Merlin was the first to awake. He felt very warm, and wrapped up. He sat up a little, and saw that he was covered in blankets. They felt very soft, and not itchy at all. He unwrapped himself, and looked around. Everyone was still asleep, and Arthur had no blankets. He was curled up into himself, next to the dying fire. The air was still a bit cold. The beginning of Winter usually made the mornings and evenings cold, and the noon's hot. Merlin grabbed his jacket, and put it on. He took all of the miscellaneous blankets, and laid them carefully on Arthur.

'What a prat. You'd be cold while I'd be warm. You've got a crown, not I.' Merlin thought. He grabbed some more firewood, and fueled the fire once more. He then grabbed the empty bowls and spoons, and found a nearby river to wash them in. Merlin decided to wait until noon time to have a bath, when it was warmer.

He brought the washed out bowls and spoons back, and bagged them up. He loaded up each horse, and turned to the four sleeping knights. A mischevious grin played on Merlin's face, and he gathered his breath.

"Dragon!" He yelled. Everyone quickly shot out of their sleep, and onto their feet. Arthur grabbed his sword, and readied himself.

"Where's the dragon!?" He exclaimed. Merlin laughed at their reactions.

"There's no dragon. It's time for us to head back to Camelot. We'll have to say that the mission was completed but the beast was too big to bring home." Merlin told them. Everyone realized what Merlin did, and they smacked him upside the head playfully. Everyone strapped their swords onto their horses, and rode back to Camelot. The black cat kept himself inside Merlin's shirt, as they rode.

"Do you really think we should bring the puma back to the kingdom? What if it goes no a rampage?" Arthur asked Merlin as he trailed behind to talk to him.

"If the puma goes on a rampage, I personally will deal with it as quick as possible. You have no need to worry." Merlin assured Arthur. Arthur cracked a smile, but accepted his promise.

'I'll end up saving his butt if that ever happens.' Arthur laughed to himself. But he was fine with that. Merlin was his friend after all.

After a couple hours of riding, they reached Camelot, and docked their horses. Merlin dropped off, and went to Gwains horse to help unload the materials.

"I'm fine Merlin. I can do this myself." Gwain flashed a smile towards Merlin.

"Alright then. I guess I'll go help Perci-" Before Merlin could finish, Percival was taking everything off in one load.

"No need. I've got it." He said. Before Merlin could even walk over to Leon, he saw that the horse was unloaded. Merlin and Arthur were the only two left in the royal stable.

"Let me unload the horse Arthur." Merlin said, unstrapping some of the items. Arthur grabbed some as well.

"I'll help then." Arthur said. They walked to the Armory together, and placed everything back in their spot. Once they were done, the black cats head poked out of Merlin's shirt.

"What are you going to do with the cat?" Arthur asked. He reached over, and gave the miniature puma a pet on the head. Merlin felt a little bit of heat rise to his face.

"Oh uh, I'll keep him in our rooms. But I'm not so sure what to name it. We can't call it puma, now can we." Merlin laughed awkwardly. Arthur pursed his lips as he looked at the cat.

"What about Ebony?" Suggested Arthur. Merlin smiled down at the cat.

"That's a great name. I'll call her Ebony." Merlin declared. Arthur laughed at his enthusiasm.

Merlin took the cat out of his shirt, and let it walk around. He trusted the cat to stayed near him.

Merlin helped Arthur out of his armor. He unstrapped every piece, and when he was done, he placed them in a bag so he could bring it to his room to polish.

"Hey Merlin." Arthur called out to Merlin to get his attention.

"Would you like to dine with me tonight? Father is dinning by himself tonight, so it'll just be me in my quarters." Arthur offered Merlin. He was a bit nervous. He never thought he would ask this of Merlin, but here he was, asking. Merlin stood there shocked for a moment, but collected himself.

"S-sure. I'll dine with you tonight. I can bring my dinner up with myself." Merlin said. Arthur smiled.

"You and I can eat the same food. Just ask the cook for extra and another plate." Arthur told Merlin.

"Alright then. Thank you Arthur." Merlin thanked him as he left the armory. He and Ebony walked back to his quarters where Gaius was. Merlin could feel his face turning red from embarrassment. Although it felt good. Merlin felt very happy.

When he got in, Gaius was quick to notice his red face, and the pursuing cat.

