Can you even imagine how badly he'd react to finding out that we know about the magic?
Merlin flinched himself awake, but kept his tightly eyes shut. He tried to remember his dream, but the more he tried to hold onto it the quicker it slipped away from him, like holding water in cupped hands. He had the distinct feeling of running. He clenched his jaw, trying to focus as hard as he could.
Running. There had been trees lots of trees. And...and bushes. And undergrowth growing all around it. He'd almost tripped on it more than once. A forest, then.
"Merlin?"
But why was he running? What was he running from?
"Merlin, are you awake?"
Because there was someone chasing him but who?
He opened his eyes.
Gwen stood on the other side of the room, wringing her hands nervously and watching him closely. "Merlin," she said, swallowing thickly. "I, um hello."
"Hello Gwen," he said back. He was pleased to find that, while his voice was still rough and quiet, he could actually talk without whispering anymore.
Gwen strayed a couple steps closer, and stopped. Her eyes looked glassy. Merlin hoped that she wasn't going to start crying – he didn't know if he could deal with a crying girl at the moment, even one he cared for as much Guinevere. "Would you, um," she said, "I mean, Gaius said that I should make you eat something if you woke up, so there's some broth. I think, I'm sure I couldn't make you, I just rather think that you should probably –"
"Wow," Merlin said, and he grinned. It felt strangely uncomfortable, to be smiling like that. As if his face had forgotten how.
Gwen, looking very taken aback, said, "Wow?"
"I haven't heard you ramble like that in years," he said. "Also, I'm not going to...to break if you come closer."
It turned out that it didn't matter if he felt up to dealing with crying girls at the moment, because the choice had just been taken from him. Gwen did start to cry then, rushing forward and sitting down on the edge of the bed. Merlin tried to lever himself so he was sitting up a bit more. The act of sitting up, however, was not the best idea that he'd ever had.
He winced, feeling different injuries, half healed and otherwise, pulling at him. His broken arm – strapped down in a sling – groaned in protest at the even smallest suggestion of movement. Gwen, noticing his discomfort, instantly produced another pillow from seemingly nowhere, putting it behind his head so that he was propped up. She continued to cry all the while, wiping at her eyes and apologizing, cheeks red with apparent embarrassment.
She then walked over to where a pot was propped over the hot fire in the hearth. Her hands were shaking slightly as she ladled some broth into it. "Here, you go" she said, walking back over. She settled the bowl in his lap with a towel beneath it, and handed him the spoon. "Do you think that you can manage it by yourself? I could hel..–"
"I can do it," Merlin said, cutting her off. It had been bad enough when it was Gaius. He didn't think he could live through getting spoon fed by Gwen. And, to his immense relief, he found that he was able to manage about half of the bowl before setting the spoon down.
All the while, Gwen kept a stream of meaningless chatter going. When she noticed that he was done eating, she took
"Is it true that you..." she trailed off.
"Is it true that ...?" Merlin prompted. He leaned his back against the pillows. Even though he hurt and could barely keep his eyes open, he felt...content. Although that wasn't quite the right word – maybe safe was closer.
