Her dinner with Arthur was unusually quiet, the only sound in the dining room they regularly used, only decorated with a banner in the background behind the king's seat, a chimney on the side and a chandelier hanging above them, was the sound of the cutlery against their plates. With Guinevere sleeping after watching over a feverish five-year-old Aethelthryth, the entire night before and the day after. Normally, Emrys would be the one to heal anyone who was sick, but with him away for the time being, Morgana had to figure out a way to sneak past the queen to be able to heal the child.

"I have wonderful news for you Morgana" Arthur smiled, brightly, putting the fork over his plate for a second breaking the silence Morgana tried not to mock the small pieces of food in his beard.

"Arthur" She smiled touching her chin, tilting her head. Arthur tilted his head, Morgana pointed at him, his eyes opened wide before he cleaned the food off with his sleeve. Morgana couldn't help the laugh that escaped her lips.

"I hope you can tell me those wonderful news without food on your face" Morgana said, reaching for the wine before taking a sip of it.

"Very funny Morgana." Arthur said with mockery, while Morgana shrugged "I found someone for you to marry, isn't that great?" Morgana's eyes opened wide. She choked on her glass, taking a deep breath before leaving it on the table.

"Excuse me?" Morgana questioned, perplexed. She had never discussed marriage with Arthur, or anyone, not in a long time at the very least, even then, it hadn't been in her plans. Unless, of course, the right person commented on it"

"His name is Urien" Arthur began, misplacing her confusion "He is fairly young, not much older than you. I believe he is a couple years older than Emrys. I've heard he is a severe man with his subjects but not a ruthless king"

"Why him?" Morgana tried the only question her mind could properly conjure. Arthur lifted a finger and pointed at the table.

"His kingdom is in a strategic point. Securing an alliance with him would not only grant us a regular and easy safe pacing for other regions, they are also a very rich kingdom, it would further benefit Camelot" He was looking at her, and she was struggling to find any words to answer him, or find if there was anything apropiate she could say. The last thing she recalled in that kind of situations was her sister sent off to Lot's kingdom only to be told she was to marry him.

"I find it strange you made that decision on your own" She mumbled, eyebrows slightly furrowed, her eyes now in her plate.

"You don't think I can make my own choices?" He feigned offence. His tone was playful, and she knew, despite everything, he had meant no harm.

"Of course not." She lifted her eyes and smiled "I just mean, you always take other people's advice when making important decisions, I would think you asked someone before deciding to marry me off" She put her elbows over the table joining her hands.

"Oh, of course I did that. I wouldn't just offer your hand in marriage to anyone, you are my sister after all. I asked Emrys, of course, despite your constant bickering I know you value each other's opinion, and I trust him" Morgana froze at the mention of Emrys' name, doing her best to remain with a semi-neutral facial expression.

"And what did he say?" She questioned, her voice now tense, making the words almost difficult to come out.

"He thought it would be a very favorable union" Arthur smiled, and something broke inside of Morgana.

"Oh"

The smile fell on Arthur's face, and he leaned closer to Morgana.

"Of course, it's not final, you can still say no" He tried.

"No, no, it's fine" Morgana said doing her best to compose herself. Taking a deep breath and putting a smile on her face "This is just a little sudden, has an official meeting been planned?"

"Yes, of course. He is supposed to arrive in a week" Morgana nodded, the smile unfaltering.

"I can't wait" Arthur squeezed her hand tightly before they resumed their eating. Emrys' face crossed on Morgana's face, but she vanished the thought as soon as it had appeared, it didn't matter anymore.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

With the morning sun hitting him in the eyes, regretting every choice taken in his life that had driven him to have soccer practice in the first hours of the morning, Jonathan was experiencing a normal Wednesday morning. Sometimes, the wildest part of his mind wondered what could have happened if he had decided to get into rugby instead, at least the school's team never had practice early in the morning. The extra hours of sleep made the possibility of a broken leg or nose worth it in its entirety.

All he felt next, dragging him out of his usual morning despair was the impact of the ball on his chest and the laughter coming from his teammates, Jake, the one who had kicked the ball was currently high-fiving another one of the boys. Jonathan dwelled for a second on the ways he could take revenge if he had a little more control over his powers. Nothing too severe, just making him trip every time he touched the ball.

