Avalon- A Merlin FanFic

Chapter 2- Home

I had just finished my day's work, and was looking forward to relaxing, when someone knocked at the door. I walked over to the door, opened it, and poked my head around to see who was there. Only to headbutt Merlin, who was standing outside.

"OW!!!"

"Oh God.... I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to headbutt you!" I said, giggling slightly.

"Well, I guess that's one way to say Hi!" He laughed. "We never seem to start our conversations very well, if I'm going to be honest."

"You have a point there!" I said, laughing with him.

"Anyway, I came to ask if you could give me a hand with preparing Arthur's bath. It's just that it takes me about half an hour to do it by myself, and by then the water's always cold and Arthur complains the whole time. Honestly, I can't win with Arthur."

"I'm sure he's not that bad!"

"You have no idea," He murmured darkly.

"Anyway, of course I'll help you! I kind of owe you after I got you into trouble with Arthur yesterday, and now I've assaulted you, so..." I trailed off, feeling a bit awkward.

"Honestly, don't worry about it. I just as clumsy as you are, if not more so. Today's been a good day for me so far as dropping things is concerned! Also, I'm used to physical abuse anyway. Arthur constantly hits me. He claims it's 'Horseplay'. I say it's abuse. But that's just one of the many examples of our opinions differing."

I couldn't help laughing at that. "Well, let's go and get this bath sorted, before Arthur abuses you some more!"

"Good idea. I don't need to be hit around the head more than once a day!"

As we filled the buckets with hot water for the bath, Merlin asked me about what home was like. I answered, telling him about the green forests that housed vast amounts of wildlife, and the wooden huts in which my people lived. I told him about my family, and how I missed them. I told him about how you could see every single star in the sky at night, and how each star held special meaning to us. And when I had to wipe away a tear at the memory, he hugged me, and comforted me, while Arthur's bath went cold.

He, in return, told me about his village, where he had grown up. He told me about his mother, and how she was the only family that he really had left. He told me about how he felt completely at ease there, and how he didn't feel like he had to hide who he really was.

Having someone that seemed to understand how I felt made me feel whole again, even as we dragged Arthur's bath to his room, it was the happiest I had felt since arriving in Camelot. I bade Merlin farewell, as he helped Arthur with his bath.

Despite all this, however, I couldn't shake the feeling that Merlin was hiding something. He was so nice and funny, but there seemed to be another part of him that he never revealed.

Perhaps like me, he had a secret to hide from the world.

Author's note: So, that's the second chapter! I hope you like it guys. I'll try and update soon, because there's going to be a pretty huge revelation soon, and it's not what you might expect :)