The next morning, Arthur woke up with a start because of a particularly sad dream. He looked up at Merlin, and still saw him in his normal sleep state. Arthur's stomach growled, and he guessed that Gaius heard it. Gaius handed Arthur one of the Quince that they had picked together awhile ago. Arthur gladly ate it, and then headed to his room to get changed.

Percival walked up to him.

"Arthur. When shall we commence the vetting?" He asked. Arthur thought.

"Give me until tomorrow morning, and if Merlin is not awake, I will go and fetch a druid from the forest to help. Apparently sorcerers and druids can sense different types of magic in other people, so we'll need someone. Just tell the people that the vetting will commence either on the morning of tomorrow, or earlier, but no sooner." Arthur told him. Percival nodded, and walked away. Arthur continued to his room, and got dressed in more comfortable clothing, and he left his crown in the locked storage cell in the wall.

As Arthur was heading to the balcony to see the city, Gwen rushed to him.

"Arthur quick! It's Merlin." She said. Arthur paled, and ran towards Gaius's room. The urgency of her voice did not sound positive. Gwen ran behind him.

Arthur swung open the door, and saw Gaius furiously trying to cast spells on Merlin.

"What's happening!?" Arthur asked worried.

"Merlin's fever came back extremely high, above a human temperature, and now he's ice cold." Gaius rushed, trying to warm him up, and then cool him down after his fever would spike again.

With Arthur and Gwen's help, Merlin was finally stable. But then his chest stopped moving. Gaius squinted. He held his ear to Merlin's chest. His heart wasn't pumping. His lungs weren't compressing. Gaius looked at Merlin, and saw that his skin was all pale. Everyone froze.

"He's not breathing. His heart stopped." Gaius told them. Arthur dropped down to his knees, and scooted to Merlin's bedside. Arthur held his hand and rested his forehead on Merlin's hand. A silent tear dropped down his face.

Gaius held Gwen as she started to cry quietly. They stood there for a moment, and just stayed still. Like maybe Merlin would wake up suddenly.

"I'm so sorry. I tried every spell in the book. But I couldn't do anything." Gaius apologized.

Arthur silently wept for a couple of minutes. Gwain walked into the room very happily, but stopped in his tracks once he saw the scene. Potion bottles laid everywhere, some broken some not, rags were everywhere. Gwen and Arthur were crying and Merlin looked like a ghost.

"No. It can't be." Gwain said. He closed the door, and walked closer to the bed.

Arthur felt Merlin's hand pulsating. He thought it might just be the normal twitches of a corpse, but he felt it. It felt like blood pumping. Arthur looked at Merlin, and noticed his face got some color back. Arthur looked at the scars on Merlin's body, and saw them start to fade away into his skin. Merlin's skin became pinker. The others noticed, and watched. Merlin's whole complexion glowed, and all the imperfections faded away.

Arthur stood up, and rubbed Merlin's face.

"Come on Merlin." Arthur said. He lightly slapped Merlin's face, trying to wake him up.

Suddenly, Merlin sat up, and head-butted Arthur. He stumbled back, but looked at Merlin. Merlin groaned at the impact, but looked around the room.

"Where am I?" Merlin asked. He blearily looked around the room.

"Merlin? You're in Gaius's room. Do you remember?" Arthur asked.

Merlin looked around the room, and to the others. They seemed really familiar. He almost had their names. Merlin held the bridge of his nose.

"Hold on. I know your names just give me a minute." Merlin told them. They seemed shocked that Merlin had to figure out their names. Arthur's face dropped for a moment.

"I've got it! Arthur, Gaius, Gwen, and Gwain. I'm a lord now. I am a sorcerer, although no one knows yet, and I'm dating Arthur..." Merlin trailed off. He looked around to everyone, and all the memories hit him at once.

"Arthur!" Merlin exclaimed. He jumped out of the bed, and ran to embrace Arthur.

"Don't worry I remember everything." Merlin said. Arthur gladly hugged Merlin, and they gave each other a passionate kiss.

"It just took me a moment to recall my memories." Merlin assured them. They gladly cheered for Merlin. Merlin let go, and hugged the rest of them, and Gwain gave him a big bear hug that left him gasping for air.

They all laughed together, finally at peace.

"Try out your magic. Just to make sure it's working properly." Gaius told him. Merlin nodded, and levitated some objects around the room. The normal yellow glow of his eyes were enough to tell that everything was alright.

"You missed the edicts Merlin." Arthur told him. "I spoke out about them, stated the rules, and called the vetting procedure once you were well." Arthur told him.

"Then hell, let's go. The sooner we vet the people, the sooner we can become a safer kingdom." Merlin said. He started to walk out of the door, but Gaius stopped him.

"I need to inspect you first. If you haven't noticed, you look a lot more different than before. I need to make a diagnosis." Gaius told him. Merlin sighed, but sat back down. The others watched as Gaius looked him over.

"You are in even more of a perfect condition than before. All the previous broken bones have healed to their original state, and the scars are gone. I'd say you are free to go. But I will look into this." Gaius told him. Merlin thanked him, and left to go to his room to get some new cleaner clothes. He still wore the blood stained pants from the night of the raid. Arthur trailed after him.

