Alisset was good at magic; Arthur had to grudgingly admit that. As he sat and watched her work with the pool, he was continuously amazed. Before then he had only known the druids and priestesses to use the pool for healing purposes and meditation, but Alisset used it for checking on their next supply ship even.

When she started doing something else, he couldn't help his curiosity. Even though he didn't want to talk to her because she gave him the creeps, he had to ask, "What are you doing now?"

"Reading the future," came her short reply.

"Reading the future? You can do that?"

"I can."

"But, you're just a novice. Even my mother struggles to cast a foretelling spell." Arthur crossed his arms as if to say this was a fact and he was waiting for her to argue with him.

"Being a novice has little to do with magical ability and talent. I have much talent with magic and have since I can remember. Foretelling spells come naturally to me." She didn't even look up at him as she stated her case.

"But-"

"Arthur, I need you to be quiet so you don't interfere with the vision, please," she requested, kneeling at the edge of the pool and dipping her fingertips into it. As she dragged them across the surface, instead of creating a ripple, the water became solid, stiff, like glass. Arthur watched in silence and awe.

"Enigh meir raeth tu." Though she barely said the words above a whisper, they rebounded around the cavern as if she had shouted them. When the echo finally died down, the water's surface was ablaze with green light which faded to reveal shadowy figures seemingly moving about under the water.

Arthur peered through the glass surface curiously, but he couldn't tell what was happening. Upon glancing back at Alisset though, it was clear she could see everything properly. Her eyes were transfixed and looked the most alive he'd ever seen them. Suddenly he was more intrigued by that fact, than by what she might be seeing.

Alisset raised a hand to Arthur, her eyes never leaving the pool. She silently warned him not to speak as she took in the visions she called forth. Before her in the pool she watched as dark figures poured over the hills of Avalon and fires sprang up in their wake. The scene sped around the island, taking in the druids locked in combat, the priestesses both fighting and healing. Slowly, the vision changed and closed in on one figure upon the tor with a dagger poised over a woman's body. As the dagger plummeted into the woman's chest, the face of the killer filled Alisset's vision. His head snapped up as if he could see her watching him from the past. Lavender irises locked with hers across time and space and seemed to capture her.

His curiosity was peaked when she began to look even more intensely at the future. He watched as Alisset drew closer to the pool, her eyes filled with images he couldn't see and emotions he didn't believe were her own. Her hands braced against the surface of the water, which did not give beneath her. Arthur furrowed his brow in confusion as she seemed to be drawn to the pool, inching forward bit by bit.

'Don't let her fall in the water!' Merlin's voice interrupted Arthur's thought process. Just as he registered Merlin's warning, he noticed Alisset was almost completely on top of the water. Suddenly she inhaled deeply and Arthur barely had the time to grab her as the enchantment on the pool broke. He yanked her back onto dry land as the water began to churn violently and boil. A dark hand reached out of the turmoil briefly, but then pulled back and the water returned to normal, settling surprisingly quickly.

"What the fuck was that?" Arthur asked, standing abruptly and inching toward the edge of the water.

"He tried to take me." Alisset sounded like her normal self. It was as if she hadn't almost been snatched into the dark watery depths by an unknown evil.

"Who? Who the hell tried to take you? Why?" Arthur was unmistakably rattled. He didn't much care if Alisset was taken, but he was shocked to see it almost happen in front of him. He had never seen anything like it or even heard of such a thing happening before. Now he was worried for his mother's safety when she performed foretelling spells if such a thing was possible.

"Chaern, the faerie who comes to kill you and wishes to take over Annwn and the world. I assume he does not like being spied on and that is why he tried to take me. I cannot read the minds of faerie however, so there might have been some other reason for it that I am unaware of." She stood gracefully, looking completely unmoved by the experience.

"How can you act like nothing happened? Aren't you frightened?" He clearly was.

"I already told you I cannot feel emotion. I cannot feel fear. He didn't manage to take me, thanks in part to you and I'm sure in part to Merlin, so there is no reason to linger on the event. I will have to be more cautious the next time I perform the spell." She turned to leave the cavern, but Arthur jogged to block her path.

"Next time? Don't you dare perform that spell again! If he's able to get a hand through the pool, who's to say he can't completely come through the pool to this world? You aren't the only one at risk, Alisset." Arthur thought of his mother again and growled, "We need to warn the others not to perform the spell ever again. He may not be the only one who knows how to come through."

"Don't be ridiculous, Arthur. The vision is of the future so he cannot come through the portal entirely or even keep his hand through it long, he will disappear. Time travel is a fairytale, so to speak."

"Really? Because Avalon sits between times, Annwn and the mortal realm are on different time lines. People travel between those three realms which essentially means they travel between times," he argued.

"That's different. It's not just between times, but between worlds entirely. That is possible, but someone from say, Avalon, cannot travel to another time period for Avalon. The Faerie Laws make it so that if that were to happen, whoever is out of place will disappear quickly to prevent the alteration of the future, to prevent damage." She spoke to Arthur as if he was an ignorant child. It made him fume some.

With a sneer, he protested, "Do you think the Faerie Laws can't be broken? If a faerie were powerful enough, they could manage anything. They created the laws, they can change them. From what Merlin and Aine have said, this faerie that is after me is powerful enough for that."

"Chaern, and I don't believe he has that sort of power yet. Many faeries created the Faerie Laws; One faerie will not be capable of changing them unless they have slaughtered and absorbed the powers of thousands of their kin. If that happens, then we might as well bring him through to kill us since we'll all be dead soon anyway." Despite her morbid words, he tone still fell flat.

Arthur shook his head, "Why? Why would we be dead anyway? You don't understand…"

"No, Arthur. It's you who does not understand. Faerie have no use for mortals and Chaern is no different. He does not care to enslave the mortal realm; he only wishes to possess it. He wishes to take back the land from which the faerie were banished by men. He will kill all mortals and enslave the faerie. That is his goal." Alisset raised her hand, hesitated a moment, and then placed it on Arthur's shoulder. "That is why the faerie queens have come to ask for your help. Not to save the mortals, don't misunderstand, but to keep themselves from being enslaved. The only reason they won't let him get to the mortal realm is because you are their only chance and you would not fight for faeries alone. You would only help them if your own kind were ensured safety as well."

"Stop talking like you know everything, Alisset! How do you know why I would fight or why they want my help or what Chaern's plans are?" Arthur roughly shoved her hand off his shoulder and stepped back.

"Because that is my gift. I know everything. Some would call it mind-reading, but others would more accurately call it advanced logic." Alisset stepped around Arthur, paused to look back at him as if she wanted to say more, but then she continued walking and exited the cavern, heading back to the surface.

Arthur stood a moment longer, staring at the pool and trying to wrap his head around what had happened and what Alisset said. She was such a strange, unnerving girl who knew everything and felt nothing. And apparently he'd be spending the rest of his life with her close at hand if Merlin did end up getting his way, which seemed awfully likely unfortunately.