Merlin grew up with the Atari, along with his mother, Dew, and his two siblings, Falcon and Screech. As Young, they got along well and Merlin idolized his Crown and those who worked to keep him and his family safe. Soon, though, the cracks began to show through the facade he was seeing through. Brutality was the way of life, and it was something his brother, Falcon seemed to revel in. Merlin and Screech, his sister, could never quite see things the same way. While Falcon dedicated himself solely to his future role as a claw - aiming even higher to one day be the Crown himself - Screech focused on her desire to become a trapper like their mother and Merlin..? He wasn't sure where he would fit into this place.

Eventually, he found companionship in a former healer of the Atari, and grew close with them, asking question after question about herbs and different healing techniques. His healer friend was amused by this and asked Merlin if he'd like to train under them to become the next healer of their group. Starry-eyed, Merlin asked if that was really something he was allowed to do, and his friend chuckled, "I will have to as The Crown first, of course, but I see no issues in taking you under my wings," his friend said with a smile. And that was where Merlin found his calling.

With reverence and awe, Merlin through himself into his new studies, growing distant from his siblings as a result of his near obsessive tunnel vision. Screech was the only one saddened by this, while Falcon hardly seemed to know that anyone existed other than those he could exploit to get to the top of the chain of command. It wasn't until the day Falcon became a Claw and Screech became a Trapper that his sister came to him with her concerns.

"I'm worried about Falcon," she had told him, and Merlin, paws busy sorting through herbs, discarding what's gone bad already, flicks an ear to indicate he is still listening. "He seems... different somehow," Screech continues, "not himself anymore. He's snappy and I had to stop him from outright killing one of the young the other day... his obsession with needing more power... I'm worried it's unhealthy."

"What can I do about that?" Merlin ask, brows knit in concern. His duties are in healing the physical ailments of his colony, not the mental.

"Come with me and mother to talk to him about it?" Screech suggests, tail flicking up and down anxiously. "If you're there maybe he won't do anything stupid..." Merlin tells her he'll think about it, though the idea of staging an intervention for his unstable big brother is not something that brings him any joy. "If you decide to come, we'll be just beyond our usual spot tomorrow when the sun is setting." Merlin nods and Screech is dismissed.

The rest of that day and for most of the following, Merlin finds himself unable to get much done in the way of actual work, his mind zeroed in on what his sister had come to him to request. Every time he has a spare moment, Merlin finds his eyes seeking out his brother, watching the grey tabby with interest and scrutiny, trying to pick him apart. He can see what Screech meant when she said he was violent. More than once, an older Claw, Trapper or even the Claw of the Crown had to break up a fight Falcon had started. He is irritable, and the way he tears into the squirrel he eats at sun high is gruesome and unnecessary.

It's not long before Merlin decides he does wish to join the intervention. Even if Merlin himself might not've been able to stop him if he got violent, at least he'd be around to treat injuries, he reasoned.

He'd been running a little late. There was a fussy kitten with a headache who just wouldn't listen, he'd finally gotten them to heat the offered poppy seed, but that also meant he was late to the intervention. Screech and Dew probably thought he had never intended to show. Falcon was probably reacting in a volatile way. Merlin couldn't help but wonder, perhaps a little jadedly, how much blood there'd be to clean up when he got there.

The thought brought a wry chuckle to the blue-grey tabby, but his smile stopped abruptly as the sharp tang of blood entered his nose, and Merlin froze. The smell was thick in the air and far too strong to have been just a little tussle. Pace quickening to a sprint, Merlin skidded to a stop in the clearing he and his siblings used to spend their time in, eyes blown wide in fear and disbelief. Coating the grass and dirt was red. Puddles of it. And, standing in the middle of it all, mouth dripping and lowered over the throat of their mother, was Falcon. Merlin barely even registered that his sister's body lay not far away. He didn't even remember what happened after what he'd seen.

He just remembered coming back to the colony's camp, ear torn off, tail and shoulder bleeding, the bodies of his mother and his sister on his back as he carried them home. The rest was a blur. He does not remember their burials, does not remember telling anyone what happened that night, he barely even remembers himself save for impressions.

Merlin throws himself into his work and eventually becomes one of the colony's full healers. He does what he can, he does not fight back against the Crown, but this is not the place he wants to be, and his more lucid moments are spent thinking of ways out.