A/N: I�m glad ya�ll like this. At least those who read on my Deviantart page, that is. I could scream �PLEEZ RED!!1! REVUUW!!1!!!1111� but I�m not. I just hope ya�ll can understand what the heck I write. ;

Anyway, I�ve since discovered that the soundtrack for The Dark Crystal works for writing this story, so I�ve got it set on random and enjoying myself with my mint soda.

Chapter Two

A lake spread out across many miles of territory in front of Arturia as she dismounted from her horse. Merlin sat atop his with a calculating look on his face as he watched her walk toward the lake�s brim. The jewel on top of his staff shimmered as he watched the lake�s surface ripple.

�The lady will come when she is ready,� he said toward Arturia, but he could already see that she knew this. The look of expectancy on her placid, cold features told him everything he needed to know. He watched her a while longer before looking out to the rippling water. �She is judging whether it is someone she should see or not. If she does not come, then we might as well leave to come back another day.�

�I will not leave until I have the scabbard.�

Merlin was being constantly surprised by his pupil. The stubborn streak in her was both irritating and amazing. He wondered if she would sit where she was standing through the freezing night just to see the lady and then realized she would. For her saftey�s sake, he hoped that the Lady would come to greet the new queen.

�Why is the lake unfrozen?�

Merlin gazed to Arturia once again, smiling faintly that she was at least assessing the situation she was in. �Because the Lady lives in the lake. The Lady is a spirit of the lake, she gives the lake life and thus life flourishes in the lake despite the chill.�

�But life must sleep at some point,� said Arturia as she continued to watch the water�s surface for the Lady herself.

�Life does sleep in the lake, but life here is frozen, cold and unfeeling. It has been sleeping for far too long a time, ever since the great war between the ancients. They brought on the winter and the unnatural chill. They were the ones that caused those unfortunates living in the wastelands to rot, their bodies unable to grow or function normally like the rest of us do to the extreme heat of the weapons that the ancients used.�

�The great war did that? What sort of weapons did our ancestors have?�

Merlin watched his pupil for any sign of malicious or malevolent nature, but her face was the same cold mask that she always had. �They were bombs that exploded at the smallest possible level, causing a radiation of sorts that changed their genetic structures, giving them and their decedents the unnatural bodies and functions they have now. What they have now is a disease that only they can have, for it�ll only strike them alone.�

Arturia looked toward him for once as he spoke and watched him carefully. �They should not live in the wasteland. There are places on the outskirts of Camelot that would suffice for living and they would not be far from food sources and water should they need them. They could work, if they are able, if their bodies do not give their disease to the people of Camelot.�

�It would be hard to have your people agree to allow these outsiders to join their ranks,� said Merlin, watching the lake now.

�Yes, it will be hard, but it will be better for them if they do not have to be alone.�

Not for the first time, Merlin felt pride swell in his heart at his young pupil. Despite the chill of her outside, inside she felt pity and wished to care for those who were not as fortunate as she to be healthy and normal.

The lake bubbled as a white haired woman came through the surface. She was clad in the brightest, most beautiful mail dress that he had ever seen, more beautiful than those of the paintings he had seen of knights from the past. Had his old history professor ever seen the Lady herself, she might have started giggling like a little girl, though he had seen her change into one on a couple of occasions. Her hair was the same color as the Lady�s, as well. All her children had the same hair, white as snow.

The Lady moved closer to them, floating over the water as though suspended in a bubble of water herself. She moved toward Arturia and gazed at her with those pale eyes of hers, the shining mail dress covering a shimmering blue dress underneath. �You are� the king?� Her voice was far away, as though she wasn�t actually floating in front of them.

Arturia gazed at the water spirit carefully. �I am the Queen.�

The Lady watched Arturia for a moment and touched the girl�s face with a single, wet, finger, stroking her cheek. �You are the one who Merlin wanted to raise; the king that he knew would unite this land?�

Merlin coughed from atop his horse and got off the saddle. �Aye, that would be the king, m�lady.�

The Lady moved around Arturia, assessing her. She saw the sword at the young girl�s side and frowned faintly. �She has� taken the sword from the stone? The spirit of the earth allowed such a thing?�

Merlin shook his head. �The spirit of the earth has long been asleep. The stones are the ones who held the sword, not the earth.�

Arturia watched the Lady with that stone like mask of hers. �Is there a problem with me, m�lady?�

The Lady gazed at Arturia once more and moved away. �Stones do not assess the heart. They see the same exterior as their own.�

Merlin frowned, hoping the Lady wasn�t about to deny the girl the scabbard. The girl wasn�t known for throwing fits or tantrums, however, she was stubborn enough to risk her own life to sit right there and brave the cold of the night. As it was, the wind was starting to pick up and the snow to fall a little.

