A/N: Hi, everybody! Charlotte here! Yes, this is my first Merlin fan fiction, but I did not take on this task lightly. It's been bouncing around in my head for a very long time. I'm trying to stay as much to the actual storylines of the story as possible, with ONE VERY IMPORTANT CHANGE, which I think most if not all of you will like. :D It will also be a bit more mature than the show, obviously. Cheers!

-C

Krysia stretched, trying to remember the nightmare that had come to her that night, the one she'd been having all week. It had something to do with a painful loss, something or someone she loved very much being taken from her violently.

But that could even be a memory. It had already happened sevenfold.

"Good morning, Krysia!" Gaius called from the outer room. "Up, up, up!"

She groaned, turning over and clutching the bed sheet to her face.

"I need you to take an elixir to the Lady Morgana, and Sir Leon asked to see you when you awoke."

There was nothing for it but to get up, get dressed, and get to work for the day, so Krysia crawled out of bed and whipped her chocolate brown hair up into a quick, appropriate bun. She swiftly pulled off her nightclothes and called out, "I'm up!" so that Gaius didn't walk in on her whilst she was changing in order to see if she had actually gotten out of bed or not.

The familiar scratchy quality of the uniform of castle servants at Camelot was not Krysia's favorite part of her job, although she had had a more interesting time of her job than most servants, even the ones her age. Due to Gaius's caring for her and the closeness of him to King Uther, Krysia had been a childhood friend of Leon, Arthur, and Morgana. In fact, her job as a child had been to be a playmate to the Lady Morgana, and the boys just happened to be a part of that package.

With a quick splash of water on her face, Krysia went out to Gaius's work room and took the elixir that he had set on the table beside where he was making more medicine for some other well-born person in the castle.

"Good morning," she sighed. "What's this for?"

"None of your business," Gaius said without looking up at her, carefully measuring drops of some sort of oil. "Tell Morgana to take it twice daily and then if she has flare-ups."

"Flare-ups of what?" Krysia pressed cheekily, knowing full well that he wouldn't tell her.

"Sir Leon should be getting ready for the public sentencing," Gaius said softly.

She didn't look up, clenching her fists tightly around the elixir bottle and grinding her teeth together before she realized and stopped herself.

There would be no escaping the event after all.

"I'll be on my way, then," she muttered, gliding along the familiar stone corridors, trying not to think about her nightmare or about the living nightmare she would have to stand through once more. Once she reached the Lady Morgana's chambers, she knocked, waiting for Gwen to answer the door as she always did.

"Hey," Gwen said breathlessly. "She's just waking. Did-?"

"Is that from Gaius, Krysia?" asked Morgana's friendly, surprisingly cheery voice. "I'm changing, just pass it to Gwen."

"Right," Krysia said, passing the bottle into her friend's hand. "Gaius says twice daily and in event of flare-ups."

"Thank you, of course," Morgana said. "I'm sorry I can't be more hospitable-"

"Not at all, m'Lady," Krysia replied through the door, only half teasing with the title. "I have another errand to run. I expect I shall see both of you later in the day."

The other two girls chirped their goodbyes and Krysia made her way down to the armory where Leon was pacing nervously.

"Sir Leon," she said softly, smiling at her friend. "Gaius said you wanted to see me."

He looked up at her, frowning.

"The execution..."

His hands, his usually steady hands, were shaking.

"The sentence has yet to be passed," Krysia replied slowly, although they both knew her words were empty.

There could be only one sentence for the man.

"I just wanted to see you before I... before..."

Krysia just nodded, smiling forcibly as she moved forward and straightened out his cloak a bit.

"You'll be fine," she whispered. "This can't go on forever. The Purge didn't last forever. Sorcery will not continue."

The words tasted like ash on her tongue, but they seemed to soothe Leon, and he nodded, thanking her softly, telling her how she ought to be getting to the courtyard to watch.

But it was the last place on earth she wanted to be.

She moved out to the square and watched as various people took their places, including Uther as he moved to the balcony, right where she could see his face.

Was this how it had been when he had killed them? Was this how it had felt for onlookers on that day when their blood had been shed?

She shivered, grazing the faces in the square for anyone, anyone at all, who didn't seem to think that the man deserved to die.

"The laws of Camelot," Uther began, his voice strong and clear as Krysia recalled it always being when he meted out punishments that made her stomach churn, "are very clear. There is no room for questioning what is clear, and when it is made so very clear, there is only one answer I can give. Let this serve as a lesson to all. This man, Thomas James Collins, is judged guilty of conspiring to use enchantments and magic. And, pursuant to the laws of Camelot, I, Uther Pendragon, have decreed that such practices are banned on penalty of death. I pride myself as a fair and just king, but for the crime of sorcery there is but one sentence I can pass."

Krysia let her fingernails dig into the palms of her hands as Uther gave the order and the man, Thomas James Collins was executed before her very eyes.

The smell of the blood in the air, the feel of her empty stomach trying to send up a breakfast that she had yet to eat, the very tension in the square as the onlookers took in the event...

