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Hunith had always been a strong woman. Her mother had died when she was a child, so she’d taken over the household while her brother, the actual oldest, was busy in Camelot studying to be a physician.
She had never had the time to mourn those she had had no choice but to leave behind, much like everyone else who lived in Ealdor, because harvest season and then the cold winters waited for nobody.
Not even barely old enough girls with a child to care for and no husband to help.
That was, of course, until King Arthur won the war against King Cendred and decided to add Ealdor and the nearby villages to his domain.
It probably had everything to do with the fact that every King wanted to expand their kingdom and had nothing to do with the fact that it was the King’s manservant’s home village, but Hunith did like to think that in some ways it was because of her son.
The first time Merlin had come to Ealdor with Arthur and without a threat impending on either the village or Camelot had been on Arthur’s birthday.
The King had worked out a way with his council – which had almost completely changed from Uther’s, if not for some of the old councilmen that were still in there – a way to get away from the city without causing a ruckus.
They had left the city’s protection to the First Knight, sir Leon, and the burden of being the head of the serving staff, that was usually Merlin’s job, on Gwen’s shoulders for a few days, so that both the King and his manservant – best friend, really – could get some days off for Arthur’s birthday, and spend them in Ealdor.
When the two had arrived, on horseback and without any insignia that could link them to Camelot, everyone in Ealdor had recognised Merlin in the blink of an eye, as he hadn’t changed much. but it had taken an almost formal introduction for them to recognise and bow down to their new King.
Hunith had taken them to her hut almost as soon as what she had deemed way too many people had pooled around them, the urge to protect them as much as she could do was only reinforced by Arthur’s «thank you for having us, Hunith».
After they had settled in the hut, taking up less space than Hunith had granted them – certainly not enough for two grown men, Arthur had opted for a stroll through the village, while Merlin had decided to stay indoors to help her with the making of dinner and the last day’s cleaning and organising.
Only when Arthur had been what seemed to be far away enough, Merlin had spoken, with his usual rich and low voice.
«I am thinking about telling him, mother.»
Hunith had been silent for some time, up until the second she wasn’t anymore. Her response had been sweet and pure as a mother was supposed to, but strict in the way a single parent’s had no choice but to be.
«You’re planning on telling Arthur?»
Merlin had nodded, and Hunith had gestured to him to sit down. This was going to be a longer ordeal than the one she had prepared herself for.
«I just think it’s time, mother,» Merlin raised his hand to move some hair from in front of his eyes and Hunith thought briefly that he required a haircut, «what with the fact that he has accepted Morgana and her magic back into the citadel so easily.»
Hunith had known about Morgana’s return to Camelot, of course, because even if Ealdor wasn’t the closest village to the city, they still received news via word of mouth, and nothing ever travelled as fast as gossip.
She raised an eyebrow, as to urge him to continue.
«He’s beginning to think of magic as more than just darkness, mother, and it’s more than I’ve ever dared to hope for.»
The glint in Merlin’s eyes as he spoke of Arthur’s mentality was something that Hunith thought she’d never see. It made her proud, to see how much her son had grown all these years he had had to spend away from her, how amazing of a man he had become.
«I feel free for the first time since I first opened my eyes, mother. I know it’s not like he’s already repealed the ban, and it’s going to be a long way to that yet, but he has accepted a sorcerer in his house without feeling the need to fear them. Maybe–» Merlin’s voice betrayed his enthusiasm, breaking on that word, «maybe he could even accept me.»
Hunith kept silent for a few seconds, still, then raised from her chair to get closer to her son and embrace him in that specific hug that only mothers can master, hiding her head in the crook of his neck and gently patting his hair.
«Cariad,» she muttered, her voice quietened by Merlin’s shirt, «I am so proud of you and what you have accomplished. You exceeded every expectation I had about your trip to Camelot, and I can’t be anything but the happiest person on this Earth right now.»
Merlin smiled, and hugged his mother back, while a few treacherous tears were streaming down his cheeks. He knew his mother would have been proud of him, that was nothing new, she’d always expressed her love for him, but hearing her say it while he was already emotional had done it for him.
«Tomorrow,» he decided, and Hunith hugged him just a little bit tighter, «I am going to tell Arthur tomorrow.»