"Merrick, pay attention!" The coach yelled, rubbing the sides of his head with his index fingers, Jonathan sighed, picking the ball from the ground before kicking it back to resume the game.

"You're doing great Smith! Keep it up, you are my only hope in this team. Thank God you are here one more year"

"We love you too, coach!" John screamed running past Gabriel, and Jonathan laughed when the coach rolled his eyes and began muttering under his breath staring at his board.

Before Gabriel had a shot of kicking the ball at the goal, the whistle resonated in the field and he stopped right in front of a relieved Jonathan.

"Unfortunately, the principal has forbidden me from keeping you here beyond the hours of class and she also made it clear your disgusting asses had to have enough time to shower after some of you, not going to say who, John, almost made those sitting beside him pass out. So leave my sight. I can't believe some of you are about to graduate" Jonathan slowly dragged his feet out of the field, the coach began picking up the equipment.

"Jon!" He turned at the sound of Gabriel's voice, noticing how he held a piece of paper in his hand and his schoolbag over his shoulder. "Do you have a minute?" Jonathan rolled his eyes stopping in his tracks.

"I assure you, I had not been using magic during soccer practice"

"It's not about that, not this time. I still have my doubts. It's impossible no one has ever been able to score a goal when you are the goalie. You... well... You don't even seem to try. That's not the point" The boy rambled, Jonathan furrowed his eyebrows for a second, then relaxed the expression in his face.

"Then, do you need help with something? You usually run to class right out of practice"

"I need you to help me help you" Gabriel said, Jonathan tilted his head, the lines between his eyebrows returned and his mouth turned into a line.

"I don't know why I would need an intervention, but I'm pretty sure it needs more than one people to aid me in whatever issue you think I might have"

"You told us you haven't met your real parents, but me and Audrey thought you had to see this. This dude looks creepily similar to you" Gabriel pulled the picture out of his sports' bag and handed it to Jonathan, who stared at it briefly holding it in his hands.

The teenager furrowed his eyebrows. Changing eyes between Gabriel and the picture now in his hands.

"He looks nothing like me" He handed the picture back to Gabriel, who held it tight.

"Mate, you almost look like a carbon copy of him. Other people will agree too. Watch this, hey, James! Doesn't this dude look like Jonathan?"

"Yeah, they are identical." James stopped, looking at the picture and then to Jonathan, nodding briefly.

"See?"

"I still don't see your point. Even if he does look like me, what does never meeting my parents have to do with it? There are in average at least 7 people in the world who look just like you, and that's just right now. There could be many more who have looked like me"

"Come on, doesn't 'Reappeared after two years missing ring with no memory whatsoever' spark any hints of curiosity?" Gabriel lifted his eyebrows and smiled tilting his head.

"No"

"Come on Jon."

"Look" Jonathan said passing one hand over his hair, as both boys entered the boy's changing room, stopping on one bench while Jonathan opened his locker "Even if I was curious about it, which I am not, what would I even do about it, look for him, approach the guy and say 'Hey, I read in the newspaper you have a huge gap in your memory, and people have been saying you look disturbingly similar to me, so I was wondering if in that enormous blank space, is the faint trace of having a son with a woman who might not have been a human, or perhaps you, yourself are not a human?' Do you realize how ridiculous this sounds?"

"Not a human?"

"I had my suspicions, but I asked Merlin to confirm it, and he said magic had to be hereditary. It my means, whatever this" He pointed up and down, trying to get something to show up, but only got the faint trace of a fire before it vanished instantly, he sighed exasperated "is, it must have come from someone"

"Who knows" Gabriel shrugged, sitting on the bench in front of the locker, and taking his clothes out of his school bag. "Hey, maybe you are Merlin's long-lost son" Jonathan opened his eyes wide and closed the locker taking his things out.

"Don't even joke about that. He would have to explain to Morgana he had a son from another woman, and I doubt anyone would ever want to be with him. The guy has the charm of a rat, I don't want to be related to him in any way, shape or form"

"Hey, maybe you are the child of that woman that plants the sword. Or one of Morgana's sisters, or maybe is one of your ancestors the one who had magic and it just came out, who knows" Gabriel patted him, his words sinking for a few seconds. Jonathan squinted his eyes at him "Wait, are Merlin and Morgana together?"