�Are you telling me that I do not have the heart for Avalon?� Arturia�s face was just starting to break the cold shell she had. She looked mildly irritated, which told Merlin that she must be livid with the entire situation. �Are you denying me Avalon because you do not trust the rocks assessment of me?�

The Lady hesitated, moving back a bit toward the water away from Arturia. The venom in the girl�s words could be felt like so many knives into a person�s heart. �I deny you nothing. Avalon will go to you, child, but do not think I would have gone back into the water and left you to die in the night.�

Arturia�s usual calm face was back as she settled back to her normal stance. The Lady saw the change, heard the girl�s words long before she made her presence known, and yet, she still had the feeling that the girl was far more than should ever have been. The sight of the sword being so black also gave her cause for alarm. The sword matched the bearer and beat with the heart of the bearer. Avalon had been withheld from the previous user, Uther, in order to keep the last bit of the holy pair out of his blackened heart�s reach. If the sword had remained black beside Arturia, what did that foretell for Avalon?

The Lady held her hands out and Avalon appeared in front of her, a gold and blue scabbard shining brilliantly in the darkening weather. It was like a beacon in the middle of a storm. �I give to you� AVALON. This is the holy scabbard to the holy sword Excalibur. Use it wisely, dear child,� she said as the scabbard floated to Arturia.

Arturia saw the scabbard coming toward her. Why was it so bright? Why was it so bright while the sword was so dark? Merlin had told her that the sword and scabbard had been forged together, both of the same materials and both of equal powers that joined together formed the most unbeatable warrior. Why, then, was Excalibur so black and Avalon was so bright?

She took Avalon and held it in her hands. The scabbard remained bright in her cold hands and remained bright still as she took the sword and put it into the large scabbard. Only when the sword connected to the scabbard did the scabbard change. The scabbard�s blue turned black and the gold lines turned red and glowed faintly with an eerie pulse as she put the sword back on the belt holding it on her waist.

Merlin noticed this as did the Lady. They both noted how the scabbard remained unchanged even though the girl had held it in her hands. Was there, perhaps, a warm heart beating underneath the snow cold exterior?

Arturia kneeled down to the Lady like one of her knights and bowed her head. �Thank you, Lady of the Lake. I am now complete and may use this to continue the effort to bring my people out of this cold darkness.� Then, she stood and got on her horse.

�Know this, O Arturia of the Chief Dragon,� said the Lady with that far away voice of hers, �You will not age, nor will you bleed long with that scabbard. Its holy light will keep you from dying and bring you to health even if you are near death�s door. However, you will not age from this point on, dear girl. While your knights and people age and grow old around you, you will forever be that face, the face of a young girl just a few years past the age when most are considered marriageable. Please remember this and don�t take it as a curse, but know that it is the will of the scabbard and the sword to preserve you until you can not fight anymore. When that time comes, bring the sword to me and you will be able to live as you should.�

Arturia gazed at the Lady for a moment. �Will I have children?�

�Yes, you may have that. That is not denied to you. However, you will have to watch them grow old and die as you do not age.� The Lady bowed her head and turned back to the lake. �Be well, dear Queen. Not many would have taken your position and turned it into such an advantage.� Then, she disappeared under the water.

A small smile came across Arturia�s face and Merlin nearly gasped at the sight. It was such a rare thing to see Arturia smile, but he knew it came to her genuinely. �Come, my student, you have people waiting for you to judge them and deal with them. We also have a coronation to attend to, namely yours. You�re not queen yet, not officially.�

Arturia nodded and started riding back toward Camelot. Merlin followed up behind her, though, not without a final glance toward the lake. The lake froze over slowly as the Lady went to sleep. Merlin had not told Arturia that he had made arrangements with the Lady previously before coming to see her, that it was he who had told the Lady to keep a weather eye out for when he came by to see her about the scabbard. Because it was he who had taken the black sword away from Uther Pendragon and hid the scabbard from him as well and it was he who told the rocks to not wake their slumbering master to keep the sword safe from the vile man.

Merlin spotted the ruins of the ancient cities that used to be around the area. Cold steel skeletons of what used to be tall buildings were all that was left. Some colorful glass still stayed in the panes of the skeletal buildings, as did walls on the interior. However, no one lived in them anymore. They had been able to find stores of old electrical equipment used in such places as the kitchen. They managed to reverse engineer the old rusty �freshers� as they called them by looking through the old texts in the boxes with them, gave them a new power source, one Merlin himself designed, and then they put them to work in the warmer kitchens of the castle and in the bigger homes of the village. The poorer of the people tended to use the unnaturally cold weather to keep their foods cold when they weren�t able to use them, which left the richer families the ability to keep their homes warmer for the �freshers� didn�t need the cold to function.

Into the walls of Camelot they rode, Arturia in front of him with her black velvet and black fur lined cloak billowing in the building wind. Once inside, they would plan the coronation and invite the peoples of Scotland and of Ireland to join the festivities.

