𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑢𝑒 - 𝐺𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑏𝑦𝑒 𝐸𝑎𝑙𝑑𝑜𝑟

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The sun undulated gently before her eyes, its rays reflecting off the surface of the water. It reflected off the blue of the lake and back into the blue of the sky. It was as if they were giving it back to each other. Something so beautiful, so strong, so elusive, yet trapped in the infinity of the world. Heaven sent to earth and earth sent back to heaven.

They give and they take.

The gentle breeze that had been caressing the water, creating tiny ripples on its surface, stopped, and in a few moments the oscillating water was so smooth it felt like you could walk on it.

Splash !

The surface of the water did not stay smooth and perfect for long. A pebble was thrown and the balance shook. Birds flew into the air and a frog jumped out of the rush to hide in the grass further away.

A single pebble had disturbed this peace. But the water would be calm again, the birds would sing and the frogs would croak. Harmony would return, forgetting that it had been disturbed. But the pebble had sunk to the bottom and would never rise again.

It was in the abyss, but at least it knew where it belonged. It wasn't trapped like the sun's rays, or frivolous like the fauna.

Millicent would have liked her sins to be like the pebble that sinks to the bottom of the sea and stays there forever. That she would be rid of them for good. That they wouldn't bring her back to the same place and make her look at the same stretch of water where she dreamed of washing away her sins, while it was there that it all began.

"Millicent !" Hunith's voice jolted her daughter out of her stupor. A slight start. A small movement of her shoulders, but it didn't escape Hunith.

Millicent half turned, following the sound of her mother's voice. "Mother." Her voice seemed to come from far away, as if she was still lost in her thoughts and didn't realise she was speaking. Then her eyes rested on her mother and her glassy eyes disappeared, giving way to a more animated look. It was as if her irises were suddenly more brown, her pupils more black and the light was back in her eyes.

Millicent broke into a smile that both transformed and lit up her face. But her sudden good humour didn't fool Hunith. Her daughter had always smiled in her presence since the day she had understood that Hunith would always be concerned at the slightest hint of worry in one of her children's faces. And she hated to see her mother worried or disturbed by them.

"There you are." Millicent understood that her mother was looking for her. She approached her daughter with a smile on her face, but she seemed to be troubled by something. In this case, her daughter.

Hunith looked at the lake and then back at her daughter. "Are you okay ?"

Millicent followed her mother's gaze. Her eyes lingered on the water once more before she looked for her mother. The smile on her face widened. "Of course," she reassured her vivaciously.

Hunith put a hand on her daughter's arm and squeezed it gently. "Come on. Let's not just stand here. Let's go and help your brother pack his things."

"And mine ? Don't you care ?" Millicent teased.

Hunith huffed amusedly before looking at her daughter. "I know yours have been ready for a long time."

Mother and daughter reached the house. Hunith entered first, while Millicent stopped as soon as she passed through the door, her attention also captured by her brother. Merlin was... She didn't even know what he was doing. He seemed to be struggling with his bag to close it. Millicent watched him with a raised eyebrow, thinking how ridiculous that idiot was.

Merlin noticed his sister's presence and looked at her. "Where have you been ? I was about to leave without you," he said simply.

Millicent chuckled, "Your things should be ready for this," she scoffed.

"They will be before yours anyway." As if to prove his words, Merlin finally closed his bag. He looked proudly at his sister, then stood still, a look of annoyance on his face. "Let me guess... Is it already the case ?"

Millicent nodded. "Yes Merlin, it is."

"We should say goodbye," Merlin suggested.

The brunette sneered and his brother knew she was going to be sarcastic before she said a word. "Ah yes, to whom ? Like old man Simon ?" she asked mockingly.

Merlin winced and shook his head sharply. "No, I have a feeling we can do without him. In fact, I'm sure he'll be celebrating our departure."

"Our departure ? Your departure, yes," she corrected him. "I would point out that he has no grievance against me. I'm not the one who nearly flattened him with a tree." Although old man Simon hadn't liked Merlin very much before that incident.

"Except that we're twins." Millicent looked at Merlin intently, wondering what kind of nonsense this simpleton was going to come up with, because when he started like that, he was always a big, soft idiot afterwards. "We're the same being." The brunette arched an eyebrow. That was something new. He was breaking new ground with his stupidities. "We're a team. Which means my problems are your problems."

