That night, after the party, I walked back to my room slowly, ready to collapse from the long and draining event. When I reached my chambers, I was ready to cry from exhaustion and guilt of not saying what I knew I should have.

"Your dresses should all be coming in tomorrow morning, milady," Alyssa said happily.

"Mm," I hummed, allowing her to undress me and attempting to think of anyone and anything aside from Mordred, for if I did, I knew I would have broken down into tears. I loved him. And now, I knew it. I missed my chance to tell him that night, and I didn't know if I'd ever get the chance again.

"I've seen them all, they'll look gorgeous on you," she insisted excitedly.

"Mm."

"My favorite is either the cream colored one with roses on the bodice or the pink one with lace. Oh, you'll love them, milady!"

She was almost done undressing me, thank goodness. "Mm."

It was silent for a moment as she finished untying the corset, and as usual, she began to get the bed ready while I slipped my nightdress over my head. As I settled into bed, Alyssa looked at me concerned.

"As a friend," she said, sitting on the edge of my bed. "I'm going to ask you something." I nodded. "Is everything alright, Ariel?"

It was then that I let out a sob, almost leaping to throw my arms around her as I cried.

"Ariel?" she asked, concerned. "What's wrong?"

"I-I..." I began. "I l-lo.... I love him!" I wailed.

"Sir Mordred?" she asked.

"Ho-how did you know?" I asked incredulously, as I wiped my eyes.

She chuckled. "Milady, I promise you, this is nothing to cry about. Don't you worry about a thing."

It was almost an hour before she got me to stop crying, and hours more before Alyssa and I finished speaking, and as she headed out to go home, I begged her to just stay with me for the night, afraid that I'd start crying again.

But as soon as Alyssa was settled in, we were both out like a light.

~:~:~:~:~

I listened in to the conversation at the round table intently as Leon began to present.

"Ariel, would you mind to get the maps from the other room?" Leon asked, and I nodded, making my way to the doors as he began speaking, realizing we had forgotten the maps earlier when we had been talking about this in the other room. I opened the door and grabbed the maps quickly, hearing Leon begin his presentation. I felt chills rise on my body, and I felt as though I was being watched, but I tried to brush it off.

"We covered the area from Pawlett down to Meldreth. This includes thirty troops at Bawtry, fifteen at Talan, ten at Chime," he began, and I walked toward the doors. "Nine at Brune-" I yelped in fear and pain when the doors slammed open, bruising my outstretched arm terribly, the ones beside them slamming open as well. I had dropped a few of the maps, and I glanced back to see all the men looking toward me. I hid my bruised arm, trying not to wince. I wouldn't say anything about it for now, I'd just see Gaius after the meeting to see if there was a tonic for the pain or something similar. Everyone looked as shocked as I was.

"Are you alright?" Arthur asked, and I nodded.

"I'm fine, just... s-startled," my voice shook slightly, and I glanced at Mordred, who looked concerned before I just shook my head and sighed, picking up the maps and closing the doors gently while Percival continued.

"Eleven at Burwelle-" that was when I heard another slam and I turned to see the candelabra had fallen onto the table. My eyes widened and my jaw fell slack.

After another long silence, I began moving forward again, this time slower, my heart racing, feeling chills arise on my body. I placed the maps on the table, trying not to show how I was trembling from adrenaline.

Something felt terribly off.

"Thank you," Percival told me, and I nodded to him before walking back to stand beside Merlin.

"You alright?" he whispered as Percival continued, and I suppressed a shiver before nodding.

"There's someone else here with us, Merlin," I murmured, looking around, still feeling invisible eyes on me. "I can feel it."

~:~:~:~:~

I knocked on the wooden door and smiled at Gaius when he answered.

"Ariel! How are you?"

"Well," I insisted, before I felt my bruise throb again. "Sort of." I showed him my forearm and he looked at it, eyes widening, his face turning serious. It was already bruising, turning a dark, ugly purple.

"How in the world did that happen?"

"The doors in the meeting room slammed open out of nowhere," I told him with a grimace. "I was just wondering if you had something for the pain?"

"And perhaps the swelling as well," he agreed, opening the door and letting me in. "Have you had any other problems?"

"It's hard to move my hand," I admitted. "But I think that's just muscle pain."

"I'll check for broken bones," he told me grimly, and I grimaced as I sat and he held my arm. It was ridiculously painful when he prodded, and I couldn't stop the noises of pain, making myself laugh. Gaius laughed at me time and time again, not understanding why pain was causing me so much mirth.

Until the door burst open and a heavily wounded Percival made his way in.

~:~:~:~:~

"The axe must've fallen off the rack," Percival said twenty minutes later while I got rid of the bloody water and Gaius tied off the wound.

"I'm surprised that a falling axe would cause such a deep wound," Gaius said.

"Not as surprised as I was."

"Quite. You were lucky you weren't more severely injured."

"It's strange..." Percival thought aloud as I placed the bucket away and I looked up at him.

"What's that?" Merlin asked.

"Just before it happened... I sensed something, like there was someone there, watching me. I'm sure it was just my mind playing tricks on me," he said, but chills rose on my skin again.

"Apply a second poultice in the morning, and no training," Gaius commanded, handing him a small package.

"Thank you, Gaius." I shared a look with Merlin.

