Chapter Six; A Painful Interlude.

Time was infinite. It was as if it didn't exist. Days flowed into days, hours were spent looking into the future, as so very little time was spent awake, looking into the large open expanse of darkness, the swirl of blue, green and black, it took a lot to look up into the slightly lighter colours. Yet there was always the promise that after all this darkness there would be light once more. There had been blinding light before this dripping darkness, and there would be light once again. To get to the light seemed easy; loose all ties with earth and its being, fully accept life here; life in the lake.

Only for her this was so much harder, she still had Merlin, and it pained her to watch him hurting. That was why she appeared to him, she was there when he needed her, when she was there he was in trouble or in need of support, help and comfort. She had to nurture the gift she had given him, the part of his destiny he was accustoming himself to, and she was there along the way, and once he had fully accepted his gift he would no longer require her, though he may long for her, she would not be able to go to him. This was the hardest part, and the part she did not wish to tell him, for every visit she made to him, it was one less time she would see him.

She longed for the days when they would sit in their room, laughing and reading, playing with magic, making it seem innocent and harmless. Such cheerful memories, the way his eyes caught hers across the table, or how she would catch him watching her read, or folding washing, the way he always, always wished her goodnight and sweet dreams, and would then comfort her if she woke up from one of her nightmares; one of the visions she now witnessed every day. Only now there was not the warm arms of Merlin to encompass her, but the great expanse of cold water to envelope her.

Slowly she would loose these memories, eventually she would not have the time to recall them, even if she had the ability, though her gift had been to witness the past, her body would become a shrine to history, and her head and mind the fortress of the future. Of the future she would not live out, but witness in her dreams. She missed the feeling of solid ground beneath her feet, the firmness of it, the safety you felt; secure in the knowledge there wasn't anywhere far you could go. Now she was suspended in water, so fluid and changeable, she did not feel secure here, but knew it was part of her destiny, and was sure that should it come to it, the water would shelter and protect her in the same way it encouraged her power and gift.

Change could be good or bad, while this stage was painful and hurt others, she knew that there were better things to come. She had seen the future too many times to know that it all ended badly. Uther's reign would end, Arthur would become Camelot's king and hero, and though not everyone would witness the whole legend completely unfold, their destiny was to see it start, to set it off on its journey and they were doing their job, they were making their mark and keeping the legend on its gentle and ever so slightly fragile course. Laws would change, the unthinkable would become reality, and Camelot would become a place of virtue, justice, mercy and legend. And from time to time, the setting of such a legend would move from the great palace and would instead focus on an aquamarine lake, a short ride from the heart of Camelot, where emerald fir trees grew and beautiful flowers grew by their trunks in such fertile land. It was this place a great lady would call home.