[Broadcast Mind]
"How many times do I have to tell you! What is in that thick skull of yours, boy? What!"
[You know it's a rhetorical question. And you're glad, because you wouldn't have an answer if it wasn't. Speaking up would be a bad idea anyway. That's part of the reason you're in trouble, part of the reason you're being lectured again. And the old man is in fine form today. And you feel guilty, miserable for it.]
"Do you know know what would have happened to you if you'd gotten caught?"
[Not exactly. Well, you know what, but not the method. Burned at the stake? Beheading? Hanged? They all seem equally unpleasant.]
"Well?"
[Well! That's right, you'd forgotten about executiong by drowning. It's not just for children, after all.]
[The physician is looking at you expectantly now. You draw in a breath to speak and defend yourself, not that he'll understand. No one understands, and you wonder if anyone ever will.]
[That's when the first snort comes from beneath your bed.]
[You press your lips back together again, glance off in some random direction to avoid your guardian's eyes as he watches the large hog drag itself from underneath your bed.]
"What is that?!"
[Uhm. A wild boar?, you offer.]
"I can see that, Merlin! What the devil is it doing in your room!"
[You glance over at it, watch as it noses at one of the dozens of bundles of herbs hanging about.]
[I believe it's rooting for truffles, you say. And the boar snorts loudly again. You're laughing now. Gaius stares at you like you've gone mad before turning and walking out, pulling the door closed behind him.]
[Merlin's still laughing when the feed is cut off.]
[You know it's a rhetorical question. And you're glad, because you wouldn't have an answer if it wasn't. Speaking up would be a bad idea anyway. That's part of the reason you're in trouble, part of the reason you're being lectured again. And the old man is in fine form today. And you feel guilty, miserable for it.]
"Do you know know what would have happened to you if you'd gotten caught?"
[Not exactly. Well, you know what, but not the method. Burned at the stake? Beheading? Hanged? They all seem equally unpleasant.]
"Well?"
[Well! That's right, you'd forgotten about executiong by drowning. It's not just for children, after all.]
[The physician is looking at you expectantly now. You draw in a breath to speak and defend yourself, not that he'll understand. No one understands, and you wonder if anyone ever will.]
[That's when the first snort comes from beneath your bed.]
[You press your lips back together again, glance off in some random direction to avoid your guardian's eyes as he watches the large hog drag itself from underneath your bed.]
"What is that?!"
[Uhm. A wild boar?, you offer.]
"I can see that, Merlin! What the devil is it doing in your room!"
[You glance over at it, watch as it noses at one of the dozens of bundles of herbs hanging about.]
[I believe it's rooting for truffles, you say. And the boar snorts loudly again. You're laughing now. Gaius stares at you like you've gone mad before turning and walking out, pulling the door closed behind him.]
[Merlin's still laughing when the feed is cut off.]