Dame || A Merlin Fanfic

Chapter Two

Merlin was waiting for Gaius to have dinner when Diane came to the apartment. She didn't look too happy to see Merlin, but she explained, "They've been scoured and boiled." She was returning the linens, now torn into bandages and rolled up.

Merlin accepted them and saw another bandage peeking out from the edge of her tunic's sleeve. "What happened there?" he asked and reached out to inspect it.

"Nothing," Diane answered and pulled her arm back, as if Merlin's hand was a hot poker.

"Do you want me to have a look at it?" Merlin asked.

"No,” she said and put her arm behind her back as she began to back away.

"Do you want Gaius to have a look at it?"

"No."

"Are you afraid of physicians?"

"No," Diane answered and turned on her heel to leave.

"Wait. How did you know my name?" he ventured. Surely someone who returned bandages couldn't be evil, but he had to be sure.

Diane ignored him and nearly ran into Gaius, who was returning with some books in his hands. She dipped her head before hurrying off.

"Who was that?" Gaius asked, motioning after Diane with his head.

"That," Merlin said, pointing after her, "Is Dame Diane the Strange."

"I wouldn't be able to say," Gaius said, "But I did get to look at the family records and found some interesting things."

He sat at a table with Merlin, set down his books, and selected a large green tome from the pile. He opened it to a marked page that contained a family tree. The bottom corner of the page was stamped with a crest of crossed swords. Gaius pointed at one entry on the tree. "This is Lord Aston. According to official records, he did have a second child, but with another woman," he explained. "His son, the one I told you that was a bit older than Arthur, was a product of his first marriage to Lady Aurelia Keats. She died when the boy was four." He pointed to another part of the tree. "Two years after her death, Lord Aston was wed to someone called Petra of Ealdor."

"Ealdor?" Merlin repeated, staring at the name on the page. "My village?"

"It would seem so," Gaius answered. 

Merlin furrowed his brow. "Wait, now that I think about it, my mother used to speak of a friend named Petra."

"They just might be the same person," Gaius said and moved his finger further down the tree. "Petra and Lord Aston had a daughter who would have turned twenty three days ago. I suppose you can guess her name."

"Diane," Merlin said at the same time that Gaius lifted his finger, revealing the name in ink.

"So she isn't false, then," he said.

"Perhaps," Gaius answered, picking up a smaller, brown book. "I found something else, and it's a bit disturbing." He flipped to another marked page. "Apparently, her brother went missing when he was eighteen."

"Missing?" Merlin asked.

"Presumed dead by now," Gaius went on. "Nobody knows what happened to him."

"Strange…" Merlin murmured.

"Don't go disturbing her about this," Gaius warned, snapping the book shut in front of his assistant's face. "You meet a girl with sad eyes or a sad story, and you're lost."

Merlin looked confused. "When has that ever happened?"

Gaius gave him an annoyed, knowing look before going on, "We have nothing to suspect her for except that she knows your name. For all you know, she heard it in the town. You're the prince's servant. People know your name and who you are. I think you need to calm down."