Change of Plans

Morgana skimmed through the pages until she found her parents’ names. She dragged her finger across the page and read off the dates that they were born. Then in the next column both of the dates listed next to their name were the exact same. It was the day they both died. Morgana knew when they had died she remembered waking up the next day in the castle. She remembered being told that her parents had died. The dates were not a shock, but seeing them written down on paper made it her tear up.
She often wondered what her life would be like if her parents had never died. She was grateful for everything Uther had done for her, but no matter how much he tried he could never replace her father. That is what made everything Morgause claimed so difficult for Morgana to believe. Morgana knew Uther’s feelings towards magic, but she had never seen him have someone killed for using it. Uther was a kind man who took her in when she did not have anyone. Even though he was not her real father he acted in the place of hers.
The pages of the old book crinkled as she flipped through the next few pages until she found the information about the Cause of Death. Again she read down the list scanning each name looking for the familiar letters of her last name. Once she found her parents her eyes immediately jumped to the edge of the page where it stated, Death by fire… Sorcery.
“No!” Morgana gasped and dropped the book on the floor. “It can’t be true.” She picked the book back up and stared at the words as hatred built up inside. Those four words changed everything for Morgana. She would never be able to forgive Uther for what he did. Morgause was telling the truth the whole time. She just kept repeating it in her head “Fire, Sorcery, death.” Morgana realized that Morgause was right; Uther did not ban magic to protect the people of Camelot. He outlawed it so that the people would fear him, and not want to over power him. He was afraid of the power magic held, and the power that he could not have. As Morgana looked down the rest of the names on the list she noticed that every single person on the list had been executed due to sorcery. “He was trying to clean out all the magic from the kingdom.” She whispered.
After glancing through the pages of names of the people Uther had killed because of his fear Morgana realized that her name was not listed with her parents’ names. On the pages with the dates of everyone’s birth and deaths were the names of all of the family members.
Name Birth Death
Richards, Daren 07 May 01 September
Richards, Kathrin 15 December 23 August
Richards, Tray (child) 12 April -----

When Morgana looked at her family name the only names that were listed were her parents’ names. Her name was nowhere to be found. She flipped through the pages looking for her name. The very last page of the book was titled Unrecognized. There were about twenty names on the page, none of which Morgana knew, but about half way down the list she found her name. Each of the names listed had at least one name next to it identifying who the child’s parents were. Next to her name was Uther Pendragon (father). There was no other name to identify as Morgana’s mother.
The list of Unrecognized names were a list of illegitimate children. A list of children who were not recognized as real members of the household because they were not the biological children of both head members of the household. Morgana cocked her head to the side. Confused by what she was seeing. She did not understand that what she was reading was the truth that Morgause had warned her about.