Merlin and I walked through the countryside to Camelot in the heat, our packs heavy. Mother had told us to only take what we would need not what we wanted, we could acquire those later. We walked over many hills and stayed off most of the paths, just as we were told. When we camped, Merlin made our fire while I made sure we were safe.

When we entered Camelot we walked towards the palace into the square. When we got there the king was making a speech.

"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." he gave a hand signal and the man was beheaded. The crowd gasped at this action and I grabbed Merlin's hand, we had to be careful here. "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." A woman then came out of the crowd screaming in agony.

"There is only one evil in this land, and it is not magic! It is you! With your hatred and your 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." She threatened the king.

"Seize her!" the guards ran towards her but she said some spell before disappearing in a whirl of wind and smoke.

After the incident in the square, Merlin and I entered the palace and addressed a guard.

"Where would I find Gaius, the- the court physician?" Merlin asked. The guard pointed in the direction we were supposed to go in and we went. When we got to the physician's quarters we walked in and looked for the man mother had told us about.

"Hello?" I called inside. Merlin pointed to a man one a bookshelf upstairs.

"Hello? Gaius?" Merlin called to the man. When he didn't answer Merlin cleared his throat. Gaius tripped over backwards from the bookshelf stairs and the railing brook behind his foot. I watched in terror as he fell when all of the sudden a mattress appeared under Gaius making him hit it before he hit the floor; I sighed a breath of relief.

"What did you just do?" Gaius asked suddenly getting off the bed.

"Erm..." Merlin and I stuttered over what to say, we've had to hide his magic before but normally we could easily run away before they could question us.

"Tell me!" Gaius ordered.

"I- I- I have no idea what happened." Merlin tried.

"If anyone had seen that..." Gaius warned.

"Er, no! That- that was, that was nothing to do with us. That- that was..." I tried providing an explanation, but how do you do that with what had happened?

"I know what it was! I just want to know where you learned how to do it!"

"Nowhere." Merlin told him honestly.

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

"I don't." Merlin told him, I just gave him a look from the corner of my eye. Not even here a full day and we already blew the magic secret. We weren't gong to last very long in this place.

"Where did you study? Answer me!" Gaius demanded of Merlin.

"I- I've never studied magic or, or been taught."

"Honestly, sir. He hasn't ever had any teachers, I should know. I've been with him nearly my entire life." I tried helping him. His mother was kind enough to give me a roof over my head when she found me wandering the woods, starving, cold and alone; I had to try and help the boy who became my brother and friend.

"Are you lying to me?" Gaius gave us a look as though daring us to lie to him ever.

"What do you want us to say?" I asked finally, tired of all this question and answering.

"The truth!" Gaius answered me.

"I was born like this!" Merlin revealed.

"That's impossible! Who are you?" the look on his face showed that he didn't believe my brother.

"Oh, erm..." Merlin pulled off his backpack which held the letter from our mother. "I have this letter." Merlin gave the letter to Gaius after pulling it out of his bag.

"I- I don't have my glasses." Gaius told us.

"I'm Merlin and this is my sister, Elizabeth." Merlin introduced us.

"Hunith's children?"

"Yes!" Merlin and I both said excitedly

"But you're not meant to be here till Wednesday!" Gaius said. Was he scolding us for being on time? Or did he just loss track of the days?

"It- it is Wednesday." I told Gaius, looking at him worriedly

"Ah, right then. You better put your bags in there." he pointed to a room behind him.

"You- you won't say anything about, erm..." Merlin asked, if mother trusted him then so should we, right?

"No. Although, Merlin, I should say thank you." we all smiled at each other then Merlin and I made our way to our new room. Inside the room were two beds, one on each side, and a couple of wardrobe for our belongings.

"We will have to ask Gaius for a sheet or something to cover our sides, wouldn't want to see each other dressing." I told him looking around the small area. It was small but perfect for the two of us.