"Oh that, believe me Merlin, I know only too well." Merlin frowned and narrowed his eyes, not liking the tone in which his sister had said that.

"Come on, let's not talk about it any more." Hunith interrupted their bickering. The incident with Simon hadn't made her laugh then, and she still didn't find it funny. It was one of the things that had made Hunith decide to send them away.

They fell silent for a moment. Hunith looked at her children. Even if their quarrels, from the most frivolous to the most serious, could be irritating, she realised at that moment how much this house was full of life thanks to them, and that once she was gone and alone, it would seem quite empty without them.

This thought saddened the woman for a moment, but she didn't want to show anything in front of her children, as she knew they would feel guilty leaving her alone in the village - although she would never really be alone, as she had good relations with the other inhabitants - so she decided to wait for them outside.

Merlin watched their mother leave, then looked at his sister with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "I was thinking more along the lines of... William." He had waited until Hunith was out of the house because ever since she had discovered that William knew about them, she had never been happy when they were with him and his name was now a source of anxiety for their mother, even though she liked the boy.

Millicent's air became more serious. "It's best to dispense with the goodbyes."

"Oh yes, to whom ?" Merlin hadn't been able to stop himself from answering straight away.

"It's the right thing to do, that's all." After her words, Millicent turned her back to walk a little further into the room to retrieve her bag.

Merlin could suddenly see her checking her things and making sure her bag was okay, even though they both knew it was. He couldn't understand his sister's behaviour, "Why ?"

"Why ?" She lifted her head. "You know why." She turned to look at him. "You haven't even told him you're leaving. If you turn up at his house without a care in the world and suddenly say goodbye, he won't take the news well. He'll want to know why and try to persuade you to stay, and that will plunge you into a long, difficult and pointless conversation because it won't change the outcome and it won't necessarily end on a good note. You know how he is. If we leave without saying anything, at least we leave things as they are."

She'd only talked about him. As if he was the only one who had a relationship with William. "What about you ?"

"I have nothing more to say to him. You know, he and I haven't spoken much since..." Millicent stopped abruptly. Thinking about it again caused her great grief. Merlin felt deep compassion for his sister at that moment, but Millicent only saw pity in his eyes.

The dark-haired man wanted to do something, if only to hold his sister, knowing that no words could comfort her, but he knew that the gesture would not go down well. Millicent just wanted to skip the subject and ignore it.

Before he could say anything, she turned and picked up her bag, slinging it over her shoulders before looking back at him and continuing in a confident voice. "Things are different now, he and I have drifted apart and now we're literally going different ways."

"He would still like the chance to say goodbye."

"Trust me Merlin, it's better if we don't have to." The brunette put her hands on the straps of her bag and headed for the exit of their house.

"Because you think if we leave without saying anything he'll take it well ?"

She stopped when she heard her brother's words. She looked at him with a hint of guilt in her eyes. "No, but he wouldn't have a choice. He'd have to deal with it."

"And most importantly, you wouldn't have to see his reaction."

Millicent had enough of this conversation that served no purpose for her. "Look, Merlin, if you want to go, go. Wake up the whole village and say goodbye, but it'll be without me."

Without another word, Millicent walked past Merlin. She stopped in the doorway and, without looking at her brother, said only one thing. "I've never liked goodbyes. It's not my thing and I'm not good at it."

"How would you know, you've never done it." Millicent heard those words and nodded. "All the more reason." Then she quietly left the house and joined her mother outside.

Merlin immediately felt sorry for upsetting his sister. Especially when they were going to be travelling for several days, just the two of them. At least he would have a chance to catch up, he told himself.

The boy wondered if he had been pushing his sister a little too hard. Sometimes he got the impression that she was a completely different person to the one he knew. Millicent had been incomprehensible of late. Not even members of his own family knew how to behave towards her since the accident at the lake. It was all down to that, he knew, and all he could do was wait and hope that things would go back to the way they were.

Before joining them, Merlin thought for a moment. There was truth in what his sister had said. Leaving without saying goodbye would surely be less heartbreaking. It was the easy way out, but just leaving the village was the easy way out.

"What is your brother doing ?" Hunith asked her daughter.

"He's making up his mind," she replied.

"To what ?"

