Chapter Text
Gold flashed once, a deep color that somehow lit the room. Candles glowed on the walls, and curtains shifted in unfelt breezes.
Arthur heard laughter behind him. He recognized the sound. He didn't want to turn around yet. He knew what would happen if he did.
Another voice joined in. There were indistinguishable words spoken, and then both voices were laughing at some joke. There were exclamations as they welcomed a third voice. A fourth one came into the conversation, the others quieting to allow them to be heard. They were quieter, an elder.
Arthur knew these voices. He knew who each laugh belonged to, which face would match the sounds.
More people came, all laughing. At first, they trickled in, but then they started coming by the dozens. He could still hear the same four from the beginning. They were the ones telling jokes, he knew from the indistinct words that led to guffaws and chuckles.
He couldn't hold back anymore. He turned around, turned towards the voices. He turned towards the people he knew he knew, who he could pick out of a multitude of thousands.
The breezes became a violent wind. The candles blew out and the curtains started snapping against the walls, some falling down or tangling in the others. The room went dark, and there was a large chaotic moment as the people within began to flee from him. He couldn't see them... besides their eyes.
Silver, gold, blue, red, green. All colors glowed as the flash Arthur originally saw did. Green and red were the first to disappear, blue and silver soon after. There was gold everywhere, though, almost moving in front of the other colors as a protection from his gaze.
Within moments, there were only four sets of eyes glowing in the darkness.
One was pushed away by the others, sent fleeing for safety by their peers' insistence.
One backed away sadly, slowly.
One backed away, stepped forward, shuffled, then ran away.
Only one set of eyes remained. The gold shone brightly in the light, and it didn't blink, didn't turn away. Fear, worry, so much pain , but not once did they falter or look away.
Arthur awoke with a start.
~ ~ ~
"Merlin, may I speak with you?"
Merlin and Arthur both turned towards Morgana's voice, finding her standing a little ways down the hall. Her expression was worried, but not enough to truly worry themselves. Merlin exchanged a look with Arthur, a head tilt signalling permission to leave the royal alone. The prince continued walking as the servant headed towards Morgana.
"Is something the matter?"
"Not here," Morgana muttered, grabbing his arm and tugging him into a nearby room. It was a guest room, not used by anyone for a good few months now. She swiftly closed the door behind them, locking the door and checking it's secure. Merlin allowed himself to become more worried, wondering what could be so important.
"Morgana." He drew her attention, doing his best to reassure her with his posture. "What's wrong?"
"I- I don't know how to tell you."
"You can tell me anything, Morgana," Merlin told her, smiling. "Trust me, I won't tell a soul if you don't want me to."
"Promise you won't think I'm crazy?" He nodded, expression falling into one more appropriate for her serious tone.
"I promise. Please, Morgana." His eyes searched her for some clue as to what she might say. "You can tell me anything." Their gazes met, and he saw the moment her resolve solidified.
"I have magic."
Merlin was quite pleased with how he reacted. Instead of fainting, flailing, or falling over, he instead widened his eyes in surprise and let himself lean back in his stance. Morgana waited anxiously for him to speak, something he currently found incredibly difficult. She... had magic. Uther's ward, one of his best friends, had magic and decided to confide in him.
"Merlin?" The fear in Morgana's voice jolted him out of his shock. He grinned hesitantly, barely daring himself to hope... but she wouldn't look so scared if she was playing a joke.
"You... have magic?" he asked, trying to fully wrap his mind around it.
"You don't believe me," Morgana said sadly. Merlin quickly waved his hands, expression becoming mildly panicked.
"No, I do! Really, Morgana, I- I do." He looked to the side, still hesitant in his words. "I just... don't know what to do." He looked back up, eyeing her reaction to his reaction.
"You believe me?" She was conflicted, knowing that she wanted, had asked him to believe her. But he could see a question gnawing at her. "Why?"
"Because-" He paused to think on why he immediately believed her. The answer was simple. "Because you're Morgana. You wouldn't lie about this, not to me. If you weren't certain, you wouldn't tell anyone, and if you were playing some great joke, you'd tell Arthur. If you say you have magic... I believe you."
"Oh, Merlin." Without thinking, Morgana pulled him into a hug, squeezing tightly as she let her relief show. He didn't freeze, of which he was proud, and instead he returned the gesture, wrapping his long arms around her. She pulled away rather quickly, realizing what she had done, but also not seeming to care as much as she normally would.
"So," Merlin sat on the nearby bed, leaving plenty of room for Morgana, "what made you know you have magic?" She took the invitation, settling across from him. She was almost as far as she could be, and Merlin knew it was because she didn't fully believe that he believed her.
"I- You know that I have trouble sleeping." He nodded in confirmation, despite it being well-known already. "Well, since I was little, I've had nightmares. And they haven't always been bad, but many of them are. And sometimes, I would wake up in the middle of the night from a particularly bad one." He nodded again.
"And those times, I remembered the nightmares a lot better, as sad as it is. And I found that often, something would happen..." She paused, and Merlin decided to fill the blanks.
"And it was what you saw." Her head jerked towards him, surprised. "You would see things before they happened, know what was to come. You still do. You see the future."
"Yes. How did you know?" Morgana was desperate for something to tell her what was going on. She knew it was magic, but she still had no idea what it was.
"Gaius mentioned Seers, once." Merlin looked towards the locked door, expression neutral. "He said that while what they possessed wasn't truly magic, not like a sorcerer, Uther considered it magic. Most people did. From what I now know, I would say you have the Gift of Prophecy, which is something you have to be born with."
"What do I do?"
"Well, for that I have to do some research. Gaius only told me about the different types of Seers, and what they could do. But I promise you, Morgana, I will do all I can to help you learn about your powers." He left his hand open between them, turning back and smiling at her. She smiled, too, as she took his hand. She was still worried, but not as much as she originally had.
