Authors Note: I haven't updated this one in a while… Or anything for that matter… But this is how I avoid school work… I should stop that… I own nothing.

9. The Girl in the Blue Scarf

Lance just knew. The minute he saw her he knew who she was and what his dreams, the ones he had had all his life, meant. School was canceled the next day while they investigated the portrait attack. They wouldn't find anything though and he knew it. He sat at the café downtown and watched the people walk past on the sidewalk, or drove down the small street in cars blaring music and puffing smoke. Gina Green, his fencing teammate and fellow knight though she didn't know that yet, was sitting at a table across the balcony from him while his long time girlfriend Gwen bustled around cleaning tables and serving coffee and pastries to the regular customers. She smiled at him and set down a large black coffee.

"Thanks Gwen, but you didn't have to." Lance smiled. Gwen's brow furrowed a bit.

"I didn't."

"I did." Moira said sitting down. "A thanks for helping me out yesterday." Lance smiled and patted Gwen's hand reassuringly as Gwen realized who this was. She smiled.

"You must be Moira then! The girl who saved Arthur. It was really brave of you to do what you did yesterday. What can I get you?" Moira blushed and grinned.

"A large caramel chocolate steamer?" Gwen nodded and smiled as Lance gestured to the chair across from him. Gwen left to get Moira's drink and Moira sat down.

"You know my coffee order?" Lance asked taking a sip of the coffee. Moira grinned a bit nervously and nodded.

"It's complicated." Lance shook his head.

"No it's not, Merlin." He whispered the last bit and her grin widened.

"I knew it would be you who'd figure it out first. I'm glad somebody else knows it makes things so much easier." She sighed and slumped a little in her chair. She wore a red top and brown pants. The same one's she had worn the previous day, but they were clean and the scarf was new. It was royal blue and had no adornments or designs on it. It was shorter than the average scarf but not as short as the bandana she had worn the previous day.

Gwen smiled and set down Moira's order. Moira grinned tiredly up at her and she went off to deal with another customer. Lance looked a bit closer at Moira's face. There were dark circles under her eyes and a distinct ruffle to her hair that told Lance she hadn't been sleeping much lately, if at all.

"How much sleep have you had?" She shrugged and sipped her drink.

"In the past few days?" She did a mental calculation on her fingers and held up four of them.

"Four. And a half if you count the nap I took during one of my various important meeting I was supposed to be paying attention to. It's not my fault that all they were doing was arguing where chimeras come from. Seriously pick up a book people." She took another swig of her drink as he stared at her. He shook his head.

"What happened to you, back then you were so young at this age. What's different this time?" Moira laughed a bit coldly.

"Never thought you'd say something like that did you? Well. It's complicated. I guess it started earlier for me this time. But I really don't want to talk about it here. Or at all if I can avoid it." She smiled at him, but something behind that smile had snapped. It was not as bright as it should have been. It was a mask, behind which she might never come out from. But Lance wouldn't let that happen. She, he… Pronouns were starting to get confusing so he decided to stick with all current gender pronouns. She had helped him out once. So now he would bring her back from the darkness that hid behind that smile.

"You always were a rubbish liar. And you know I won't let that slide. Tell me." She refused to meet his eyes but sighed.

"Not here." He nodded.

A short while later, after paying Moira's check and making their way to the park they sat on a bench together as Moira looked down at her hands.

"Start at the beginning. Trust me weird is nothing we haven't gone through before." Her laugh was hollow and humorless.

"Well I was born in Whales this time 'round. Ironically where Ealdor used to be. But then we moved to America. Not sure why. I was a baby when we moved. My mom dad and I settled down in Arizona for a while. Nothing special. Well it was until I was about six. Yeah I'd been doing magic for a while now; I'd been learning to control it for a while. But I didn't know about the druids yet. Well I found out pretty fast after the fire. The house burned down, almost around my ears. But I wound up outside, I'm still not sure how. But after that I was alone. I bounced around foster care for a while until the druids found me. I was seven." She didn't seem to notice that she was crying. Had been crying for quite some time now. Lance understood what she hadn't said as much as what she had. Her parents had died. And it was the fault of, if not a druid specifically, a magic user.

She hiccupped in surprise as he hugged her. She didn't deserve this, a person who was so kind, had always been so kind, a person who had never asked for power that could not be fully understood let alone controlled and who used that power to help people at great personal risk did not deserve this kind of pain and suffering. Ever.

Moira cried freely for her parents for the first time since that night. She had taught herself to distance from emotions as much as she could until all she had to do was smile and everyone accepted her lies and she could cry inside when the world thought she was just as happy as she could be. But she could not hold back now. She wasn't alone any more. She never had to be alone again.