"Nothing at all." Merlin joined them outside at the same time. He paused between the two women and looked at his sister. She held his gaze, questioning him with her eyes. "We can go."

Though to Hunith her son's words only signalled that they were ready to leave, Millicent understood him differently. He followed her lead and agreed with her.

Millicent turned to her mother and her face lit up with a smile as she came to embrace her. Hunith held her tightly, as if she were about to vanish between her fingers. When her daughter pulled away, Hunith ran a hand over her face and looked at her with a tender smile.

"I don't need to tell you to be careful."

"I'm always careful, you know me." And it was true. Hunith had always worried more about Merlin, but lately things had been different. "I'll look after him," Millicent added.

And she would. Her mother didn't doubt that for a moment. For even in the midst of their greatest arguments, they wouldn't let each other down.

"Don't shut yourself off, Millicent. The world is not your enemy. It just wants to be your friend."

Her words seemed to have the desired effect as she saw something happen in her daughter's eyes. Millicent's nose scrunched up, her throat tightened for a moment, making it difficult for her to swallow, and her eyes glistened slightly as she seemed to hold back tears.

Millicent said nothing. What was there to say ? How could she respond to such words ? She simply planted a kiss on her mother's cheek. "Goodbye, Mother."

"Goodbye, Millicent." The brunette quickly pulled away from her mother's embrace and left without waiting for her brother.

"Look at her, playing hard to get, we know she hurried her goodbyes so as not to cry," Merlin laughed softly as he watched his sister leave.

"Because you're not a bit sad to be leaving ?" Hunith teased.

"More to be leaving you."

Hunith laid a reassuring hand on his son's arm. "Don't worry about me. Besides, I know where to find you."

She hugged her son in turn, then looked at him without letting go, a hand on each arm. "It's not just your sister who has to make up for all your mistakes, Merlin. She may need you to pick up her pieces."

The boy chuckled. "We're talking about Millicent, what pieces can she have to pick up ?" He didn't seem to understand what Hunith had always known. Millicent was only perfect in her brother's eyes because their mother knew she had made mistakes too, but she picked up her brother's to keep him out of trouble, but also her own so that Merlin wouldn't have to.

Hunith sighed and smiled at her son. She ran a hand through her hair. Go and find the answers you want, but don't forget to be careful.

"Come on, Mother, you know me," Merlin chuckled again, grinning like a silly boy.

"Oh, precisely."

"I promise you. I wouldn't do anything to worry you or embarrass Gaius."

She was sure he meant it, but Hunith wasn't sure his son could keep that promise, even if he wanted to.

Hunith watched her daughter walk away over her son's shoulder. Merlin turned slightly to follow her gaze, then turned back to his mother. "I'm going to join her before she crosses the river without me."

But before she could let him go, Hunith gently squeezed her son's arms. "Merlin," she called to him earnestly. "Your sister tends to get lost more easily than you think."

"All the more reason for me to join her then."

"No Merlin, this... What I mean is... The darkest paths are sometimes taken without our knowing it. But even in the darkness there is light." Merlin was completely taken aback by his mother's words. "Help her to always find the light."

Merlin didn't understand the meaning of these words. He didn't even understand why his mother was telling him this, and why now. But he knew that he had to listen to her. He didn't understand, but he would.

Perplexed by this strange exchange with his mother, he finally said goodbye before trotting off to his sister. He took one last look back at the village and their mother before reaching Millicent.

When he reached her level, he slowed down to match her pace. He couldn't help but look at his sister, slightly worried, and Millicent noticed. She arched an eyebrow. "What's the matter with you ?" she scoffed.

"Nothing..."

"You look like crap. Are you feeling blue or something ?"

"I'm fine !" he protested. "You're the one who ran away so you wouldn't cry-" Before he could finish his sentence, Merlin was kicked in the backside.

"Well, if you're alright, then cheer up !"

Merlin looked at his sister in outrage as she moved forward more quickly. Then, with a glance, she knew. She flashed a smile before running off laughing as Merlin began to chase after her, giving her a taste of her own medicine.

Hunith looked ahead, a smile on her face, and saw her two children walking as they always did, two of them, together, united, laughing and teasing each other.

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So here we are. The prologue is out ! What more can I say, except that a new adventure has just begun. I hope you enjoyed it ! Have a good day/night <3