“I see,” I said as we arrived at the end of the hall. The same crest with a dragon and pen as the one above the entrance to the hallway was placed near the ceiling of the dead end. There were rooms around us, but the hallway led nowhere. The room closest to the dead end was a storage closet, but for some reason both Elysif and Scott were staring at the end of the hallway.

Raising his hand, Scott touched the wall as if ceremonially, “In the name of Arthur Pendragon, I, a knight of the table, command you to open.” As he finished speaking, the wall slid to the side to reveal a secret room.

Inside, there was a room smaller than I expected, as it was roughly ten meters long and fifteen meters wide. It was impossible to tell what colour the walls were, because they were lined with bookshelves. And, on opposite sides of the room, were a pair of desks. The one to the left side was as clean as it could be, with various papers neatly stacked and placed, and a young man leaning over it to examine some of the documents without acknowledging us entering the room.

Although he looked young, he had a lonely look on his face that made him seem rather old and tired. His short black hair conflicted with his looks, and it didn’t help that he wore a robe similar to Iscariot’s. However, this man's robe was covered in Nordic and Greek symbols woven together for some kind of magic formula, unlike Isariot’s. Because of the Arthurian legends surrounding this place, I wondered if he was a descendant or from a line of apprentices of Merlin or one of the knights.

Now, the desk on the right was horrid by comparison, as books and papers covered in dust were stacked nearly to the ceiling. Several books had been thrown about in a pile beside the desk along with a half-eaten loaf of bread that rested on top. It was hard for me to even identify the desk itself.

“Langston! How are you?” the young man who had been standing over the desk on the left asked, after finally realizing that we were here. Realizing that we had probably been here for a lot longer than we should have been, he quickly came over and shook Scott’s hand.

“I am good, Consul; And how are things with you?” Scott replied with his usual gruff voice.

“You know I can’t get the Head Consul off my ass. Otherwise, peachy,” the man said, before turning to Elysif. “And I see you brought this fine beauty. I don’t believe we have met, may I enquire about your name, miss?” he asked in a seductive tone.

“Elysif, and we have met. Several times, in fact. I believe you attempted to grope me once before, and the Head Consul broke your hand,” Elysif replied bluntly, as she seemed to be very annoyed.

The man took a step back with his mouth agape in unbelievable shock. “I would never do such a thing,” he said in disbelief, before a book flew across the room and hit him in the back of the head. “What was that for?”

“You know why,” A young woman said angrily, stepping out from behind the pile of books on the disheveled desk. She looked like she had just woken up, and unlike the man who looked to be in his late twenties, she didn’t look much older than me. She had long golden hair tied in a single braid, and wore a loose worn white dress shirt that was tucked into some loose dark-brown pants barely held up by a belt. Her attire looked like it could be from the fourteen-hundreds, but there was no way that was the case. Excluding her attire, she was more toned than anyone in the room except for Scott.

“It’s good to see you again, Head Consul,” Scott said to the young woman with the same stride and tone as one who is greeting an annoying in-law. She didn’t seem to notice it, though.

“I apologize for his rudeness. Even after the thirteen hundred years that I’ve known him, he never learned the decency to act appropriately around women. My name is Mordred Pendragon, daughter of Arthur Pendragon, as well as Head Consul. And that fool of a Consul is Merlin,” the young woman said, introducing herself unceremoniously.

“I do apologize for coming without sending word first,” Scott said, respectfully this time.

“You don’t have to be so polite with us, Scott. This isn’t a meeting among the elite. Plus, I know you’re only acting as if you were behaved because you thought that I might not chew you out for not bringing us the past two months' worth of reports,” she replied, callously pointing out his act with a raised brow and an annoyed scowl.

“Is that all that you wished to speak with us about, Mordred?” Scott asked, reverting back to his usual crass tone. He seemed to have passed it off as a joke. Strangely, Mordred just let out a sigh of surrender without even attempting to properly scold him.

“We actually only wished to meet your new apprentice, since you haven’t done so already. However, if you could give us a report on what has been happening the past two months, that would be great.” It was obvious that Mordred was not happy for his lack of communication, but was gonna take whatever she could get.

