped when Merlyn saw Gaius out of her peripheral vision, and surprised blondie with a quick kick to the solar plexus, simultaneously stunning and knocking the air out of his lungs.

"Of all the stupid things you could do, and you pick a fight with PRINCE ARTHUR!" Gaius raged as he dragged Merlyn into their chambers.

"Technically it was self-defense, and I didn't even hurt him!" Merlyn defended, only to slightly recoil at the withering look that was shot at her.

"Much." She corrected, though not sincerely, "At least I didn't use magic."

"And you best keep it that way." Enter eyebrow of doom.

"Relax, uncle. I am my father's daughter after all. I'll even go see if Prince Prat is okay." She grinned as she skipped out of the room.

"That's precisely why I'm worried." The old man muttered as he went to prepare for the evening.

"Knock knock." Merlyn said as she entered Arthur's chambers without actually knocking, startling the pra-prince.

"What are you doing here?" blondie asked as he walked out from where his bed was.

"Gaius guilt-tripped me into seeing if you're alright after I kicked you in the chest, something about fractured ribs." Merlyn shrugged nonchalantly.

"I'm completely fine." Merlyn rolled her eyes.

"I'll be the judge of that."

"Hey!" Arthur protested as the woman in front of him forced to sit down in a chair and began to raise is shirt, much to his alarm.

"Relax, I've done this for my people loads of times, even males." The witch said over his flustered sputtering.

"Your people?" He questioned as he reluctantly stopped squirming away from her hands that prodded at his ribcage.

"Mmm, we are often raided, and the ones who are not killed are usually wounded." She explained as she ran her hands around to his back.

"Raided? By bandits?"

Merlyn smiled wryly, "I personally think so, but in your opinion that would be an offensive term."

"Will you never just give me a straight answer?" Arthur sighed.

"I never lie, Arthur, however that won't stop me from being vague in my responses." She explained as she made him lean to the side so she could prod at the bruise on his chest.

"I'll hold you to that." He said as she released him finally and pulled his shirt down.

They sat in silence for a few moments, before he spoke up again.

"Who are you exactly?"

Merlyn shot him a small glance, eyes alight with mischief.

"Single."

"I'm trying to understand you, not flirt!" his face was pink much to his humiliation.

"Why can't we do both?" Merlyn replied with a smile and flirtatious touch to his abs, sending him into another stammering mess.

"I may have bruised a rib, but nothing too serious. Try to avoid being hit there will you? And my name is Merlyn." she told him as they stood, and left the room, once again leaving a confused blonde.

Merlyn was walking back to Gaius's chambers when she felt an unfamiliar presence in her mind.

Merlyn it called repeatedly. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she followed the voice deep into the dungeons. She had to distract a couple of guards before continuing into a giant cavern underneath the castle.

"How does that castle not collapse?" she muttered to herself, only to yelp when a grand dragon landed in front of her.

"How small you are for such a great fate." He commented, giant eyes taking in her chin-length black hair, slightly tan skin, and piercing blue eyes.

"It is rather strange." Merlyn agreed as she took in the dragon's enormity.

"Your time with the druids was well spent."

"Unfortunately that time has come to an end." She replied coldly.

"All good things must. However, you can see them again when you have fulfilled your fate." The great dragon explained with a ghost of a smile before he took off, back up into the cavern.

Merlyn explored what she could of the cavern for a while before returning back to her chambers, it really was a wonder how the weight of the castle didn't send it through what little ground it rested on.

When Merlyn woke the next morning she slipped on an off-the-shoulder, dark blue dress, tied a red sash around her waist, and exited the room barefoot.

"And just where are you going like that?" Gaius asked with an arched eyebrow.

"To Gwen's," the witch replied as she ran her fingers through her hair, "Arthur stopped me yesterday when I went to commission Tom for some long knives."

"And the bare feet?" Gaius pressed, making her pause in the door.

"Fun." She grinned manically before slipping out into the corridor.

Merlyn smiled at Tom as she left the blacksmith's shop, only to nearly run into Arthur.

"Are you sensing déjà vu?" she asked as blondie looked away from her uncomfortably.

"I…apologize…for my actions yesterday." He conceded reluctantly.

"Nah, that's alright. I haven't had that much fun in years!" exclaimed Merlyn with an excited grin as she walked through the market with him, both oblivious to the stares they attracted.

"Where did you learn to fight?" Arthur suddenly demanded, as though he had been restraining himself from asking.

"Where I come from, it doesn't matter your gender or station. If you can fight, you do. Why should it matter that your reproductive organs are outside and ours are in?" the witch replied casually as she bought a necklace with a metal tree looped on the cord before turning to Arthur who was flustered at her blunt reference to the human body. Though it was obvious that he was rolling her words around his head. With a small bit of magic, the metal heated in her hand and was transformed into the triskele of her people. A little more, and she had easily created a protection amulet.

"Think of it this way," she continued as he absentmindedly followed her once more, "If raiders were to attack and murder everyone because they thought themselves better or feared you, what would you do?"

"Defend it to my last breath." Was the immediate response.

"Then what stops anyone else from feeling the same? Why is it, that instead of letting them fight, you tell these people and the women to leave their homes so that others may defend it?"

"The Knights of Camelot-"

"Are nobles." Merlyn interrupted, blue staring into blue as they stopped just outside the Citadel, "They can easily rebuild or relocate if their homes are destroyed, if they even have any here. If the people's' homes were to be destroyed, they would have no way of restarting. Most of your knights view your people as dirt under their boots, most see women as objects who should please them, keep the house clean, and the bed warm."

"The Knights have a code-" He protested feebly only to find that they were moving once more and that she had taken to holding his arm in a soft grip.