«Tell me what tomorrow?» Arthur’s voice asked from the door, and Merlin just smiled and shook his head, as if to say, «not now». He wasn’t ready yet, and while he didn’t think that he was going to be ready the next day, setting a date for it made him feel less anxious; a little bit more confident.
«That you are a pompous prat, your Highness.»
The second time had been right before the ceremony they had prepared for Morgana’s big day.
She was to be Camelot’s Court Sorcerer since both Merlin – the other candidate – and Arthur thought it only fitting for a High Priestess, even if only one in training, to hold the position.
There had been a debate, of course, because Morgana was not sure it was the position she was supposed to cover. Memories of hiding in Uther’s reign and prophetic nightmares were still haunting every other of her nights and Merlin was, without a shadow of a doubt, her superior in terms of magical strength.
Hunith had never understood how they had come to that specific conclusion, only that the Court Sorcerer was not to be her son, but Morgana.
Not that it mattered anyway, as distant from Camelot as Ealdor was, but it was a matter of State - and State included Merlin - so she had been given no choice but to give in and try to understand at least the easiest bits of it.
They – they being Morgana and Merlin, who had somehow found a shared front in the months after Merlin’s magic’s reveal – had hidden away in Ealdor when the pressure of the week ahead had crushed Morgana to the point that she had resorted to Gaius’ sleeping draughts once more.
Hunith had, of course, invited them in with open arms and a fresh batch of bread directly from the village’s bakery, and a question that didn’t demand to be answered, «Is everything okay?»
The future Court Sorceress and her brother’s best friend stayed in Ealdor for no more than a couple of days. They had duties back home, even if they did not want to go back to them, and so they couldn’t just abandon the city for the comfort of living as nobodies in a village as small as Ealdor.
They had decided to spend their stay working and helping everyone who would come and ask. The only rule was that they could not speak about Camelot or whatever it was that had convinced them to leave everything they had back home and run away.
Also, Arthur was for some reason off-limits, Hunith had noticed one day, which was probably not too far fetched since he had been the one that had decided to appoint Morgana as Court Sorcereres and he was still the King of Camelot, no matter how many times Merlin could call him a “clotpole” in a day.
They had left Ealdor right after lunch, two days after their arrival.
They did not want to impose, and they didn't want anyone to still be awake in Camelot when they returned to the citadel. They knew Arthur wouldn't be pleased with the fact that they'd gone off for two whole days, even if they had left a note saying that they only left for Ealdor and had not been abducted.
As soon as they had arrived in the citadel, however, they had found Arthur waiting for them at the gates, as if he were waiting for them, even if nobody had told him when they were coming home. Not that it was an impossible feat, given how much time Arthur had spent with the both of them, getting to know their minds and their magic in order to better understand how to change his Kingdom’s laws.
The third and last time Hunith saw how much being in Arthur’s presence had changed Merlin had not been in Ealdor.
Camelot’s King had asked her to come to the city to participate in Merlin’s name day’s festivities, and of course she’d been eager to meet her son again and see Camelot without having to shoulder the burden of having to ask for help for her village or being deadly sick.
She had arrived in the citadel merely three days after the letter had reached her, making her a whole two days early for Merlin’s name day, giving her time to help with preparations and such.
She had been met at the gates by her brother, who looked slightly older than she remembered, which was something that was obvious, especially knowing how difficult it must have been for poor Gaius to go from living alone to living with that menace that was his nephew.
As soon as she had entered the big wooden doors which separated the castle from the rest of the citadel, Hunith finally had the chance to notice how much her son was loved in the former magical-hating kingdom.
Banners that were usually red, as to honour the Pendragon family, were now a rich purple that was obviously meant to signify magic, and nobody was standing still, every servant was working hard to make the celebrations that much better.
Merlin himself was nowhere to be found.
Hunith had searched the physician quarters first thing, as she could cover it up easily as just dropping off her brother in his rooms before exploring, but said rooms were looking way too uncharacteristically tidy for them also being where her son slept, which of course made her mind jump to the conclusion that somebody was hiding something from her.
Sure, Camelot was entitled to have a big celebration for her sworn protector’s name day, and said protector was entitled to have his own rooms now that he had been made First Advisor and was not a servant anymore, but the fact that nobody had thought it better to notify her wasn’t sitting right with Hunith.
«Gaius, have you–» she had started, only to get cut off by a pair of arms hugging her, strong, as if they were never going to let her go.
