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Of Ribbons and Turnips

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When Nerissa finally came to, she found herself being carried bridal style down the corridors. She looked to see whose strong arms held her tight and groaned in disappointment to find that she was being carried by none other than Prince Prat. He must have noticed that she had awakened because he turned his head to look at her and grinned.

"Seems you can't seem to stop falling for me," Prince Prat told her with a wink, awkwardly patting her arm as he carried her.

"I demand you put me down," Nerissa hissed, wriggling about in his arms. But that only made him hold her tighter, pressing her closer to his chest. A look of annoyance was clearly displayed on her face. "May I at least know why you felt the need to carry me?"

"You could at least thank me for saving you from a tumble down the steps."

"I was fine." She folded her arms across her chest. If he insisted on carrying her, she wasn't going to do him any favours. Although, it might make her slip and fall on her bum, but she mused it would be worth it.

Prince Prat arched an eyebrow. "You fainted at the top of the steps. If I hadn't been there you surely would have injured yourself further. Or worse. So, you're welcome."

Nerissa threw her head back and groaned. "You're right."

"Come again?" Prince Prat responded with a smirk on his stupid face.

"Oh," Nerissa groaned again before narrowing her eyes at the prince. "Wipe that look off your face. You heard what I said. You were right. So, I thank you."

He chuckled to himself. "Was that so hard?"

"You have no idea," she asserted, rolling her eyes.

Prince Prat threw his head back and chuckled. Nerissa could feel it reverberating from his chest. At least someone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

"Might I please walk?" Nerissa asked.

He seemed to ponder her request before he responded. "If you tell me what had you all shaken up. You looked very pale running down the corridor and you didn't even yell at me when I called for you."

Nerissa rolled her eyes before exhaling slowly. "I–I. . ." She stopped for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts by closing her eyes and pursing her lips before taking a deep breath. "Gwen's father," was all she could manage to choke out.

"What about Gwen's father?" He almost looked sincere to her. Almost.

She took another deep breath, trying to maintain her composure. "He - he's ill. Likely with the sickness that's spreading. And-and, my thoughts went . . ."

"To death?"

To say Nerissa was surprised that he had guessed correctly would be an understatement. But the look on her face spoke volumes to Prince Prat. "How?"

Prince Prat shrugged his shoulders like it wasn't a big deal. "You've been . . . different since Sir Ewan died. And then Valiant, although he deserved it, I do regret you had to witness it. Two deaths in quick succession and then now what's happening in Camelot. It wasn't that hard to piece together."

Nerissa sighed. Leave it to an almost complete stranger to figure her out. She thought she masked her emotions better than that. But somehow he seemed to be able to see right through her facade like she was an open book.

"But a deal is a deal," Prince Prat said before he gently helped Nerissa to her feet. She was about to thank him again but thought better of it once he started to speak again. "But I'm still walking you to the physician's quarters."

Her eyes widened. "That wasn't part of the deal!"

"Sure it was. And if you keep arguing about it, I'll carry you again."

Nerissa rubbed her face in frustration before she threw her hands in the air. "I never knew one person could be so frustrating! And I've known Merlin my whole life."

Prince Prat leaned closer toward her and whispered close enough to feel his breath on her ear, "I heard that."

Not wanting to react further and give him the pleasure of continuing to watch her irritation, Nerissa bit her tongue. But that just made Prince Prat look at her more curiously. Nerissa tried to ignore his glances and kept walking. She had hoped the rest of their journey would be silent. But such luck was not hers.

"What are you doing?" Prince Prat asked, the confusion evident on his face.

"I'm biting my tongue," Nerissa responded while still quite literally biting her tongue.

He still looked quite confused. "Why?"

"Because I can only say so many things, of a certain nature, to you without ending up jailed. So this is me, trying not to say them." Nerissa glanced his way to see Prince Prat slowly nod his head in understanding. Although he still wore a rather quizzical expression.

They walked a few steps in silence when Prince Prat turned to her. "Dealing with death isn't easy. But in most cases, myself included, it does get easier."

