Merlin stared out the windows of his new room trying to get used to the sight below him. He'd wondered before if the reason why kings had castles and towers was just so they could look down on everyone else, to remind themselves that they were above all others. When he first arrived at Camelot he never thought he'd get used to the castle looming over him, and when he started working for Arthur he didn't think he could get used to being within it. He'd learned to adjust of course, and it seemed he'd have to do the same with this new development as well.

When Merlin and Arthur left Gaius's rooms the two of them hadn't spoken a word, each lost in their own thoughts. And when he arrived in the throne room it was to see the king sitting on his throne with his mother at his side.

The room was filled with everyone from the court as well as many other nobles, who were all whispering to each other looking at Hunith with disbelief. Though Merlin had never heard of the king having a sister it seemed that the elders that had been there this morning had remembered her.

Princess Hunith is what he had called her, before spinning an unbelievable tale. Apparently she'd been wed to a Lord Moran before he'd gone off to war. Only for her to then be captured by a sorcerer named Balinor. In the end she had managed to escape from him only to be cursed to forget everything in her life. She'd then been found by the people of Ealdor wondering around the woods lost and they'd taken care of her and her son which she gave birth to not long after that.

He'd felt guilt settle heavy in his gut. It had been there since he'd been old enough to realise what a burden he was to his mother, that she always had to live in fear because of him. It was stronger than ever now, knowing that he because of him she'd had to give up her family and a life of luxury for a small dirt floor hut with no one. Even now she was being forced to lie for him.

Besides that though, he was also filled with sadness and relief. Sadness at knowing the man he wished his whole life to meet was dead, and relief in finally knowing who he was and why he never came to see him or his mother.

Merlin looked over to Arthur and wondered if he realized his father was lying.

After announcing that Hunith had a child, the court declined into a sort of quiet chaos, all whispering excitedly to one another. For so long there had only been one heir to the throne, the Pendragon line almost extinct.

Merlin was shocked when, almost as an afterthought, he was introduced as Huniths son. It was certainly a scandal and he could see how they turned up their noses as he was judged.

He wanted nothing more than to blend into the shadows and disappear. He found himself unconsciously taking a step back, only to find a strong hand on his shoulder stopping him, he turned his head to see it was Arthur's. The prince then leaned in and whispered in his ear.

"You must show strength now, or they will forever think you are weak. They will try to take advantage of you, you must appear brave to them Merlin, even though I already know that you are." Arthur offered the best advice he could give, he knew that this had to be hard for the younger boy. His own father had spent years drilling that into his head, ever since he had been young child, always telling him never to look weak in front of anyone. Merlin now had to appear as a prince in front of a crowd that had ignored his existence for a year now.

At his words, he felt as if Arthur was giving him his own strength. He was right, he knew how greedy these people could be, how power hungry, they would try to take advantage of him if they thought him weak. But it wasn't only that, Merlin had always wanted to be treated as an equal, not to be looked down on. He was brave, he was strong, and he would not be looked down on by these nobles just because he was a servant, he was proud of his job, and no matter what Arthur said, he was a damn good servant, he was not ashamed of who he was. He nodded, but Arthur's hand stayed where it was, and he was grateful for his support.

Uther had then called him in front of the court, and he had walked up to the front of the throne, a little farther away than Arthur would have stopped, and bowed, then stood there, back straight, arms behind his back formerly, head up, and face blank but strong, all while being surrounded by people giving him judgmental looks.

Uther then officially announced him as his nephew, his mother was there in front of him looking at him approvingly, pride shining in her eyes. He saw Morgana, not far way from Uther, eyes wide in shock. Gwen behind her hadn't seemed much better off, Merlin was sure if she had been holding a pitcher of wine at that moment she would've dropped it.

He was then lead out of the room by Arthur after his father told him to escort him to his new rooms which would be in the royal quarters. Uther had not once spoken to him directly, nor had he invited him to speak, and that was enough for Merlin to go on that Uther didn't think very highly of him and was most likely just accepting him because of his love for Hunith.

Both Merlin and Arthur had known where they were going, so the two of them had walked side by side again down the familiar path. They didn't speak, each lost in their own thoughts. When they had finally made it he had almost turned to go to Arthur's room, but stopped himself at the last moment, Arthur didn't make a comment which he was grateful for, but he had seen his lips twitch in amusement.