"Yeah, that would be weird." we both laughed at the thought. Many people back at the village had said we would make a good couple, but we were to close to each other. We were sibling in all but blood.

The next day, Merlin woke up gasping in our new bed chamber.

"Are you okay?" I asked him worry all over my face.

"Yeah, just thought I heard something, that's all." We pulled the sheet Gaius had given us closed and changed out of our dirty clothes and into clean ones. ( /store/clothes/medieval-natural-linen-tunic-dress- anne-of-kiev) and entered the Physician's Chambers.

"I got you water. You didn't wash last night." Gaius told Merlin, he had reminded me to do so the night before.

"Sorry." Merlin apologized, we sat next to each other at a small table.

"Help yourselves to breakfast." Gaius pointed to a pot on the table in front of us. We put the watery porridge into bowls and started eating it. Gaius then knocked a bucket of water off the table and Merlin quickly stood and stopped it from stopping with magic. Gaius gasped at what he saw and we all looked at each other before Merlin let it drop.

"How did you do that? Did you incant a spell in your mind?" Gaius asked him.

"I don't know any spells." Merlin told him, he'd been like this for as long as I can remember.

"So what did you do? There must be something." Gaius was so sure Merlin did something to do with a spell

"It just happens." I told Gaius as Merlin got a mop to clean it up.

"Well, we better keep you two out of trouble. You can help me until I find some paid work for you. Here." Gaius held a small sac on the table in front of us. "Hollyhock and Feverfew for Lady Percival, and this is for Sir Olwin. He's as blind as a weevil, so warn him not to take it all at once."

"Okay." We said while I took the sac.

"And here." Gaius handed Merlin a plate with two sandwiches on it. We smiled at him as we took them. "Off you go. And Merlin, I need hardly tell you that the practice of any form of enchantments will get you killed." Merlin nodded and we went on our way. We ate the sandwiches as we walked down the Physician's Corridor and through the Square to deliver the medicine. We knocked on a door and a squinting old man answered the door.

"Erm, I brought you your medicine." Merlin said handing it to him and we started walking away.

"Oh, and Gaius said don't drink it all at…" I started not noticing Sir Olwin had started drinking it until he was done.

"I'm sure it's fine." Merlin said, pulling me away. We decided to explore the grounds after that. The town was small but all the people seemed to have felt safe inside the walls here, many people laughing and joking with each other. Children running around playing, it was peaceful. It felt as though I had been here once before, but I had no memory of it.

"Liz?" Merlin stopped me from going farther.

"Yeah?"

"You okay? You seemed to be somewhere else."

"I'm fine, let's just keep walking." I walked towards a drawbridge, Merlin running to catch up with me. I noticed a group of knights with a boy in front of them.

"Hey, what do you think they're doing?" I asked Merlin pointing them out to him.

"Probably training, but I don't know why the other one is there."

"He must be a serving boy, probably for the one in front."

"Where's the target?" The blonde boy in front asked the servant while the group behind him laughed.

"There, Sir?" He was scared of them, that was sure enough to see.

"It's into the sun?" The leader told him.

"But, it's not that bright." He wasn't wrong; the sun wasn't at its strongest point yet.

"A bit like you, then?" the leader insulted him and the knights laughed. Being a servant, the boy couldn't do anything about what was said and just looked at the ground for a moment.

"I'll put the target on the other end, shall I, Sir?" he asked, trying to be helpful. He picked up the target and started walking it to the shade for the pampered nobles. The leader of the group started picking up daggers smirking at the boy.

"Teach him a lesson. Go on, boy." A knight egged on the leader.

"This'll teach him." He told them playing with the daggers in his hand

"Yeah." Another knight laughed.

Haha. Teach him a lesson." I just shook my head at what they were doing, but since my station was about as high as a servant I had to hold my tongue. That was the way of the world, the royals and nobles got to do whatever they wanted while everyone else had to obey. The leader of the group threw a dagger at the target as it neared its destination.

"Hey! Hang on!" the boy jumped.

