Music to Dance to
It took only one night of waking up in sheer terror, her heart thumping widely as she tried to catch her breath. even though he tried to hide it. room. It felt like gliding. er and the other around her waist, as he ides of the floor.
ei The dream was unremembered but the strong feeling remained. She packed her bags early in the morning and drove without stopping, ending up coming to a screeching halt and running through the door and into Merlin’s arms.
“Shh, Its OK, I’m here”he said embracing her “I’ve got you now”he stood holding her for several minutes, just comforting her. He knew why she was here and in such a state.
He led her inside and sat her down and went to make her a cup of tea before sitting down opposite her.
“Dreams?” he asked
She took a shaky breath, “I don’t think I’ve ever been so frightened in my life”she gave a little laugh,” I don’t even remember what it was about now”
‘You don’t”he frowned “That’s odd, perhaps it will take time before you can remember them, I don’t think you ever had that problem before”
“Can you help”she asked him. He nodded “I can try, this is new territory here, for both of us, but I’ll see what I can do to help as much as possible”
With that she found herself invited to stay for as long as she needed. She didn’t want to go home again at any rate.
And she loved it, the cottage, the little village. They would go and visit Aithusa every day, while Merlin told her stories about other magical creatures that she occasionally caught sight of in the forest.
Merlin troubled her, she came to realise. Although he would tell her of many things, of their lives in Camelot, what had happened to Arthur, Gwen and the others. He even told her regretfully that he had killed her, to which she found herself strangely not caring, but he would tell her very little about himself.
He was a closed book. He was immortal, she already knew that, but she knew very little of his life. He held things close to his chest. He had lived such a long time, but doing what she thought she would never find out. She didn’t even know what he liked, what he disliked, or even what he did for a living. Whatever they w ere, he would never let on. However, the longer she stayed she realised that there were small things betrayed his secrets.
One thing she noticed was that he really didn’t like her music. He actually winced when he heard it playing, even though he tried to hide it.
One day, he was out and she was studying with the stereo turned up full. He didn’t say anything as he walked in, but she could see by the look on his face that the music grated on him. She turned it of and watched him for a moment as he moved around the kitchen.
“Sorry”she said
“What for”
“The music, I know you don’t like it”
“He frowned “It’s Ok”
“But you don’t really like it, do you?”she asked
“It’s not really music though, is it? its just sort of... noise”he sighed. “Maybe I’m just getting old and out of touch, I don’t really see the appeal of it”
She smiled at that, maybe she could get him to open up about himself a bit more.
“It’s good to dance to”she offered
“That’s not dancing, it’s just sort of just jumping around”he said
“What do you call dancing then”she asked, intrigued, picturing a scene she’d seen in movies, with all the men and women lined up on opposite sides of the floor, all very formal and polite.
“This” he drew her in close, placing one hand on her shoulder and the other around her waist, as he smoothly manouvered her around the room. She’d never danced like this before, it felt like gliding. She found herself leaning in closer, just breathing in his scent and feeling the warmth of his body.
“What about the music”she murmured
“You don’t need music when there is magic humming all around us”he told her as they continued to dance.
As it was, later on she found his rather large and eclectic record collection. But she would have to agree that magic was indeed the best music to dance to.