Nerissa sighed. Why he decided to bring the topic of their conversation back to that, she had no idea. But she also knew that sometimes talking to someone helped ease the burden a bit. Especially if one was talking to someone they weren't well-acquainted with. Sometimes all her mother did was talk to patients and they seemed better just by doing that.

She swung her arms in front of her before she sighed again. "That's part of the problem, I know that. I've worked by my mother's side healing the people in our village since I was young. I shouldn't be like this."

"You seem the resilient type."

"Do you even know what that word means?"

Prince Prat shook his head. He knew he wasn't going to win that battle, so he chose another tactic. "You aren't Camelot's court physician."

Nerissa scoffed. "That's what Gaius said."

"Well, if Gaius said it, then it's bound to be true," Prince Prat said with confidence, but then he had to ruin it. "And since I'm Prince of Camelot, you must believe what I tell you too."

She arched an eyebrow at him, not finding the second sentiment cute at all. "You really expect that to work on me?"

"No, but if it did, my life would be much easier. I'm not certain how I'll fare as king with you as my subject. I'll likely have to exile you." Prince Prat gave her a pointed look.

"I'll be sure to leave before that happens, sire." Nerissa snickered and bowed her head mockingly, which made Prince Prat shake his head.

With her head still bowed, she noticed the end of her braid no longer had the ribbon she had tied to it. She began to feel up her braid, hoping that it might have pushed up. But it hadn't. Nerissa pursed her lips together and frowned before looking back down the corridor over her shoulder.

"Is something wrong?" Prince Prat asked, watching Nerissa backtrack her steps. "I didn't really mean that I'd exile you."

"It's not that," Nerissa muttered, squinting her eyes as she glanced further down the corridor.

Prince Prat arched his brow. "Then what is it? Or are you going to make me guess?"

"Nothing of import," Nerissa responded. "It's my hair ribbon. It seems to have gone missing." She took a few more steps before she sighed. "Perhaps it fell off while I was . . . " she paused, not sure if he knew exactly what she was doing with Morgana.

"While you were what?" Prince Prat's curiosity got the better of him.

Nerissa blushed. "While I was with Morgana," she answered lamely. Not wanting to tell him that she had been learning to sword fight, especially when he had denied her request for help already.

But Prince Prat seemed to accept her answer. Nerissa didn't notice him rub his right sleeve, which he had rolled up. "Your ribbon. It wasn't of sentimental value, was it?" He asked, rubbing his sleeve again, seemingly making sure that it stayed rolled.

She shook her head. "No, I just liked the colour is all. My other ribbons I'm afraid are rather dull looking." After another sigh, she walked back toward Prince Prat. "But if you happen to see a pale blue ribbon, you best tell me."

"Or what?" Prince Prat questioned. "What could you possibly do to me?"

Nerissa arched an eyebrow. "That's for me to know and you to find out, sire." She posed a quick curtsy then tossed her braid over her shoulder before continuing the trek to the physician's quarters.

Prince Prat couldn't help but grin after her and rub his rolled sleeve. He'd never met someone quite like Nerissa before.

Nerissa looked over her shoulder back at him, "I thought you were walking me back. Please tell me you've changed your mind."

"Not at all," Prince Prat responded, before tacking on a response he knew would rile her. "Simply admiring the view is all."

Her eyes widened before her lips pursed and she frowned as the realisation of his words dawned on her. "Why you . . . " she then flipped her braid and turned her back on him once more. She stomped away in a huff, covering her bum with her hands and muttered words that she knew could get her in trouble if Prince Prat heard them.

Prince Prat laughed before he began walking to catch up with her. His long strides easily caught up to her smaller ones. Especially given that she was stomping down the corridor. But Nerissa continued stomping away from him.

"Aw, c'mon," Prince Prat called to her.

Nerissa ignored him.

"Don't be like this!"

But Nerissa continued to ignore him.

"Stop!"

She ignored him and continued down the corridor.

"I command you to stop!"

Nerissa came to an immediate halt. She turned to face him practically glaring daggers at him. After offering a small curtsy, she arched a brow and then turned to stomp away once more. Her ribbonless braid swung furiously down her back.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!"

