The forest surrounding Camelot was many things, but quiet wasn't one of them. Except that it was just now: a faint breeze rustled the leaves, but, despite the mild weather, no animals or birds disturbed the near silence.

"Are you sure that this is the right way?" Merlin asked, looking about him warily. He wished that they could have brought Arthur. Or a sword. Or Arthur holding a sword; that would be best.

"Yes," Morgana said impatiently. "I remember this round of the bend very specifically, and that maple also looks familiar."

"And you're quite sure that, er, it's now that you saw, and not next year, or five years from now?"

Morgana fixed him with a gaze that was slightly more forgiving, but only by a little bit. "Of course I can't be certain," she said. "But there was a feeling of urgency to my dream, and it makes sense that this translates to a need for haste in the waking world. Also, I saw myself wearing these shoes, which aren't likely to last me later than this season."

Merlin glanced at Morgana's red leather boots. They appeared to him as though they would be good for the next several years, barring a disastrous accident, but as he was neither a lady nor a noble, he'd take her word for it that they soon wouldn't be fit to be worn. "It would help if we knew what we were looking for," he said, peering around again. It was still too quiet, and Merlin slipped a hand into his pocket to feel the weight of the knife he'd brought for protection, to supplement his magic.

"I know," Morgana said, pressing forward. "But at least I know where to look. We'll just have to trust that we'll know what we're looking for when we see it."

As it turned out, what they were looking for would've been nearly impossible to miss. They passed through a thicketed meadow, and just on the other side there was a splash of yellow fabric that drew them quickly forward.

There was a young girl, perhaps sixteen or eighteen years old, lying asleep against an oak tree. Merlin squinted at her--or was she inside the tree? As he watched, there was a low, creaking sound, and the girl moved an inch closer to them.

"Merlin," Morgana whispered. "Is that tree pushing her?"

"I...I think so," Merlin said quietly. He turned to Morgana. "You didn't see her in your dream?"

Morgana shook her head. "No, I just saw this tree, only... It had a sort of curve, right here." She sketched an arc over the girl, then turned a look on Merlin that he'd seen before. She was disconcerted, very possibly frightened, and determined not to show it. "How is this possible?"

"I don't know. But I think we should wake her." Merlin fell back slightly. The girl would be less likely to become alarmed if a woman's face were the first she saw upon waking.

Morgana nodded her agreement and crouched gracefully beside the girl. She shook her shoulder gently. "Hello? Wake up, darling. You've fallen asleep in the woods."

The girl sighed softly and opened her eyes, and Merlin felt a shock run through him. He knew those eyes.

"Nimueh," he breathed.

"What?" Morgana looked up at him, puzzled, and Merlin tugged her to her feet quickly and pulled her out of the girl's reach.

"That's Nimueh," he said.

"She doesn't look like Nimueh," Morgana said. He could hear the frown in her voice.

"Well, she is," Merlin said. "I'm certain of it."

"Yes, I am Nimueh," the girl said, her voice low and sweet.

Merlin and Morgana both startled, and Merlin thought he wasn't the only person who was feeling surreptitiously for his knife.

Nimueh blinked up at them innocently. "But who are you?"

"You don't recognize us?" Merlin demanded.

"No, should I?"

"We've met on more than one occasion," Merlin said grimly.

"Oh." A small line creased her forehead, and then Nimueh shook her head, the picture of regret. "I really can't remember you. I'm sorry."

Before Merlin could determine how best to respond to that extraordinary statement, Nimueh twitched her shoulders irritably. She turned around--Merlin braced for an attack and prepared himself to cast a counterspell--and then Nimueh extended one hand to the deep gash in the tree trunk in which her body had been cradled. A few words, spoken in a low, hissing whisper, and the bark rippled as it grew over the crevasse.

It seemed such a bizarre and profligate use of magic; Merlin could feel himself staring, and then Nimueh looked up at them guilelessly. "I didn't want to leave it open, where someone might stumble across it and become entangled."

"Entangled?" Merlin said. "But...it's just a hole in a tree."

"Oh, no," Nimueh insisted. "It's far more than that. Once inside, you share the tree."

"Share it with whom?" Morgana asked.

"With the tree," Nimueh said, her tone of voice making it plain that anyone ought to have known that already.

"You share the tree...with the tree," Merlin said, fairly certain he'd misunderstood her somehow.

But Nimueh nodded in response. "Trees like this one are very large, with a lot of room to heal and learn and grow."

