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A sharp elbow jabbed Morgana in the ribs.
She looked up from where she was sorting the stuffed toys according to their colours, to glare at a little boy, who was staring at her with his blue eyes wide with excitement.
'Who's that?' he asked in an agitated whisper.
Well, it was probably meant to be a whisper, it was more of a shout, but he clearly tried. Morgana was willing to give him points for effort.
'This, young Merlin, is the new boy. Remember, we told you that there was going to be a new child here today? His name is Mordred. He's my nephew actually. That's his mother, my sister Morgause, right next to him' she explained, but the boy wasn't listening anymore.
'Mor-dred' he said carefully, trying out the unfamiliar sound, while continuing to stare at the other boy. He stood with his hands clinging to the hem of his mothers shirt, looking around the room nervously. His mother petted his head with one hand, typing away on her phone with the other.
Morgana tried to hide her smile as she gently nudged Merlin in the direction of her sister.
'Why don't you come with me and introduce yourself?'
The boy stared at her, wide-eyed, but after another look over to the new child, he nodded.
Morgana steered him over by the shoulders, secretly glad that Merlin would be the first child that her nephew encountered. She loved all the children in the nursery, she really did, but the truth was that some of them, well, they took a little more getting used to than others.
Mordred had grown up in a world that by most normal standards would have been called extraordinary, but by the standards of the magical world it had been a very sheltered life indeed.
His mother, a powerful enchantress, had married a mortal man. The marriage hadn't lasted, through no one's fault. Except the goblin who ate her husband. People were inclined to put some blame on him. But they also conceded that it was in the nature of goblins to eat people and that stuff like this happened. Morgause annihilated the goblin's tribe and they called it quits.(even?)
On that day Morgause had taken her son, then an infant of hardly a year, and travelled the world with him. They had lived among ordinary humans for most of it, only occasionally straying into more occult environments. She wanted her son to be able to choose a life away from the extraordinary that had cost his father his life, but there was also no denying that her son had inherited some of her powers and might thus be inclined towards the very world she was keeping from him.
So when her son turned four, Morgause decided to settle down.
She returned to England, where, convenience of conveniences, her sister Morgana worked in a nursery. A nursery for the specially gifted. It was too perfect to pass up. Not to speak of the family discount. As an Enchantress Morgause didn't need to pay heed to fiscal matters, but the human part of her soul just couldn't resist the concept of saving money. There was a satisfaction in it, that rivalled even the most skillfully cast spell.
Mordred had been cautiously excited at the idea of getting to go to a 'school for little people' as his mother called it.
There wasn't much excitement left as they approached a nondescript building in the outskirts of London.
Morgause was quite alright with her son clinging to her like she was leading him to the slaughter. It was only when he had tangled himself so completely around her legs, that she couldn't walk, did she carefully pick him up and carry him inside. The concept of 'in your own time' just did not work with four-year-olds.
The inside of the building was much nicer than the outside had you believe. A kindly older gentleman lead her to the nursery, which was below ground 'for safety reasons' as the man explained.
Morgause took a moment to have second thoughts, when the doors they were lead through were fortified iron doors, covered in protective symbols.
'And you're quite sure this is the nursery and not a prison?' she asked in a dry tone.
The grey-haired gentlemen chuckled 'Yes, Miss, very much so.'.
'That's a relief, I'm sure.' she said, scowling at him.
Well, she could always turn around and leave. And Morgana had to be here somewhere.
Behind another iron door things began to look up. Sort of. The walls of the small square room were painted in a mural that was so cute Morgause could practically feel cavities forming.
There were fluffy bunnies and rainbows galore. She was pretty sure she spotted a rainbow-coloured unicorn in there.
The walls to her right and left held hooks, with dozens of tiny jackets on them, hanging over accurately placed pairs of tiny shoes. Just the right amount of insanity sprinkled with OCD.
It reminded her of home.
The man turned to her, smiling brightly 'There we are, just pop his coat on a free hook, take off his shoes and you're good to go. It's right behind this door', he pointed at a comfortingly normal looking door in front of them, 'you'll have no trouble finding a Kindergartner, they kind of stand out, what with them being twice the size of everybody around them' he chuckled, made a short wave in Mordred's direction and left.
Morgause watched his retreating back with trepidation.
'What a strange man' she whispered to her son, as she put him down on the floor.
'Now, my love, time to meet Auntie Morgana.' Mordred didn't look overly happy at the prospect, but didn't resist when his mother took his coat and shoes off.
After putting them away, leaving the shoes in a messy heap out of a childish sense of rebellion, she grasped her sons hand and pulled him to the door.
She rapped on it once, before entering.
Morgause hadn't had any conscious expectations, but if she had had any, she was pretty sure that they wouldn't have been anything like the reality that awaited them.
The nursery was huge. At first sight it reminded her strongly of a cathedral. Probably because of the sheer space. Also the domed ceiling. The stained-glass windows might have been a contributing factor as well. Why were there even windows? They were in a cellar right? How on earth did light come through them?
