Doing it Over

Arthur's First Training Day

            Arthur and Merlin walked over to the training grounds; Arthur getting more and more excited at the prospect of learned to fight. Merlin was excited too; he had only ever seen the fully trained Arthur fight; now he was going to see how he started out. They arrived to see Sir Leon and Gwaine training for combat.

Arthur and Merlin joined the other nights against the fence as they watched. Arthur’s eyes were alight with excitement at the idea of getting to do what he was watching. When they were finished, the two men walked over to where the others were standing.

“You ready?” Sir Leon asked Arthur who nodded enthusiastically, “Alright, go with Percival and he’ll get you suited up.” Merlin watched them go and then turned back to Sir Leon.

“He was practically jumping up and down watching you two,” he said.

“Yeah,” Sir Leon smiled, “He was like that when he was actually a kid too. Always so excited to get going and start training.”

            “You spent a lot of time with him when he a kid, didn’t you?” Merlin asked.

“The king had many duties to attend to so Arthur was left in my care much of the time. He had nannies, but he was usually either following me around or trailing after Gaius. Neither of us minded, he was a good kid,” Sir Leon paused, “It’s good for him… this second chance with his father. A relationship between the two of them was something he always wanted.”

“I can tell,” Merlin said, “It seems like it’s something the king wants as well.”

“It is,” Sir Leon agreed, watching Arthur and Percival walk back over to them, “There was always some form of guilt in the king over not spending time with his son. Ready to go?”

“Yeah,” Arthur said happily and they all laughed.

            “Alright, let’s get started then,” Leon said, and for the next hour Merlin stood by and watched as the knights took turns teaching the young prince different sparing techniques. Eventually, the boy started to get tired so Sir Leon called it a day.

            “You alright little man? You’re kind of pale,” Gwaine said, helping Arthur out of the armor.

            “I’m fine, just tired,” Arthur said and Gwaine accepted this answer. Arthur said goodbye to the knights as they continued training and headed up to the castle with Merlin for dinner.

            “Alright boys?” Gwen asked as they entered the hall for dinner, “How was training?”

            “Alright,” Arthur said, sitting down at the long table.

            “Just alright?” Gwen asked, looking up at Merlin.

            “He did brilliantly,” Merlin said, “Leon and the rest of the knights were all really thrilled with how he did.”

            “Well that’s great,” Gwen said happily, though she could tell something was off with the boy. Merlin and Gwen talked as Arthur ate his dinner and after half an hour, Gwen knew something was wrong.

            “Is everything okay? You’ve hardly touched your dinner,” she said.

            “I don’t feel well,” he told her, pushing his still full plate away. Gwen placed her hand on his forehead and frowned.

            “He does feel a little warm,” she said to Merlin.

            “Come on then,” he said, lifting the little boy into his arms, “You probably just overworked yourself training today. A good nights rest and you’ll be running around again tomorrow.” As Merlin tucked Arthur into bed later that night, he had no idea how wrong he was.