He had opened the door to a room just aways down from his own for him and allowed Merlin to walk in and look around while he stayed by the door. It clearly hadn't been used in a long time. The place was as big as Arthur's rooms but covered with dust, and had a stale sort of smell to it. The bed was empty of any sheets, blankets, pillows, and even the mattress, and the rest of the room was just as empty. Not that he was used to having a lot of stuff it was just so strange to see a room as grand as this undecorated.

"So, I guess this is it. Servants will be here shortly to sort the place out I suppose." Arthur continued to stand in the doorway looking awkward for a few more seconds, as Merlin turned to him with a bewildered look. "I'll just leave you to it then." Then he had left closing the door silently behind him.

And that's how Merlin came to be standing by the window, sulking in his own thoughts. Only to be brought out of them by a knock on the door. He straightened himself out, not knowing who it was, and tried to reply like Arthur would with a simple "Enter."

A serving maid he'd come in contact with only a few times, whose name he thought may be Mary, came in with a large basket in her hands.

"I have come to clean your quarters, My lord." She said with a bow, and something about that just broke him. This day may have been his strangest yet, and he still couldn't properly process it. He didn't know what the hell was going on, but he sure as hell didn't feel like people should be bowing to him and calling him "My lord". He felt himself beginning to panic, so he just nodded, and then ran past her and out of the room.

He found himself throwing open Arthur's door, slamming it behind him then leaning his back against it. Arthur was sitting at the dining table, papers scattered around him, startled. The two of them looked at each other, Merlin's eyes wide with fear.

"I have a servant cleaning my room." He whispered as if it was the most terrifying thing he could imagine, and Arthur couldn't help himself from chuckling at the ridiculousness of it.

"Well that is what they do."

"I was just called 'My Lord'." Merlin added as if that would explain the true terror he was facing to Arthur.

"You are now, well technically you always have been." By the look of fear in Merlin's eyes, it seemed like he wasn't helping him. "Merlin it's something you're going to have to get used to, you are royalty after all." That didn't seem to have helped either, Merlin's eyes seemed to have grown comically wide, his breath coming out faster.

"Oh my god. I'm royalty."

"Maybe you should sit down, you look like you're about to fall over." Arthur said gesturing to the seat next to him, wondering if he should call for Gaius. Merlin shakily made his way over to the chair.

"Look I know it's a lot to take in, but you get to live a better life now, your mother gets to live a better life now. And the people in your Village are going to be sent help."

"They are?" Merlin said looking suddenly hopeful, it confused Arthur how his manservant, sorry, former manservant could change moods to suddenly.

"Of course, they took care of the princess and prince of Camelot, they will be rewarded, even if they didn't know who it was that was living with them." Merlin nodded.

"Yeah, and hey, I don't have to clean your stinky socks anymore."

"Well I can't really say I'll miss you as manservant, you were terrible."

"Yeah, well, you didn't have a prat for a master."

"You didn't have to deal with an idiot for a servant." The familiar teasing seemed to snap Merlin out of whatever it was that was bothering him, because the both of them were grinning openly now. Merlin was glad that it seemed like nothing had changed between them, well besides that Merlin didn't have too muck out the stables anymore it seemed.

"You're going to have to get a new manservant now. God's pity the man who gets stuck cleaning up after you." Merlin mocked, and just grinned when Arthur glared at him. Arthur just then smirked like he had the most brilliant thought, and Merlin had to hold back a gulp.

"Well you're going to be having to get your own manservant now."

"What? I will not." He denied.

"Of course you will, do you really think my father would let a prince of a Camelot do servant work? Well, knowingly of course. Besides you won't have time do all the servant duties for yourself."

"What do you mean? What will I be doing?"

"Well, you will be assigned tutors for different subjects."

"Tutors!"

"You'll be learning our history, as well as proper language and etiquette."

"I speak very well thank you very much! Better than you sometimes." Arthur ignored the jab.

"Maybe you can speak fine and don't have some atrocious accent, but you need to learn how to talk properly to other nobles and royalty when they come to visit. Then there is the proper way to write different kind of letters and papers. You will have you learn strategy, military tactics, and such." Arthur said listing off the things that he knew Merlin would hate.

"I want nothing to do with the military!"

"Which reminds me, you will have to go through training. I'll give the knights training over to Sir Leon, and I will take over being your personal trainer, but you will most likely not become a knight."

"Then why do I have to train?"

