Strawberries

"Arthur, I need to take tomorrow off."

Arthur blinked. What? Did he hear Merlin right? Merlin never asked for a day off. Even when he was sick. Unless something was wrong. Was it his mother? Was she alright?

"Is everything okay?" Arthur inquired. If something was wrong, maybe he could help.

"No, no. Everything's fine. I just need a little time to myself." Merlin said.

"Well, okay. Just don't spend too much time in the tavern. I don't want you hungover for the next day." Arthur jibed, trying to keep the conversation light.

Merlin glared at him. "I don't go to the tavern!" He protested.

"Mm-hm." Was Arthur's reply.

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The next day his servant was nowhere to be found and Arthur was already regretting giving him the day off. George was simply awful! The servant constantly asked if he wanted food or water or wine or anything else he could possibly want at the moment. And if he heard another joke about brass- of all things!- he thought he'd explode! He was desperate for some escape from George and he finally thought of one.

"I'm going hunting." He declared, much to George's surprise.

"Are you sure, Sire?" He looked at Arthur for confirmation. "I don't have much time to prepare."

"Oh, don't worry George! It's only for the day. Just follow the list of chores I left and you should be fine!" Arthur called, for he was already half-way out the door.

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It was about midday by the time Arthur had his horse ready and weapons packed. He had just gotten onto his horse when he saw Merlin leaving the city. That's odd, he thought to himself. Judging by the horse he was riding, he couldn't be collecting herbs for Gaius. And if he were visiting his mother in Ealdor he would've needed to ask for at least two days off. So if he wasn't collecting herbs for Gaius or visiting his mother where was he going?

Arthur knew he shouldn't do this, but he couldn't resist the temptation. He waited for Merlin to get a little bit ahead of him and followed his horse's hoofprints. Just when Arthur had begun to think they were never going to get to... well, wherever they were going, he saw the trees begin to thin and the shimmer of a lake in the distance. This must be where he was heading, Arthur thought. He stopped and tied his horse to a tree and walked the rest of the way on foot to avoid being detected.

Merlin must have gotten there some time ahead of Arthur because he was sitting comfortably by the edge of the lake eating strawberries. Arthur smiled at the sight of Merlin getting some well-earned rest, but frowned when he heard him crying. That can't be right, he thought, and moved a little closer.

Merlin was now standing with the tips of his boots in the water and was talking to someone.

"Hi Freya," He said. "I... I don't know if you can hear me, but I've come to visit for a bit. I've brought some strawberries too." He smiled softly and Arthur was perplexed. What was so special about strawberries?

"I've been... okay since you've left. I still miss you a lot, though." Arthur saw a tear fall down his cheek. Who was Freya? He wondered. Was she someone who died? If so, why didn't Merlin tell him?

"I wish we could've gotten that lake we wanted. We could have had a wonderful life, Freya. I think two, maybe three, kids would have been nice. I could have taught them how to-" Arthur accidentally stepped on a stick and cracked it. Merlin's head shot in his direction, but Arthur stayed hidden behind some trees. After a moment, Merlin continued.

"Anyways, Arthur is still a prat." Merlin went on to talk about the obnoxious chores he has him do. And after that, he talked about everything else that had been going on in Camelot. Arthur just stared in fascination. He'd never seen this side of Merlin before and it intrigued him.

After a while, Merlin sat down and began eating the strawberries, and Arthur felt that it was time for him to go. He knew he'd already intruded on a private moment for Merlin. He wouldn't bring it up when he came back to work the next day, even though he had lots of questions to ask. It wouldn't be right. Merlin could tell him if and when he was ready, and Arthur was content to wait until then.

The end.

A/N- Wow, I just wrote this all in one go! I'm feeling very proud of myself haha. This started out as a prompt from writingreadinglaughing on fanfiction.net, but it evolved into my own thing. I hope you enjoyed it :). If you have any writing requests feel free to comment some here or to message me. I'm always looking for new stories to write. Well, I hope you have a nice day!

God bless,

Warlockfromgallifrey