Merlin's Guide to Reading a Book

It was dark already, very late evening in Camelot. A storm was raging outside, the heavy raindrops beating against the cobblestones loudly. Lightning together with thunder appeared from time to time.

But other than that, it was a very peaceful evening. Well, almost night.

Merlin was crouched over his book, with only a few candles around as illumination. He was sitting on the cold ground next to a closed window, hidden in Arthur's chambers while the prince was sleeping in the bed, snoring softly.

He turned the page with a smile. It was quite an enjoyable book. It was about the world outside of Camelot, even about the lands that existed across the sea, like Hispania, Gaul or Egypt. Places that Merlin would most likely never visit, but those he could at least read about in this book.

He turned another page and, to his delight, found it filled with a drawing – an old map. While a loud thunder sounded outside, Merlin grinned with excitement as he studied the map thoroughly.

Suddenly, a weak voice from the bed whispered, "Merlin?"

Merlin gasped with surprise and quickly turned his head, but soon realized it was only Arthur talking in his sleep. He knew that Arthur did that, although it wasn't often that Merlin caught him doing it. He let out a sigh of relief – and apparently, tonight Arthur was dreaming about him, which brought a smile to Merlin's face. He turned his attention back to the book and began reading it quietly again.

It took another twenty minutes for Arthur to speak up. "Merlin?" This time though, it sounded different. Merlin carefully and slowly looked up at the prince, and just as he feared, he found a very confused and sleepy Arthur looking at him.

Merlin pursed his lips, staying silent while Arthur blinked a few times to wake himself up. A few seconds passed and no one said anything, until Arthur finally frowned in confusion at him, looking annoyed.

"What on earth are you doing here?"

Merlin didn't know how to answer. "Sorry," he shrugged after a while.

Arthur closed his eyes again, just briefly, and then groaned and sat up, staring down at Merlin properly. "That doesn't answer my question, Merlin. What are you doing inside my chambers at this hour?"

"I thought you might need me?"

"For what?" Arthur asked incredulously, unintentionally raising his voice a little bit.

Merlin only shrugged again and vaguely gestured around, clearly not knowing what to say other than the truth. Arthur sighed and noticed a book next to his servant as well as candles. "Well, obviously, the correct answer is that you're reading a book."

Merlin looked down at the book guiltily and sighed.

"Why aren't you reading it by your own bed and instead decided to read it by mine?" Arthur frowned down at him, still too tired to stand up.

"I . . . Gaius and I had a little fight, I came here to clear my mind and finish reading the chapter before coming back."

Arthur visibly relaxed and his frown turned from annoyance to concern. "Oh."

"Just go back to sleep, I'll leave in . . . " Merlin quickly turned the next few pages until he found the end of the chapter. He raised his eyebrows, "huh, um . . . in about an hour."

"An hour?" Arthur exclaimed, his annoyance returning. "I can't go back to sleep when you're in the room, Merlin."

"Why not, you've done so many times in the past in the forest."