Merlin's magic (Oneshots) 1

Language

It was subtle at first. Nobody noticed it. Especially not Arthur Pendragon.
He may be a great king, but he was an oblivious one. So when he let Merlin reread his speeches or write some for him – he never considered that Merlin was a farmer.
He had never learned to read nor to write. He just assumed that Hunith might have taught him some letters and that was it.

But even Arthur noticed that something about that assumption didn't add up, when he met Merlin's mother during the battle of Ealdor.
Don't get him wrong. She could write. Pretty beautifully too. She was one of the rare few who could. But there was a difference between the small mails she wrote to Gaius and the formal ones Arthur wrote for court.

The difference was the language. If that doesn't make sense to you. I will explain.
Almost every royal household spoke a foreign language.
They were very important tools when Arthur had to converse with enemies or allies. Each kingdom had it's own language for important businesses.
Camelot was a kingdom that prided itself with it's education in that matter. As Camelot was centered in the middle of Albion, it spoke each of the languages that were used by the kingdoms surrounding it.

Which was why Arthur's speeches and laws were written in multiple languages. In multiple versions or just in the one they currently needed. For example, he wouldn't write a truce treaty for Bayard in the same language he would write it for Queen Annis.
Hunith spoke and wrote in the tongue of king Cendred. There was no way she had learned any of the others.
As far as Arthur had learned, she only spoke this one and maybe a little Greek.

But whenever Arthur asked Merlin to reread and correct one of his speeches – Merlin never complained about it. Or pointed out words he didn't understand.
In the beginning, when Arthur had just wanted to made fun of Merlin for being uneducated, this behavior, Merlin's blunt corrections of his misspellings had impressed him like nothing else ever had.
Merlin was always right, when he scrunched his face like that and rewrote whatever it was that Arthur had written.

At some point, Arthur had even asked Merlin to write speeches for him. Merlin always did an amazing job at those. However, Arthur noticed that the language of said speech changed randomly. Like Merlin wasn't taking into consideration which kingdom the letter was for. Maybe he didn't know which kingdom spoke which tongue. Sometimes the speeches just changed tongues multiple times in between. Arthur used to think these were intellectual pranks played on him by his servant.

Until Arthur began talking to Merlin in different languages. Merlin switched between them like others skipped a book page. Whenever Arthur did this – suddenly the speeches were written in that same language he had chosen to talk in. As long as Arthur would supervise him, Merlin never changed tongue unless Arthur did.

It was fascinating to see how Merlin never seemed to notice language changes. He never noticed when someone suddenly switched or couldn't find the right word and just used another one of another tongue.
Merlin talked to a person the way they talked to him.

And so far, Arthur had yet to find a language that Merlin wasn't fluent in.
He had tried everything. He even learned a bit of a new language that hasn't been used in Camelot since the Fisher king disappeared.
When Arthur had just said hello in that language, Merlin began talking to him like he was raised in it. So fast, Arthur failed to keep up past the "Gwaine stole food from the kitchen again.".

At this point, Arthur was quite certain Merlin was just messing with him. Nobody spoke that many languages. At least not fluently. How he did it however, Arthur could only guess.
The funniest part was, when Arthur asked him to repeat himself. And this time used a language he was more comfortable with, Merlin just switched back like Arthur had pressed some kind of button or something.
Belittling Arthur for "not listening" or being an "unreasonable prat."