Perviously:

After what seemed like hours, the witch –Gwen- finally came rushing out of the room crashing into Nimueh causing them both to tumble onto the ground.

Pretending to be startled Nimeuh let her magic flare up, blowing out all the candles in the hallway before re-lighting them with a brighter intensity than before, nearly blinding herself in the process.

She sat on the ground looking like a deer caught between a hunter's crossbows studying the look of disbelief on Gwen's face.

Quickly getting up she turned and run as if the hounds of hell were barking at her feet, slowing down after by passing several corridors now that she was sure Gwen was too flabbergasted sitting on the cold stone floor to give chase after her.

:::

All in all, stage one of the plan had gone exceedingly well now all she had to do was wait for Gwen to approach her.

What better way than for Gwen to have someone to protect, to care about, to fell responsible for.

Nimueh slowly made her way out of the alcove she had taken to and made her way towards her room above the tavern.

On the other side of town (-30 minutes):

Merlynn was more tired that she originally thought (and she hadn't done anything except leaving Gaius' chamber to come back home) but she had to face the confrontation head on, it had already been a week and she doubted she could let all the unspoken words fester anymore than they already had.

Gaius' room was too busy to have any type of private discussion in; there were still knights who kept coming for their medicine not to mentioned any injured towns members … something could easily be overheard…

Hunith had left just a little after five to go stay in Gaius' spare room giving them a chance to talk which was actually reserved for her as the physician's assistant –or in a case of extreme emergency was given to a patient that required urgent and constant amount of care.

Both Lancelot and Merlynn waited in complete and utter silence at the dinner table while Gwaine finished preparing the evening meal. It was slightly awkward and falsely comforting, the banging of pots and pans was a familiar sound especially when it came to Gwaine's turn to cook but no matter how familiar the scene was it didn't hold the same sense of comfort it usually brought; firstly the air of joviality, friendship and acceptance was missing, there were no lingering sounds of banter between then, no inappropriate joke from Gwaine or the reprimand that usually followed from Lancelot.

In short although Gwaine had cooked over hundreds of meals in the house, the scene would remain awkward and stagnant as none of their usual dinners were followed by discussion of betrayal, loss of trust, underlying feeling of anger and resentment that was vibrating from both Lancelot and Gwaine.

Merlynn wondered on the smartness of her decision to face both men at the same time; was it better to go to war on two fronts all at the same time or would it have been better to face each of them separately, one after the other?

:::

Slicing the chicken pie into three equal pieces Gwaine made his way over to the table setting the plates down to be devoured.

"So a witch huh" Gwaine stated before taking a long gulp of his water, he had been tempted to change it to something more alcoholic like Lancelot had but there were some events in his life that he had to be sober for, and this was one of them.

Lancelot briefly glared at Gwaine for his tactlessness but didn't bother reproaching him; this situation was already filled with enough anger to begin with. Plus he wasn't sure how to begin the conversation either so Gwaine's opening was as good as any that he could come up with.

:::

Subtly inhaling a fortifying gulp of air Merlynn placed her fork down, this was going to be hard enough without her throwing up what she just ate.

"Will anyone mind a silencing spell?" she nervously asked before her eyes began to glow associated with magic, looking around the table and receiving looks of equal part awe, curiosity, discomfort, and acceptance plastered on both their faces. Merlynn silently scrutinised the emotions that danced across the men sitting on the other side of the table from her.

"I get it Merlynn- we get it-" Gwaine began calmly as the voice of reason.

"But it doesn't mean we have to like it. You didn't trust us… you never have" Lancelot interrupted, neither shouting or whispering his words, letting them just exist.

"Of course I trusted you, I trust you with my life." Merlynn quickly reassured them, almost like an automatic response or as if she says it to herself multiple times a day to convince herself of the lie Lancelot thought still scrutinising and studying her.

Lancelot quietly sat letting the rest of her speech wash over him, vaguely aware that Gwaine was making progress with her, he was too busy thinking about the past, every action he made since he meet her, every action she had taken, every word exchanged between them, every laughter, every joke, every tear, hug, even the silent, the feeling of camaraderie of family that she could evoke in him.

With each memory came an opportunity for her to have admitted the truth, for her to have trusted them and as the moments played out in his head Lancelot found himself getting angrier.

