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Tom wakes up groggily, in the dark and in pain.
Gwen's friend Merlin is hovering over him, looking anxious.
Tom frowns. "What --?"
Merlin shakes his head. "Don't make a sound," he hisses. "I'm getting you out."
Tom starts to protest this, because look how well that turned out last time, but then he hears the sound of guards overhead.
"Come with me," says Merlin, and Tom figures he's out of options.
He gets up, wincing as he feels bruises and scars in a dozen places, and Merlin starts heading down a dark passage. Tom follows.
.
They make it all the way out of the castle under cover of darkness - Merlin seems to have a knack about him, a way of making guards look the other way.
"Will you be all right from here?" Merlin asks as he leads a horse from the stables.
Tom nods. "I'll find my way. Merlin, tell Gwen I'll come back for her, I will see her again. Tell her I'm sorry, but --"
"An absent father is better than a dead one," says Merlin with a small smile. "I know. Listen, go to Ealdor, it's two days' ride from here, due east. My mother's there, Hunith. She can help you."
"I don't know how to thank you," says Tom.
"Be safe. I'll send Gwen to you as soon as I can."
Tom nods tightly and rides off into the night.
.
The road is long and lonely. Tom hasn't travelled like this since he and Maria were first setting out from the village they grew up in, looking for somewhere bigger, somewhere to raise a family. He misses her so much tonight, and he can't bear to think of Gwen all alone. But he knows the Lady Morgana is a gracious employer, and Merlin seems like a good boy. They'll look after his little girl.
He dresses his wounds and tries to ignore his gnawing hunger. He sleeps under the stars and dreams of Maria, her bright smile and clever hands, so like Gwen.
.
"Hunith! Hunith, there's a man to see you!"
Hunith frowns and puts down her washing, stepping outside the front door.
Young Sarah is waving excitedly at her, racing ahead of a man dismounting from his horse. The man looks up to meet Hunith's eye, his expression relieved, then he sags against the horse, eyes falling shut.
Hunith rushes over to him, gesturing to Sarah to help her bring him inside.
.
Tom comes to in a warm bed. He starts upright, confused, but his pounding head makes him think better of that and he sinks back down again.
"Oh good, you're awake," says a woman, looking up from the table.
"You must be Hunith," Tom says slowly.
She nods. "My son sent you, didn't he. Here, drink this." She hands him a mug of water, and Tom drinks it greedily. "Now, tell me what happened."
.
Three days later, Gwen arrives. She finds her father outside in the garden and flings himself on him, peppering him with questions. Hunith watches them both through the window, smiling at the way Tom's whole body comes alive.
Gwen comes inside a little while later, almost tearful with gratitude.
"Gwen," Hunith says, laughing and halting the girl's stammered thanks, "it's all right. It gives me a chance to repay you for saving our village. Your father's a good soul and an honest worker, and we can always use those."
"We've never lived apart before," Gwen says quietly. "It's going to be so strange without him."
Hunith smiles and pulls Gwen for a hug. "You can come and see him any time you like. Any friend of my son's is always welcome here."
Gwen's smile is radiant as she steps back. "You're brilliant," she says, looking very young. Hunith's heart aches a little, but she smiles back.
.
Hunith's glad to see how quickly Tom settles into the village, and how quickly everyone takes him into their hearts. He sets up a small smithy on the edge of town, mostly out of bits of scrap metal, and trains up a couple of the youngsters to help him out. Before long half of Ealdor own some of his wares. Then word starts to spread that there's a blacksmith in the middle of nowhere who can shoe a horse, and trade begins to drift Ealdor's way; not too much, because these men and women are skilled farmers with no desire to change, but more than they ever could have dreamt of under the threat of roaming bands.
Tom's a local hero, and when Hunith kisses him under a harvest moon it's all that anyone talks about for a week. She doesn't care at all, something warm and good blooming inside her.
.
Gwen and Merlin come to visit in the winter. It doesn't take them long to figure it out, and when they do Gwen claps her hands together in delighted surprise while Merlin looks bewildered but pleased. Tom takes Hunith's hand, suggests that the two of them are like brother and sister now, and laughs and laughs at their shared expressions of horror.
There's a knock on the door a few hours later, and Hunith stares openly at Prince Arthur, she's so surprised to see him and Morgana.
"I --" Arthur starts, looking uncomfortable. "I understand that I may not be welcome here, but if I come in any capacity at all, it is as Merlin and Guinevere's friend."
Morgana glances at Arthur then back at Hunith, uncertain. Hunith shakes her head and gathers up these last two motherless children, embracing them the way she hopes their mothers did, once.
"Come in," she says with a smile, already imagining the surprise that awaits the others inside, "supper's almost ready."