"Don't stop!" he commanded. The boy took a few steps back thinking that's what he meant. I had a feeling he was wrong.

"Here?" he asked.

"I told you to keep moving!" he threw another dagger and the boy started shuffling his feel it as he threw more dagger.

"Come on! Run!" the boy tried moving faster but the target was weighting him down.

"Do you want some moving target practice?" the leader asked the knights behind him. The boy finally dropped the target and it rolled over to us. Merlin put his foot on it and he couldn't pick it up.

"Hey, come on, that's enough." Merlin said looking at the leader.

"Oh, boy." I mumbled to myself, my bother the idiot.

"What?" the blonde walked up to us.

"You've had your fun, my friend." Merlin said smiling at him.

"I think we should leave now." I whispered to Merlin hoping to pull him away.

"To late now, do I know you?" he asked looking at both of us.

"Er, I'm Merlin. This is Elizabeth." He said holding out his hand.

"So I don't know you." He said ignoring the hand my brother held out. Merlin put his hand down knowing the man in front of us would take it.

"No."

"Yet you called me "friend."" The man said pointing out his words.

"That was my mistake." Merlin said smiling at him still.

"Yes, I think so."

"Yeah. I'd never have a friend who could be such an ass." Merlin started walking away from the group with me behind him.

"Or I one who could be so stupid." Merlin stopped walking and turned back to the man. I just shook my head at the stupidity of the male species.

"Tell me, Merlin, do you know how to walk on your knees?" the blonde asked.

"No."

"Would you like me to help you?"

"Please, sir. Can't we be on our way? We're new here and my brother is a bit of an idiot." I told him, but both men ignored me.

"I wouldn't if I were you." Merlin told him still smiling.

"Why? What are you going to do to me?" the blond chuckled at him.

"You have no idea."

"Be my guest! Come on! Come on! Come oooooon." The blonde egged him on. I stepped in front of my brother facing him.

"Merlin, no! You don't even know who he is." Merlin just pushed me aside and took a swing at the man but he caught it and bent his arm behind his back.

"I'll have you thrown in jail for that." The blonde told my brother holding him.

"What, who do you think you are? The King?" Merlin asked struggling.

"No. I'm his son, Arthur." Arthur then took Merlin out at the knees. As promised, Arthur had him thrown in jail. I just sighed and shook my head watching my brother leave. I opened my mouth to say something, but closed it opting to bow my head slightly to the prince before leaving to tell Gaius.

"Wait." I turned to see the prince following me.

"You had something you wished to say, my lord?" I asked respectfully when he caught up with me.

"He said your name was Elizabeth, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Who are your parents?"

"Birth or adopted?"

"Adopted? What do you mean?"

"Merlin's mother found me when I was about 10 years old, and I have no memories from before being found by her. The only thing I know for sure is my name."

"And what is it? Your name."

"Elizabeth Ainsworth. Why?" I asked.

"Ainsworth?" he stopped and looked at me curiously.

"Yes?" I stopped and looked at him.

"Their used to be a royal family with that name, could you be related to them?" he asked.

"Depends on if they had a daughter around my age and if I am, then why am I where I am now?" I walked away from the prince with all these questions in my head.

The next day Gaius and I walked down to the dungeon to get Merlin out.

"Merlin!" Gaius called. The guards opened the cell and we walked in.

"You never cease to amaze me! The one thing that someone like you should do is keep your head down, and what do you do? You behave like an idiot." Gaius said to him.

"I'm sorry." I smiled at him slightly.

"You're lucky. I managed to pull a few strings to get you released." Gaius told him.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" Merlin was so excited about getting out I'm surprised he didn't jump up and down. I laughed at him while Gaius gave him a disapproving look. "I won't forget this."

"Well, there is a small price to pay." Merlin looked confused at Gaius.

The price Merlin had to pay was to be is in the stocks for some time being pelted with rotten fruit and vegetables by the people in the town.