"What is it you want from me?" Nerissa nearly screamed at him as she flung around to face him once more. She had steeled herself against him and her face was flushed in frustration.

Prince Prat cleared his throat, biding his time as Nerissa calmed herself a bit. He knew he had pressed her a little too far this time. But of course, he would never tell her that. Instead, he looked for a way to diffuse the situation. And thankfully one magically appeared.

After clearing his throat once more, Prince Prat pointed to the corridor that veered to the right, which Nerissa had stomped past. "Physician's quarters are that way."

Nerissa inhaled slowly before offering him a curt nod.

"After you," Prince Prat said.

She nodded once more before Nerissa headed down the proper corridor, no longer stomping - but also no longer attempting to interact with Prince Prat in any way. The pair walked in silence until they reached the physician's quarters. Nerissa offered him a small curtsy before she walked inside and closed the door quickly behind her. Prince Prat noticed a piece of pale blue cloth poking out from his rolled sleeve and quickly tucked it back in before he walked away.

After a long sigh, Nerissa leaned her back against the door. Why must Prince Prat be such a . . . prat? She mused that it was likely how he was raised and his station, but still. If he was going to act like that, the very least he could do was leave her alone.

The physician's quarters were surprisingly empty. Aside from her, of course. That must mean someone else had died. Leaning heavily against the door, Nerissa closed her eyes tightly and hoped with all her heart that it wasn't Gwen's father. Then, as if she could hear her mother's voice whispering in her ear, she knew she needed to do something to not dwell on all the sadness. Seeing as neither Gaius nor Merlin had started cooking their next meal, Nerissa gathered the ingredients to make a pottage of turnips.

Nerissa hummed to herself as she diced the turnips and set them in a pot of water to boil, to reduce the natural bite of the turnip. Thankfully, her mother had supplied her with a small book of recipes, written in her mother's hand, that were simple enough to follow.

Once the turnips had simmered, she drained them, before putting them back in the pot with some onions, vegetable broth, salt, a pinch of saffron, and some powder douce. It was a good thing Gaius's ingredient jars were well-labelled and her mother had offered step-by-step directions. Nerissa snorted to herself in derision thinking they were simple enough that even Prince Prat could follow them.

Merlin was the first to return, just as Nerissa gave the pottage of turnips one last stir. He stepped inside and blinked slowly at his sister. "What did you do?" he asked, his tone very concerned.

"I cooked dinner," Nerissa scoffed at her brother.

"Come again?" Merlin coughed, his eyes widened in horror.

"Oh, shove off, you dollophead."

Merlin took a few more steps inside the room. "You? You cooked?" The disbelief was evident in his voice.

Nerissa rolled her eyes as Merlin walked closer to glance into the pot. He sniffed rather loudly. "It - It almost smells edible," he told his sister, looking at her rather pointedly.

"Ha-ha," Nerissa retorted, wiping her hands against her skirts, having forgotten to put an apron on. She knew that this was Merlin's way of teasing her to make her laugh. And it at least made her smile on the inside, even if he was rather annoying about it.

Merlin was about to reach his hand into the pot to grab a turnip when Nerissa swatted it away. "Wash your hands. I'll not have you going about spoiling my hard work because you couldn't be bothered with cleanliness."

"Wait, you didn't use water from the town water supply to boil the turnips, did you?" Merlin backed away from the pot over the fire.

"No, I used water from the rain barrel," Nerissa told him with her hands on her hips. "Why?"

Merlin cast a glance sideways, unsure of what he should tell his sister. He cleared his throat. "Gaius thinks the sickness is caused by magic through the town's water supply."

Nerissa walked to her brother and gently smacked the back of his head. "That would've been a good thing to know, turnip head. Good thing I've stuck to the castle."

"Hey now!" Merlin said, swatting his sister's hand away from his head. "I've only just recovered since the last time you head-slapped me.

"Then it was well-deserved." Nerissa looked up at her brother pointedly before she waved him toward a bucket. "Wash up and eat some dinner."

Merlin didn't move. He just looked at her, blinking slowly.

"What?" Her tone was quite exasperated.

