Merlin knew none of this. He just knew he had done a bad thing.

Or possibly not, a bad thing, but he had caused problems. He couldn't entirely understand it. He wouldn't let his thoughts drift, which upset Arthur. Merlin could feel Arthur clumsily prodding at his mind, trying to find him, but Merlin couldn't say anything. Not about this. He was too confused to comment. He still clung to Arthur, he couldn't leave the house, and if he played outside he stayed on the patio, safely close to the French windows and the kitchen. He even felt reluctant to go towards his little patch in the garden where he had made things grow.

No, he thought to himself, he didn't make them grow. He didn't have to, the little plants did it themselves. It had been one of the strangest phenomenon's that he had encountered in the new world that Uther had introduced him to. In the other place, as Merlin now thought of it, trying not to let the dark thoughts encroach on his mind as he did so, he had been told to make things grow. It hadn't been as tiring as some of the other things, the bad things, had been, but as far as Merlin knew, in that tiny secluded world, he was key to making things grow.

He had felt quite angry to find out that it hadn't needed him at all. That the world got on with things without him. Merlin had kept that to himself, because everyone else had been so pleased to show him. Balinor had enjoyed him helping in the garden and Merlin hadn't wanted to upset him. And Gwen had enjoyed showing him things, and Merlin had liked that.

Then there was Arthur.

Merlin couldn't entirely explain what it had been about Arthur. But on that first night, he had sensed Arthur's hurt after the phone call he had received, and had gone to follow him. People had hugged Merlin, in the new house, mainly Morgana and Hunith. But when Merlin had felt the ripple of feeling coming from Arthur, he had reacted. Doing what seemed to be the correct reaction. And from that, the ripple had hit Merlin's mind loud and clear.

Now he sat quietly in Arthur's lap, while Arthur worked on his computer. He kept trying to talk to Merlin, but so locked up in misery that he couldn't respond. But he felt comforted being close to Arthur. It was the only thing keeping him calm. He tensed however as he heard the baying of the crowd outside. The camped out reporters had reacted to someone arriving at the gate. They weren't stupid enough to pass onto the grounds, where they would be trespassing. Instead they harassed the car coming through the gates, revving loudly as one got in the way, and the slow moving car inched forward to nudge them out of the way. As soon as the car had inched through the gates Gwen put her foot down and shot through, coming to a halt in the usual place she parked. The gates slowly clanked closed, as the group outside jostled, cameras clicking as they tried to get a shot of her. Gwen flipped her hoodie up over her head and scuttled to the door. Uther, who had heard the drama, opened it before she had reached the steps. She ran in and he slammed the door behind her. Gwen pushed her hood back and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Thank you."

"I thought I told you not to come in."

"You did tell me not to come in, but since the reporters are harassing my home, it makes no difference whether I am here or there. I'm probably better to be here in that instance, and anyway, routine is better for Merlin."

Uther shrugged, conceding the point without much hassle.

"Fair point. He's with Arthur and I don't know how much you will get out of him."

"Ok. Thank you."

"I need to go out. You stay as long as you are happy to. If it's impossible to get out you are welcome to stay overnight, we have spare rooms."

"I'll be fine. I'm not about to start hiding away now," Gwen said, a determined expression on her face. Uther felt a little sorry for her, although it wasn't as if he hadn't warned her. Everyone in Merlin's life was having their own picked apart. Gwen didn't have any skeletons in her closet, but she may have difficulty finding work, considering she had spent months tutoring Merlin, however good the reference Uther would give her. People's minds would be made up.

"You go up," Uther said to her. "Let Arthur know I've had to go out for a while."

"Of course," Gwen said.

Uther touched her arm in a gesture of thanks. Reaching up she put her hand over his, in understanding, in an apology, and between them one touch said more than any words could.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

What Mordred knew was a fact that Uther already knew. Bayard had given him what he wanted on the quiet, and Uther had got the scientists employed by the Camelot Foundation to confirm it. But he chose not to say that as he looked at Mordred and took the DNA sample from him.

"Why now? You didn't want to speak to me before," Uther said.

Mordred sat still, Uther could see the tension in him.

"I want to know. I want to know, will he be as bad as me?"

Uther frowned.

"That is personal choice, not genetics. And I think Merlin's recent actions speak for himself. You two are, ironically, the opposing forces in the ongoing debate."

Mordred winced, rubbed his right forearm with his left hand. Uther looked at the tattoos covering it. Merlin wasn't marred with the markings. The institute had clearly held off on that, instead scarring him up to see how he would heal. Merlin's healing had greater complications than that.

"So what do you really want to know; or tell me?"

Mordred hesitated.

"It wasn't a good place. What you said about it didn't even scratch the surface."

"I am very aware of that. Merlin was born there, I presume. A subject that didn't have any family to protect him."

"Do you...? Do you know what happened to Kara? He was born on the... she died the night he was born."

Mordred said that with certainty. There were probably many ways that Mordred could have found that out, but there was only one, if they were close, if they had bonded. Uther winced inwardly, remembering Arthur's own birth. He had felt Igraine's loss keenly, although there had been no magical connection.

"I'm not sure. There were no records of any deaths, but that didn't mean anything."

"That bitch Morgause needs to pay!" Mordred snarled, his fists clenching. Uther watched him warily.

"Could she be responsible for what happened to Kara?" he asked carefully, he didn't want to lead Mordred into saying anything, but he wanted to try and get some information out of this boy. Anything he did say probably wouldn't be much use in court, and his record would count against him, making his testimony unreliable.

"Yes!" Mordred hissed. "She would do it, if it served her purpose."

"In what way would it serve a purpose?"

Mordred glared at him and said nothing. Uther could see the anger in him, but didn't doubt that it emanated from hurt and trauma. He waited for an answer. Mordred couldn't seem to put what he wanted into words.

"Kara was.. different... special... she wouldn't have let anyone hurt her child. She would have fought Morgause."

"She'd have used magic against her?"

Mordred nodded. "It wouldn't have done any good. Morgause was stronger."

Uther felt a cold stirring in the pit of his stomach. Mordred looked back at him, his eyes taking on a tinge of sardonic amusement, despite his circumstances.

"Are you telling me that Morgause has magic?"

"She's a sorceress," Mordred said, with the derision of one who had been born with magic, and not someone who had learnt and studied.

"That's a serious allegation," Uther warned him.

"Doesn't stop it being true."

Uther had to concede that. He had never been able to confront the woman directly, although a number of the lawyers he had been using had seemed shaken by their confrontations with the woman. However, in the end it was hard for him to cause too much trouble.

"At the start," Uther said. "I wanted to know if there was any abuse of power, then I just realised there was abuse. It seemed more important to help the children, than try and trap the people hurting them. I thought one might be a consequence of the other but it proved harder than it seemed and it was better to extract the children than fight to discredit..." Uther paused.

"That's the way it ended up."

Mordred looked at him. His eyes steady, almost threatening as he said, with utter finality, to Uther.

"Deal with her, any way you can. Do not let that woman get her hands on my son!"