"Because you need to learn how to defend yourself, and you need to show a certain image. Then there's the most difficult kind of training a person can go through, I won't be able to help you with that." Arthur said regretfully, making a show of wincing.

"What it is?" Merlin asked, a number of terrible things going through his mind.

"Dancing." It was worse than Merlin imagined..

"No."

"Yes."

"No, I can not dance! I tried to once when my village had a celebration. I ended up breaking the girls toe. She's never forgiven me."

"I'm not surprised." Arthur replied with a chuckle.

"Shut up," Merlin mumbled angrily, before sitting up again a look of curiosity etched on his face. "Why are you doing this?"

"You mean organizing your tutelage? Well someone has to do it, and if not me I know my father would assign Lord Boron. And I know you would up hating each other." Merlin winced, he had never talked to the man but from what he had seen he couldn't disagree. "Besides, now I get to plan out your daily torture."

"Oh I see why you are really doing this." Merlin said leaning in closer to Arthur, elbows resting on the table and grinning mischievously. "You're worried about me."

"I am not." Arthur denied venomously.

"Yes you are!"

"Am not!"

Merlin rolled his eyes. "Thanks anyways, I don't want to have to spend any time at all with Boron, I've seen how he acts."

"Yes, it would have been absolutely horrid." Arthur agreed. "Now that we are on the topic of horrid, we will be getting you new clothes."

"Ugh!"

"Shut up Merlin, you are complaining about getting nice clothes." Merlin found himself thinking it over, it did seem like it would be nice to wear the soft fabrics Arthur wore.

"Will they be like yours?"

"Yes, similar."

"Fantastic."

"A tailor will come to your room to measure you. As well as someone to take care of ...that." Arthur informed him and made a gestured with his hand at Merlin.

"You just pointed to all of me!"

"Exactly." Merlin huffed but let it go, he knew he wasn't noble material, much less royalty.

"So what's happening with Ealdor then?" He asked changing the subject.

"I'm working on that right now. We will be sending a messenger to Cenred tonight to tell him what we are doing, but hopefully by the time it gets to him we will have already finished what we set out to do."

"I want to go."

"No, you can't." Arthur denied him.

"Yes I can," He argued stubbornly. "Besides it's my village, people I grew up with, I deserve to go." Arthur bit his lip, and took a deep breath and processed Merlin's words. It did seem sensible but his father would not like it.

"Okay, maybe I can convince Father," He said already thinking of what he could say that would persuade his father. "I could tell him it is part of the training I'm putting you through, a way to learn about the way the knights work, as well as letting you say goodbye so he doesn't have to worry about you charging off and going there at a later date."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, Uther won't want you return to Ealdor, it lies in Cenred's kingdom, and you are now a prince of Camelot, who, might I add, cannot even fight for himself." Merlin wanted to protest that he could protect himself just fine, but considering Arthur had seen him handle a sword and didn't know he had magic, he knew Arthur wouldn't believe him much less Uther.

"Anyways, I'm still going with you."

"Fine," Arthur consented reluctantly, sure that even if he didn't give him permission he'd still find a way to come. "Be ready tomorrow morning at dawn, meet me by the stables. "

"Great! I'll finally be able to get there on time now that I don't have to spend an hour just getting you out of bed!"

Then there came another knock on the door, Arthur gave them permission to come it with a shout of "Enter". In came a man who looked to be in his thirties, well dressed but not a noble.

"Excuse me my prince, but would you happen to know where I might be able to find prince Merlin?"

"This here is Merlin." Arthur said gesturing to him. The man turned to look at him his gaze slowly going up and down his body with a growing look of distaste.

"It is a pleasure My lord. I have been sent to ready you for a supper with the king, would you please come with me." He asked but it was clear he didn't have choice.

"Um, sure." He said giving a bewildered look at Arthur, who was looking like he was trying to hold back a look of glee, which did not reassure Merlin at all. He followed the man to his room to find there was another man who was pouring the last of the hot water into the huge bath in the middle of the room.

The bath was similar to Arthur's, big enough for him to almost stretch out his entire body, and a few feet high. It was curved in an oval, and the top edge of the tub was curled over so that someone could comfortably rest their head or arms over the sides. The inside of it was white, while the outside was black with designs of gold in it.

