Arwen had protested, quite tirelessly too. However, nothing she said had any effect on either of the women determined to join Merlin and his sister as they went back to help their village. Morgana and Gwen were determined, and Arwen knew it was hard to fight against them when they got that way. She only hoped it wouldn't cost them all.
"They shouldn't be here. Especially the Lady Morgana. Isn't she the King's ward?" Arwen heard her mother's voice. Hunith and Merlin still sat by the fire, talking in hushed voices. But, unlike Morgana and Gwen, Arwen couldn't sleep. And so instead, she listened to the sound of her mother's voice.
"Not that you'd know it. She's the only person I know who isn't frightened of him." Merlin said to his mother in a soft whisper. Arwen could easily overhear the admiration he had in his voice at the fact.
"It won't make any difference to Kanen that they're women." Hunith, however, remained worried, her mind thinking of possible consequences which could rise from something happening to the beloved ward of Camelot's King.
"I know. But we couldn't talk them out of coming." Merlin explained, remembering walking up to his sister almost scolding the Lady and her maid by the stables once he was done with saying his goodbyes to Gaius.
"Arwen was the same. She wouldn't hear it at the suggestion of staying behind." Hunith said in a somewhat defeated voice, but Arwen still recognized the tone, knowing it came with the proud smile Hunith often reserved for her children.
"I could have told you that would happen and spared you the time." Merlin gave out a small laugh before continuing. "You know how she is. She'll never turn her back anyone in Ealdor. Not after everything."
"I fear as much." There was something in her mother's voice, a soft note which made it seem she spoke of more than just her worry for the danger that waited ahead. But Arwen, laying on her side with her back turned, couldn't see Hunith and Merlin's faces. She couldn't be sure if her brother had caught on to it too, but the longer he remained silent, Arwen understood that he wasn't about to question it either way.
And he didn't. "I want to make him pay for what he did to you."
"Promise me you'll be careful. No one can find out about you." Hunith's voice went back to the worry it held before, and Arwen could entirely relate. Just as Merlin has said she herself wouldn't abandon Ealdor in its time of need, she knew he wouldn't either. But she worried of how far he may take it, and what it might lead to.
"They won't. They never do." And his confidence in it only brought his sister more worry rather than relief.
"Get some rest." Hunith did not argue with him on it, and instead, her words were followed by the sound of rustling leaves as she abandoned the fire and instead moved to her spot in their makeshift camp.
For a couple of moments, the only sounds anyone made were Gwen and Morgana's soft breathing as they slept. And then her brother's simple whisper. "Draca." Arwen smiled, knowing the spell well by now, but her head still turned, glancing over her shoulder as she looked at the embers floating in front of Merlin's face, shaped as a dragon. Arwen smiled and then turned back, closing her eyes and finally letting sleep consume her.
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