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Of Wildflowers and Tomatoes

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Gaius kept Nerissa confined to her bed with her ankle propped up on the pillows. She had badly sprained it and Nerissa still blamed Prince Arthur as the root of her discomfort. If he hadn't been throwing knives at that poor boy, Merlin wouldn't have felt compelled to intervene, and then she wouldn't have had to intervene on Merlin's behalf. Thankfully, Prince Prat hadn't made any other appearances at Gaius's quarters.

Once again, her night was plagued with a voice calling out her name. She awoke once to see if it was Gaius, but he was asleep in the chair beside her with a book on his chest and his glasses at the end of his nose. The voice didn't sound like Gaius. But who else could it be?

The next morning, Gaius brought her a plate of eggs and brown bread for breakfast on a tray. She felt bad that he had to wait on her hand and foot like this, but he had been the one to confine her to her bed. She took a bite of eggs. They tasted better than yesterday's porridge, but not by much. But since she couldn't get up and cook anything, she ate them in silence.

"I've got an audience with the king this morning to discuss Merlin's situation," Gaius told Nerissa as he examined her swollen ankle.

She nodded her head and took another bite of her eggs. Gaius pressed down lightly on her ankle and she winced. He sighed and turned to look at his niece.

"In the day and a half I've known you, Nerissa, you've proven to be as headstrong as your mother in the days of our youth. That being so, I've asked Guinevere, the Lady Morgana's maid, to keep an eye on you and make sure you stay in bed while I'm gone."

Nerissa groaned. "You don't have to do that, Gaius. I'll stay put, I promise."

Gaius eyed Nerissa pointedly. "Gwen was intending on stopping by to see you anyway. Keeping an eye on you is a favour to me."

Her brow furrowed. "See me? Why?"

He shrugged. "She didn't tell me. Just asked if she could stop by."

There came a knock on the door from downstairs and a female voice called out Gaius's name. "That'll be her now," Gaius told Nerissa before looking at her sternly. "Stay put."

"I know how to do as I'm told," Nerissa sighed.

"So long as you agree it's what you should do?" Gaius questioned with a small smirk playing on his face. "Your mother was much the same way."

"What about my father?" Nerissa asked, chewing her bottom lip. Her mother had never once mentioned her father. She assumed she had one, being that she was alive, but she knew nothing of him. Not even a name.

Gaius was thankful when Gwen's voice called for him again. Nerissa's father wasn't a conversation he wanted to have with her. That was a conversation for Hunith. Or someone that wasn't him. Gaius gently patted the quilt over Nerissa's leg before he left to go fetch Gwen from downstairs.

Nerissa shifted uncomfortably in her bed. Not only because of her ankle but because she was nervous about meeting Gwen. She'd never had any friends that were girls before. Nerissa had always either stayed around the house or played with Merlin or his friend. Although, this was mostly Merlin's fault. Any time Nerissa thought she might make a friend, Merlin had to go and do something stupid and ruined her chances at friendship. Eventually, Nerissa just gave up on making friends altogether, accepting it as her lot in life. But here in Camelot, things might actually be different.

A gentle knock came at the door. Nerissa fussed with her hair, which she was sure looked atrocious, tucking it behind her ears. "Come in!" she called.

The door opened to reveal a petite-looking girl with a bright smile. She carried a bouquet of daisies and violets. "Hello! I'm Guinevere, but most people call me Gwen. You must be Nerissa."

Nerissa smiled and nodded.

"Where would you like these?" Gwen asked holding out the flowers.

"You brought me flowers?" Nerissa asked with a furrowed brow.

"Yes and no," Gwen chuckled. "While I picked them and carried them here, my mistress, the Lady Morgana wished for me to bring you some flowers after yesterday's scene with Arthur." Gwen looked at Nerissa rather pointedly.

"Saw that did you?" Nerissa grimaced, feeling ashamed. Thinking on it, she now remembered seeing Gwen and another girl standing in the window of the castle watching things play out. While their glances at looked sympathetic at the time, Nerissa now worried she had misjudged the situation.

Gwen must have noticed Nerissa's immediate discomfort. "No! Don't feel bad about it. What you did was incredibly brave. No one stands up to Arthur like that. He's a bit of a bully."

"Only a bit?" Nerissa asked which made Gwen laugh. "He's a spoiled prat is what he is."

Gwen shook her head. "I don't disagree with you there. It was nice to see someone stand up to him for once. Now, where would you like these?"

