Chapter 22: New Beginnings

Without a word, Arthur took Morgana's arm and escorted her back to her chambers, squeezing her trembling fingers reassuringly in his own, "I'll fetch Gwen from Gaius' room to attend to you," he said quietly as they reached her chamber doors, "you must try and rest."

"Thank you Arthur," she replied in a low voice, finding herself suddenly drained from her confrontation with the King and everything that had occurred over the past few days. "And what about you, will you be alright?"

"I'll be fine," he answered brusquely, his voice conveying no such sentiment.

Morgana nodded in understanding, not wanting to press him further, "You know its laughable really," she said despondently, almost as an afterthought, "For all that Bhrón failed in her plan, one thing she has still accomplished… the Royal household has been split… and I'm not sure it will ever fully recover."

"Morgana," said Arthur solemnly, taking her arm for a second before she disappeared into her chambers, "we must be strong you and I… and count on each other. Agreed?"

Morgana smiled briefly at her adoptive brother, nodding her head in affirmation, "Agreed," she said as she held the door ajar, poised to close it behind her. She watched as Arthur gave a small satisfied nod and marched quickly down the corridor towards Gaius's workroom, his shoulders held rigidly and the weight of the recent revelations weighing heavily upon him.

Merlin scurried past, following quickly in his wake; as he went he turned to her momentarily, staring her intently in the eye and searching her face for signs that she was indeed bearing up as well as she claimed. He raising his eyebrows and tilted his head questioningly to the side, his earnest face conveying a hundred thoughts of concern in that one simple gesture. She gave as convincing a smile as she could muster; nodding that she would indeed be fine and sighed in relief as Merlin finally acquiesced and hurried off to catch up with his master.

With a deep breath she closed her chamber doors quietly behind her and turned to face the room inside. It felt like an age since she had been here, but glancing at the sun high in the sky she realised that it had been merely a few hours. Looking around her familiar surroundings, Morgana spotted the small, rectangular cushion still lying at the foot of her bed, the indentations clearly visible where she had been forced to kneel on it. Shivering involuntarily at the memory, she stooped quickly to pick it up. As she stood, a flash of movement caught her eye and with a jolt of surprise she came face to face with the young woman she had seen earlier in the throne room… Bhrón.

"You…" Morgana breathed with shock, as the red head before her smiled sadly at her and spread her arms to indicate that she meant her no harm, "What are you doing here?

"My Father gave you his apologies in the throne room… but I felt it necessary to speak with you myself," she replied, lowering the hood to her cloak as she spoke.

"And why should I listen to you?" Morgana retorted, clutching the cushion protectively to her chest as she stepped back up against her bed.

"Your feelings of animosity toward me are more than justified," Lamrieth answered, lowering her eyes away from Morgana's reproachful gaze, "You have suffered greatly at my hand and for that I am sorry."

The King's Ward studied the Scáthan woman before her for a few moments, sensing the sincerity in her words, "Just explain to me why," she said at last, "Why me?"

Lamrieth smiled ruefully at her, before hanging her head once more, "Simply because I happened upon you first, a few days ago in the market with your maidservant. I was consumed with inflicting revenge on the King, a slow and painful revenge and you were the perfect catalyst."

"Glad to have been of service," snapped Morgana bitterly.

"But I truly am sorry, if I had known then what I do now I would never have involved you."

"Known what?" she asked in surprise.

"Why… about your abilities of course!"

Abject terror settled in the pit of Morgana's stomach, her skin going pale with shock; until she remembered her conversation with Skoll in the throne room… he had known of her powers too. She had kept the secret of her growing abilities for so long that it was still so alien for another person to be talking so blithely about them. "So if I had been any other normal courtier, with no magical abilities, then you would have felt no compunction in seeing me whipped for your own designs?" she asked hotly.

"You misunderstand me Morgana," Lamrieth replied in a soft voice, "or maybe you do not, it is true, I cannot hide that I feel some affiliation to a fellow magical being… but hindsight is a wonderful thing and my Father has opened my eyes to the error of my ways. I regret my actions whatever your status."

The sincerity and honesty of her words touched Morgana and her eyes slowly softened toward the red-head. Sitting down on the edge of her broad bed, Morgana gestured for the other woman to join her, "Uther seems to have a natural ability at breeding enemies… his actions must have been devastating for you," she added gently.

"Uther's Sister, Constance, was my Mother…" she began, sitting down on the far side of the bed.

"Mother?" echoed Morgana in shock, the last pieces of the puzzle falling into place for her, "It seems I missed a great deal in the court room earlier… then that would mean that you are Arthur's cousin!" she exclaimed suddenly as realisation hit.

"Yes," Lamrieth replied simply, smiling softly at the irony, "It was quite a reunion."

"What happened to you… after that day," Morgana hesitated, not wishing to pry too deeply and upset her unexpected guest, "I mean… what led you back here after all these years?"