“This is Lou Barrett, he is from the future, and I shall give you an oral report in a moment,” Scott said, ignoring her tone.

“Nice to meet you,” I said, extending my hand respectfully. Both of them looked at me with a wary look for a moment, before turning to Scott.

“Are you joking, Scott? You told us the same thing when you visited us last time, and we told you that it wasn’t possible,” Merlin asked curiously. He seemed to be more intrigued than in disbelief.

“No, I am not. Even Iscariot assured me that he is, in fact, from the future,” Scott stated with a shrug.

“I see, and how is Iscariot doing?” Merlin asked, changing the subject as if he had lost interest.

“He is doing great, he was recently able to seduce Mama Louise,” Scott said, but it was hard to tell if he was gloating or if he was disgusted. It seemed that Merlin’s quick change of conversation had hooked him into a much less important talk.

“Please don’t gloat about that. That woman is a demon. I feel bad for him, rather than enthusiastic,” Merlin said in a hushed voice. Though, we could all hear him.

“Ugh, these two are such a pain,” Mordred said to Elysif with a sigh.

“I understand, but men are men. All we can do is hope we find a well-mannered one,” Elysif replied.

“Not me, I’ve been single for most of my thirteen hundred years, and it’s been great. Though, how have you been, Elysif?”

"It has been good. I'm doing work on the side for Dolfly as always, I've had several patients within the past few months, and my 'other venture' has been steady. Though I really could use a break." Elysif said with an exhaustively forced smile.

"I see. The Table has been keeping me busy and my budget has been less than ideal."

“That's understandable, but shouldn’t you be talking to Lou? He is the one you wanted to see,” Elysif asked, as I was awkwardly standing right there. She then left our little circle to join Scott and Merlin’s.

“Ah, yes, sorry about that. So you're from the future? What is it like?” Mordred asked with an unconvinced tone, before finally shaking my hand.

“Technology and medicine have vastly improved, and half of the world wants to kill each other,” I answered honestly. I didn’t have much else to say. Was I even allowed to tell them about certain things? What was safe to talk about and what wasn’t? Time travel really is confusing when there isn’t a guide or set of rules.

“Well, at least world politics haven’t changed,” she said with a humoured chuckle. She seemed to be a lot more laid back than I figured a honor-bound knight of the Round table would be. Perhaps, it was the age that made her like this? No. I can’t exactly believe her statement without questioning it, can I? Although… I am a time traveler, so it would be proper to give her the benefit of the doubt.

“True, but are you really the same Mordred from the story of King Arthur and Excalibur?” I asked. She leaned back against her unorganized desk with a yawn before answering.

“Yes, I am,” she said with a sigh, as if she were tired of people asking her that. I could understand if she was. That said, there was something else that didn’t make sense.

“But I thought Mordred was a traitor to Arthur and… a man?” I asked, a bit confused. She looked as if she were about to try laughing the question off, but she stopped herself before answering.

“A common misconception. One of the many dramatic additions to my father's tale was my betrayal. Though, the part about me being a man is true in a sense. I had been pretending to be a man through most of my time as a knight of the Round Table,” she said with an annoyed look. She was most definitely tired of making that correction.

“That makes sense, but how are you alive today?” I asked, as I was unable to wrap my head around it.

“Merlin is a great wizard, and one of the few remaining Elder Ones. As such, we have been staying youthful until we can complete our mission. In simple terms, you could say that Merlin is immortal to a degree, and he is sharing that power with me,” Mordred explained.

“And what mission is that?” I asked, as I had no clue what the Table’s work statement was at all. I only joined them because of Scott’s threats and my lack of options. It would really suck if I found out now that I was working for the baddies.

“The same mission my father had; To create peace between the humans and the creatures that live in our shadows,” Mordred stated with a proud, knightly demeanor. This highly contrasted her previous mellow tone and body language.

I stood there a moment, before replying. Though, I thought that they had already achieved that goal. I mean, humans and the supernatural seem to get along as they are. “That seems like an excellent goal. And excuse my rudeness, but have you not already done that?”