Teach Me

Chapter 13

"I'm sorry, Merlin," Morgana said as she rested a hand on the grieving Merlin's shoulders, "I know that Will was a good friend of yours."

Merlin looked into the small fireplace in his mother's house and gave her a small, sad smile, "thank you, Morgana."

She pulled up a chair and sat down next to him, both contentedly gazing into the fire silently. After a few moments of silence she decided to break it, "earlier today-"

Morgana was interrupted when Arthur walked into the room, "Gwen and I are heading back to Camelot. I won't tell father that we saw you here and I'll try to talk him out of wanting you arrested, but for now you two should probably keep your heads down. Morgana stood up from her chair and hugged Arthur. Arthur blinked and after a second, awkwardly returned the hug.

"Thank you, Arthur, for coming."

He nodded and stepped away, "no problem. I'll see you around, Merlin, and I'm sorry about Will."

Merlin turned his head and smiled at him, "thank you, Arthur."

Arthur nodded and stepped outside, "I think Gwen wants to say goodbye now."

Gwen walked past Arthur and through the door and wrapped Morgana in a hug, "goodbye, Morgana. Stay safe." She smiled as her friend returned the hug and then walked over to Merlin and hugged him tightly, "goodbye, Merlin, I'm so sorry about Will."

Merlin hugged her back and smiled, "thanks, Gwen."

Gwen stepped back and smiled before suddenly clapping her hands together, "oh! I nearly forgot. I brought you both a pack." She reached right outside the door and handed each of them a pack full of two changes of clothes, an extra pair of shoes, a blanket, and some food that she had smuggled from the kitchens. Morgana smiled as she pulled out a comb that Gwen had thrown in there for her, "Gwen you absolute beauty! Thank you."

Gwen smiled, "I figured you would probably need some supplies while you were on the run. I don't know how long you'll be staying here."

Merlin laughed and shrugged, "neither do we."

Gwen gave one last smile and wave before heading out the door with Arthur. Morgana turned to Merlin, "so now what do we do?"

Merlin chuckled, "I'm not sure. Honestly I didn't plan past the battle."

Morgana sat back in her chair in front of the fire, as did Merlin and she sorted through the bag Gwen had packed her. She smiled as she noted that Gwen had chosen her favorite gown and nightdress. She pulled out the black shoes Gwen had packed her and put them on her feet, exchanging them for the tattered old ones that she ran away in.

Merlin watched her in amusement as her eyes lit up in joy. "Enjoying yourself?" he asked with a smile.

She smiled back at him, "absolutely. I was starting to hate those shoes."

Merlin chuckled and rested his pack on the floor by his chair.

"Merlin?"

"Hmm?" he hummed.

"Are we going to stay here?" she asked.

"Well what do you want to do? We could stay here or we could live with the Druids. I suppose we could also build our own shelter..." he added as an afterthought.

She thought over her options for a moment before smiling, "do you think we could build our own hut or hovel or something? That way we're far enough from people that we don't have to worry about endangering them."

Merlin nodded sleepily as his eyelids started to droop closed, "whatever you like, m'lady."

She smiled as she watched him drift off into sleep and whispered, "goodnight, Merlin," before returning to her own bed to get some sleep for herself. It had been a long day.