"But that does not stop them. Most are without honor, so the women of my people are taught to fight so that when they run into these men, they will not be raped, beaten, then killed." She once again interjected, before holding out the necklace she just bought.

"What is this?" Arthur asked as they stopped just outside his chambers.

"Are you blind now? It's a triskele, all receive this among my people when they are of age. It can mean many things. My father believes that it connects the realms of the dead, living, and magic."

"And you?" Arthur implored as their eyes sought each other's souls.

"I can't recall the exact wording of the phrase. Basically, it reminds me that you can be the best of the best, or the lowest of the low, but a life is a life, and in the end we are all equal and rely on each other to survive." She explained.

"Wouldn't a circle be better then?" the prince asked, suddenly teasing, but still close to her.

"Perhaps," Merlyn smiled slyly, "but this looks so much more interesting."

Arthur chuckled as the witch adjusted her grip on the necklace, and surprised him by tying it around his neck. She simply laughed at his confused expression. He thought it was a very nice sound, nothing remotely similar to the annoyingly high-pitched ladies of the court.

"It is a gift, to constantly remind you, though don't let our father see it i don't think he would take kindly to young women giving his heir gifts." She explained before sauntering off to Gaius's chambers. He didn't need to know that she infused it with her magic to protect him.

As Merlyn followed Gaius to the feast, she couldn't shake off her suspicion of the Lady Helen. She had been sent to deliver a preparation for her voice, and found a magic book and straw doll. Unfortunately, she had to push it to the back of her mind when Arthur approached.

"Gaius, Merlyn." He greeted cordially with an incline of his head.

"Sire." The physician replied before looking at his niece expectantly.

"Hello, Blondie." She grinned, dodging Gaius's swipe expertly as said prince scowled half-heartedly.

"That's what you say to your prince?" his serious tone was ruined by the smirk on his face.

"Ah, but you're not my prince." Merlyn corrected cheekily, before dragging him towards Morgana and her maid, who Merlyn had met earlier when she had gotten lost.

"What are you doing?" Arthur demanded in alarm.

"I am going to introduce you to Gwen, you are going to introduce me to the King's ward, she looks like a woman of character." The witch stated as they reached their destination. She smiled at the two women as she kept an iron grip on the prince, who was struggling as discreetly as he could manage—much to all three women's amusement.

"My, my Arthur, you really do flirt by fighting." Morgana teased, causing said prince to flush.

"I'm Merlyn, my lady. Gwen, Blondie. Blondie, Gwen." Merlyn introduced, producing giggles from the two women as he prisoner sulked at her nickname for him.

"Call me Morgana, we will get along just fine." Morgana commented as she exchanged a sly glance with Gwen, who merely shook her head in exasperation.

"Oh no. You two are forbidden from seeing each other." Arthur declared as he pictured the torment they could inflict on him.

"No need to be jealous Blondie, we all know you saw me first." Merlyn reassured, smirking as he tried to jerk back and away from her, but her grip was too strong.

"W-What!?" he spluttered, only saved when his father finally entered and Merlyn was forced to release him so they could all go to their positions.

The witch observed everything around her with an internal frown, all amusement and teasing drained out of her. How dare this tyrant hunt down her kind as though they were pests when his own son reeked of it. He was lucky her gift to the prince masked it from other sorcerers. She nearly rolled her eyes when 'Lady Helen's' sleep spell washed over the court, her magic protecting her from its effects, only to narrow when the woman pulled a knife with her eyes fixed on blondie. Her eyes flashed liquid gold, and she didn't so much as flinch when a chandelier fell onto the sorceress. Women shrieked as they woke to find themselves covered in cobwebs and a body in their midst, while the men grimaced in discomfort.

'Danger' her magic warned her, and she slowed time as the newly revealed Mary Collins launched her blade at Arthur, who was too disoriented to react fast enough, with the remaining energy in her body. She grabbed his arm for the third time that day and pulled with all her strength, sending them to the floor entangled in each other as the knife embedded itself deeply into the chair not a moment later.

"My, my, if I knew you were that desperate I would have felt bad about kicking your blonde, lonely ass." Merlyn commented dryly as Arthur tried (and failed) to separate himself from her person with a light blush. The entire court was staring at them in shock.

"This is your fault!" he deflected in anger (read embarrassment). The pinned girl sighed before twisting her way out of his grasp.

"Is not. Honestly, who can't dodge a dagger?" she scoffed incredulously, with the corner of her mouth turning up subtly. "Especially when it's thrown by an old woman so far away!?"

"You saved my boy's life." Uther finally uttered, looking at the small slip of a girl in shock.

"Yes, well, apparently standing around while someone else is killed is frowned upon, so…" Merlyn shrugged, dodging Gaius's swat with an annoyed look.

"Is this going to be a regular thing with you, Uncle?"

"You know this girl, Gaius?" the King asked with a contemplative look.

"She is my niece, I am training her to be a physician." The old man replied respectfully.

"You must be rewarded." Uther turned back to the girl who had removed the knife from his son's chair and was flipping it through her fingers out of the blonde's reach.

"It's really not necessary, Majesty." Merlyn replied as she planted a foot on Arthur's stomach to keep him away (Honestly the dagger itself isn't magic, there's no point in throwing it away!).

"No, this merits something special. You will be the knights' healer!" he declared, nearly making her fall over, if Arthur hadn't caught her.

"You have got to be kidding me." She muttered as Gaius led her back to their chambers and away from the polite applause of the court.

AN: Thanks for reading this! I do irregular updates. I will be doing an episode a chapter, but if I really don't like it, then I'm skipping FYI.

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