Questions

Gaius was following the line on the beige page of the disastrously old book with his finger. There was something boiling in the pot on his table, and it didn't look safe to Gwen when she entered the chambers.

"Ah! Gwen!" he said happily. "It took you longer than I expected. Were there any problems with Sir Olwin?"

"There were no problems with him. He seemed very nice and gallant. Have you found Merlin?"

"He is evidently not in the castle," Gaius shrugged his shoulders. "I haven't seen the prince either, which means that wherever they are, they are probably together."

"They seem to be spending a lot of time together these days," Gwen tried to make this remark sound innocent.

"Well, Merlin is Arthur's servant, after all. He came to treat the prince as befits, and Arthur... Arthur... I think he finally grew fond of the boy."

"Later than anyone," Gwen started mixing the herbs for that special tea of Gaius. "Everybody in the castle seems to be charmed by Merlin."

When Gaius heard that, he dropped some leaves to the floor. Gwen was quick to pick them up and hand back to the physician. She didn’t even know what it was, but the leaves had bitter and heavy smell.

"What's wrong, Gaius?"

"Isn't it an exaggeration, Gwen? I think the kitchen maids dislike him."

"They dislike everybody," she laughed. "Gaius?" 

"Yes, Gwen?"

"There are rumors," she said as she was pouring water into the tea pot. "All over the Lower Town. The apothecary and the market. The taverns. The smithies are as busy as never. Everywhere. Is there going to be a war?"

"Gwen, there is no need to fear," Gaius indeed spoke as if the terrors of battle seemed irrelevant to him. "Uther will only need one hundred men from the city." 

"So there will be war?"

"There won't be a war if we are lucky. Uther is just preparing his defenses." 

"And who is the enemy?"

Suddenly, Gwen realized she could be going too far. It was her first day in the new position and she was already questioning Gaius on the matters of state affairs.

"Gaius, if it is a secret and I am not supposed to know..."

"I trust you enough to tell you," when Gaius said that, he left his potion and walked to the door. He looked out to make sure there was nobody outside.

He is too careful for someone who seemed to be loyal to Uther.

 "We don't know it ourselves, Gwen. It may be any other king who has plotted with Morgause."

"Morgause?"

Oh, that witch. Gwen remembered her. She remembered the morning when she started feeling sleepy and weak, and when she woke up, she had learnt the terrible news. Morgana was gone. A witch stole her. Disappeared in the flames that freed the dragon, that's what they said at the market.

"Gaius. I know we must not be talking about this within the castle walls. But can you tell me one thing?"

"What is it, child?"

"I've just met King Uther."

"Where?" Gaius gave her a disapproving look.

"In Morgana's chambers. I went there because... I don't know why. I just was near and decided to drop by and to see what it looked like... They still keep all her belongings there, you know? Like she is going to arrive tomorrow. And Uther was there, too. He asked me what I was doing there, and when I said I was there because I missed Morgana, he seemed to soften. He looked as if he really cared, as he was a man able to love somebody. What happened to him that he got so wicked?"

"Gwen, you're speaking treason," Gaius said in a lower voice, encouraging Gwen to switch to whisper, too.

"What was before the Purge, Gaius?"

"Pardon?"

"Before the Purge began. How did Camelot live?"

"Gwen, I don't understand the question."

"Well, how did you live? Were you constantly in fear for your life? Were you afraid a sorcerer will kill you or curse you whenever you left your house? Were their griffins and dragons on the streets of Camelot?"

"Gwen, what makes you so interested in this?"

"I was just thinking of my father and what he was killed for… I can't stop thinking of it, even though you wouldn't tell by the look of me, I know. I was thinking that if Uther didn't have such cruel laws against anybody who had anything to do with sorcery... my father might have lived. And I was wondering why the laws are so cruel. They are cruel because of the Purge. But what was before the Purge? What sort of darkness had there been if the Purge was seen as a rescue?"

Gaius was staring at her. There was neither shock nor surprise in his eyes; on the contrary, the old physician had the sort of look that suggested he had long expected Gwen to say something like this and that his worst expectations came to pass.

"Gwen, my dear, above anything else you have to understand that if anybody learns we are having such conversations we may lose more than our positions."

"Gaius, I would never tell nobody. I decided to ask you because you are the only person I trust and you must remember the days before the Purge. You were a young man back then."

"Well, not so young. The Purge happened twenty two years ago."

"And what had been before?"

"Before the Purge, we had a society where magic was not persecuted. And there were those who used magic for good and those who used it for evil as well. There were less bandits and Slave traders because they were afraid of the punishments of the court sorceress. And for ten years which Uther ruled after he had conquered Camelot, we had magic legal, and there were no wars with other kingdoms. It was one of the longest eras of peace."

"So it is possible to have peace and magic at the same time?"

"Gwen, you are speaking treason for the second time."

"But it is possible?"

"It was possible until a certain time. I don't think it's possible under Uther's reign. But you must never ask me to speak of the Purge again. It is a secret which I have sworn to keep."

"Gaius, I am as good at keeping secrets as Merlin."

"Gwen, I have never discussed such matters with Merlin!"

"But he has worked for you for more than a year..."

"Merlin is in no way curious about what happens or happened at court. Arthur gives him so much trouble he can't possibly think of anything else."