"Oh, no." Merlin ducked his head so his face wouldn't get covered with the food while Gaius and I laughed at him before walking away.

"Elizabeth!" I turned around to see Prince Arthur running up to me, Gaius gave me a strange look then walked away.

"Prince Arthur, what brings you to the town today?" I asked him as we started to walk.

"I spoke to my father and he remembers the Ainsworth family well. They had a daughter born close to when I was. He wishes to meet with you at the celebration feast."

"Sure, I don't see why not. Sadly, he will have to see me in a plain dress. I don't really have anything formal for the celebration." I told him with a small smile on my face.

"I'm sure we can find something for you." I almost laughed at him.

"And how are we going to do that? Are you going to sew it, my lord?" I could almost picture it and laughed a little.

"No, of course not, my father has decided to have a dress made for you. Will you accompany me to the palace?" he asked. I nodded my head and we continued walking. We talked about all sorts of things, but mostly about our different upbringings.

Later that day, Merlin and I were walking across the Square and passed Arthur and his gang as we walked through the LowerTown. I was telling him about what Arthur had told me and how scared I was about it. He was about to tell me something when Arthur started talking

"How's your knee-walking coming along?" Arthur asked Merlin but we kept walking away from the fight. "Aw, don't run away!" Merlin stopped and turned around.

"From you?" Merlin asked him.

"Oh no." I mumbled to myself.

"Thank God. I thought you were deaf as well as dumb." Arthur said sighing.

"Look, I've told you you're an ass. I just didn't realize you were a royal one." Merlin said. Arthur then looked at his men behind him. "Oh, what are you going to do? Get your daddy's men to protect you?" Merlin taunted.

"I could take you apart with one blow." Arthur laughed at him.

"I could take you apart with less than that." Merlin warned him.

"Are you sure?" Arthur asked him, his smile still on his face.

"Come on, then."

"Fight." The men egged them on. Merlin took off his jacket and gave it to me as Arthur laughed.

"Here you go." One of Arthur's knights handed him a mace, which he tossed at Merlin, but Merlin, having never really handled a mace before, didn't catch it. He picked it up to see Arthur swinging his mace with ease.

"Come on, then. I warn you, I've been trained to kill since birth." Arthur told him.

"Wow, and how long have you been training to be a prat?" Merlin taunted him.

"You can't address me like that." That sounded as though he was trying to teach Merlin about how to speak to the royals. It would have seemed nice had Merlin heard the same thing.

"I'm sorry. H-How long have you been training to be a prat, My Lord?" Merlin gave a little bow and Arthur smiled a perturbed grin before starting to swing the mace at Merlin.

"Come on then, Merlin! Come on!" Arthur backed Merlin into the market stalls and the crowd continued to gather with me in front. Merlin then fell down.

"Haha. You're in trouble now." Arthur told him still swinging the mace.

"Oh God."

"Merlin!" I shouted as he looked around for something to help him. Arthur's mace then entangles with a couple of large hooks. Arthur untangled it and attacked again backing Merlin up again. Arthur then stepped into a box having it hit his shin making the crowd laugh.

"OW! Argh!" Arthur cried out in pain. Arthur went after him again only to trip and fall over dropping his mace. Merlin picked the mace up and started swinging it at Arthur

"Do you want to give up?" Merlin asked him.

"To you?"

"Do you? Do you want to give up?" Arthur backed up, catching his foot in a bucket and fell over backwards. Merlin, thrilled by this victory, looked up and spotted both Gaius and I and paused. Arthur attacked him from behind with a broom, knocking him to the ground. Guards picked up Merlin but Arthur stopped them from taking him to the dungeons again.

"Wait. Let him go. He may be an idiot, but he's a brave one. There's something about you, Merlin. I can't quite put my finger on it." With that the prince walked away and the crowd dispersed. Gaius, Merlin and I walked back to our chamber.

"How could you be so foolish?!" Gaius asked when we got back to our chambers.

"He needed to be taught a lesson." Merlin told him.