"According to them, no. Each other's presence is far too cumbersome to talk to each other more than what's an absolute necessity, his words, not mine. But you saw them, there's something about them that's just there"

"You would know, wouldn't you?" Jonathan stared at Gabriel, who looked at him with an arched eyebrow, before the older boy blushed and closed his locker

"Shut up" he said "I don't know what you mean."

"Right" Gabriel murmured, his voice carried with sarcasm.

-.-.-.-.

"And I'm telling you" Catherine spoke out loud to Valerie and Audrey who were listening attentive to her story "My mom said that if by the next test I didn't get at least an eighty, I wouldn't be allowed out for the summer and she would take away my phone to make sure I focused on what's important. I'll tell you what's important, checking my twitter is important"

"I get you" Audrey nodded sympathetically. "My sister once grabbed my phone and saw a notification that popped out and rushed to tell my mom I had a boyfriend despite being a message from Michael thanking me for sending him the list of homework we had"

"This is one of the many reasons being an only child is great. No one will ever tell my aunt if I ever do anything" Valerie smiled.

"Wait, wasn't your aunt the one that came the time you had a fight with those girls last year?" Amelie questioned tilting her head.

"Yeah, why?"

"I was in the hallway when you two got out the principal's office. She just told you 'please, Valerie. I need you to stop messing your uniform, I nearly miss the flight today. Please try to behave while I'm gone' If I had fought with a girl a year older than me and being as close as you were from breaking her nose, I would at least be grounded for at least a month" Amelie continued.

"So?" Valerie tilted her head and raised an eyebrow.

"I think the point Amelie is trying to make, is that, even if you had siblings who snitched out everything you did, you probably wouldn't get grounded like we would" Catherine shrugged noticing Valerie's curious eyes "Besides, not everything about having siblings is bad"

"Oh, yes" Audrey interfered "I remember when my sister was in reception, she made me this pencil case made out of cardboard and a toilet paper tube because she thought it would be easier if I had my pencils in one instead of my drawer. I still have it" Audrey nodded smiling at the memory "Why do they ever stop being cute?"

"Lucky you" Catherine sighed defeated "The closest thing my brother has ever done is waking me up with a frog in front of my face because he thought it was so cool I had to see it" She shuddered.

"That's sort of sweet?" Valerie tried and Catherine glared at her.

"Try being peacefully asleep and then waking up with a frog looking at you in the eyes and then tell me again it's a sweet gesture" the girls laughed until the teacher walked into the classroom, behind her, giving careful steps was a girl with a dark blue hijab wearing pants instead of the skirt of the uniform. She had light brown skin, and her eyes were sharp, she scanned the classroom as she walked inside.

An ocean of hushed whispers began to fill the classroom, Valerie tilted her head slightly, the girl seemed familiar, but she couldn't really pin-point from where. The teacher was quick to quiet the newfound talk from the students, letting her books fall one on top of the other in the desk.

"This is our new student, I know it's unusual to have a student joins us so late in the year, however, she and her parents talked to the principal and she approved, so I hope you are nothing but welcoming with her." Mrs. Jones said pointing at the class before turning to the teenager besides her. "Now, please introduce yourself so we can go on with the class. We need to go through last class' lesson so you won't be lost on what we're currently seeing" The girl nodded taking a step forward.

"My name is Iman Rashid. I was previously homeschooled and hopefully, we'll get along" She said simply, the teacher nodded.

"Now, the only seat available is the one next to Jane, so please go and sit there. If you have any questions, you can write them down and ask me at the end of class. You can also ask your classmates, but please, don't interrupt me in class and don't cause any disruption" Iman nodded sitting next to Jane who looked at her up and down, while Iman gave her a single nod.

"I know her" Valerie whispered leaning towards Audrey, while she began writing the lesson the teacher put in the board.

"You do?"

"Yes, she is the girl I lost to the day before we went camping" Audrey took her eyes off the board and stared at her friend, tilting her head slightly.

"It's surprising you remember her, considering the shitshow that happened afterwards"

"Maybe that's why I remember it. Losing to her was the most normal thing of that night" Valerie shrugged, staring at the bracelet in her hand.

"That's... reasonable, I suppose"

"Valerie, Audrey. I hope my lesson is not interrupting your conversation" Mrs Jones turned to them, glaring at the teenagers, Audrey blushed, lowering her head, Valerie looked at the teacher in the eyes.

