We've Started A Fire
The early morning sunlight streamed through the window, waking Merlin. Even after all these years, literally hundreds of them, he would still often wake, momentarily not knowing where he was - in his chambers at Camelot? Camping out in the woods with Arthur and the Knights? As his eyes adjusted and he fully woke up, he looked at the sleeping form beside him. Her long black hair spread out on the pillow . How had they got here? He wondered, not for the first time. It amazed him that they where here together at all. Even after all these years and he still felt the same spark that lit something inside him every time he looked at her. They had both changed so much since that very first time he’d laid eyes on her. She’d been so beautiful and regal. Everybody in the room had stopped and stared as she’d walked in, wearing that daring dress. She had taken his breath away with one glance at his direction. And then finally one day, they came together. Sparks had flown as they’d kissed passionately. She’d noticed his magic react, the flames on the candles and grown and danced around. The fireplace suddenly bursting into life, she’d paused and said in wonder “look at that, we’ve started a fire.” She still was beautiful, and still could take his breath away with just a glance.
Even when they were at odds, she trying to kill Arthur and take the throne, he protecting Arthur with every fibre of his being, there were still sparks between them. Their love was like a long-smouldering log, no matter what they did it would never completely burn out.
They had both burned so brightly back then. Morgana had once told him that even when overcome and driven by the dark magic inside her, she could sometimes picture a small flame, burning softly deep inside her, and wondered what it meant.
They’d nearly burnt themselves and everything around them to nothing. At the end they’d stood in the burning embers that was once Camelot; Arthur, Gwen, everybody dead, and realised there was nothing left to fight for. It had taken them both a long time to realise what was left, what they’d fought for, for so long, was magic, and the fire between them undiminished.
And so they retreated, they could be themselves in this little hideaway from the world. The great wizard Merlin Emrys and witch Morgan Le Fay, were no longer, the legends fading away and leaving just Merlin and Morgana. Occasionally magic users would seek them out, less and less over the years. They would welcome these people, help them, teach them, if needed, but didn’t encourage them to stay. Their unspoken rule was that they would not interfere in the matters of the world.
Magic might have largely left the world and the minds of men, but here, in them and between them, it burned just as bright as the day met. As he watched her, finally stirring in her sleep, he leant over and kissed her. She opened her eyes and smiled sleepily.
“What was that for? He shrugged, feeling the fire inside him grow
“Don’t start something you can’t finish”she whispered and wrapped her arms around him.
Unnoticed by both of them, sparks flew from logs in the fireplace and burst into flames.