From Mortal To Divinity

"Mordred!" screams Morgan's voice throughout the corridor. "Return to the room this instant! Your lessons for the day are not over!"

Sitting in my office, I cannot help but prepare myself for the incoming interruption. By this point it is routine for Mordred to run out on her mother's lessons for history, politics, and etiquette. Then she will come find me wherever I may be in hopes of making me convince Morgan or Scathach, or whoever the poor fool teaching her is at the time, to allow her to skip the lesson.

"Father,-" excitedly calls Mordred as she runs into my office and jumps into my lap to sit. "-mother is making me study history again. Please make her stop, it's sooo boring and has nothing to do with being a knight."

It has been a few months since Scathach and I found out about Mordred, and in that time she has grown exponentially. Now she stands at around four feet four inches and looks to be about ten years old. Due to her homunculus heritage, her growth is naturally far faster than a human's. This, unfortunately, means that her lifespan is limited and will most like expire in about fifteen years. Which is why Morgan, Scathach and I have been searching for a way to fix the problem without resorting to making her wear a rune suit, similar to Zelretch's, for the rest of her life.

"Father?" questions Mordred, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Yes little one?" I answer her.

"Are you ok?" she asks as she places her hands on my cheeks and stretches them.

"Of course I am fine. I was simply thinking about a particularly worrying situation." I reply.

"Oh." she answers, her mouth forming an O shape. "A.d.u.l.t things, right?"

"Yes." I answer her with a nod. "A.d.u.l.t things."

"But you're not thinking anymore." she tells me as she lets go of my cheeks and looks at me expectantly. "Does that mean that we can go outside for weapons training?"

"Did you finish your lessons for the day?" I question her with a raised eyebrow.

"You should know the answer to that question without needing to ask." comes Morgan's voice as she walks into my office.

Since the curse has activated, Scathach and I have forced Morgan to move into the castle with us alongside Mordred. The only time that she is allowed to leave is when she is needed at court for her duty as the court physician.

"Mordred,-" I say softly as I look at her. "-how can you expect to become the greatest knight when you do not even know the history of the land and the people that you swear to protect?"

"I know father." she answers me with a downcast expression. "It's just that history is sooo boring."

"I know that,-" I tell her as I ruffle her hair. "-however sometimes we must do the necessary even if we would like nothing more than to be doing something else. Sometimes it-"

"It's not about what you want to do, but what you have to do." interrupts Mordred as she looks up at me. "I know. You always say that whenever I don't want to go to my lessons."

"Well?" I ask her with a raised eyebrow.

"Fine."she answers with a pout. "I'll go, but you have to teach me something awesome. Like, maybe how to teleport, or how to make weapons."

"The proper term is conjure." I tell her as she slides out of my lap and runs out of the room, but not before turning to Morgan and sticking her tongue out at her.

"She is a handful that one." says Morgan as she looks at Mordred run back towards the library where Scathach is most likely waiting for her to begin her lesson. "If all children behave in such a way, then I believe that I will stop at Mordred."

"Not all children behave in such a way." I answer her. "Connla was a tremendously calm child. Very much unlike his father Setanta, and his daughter Aoife who took more after her grandfather rather than her father."

"I notice that both you and Scathach rarely mention your surrogate children. Why is that?" asks Morgan as she sits on my desks and turns to face me.

"Honestly, there really isn't a specific reason why we do not mention them. We just do not dwell on the past. It is how we have learned to live for centuries without becoming miserable." I answer.

"Does it hurt?" she asks. "When one of your children dies."

"It does for a while,-" I answer. "-however all of our children have lived happy and fulfilled lives thus far with no regrets. While it does not stop us from feeling the pain of their departure, it does in fact soften the blow and help us move on."

After that question, Morgan and I sit in companionable silence for a few minutes. All the while I can tell that she wishes to say something. I would help her voice her thoughts, however I have a hunch that what she wishes to do is apologise, and that is something that she must learn to do herself. Her training under us has given her a certain amount of arrogance, and while it has not reached a level that would worry me, it has caused her to become closer to her canon counterpart in personality. Of course, that is without the whole 'pure evil' shtick her canon counterpart had going for her.

"I-" hesitantly begins Morgan after a few more minutes. "-I want to apologise for my actions earlier. For both attacking you, and for taking your lessons and putting them through perverse uses on Mordred. I knew that the training is far too dangerous for children, yet I did not care. I was so overcome by my hatred for Merlin that I did not care about the consequences of my actions. Even now, where the curse is least effective due to some of the castle's defenses, I can feel my hatred burning, and driving me to do whatever is necessary to rid myself of the fool."

"I am not the one that you should be apologising to. Mordred and Scathach are. Scathach sees you as a younger sister, someone that is very much their own person yet still in need of her guidance. Your actions almost caused a split to occur between you two. It is only because she knows you as a person, and knows that without the curse blinding your judgement you would never commit such an act." I answer her.

"I have already apologised to them. I believe that we are on the path to repairing our relationship, and perhaps take it even further." replies Morgan with a smile.

Those words, something about her last words make me want to question her. However, while I do not subscribe to the belief that ignorance is bliss, for some reason I very much wish to subscribe to it now.

"I see." I simply answer, all the while ignoring the question I very much want to ask. "And what did Mordred say to your apology?"

"She simply answered 'It's ok mother, Father explained that some other bad magus put a curse on you that made you hurt me. So after we take care of evil Merlin, we'll take care of the other bad magus.' With the most innocent smile I have ever seen." says Morgan with a fond smile.

"Then you have nothing to worry about." I tell her. "Just focus on mending your relationship with Scathach and Mordred, I will take care of everything else."

"Speaking of taking care of things, how powerful do you believe Merlin is?" she asks me.

"I honestly do not know." I answer her with a shake of my head "As far as I know, Scathach and I can defeat him in battle by ourselves. However, I do not believe that we would be able to kill him before he escapes. As for whether you can defeat him or not, I also do not know."

"I see." she answers with a frown.

"That is why you created Mordred. Due to the lack of information on him." I state.

"Yes. His reputation makes him out to be a very powerful mage, and without seeing him in battle I cannot ascertain whether or not I would be able to defeat him. Therefore I created Mordred so that she and I may be able to defeat him together" she answers.

"You do know that Scathach and I would be willing to take care of him for you? Besides, Scathach would most likely take great pleasure in the act." I tell her.

"I know. However, I cannot rely on the two of you to always rid me of my problems." she tells me with a smile. "Although, if I do find him to be too much for me, I will make sure to call for help."