Nerissa mentally kicked herself for not immediately answering Gwen's question. She tucked her hair behind her ears and regained her composure. "They'd look lovely right there," Nerissa said pointing to the small bedside table.

Gwen nodded her head and smiled before she placed the small vase Gaius had given her for them on the table. "There," Gwen said with a smile.

"They're lovely. Thank you," Nerissa said. "Will you thank Lady Morgana for me?"

"I will, but I'm sure you'll be seeing her around soon enough to thank her for yourself."

Nerissa folded her arms across her chest. "Not as long as Gaius keeps me, prisoner, here." She knew she was being a tad ungrateful. There were much worse places where she could be - for example, in prison, like her brother. But still, it was Prince Prat's fault she was stuck there.

"Does it hurt?" Gwen gazed down at Nerissa's ankle which was propped up on a pillow.

"Not so much like this. But I can't walk on it." Nerissa sighed and fell back against her pillow. "How am I supposed to get to know my way around Camelot stuck in a bed?"

Gwen chuckled and shifted her stance.

"How could I be so stupid?" Nerissa groaned, noticing Gwen shift again. Where were her manners? "Please, have a seat. I'm sorry. I didn't have many friends back home so this is all sort of new to me."

"Not to worry," Gwen said as she sat down on the chair near Nerissa. "Truth be told unless I was waiting on Lady Morgana, I spent most of my time with my brother. Not many girls wanted to be friends with the blacksmith's daughter. They only wanted to use me to get to my brother."

This time it was Nerissa who chuckled, now feeling completely at ease with Gwen. "I feel we have a bit more in common than I originally thought." Secretly, Nerissa hoped that this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

By the time Gaius had returned from his audience with Uther, Gwen had brushed and braided Nerissa's hair for her and the two girls were laughing and chatting quite comfortably with each other. "Looks like you two have gotten on well," Gaius said with a smile.

Both girls nodded.

"What's going to happen to Merlin?" Nerissa asked, sitting up a little taller. As much as he drove her crazy, she loved her brother. He was her best friend.

"I managed to pull a few strings to get him released."

"That's good," Gwen said with a soft smile.

Gaius nodded. "But there will be a small price for him to pay."

"Which is?" Nerissa asked curiously. As much as she hated to admit it, she was worried about her brother. She had worried about him most of the night. This was the farthest they had been apart from each other for as long as she could remember.

Gaius looked at Nerissa and then chuckled. "He'll be relocated to the stocks for several hours."

Nerissa rolled her eyes and shook her head. Merlin could handle such a thing. He'd been in the stocks back in Ealdor plenty of times. Nerissa had even thrown vegetables with the villagers on occasion. Especially when he deserved it and even more so when he dragged her into things.

"It's been lovely meeting you, Nerissa," Gwen said standing from her chair. "But I really must go see to Lady Morgana. I'll try to visit again soon, so we can commiserate more on having older brothers." She gently patted Nerissa's hand and left.

Gaius grabbed a pole from the corner of the room and raised it to open the shutters above Nerissa's bed. Why hadn't she seen that before? Nerissa sighed before she inhaled the fresh air slowly. Her mother always said fresh air was one of the best remedies and she likely learned such a thing from Gaius.

After Nerissa had been checked for a fever, he lifted the cool cloth from her ankle, examining the swollen joint. "How are you feeling, my dear?" Gaius asked his niece.

"Sore and bored."

Gaius chuckled. "You've just had a visit from Gwen. That seems to have gone well. She's a nice girl."

Nerissa nodded in agreement.

"But?" Gaius furthered.

"You're going to say no," Nerissa said as she folded her arms across her chest like she had many times as a small child.

"You haven't even asked me," Gaius chuckled before he muttered. "So much like your mother."

"Well...seeing as it's Merlin's fault I'm cooped up like this.." Nerissa paused and chewed her bottom lip, unsure if she should continue with what it was she wanted.

"Yes?" Gaius arched his eyebrow, beckoning his niece to continue.

Nerissa sighed. "I think it's only fair that I get the chance to throw a few vegetables at him while he's in the stocks."

"You do, do you?"

"Yes, I do."

"And how would you get there in your condition?"

Nerissa grumbled. "I knew you'd say no.

Gaius shook his head and chuckled. "I said no such thing. I only asked how you'd get there like this." He motioned to the ankle she had propped up.

Nerissa scoffed. "You might as well have just told me no."