She was more interested in the champion named Fergus Mac Roich, who was supposedly reputed to be a foster father for the hero Cuchulainn and a former king of Ireland, his step-son having taken the throne from him. When Arturia spied the older man as he rode in with a group of nobles, one of them a rather imposing woman that, Arturia noted, was being very close to Fergus.

Arturia noted, with some irritation, that only a few Scottish nobles came in, one of which had long red hair and had the beauty of a faery. He was representing the MacLeod clan along with his wife, who had long black hair that was left free rather than pulled back like most women did when they wedded. Another couple of nobles came, though Arturia hardly recognized them anymore than she knew the MacLeods. One was tall and very handsome with blonde hair and a blonde beard that looked more like a mane than facial hair. He was very wide shouldered and thick chested, giving him more of a lion like look than a man. His wife was almost as tall as he was, broad shouldered and busty with long blonde curls pulled back under a veil.

�Godric Gryffindor, m�lady,� said Merlin as he smiled faintly toward his pupil.

Arturia regarded the tall man with some dislike. He was entirely too cheerful looking and it worried her as he grinned at her with a most mischievous grin. He bowed with a flourish and kissed her hand. �You must be the new queen, aye?�

Arturia nodded and looked to the woman, who bowed slightly toward her and smiled warmly. �I am his wife, Helga.�

�A pleasure to meet you, Lord and Lady Gryffindor,� said Arturia, though her tone was the same chilly tone as she always spoke with. This didn�t seem to detract Godric and Helga one bit.

Godric grinned even more and patted her on the head. �You�re a cute girl, I must say. It�s been a while since I�ve seen any sort of royalty, much less a girl as sweet looking as you. You remind me of my own cubs.�

Arturia had to move away fast to avoid the very large hand that threatened to completely demolish her hairstyle anymore than it already had. Godric didn�t seem to think it odd or unseemly that he treat her in such a fashion. �What do you mean by �cubs�?�

Godric raised his eyebrows at her and looked genuinely surprised for once. �What do you mean, what do I mean? I call all my children cubs! I�m the lion of Gryffindor, after all! Didn�t your master ever mention me?�

Merlin coughed and attempted to look away from the gold eyed stare of both Arturia and Godric. �Why should he have ever mentioned you?� asked Arturia.

Helga, at this point, stepped in. �My husband has the tendency to call all children who are taken into the house of Gryffindor his �cubs� as that is the young form of a lion. The house of Gryffindor is an esteemed house and one your master was in when he was young.�

Arturia�s cold face looked very confused and Merlin had to cough once more. �I was fostered in their house, m�lady,� he said in a softer tone, trying not to be too conspicuous. He would have to have a talk with Lord and Lady Gryffindor later about this.

�Lord Salazar Slytherin is here with his wife Rowena,� called the announcer.

Arturia looked between Salazar and Godric and wondered why they were looking at each other much like old friends, though Salazar being the most unwilling to Godric�s more playful look. Salazar and Rowena bowed to her and didn�t say much else. Salazar seemed as though he wanted to get away from the place, as though the many people caused him to feel too confined. Rowena, however, seemed to be in her element, though a bit bored. It seemed that she was a really clever woman, but not many around her were of the same intelligence. Merlin seemed very fond of the woman, as he was with Helga, his foster mother.

When the Archbishop arrived from the church, she knew that the time was close for her coronation. Arturia was led to a room where handmaids were left with her to dress her up in a black and red gown, her hair up once more and covered in a dark veil. She was led out of the chamber by one of the maids to Merlin who led her to the main hall.

The hall was filled with people, on either side were Briton, Irish and Scot; each side never once caring that they were next to not one of their own countrymen. Merlin led her down the middle of the hall toward the throne where the Archbishop was standing with her scepter and crown waiting on silk pillows.

She stood on the stairs, looking at the throne and then to the archbishop as he started speaking to her in latin. He told her to kneel and so she did before the archbishop as he blessed her and her coronation and then placed a black robe on her shoulders, black fur lining it, and told her to take her seat on the throne.

�I christen thee, Queen Arturia Pendragon; Queen of Camelot, New London and the surrounding areas of Briton.�

She felt the weight of the gold crown as it was placed onto her head. She was given the scepter and was left to the throne as the archbishop moved away from her. Merlin smiled faintly toward her from her other side as did Lord and Lady Gryffindor. Lord and Lady Slytherin seemed far more subdued in their mannerisms, however, she did see Salazar Slytherin look a little misty eyed and mutter something that looked like �She�s no cub, she�s a hatchling. You�ll see.� Then, she watched his wife roll her eyes and pat her husband�s shoulder in a petting manner.

From that moment, Queen Arturia realized that these were not Scottish nobility, but something far different. Her master was a wizard of the highest degree, though he said he was only a child compared to the headmaster of the school he attended. Could the headmaster have been one of these four strange people?

As she was ushered from the hall by maids and Merlin behind her, she started plotting how she would learn Merlin�s secrets, learn the origin of this strange mystery that had been put in front of her onto a platter and taken away before she had been able to even sample what it was like.