"Why are you so calm?"
"Well, I- I mean- It's me, Morgana," he stumbled out. "I'm Merlin."
"Yes. You are." She let her smile grow a bit wider at that. "Thank you, Merlin."
~ ~ ~
Merlin finally met up with Arthur on the training grounds, watching the knights as they began warm-ups. He saw Leon attempting to fix several of the newer ones' stances. Arthur turned towards the grinning manservant, who simply grinned wider at the look send his way.
"And what exactly has you so happy?"
"Oh, it's just a beautiful day, isn't it?" Merlin gestured towards the sky as he spoke. It was indeed a sunny day, with not a cloud in sight. Actually, Arthur found that rather strange. Earlier, there had been clouds dark enough to guarantee rain. They'd cleared up, but no one had paid that much mind beyond a small moment of gratitude.
"It is." Normally, he would add on that Merlin would now have to train with the knights, or wash something, but instead he decided to simply start his men on their one-on-one matches. It was a credit to how distracted Merlin was that the servant didn't comment on it.
The day went on as it usually did afterwards, with meetings to attend, and duties to attend to. Gwen took note of her friend's strange mood, briefly noting it as similar to Morgana's sudden relief. What sort of relief, she didn't know, but she assumed it was because of Merlin. He was always doing such things. Gaius also wondered after his ward's constant smile throughout the day.
But it was Merlin. Merlin was strange, and that was just how he was. He'd go back to his usual self in a day or two, although no one really minded the happiness in his eyes or the spring in his step.
~ ~ ~
The night had fallen deeply when a disturbance came. Merlin snuck his way through the castle, careful not to alert any guards. He swiftly made it to his destination, the secret passages and tricks of servants coming to aid him.
The library was locked, but that never stopped him. He was inside and relocking the doors as a precaution within a minute. Then his true task began. A search for information.
There were thousands of books in the library, and only a few of them would hold the answers he sought. He cast a rather long spell, but the carefully prepared words allowed him to at least find an area to begin in. Seers would've been wiped from the records, but Geoffrey knew that Uther wasn't likely to check every book. A careful rebinding was all it would take to hide most of them from scrutiny.
It took the entire night to find three books, albeit very large books, that contained information on Seers. Only one of them had information on the Gift of Prophecy, and it was that one that Merlin snuck back out, leaving the others where he'd found them. He didn't bother going back to his room, knowing it was too late, or rather early, for that. Instead, he headed silently up the stairs to Morgana's chambers.
Without knocking, he slipped inside, averting his eyes from where the noblewoman slept and focusing on her table. He placed the book on top of it, casting another spell to change the title.
The Tales of Lord Falcon now rested in plain view of a soon-wakeful Morgana, and with that, Merlin slipped back out, rushing off to get an early start on his duties.
~ ~ ~
"Milady, what's this?" Morgana looked over from where she sat on her bed, eyes locking on the book. She hadn't gotten it herself, and it hadn't been there when she went to sleep. The title caught her eye. Falcon? She smiled warmly, realizing who it was from.
"It was something I decided to pick out. I'd heard that stories can help you have better dreams if you read them before bed."
"What sort of stories?" Gwen asked curiously, not daring to look without permission but wondering all the same.
"Stories of servants, nobles, knights. There's one-" She paused. Merlin might not be too pleased by this, but she needed to act like she's actually read the book. "There's one about a servant who helps a noblewoman hide that she can See the future."
"I'd love to hear that story."
"I'll read it to you when I finish. I don't know how good it is, yet."
"Thank you, milady." Gwen bowed, before beginning to help her mistress get ready for the day.
~ ~ ~
Merlin and Morgana sat hunched over the book together, heads nearly knocking as they read. Or tried to read, in Morgana's case. The book was sadly in Irish, which she didn't yet know. Merlin decided to teach her as they went, although now was not the time.
"So, right here it says that a journal will help."
"What type, though?"
"Well, you write down your dreams. Every time you remember a dream, every time you wake up, no matter where or when, you record them. Then, when you're in a more lively part of your day, like the afternoon, you go over them, figure out which ones seem realistic, and which ones most certainly aren't. You can't discredit any for good, but it's a way to see which futures are possible and which are plausible.
Plus, if you always think about them later in the day, when you have time, then you'll be able to get in the habit of writing them down, and then ignoring them until morning. Which, after a while-"
"Will help me sleep better," Morgana finished hesitantly.
"Exactly."
"And what if that doesn't work?"
Merlin grinned as he flipped to the back, before turning the book more towards her view.
"Potions?"
"Non-magical potions," he adjusted. "Which is to say tonics. Medicine. They're sleeping draughts, but made specifically to allow a Seer of your sort to rest. There's also several that are supposed to prevent unwanted magical outbursts, which can occur after particularly strong visions."
"I could use magic? Accidentally?" Her hands began to twitch in worry.
"Well, perhaps. But that's exactly why they included these." He pointed again. "There have never been many Seers, especially not with the Gift of Prophecy, but there have been enough."
"Do you think you could make some?"
"I think so, though I'll have to make it when Gaius is on his errands, and some of these take a few hours to make."
"What if you did it here?"
"Gwen would surely notice."
"I can tell her you want to practice without Gaius breathing down your neck. Especially since we all know about what happened with Mordred. It would make sense that you'd want to learn more."
"Alright. Looks like you'll be seeing more of me for a while. I think it'll take a few days to get all the ingredients and sneak some equipment, more if Gaius gets suspicious."
"Merlin," Morgana cut him off before he could start rambling. He turned to her in curiosity. "Thank you."
"Of course. Anything for a friend." He smiled back.