Knowing that she was acting immaturely, Nerissa sighed before she apologised to Gaius. She hadn't lied to Arthur when she told him that being in pain made her exceptionally crabby. One of her faults, that was for certain. She could make a list of them, but that would probably only put her in an even sourer mood.

Thankfully, Gaius accepted her apology. He didn't seem much offended by her, rather he seemed somewhat amused and annoyed simultaneously. It was as if he had dealt with such a thorn in the flesh before. Likely her mother. He had only told her so on several occasions already.

Gaius told Nerissa to rest while he worked on a few remedies downstairs. After they were prepared, he was going to go deliver them, since both of his new deliverers were out of commission. Nerissa offered him a soft smile as he left before she fell back against her pillows.

She was already bored. Pain shot up from her ankle. She was miserable. Not to mention Gaius said nothing about helping her down to the stocks. It looked like she was going to have to take matters into her own hands. She wasn't a complete invalid. She was just injured. Besides, plotting how to get out and to Merlin would keep her from getting bored. She just needed to determine the pros and cons of sneaking out.

After his remedies had been made, Gaius called up to Nerissa that he would be out for a time. Having already decided there weren't many cons of severe consequence to sneaking out, Nerissa tried to stand up.

Nope, bad idea. Pain radiated up her leg from her ankle. But Nerissa had never been one to easily give up. So, she carefully lowered herself to the floor and got down on her hands and knees. Crawling had been good enough before she could walk, so she decided it would work for her current predicament.

Nerissa managed just fine, albeit slowly, until she reached her first obstacle - the stairs. She then went down the stairs on her bottom, careful to keep her injured foot from touching the ground. At the bottom of the stairs, Nerissa smiled proudly before she took a deep breath to continue on her journey.

By the time Nerissa had made it to the bottom of the stairs up to the physician's quarters, her bum was rather sore. The guard at the bottom of the stairs looked at her quite oddly. His expression almost seemed a mixture of amusement and confusion. Nerissa simply smiled at him and forced herself into a standing position, once again careful to keep her injured foot from touching the ground.

The guard looked down at her once again. He seemed to be examining her feet. Nerissa looked down. She probably should have been embarrassed to be running about barefoot, but she did it all the time in Ealdor it didn't bother her much.

She cleared her throat. "You wouldn't happen to know which way it is to the stocks, do you?" Nerissa asked.

Without saying anything, the guard nodded his head toward the right.

"Thank you, very much," she told him.

The guard glanced down at her feet once more before he cleared his throat. "But if you'd wait a few minutes, lass, Lukas should be by with a cart of vegetables headed that very direction."

Nerissa smiled. She was about to say more when the guard spoke once again.

"That must be one nasty injury if Prince Arthur needed to carry you up yesterday."

Her smile turned into a scowl. Of course, they would all think Prince Prat was some knight in shining armour rescuing the helpless damsel in distress. He was probably spinning that story as well. Now all of Camelot was likely going to think she was weak and pathetic. Something she would likely need to remedy.

While she wanted to argue with the guard, she knew it was pointless. His allegiance was with Prince Prat. That battle wasn't currently worth pursuing. So, she bit her tongue. Although, she did have several witty retorts directed at him for the conversation she imagined with him in her head.

Thankfully, the guard had been right about the young servant boy with a cart of vegetables. "Oi, Lukas!" the guard called out as the blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy, of no more than ten, passed by with a cart of vegetables.

The next thing Nerissa knew, she was seated in the cart with the old vegetables as Lukas pushed her and chatted with her casually. The more she got to know about Lukas, the more she liked him. He was eight-year-old and his mother worked in the castle's kitchen. He had been tasked with bringing the old vegetables that weren't worth saving down to the stocks. Lukas was also excited because his mother said he could even stay to throw a few tomatoes.

By the time they reached Merlin, Nerissa had already picked out a few overly ripe cabbages and tomatoes to have her way with. No one was out throwing vegetables when they pulled up, so Merlin's full attention was on them.

"Horse-drawn carriage was out of commission, princess?" Merlin teased his sister.

She scowled at the implication.

"You ought to watch it," Nerissa teased as she gently tossed a tomato into the air. "I happen to be armed with plenty of vegetables and I have good aim, in case you've forgotten."

"Don't I know it," Merlin said. He had never been one to play catch with the boys. His coordination was terrible. Nerissa, on the other hand, was much better than most of the boys in Ealdor - so they wouldn't let her play with them.