Merlin had never seen this other man before. He had short curly blonde hair, slightly tanned skin with freckles, looked to be about 16, only came up to Merlin's chest but he seemed like he still had a ways to grow. He was scrawny, with a round face and cheeks slightly plump that he'd yet to grow into. The boy refused to look up from anywhere besides the floor as he stood next to the tub, arms behind his back, and head tilted down in submission.

"Well, get him undressed boy." The first man snapped, causing Merlin to frown and the boy to jump and hurry to Merlin's side and start pulling off his worn brown leather jacket. When he turned to Merlin his face became more impassive. "My name is Jared, I will be making sure you are made presentable for dinner. I won't have enough time to do everything I wish to tonight but I will have plenty of time to fix you in the future."

Merlin was becoming more and more uncomfortable with this conversation, especially with him being undressed by a boy he didn't even know. He wasn't shy of his body, he was used to bathing in front of others in the river back at home but this was just strange.

When the boy went to unfasten his trousers Merlin drew the line and just did it himself and walked to the tub. He looked into the steamy water and dipped his hand in it to check the temperature. He wouldn't be bothered if it was cold but once he'd accidentally burned Arthur when he used his magic to heat up his water and he wasn't taking in chances.

The water was very hot but not scalding, so he slowly lowered himself into it sighing. The boy took his place behind the tub on his knees and placed a fluffy towel on the edge of the tub for Merlin to lean his neck on so that his head hung over the side of the tub. He was somewhat startled when he felt water being gently poured over his head but tried to relax into it.

The boy had placed a bucket underneath where Merlin's head hung over the tub so it could catch the water he was pouring to wet Merlin's hair. Merlin was stiff when he started to wash his hair, but it wasn't long before he was relaxing into it, enjoying the feeling of fingers massaging expensive perfumed shampoo into his hair. Merlin tried to ignore Jared as he listed all the things he would have to do, stuff about his hands, feet, teeth, and he made sure to tell the boy to clean his ears and best as he could. He went on about how he would have to have someone cut his hair, and complained about how he was too skinny, and didn't have enough muscle either as he poked and prodded him.

It was a good thing that whoever this kid was was so good at what he was doing, because Merlin was too relaxed and zoned out from the head massage that he didn't bother to feel defensive or self conscious. They finished and he got out but he took the towel from the boy when he tried to dry him off and did it himself while nodding mindlessly to Jared about whatever it was that he said.

"So which one do you think? They are from some of the nobles we have in the castle who have gifted them to you. Not as nice as I would like but they will do till we can have you measured," Jared asked gesturing to the two different outfits he had laid out. He started to point at the one with the blue shirt and looked a little less fancy but Jared just interrupted him. "You're right the red is perfect." He said choosing for him.

That's how he found himself dressed in the nicest clothes he had ever been in by far. He guess they didn't fit him perfectly if Jared's frown was anything to go by. Some of the clothing was too tight in some places, while loose in others, the pants were too short (the boots covered that thankfully), and the sleeves of his shirt were too long.

He was wearing black pants, the boots he was put in were like Arthur's, a dark brown and went up till right below the knee. He wore a long sleeved red shirt, with a vest that had a high straight collar. The vest was buckled up all the way with gold clasps and gold thread embroidered into the collar, down the middle of the vest, and hems of the sleeves in intricate designs.

He was then quickly sprayed with some kind of perfume and something was put into his hair to hold it in place. Jared was trying to usher him out of the room but Merlin turned around to the boy who still hadn't spoken one word and was cleaning up.

"Thanks for helping me out, what's your name?" The boy seemed so startled by being addressed that his head jerked up to look at him with wide eyes, and mouth open.

"He is dumb, can't speak. His name is Christopher though." Jared answered for him, Merlin noticed that the comment made Christopher frown sadly. Merlin couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy, not only was it hard to live with a disability like that but then everyone judged you so harshly. He must have worked really hard to get a job like this in the castle. No matter how Merlin complained about being a servant, as long as you did your job well it was good and stable pay, and many people worked really hard to get good positions here. When Merlin had first started working here it had caused a few to become resentful of him for getting such a good job working for the prince (Merlin obviously didn't share everyone's opinions).

"Thanks then Christopher." Merlin smiled awkwardly at the boy, and Christopher seemed to not know what to do but returned the smile shyly blushing profusely. Merlin wasn't able to say anything more because Jared seemed like he was about to physically pull him out of the room at this point.