"Not at all" Valerie spoke, "Please continue. We'll be quiet now, sorry"

"Sorry" Audrey mumbled right after her, the teacher sighed before returning to the lesson.

------

The bell indicating the break rang across the school, Valerie almost jumped from her seat, with Audrey trailing shortly behind her, already aware of where she was directing. She stood in front of Iman, taking the seat in front of her that had been left abandoned by the student that sat there.

"We met before, right?" Valerie opened, Iman tilted her head, eyebrows furrowed, her eyes moving quickly before opening wide.

"Yes" She said simple, the ghost of a smile forming in her lips "The tournament on the twentieth first. The girl who slipped on the last second and thanks to who I passed the round"

"Yes, that's me" Valerie smiled, Audrey stared at her perplexed at how relaxed she was about losing her competition and it being thrown in her face. "Valerie Claudia Pendleton, here to help you in whatever you may need, and she is Audrey Baker" Audrey extended her hand to her, and Iman took it.

"Pleasure to meet you" Audrey spoke, Iman nodded at her "What brings you to our school?"

"What, am I not supposed to be able to attend your school?" Iman raised an eyebrow, and Audrey face twisted, her eyes opened wide and her mouth slightly agape, she raised her hands.

"No, no... I didn't... I mean..." Iman's face softened little by little until a giggle escaped her lips.

"I'm joking" She laughed, "Don't be so stiff, I know what you meant. My parents thought it would be better to get used to how schools worked before I moved to secondary, and since I was homeschooled my mother thought the sooner I got used to a regular class schedule, the better, hence why I am here"

"Oh, that's good" Audrey sighed relieved, sitting besides Valerie. "We're glad to have you here"

"You don't know me yet" Iman countered "How are you glad to have me here?" She furrowed her eyebrows, amused smile remaining in her face.

"For once, I can talk to someone about fencing who comprehends it out of previous knowledge and not because I practically hammered it into their brains" Valerie jumped in.

"I still can vividly recall the time she went into a three hours long explanation on why it was impossible to get stabbed with the sword and the differences between the different types of fencing swords." Audrey's voice was filled with a mocked exasperation, yet, there was a smile on her face.

"As if you are the one to talk" Valerie looked at her from over the shoulder scrunching her nose.

"When have I ever talked too much?"

"You were almost fuming when you had to explain to me the difference between a grand ecart and a grand jete, but don't worry. I forgive you" Valerie placed a hand over her chest and then on Audrey's shoulder.

"Oh, how kind of you"

"Well, thank you. I ought to learn how to be kind" Valerie then turned to Iman, "Oh, sorry, we derailed a little. Tell us about you, please" Iman who had been watching the interaction with amusement, adjusted in her seat.

"Well, my grandmother is from Bangladesh, my favorite color is yellow, I've been fencing since I was ten, my bedroom's walls are a lemon green, and I broke my arm once when I was eight"

"How did you break your arm?" Valerie questioned.

"I was playing with my older sister, we were chasing each other until I tripped and fell down the stairs. My mom panicked, my dad took me to the hospital, and the first doctor couldn't really see us, but another doctor checked and said I was very lucky I just broke my arm and not my head"

"Poor kid, it must have hurt a lot" Audrey said.

"Yeah, it was a shame. I my sister said I wouldn't really understand what being broke was like until I had to live on my own. It was such a disappointment to see it so young, horrible, wouldn't recommend"

Valerie and Audrey looked at each other and remained silent for a few seconds, until Iman's words sunk in.

"Did you just..." Audrey mumbled, a smile twitched on her face while Valerie who was at her side snickered.

"That was terrible. Amazing" She laughed.

She then felt a pull in her arm, and looked up to see Noah, standing at her side, with his arms crossed, next to him stood Gabriel who waved at her upon seeing him, Valerie felt her cheeks heat up.

"Give me a second" Valerie said, lifting a finger "Hey, Iman, lunch is around midday or so, would you like to come with us. We'll show you around school" Iman stared at Audrey and then at Gabriel, her eyebrows furrowed for a split second, barely invisible.

"Sure, I'll go. Thank you for the invitation" She smiled, Valerie jumped from the seat, waving at her before returning to her usual seat.

Thank you for reading! and please don't hesitate to comment or to vote, thank you, have a lovely day!