"Why do you have a cat with you?" Gaius asked. He was at his work station, brewing some potions.

"This is the puma who was terrorizing some villages. Turns out it was just lonely. She was able to transform into a cat, and Arthur allowed her in as long as I took care of her." Merlin explained happily.

"Also, I won't be dinning with you tonight. Arthur wants to eat with me. You can have my dinner as well since I'll be eating whatever he eats." Merlin informed. He placed all the armor onto an empty table, and got out the polishing rag.

"So is that why you seem so giddy?" Gaius smiled to him. From years of worry, Gaius had aged a bit more, with more wrinkles and lines across his face.

"Yeah. Arthur has been a lot nicer to me recently. I'm glad. Today I was late, and nothing was thrown at me. And the fact that he let me bring a magical animal into the kingdom is marvelous. Although at first he was adamant on hanging it's head on the wall." Merlin said. He sat down on the floor, and began to shine the pieces of medal. Gaius watched Merlin a little as he hummed a tune.

After an hour or so, all the armor was shined. Merlin ran back to put them away, and was met with Gwen, who was walked with some linens.

"Hello Gwen. Long time no see." Merlin said.

"Hello Merlin. It has been awhile." Gwen greeted. After Morgana left the kingdom, Gwen was made the primary maid in case any royal guests arrived. She only worked when she was summoned, so why was she here.

"Are there going to be any guests soon?" Merlin asked. She nodded her head.

"Tomorrow the King and Queen of the Stavia Empire are arriving. I need to get all the linens washed and dried before them." She said.

"This'll be fun. I've heard of the Stavia Empire. They are brutes, and haters of magic. They're even more ferocious than Uther himself when it comes down to punishments." Merlin told Gwen with a whispered tone. She agreed.

"The Queen said in her letter that she wanted a maid to be appointed to her since her personal maid was sick. So I needed to be the very best. I've got my best dress set up for tomorrow." Gwen said proudly. They parted, and Merlin returned to their room to get a change of clothes.

"I'm going out for a bath." Merlin informed Gaius as he left. Ebony had stayed behind, having a nap on a bookshelf.

Everyone in Camelot was only allowed a certain amount of drinking water, so Merlin started going into the woods where the rivers were to take bathes.

Once he reached the normal river farther out, he stripped out of his dirty clothes, and jumped in. He scrubbed at his body, riding it of the dirt from the previous nights sleep. Once done, he look a dry piece of cloth and dried himself down, before climbing into cleaner clothes. He placed his necktie around his neck, and his old boots on.

He walked back to the castle, with his dirty clothes in a bag he brought with him. He left his dirty clothes in his room, and he headed to Arthur's quarters. A couple days prior, Arthur asked him to help him learn a new language since Merlin knew latin. Arthur and Uther were both baffled that he knew latin, but Merlin just said that his village had many latin travelers, and he learned from them.

Merlin knocked on Arthur's door, and entered. Arthur was sitting at the table, with papers strewn about.

"Did you know we were having guests tomorrow?" Arthur asked. Merlin nodded.

"Gwen told me in the hall." Merlin said. Arthur sighed.

"No one told me, so now I've got all these papers to sign, but I can't read the latin phrases." Arthur told Merlin. "Could you please help me?"

"Of course. Latin is fairly easy to read since they sound how their spelled. I can translate the words for you so you know what to sign." Merlin offered. Arthur thanked him, and handed the papers to Merlin. Merlin pulled a chair out from the dinning table, and read the paper.

"This basically says that if the current ruler of Stavia is in need of help, and the ruler is neither mad nor under false influence, then you must help if you are able to afford it." Merlin summed up. There was a lot of added detail that did not make the paper any different. It was waste of time to write in his opinion.

Arthur took the paper, dipped his quill into the ink, and signed his name at the bottom. Merlin placed it to the side, and read the next one. It was a bit confusing by the type of grammar, but he was able to understand most if not all.

"Okay so this one is a bit heavier. If the current ruler dies, and you are single, you will marry his wife, and join the two kingdoms together. You must produce a son and one daughter." Merlin told him. Arthur thought for a moment, but signed the paper anyways.

"His wife is only a year younger than I, and the current King is actually two years older than me, so I don't think he'll be dying anytime soon." Arthur chuckled. They continued signing the papers, and soon it was dinner time. Merlin excused himself, and he went to the kitchens. A tray was already set up.

