Title: A Thousand Kingdoms

Summary: A storm is coming and Merlin must travel to the edge of his world to save more than just one kingdom. Magic reveal fic with BAMF! Merlin, bromance and some romance for our favorite warlock. Post S4.

Chapter 1 – A Message

The winds carried a message to him.

Hope lies where the sea meets the sky.

The message worried him. Camelot had been quiet – there had been an intrigue or two at court and the harvest from the lowlands was lower than expected – but overall, the kingdom had recovered admirably from the last siege. The lower town had been rebuilt, merchants from different lands were returning and setting up stalls filled with exotic wares and children were out and about, chasing each other barefooted. The streets were again filled with the sounds of everyday life. The winds were supposed to sing now.

Merlin had been following Arthur through the marketplace but had paused when the shift occurred, the winds coming down a little lower, and magic spoke to him. He looked around when it was clear he would hear no more – there was laughter, shouting and exclamations on the street, and a huff – the sound of an exasperated king waiting for his daydreaming manservant.

"Merlin, any day now," he grumbled, hands on his hips.

Yes, any day now. This was the calm before the storm.

"The wind spoke to me," Merlin said without preamble as he entered the Court Physician's quarters.

"Merlin, I have a patient!" Gaius groused, throwing up his hands at his ward. "Sometimes I'm not sure if you want to keep that head on your shoulders."

"Surely Arthur wouldn't." Thankfully, Gaius' patient had been Lancelot.

"Are you alright? What's the matter?" Merlin's earlier concerns were momentarily pushed aside when he saw his friend leaning against the worktable, his arm wrapped in white bandage.

"Don't worry, it's just a scratch. Gwaine nicked me during training is all," Lancelot explained, trying to waive Merlin away with his good arm. "The large bandage is to impress the ladies."

That wasn't true – Lancelot still only had eyes for Gwen – that is, Queen Guinevere. He wasn't trying to impress anyone, just deflecting. It didn't work.

Merlin gently undid Gauis' work while his guardian huffed behind him. Pressing his hand to the "scratch", he whispered a spell had been practicing. When he pulled his hand away, it really was only a scratch. Merlin grinned, he was getting better. He was generally rubbish at healing spells.

"We'll have to wrap this up again, of course. To impress the ladies."

Lancelot smiled his thanks.

Gaius, however, wasn't smiling. He showed his disapproval with a frown and a raised eyebrow. Sometimes Merlin could be so careless – barging in shouting about magical winds and healing wounds with a single word without so much as a glance behind to see if the door was properly closed. Of course, Gaius had done that the moment Merlin walked in saying things he shouldn't be saying out loud. The physician also hooked the latch for good measure. Even though Merlin somehow managed to keep his secret safe for years now, Gaius couldn't help but worry.

In fact, Gaius thought as he watched Merlin leaning over Lancelot's arm, he was more anxious about Merlin's secret as time progressed and Arthur still remained in the dark. Gaius understood Merlin's reservations – the young King had been through much turmoil in the past five years, betrayed by those he trusted and nearly killed several times over by those with magic. But the longer Merlin kept his secret, the greater the magnitude of its revelation would be.

Gaius sighed, moving forward to inspect Merlin's work. "This is acceptable," Gaius conceded. Of course, Merlin knew a compliment from his mentor when he heard one and straightened his back with pride. Gaius turned away to hide his small smile.

"Well," Gaius said when he turned back, "what is this about the wind speaking to you?"

Merlin walked about the room, replaying the episode in his mind. "It wasn't the wind speaking exactly. A voice carried by the wind, I think."

"What did it sound like?"

"Like…" He couldn't say now that he had to describe it. "Like something I've never heard before," he said lamely. "It wasn't male or female but I felt like I could trust it."

"It triggered your magical senses," Gaius said with a nod.

"Yes."

"Well, what did it say?" Lancelot struggled with an unfamiliar desire to roll his eyes – wasn't that the most important part?

"Hope lies where the sea meets the sky," Merlin stated solemnly.

"What does that mean?" Lancelot asked with a tilt of his head.

"That I'm probably going to become this annoyingly vague in old age."

"It means Merlin," Gaius said, raising his eyebrow again, "you better get to the library and do some research."

Merlin had been in and out of the library all afternoon and he was no closer to the truth. Indeed, it felt like he had been walking in circles all day. Was the message supposed to literal or metaphoric? Was it tied to mythology or an occurrence in nature? The small reading table was littered with books on science, philosophy, ancient Roman history and religious rites. Merlin rubbed his eyes. He needed some fresh air. He grabbed two books off the top of a haphazard stack and made his way out to the battlements.

He settled at his usual place, along the east wall of the castle, near the tallest tower. Guards rarely patrolled this corner as the ground below this area was made of impenetrable rock that jutted out dangerously at any would be intruders.

Merlin opened a history on the Five Kingdoms and started reading.

Two hours later, Merlin closed his second book and sighed. He wasn't even sure what he was looking for – he needed more direction. He leaned far over the wall to look at the courtyard below. He spied Arthur talking to Leon and Gwaine. As usual, Leon was at attention, ever the model knight. Gwaine appeared to be preening. There must be some pretty girl nearby, Merlin thought with a grin. He saw Gwen walk up to the trio. From the shake of her head, she was gently chastising the dark-haired knight.

Merlin lifted his head up to follow the receding rays of the setting sun. Beyond the citadel was rest of the town and further out were villages and farmland, woods, Druids and magical beasts. This was his home, this was his family. Whatever was coming, he had to be prepared. It wasn't good enough to figure out what the riddle was about – he had to go where the sea met the sky.

A/N: First Merlin fic! Please review. I'm not as well versed in this universe as I would like to be, but I hope there aren't any glaring errors. Obviously, there's Lancelot but I wanted a couple of things for our poor Merlin – a confident amongst the knights – and some romance, so the birth of this AUish fic.