The first seven days of magick training had come to an end this evening. It had been a super week for everyone, but not an easy week. The students found it difficult to maintain the attention required to stay with Morgana and Merlin. One moment the mind is behaving and the next it slips into a chain of unimportant thought. Morgana and Merlin were mystified as focusing was not a problem in Camelot. Eventually, deciding that it must have something to do with the random nature of the students dream minds. To combat the problem, the two magicians introduced some very simple concentration exercises to the students and they were improving.
The group was quieter than usual at the dinner table. Even dear Merlin was lost in thought. No one had seen Rav for 6 days. Morgana had done a great job of staying focused on the Magick course and entertained everyone with her funny stories of growing up in the castle every evening. But, every day that went by without a message from Rav took its toll on her. The last two mornings she had come to breakfast with eyes red and swollen. Helena told everyone that she found her crying in her room. Helena said that the reason Morgana was so upset and needy was that she remembered how much evil comes from the dark forces and what they could do if they overcame Tristan’s elf magic. And even worse, she understood that there would be no way for Merlin and her to rescue Tristan.
In an attempt to cheer poor Morgana up a little, Helena and Celestine had gone to speak with Merlin after breakfast. “Merlin we want to bake a cake for Morgana so to cheer her up. All of us are worried about her . . . and we know you are too. Can you cast a spell so Morgana will not miss us this afternoon, please.”
Merlin smiled at such kindness, “Of course, I shall do this. But you will have to make up the time in my class next session.” Off rushed the two budding Sophias.
After dinner was consumed and the table cleared, Helena and Celestine asked to be excused for a moment and went to retrieve the cake they had baked earlier. The cake was a three layer pound cake with dark chocolate frosting. They had asked Merlin to create little candy hearts with romantic and cheery words to place on the top of the cake. The cake had twelve sparklers uniformly spread around the circumference of the cake (they had to explain what sparklers were to Merlin so he could manifest them in Camelot).
Merlin told Morgana to close her eyes for a surprise and Helena and Celestine placed the cake in front of Morgana and everyone yelled, “Open your eyes, Mum. We love you.”
Morgana opened her eyes which grew very wide as she saw the cake in front of her. She had never seen a cake before, not to mention chocolate frosting, little candy hearts, and sparkling fire sticks, “What is this delicacy, children. Is it magick?”
Celestine said, “No, Mother, it is not magick. Helena and I made it from scratch just for you. We all are worried about Tristan and thought that a homemade dessert, homemade by real humans, would improve all of our moods. See the little hearts, they are all labeled with good tidings. And see the little boy and little girl candy people. That’s you and Tristan, just like in your stories.”
Morgana looked at everyone and started crying. Wiping her eyes with her napkin, she said, “Don’t worry, I’m fine, I am crying because you really care about me. And I was bad for so long that no one even wanted to be around me. So I am learning how to love and be loved once again. Thanks to all of you.”
See turned to Merlin, “And thanks to you, Merlin. I am sure you had something to do with this wonderful moment.”
Philip handed a large knife to Morgana and told her how to cut the cake so everyone could have a piece. And this Morgana did and soon all were lost in the world of chocolate frosted pound cake.
Everyone had retreated to the grand library with its stone fireplace and taken their favorite chair. Honey mead was in front of everyone. Merlin, turning to Morgana, said, “We have another surprise for you. Close you eyes. If fact, everyone should close their eyes for it is a grand surprise.”
Merlin counted, “1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . open your eyes.”
Everyone opened his or her eyes to see what their hearts desired more than anything. Standing in front of them was Rav holding a Elf Codex in this hands. Morgana jumped up from her chair placing both arms around his neck and pulling him towards her. The abruptness of her actions caused Rav to lose his balance and he found himself lying on top of Morgana whose back was on the library floor. Rav said, “Morgana.” Morgana just kept kissing and kissing him. At last she let him up.
Morgana, her heart beating like a hummingbird’s wings, “Husband, we all were worried to death about you. I was so afraid that the dark forces had captured you. What happened?”
“It was impossible to get any kind of message to you as it had become necessary for Nouseum to block all ingress and egress to the city. Including, magick messages. My presence in Nouseum had to be kept an absolute secret until the returning ritual was finished. The ritual was not completed until early this morning and the city opened a few hours later. So I came as soon as I can. But, I bring great news for all of you.”
Merlin stood up and handed Rav a warmed cup of his honey brandy. “A special home coming gift, my son. Sit down and tell us the good news.”
Every one sat down in their chair other than Morgana who stood behind Rav’s chair with her arms loosely around his neck. She thought to herself, “I still act like the little girl who first fell in love with Tristan on that wonderful day. I remember that Granny told me never to lose the little girl inside of you, for it is she who will always love her Tristan. And someday, this little girl would save her because of her pure love for her Tristan.”