"Room to heal," Merlin said, seizing on the first part of the conversation to make sense so far. "Is that what you were doing in there?"

Nimueh shrugged. "It's possible. I don't really remember entering the tree in the first place, but perhaps I was hurt very badly, and that's why I've forgotten."

"Mmm," Merlin said. He could still see clearly in his mind's eye how she'd fractured into a hundred shards of light; "hurt very badly" was rather an understatement.

Morgana tugged at his sleeve, nodding her head to indicate that she wanted them to step away from Nimueh. Merlin cast a wary glance at Nimueh as he followed Morgana's lead, but couldn't bring himself to be as cautious as he probably ought to be. Nimueh seemed almost dazed--quiet and uncurious--despite being reasonably lucid; it made her seem more harmless than he knew she was.

"We'll be back in a moment, dear," Morgana said sweetly. Nimueh just nodded unconcernedly.

"What do you make of all this?" Morgana whispered to Merlin once they'd put several yards between them and Nimueh.

"I don't know. It's poss--"

"I think we should bring her to Camelot," Morgana interrupted, which was more than enough to shake Merlin out of his semi-complacency.

"But she tried to kill Arthur!" he hissed, mindful of Nimueh sitting only a short distance away. "And Gaius, and me, and my mother, and God knows who else besides."

Morgana shook her head. "Merlin, just look at her. She's barely out of childhood. Whatever sorcery returned her to life must have taken those years from her. She's not the same person who did those terrible things. Can't you see that? Can't you forgive her for the crimes she has no knowledge of?"

"She could be shamming," Merlin said.

"Nothing she's said or done has indicated that she's less than sincere," Morgana said. "Are you truly willing to kill her or turn her over to Uther to be killed without proof?"

Merlin sighed, because of course he wasn't. But neither was he comfortable escorting Uther's greatest enemy into his castle stronghold. "It's too dangerous. Besides, what would we do with her? She can't just be left to her own devices."

"She can be my maidservant," Morgana said decisively.

"Your--" Merlin shook his head, hoping he had misheard her. "But what about Gwen?"

Morgana gave him a look that was half-haughty and half-arch. "I assure you, I'm quite grand enough to have more than one maidservant." Merlin stammered an incoherent apology, only to be cut off by Morgana's laughter. "Not that I've ever felt the need for more than Gwen to take care of me," she continued frankly, dropping her imperiousness like a cloak. "But it certainly wouldn't raise any eyebrows if I were to decide I required another attendant."

Merlin was familiar with how immovable Morgana was once she'd made up her mind, but he still had to say, "It would be safer to leave her here."

"Safer for whom? Not for her, certainly: a young, pretty girl alone in the forest. As for Camelot, I believe the old Nimueh was more dangerous when she was outside the kingdom than when she was in it. At least this way, we can keep a closer eye on her."

All of which was undoubtedly true, so Merlin watched without protest as Morgana approached Nimueh and urged her to return with them, which offer Nimueh accepted immediately and with every evidence of gratitude.

---

Despite his acquiescence, Merlin couldn't help but anticipate the day when Nimueh's inner treachery was revealed. He took to stopping by Morgana's rooms once a day or more, ostensibly on other errands but really to check that Nimueh wasn't ensorcelling Morgana or otherwise plotting against Camelot.

The most malevolent thing he discovered was that Morgana, Gwen, and Nimueh had a tendency to become slightly giddy with good humor when they were all together, which too often led to teasing or practical jokes at Merlin's expense.

Growing unrest along the kingdom's southern border began to call Arthur and a full quarter of Camelot's knights away for weeks at a time. Merlin was surprised to realize not long afterwards that he was increasingly visiting Morgana's rooms not to keep an eye on Nimueh, but because he enjoyed the company.

---

Merlin tapped on Morgana's door perfunctorily, only to draw up short when he opened it, his cheeks flaming with embarrassment. "Oh, God," he said. He closed his eyes tight. "Sorry. I'll just..." he fumbled beside him for the door handle, which he'd let go in his shock.

"Merlin," Morgana said, much too close to his ear.

Merlin squeaked.

She laughed gently, and a moment later Merlin felt a hand take his and pull him forward. The door closed with a firm click behind him. "It's all right," she said. "You can open your eyes."

Merlin blinked them open cautiously, and indeed Morgana's robe was wrapped modestly about her again and Nimueh had the covers pulled up to her chin. "I'm really, truly sorry," he said. "And if we could just forget that this...encounter...ever took place, I'd be--"

"Would you like to join us?" Morgana interrupted.

"--very. I. What?"