He snapped his fingers in front of her face. Nerissa stepped away from him. But Merlin looked at her curiously. "Are you alright? Because you-you look alright. I mean, better than you have lately. Not to say that you've looked bad, but you have. I mean, you look almost normal, really. I've been quite worried about you."

Nerissa sighed and wiped her hands against her apronless skirts once more. "Well, grief has its moments, no? Some days you're fine and others you aren't. I'll admit I've had my share of bad ones lately and I'll still have them I'm sure."

"But?"

Her brow furrowed. "But what?"

"Why are you so cheerful now? What were you doing that made you . . . like this." Merlin gesture to his sister.

Nerissa's first thought went to Prince Prat and the walk from hell. No. Absolutely Not. There was no way she was telling Merlin about that. "Nothing," she responded much too quickly before she cleared her throat. "I mean, I was singing and cooking. Nothing special."

"Uh-huh."

"Are you going to eat or not?" Nerissa questioned with one hand on her hip and the other one holding a wooden spoon.

"I'm really torn here," Merlin said as he walked over to the bucket to wash his hands. "If cooking makes you happy, that should be a good thing, right? And I should tell you to keep doing it. But on the other hand, your cooking could also kill me."

Merlin easily dodged a towel Nerissa threw at his head. Despite his teasing, he was really glad to see at least a glimpse of the sister he knew. He also knew that she was right, there were bound to be more bad days. But he liked seeing her happy. Even if it meant annoying him.

Gaius finally returned having been to see Gwen's father. He kept rather mum on the subject as he ate his dinner. His gaze kept flickering to a small vial with the town's water and a small purple flower.

"Have you figured out how to help them yet?" Nerissa asked, unsure if she was up for the conversation, but feeling she ought to ask.

"No," Gaius sighed shaking his head.

"Yes," Merlin responded, with a pointed look toward their uncle.

Nerissa's brow furrowed. "Which is it?" she asked, looking between the two of them.

Gaius arched an eyebrow at Merlin. "There is no cure that doesn't involve sorcery."

Merlin pounded his fist on the table, even scaring himself a bit at his own reaction. "All the more reason to use it! Gwen's father will be dead by morning!"

Nerissa winced at Merlin's declaration about Gwen's father. While she had known that to be the case, hearing the words come out of someone else's mouth panged her heart.

"And when Uther asks for the remedy? What then?" Gaius argued. "The sorcery will have to be revealed and he will have someone's head."

"What's the point of magic if it can't even be used to help those we care about!" Merlin shoved back from the table and went to his room, slamming the door behind him.

Gaius reached his hand across the table and clasped Nerissa's hand in his. "I'm sorry you had to hear that, my dear."

Nerissa nodded her head numbly but took a deep breath trying to focus on the present. She knew her brother too well to know that he had given up without too much of a fight. That meant he was planning something. Probably something stupid.

She reasoned that she probably should tell Gaius that Merlin was up to something, but if Merlin could save Gwen's father with magic - it might be worth it. Although, she was likely going to have to clean up the mess he made. A mess that he was bound to make.

Once the dishes were cleaned, Nerissa excused herself to her room. She waited inside her room, near the door which was open a crack. If she was right, Merlin was bound to sneak out once Gaius was asleep. And then she'd sneak into his room to figure out what he was up to with his book of magic - so she could clean up any trace of magic.

Sure enough, just as Nerissa had predicted, Merlin's door creaked open a little after midnight. Thankfully Gaius's snores covered any sounds he made. Nerissa then quickly padded across the floor in her bare feet and shut herself in Merlin's room. Not only could she figure out Merlin's plan, but if Gaius poked his head in, he'd find someone under the blankets in Merlin's bed. The things she did for her brother.

It was almost two hours later before Merlin finally returned. By that point, Nerissa had only gotten halfway through the book of magic and had no idea what he had done. But he obviously had done something. That much she was sure of.

When Merlin entered his room, he found Nerissa sitting on his bed with the book of magic in front of her. Her hair looked wild coming out of her braid and her brow was arched. "Merlin, where have you been and what did you do?"

Dammit, so much for the cover of darkness.

HUGE THANK YOU to those who commented on the last chapter: grndelwald * ninjasawakendmystar *