As soon as Merlin closed the door, Arthur pulled him into a deep kiss, which turned into a make out very soon. Merlin jumped onto Arthur, and wrapped his legs around Arthur's waist. Arthur caught him, and held him from his thighs. Arthur backed Merlin into the door, and they made out hard. It took about 10 or so minutes of making out for Merlin to remember why he went to his room in the first place.

"Arthur. I have to get dressed. We need to start the vetting." Merlin told him as Arthur trailed kisses down his neck. He sighed, but agreed. Merlin hopped down, and went to get dressed.

He chose another all black outfit. He skipped the cloak for the day since Arthur was, and they headed to the courtyard. Now that Merlin was here, he felt safe to walk in public.

"Tell the city that whoever has ever used magic or is a druid must be vetted for a record to be kept. Anyone who does not comply or hides will be punished." He told a knight who happened to be there. He gathered some more knights, and they walked around the town knocking on doors and informing them.

"What if they're afraid?" Arthur asks. Merlin was thinking about that too.

"Maybe if we had a demonstration, they would feel safer. Something to lure them in." Merlin said. He looked around, and saw some children playing off to the side. He walked over to them.

"Hey kids. Do you guys want to see a magic trick?" He asked them. The kids happily agreed, not thinking it would be real magic, but a trick of the eye.

"What do you want to see?" He asked them. They thought for a moment.

"How about juggling?" She said. Merlin laughed.

"That's not so special. What about I set some apples on fire, juggling them, and then extinguish them?" Merlin said. The kids nodded happily. Merlin walked over to a vendor, and asked for 5 apples. He paid the man, and stood in the middle of the courtyard while the children watched. Merlin started off with two, and handed Arthur the other three.

As Merlin started to easily juggle the two apples, he encased them in a blue flame. The children watched in awe, and some of the people gawked at him. No one grabbed the children, since Arthur was to the side laughing at the spectacle.

"Arthur. Throw me another apple." Merlin told him. Arthur threw another apple to Merlin, and then Merlin started to juggle it. He encased that one in another blue flame.

"WOW!" The children said as Merlin juggled. Arthur threw him the rest of the apples, and Merlin encased them all in harmless blue flames.

"Don't the fire hurt?" Asked a little girl. Merlin shook his head.

"The fire is not actually fire. It's a mirage. It doesn't have any heat to it. It's just magic." Merlin told them.

"Be ready to catch them." Merlin told the kids. One by one, everyone watched anxiously as Merlin tossed each kid a blue flaming apple.

"Can we eat them?" They asked. Merlin nodded. He swished his hand over the apples, and the flame disappeared. The children happily ate the apples, and ran back to playing.

Arthur playfully slung his arm around Merlin's neck, and messed his hair up. Merlin laughed, and the two ruff housed a little.

Merlin could tell that the people felt somewhat calmer about the situation. If the king himself could mess around and be best friends with a sorcerer, are they all really that bad?

Gwain and Percival ran to the two.

"We got some people who said they would head to the castle immediately. We told them to gather in the ball room." Gwain told them.

"Great. Let's get inside and have someone write the documents as I asses them. I'd say after a decade or so once the people are more tolerant, we can do away with the documentation." Merlin told them. Arthur got the records keeper in the room, and he was ready to write. Everyone filled into the room. There were a lot more sorcerers and druids than Merlin would have thought there to be.

"Okay. Everyone go to one side. Once I'm done assessing then please move to the other side of the room. It's a volunteer way, so whoever steps forwards first gets to go first." Merlin told them. A young kid stepped forward, and walked to them.

Merlin greeted him with a smile. "What's your name?" Merlin asked.

"Benjamin Werth." He said. Merlin nodded.

"Druid or sorcerer?"

"Druid." Ben told him.

"Can I see your mark?" He asked. Ben nodded, and lifted the bottom of his shirt. He had the mark on his back.

"Mark is centered on the lower back." Merlin said aloud for the record keeper. He touched the mark, and could tell it was authentic. The magic was young, somewhat weak, but positive.

"I can tell you've only used your magic for good. Please wait on the other side of the room." Merlin told him. Just like that the first person was done. Merlin continued to talk to the people, sometimes even having short conversations with them. The overwhelming majority were druids, but some were self taught sorcerers. There were even some women druids in the mix, with their children. Merlin ruffled their hair and marked them down on the same sheet as their mother.

Soon everyone was done and vetted. No one had any negativity  tainting their magic. No bad choices made with the aid of magic.

"Thank you for coming. If you know any other people who have not showed up today, please tell them to show up tomorrow at the same time. I know it seems scary at first, but we really just want to know who's a sorcerer and who isn't to keep tabs. It'll help us in case you go missing or if a hate crime is demonstrated. It shows your credibility. Anyone who doesn't let themselves be vetted will face punishment. This is for everyone's safety, as there are some out there who work for the dark side. I can tell who they are, so I need them to come to me." Merlin concluded. They were all dismissed, and seemed a lot more relaxed.

"You did great." Arthur told Merlin. The records keeper left with all the papers, and went to transcribe them into scrolls to put in the vaults.

"Where is that one apprentice? The one that was supposed to show up?" Merlin asked Arthur.

"He should be here later today, or early tomorrow." Arthur told him.

"Let's get some food. I sure you must be hungry. I know I am."