She smiled self-deprecatingly. "It's not the sort of thing to just ask like that, is it? But, really, there's no way that this incident could be more embarrassing, so I thought this might be the perfect time to extend the invitation."

Merlin wanted to say that neither she nor Nimueh seemed at all embarrassed, but, in all fairness, there had been two distressed yelps and a frantic flurry of bedclothes when he'd walked into the room, and, though Morgana met his eyes boldly, she was sporting a dark flush high on her cheekbones. "Your, er, virtue," he managed.

"Must remain intact, yes." Morgana rolled her eyes expressively. "But there are other things that can be done in bed."

It felt as though an enormous chasm were opening at his feet, and Merlin knew that the only proper thing to do would be to decline and to hightail it out of there before, God forbid, anyone noticed something amiss that they might report to Arthur. And yet, somehow, when he opened his mouth, he found himself saying, "All right."

Apparently, he thought with some resignation, Arthur really was correct, and Merlin was the worst servant ever. Not that he could make himself regret it, when a soft smile lit Morgana's face, or when she raised herself on her toes to kiss him on the mouth.

"Let me just get the door," he said breathlessly several minutes later. He waited until Morgana had started towards the bed before locking it with the strongest spell he knew.

His knees felt weak as he crossed the room to Morgana's bed. Morgana and Nimueh were kissing again, and he thought that he might almost prefer just to watch them than to intrude into their small, private circle.

Then he changed his mind about that rather quickly once they pulled him down into their embrace.

---

"There's something different about you," Arthur said one evening, back from the southern border hopefully for good.

Merlin twitched slightly. He knew that he'd been calmer and more relaxed in recent weeks, since Morgana and Nimueh had invited him into their bed. He'd always assumed that it was the magic burning inside of him that had made him so uncomfortable in his own skin; it was a little mortifying to discover that all he'd really needed was to get laid regularly.

Arthur peered at him more closely, and Merlin's stomach squirmed. If Arthur were somehow to guess... Even with the precautions the three of them took, Merlin would be incomparably lucky to escape with his life, were his relationship with Morgana exposed.

The silence dragged on, Arthur's eyes heavy on him like an itch that Merlin couldn't scratch. Just before he thought he would explode, Arthur nodded, looking suddenly and inexplicably satisfied. "Never mind; you look just the same now."

---

It was a testament to how much his fears had been quieted that Merlin could walk into Morgana's room, see Nimueh standing over a table strewn with plants that his eye identified as those used in any number of magical potions, and not call immediately for one of Uther's guards to arrest her. Which wasn't to say he was pleased at the sight.

"What's this?" he asked sharply.

"We're being very careful," Nimueh assured him, which wasn't at all an answer to his question.

He frowned and shook his head. "Who's 'we,' and how exactly are you being careful?"

"Morgana and I. I'm teaching her magic...but no one would ever guess but you and perhaps Gaius. Look: rosemary, borage, honeysuckle, lavender. Useful in spells...and also pretty in bouquets, tasty in teas, and fragrant in sachets. No one but another magician would think that we were engaged in anything more devious than the domestic arts."

Merlin sighed and let himself drop onto a nearby chair, feeling his heartbeat ease from its previous frantic clamor. He refused to acknowledge how much of that was due to the fact that a moment's thought had revealed the plants in question to serve largely innocuous purposes. Nevertheless, it was a relief to determine that Nimueh wasn't practicing black magic under Uther's roof.

"It's still not safe, even with your prepared alibi," he said.

"It's not safe for you, either, but you do it to keep Arthur safe," Nimueh pointed out. "Just as I do for Morgana. Her dreams are a danger to her, while she's still untutored."

Merlin drew in a sharp breath. He knew little of the art of prophecy; he'd never imagined that anything could be more harmful to Morgana than the threat of Uther's punishment.

"I think you'll both be quite powerful one day," Nimueh continued, sounding pleased by the thought. "I can teach you, if you like. Your magic feels very...mechanical to me, as though you'd studied it from a book or learned it from a laboratory, rather than tapping it directly from your heart."

"Well...yes," Merlin said. "That is how I've learned much of my magic."

Nimueh gave him a sweet smile and an even sweeter kiss. "I thought as much. It's not a bad way, of course, but it wants grounding. I can show you how to do magic more organically. Oh! And once you've gained some more power and understanding of my sort of magic, I could teach you how to share a tree, and you could learn even more that way."

She sounded so excited that Merlin couldn't help but smile at her. "All right," he said. "I'd like that."