Becoming Magic

Back to it then

Lancelot came to get Merlin the next evening to pick up his sword training. He assured Merlin that it would just be him and Corbett. Merlin was stiff during the training, but he knew he needed it. He followed Lancelot's instructions and then was practicing against both him and Corbett. After an hour they were done for the night. Merlin went back to his room to wash up. Working his muscles had felt good. He wasn't in a much better mood, by any means, but it had worked some stress out of his body that he had been holding on to. Merlin decided instead of going to sleep, though, he wanted to check out the library. When he got there he wasn't surprised to find Geoffrey asleep on his desk. He just walked past him and went to a section that had various texts in different languages. What could it hurt? He grabbed a few and headed back to his room where he proceeded to lay down and read late into the night.

"Merlin!" Gaius yelled. "Wake up, you're going to be late." When Gaius opened the door to wake Merlin up, he saw the boy was passed out on no less than three books. He shook his head walking over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. Merlin opened his eyes at this.

"Gaius?" He said sleepily.

"Merlin, you need to get going, or the King will come looking for you." Merlin yawned and stood up to get on with his day. After he left, Gaius gathered the books Merlin had fallen asleep on. Three different languages. Nordic, French, and something he guessed that might have been Greek. Merlin astounded Gaius. He absorbed knowledge like someone dying of thirst drinking water. He hoped to be able to tell Arthur about it at some point.

Merlin ran to the kitchen grabbing a tray of food for the King and all but ran back to his chambers to wake him. He set the tray down on the table and opened the curtains. He then went to the wardrobe to grab out the training clothes that Arthur would need first thing that morning and set them on the screen. Merlin only then noticed that Arthur wasn't in the room. He hadn't been that late, had he? Hmm. He set about cleaning the room as best he could. Making the bed, putting dirty clothes in a basket, and then set about organizing the papers Arthur would need for his meetings for the day.

"Merlin. Nice of you to show up today." Arthur said waltzing into the room and going to sit down to eat.

"Sorry, Sire. I overslept." Merlin replied. Arthur looked at him questioningly. "After training, I was a little restless so I went and got a few books from the library."

"What books did you get?" Arthur asked.

"Er, just some books of stories. Some Greek, and a few others. Hoping to get some inspiration for my own stories that don't involve just our adventures together." He said.

"Greek." Arthur paused looking at Merlin. "Well were they stories written in Greek, or were they Greek stories?"

"Erm. Both, I suppose." Merlin replied looking down.

"Well, I won't be needing you today. I have some things I need to discuss with Aggravaine and I don't need you falling asleep in the middle of the council meetings." Arthur said. "Make sure you sharpen my sword and polish my armor before returning to your...reading." He said. "Oh, Merlin?"

"Yes?"

"Maybe later this week, or sometime soon, you can show me some of what you're reading." Arthur said genuinely curious to see how interested Merlin was in languages.

"Sure. I can do that." Merlin smiled brightly at Arthur before turning to leave. He was lost in thought on his way to the armory to gather Arthur's sword and armor and didn't notice someone had fallen in step beside him.

"Hey, Merlin." Eoin said.

"Hey, Eoin. How are you?"

"I'm well. You?"