"So you finally decided to come out then, Merlin?" Merlin jumped at the voice as he walked out of his new chambers, he turned to scowl at the prince who just returned it with a smirk. "I thought I'd wait for you, to make sure you didn't get lost on your way to the dining room, but seems like you just took your own sweet time; as usual."

"My lord," Jared greeted bowing his head, Merlin frowned at the way he treated Arthur respectfully while he looked at Merlin like he couldn't wait to get away from him. "I apologize, we tried to go as fast as we could but..."

"It's fine," Arthur cut him off. "Let's go then, I'll can take him, continue your duties." Jared bowed again and left in the opposite direction than the one Arthur and Merlin took.

"Thank god he is finally gone." He exclaimed, causing Arthur to laugh out loud.

"When I was a teen I had to deal with him too, it was horrible."

"Is that why you looked so happy when he came to get me?"

"Of course."

"Clotpole. This is going to happen a lot isn't it? Are you going to tell me you had all the tutors that are assigning me as well."

"I didn't have all of them, but most of them, yes."

"You're not going to warn me are you, give me any helpful hints?" Merlin pleaded.

"Nope." He said popping the 'p', and looking entirely too smug. They made it to the hallway right outside the dining hall, Merlin went to walk up to the doors but Arthur pulled him back around the corner of the hallway so they couldn't be seen by the guards at the door, and fixed Merlin with a stern look.

"Ok so make sure to keep your back and neck straight, shoulders up, and chin up. It's best if you don't speak unless spoken too, you would probably say something stupid and embarrass yourself and me as well." Merlin glared at him but knew that it was most likely true, even if he would never admit it. So he straightened up the best as he could.

Arthur frowned then put a hand on his back and chest and pushed him into the right position like he would when he trained knights, then took a step back looked him over then tilted his chin up higher then nodded at his work.

He turned to go to through the door but he stopped himself and turned back to Merlin looking uncomfortable. He then leaned into Merlin's space looking unsure of himself, mouth opening and closing.

"What is it?" Merlin asked, perplexed.

"I was just wondering," He gulped, lowering his voice -not wanting to be overheard by the guards- he spoke again. "Do you think I made a bad impression on your mother, on Aunt Hunith?" He asked the words 'Aunt Hunith' coming out of his mouth like he was trying to pronounce a foreign language. Merlin couldn't help but start laughing. "Shut up Merlin." He growled, then turned away from him, appearing the in control and assured prince once again before he stalked off down the hall, Merlin tagging along behind.

Arthur then nodded to the two Guards and they both opened the two doors at the same time to let them in. Arthur walked in with Merlin right after him, the two of them stopped to stand in front of the table, Merlin just a pace behind Arthur. Merlin saw that while Uther was sitting in his customary spot at the head of the table, Morgana wasn't in her usual spot at Uther's right, instead on the left, one seat down so that Arthur could sit next to his father.

The person who sat to Uther's right was a beautiful woman richly dressed with hair done up, which looked strange to Merlin because it was his mother. He had always known his mother was beautiful but it had always been hidden under dirt and rough peasant clothing, it was strange to see that there was this much hidden underneath it all.

"Father." Arthur greeted with a bowed head, then went to take his spot.

"My Lord." Merlin said, his voice coming out sounding meek earning him a glare from Arthur, so he tried his best to copy Arthur's bow, trying not to fall into his servant bow by accident. He took the seat that was next to his mother and across from Morgana, thanks to his mother's discrete glance at the chair next to her so that he would know where to sit.

During the dinner Merlin tried his best not to say anything, which was something he had gotten used to doing while in front of the king during his past year of service. He tried to ignore the strange looks he was getting from the servants that were bringing out their food, and just smile at them but they all quickly looked away from him. The only one who didn't look away or avoid his gaze was Gwen, lovely Gwen. She had given his upper arm a discrete squeeze as she leaned in to fill his cup, and a shy sweet smile that made him feel loads better.

Uther was absolutely absorbed in Hunith throughout dinner, his gaze barely ever left her, which was fine with Merlin if it kept him from looking at him. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to react to this situation, everything still didn't seem real, and if Uther were to look at him he may just react by going to refill his goblet like he would if he was a servant.

Hunith looked at Merlin many times, looking nervous, he did his best to give her a reassuring smile. Obviously they were going to need to have a talk about this development at some point but the both of them understood that it was best if they avoided it at the moment, they were things that couldn't be spoken in front of the king. He wasn't angry at her per say, just disappointed as well as frustrated that she never thought to maybe warn him when he went to Camelot and ended up becoming prince's manservant that the prince he was serving was actually his cousin.

