Diclaimer: I do not own Merlin. That belongs to the BBC.

Warning: Some characters are slightly OCC, especially Arthur but I've tried to stay as true to each character as possible.

Note: This takes place before the start of the current series (4)

Chapter One

Annabeth knew that they were coming for her. New and gossip spread like wild fire in the lower towns of Camelot and those who lived in the castle would surely have known about her… oddity for days before they acted to investigate it. Her only shock was that they had not come sooner for she expected them days ago. Never the less, when two Camelot guards came knocking at her door early that evening she was not the least bit surprised.

"In the name of the king, open up!" A guard bellowed as he pounded against the bolted door.

Sighing, Annabeth put a cork into the pipe of flowing water and dried her hands on her apron as she crossed the room to unbolt the door. Two helmeted guards burst into the room, narrowly missed hitting her with the door and started searching her house.

"Hey, you can't do that!" Annabeth protested, backing away into the table in the corner of the room where a small, sandy-haired boy was writing by candlelight, knowing full well that they probably could too."

"Ha! Hahahahahahahaha! On what grounds?" Annabeth spat, glaring at her prince.

"We've had reports from locals accusing you of witchcraft of sorts." Arthur glared at her.

"I wish." Annabeth snorted. In truth she knew why they were there and she found it all rather funny really.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Arthur asked sharply but Annabeth had turned her back on him to look at what the young boy was writing.

"Capital P and capital A. Remember always use capitals for names of people, places and titles." She told the boy quietly, squeezing his shoulder encouragingly.

"Excuse me! I'm talking to you!" Arthur shouted.

"I heard your question sire. I just chose not to respond." Annabeth said casually, gliding over to the sink where she began to use a soapy cloth to clean her dishes.

"How dare you?" Arthur asked outraged. "I should arrest you right now for your rudeness to royalty, insolence and impertinence!"

"If you arrest people purely on the fact that they're rude then almost every single citizen of Camelot would be in either the dungeons or the stocks right now sire." Annabeth commented, smiling to herself. "And," she added "should you put me in the stocks or the dungeons, you shall never find out what you desire to know from me."

"And what exactly-?"

"Sorry to interrupt your majesty but we've searched the entire place and it's clean." One of the guards reported.

"Very well. You may go and wait outside." Arthur dismissed them, irritated that they had interrupted. "As I was saying, and what exactly do you-?"

Arthur was interrupted again, this time by the entrance of a breathless Merlin stumbling through the doorway.

"Oh, hello stranger. Feel free to stumble into my house. I don't mind." Annabeth said sarcastically.

"Merlin, what are you doing here?" Arthur asked agitatedly.

"I asked you to wait for me." Merlin panted.

"Yeah, well I do have better things to do than wait around for you Merlin." Arthur retorted.

"Please, feel free to argue. I'll carry on with my dishes shall I?" Annabeth gave them both a fake smile before returning to her dishes, leaving the two to bicker. It wasn't until she pulled the cork out of the pipe that Merlin and Arthur were drawn back to reality.

"What is that sound?" Arthur asked, striding over to the sink.

"Running water, sire." Annabeth sighed. "Bright one you are, sharp as a spoon." She added under her breath.

"What was that?" He snapped.

"Nothing, sire. Nothing at all." Annabeth hastily replied.

"So how do you get this water to run? Magic?" Arthur asked in an accusing tone.

"No, sire. There is a barrel on the roof. I collect and clean rain water. There's a hole in the bottom of the barrel connected to this thing called a pipe which directs the water here." Annabeth explained.

"You, guard, is there a barrel on top of the roof?" Arthur shouted out of the open door.

"Yes sire. There are several sire." The guard confirmed.

"Did you come up with this idea on your own? " Arthur interrogated.

"You could say that sire. Personally, I think I'm just very good with water."

"What are you doing over here?" Merlin asked the young boy at the table. "May I see?"

"Miss Potter is teaching me to read and write sir." The boy replied, handing over his piece of parchment to Merlin. On it, scrawled untidily at least 20 times over, were the words Camelot, King Uther, Prince Arthur and Knights.

"You can read and write?" Merlin asked Annabeth interestedly, looking at the boy' words.

"Yes, it is hard to get anywhere in the world without such skills, even if no one will let me have any books to read." Annabeth drawled. Then, in a much sweeter and friendlier tone she added. "Tobias, you may go home now. I shall see you again tomorrow."

The little boy bowed to Annabeth and the Prince before getting his piece of paper back of Merlin and ran from the small house.

"So you teach them…" Arthur started.

"And their parents pay me a copper piece a week. It's a bit of a rip off my end actually." Annabeth shrugged, once more plugging the pipe. "But that's not why you're here sire, is it? You have accusations that I'm a witch. What will you do about that?"

"Do you deny that you are a witch?" Arthur asked boldly.

"Yes I do actually." Annabeth said huffily, turning around to face her "guests", drying a plate with a cloth. "Wise woman, maybe. Crazy woman, more than likely but witchy woman? No, definitely not."

"Prove to us that you're not a witch." Arthur challenged.

"How am I meant to do that?" Annabeth half shouted. Arthur opened his mouth to speak but she continued. "You know what? Prove to me you have a brain or that God is real and I will prove to you that I am not a witch."

"How dare you!" Arthur started to yell, moving into Annabeth's personal space.

"Arthur? Arthur, she's not a witch." Merlin interrupted.

"What?" Arthur spun around to face Merlin, who was reading the scroll with the allegations and accounts of Annabeth on it. Neither of them noticed Annabeth back away a few feet.

"Look, no one specifically said magic or witchcraft." Merlin pointed out.

"Well you don't need to say anything to imply it."

"But look! They've said things about knowing about things before their time and knowing things about the past. She's only been telling them stories!" Merlin explained.

"Oh you're- You've got to be kidding me!" Arthur flustered.

"Not only am I standing right here but I also have a name too you know Merlin. Learn it." Annabeth muttered, just loud enough for them to hear her.

"Is it true? Are you a storyteller?" Arthur demanded.

"You ask about it as if it is a noble and paid profession!" Annabeth laughed mirthlessly, putting a small stack of dishes back in a high up cupboard.

"Are you, or are you not, a storyteller?" Arthur repeated impatiently.

"No sire, I am not." Annabeth answered truthfully, now drying a cup.

"Then what the hell are you?" Arthur shouted, thoroughly annoyed at this wild goose chase.

"Lost and all alone, sire, that's what I am. I try to make a living any way I can because I have no clue who or where my parents are. I am desperate just like every other penniless citizen in this city! And I am trying my best to do something with my life before I sell myself to a filthy husband because I can do no better!" Annabeth lost control and threw both the cup and the cloth on the floor before storming out of her house.

"Well that went well." Merlin aid sarcastically.

"No one has ever spoken to me like that before. Never in my life. Not even Gwen!" Arthur said, staring blankly at the wall, evidently shocked.

"You aren't- you aren't going to punish her or arrest her, are you?" Merlin asked tenderly.

"No… we're going to follow her."

"We?"

"Oh shut up and come on." Arthur snapped, dragging Merlin behind him.

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