Merlin found herself walking through the gate of the royal burial ground where all the kings and queens of the past rest forever. Each burial stone had different engraving and decorations.
"Great! I forgot to ask Gwen which stone it is." Merlin exclaimed.
Although all the stones were different it was hard to make out which one belonged to queen Igraine. Merlin walked through the graves and found each one older than another and thought of using this method to find the queen's grave. If Uther loved her so much that he banned magic because it caused her death than he would definitely be taking good care of her grave.
Merlin stood right in the middle and the vast area and looked in every direction. The sun was getting hotter and Merlin was growing tired and she finally saw a grave stone clean enough for the queen. Merlin walked towards the grave.
"Queen Igraine Pendragon." Merlin read, "Wife of King Uther Pendragon and mother of Prince Arthur Pendragon and Princess Morgan Pendragon."
Before Merlin could began her new job as a decorater she found a dead blue butterfly fallen next to the dead bouquet of previous flowers. Merlin felt pity for the butterfly and bent down. She picked the butterfly in her hands and closed her palms. Merlin's eyes turned golden as she brought the butterfly back to life and opened her palms for it to fly away.
The butterfly began to fly and hovered around the dead bouquet of flowers. Merlin understood that the butterfly wanted the flowers and Merlin thought that nothing would go wrong if she brings the flowers back.
Merlin raised her hand over the bouquet and as she cast the spell Gwen called her which made her loose her balance and her hand touched the mud.
"You're done with the decorations?" Gwen asked as she walked to her.
"Oh, I've just started. It took me a while to find the grave."
"Well do that later because we have to go to the castle right now."
"Why what happened?"
"There are some guests coming over and the king wants help in welcoming them." Gwen grabbed Merlin's hands and they ran back to the castle together.
Unbeknownst to them the spell Merlin intended to cast on the dead flowers would work on a rather unexpected person. It was afterall cast by the greatest sorceress to ever walk the earth. When the girls were just far enough to not here any noises from the graveyard there was a sudden scream.
Gwen and Merlin didn't hear the scream but a passing peasant did. He quickly began to look for the source and found it to come from under the earth.
"Let me out! Anybody there?! Help!" He shrill voice yelled.
The peasant, initially suprised and horrified at the idea of someone being buried alive began to dig the grave with the showel he had been carrying as was a farmer in the corn fields. He dug the grave and called in one of his peasant friend for help to break the coffin open. When they did open the coffin they were horrified to see who the person inside was. They immediately sprinted out of the pit and ran away from there.
"Run away!" They yelled.
The person, coughing due to the initial lack of oxygen and brought back to life by Merlin, is queen Igraine! She looked at them confused thought why would they run away from her. After trying a lot she managed to get on her feet and climbing on the mud pile she came out of there. Igraine coughed for a while and dusted herself and than did she notice the difference.
She wasn't in the dress she remembered herself to be in during the carriage accident that she, Arthur and Morgan were in eighteen years back. In the accident the prince princess and queen were injured and Uther commanded a witch with evil intentions to cure his children while Igraine sustained minor injuries. The witch, however used a different spell which cured the prince and princess but Igraine, died.
It was this very moment that Uther began to hate magic and command all the magicians in the kingdom to be executed but the witch escaped. Igraine looked around and saw that she was standing in the graveyard and that everything around her was changed. The once beautiful flower beds had been transformed into a corn field.
Than after roaming around the place for a while and seeing everything changed Igraine began to worry. She then realised that years had somehow passed by and that everything is different from what she remembers. Igraine didn't know who to go to, she couldn't directly burst in the castle. Than she remembered Gaius and that his chambers were the closest place she could go and trust.
Hiding behind the houses Igraine made her way to Gaius' chambers after much difficulty to walk. But before she could knock she heard the sound of the door opening and stood next to the door. Merlin came out of the chambers but didn't walk more as Gaius said, "Remember to give this to Gwen, Merlin."
"Gaius, I remember this has to be given to Gwen. Why don't you come along to see the guests?"
"I've meet the Gauls before."
"Accolon likes Morgan, doesn't he?"
"He does."
"My daughter." Igraine whispered to herself but the mumbling sound caught Merlin's attention. She turned around and saw Igraine standing there, her clothes all dirty and hair messed up.
"Ah, Gaius, you got a visitor." Merlin said. "Are you ok, ma'am?" Merlin asked her.
"Ah, yes i-im fine." Igraine replied.
"Who's come to." Gaius came outside and saw Igraine. "Igraine!? What are you doing here! You're dead!"
"She's very much alive, Gaius." Merlin stated. "How else is she standing here."
"What have you done!?" Gaius asked Merlin.
"Me!? I didn't do anything!" Merlin replied.
"What happened to your hair?" Igraine asked Gaius.
Merlin and Gaius stayed quiet.