Morgana kept sending him encouraging looks, smiling at him trying to cheer him up wordlessly, which Merlin appreciated. Arthur seemed highly uncomfortable, he didn't know if it was because his father was being so friendly, he wasn't used to the idea of having an Aunt, or he just wasn't used to having a woman show such genuine interest in him and act so motherly towards him.

"So you are already of age, are you not?" Hunith asked smiling gently at the prince.

"Yes." He answered stiffly, shoulders even more setback than they usually were when he reported to his father, he was obviously wanting to set a good impression for his new -well not new- Aunt, Merlin wondered if that meant Arthur would start treating him better (he doubted it).

"My nephew already crowned prince, you've grown so much from the little baby I took care of years ago." At that Arthur blushed.

"You...uh, took care of me as a baby?" He asked, and Merlin felt somewhat sad at the barely controlled eagerness. It seemed he had always had a craving for something like a mother, just like Merlin had always craved a father before he'd found one in Gaius. Merlin had actually often wondered how Arthur had been taken care of as a child, Uther obviously hadn't, what with a kingdom to run and the new campaign against magic.

"Of course, your crib was placed in my room until you were a year old, it was a lot of work but it helped me get ready for my own little rascal." Hunith said patting Merlin's shoulder, making him blush at being referred to as 'little rascal' still. Merlin had the sudden urge to ask if Arthur was chubby baby, but bit his tongue at once. "So what are you doing now? I'm sure you have many duties now that you're the crowned prince." Arthur looked towards his father for permission to speak about his duties and received it with a nod of the head.

"Well recently we have been hunting down a group of rebel magic users, lead by a man named Tauren. My men and I were able to catch up with them about a month ago, I saw Tauren among them." Arthur stated officially, the same way he would have sounded if he reported to his father.

"A pity he escaped you." Uther said before taking a bite of chicken, and causing Arthur's to look crushed.

"He won't escape next time, I promise father."

"No he will not." Uther stated taking a sip of his wine.

"Now, now Uther, it still was quite impressive that Arthur was able to catch up with them in the first place considering they were using magic." Hunith complemented Arthur patting his hand gently like she would with Merlin, making Arthur look down at his hand with a light blush dusting the tips of his ears. Merlin couldn't help but smirk a little, Arthur caught on to him and glared when Hunith looked away for a moment.

"Father there was actually something I wanted to talk to you about the patrol to Ealdor."

"What is it?"

"I've decided it would be best if I were to take Merlin with me?"

"Absolutely not." Uther denied immediately.

"This would be the best time for me to start training him, teaching him more about what his way of life is going to be now. This is all so new to him, I think it would be bad to throw him into all of it at once. This way he can get to know a smaller group of knights, and not be overwhelmed. I know Merlin, he learns best by example." Merlin suspected that he should be offended that he was being talked about like he wasn't there but by now he was pretty used to it.

"Also it will keep him away while the nobles and lords arrived for the celebration of the prince and princes being found and returned to their kingdom. If he meets them before the ceremony without the proper education on how he is to act an accident could happen." At this Uther looked at Merlin, looking him over and seemed to be remembering every time Merlin had embarrassed himself or acted like an idiot. "This could also allow him the chance to say goodbye to the people in his village."

"Very well, bring a few extra men to be assigned to protecting him."

"Of course father." Arthur nodded respectfully, then shot Merlin a look when his father wouldn't see it, Merlin looked back gratefully.

Dinner ended not long after that, Uther left with his mom but not before she hugged him and whispered that she would come to visit him later that night. Morgana came up to him right after Uther left and brought him into an embrace as well.

"If there is anything you need help with, you know where to find me." She said smiling at him, he nodded and she then patted his cheek before leaving with Gwen.

"Come on, Merlin. As much as I know you want to laze around, we need to go to my chambers and go over the plans for tomorrow."

"Coming, coming." Merlin muttered to himself as he followed after Arthur's fast foot steps, ignoring the looks he got from the guards and everyone else that they passed. Everything felt so wrong, and he felt the need to go and flee to Gaius like he always did when something strange happened and ask him how to fix it. He knew though that there was nothing that could be "fixed" about this, he just hoped Gaius would still be there to help him though it.

. o . O . o .

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! And all thoughts and opinions are welcomed!

Edited 8/18/2017