«Mam,» the voice connected to those arms said, and Hunith melted into the embrace of the person who was now obviously her son, replying with a faint «fy ngwas i», which made her son hug her just a little bit tighter.
«We thought you weren’t to arrive before tomorrow, mam, or I would have been there at the gates waiting for you, forgive me. Arthur–»
It was Hunith’s turn to shut her son up, by simply stepping out of the embrace and taking his appearance in.
Obviously he had changed, but at the same time, he’d always be the same in Hunith’s eyes, for a mother cannot ever not recognise her son, at least partially. She saw the well-trimmed beard that he was sporting and, for a handful of seconds, Balinor’s face was staring right back at her.
She had to suppress a sob, only for a moment, because she was too happy for her son to actually be sad.
Whatever change there had been in court that Morgana hadn’t wanted to explain to her when they had last corresponded via letters was obvious in the way Merlin spoke and walked.
His posture was more straight, and his words that always seemed mindless were now obviously calculated, and every one of them held a power and weight Hunith wasn’t sure she wanted to understand.
Her son was happy, and that was what was important.
Then, a servant had arrived that had asked Merlin to follow him to the King’s chambers – without looking him in the eye, which had seemed weird but who was she to criticise Camelot’s servants – and so she had let him go with the promise that they’d have seen eachother soon enough.
“Soon enough” apparently meant that night at dinner, which both Hunith and Gaius had been invited to eat with Merlin and Arthur in the former’s chambers, where the table was wide enough and the walls didn’t have as many ears as the ones in the main dining room did.
Merlin had apparently had the time to change out of what he had been wearing when they had met in the corridor no less than a few hours before. When his old clothes had been more stiff, obviously meant to be worn in public in front of people of higher social standing, the ones he was wearing at the dinner looked more worn, since he didn’t need to sacrifice comfort to get elegance anymore.
The dinner had come and gone in mere blink of an eye, between stories from Merlin’s childhood that she just had to share with Arthur and the amazing food.
Arthur had been looking at her through the whole meal, not in a way that would have creeped her out if it had been someone who wasn’t this close to Arthur but as someone who had called for this shared meal only to conceal another goal.
And conceal another goal he had been doing, if him clearing his voice right after they had arrived to eat fruit could be taken as a sign.
«Hunith,» he had said, and if she hadn’t known better she would have thought that he was anxious, «I– uhm.»
She saw her son elbowing the King and she knew she should have said something, but she didn’t. Arthur using her name had just made her mind run through possible scenarios faster. Maybe the King wanted to banish Merlin and wanted to break the news to her. Maybe her boy was getting married to a girl from the citadel and he wanted her to be present.
«I must confess, you were brought here under false pretences,» Arthur continued, and Hunith nodded. She had understood that much, she just wanted to know what those real pretences were.
«I asked you to join us in Camelot for your son’s name day –» another pause and another nod – «which is something that I would love you input in but is still not what I wanted you here too, you see–»
Hunith hadn’t seen Merlin’s hand falling right over the one that Arthur had on the table, but even if she had, it wouldn’t have changed a thing.
«I wanted to ask you. Since, you know, I value your role as Merlin’s parental figure. I– I wish to marry your son, and I wanted to ask your permission.»
Hunith’s mouth fell open, and her eyes went straight to Merlin’s, trying to understand if what she had heard was what had actually been said in the room they were in. Only when Merlin had nodded and smiled that smile that was too happy to be faked, Hunith collected herself.
Her lips closed and then morphed into a smile that all but mirrored her son’s, and she finally met Arthur’s eyes, which seemed even more anxious than before, and she asked herself how she had not noticed before.
She stayed silent for a while and, right when Arthur’s nerves got to be even more obvious than before, she nodded.
«I can see how being with you has changed my son, Arthur Pendragon and how much happier he is now that he can love you, and you can love all of him in return. Had you not repealed the ban against magic, I would of course have had more objections, but seeing how you changed the laws for two people who were close to you, your sister and your friend, has shown me the length you would go to protect the ones you love.»
She had stopped talking for just a few seconds, but she could already see how much her obvious consent had made both her son and his fiancée happy.
«I am pleased that you think of me as important enough to ask me for my son’s hand in marriage and, without a doubt, I can only say that I would be proud to be calling you my son in the future.»