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Chapter 1

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"I'm off, for the night," Merlin said, blowing out the final wax candle.
Arthur frowned. "Have you finished all your chores I gave you?"
"Yes sure."
"Polished all of my armor? Mucked the stables? And Polished my goblets?"
"Yes, yes, and that's a trick question sire, you haven't got any goblets," Merlin said, "All dishes have also been sent down to the kitchen staff."
Arthur frowned, clearly wracking his mind for any other question to fire at his manservant. Merlin waited, hands behind his back, fingers crossed. "Then I guess you're free to go, Merlin."
"Thank you, sire," Merlin answered, "Sleep well."
"Oh Merlin, before you leave," Arthur said as he lay down on his king sized bed, "I'm at the training yards all day tomorrow with the knights."
Merlin fought back a large groan, and cursed silently. He waited for Arthur to say, 'So be here extra early, Merlin' or 'Be sure to wear lots of padding, we're using the staffs, Merlin' or even 'Make your peace with God and say your farewells, because the swords are coming out and it's going to be a melee, and to win we have to stab a servant and, by the way, that servant of course will be you, Merlin'. Arthur said none of those things. In fact, what he said was, "So, I'm giving you the whole day off. Go...do whatever it is you do when you're not here."
Merlin frowned a little caught off guard. He bit his cheek, just to check if he was actually dreaming. Then, he turned around, and said, "I've the day off?"
"Yes, Merlin," Arthur answered, "Unless, of course, you'd rather be our target practice –"
"Right, no work, got it, thank you sire" Merlin said, smiling, "Good night. Don't let the bed bugs bite"
Arthur grabbed the nearest metal object and chucked it in Merlins direction toward the doors, Merlin ducked and quickly scurried from the room. He all but bounced back to Gaius's room with the biggest grin on his face.

They sat, quietly, eating their supper of stew and slightly stale bread. Merlin couldn't quit grinning to himself.
Gaius finally put down his fork and stared across the table. "Merlin, are you alright?" he asked.
"What, me?" Merlin said, "I'm fine, why?"
"You just seem very...happy, it's strange," Gaius said, "And it's worrying me."
"I'm not allowed to be in a good mood wait no an excellent mood, is that it?" Merlin said in response, chewing a large piece of hard bread.
"When you're happy, it generally means you're up to something," Gaius said, "Things don't always go well when you're up to something if you."
"Gaius, I'm not up to anything," Merlin said, "Arthur's given me the day off tomorrow, is all, and I'm going to sleep until –"
"You'll be able to get some things for me, then?" Gaius said, neatly cutting him off nor waiting for an answer, "Good. I've run low on dittany, thyme, monkshood, and nettles. It all grows about two hours into the forest, so you'll have plenty of time and shouldn't be too hard to locate. You'll want to leave rather early."
"But it's my day off! I haven't had one of them in forever"
Gaius paused, "I could go then, I suppose," he said, sighing deeply, "After all, I only feed you, clothe you, keep you from getting killed by the king –"
"Fine, fine," Merlin said sullenly, "Dittany, thyme, monkshood, and what was the last one?"
So the next morning found Merlin rising significantly earlier than usual and pulling his boots on in a half awake daze. The names of the four plants were doing cartwheels in his head. He stumbled outside just to realize that he'd left his bag behind, and staggered back in. Out the door he went again, just to realize he'd left his belt behind.
It took four more trips before Merlin was satisfied that he had not, in fact, left anything behind. All the while, he muttered the names of the four plants beneath his breath. Down the stairs he went, and out the door, and had almost made it to the lower town when he ran into Gwen. Literally.
"Sorry, sorry!" he said, scrambling to help repack a basket that Gwen had been carrying, and thus, had spilled, "I didn't see you coming."
She waved away his apologies with a twitch of her hand. "I heard you'd the day off," she said.
"Yeah, I suppose. Gaius has me running around in to the woods, though," Merlin said, and glanced down to see that the basket Gwen held was filled with bread, cheese, and fruit, "Gwen, if you're planning on surprising Arthur, he's training all –"
"I know," Gwen said, "It's not for Arthur and I. It's for us."
"Us?" Merlin said, frowning, and helping Gwen to her feet, "Us, as in, you and I?"
"Well," she amended, "You and I, plus Gwaine. He's meeting us at the gate. Said something about fetching water. We'll be gone most of the day, after all."
Merlin blinked, thinking it was far too early to be trying to fill in the gaps. Of course, those gaps may've existed simply because it was early. Merlin shook his head, forcing himself out of that train of thought. "We?" he said, and then, "Where are we going?"
Gwen hid a small smile. "Gaius said you were going into the woods," she answered, "And I need a break, I suppose, from here. I was hoping I could go with you and keep you company."
When Arthur had knighted Elyan, it had come with a consequence that was, though not unwelcome, completely on accident. Knights were nobility, and thus their families were nobility by default. Gwen had suddenly found herself catapulted into the station of 'Lady', and Merlin knew that she was having trouble adjusting. "That would be excellent," he answered, but then another thought occurred to him, one that he blamed on the early hour once more, "Isn't Gwaine a knight?"
"Yes," answered said knight, who was walking towards them with three water flasks slung over his shoulder.
"But," Merlin said, "Arthur's training with all of you today."
"He's delegated me to keep you two safe on this outing of ours," Gwaine answered, flipping his dark hair from his face. The knight wasn't in his chainmail or red cape, instead in street clothes. He continued, "You know, in case of bandits, bears , witch's or wolves or anything else that might kill you."
Merlin pointedly ignored Gwen's questioning glance as Gwaine smirked. The three walked from the city, laughing and talking. It became clear that Arthur hadn't actually delegated Gwaine, but rather Gwaine had delegated himself, sending a message along to the prince through Percival.
"Arthur's not going to be pleased with you at all," Merlin said to Gwaine as they walked through the trees, "Skipping out on practice. Doesn't that go against the knight's code, or something?"
"All I know about the code is to stab the bad guys and not to spit in front of women. And of course Princess won't be pleased – he's never pleased," Gwaine said, "Except for when my beautiful Lady Guinevere is present. And he knows where I am by now. Besides – the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I'm getting city itch."
Gwen cut in, asking before Merlin had a chance too, "City itch?"
"Everything's too loud, all close together," Gwaine explained, "It's good to leave the bustle for a bit, yeah?"