Chapter One: Trust is The Foundation for The Start

                                    

                                          
"Alianna! ALIANNA! STOP!"
                          
"You can't catch me, Sir Henry!"
                          
"You are too old to be behaving like this, and I am too old to be chasing you around! Now, stop and behave yourself! You have training to get to!"
                          
The 15-year-old stopped short and groaned, spinning around lazily to face the older Knight who was now bent over simply trying to catch a breath.
                          
"Do I really have to train today? It's such a nice day! I mean, look at the-- Oh, goddess, Henry, look at the sky!"
                          
"What? It's completely cloudle-- oh."
                          
"What is that?"
                          
"I think it's... oh, goddess, it's a griffin! Alianna, cover, now!"
                          
The griffin swooped down over the courtyard and Alianna squealed as Sir Henry pulled his sword from its sheath. Some guards joined him as others went in search of the King. 
                          
Soon enough Alianna watched from behind a large column as her father stepped into the courtyard. She could have sworn the world moved in slow motion as he made his entrance. He stepped through the guards  with ease even as they fought the eagle-lion hybrid. She was in such shock of the events that she was unable to hear the words that fell from the King's lips, but she could feel the power that rushed over her as he stole a spear off a guard. She then placed her hand upon her mouth, smothering a gasp as he threw the, now blazing blue, weapon at the beast. It struck it's mark point-blank; no error in the blow. The beast fell with a screech and then burst into nothingness as it neared the ground. Afterwards there was naught but silence.
                          
"Father!"
                          
Alianna rushed from her hiding spot to her father's side. Her steps echoed from the cobblestones as she did so.
                          
"What are you doing out here?" He asked calmy. His blue eyes flashed and Alianna could feel the anger, and the power some fear. He stayed quiet of tone, his calm seeped into the air, voice even. The usual warmth was gone, hollowed out. This is it, Alianna thought, I've finally done it. I'm dead. "You should be on the training grounds."
                          
"But, father!"
                          
"But, nothing!" He snaps, a growl lilting his words slightly. "You know--"
                          
"I am to study from sunup to lunch, and train from lunch to sundown. I am not to leave my room without a knight by my side, nor to enter the courtyards, lower-town, or cross into Camelot through The Gate without my Royal Guard. I am not to forget to thank Diagolu for its protection day in and dat out. I am to remember that even though I do not know the full-extent of my destiny I must follow it and my duty towards the United Kingdoms; never straying from from my work to become the perfect little soldier, I'm sorry, Princess that the Kingdoms need me to be." She recited this as someone reading aloud from a page they had read many, many times before.
                          
The King sighed, his shoulders slumping as the breath was released. A hand is brought up to pinch the bridge of his nose. Just like that the King morphs into the gentle man that is Merlin. "Ali, you know it isn't like that..."
                          
"Then what is it like, father?" She bit out the title coldly. "Maven doesn't have to train nearly as much as I, and he doesn't have Knights following him everywhere!"
                          
"That's different!"
                          
"How? How is that different, at all?"
                          
"Ali, Arthur and I agreed that--"

                          
"What? I'm not allowed a life and his son is? I'm 15, Dah! I need to experience something of life before I'm stuck ruling a Kingdom or something!"
                          
"Alianna, that is enough! You respect your elders and do not speak over them, you have been taught as much, have you not? Yes, you are 15, and yet you are still running away constantly, and don't get me started on your avoidance of responsibilities! You can have a life when I can trust you with it!" Merlin roared, and then huffed. "If you don't want to train, then, fine, don't train. Go to your chambers!"
                          
Alianna growled, much like her father, and stomped her foot down. With a huff she turned swiftly to leave, but not without first muttering, "I miss my old Dah, the one that wanted me to grow up like a human, not a tool."
                          
Merlin felt the words rush through his heart as if they were the blue-flame encased spear and he the griffin. He ran his hands through his midnight hair as he watched his daughter disappear from his sight, Sir Henry Trailing her.
                          
He tensed for a moment as a hand landed upon his shoulder, a habit he was far from breaking. Yet he eased at the sound of a familiar voice.
                          
"Don't worry, mate, she'll understand one day." Arthur spoke up.
                          
"You heard that?"
                          
"Merlin, the whole castle probably heard that. But, yes, idiot, I heard the whole thing."
                          
"Shut up, clotpole." Arthur shoved Merlin lightly and he cracked a small smile before kicking at the ground childishly. He seemed so small in that moment for such a noble King. "I fear she may be right. Our time is running out, she'll soon be fighting with the whole fate of the Kingdoms resting on her shoulders."
                          
"Maybe she is, maybe she isn't. As for the time, I will tell you the same as I know Mione does: we may be fighting tomorrow, we may be fighting in a month, but we have been preparing for years."
                          
"Morgana has been as well, if that attack says anything."
                          
"You think that was her?"
                          
"I know it was."
                          
Arthur sighed. "Well, Morgana still believe you to be her doom."
                          
The two Kings stood in the courtyard as it sprung back into life around them. They contemplated the day's happenings, and the happenings of the previous years, as well as speculated upon the years to come. How much time they had left, neither knew; but it was becoming increasingly obvious to both that they needed to remove the bandage quickly, to keep the cloth from being stuck any deeper in the wound.
                          
Merlin breathed out deeply, fluttering his eyes shut for a moment, and glancing at the ground one last time, before meeting Arthur's eyes. "Maybe she does... maybe she doesnt