I'm back with a new Merlin story! This is one that I have been planning for some time and I thought that I should start it on the first day of the year. It will be updated every Tuesday for a whole year! Each chapter is based around a word that I picked out randomly from a dictionary and will be either a poem, ficlet, fic or drabble.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin

Artist

It was a pleasant evening in Camelot and Merlin was wandering the market streets on one of his very rare days off. He hadn't had much to do. Gaius was away for a couple of days, treating a small sickness outbreak in one of the towns and had left no chores for him. Arthur was just being a prat as usual but Gwen had managed to persuade him to let Merlin take a couple of days off. The king had grumbled a lot but in the end, Gwen had triumphed and Arthur had had to concede to his wife's wishes. All the knights were either out on patrol or down at the tavern, drowning themselves in ale and beer. There had been no attacks on Camelot and so everything was peaceful. Way too peaceful for Merlin to find anything to do.

The streets were crowded with people buying or selling their wares before night fell and the shops and stalls would close. Merlin had a couple gold coins that he had saved up for something special. The problem was that he had no idea about what to purchase. There were necklaces and other fancy pieces of jewellery and in the stall next to it, freshly picked herbs and plants. The smell of freshly baked bread filled the air and a musician

There was no point in buying something for Arthur as the king would probably think he was an idiot and then forget completely about it. For Gwaine, he might as well just hand his money over to the tavern to pay for all the damages he had done over the years. The other knights would probably be very polite about the gift and then give it away to someone. Gwen would appreciate it, put it on display and treasure it, but there was nothing that he could buy that she didn't already own.

Merlin could buy himself something but nothing so far had caught his eye and he had already passed most of the shops and stalls. He was about to go back to his room and spend the rest of his time off reading his spell book and practicing, but he decided against it and continued walking.

The sky was just turning that lovely soft lilac colour just before night fell and Merlin was actually enjoying the evening. Usually he was too busy looking after Arthur and doing his chores that by the time he got to bed it was long past dusk. He never got the chance to relax and admire the things that before, he'd just glanced at or assumed what it looked like.

Seeing a barrel a few paces away that looked fairly comfortable and that would probably give him a fairly good view of the setting sun, Merlin hauled himself up and nearly toppled over on to the young boy who was leaning against it. The kid, who was pretty short for his age, started and looked up at Merlin. The older man caught a glimpse of a piece of bark with charcoal markings in the form of a girl's face.

The kid blushed furiously and pulled it away, but Merlin had seen the face and recognized her easily. She was the carpenter's daughter. The one that most of the boys in Camelot fancied and she didn't seem to notice any of their advances. She was a hard working soul and never spared any time for the boys and so many were nursing broken hearts.

Merlin placed a hand on the kid's shoulder and the boy looked up in surprise at the gesture.

"Do you like her?" The boy only nodded in reply. "Do you care about her?" Another nod. "Then go tell her that. Better yet give her that drawing along with it. It's one of the best I've ever seen." The boy was now shaking his head vigourously.

"What if she doesn't like me? What do I do then?"

"You'll never know until you do tell her. If you wait too long, you'll have missed you chance." Merlin smiled sadly and got down from the barrel on which he had been sitting, leaving the boy along. He spoke from his own experience. The one with Freya.

Merlin sighed and continued walking, weaving his way past people and carts as the sun began to set over the town. I f he had only admitted his feelings for her then maybe things would have been different for both of them. Maybe Freya would still be alive and they would be raising a family of their own somewhere away from Camelot.

The servant looked at the coins in his hand and suddenly his eyes lit up at an unexpected, but brilliant idea. He would use it to make a painting or drawing of his beloved Freya so that he'd never forget her face and the features that he'd loved so much.

Running now, Merlin made his way to the booth where a family sold different paints made from berries, leaves and crushed rocks and mixed them with water. Merlin bought one of each colour and placed them gently into the bag that he was carrying.

Next he bought a largish square plank of wood and carried that under his arm. At the fabric dealer, the serving boy purchased some plain white heavy cloth had wrapped it up gently before heading off to the blacksmith to get some smallish nails. His pouch of coins were emptying faster than Merlin had expected, and he had just enough to purchase maybe eight nails. He did so and hurried back up to his room with all his items tucked away safely.

Gaius just raised an eyebrow as his ward passed by, barely stopping to say hello. Merlin closed the door behind him and placed a bar across it as he started worked, first nailing the cloth to the board and making sure that it was well stretched and that there were no creases or wrinkles in it. Then closing his eyes, Merlin pictured Freya's face in his mind, and with the help of his magic, began to draw.

He didn't open his eyes until he was certain that he was done, and when he did he was actually impressed with what he had accomplished. Merlin had used this method before, when he wanted to get the most accurate depiction of something into the spell book that he was making. Freya's drawing wasn't nearly as good as some of the others, mostly because there was so much emotion that it clouded his magic and made it harder for him to accurately draw it.

The finished product was reasonably good, but the servant picked up the brush and added a few last touches to make it even better. The glow that had been in Freya's eyes, was perfectly mirrored on to the canvas, and the quirk of her lips almost identical.

Merlin felt something drop onto his hand, and realized that he was crying, something that he hadn't done for some time. He smiled a little and brought the back of his hand to wipe away the tear tracks that were beginning to line his cheeks.

The painting remained hidden under his bed, where Merlin could get it whenever he needed to see the smiling face of his lovely Freya staring back at him with her kind eyes.

Well? What did you think? Please review and let me know! I already have all my words picked out, but maybe I can incorporate any suggestions or request if you have something that you would like to see.

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