"Magic must be studied, mastered, and used for good! Not for idiotic pranks!" This was going to be an interesting lecture. I sat at the table watching the two of them argue.

"What is there to master? I could move objects like that before I could talk!" Merlin countered him.

"Then, by now, you should know how to control yourself!" Gaius yelled back.

"I don't want to! If I can't use magic, what have I got?! I'm just a nobody, and I always will be. If I can't use magic, I might as well die." Merlin went off to our bed chamber and I followed soon after. I laid his head on my shoulder. Even though he was taller than I was, everyone needs a should to lay on every so often. Gaius entered the chamber not to long later with a basket.

"Merlin? Sit up. Take your shirt off. Elizabeth if you wouldn't mind leaving for a bit."

"Of course not, the King is paying for me to have a dress made anyway. I'll be back later." I walked out to find someone.

"Elizabeth." I turned to see Arthur.

"Three times in one day, to what do I owe the honor?" I asked him.

"I was going to send someone for you but here you are."

"Yes, here I am. Whom am I supposed to meet with about the dress? Merlin is being treated for his bruises right now so I had a chance to pull away." I said giving him a look.

"Yeah, sorry about that but he had to be taught a lesson." I laughed at the phrase. "The royal tailor is this way." He led me to the tailor in silence. It wasn't as long of a walk as I expected and the tailor immediately started her work and Arthur left us to our conversations of dresses, designs and colors.

The next morning we woke to Gaius shouting at us.

"Oi! Have you seen the state of this room?!" I looked at the different sides of it. There had seemed to be an invisible line drawn where Merlin had clothes thrown all over the place while I did not.

"It just happens." Merlin tried.

"By magic?" Gaius asked skeptically.

"Yeah."

"Yes. Well, you can clear it up without magic. And then I want you to get me some herbs: henbane, wormwood, and sorrel. And deliver this to Morgana. Poor girl's suffering from nightmares." Gaius tossed some clothes at Merlin.

"Mmm, I know the feeling."

"What does that mean?" I asked him and he told me the story of his meeting with the dragon.

"That must have been weird, being told your destiny." I said pulling the curtains so we could dress in privacy.

"Next time I'll take you with me so you can meet him, maybe you have some big destiny." I laughed at him, why would I have a destiny? I didn't even know who I really was anymore." I after I dressed I left to go back to the tailor to finish the dress. Even though a rush job had to be placed on it, I just knew it would be one of the most beautiful gown I'd ever owned.

(The dress: user/xmrsdanifilth/media/Medieval%20Renaissance%20 Victorian%20Clothing% .html Her hair: . /-FSt-KsF1gjA/UVx0k8Ux0aI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/r_SnxqRdwvI/ s1600/Prome_ )

As I entered the banquet hall I walked straight at Merlin and Gaius. I glanced at Arthur and saw all his men stare.

"God have mercy." I heard him say.

"Hello." I greeted Gaius and Merlin.

"Who are you?" Merlin joked. I laughed and swatted his arm.

"I'm going to go get a drink, I'll see you later?" he nodded and I left.

"Elizabeth, you look well."

"Thank you, so do you."

"Would you like to meet my father?" I looked down and breathed deeply.

"I'm nervous about that. What he says could change everything about my life."

"I don't think that'll happen. At most you get a new station in life, new chambers in the palace and more family." He smiled at me.

"You know, you can be sweet when you want to be." I smiled up at him. He smiled at me and held out his hand for me to take. I put my hand in his and he led me to his father.

"Father, I'd like to introduce Elizabeth Ainsworth." I bowed respectfully to him.

"Your majesty, It's an honor to meet you." He smiled at me almost, it seemed, in shock.

"Ah, yes. Miss Ainsworth. Arthur tells me you don't know anything about your family." He said, I think he was trying to grasp what I knew.

"If my family is who he believes it to be, then no, I have no prior knowledge of them. Prince Arthur also said you might know if I belong to the Ainsworth family you knew?" I asked him. I had hope that they were but also feared it. Would Merlin and Gaius look at me differently is they were?