Morgause took a moment to calm down. Clearly she had spent too much time around humans, if she started to look for scientific explanations in everything.
She then took in the rest of the room.
It was paradise. Deep down she felt a little envious. In her day nurseries hadn't been all that.
Not that they'd ever been allowed to go to one, but from what she'd heard, they hadn't been anything like this.
None of her classmates in school had ever mentioned anything about wide areas of what looked like grass, populated by life-size stuffed animals who seemed to find great joy in being harassed by a bunch of small children.
She was also pretty sure that a corner full of stuffed toys and dolls that had the size of a reasonably well-stocked toy store was somewhat extraordinary.
Another area seemed to be the designated nap-area, or possible to go-to place for blanket-fort-building, for it held all the blankets and pillows that one's heart could desire.
Directly in front of them was a small library-like section. It was abgegrenzt by little bookshelves that were only a few feet high and filled with colourful books. In the middle of them a woman was kneeling on the floor, surrounded by a flock of children, who were listening raptly to her reading a book.
Morgause could hear some of her words drifting over. It sounded like she was reading a fairy tale. With a start she realized, that the huge carpet the woman and the children were sitting on was actually hovering a few inches above the ground.
And these were only the things she could see, judging by the ceiling, the room went on a great way longer than she could actually look.
It started to seem like this may have been the best idea she'd ever had.
'So, honey, mommy is going to need her hand now.' she said, shaking off Mordreds little hand, to grab her phone out of her pocket.
He immediately latched onto the hem of her shirt.
His mother smiled indulgently, putting the free hand into his hair and started typing out a memo to herself, about things to add to her flat.(She hadn't realized her need for a life-size stuffed horse and a corner for blanket forts before. Nobody's perfect.)
Mordred had never been more scared in his life.
Not even that one time he had gone to a park with his mother and ended up being chased by a herd/flock of ducks and he'd been terrified then.
He was in a strange place, that he had never seen before, there were things he did not understand, things he'd only seen in his dreams, the only person he knew was his mother and she was going to leave him here.
Oh, he knew that he was going to meet his Aunt Morgana and that she was going to take care of him, but the fact of the matter was, that he'd never met her, so that did nothing to calm him down.
Mordred decided to just cling to his mommy, so that she wouldn't be able to leave him here and then they could just go home and play knights.
He pressed his eyes tightly shut, vaguely hoping that he was only dreaming and might wake up any second.
'Morgause!' a delighted voice came from his left. Mordred carefully opened an eye, to see who was calling to his mother.
The first thing he saw, was a little boy, not much bigger than him, standing not 3 feet before him.
He had bright blue eyes and messy black hair. He was twisting his hands and smiling at Mordred.
Mordred held on a little more tightly to his mother, leaning into her as much as physically possible.
It was then that he noticed the boy was not alone. There were hands on his shoulders. Following them with his eyes he ended up looking at a beautiful face that was smiling him in a way that was very familiar. He had seen countless pictures of his mother and her little sister, when they'd been younger, but there was no mistaking the kind green eyes and the black hair that framed her face.
He could feel the movement, when his mother packed her phone away, exclaiming a delighted 'Morgana!' in return. He was tugged forward, when his mother stepped to embrace her sister.
'And you must be Mordred!' his aunt said, when they let go of each other. 'It's good to see you again. The last time I saw you, you were a tiny baby. You're such a big boy already.' with a little sigh she bent down and enveloped him in a hug. As well as she could, seeing as he was still firmly attached to his mother's side.
'I missed you two. Oh!' she turned to the little boy who'd been with her 'so sorry, love. I completely forgot. This is Merlin.' she motioned for him to come closer. The boy complied, still smiling at Mordred.
'Merlin, this is Mordred. He's new here. Do you remember when you were new? When you didn't know anybody? Or where anything was? Why don't you show him around while I talk to Mor- his mother?' she smiled encouragingly at Merlin.
He nodded.
'Yes, Miss Pendrag'n. I'm Merlin' he said, turning to Mordred. 'I'm gonna show you around' he extended a hand to Mordred.
Mordred tried to cling harder to his mother, but she was having none of it. She gently disentangled his fingers from her shirt and gave him a loving shove in Merlin's direction.
'Off you go now Mordred. I'm going to talk to Auntie Morgana for a minute and then I'm going to come say goodbye to you okay? Unless you're too busy having fun to say goodbye to your poor old mother' she grinned at him.
Mordred felt betrayed. Looking back to his mother and his aunt, they were both smiling toothily at him and making shooing motions with their hands.
Pouting, he turned his back on them. The boy, Merlin, still held his hand out to him.
Mordred grasped it and let himself be pulled away.
Served his mother right, he was going to be too busy having fun to say goodbye to her IF IT KILLED HIM.
He didn't hear the woman laughing at their retreating figures.