It felt so disgustingly familiar.

Before she had a chance to either flash back or process fully what was before her, however, Uther's voice was filling the air once more.

"When I came to this land, this kingdom was mired in chaos, but with the people's help magic was driven from the realm. So I declare a festival to celebrate twenty years since the Great Dragon was captured and Camelot freed from the evil of sorcery. Let the celebrations begin."

Krysia's hands began to unclench as she thought with mild despair of how much extra work this festival was going to mean for her, but before she'd even taken her nails completely out of her palms, there was a wailing across the crowd from her.

An older woman, disheveled and sounding like an animal in pain, cried out above the crowd, "There is only one evil in this land, and it is not magic! It is you! With your hatred and ignorance! You killed my son! But I promise you, before these celebrations are over, you will share my tears. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a son for a son."

"Seize her!" Uther cried and Krysia melted back against the wall, her heart pounding in her ears.

Arthur.

There was a mass of wind and smoke and when it thinned, the woman who had cried out, the mother of the dead man, was gone.

But her threat on Arthur hung on the air as the smoke that had not yet cleared.

Leon glanced over and met Krysia's eye and she shook her head, backing away along the wall, heading back into the castle, clenching and unclenching her fists, and trying to think of what might happen.

"Excuse me!" called a young man with dark hair. He looked like a country boy, a rucksack on his back and his hair disheveled. "Excuse me, miss!"

"Yes?" Krysia asked, trying not to think of the dozens of things she needed to be doing. She didn't want to be short with a stranger, no matter how busy she was.

"Can you tell me where I might find Gaius? He's the-"

"I know who he is," she said, smiling a little. "Follow me, I'm on my way there, anyway."

"Oh, great," he said lamely, smiling at her. "My name's Merlin, then, what's yours?"

"Krysia," she said automatically, leading him along the familiar pathways. "New in Camelot, then?"

"Just arrived," Merlin admitted.

She knocked on the door to Gaius's work room and led Merlin right in, moving straight across the room to the potions that had been lined up and labeled for her to deliver, not paying attention to the boy she'd just led in.

"Hello?" Merlin asked, looking around for Gaius.

Krysia turned around to find Gaius was about to fall off the bookshelf stairs he was standing on. She rushed forward, thinking to catch him, but was surprised when almost the moment after the railing broke, a mattress was underneath Gaius that hadn't been there before, breaking his fall.

For a split second, she thought she'd done it. Gaius obviously did, too, looking up at her with surprise, but she just shook her head, knowing she'd done no such thing.

Even in a panic, she would not have used magic in front of a stranger.

The past had taught her to be more careful than that, and the display in the courtyard had reminded her graphically.

"What did you just do?" Gaius asked the boy Krysia had brought in. Merlin looked to Krysia to be neither particularly sure what to say nor especially special, however with the way Gaius was looking at the boy it seemed as though he was something incredibly important and new.

"Erm," Merlin muttered, searching for some sort of answer.

"Tell me!" Gaius beseeched, his voice full of such urgency that Krysia had not heard in it since she was a very small girl.

"I - I - I have no idea what happened," Merlin finally managed to splutter, and Krysia nearly rolled her eyes at the poor response, sitting down to watch how Gaius dealt with this obviously naive novice.

"If anyone had seen that," Gaius said, glancing over at Krysia as if somehow it were her fault that this new boy had been so horribly stupid.

"Er, no!" Merlin cried. "That - that was - that was nothing to do with me. That - that was..."

"We're not stupid, Merlin, we know exactly what it was," Krysia said, smirking up at him, waving her hand and watching his expression as the mattress moved back to its original position.

"Krysia, you know better than that," Gaius chastised. "This isn't a game. And anyway, I just wanted to know where you learned to do it!"

"Nowhere," Merlin said simply.

From his earlier flustered lies, Krysia knew he must be telling the truth, but the idea was so immensely improbable that she had to try to find a way that he could have misunderstood the question.

For magic had to be learned somewhere. She would have gone mad if Gaius hadn't taught her enough to control her natural powers. And that was if she hadn't been discovered first.

"So how is it you know magic?" Gaius asked.

"I don't," Merlin said quickly.

"Where did you study? Answer me!"

The urgency was back and Krysia shivered a little.

"I-I've never studied magic or, or been taught," Merlin replied, obviously very concerned that he was going to be turned in, perhaps executed like the man Krysia had seen outside.

"Are you lying to me, boy?" Gaius spat.

"What do you want me to say?" Merlin cried.

"The truth!"

"I was born like this!"

Krysia blinked, stunned. That wasn't possible. Even she, with natural magical ability, she had to train extensively to pull off what Merlin had just done.

"That's impossible!" Gaius said, looking over at Krysia, then back at Merlin. "Who are you?"

"Oh, erm," Merlin began, pulling off his backpack. "I have this letter..."

"I don't have my glasses," Gaius said sharply, and Krysia stifled a giggle.

"I'm Merlin."