"I believe you are, you're the spitting image Queen Alexandra, except your eyes. King Robert had the same eyes you do. I have no doubt you are their daughter, but I'm sorry to inform you they died 11 years ago. I always assumed you had died with them. I wished you remembered how you survived." He told me.

"I just wish I knew them." He smiled sadly at me. "Come, we shall add another chair at the head table." He motioned for a servant to add another place setting next to Arthur's place. The king walked away to mingle with other while Arthur and I stood and talked some more before the entertainment was to begin.

"So it's Princess Elizabeth now. I said you'd rise in station." He told me.

"Yes I went from servant to royalty in one night. The tailor is going to have a lot of business from me. I only have my normal dresses." We laughed together then noticed the king signaling us to take our seats. Arthur once again held out his hand and I accepted it. He led me to my seat and sat next to me as his father remained standing to introduced Lady Helen.

"Before we continue with tonight festivities, I would like to introduce Princess Elizabeth Ainsworth, who, until now, was believed dead after her family was killed by an evil sorcerer. She will remain here, under my care until she sees fit to leave. We have enjoyed twenty years of peace and prosperity. It has brought the kingdom and I many pleasures, but few can compare with the honor of introducing Lady Helen of Mora." He sat and we all applauded as the music began. When Lady Helen began her song it thought I had felt something but ignored it. Soon the court member began nodding off to sleep, the royal family, Morgana and I included. When we woke we had to pull off cobwebs, everyone muttering to themselves about how odd this was. Uther and Arthur stood up to see the woman who threatened Arthur's life lying on the floor. She raised herself up enough and threw the dagger at Arthur. Merlin pulled him out of harm's way towards me. The dagger slices into Arthur's chair as we fell to the floor and the woman died. Merlin and Arthur got up and both boys helped me up. We all stared at Merlin.

"You saved my boy's life. A debt must be repaid." The King told him.

"Oh, well..." Merlin stuttered and I smiled proudly at my brother.

"Don't be so modest. You shall be rewarded." Uther insisted.

"No, honestly, you don't have to, Your Highness." Merlin tried.

"No, absolutely. This merits something quite special." Uther smiled at him.

"Well..." Merlin tried stopping him again only to be ignored.

"You shall be rewarded a position in the royal household. You shall be Prince Arthur's manservant." I held in my laughter and applauded with everyone else.

"Father!" Arthur called to him. Arthur and Merlin looked away from each other unhappily.

Someone knocked on Merlin's chamber door and Gaius entered. I was packing my belongings once again to move rooms.

"Seems you're a hero." Gaius spoke to Merlin.

"Hard to believe, isn't it?" Merlin asked.

"No. I knew it from the moment I met you. When you saved my life, remember?" Gaius reminded him.

"But...that was magic." Merlin countered.

"And now, it seems, we finally found a use for it." Gaius told him.

"What do you mean?" I asked him pausing my packing.

"I saw how he saved Arthur's life." Gaius admitted.

"Oh, no." Merlin thought he was in trouble.

"Perhaps that's its purpose." Gaius told him.

"My destiny." Merlin sighed as I smiled and closed my bag.

"Indeed. This book was given to me when I was your age, but I have a feeling it will be of more use to you than it was to me." I moved to see the book Gaius gave Merlin. Merlin unlatched it and looked inside it to see it's about magic.

"But this is a book of magic." Merlin told him.

"Which is why you must keep it hidden." Gaius told him.

"I will study every word." Merlin smiled at Gaius. Knocking was heard on the door of Gaius's chambers.

"Merlin, Prince Arthur wants you right away. Princess Elizabeth, I'm to escort you to your chambers when you're done packing."

"Your destiny's calling. You'd better find out what he wants." I told Merlin.

"Who knows, maybe both of our destinies are calling us." We smiled at each other and walked out to our new lives.