Teach Me

Chapter 15

Morgana awoke the next morning from her fitful sleep wrapped up in a pair of strong arms. She looked up and saw that Merlin was still asleep. She looked at his arms and smirked, looking at him you would never think that he was strong, but he was holding her tightly and she appreciated it. It made her feel not so alone. She decided to wriggle her way out of his grasp before he woke up and awkwardness set in. She crawled over to her own blanket and sat down, cocooning herself in her top blanket. She sat and watched as Merlin started to wake up. He opened his eyes and she smiled, "good morning."

He smiled back as he sat up and rubbed his eyes, "good morning."

"So... you have magic."

"Yes... you have magic," he chuckled at her attempt to start this conversation.

"How long have you had it?" she asked curiously.

"I was born with it but I didn't realize that I had magic until I was 4 years old."

Morgana's mouth hung open, "4 years old? You've had magic for that long?"

Merlin nodded, "it was part of the reason I left Ealdor. The people started to grow uneasy at the thought of me having magic."

"So you came to Camelot where magic is outlawed?" Morgana raised an eyebrow.

Merlin chuckled and shrugged, "Gaius is an old family friend. He said he would help me control my powers."

"Is that what you've been doing since you moved there?" she asked curiously, wanting to know how long he had been practicing magic under Uther's nose.

Merlin nodded and then asked her a question, "so how long have you been having your dreams? If you don't mind my asking."

"Since I was around 12 or 13. At first I thought that they were just nightmares until they started to come true."

Merlin nodded and moved to a spot a few feet away from the blankets and lit a fire, motioning for her to come sit. She stood up, taking the blanket with her, and sat down on the log next to Merlin, taking in the fire's warmth.

"How did you control it?"

"Practice," he smiled, "but practice is fun, so you shouldn't have much of a problem with it."

She gave a small smile and then her stomach let out a growl. She turned red and Merlin chuckled, handing her a slice of bread from his pack. She accepted and slowly chewed on it, "could you show me something you can do?"

He nodded and quickly granted her request. "Celeb Elenath," he whispered as he held out his hand. The sparks from the fire started to dance around each other until they formed a shining star.

Morgana grinned at it, "it's beautiful. I never knew magic could be like this. I always thought it was something used for evil like raising the dead or taking over kingdoms."

Merlin shook his head, "magic can be a weapon, but it's no different that a sword or dagger," he said, motioning to the dagger she had brought with, "a dagger or sword is neither bad nor good, just like magic. It all depends on who is wielding it. I use my magic for good, but many a sorcerer before me have used it for evil purposes. That's why Uther has such distrust of magic, he's never seen the beautiful potential it has."

She leaned closer to the star and watched as it slowly disappeared into ash.

She looked up at Merlin and smiled at him, "can you teach me?"

"Of course, but I really think we should get started on building that shelter first," he said as he pointed to some rain clouds in the distance. Morgana quickly nodded and packed up their supplies, bringing them underneath a tree where they could sit while she and Merlin worked on the shelter. Merlin raised his hand at a small nearby tree and whispered, "alda cú daro." His eyes flashed gold and he watched as the tree fell to the ground. He then whispered a few more incantations and the tree split itself up into logs. He turned around and faced Morgana, "now we just have to piece it all together."