"The day of the banquet is one that will stay with me forever, I still do not know what was real and what was hallucinated," Lamrieth recounted, gripping Morgana's coverlet as the memories began to return to her, "I was a small child but I can remember the screams of my people so clearly; the ghoulish images and flashing colours haunt my dreams to this day… but mostly I remember the panic on my Mother's face as she tried to reach me from across the hall. Her fear scared me more than anything else - so I did the only thing I knew how… I hid in the shadow realm."

"Is that what you call it? The way you are able to disappear like that?"

Lamrieth nodded, taking a deep breath as she continued her story, "Five of us survived that day by hiding in the darkness, five young children terrified and afraid of returning to this physical world. We stayed huddled together in that place for months until we could hold out no longer, our fleshly bodies still needed feeding and one by one we found our way back. We survived that way for a while, foraging for food and then hiding once more among the shadows. We eventually found shelter with a group of Druids who raised us as their own… it was ten years before my Father found me again."

"Ten years…" echoed Morgana in sympathetic awe.

"It wasn't so bad a childhood," Lamrieth added, smiling at her recollections, "the Druids were kind to us, we were fortunate to find a group that adhered to the old ways and principles… they were a very wise people but some do unfortunately give them a bad name."

"Spurred on by the likes of Uther no doubt," replied Morgana darkly, "No wonder you have such hatred of him."

"My Father gradually told me all that had transpired that day… and what had become of my Mother," the Scáthan woman paused briefly, her voice heavy with emotion, "He tried to instil the Scáthan principles in me, not to allow hatred and vengeance to dominate your soul… but it was as if the anger I felt ate at me from the inside out and in the end I could not contain it any longer."

"I feel that way too sometimes," Morgana whispered, as if afraid that to say it aloud in private would still be enough to damn her, "seeing Uther murder one poor innocent creature after another, simply for possessing, or being linked with magic of any kind, is sometimes too much to bear."

Lamrieth nodded, searching the young Wards face for reassurance of her empathy, "Then you understand my actions… I believed that destroying Uther's family would be an apt punishment for destroying mine and the effect of it would be that much more painful than a simple stab to the heart… but I should never have taken his actions out on you… on any of you. Will you forgive me?"

"It is not a case of forgiveness but of understanding…" assured Morgana kindly, "who can say that I would not have done the same thing if I had been in your shoes?"

Lamrieth reached out and grasped her hand in her own, "Then it is enough," she said emphatically, her ice-blue eyes sparkling with gratitude as she rose and stepped toward the centre of the room.

"Will you return to your shadow realm now?" asked Morgana, her voice openly betraying the sadness she felt at seeing Lamrieth depart.

"I have one more visit to make before I join my Father in Scáthia," she replied cryptically, "There is another sorcerer not far from here that I must warn about a meddling Dragon."

"Dragon!?" exclaimed the King's Ward, her eyes growing wide in surprise.

"Do not fear," she replied soothingly, "his machinations were a mere trifle and they have been swiftly righted; you must not concern yourself."

"More secrets," said Morgana glumly, "I fear only that I shall be forever in the dark."

"Darkness is not your path my dear, I have seen to that," said Lamrieth reassuringly, though just as cryptically, a broad smile flashing across her face, "promise me only that you will trust in Arthur and the reign that he will bring with him. Listen to Merlin and Guinevere also, their council will prove invaluable."

"You're Father said much the same thing," laughed Morgana wryly.

"He is a wise man," smiled Lamrieth, "he taught me that our futures are our own, our paths are what we make them."

Reaching out, she lightly brushed her fingers over a sorry looking spray of flowers that had wilted from neglect over the past few days, her hand emitting a small glow of light as it passed. Before her eyes Morgana saw the flowers spring back to life, their petals growing full and plump once more and the leaves taking on a lush green glow.

"Your path is pure and fresh once more Morgana-"

"Was that ever in question?" interjected the raven haired woman in shock.

"You'd be surprise…" replied Lamrieth sadly, "we all have the capacity for darkness within us, as my own actions have regrettably shown; you must simply learn to listen to your own heart and compare the intentions of others to that standard and not be easily swayed. You have a new beginning, a clean slate… what you do with it is up to you," she counselled and no sooner were these words spoken than the solid form of her body dissipated into the shadows without warning, leaving Morgana still clutching the cushion to her chest and staring in awe at the bright flowers sitting happily in the vase on her dresser.

Reaching into the pocket of her skirts, she slowly withdrew the small silver box that she had secreted there earlier, tracing her fingers over the delicate carvings on its surface. A sudden shiver coursed through her and an odd sensation settled into her consciousness that she had narrowly avoided some dark misadventure written in the stars. It was strange… for all the anguish the young Scáthan had been intent on causing, and despite the aching pain that still stretched the length of her back, Morgana could not help but smile as she closed her fingers with determination around that tiny symbol of her new found abilities… and see the blessings stacked immeasurably in her favour.

*****

A/N – And that, as they say, is all she wrote :D Hope the ending didn't disappoint!

I just wanted to say a great big thank you to Foxie Roxie, FireChildSlytherin5, Pink Koala, White As Snow and of course Mnemosyne77 for being so amazing with your reviews from start to finish. There is nothing more encouraging than knowing some people are there giving advice and support right to the very end so thanks guys – you have been awesome! Here's to the next story….