"Hunith's boy?" Gaius asked, a bit flustered and confused.

"Yes!" Merlin said, clearly grateful that he was finally recognized.

"But you're not meant to be here until Wednesday!" Gaius said, looking around for support.

Krysia cleared her throat and gave Gaius a sheepish smile before saying, "It's actually Wednesday."

"Ah, right then, you'd better put your bag in there," Gaius said, gesturing for Krysia to take his bag, which he did.

"You, you won't say anything about, erm..." Merlin looked around the room.

"Of course not," Krysia teased, levitating his bag across to the room she would be sharing with him.

"Krysia," Gaius said sternly, and her smile faded. "No, Merlin, I won't. Although, I should say, thank you."

/-/

Krysia sat down across from Gaius later that night, giving Merlin a bit of time to sit by himself in the room before bed. Gaius had just set aside the letter Merlin had given him earlier in the day and she raised her eyebrows at him.

"So, any answers in the letter?" she asked softly.

"It appears the boy is the impossible," Gaius said with a shrug. "He will need guidance, training and protection, of course, but his power has incredible lack of limitation that I can guess."

Krysia nodded, glancing at the letter.

"Everything has limits, Gaius," she said softly. "I expect you want me to show him the ropes, so to speak."

"At least be nice to the boy, Krysia," he said with a frown. "I know how you can be."

"I don't know what you mean," Krysia said loftily. "Besides, if he doesn't do anything too stupid he's going to need someone to keep him out of trouble. It's easy enough to get into around here."

Gaius pursed his lips.

"You would know," he muttered, turning back to the letter. "No teaching him magic, Krysia. You need to leave his education to me. Stick with social and work-related matters. Geography, who not to insult, things that young people need to know. Introduce him to some nice people."

"Why do you get to do all the fun bits?" Krysia asked, pouting. Gaius merely gave her a stern look, and she nodded.

"And I believe the Lady Morgana asked after this," he said, handing her a container. "So if you wouldn't mind taking it along to her?"

"Where do you expect she'll be at this time of night?" Krysia asked.

"The feast, I would imagine," Gaius said. "I'm sure you'll find her."

Krysia went down to the feast and glanced around, getting a wave and a smile from Arthur and Leon, who were having drinks together. She waved and smiled back, but then she left, unable to find Morgana. Uther passed her in the corridor on his way back to the feast and he seemed so angry, blustering along, that he didn't even see Krysia when she curtsied.

There was only one explanation of that: he'd been with Morgana.

Krysia went along slowly, looking for the dark hair of her childhood friend and found Morgana slowly making her way toward the feast with an expression of someone about to be sick.

"Lady Morgana," Krysia said, curtsying just to cheer up her friend. "Gaius told me you asked after this."

Krysia's callused hands passed the little bottle into her friend's soft, thin fingers.

"Thank you, Krysia," Morgana said, forcing a smile. "I'm sure to have nightmares tonight, what with..."

"I saw," Krysia said with a dark tone in her voice. "I blame Leon, actually. He asked after me and then all but told me to go and watch. I didn't really have much choice." She frowned. "I didn't ask Gaius, but you both recall that I gave you some of that this morning, yes? Surely you ought not double the dose..."

"I consulted Gaius first," Morgana said with a shrug. "This one's diluted, only a third of the strength. He said it shouldn't be enough to cause me any sort of harm."

The girls both nodded silently for a moment. Then, Krysia worked up the boldness to ask what was on her mind.

"I saw the king going down the corridor all in a huff," she said slowly. "I don't suppose that had anything to do with you."

Morgana's smile turned a bit cold, but she said, "Oh, he's upset with me because I want no part in celebrating the death of an innocent man."

Krysia raised her eyebrows.

"He did break the law, Morgana," she said gently. "Technically, that's all it takes to be guilty."

"Guilty of a crime, yes," Morgana muttered, checking around the hall for listening ears. "But a crime worthy of execution? Hardly. Who did he hurt?"

"I don't know, m'lady," Krysia said honestly. "I'm not aware of the details of the case."

"Well, let me enlighten you," Morgana said dryly. "He hurt no one. He was healing a sick cow from his herd and a neighbor saw. Hardly deserving of death."

Krysia hesitated. She certainly agreed with Morgana, but if she said as much now and later had some sort of falling out with her friend, whose moods changed like the wind, her own head could be lost in the same way. On the other hand, she had to say something.

With a deep breath, she finally said, "I suppose I wouldn't have made the same judgment, but it's really not my place to decide. Remember, Morgana, close as we are, I'm just a servant."

"That doesn't mean you're not human," Morgana argued for what seemed like the hundredth time. "It doesn't mean you don't have a right to make decisions, have opinions."

"Oh, making and having are one thing," Krysia replied with a wry smile. "It's the voicing and acting that cause all the trouble. Better to keep my head down unless there's something utterly important in the balance, like my neck, for example."

Morgana shook her head, glancing out the window.

"I certainly hope you never meet such a decision, then," Morgana whispered, and without another word the friends parted.