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Atlas Gym, Saturday Afternoon

Ghanima was still... disquieted. It was unlike Merlin to miss the first day of classes, especially without notifying her first or sending someone with a message.

Still, she was at the gym for their usual ~~if usually handwavey~~ training session, dribbling one of the balls idly as she waited. Her limited prescience wasn't nagging at the back of her mind, so she was rather sure he'd be there sooner or later.

[For the magician apprentice, but open before and after him.]

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"Lady Ghanima!" Merlin bustled on in, though he wasn't exactly certain what bustling was. But he did anyway.

Shhhh.

"That would be me," she agreed pleasantly, repressing the laugh at the bustle. "Merlin."

"I wanted to apologize for missing class on Monday," Merlin said as he moved closer. "I--ended up in Firekeeper's world and only got back Tuesday."

"Accidental world-hopping?" Ghanima asked, raising an eyebrow. "I do hope you brought us all back souvenirs."

There was something - no. It was most likely the light.

Merlin glanced away at that. "Not exactly."

That triggered some deep unease that she couldn't place, and Ghanima held out her hand. "Merlin," she said quietly, "Come here."

And of course Merlin would bloody well obey that. "There was a plague there. It only infected people with magic."

"Oh Merlin." Ghanima gently reached out to tilt his face towards her, so she could get a good look at that -- change. Which was very much not a trick of the light. "What happened?"

"It seemed to mark people who survived it," Merlin said, trying not to look away. It was still difficult to simply allow them to be seen. "Or took your magic entirely."

"I'm guessing you fall in the former category and not the latter," she replied, deliberately meeting his eyes and smiling. "Who else went on this adventure of yours?"

Merlin smiled back for that. "Arthur, Francine, Firekeeper and Blind Seer. We'd been in the preserve and then--very much not in the preserve."

Firekeeper was Blysse, then, and Ghanima nodded.

"And everyone is alright?" If they had arrived back on Tuesday, Ghanima was rather sure she would have heard through the grapevine if that was not the case, but she wanted to be sure. "Although if you were with Blysse and Blind Seer, in their world, I'm sure you were safe from most things that go bump in the dark."

"Everyone save for Arthur fell ill," Merlin replied. "But everyone survived with few changes."

There was a pause before, "Do you know a way to change your eyes to be less noticeable?"

"Why?" Ghanima arched an eyebrow at him, her own blue-on-blue eyes watching him steadily. "There's nothing wrong with your eyes, Merlin."

"Arthur thinks King Uther will believe I was attacked by hostile magics, but..."

"...but Uther is not known for being rational where magic is concerned," Ghanima finished. "And that is true, you were attacked by a form of hostile magic. You wouldn't be lying."

"But I would be a rather more visible presence in court to anyone looking for a sorcerer," Merlin said glumly.

"This is true," she agreed, giving his shoulders a reassuring squeeze. "But if you were a sorcerer, would you let your eyes stay gold? That's just silly, especially in the court of Uther Pendragon...."

"I know at least one way we can hide them, yes, but only if it's your choice, Merlin, and not one forced upon you."

"Perhaps just learning now. And decide when I return home." No if, damn it.

"In theory, if you gain absolute control of yourself on the cellular level, you could change the color of your eyes," Ghanima replied. "Of course, I've never tried it, but it is possible."

"The other option is contacts. In my universe, it is not uncommon for those addicted to the Spice who are not Fremen to wear permanent color-correcting lenses which hide the marker of the use," she continued, gesturing at her eyes. "They are quite simple to get."

"...I think the second option is more likely to happen," Merlin admitted.

"Which means we try for the first!" Oh Merlin, you should know better by now. "More meditation for you."

She was a cruel teacher.

"Not more throwing balls at me?"

Ghanima snorted in amusement. "When you finally get it into your head that your mind affects your reality and manage to dodge the balls properly, then you'll be closer to being able to do the meditation needed for something that complex," she informed him. "So congratulations, you're getting more of both."

If she was cruel, he ought to be counting his blessings that she wasn't the Reverend Mother Mohiam.

He really could not win here. Bruises and quiet time seemed to be all that was in the cards for him.

"I'm starting to think you're picking things just to spite me."

"I would never do something so unprofessional," Ghanima said blandly. "As your teacher, it is my responsibility to insure that you reach your full potential."

Yes, she was. Ghani was an Atreides; contrary was in the DNA.

"And tormenting me is just the bonus?" Merlin teased.

Ghanima just smiled and blurred, reappearing a few feet away to scoop up a ball and lob it at his chest. "Torment? Perhaps I ought to put you on the same training schedule Reno had. Sunrise is quite beautiful, you know."

"I'm up then for my duties anyway," Merlin shot back once he regained the ability to breath.

"Yes, but I doubt your duties involve violence!" Oh, she shouldn't be quite so cheerful about that, but Ghanima threw another pair of balls at him. "You can do this, Merlin. Focus."

He dodged one mostly by simple virtue of the flail he had going. "I can," He agreed, mostly to assure himself.

Rubbing his arm, he waited for the next horrible assault.

The horrible assault wasn't waiting for him. More and more balls came at him, Ghanima slipping into the speed the Way provided her as she zipped around the room, attacking from all sides.

"The capability resides in you. Find it. Use it," she prompted, lobbing another rubber ball at his head. "Act, don't react. Picture the outcome you want, and make it so."

Out of the many, many he somehow managed to avoid... two. Whether it was him managing to do as instructed or simple dumb luck he really wasn't certain. But he knew he avoided two!

So... cake for all!

"It's not easy." To not use his normal abilities or avoid them, that was up to her.

"Of course not. If it were easy, anyone would do it," she replied, throwing another one. "It is the continual attempt to strive for it that makes a person exceptional."

This one he stopped mid-air, staring hard at it. "I nearly lost this."

"But you didn't," she reminded him, watching from where she stood. "Why didn't you?"

"I don't know," Merlin replied, letting it drop to the ground. "Just some fever dreams that didn't make much sense."

"You don't believe that any more than I do." Ghanima steadily walked over to the ball he had just dropped, kneeling down to trail her fingers over the curve of the sphere.

Of course she'd call him out on that. "I dreamed of a woman I knew back home."

She was the Aryeh of Atreides. It was her nature to attack the root of a problem.

"And?" she prompted, gaze steady. "What happened, in your dream?"

"She asked me what I would trade to keep my magic. Arthur--" Never about to happen. "My fame--" Which was silly. "Or my face. I suppose I chose correctly."

"Fame? Why do you think she offered that option?" Fame usually came from deeds; had Merlin taken that option, the Atreides in her winced at how the timeline might have been affected.

"I don't know. I haven't done anything. I'm not whoever in those books talk about. I'm just me."

"Yet." Ghanima's smile was soft, but firm. "You haven't done anything yet. Time is fluid, malleable. What if it was future valor they were asking you to lay aside?" Valor which may well have protected his prince.

"You made the right decision, regardless. But the fact remains that you did not let them take it."

"I don't know who I would be without it," Merlin admitted.

"The same person you are with it. Would it be harder to protect your prince? Of course. Would the loss of it ache? I would not doubt it. But it's your heart that makes you 'Merlin', not some unexplainable tricks," Ghanima replied. "It is our decisions that define us, not our gifts."

"If it was only my powers that made me unique... I would be lessened by every student that I taught a meditation exercises. Reno's achievement of the Way would diminish me. And clearly, that is not the case."

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Atlas Gym, Saturday Afternoon

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