"Excuse me. Prince Arthur requests a second plate, and some extra food." He asked the cook. She grabbed an extra plate, and placed some more food on the tray. Merlin thanked her, and left to go back to the room. He placed the tray down, and handed Arthur his plate. Merlin poured Arthur a goblet of wine, and gave it to him.

Arthur piled up with plate, and Merlin placed small portions of food onto his own plate. Arthur noticed how shy Merlin was, and started to put food onto Merlin's plate.

"We're eating tonight. No need to give everything to me." Arthur smiled joyfully. Merlin took the fork and knife, and he cut into the pieces of chicken. The food really was great, and soon the food was gone, and they were drinking wine together. Merlin was not able to hold his liquor, so he stopped after on goblet. Arthur was able to hold himself together, and he had three.

"So Merlin. Have you been fancying anyone lately?" Arthur asked. Merlin choked a bit, but regained his composure.

"I'm not really sure. I guess maybe one person." Merlin said. Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"Is it Gwen?" Arthur asked.

"No." Merlin told him.

"Matilda?"

"No."

"Corrine?"

"Hell no."

"Gwain?" Arthur asked.

"Why would that even be a thing!?" Merlin laughed. Arthur shrugged, and laughed along.

The laughter died down, and Arthur had a look of seriousness.

"Merlin. You know you can go to me about anything, right? We're friends." Arthur told Merlin. Merlin nodded.

"I need to tell you something that's been on my mind for awhile." Arthur said.

"Go ahead."

Arthur breathed in deeply. "I've been thinking about me and my fathers stance on magic. I know that certain types of magic are bad, but many types are good. Last night, with Ebony. I thought it was going to kill us because it was not friendly. You could sense that it was lonely. I feel like I've become to like the idea of magic slightly in certain circumstances." Arthur told Merlin. Merlin was very tense. Kilgarah said this moment would come eventually, and he was so happy. Merlin nearly passed out.

"What do you think Merlin? Am I crazy?" Arthur asked. Merlin was quick to tell him.

"Not at all. I agree with you. There are forms of bad magic, but there's are positive forms of magic. Magic is all around us, but we only notice it when certain people use it for their own use. When I was a child, a traveler came into the town, and my mother let him sleep at our house since the others shut him out. He was not a druid, but he learned magic on his own. He told me that he was visiting the poor villages, and making the food grow faster so they could have food. One morning when we woke up, he was gone. But when we went outside, all our fruit tree sapling had grown to adulthood, and the wheat was ready for harvest a month early! I think there are great people out there, but only those who are evil need to be dealt with." Merlin said. He decided to shut up, as he realized he may have said too much. Arthur sat there, contemplating Merlin's story.

"I heard of this phenomena when I was a child, but I didn't quite understand it until now. Father was talking to the farmers, and asked why the food was growing so fast. It stopped growing after a couple months, but the food was stocked for almost a year." Arthur shared his thoughts on the subject.

"I still have no idea what to think about magic though. If I found out that one of my best knights was a druid, I would probably be very hurt. But then again I don't think I would go so far as to kill or exile them." Arthur said. Merlin relaxed a bit. It wasn't the answer he wanted, but Arthur was getting there.

"I'm just scared that something like what happened to Morgana will happen again. I loved her as a sister, and she turned so harshly."

Merlin contemplated on telling Arthur his thoughts. But he decided he would anyways.

"If I am able to give my best opinion. I think Morgana's destiny was to turn evil." Merlin said. He paused, letting it sink in. "Morgana grew up watching druids be slaughtered, and once she found that little druid boy who had done nothing, she felt as if non magic users were evil for killing them. The wrong impression happened to her, so I think there was nothing we could do. We cannot go back in time to change the circumstances, because most likely it would happened again down the line. You should not be afraid of destiny, because destiny cannot be changed." Merlin concluded. Arthur smiled.

"You know Merlin. You can be very wise sometimes."

"Aren't I always wise?" Merlin laughed. It was already dark outside, and it was past sleeping hours.

"Goodnight Arthur." Merlin said.

"Goodnight Merlin." Arthur said. Merlin left the quarters, and headed straight to his room. He snuck in past Gaius, and into his room, with Ebony trailing behind him.