Coming back to what must have been a pause in the two-way conversation Lancelot watched as Merlynn silently pleaded reaching out and uttering the words that was sure to set him off "I trust you both"

"EXCEPT YOU DON'T!" Lancelot exploded, the normal quite and reserved Knight finally reaching his limit.

"I get it! You couldn't say because it was your life on the line but you have NOT trusted us. If you did, if you really did, you would have told us, you would have followed through and ACTUALLY TRUSTED us with your life. You may have your reason not to trust Arthur but you also found a reason not to trust Gwaine or I, despite the loyalty we have shown you, despite the years we have spent together. It may have been a stupid infantile reason but it still exist, in your mind, in your heart, there exist a reason not to trust us."

Lancelot paused in his speech to think over his next words, he knew with a matter of certainty that what was to happen here tonight will determine the fate of many things yet to come and he did not want anything left unsaid neither did he wish to let his feeling sharpened his tongue to the extent of causing any more damage to their friendship.

"I cannot believe that after all we have been through that you did not trust us, I have gone into battles knowing that I would survive because if I was to be injured that you would be there, that you would have my back and fight for my life. I have taken actions based on this belief and yet you found us, me, unworthy to keep your secret, to keep you safe.

You have been a sister to me in all but blood, I have trusted you with all my fears not matter how great or small… but you couldn't trust me with yours." Lancelot uttered in a small voice before standing up to leave.

Lancelot stood outside in the middle of the square staring at the moon for some time and letting the gentle breeze of the night wash over him, gently blowing away any negative feeling with them. He might have been hasty in leaving the way he had, in all honesty he would have thought that Gwaine would be the one to start a shouting match and to stomp off.

Half-way up the steps to the castle Lancelot noticed in passing one of the serving girl making her way back home, there was nothing odd per say about her, she seemed to be in good spirits even whistling along a tune but her appearance was enough to make Lancelot stop and stare.

He would initially think that it was the fact that she had she appeared rather scruffy with what looked like half of tonight dinner staining her dress and what he was sure was a piece of salad decorating her hair was the cause of his vague interest in the maiden, however in three months time Lancelot would realise that it was the grin on her face that had him stopping.

A grin that spoke of despair, devastation and complete satisfaction that the first two was occurring leading to the feeling of content coming of her in droves. In three months time, the similar grin would adorn her face as Gaius struggled to save the life of Camelot's prince however this time it would be complete with joy and delight.

:::x:::

As Lily -Nimueh - made her way out of the castle she couldn't help herself, the night had gone according to plan.

She might have a long road ahead of her but there was no doubt in her mind that Gwen would succumb to her wishes she could picture it all too easily, unable to help herself she felt a manic grin stretch across her face, the same grin that had one of the knights pausing to stare at her.

Not that it mattered anyway, the grin might have been a careless slip that belonged more to Nimueh that "Lily" however it was not enough to cause anyone to take a closer look at the character she was playing. Lily was a sacred, innocent little witch who wished more than anything to be "normal" her innocence will be the very thing to lead Gwen down the path to hell.

Nimeuh gently reminded herself of the character she had to play and settled herself back into the persona of a weaker, simpering little girl still well aware of the fact that the knight on the stairs was still staring at her; she was well aware of he was – she had done her research after all- although she had simply meant for Gwen to break up with him when the time was right Nimeuh could and would go so far as killing Lancelot if he got in the way.

Authour Note: Let me know what you think of Lancelot's reaction; i will love to know what everyone thinks of this chapter, whether "good", "bad", "meh", "over the top", "not in character", "yes i understand where is coming from... (Even if you are reading this like 8 months from now can you please drop me a review or a pm on what you think)

All questions will be answered and most messages replied to- thanks for the support, likes and favourites i receive for this story.

Now to answer some of the basic questions on why i wrote it like this:

The reason i have written it this way is because i believe that trust is trust... you either have it or not. To me personally the only one Merlynn trust is her Mum and Giaus she hasn't allowed herself to trust anyone for fear that they may turn against her, no matter how much she loves Gwaine and Lancelot as friend/brothers she hasn't trusted them (not really) and this is what Lancelot is realising ... i will explain more in other chapters from Merlynn point of view but it will be slow going.