"I'll walk with you, Percival," I stood while Merlin helped him into a vest. Percival stood after I washed my hands and I smiled at him before I shot a look at Merlin. "'Like there was someone there'," I quoted in a murmur as I passed before I took off with the injured man.

We walked together, chatting idly as we walked back to our respective rooms before Percival caught sight of my arm.

"What happened to your arm!?" Percival demanded, concern taining every bit of his voice and features as he took my hand and lifted it to observe the wound closer.

"The doors in the meeting room," I admitted with a wince. I pulled my hand from his. "Moving it hurts," I admitted. "And my hand as well... no broken bones, luckily, but Gaius seems to believe a few veins burst... it looks nastier than it is, I assure you."

He looked down, looking almost pained as he nodded. He looked me in the eye deeply, and I was almost surprised by their intensity.

"If you need anything," he began, and I nodded.

"Thank you, Percival," I smiled slightly, holding my injured wrist with my other hand. "Luckily for me, Gaius had something for both the swelling and the pain. I should be right as rain in a few short weeks. Besides, if there's anyone who should be saying as such to the other, it is I who should say as such to you."

Just then, another chill went down my spine and Percival and I looked around.

"You feel it too?" Percival asked, and I looked at him for a moment before glancing back again and nodding.

"Back in the meeting room, when I went to get the maps... I felt like someone was with me, then too," I admitted, turning to look at him, almost frightened. "And then the doors flew open of their own accord." He looked thoughtful, and I glanced back one more time. "Perhaps we're overthinking this. We should sleep." Percival nodded, and we took off down the corridor once again.

But both of us were keeping a bit closer to each other than before, the chills running down our spines feeling much too paranormal to feel safe about it.

I saw Percival off to his room and began heading to my own, in spite of his uncertainty of allowing me to go alone. It took him five minutes to agree, but eventually, I reasoned that my room was only a two minutes' walk from his, and he finally, begrudgingly, agreed. I walked slowly, reveling in the momentary quiet when I got that feeling again.

"Who are you?" I asked, turning to the space behind me. "What do you want? Are you angry with me? With Percival?" I called into the darkness, trying to ignore the way my heart was racing in my chest. "What did we do to anger you?"

There was a gust of wind, and I shivered. When a vase began to topple over, my eyes flashed silver, righting it again.

"It's not very kind to damage the King's possessions," I joked. Whatever spirit this was, I knew it was angry, but it was virtually harmless, right? There was nothing in the hallway it could use to hurt me. It had only ever tampered with objects. I was in the middle of an empty hallway. Besides, there was no way it was coming after me.

Or so I thought.

Suddenly, one of the shields came off the wall and came straight for me. I yelped before I took off back down the hall, back toward Merlin and Gaius. Things were falling off the walls left and right, and I yelped when a sword nicked my arm and a torch brushed past my shoulder.

"Help!" I yelped, running as fast as I could down the hallway. I yelped in pain once more as a sword went to stab me and grazed my side, but I kept running, fear overtaking me. I ran faster than ever and yelped in pain one last time when a door began to slam closed, catching my leg and likely bruising me again. "Help!" I yelled again, pounding on Gaius' door. "Gaius - Merlin, please!" I yelled, and the door opened quickly just as other sword came flying and I slammed the door behind me, stumbling back into a table, knocking over a few vials. There was a loud thump as the sword embedded itself into the door.

"Ariel, what's going on?" Arthur's voice asked incredulously, and I turned, wide-eyed to look at him.

"Something's terribly wrong," I breathed, and he shared a look with Merlin. That was when Gaius came out of Merlin's room and I saw Gwen laying in his bed, fast asleep.

"Good gracious, girl," Gaius said when he saw me, and I looked down at myself. Not terrible, but it was likely mostly the look on my face that he was talking about. "You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"I'm not certain what else to call it." My voice shook, and the men shared another look.

"Uther doesn't like a Druid girl as a guest of the King," Merlin said.

"Uther?" I asked, feeling the blood drain from my face. "What the bloody hell is going on?"

~:~:~:~:~

"The potion will allow you to see Uther in his spirit form," Gaius explained as we gathered around the table. "Once you are in his presence, you must blow the horn. It is the only way you can force him to go back to the spirit world."

"Is it safe?" Arthur asked.

"I can't say I'm entirely sure," Gaius admitted, and I chuckled, shaking my head at the men.

"Why do I get the feeling that this isn't an atypical occurrence?" I chimed in, and they all looked at me.

"Because it isn't," Gaius told me simply, and I nodded.

"Well then," I sighed, picking up a vial and looking between them. We all raised our vials, and I noticed Arthur wasn't going to drink his.

"What are you waiting for?" Merlin asked, and I froze too.

"To see if it's safe," Arthur said simply.

"So, if I don't die, you'll take yours?"

"Precisely. Get on with it," Arthur demanded, and I bit back a laugh, reaching to clink my glass against Merlin's.

"We'll do it together," I offered, and Merlin opened his mouth to protest only for me to gulp it down. I hid my face of disgust from them before suppressing a shiver and looking up at the three men as though nothing at all was wrong.

"Well, at least we know it doesn't kill you instantly," Arthur said, and he clinked his vial against Merlin's before they downed them and I bit back a grin while they downed them. "Ugh! That... That is the foulest thing I've ever tasted." I let out my laugh, and the men turned to look at me, all of them grinning.