Nerissa was helped out of the cart by Lukas. Nerissa smiled as she stood on one foot, leaning against the cart. "I've even made a friend." She motioned toward Lukas. "Lukas, meet my brother, Merlin."

Lukas nodded his head and Merlin waved awkwardly from the stocks, with his hands shackled. But before any other word was spoken, Nerissa tossed a cabbage which smacked Merlin right in the face. Merlin shook his head, clearly taken aback.

"That was for not listening to me," Nerissa taunted.

Merlin nodded, wordlessly admitting he did deserve that one. Next, she tossed a tomato. Merlin spluttered a bit but looked at his sister.

"That was for my ankle."

"Hey now! That wasn't me! That was..."

Nerissa quickly tossed another tomato.

"That's for arguing with me."

Merlin rolled his eyes. As he shook off the vegetables from his face. She tossed another cabbage.

"That's for Prince Prat, but seeing as I can't throw one at him, you'll have to do."

Tomato.

"That's for trying to goad me yesterday.

Tomato.

"That's for sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."

Tomato.

"And that's for being an absolute dollophead!"

Merlin was completely covered in vegetables. Tomato juice dribbled from his face. "Feeling better are you?" Merlin asked his sister.

"Quite."

Merlin motioned with his head and hands for his sister to draw nearer. Nerissa, with her hands empty, brushed the stray tendrils of hair from her face. She then leaned on Lukas and slowly hobbled over to her brother.

"Truly, I am sorry for what happened to you, Nerissa. I never meant for any harm to come to you. You must know that."

Nerissa arched an eyebrow. "But you'd do it again, wouldn't you?"

She didn't need to be told the answer, she already knew that he would. In a heartbeat. It was just then that Nerissa realised that Lukas slipped a tomato into her hand. She smirked. Lukas might already be her favourite person in Camelot. Using one hand to brace herself against the stocks, she used the other to smash another tomato on Merlin's face.

He spluttered for a few seconds. "And what was that one for?" Merlin asked, blinking his eyes rapidly as tomato juice rolled down his face.

"Just because," Nerissa smirked at her brother.

Merlin rolled his eyes.

Lukas then helped Nerissa over to a stool he had found. She sat on it and watched with glee as Lukas and others came to toss the vegetables from the full cart. Escaping the confines of her room had been worth it to watch Merlin's fans, as he called them, pelt him with vegetables.

Nerissa kindly declined a ride back to Gaius's from Lukas. But instead of heading back to the castle, Lukas sat down on the ground beside her. He told her his mum would want him to look out for her. So, the two of them sat there for several hours as Merlin's fans came and went.

Eventually, Merlin was released from the stocks. Even though he was covered with vegetables, Nerissa climbed on her brother's back for a ride back to Gaius's. Lukas walked back with them. They parted ways with the young boy as they made their way up the stairs to the physician's quarters.

"Have you gained weight since yesterday?" Merlin teased as he pretended to strain to get through the door to Gaius's.

Nerissa playfully smacked her brother on the back of the head. "Prince Prat managed just fine yesterday."

Merlin's eyebrows shot up. "So that's how you got back? Nerissa, please don't tell me that you like..."

Nerissa smacked her brother on the back of the head again. "That's for even thinking such an awful, terrible thing. You say anything more on the subject and I'll smack you again."

Merlin rolled his eyes before he unceremoniously dropped his sister on her bed.

"Hey! What was that for?" Nerissa squealed.

Merlin winked at his sister and took off without another word to her. Nerissa scowled. He was lucky she was laid up, otherwise, she would have chased after him. But there would be time to get back at Merlin later. Well, as long as he could keep himself out of trouble long enough for her to do so.

Author's Note: Another chapter! We've met Gwen! And now we've met someone named Lukas. Hmmm... and of course we had our Nerissa and Merlin moments. Again, I know this is a lot of chapters for one "episode" but I'm still establishing things. Also, these shorter chapters are much more manageable for me.

Funny story, yesterday, I "became" Nerissa laid-up with my ankle. My cat tripped me. And I'm not sure if I became Nerissa or Nerissa is me in that sense, but I just thought I'd share that funny tidbit. My other cat has been my faithful companion as I rest with my ankle elevated. (Also, that's why I didn't update yesterday haha- and also why if things aren't quite smooth haha)

Thank you for the INSANE response to this story. It's truly blown me away!