"Let me digest the fact that you are standing here alive a- let's just go inside." Gaius said and got both of them inside the chambers and shut the door. He made Igraine sit on a chair and asked Merlin to leave immediately for the castle with the basket for Gwen and told to not tell anyone what had just happened. Merlin obliged and went.
"What's going on?" Gaius asked Igraine.
"The last thing I remember was that Arthur, Morgan and I were in that carriage. I was carrying Morgan and Arthur was sitting on my lap and suddenly everything went black and when I opened my eyes I was in that coffin and two peasants opened it. They ran away after seeing me like I'm a ghost of some sort." Igraine explained. "I don't get it, you look aged and everything has changed."
"Igraine, let me tell this clear. You have been dead for eighteen years."
"What?"
Gaius explained everything to her and she was stunned to here what mess Uther had created and about the executions of many innocent people. She shook her head sorrowfully.
"Where's Uther? Oh I have so much to talk about." Igraine asked angrily. Gaius knew that now Uther's bad time has started, Igraine won't spare him. "And where are my children? Hope they didn't become like him."
"Oh no they didn't. Arthur's grown into a handsome young man and is a knight while Morgan is a beautiful young maiden."
"If I'm not wrong, Arthur is twenty one and Morgan is nineteen."
"You are correct."
"I want to see them so bad. Where are they?"
"Morgan is in the castle while Arthur has gone along with his knights for a three day camp. He'll be back the day after."
"And what about that young girl? Merlin?"
"Oh she's my niece."
"She somewhat reminded me of your sister. Isn't she here?"
Gaius told her about what happened in Ealdor.
"Oh he's so done." Igraine declared. "Do my kids know about Merlin?"
"Ah, to be honest and to tell you the truth.... your son does like my niece."
"Oh that's amazing. She seems like a sweetheart." Igraine said happily. "Has he had the guts to propose yet?"
"Sent a bouquet without a red rose."
Igraine chuckled.
"And your daughter does seem to like Accolon of Gaul. He does too but they don't know."
"My children seem to be happy." Igraine said. "I've missed so much."
"You sadly have but you are just in time for their weddings."
"Merlin is perfect for Arthur. I know as I overheard a girl in the market talking about them to someone else but I couldn't see the other person's face."
"Does she wear a yellow dress?"
"Yes."
"That's Gwen. She's engaged to Lancelot, Arthur best friend and also a knight."
"Oh."
"And the other girl is Morgan as no one else knows about them."
"Yes her hair is the same colour as Morgan's."
"But I still don't understand how can you come back like this."
"Even I can't understand how. All I want now is to meet my children. But I will wait threw days for Arthur. I will wait for both my children."
Meanwhile, by one of the riverside villages the knights were running after their horses as Gwaine had not tried them up properly.
"Gwaine!" Arthur yelled as they ran after the horses for almost twenty minutes.
"I'm tired." Gwaine stated and threw himself down.
"Oh get on your feet and help!" Lancelot scolded him.
"Wait!" Percival said as they saw that the horses stopped to drink water by the river. Gwaine joined them as he caught up to the others as they panted.
"This was exhausting." Leon stated.
"Let's just go back to camp and wrap up our training quickly." Lancelot added.
"It's Friday. The shops will be closed for the two more days we're here." Arthur added. "Why don't we first wrap that up?"
"That sounds good." Lancelot agreed.
They got their horses and tied them properly and went in the village and to the jewellers. They went to multiple shopes and while Lancelot did find a yellow necklace for Gwen, Arthur didn't find anything perfect for Merlin.
"Didn't get anything?" Leon asked.
"No, there's nothing I feel Merlin will like."
"Arthur, it's the first you will give her and that too on her birthday." Lancelot explained.
"What about the bouquet?" Gwaine asked.
"Flowers count differently." Lancelot stated. He looked at Arthur and added, "Whatever you give her, she'll love it."
Arthur sighed and just as he was about to walk away from the shop his eyes fell on the shop opposite. In the old looking shop there was something sparkling blue. The colour immediately drew Arthur there and he entered the shop.
There was no one there except a old woman sitting in a far corner and wiping some jewellery. She saw them entering her shop and walked up to them.
"Why is it that so many people come here?" She asked in a low voice.
"We are knights of Camelot." Leon introduced. "This is Prince Arthur, he's here to buy something for someone."
"My shop and jewellery are old. No one wants the jewelry I make." The woman complained. "I will give you whatever you want. Go ahead take a look." She turned around and began to walk back to her
"I saw something blue shinning while I stood on the other side of the street."
Hearing Arthur say these words made the old lady suprised and she turned back to them. She went straight to the front of the shop and removed an old box out which had the sparking blue thing. It was a necklace, a rather old one but it looked beautiful and new.
"This is marvelous and perfect!" Arthur exclaimed.
"Dear prince, this necklace was to be given only to the person who sees it. You have yearned this." The old lady replied. "Apart from this there is something else I must give you."