Name: Arthur Pendragon/Merlin Ambrosium
Occupation: Crassus' Steward/Library Staff
Time/Date: Day One, Evening
Location: Library
Tagging: Leo, Arthur, Merlin

Arthur jumped slightly, then realized that was dumb. He should have been expecting Merlin's voice, nonetheless it still startled him. He looked down at Merlin, poking her head through the bookshelf, "Nice corner you have here." He sat down so their faces were about the same level. "It's really too bad you weren't at the banquet, now you have to listen to me tell you all about it," he chuckled before recounting the events of the night to her quickly. He may have over emphasized how much both men wanted him as their steward, but it was his story, and he'd tell it how he wanted.

"So Leo got carted off to be cleaned up I guess, since Lord Crassus sold him off, and that Sam Adams guy dropped a note for me." He pulled out the handkerchief and read what was on it to her, "When the owl hoots, follow the sound to liberty. Bring all who you can with you." He handed the kerchief to Merlin so she could see it and said, "and before you ask, it's not written in Arn, it's some other language that I actually do understand."

Merlin listened attentively as Arthur narrated the events of the night, casually flipping through the pages of her book as she waited for the big reveal that indubitably accompanied this most urgent errant. Her chin finally propped back up and away from the shelf where she'd been resting it, the appearance of the handkerchief before her being more than enough to send a shock through her entire body.

"A secret note in an unknown language. One which fate would have you understand without foreknowledge?" Merlin mumbled softly, captured in thought "You've made aquantainces with powerful men, Arthur." she concluded, nodding and staring directly at Arthur and then back at the handkerchief in her hands. "Has your mind been made?" she questioned Arthur's plans, unsure of his new friend's true intents.

"Well that's part of why I wanted to talk with you," Arthur admitted to her, "I mean, we both know you're smarter than me. I wanted to know what you made of the whole thing." Arthur looked up to the ceiling and thought back to the dinner, "Sam Adams seems like a good man, he only tried to buy Leo after he thought Lord Crassus was going to have him killed. I think it might be genuine," he looked back at Merlin with a shine in his eyes, "can you imagine it? Being free?"

"I've seen glimpses of a life of freedom in a miriad occasions," Merlin spoke slow and steady "but never did it seem so close." Merlin looked to her right, out the window of the library. "I shall trust your judgement Arthur," she nodded with determination in her eyes, "but let it rest in your mind: the fates of us all lay with you." She offered the handkerchief back, a smile in her face as she looked out at the young boy. "I am certain you shall lead us to freedom, Arthur. But for now, you should return, lest the Overseers suspect something."

With that she snuck back into the hidden corner of the library, to do away with the evidence of her prescence and wait for an inconspicuous time to return to the slave lodges.

"Thanks Merlin, don't be too much longer, I'll see you later," Arthur got up and made his way back to the slave quarters. Typical Merlin, she was more like an ancient oracle most of the time than a 12 year old girl. Telling him about his fate and all that. Although he had made up his mind, he would trust the note and gather whoever he could to escape when the signal was given.