"The white dragon bodes well for Albion, for you and Arthur, and the land you will build together."
Merlin couldn't believe it. After all that danger, he had succeeded in his mission. A new hope for the dragons. Aithusa.
"Care for him well, young warlock."
Wait, what?
"What do you mean, care for him well? Aren't you going to take him with you?"
"Do I look like his mother?" Kilgharrah asked. "Aithusa is still far to young to journey with me. You must care for him until he is able to fly."
"And how long will that be?"
"About a month."
A month?
"Well, I'm not his mother either." Merlin pointed out.
"You named him."
Merlin had a sinking feeling about this.
"Traditionally, a dragon mother would name her child, but when none existed the Dragon Lords would take her place and resume her duty caring for the young dragon."
One day, he was going to write down all of these stupid loopholes so that he never got caught out like this again.
"It is your heritage."
If Kilgharrah used the word 'destiny' then Merlin knew he was doomed.
"It is your destiny."
Fiddlesticks.
"But how am I meant to keep a dragon hidden in Camelot?" Merlin asked desperately.
"Oh, I am sure you will find a way. Even young dragons have quite powerful magics, although they may not always control them perfectly well."
Kilgharrah was enjoying this, Merlin could tell he was.
"Kilgharrah!"
"Kilgharrah!"
Merlin spun around. Aithusa looked very pleased with himself.
"Very good, young Aithusa."
"Aithusa!"
"It talks?" Merlin asked. "Of course it talks. How am I supposed to hide a talking dragon in a castle full of people who hate magic?"
"I would suggest some form of illusion, it will not harm him." Kilgharrah said. "Now, I should depart."
So very, very doomed.
"Oh, and Merlin? Good luck."
He could have sworn the dragon was smirking as he flew away.
"What on earth -?" Gaius shook his head. "What have you done now?"
"There may have been a slight problem with my plan…" Merlin admitted, trying to stop Aithusa, currently disguised as a puppy, from knocking over any of Gaius' phials.
"Please tell me," Gaius sighed. "That you simply happened to find a lost dog on your way home which has absolutely nothing to do with your plans earlier this evening."
"Gaius –"
"Gaius!" Aithusa yipped excitedly.
"My goodness! Merlin, for once in your life could you do things the simple way?"
"Well, okay." Merlin didn't know where to start. "This isn't a dog…"
"I know very well it's not a dog, Merlin." Gaius was glaring at him. "You left here not two hours ago with a dragon egg and now you have a talking puppy. Please tell me you did not hatch that egg."
There was no point denying it. Merlin removed the illusion, and Gaius frowned.
"I didn't know that –" Merlin protested.
"I told you, you have to think about the consequences of your actions. Did you not consider who would have to care for it?"
"Him," Merlin corrected. "His name is Aithusa."
"Aithusa!"
"He seems to like saying people's names," Merlin explained. "And – Kilgharrah said white dragons are unusual…"
"They are, and they were thought to be a good omen." Gaius took Aithusa out of Merlin's hands, peering at him carefully. Merlin tried not to grin as he noticed Gaius' expression soften. "You will need to take good care of him."
Gaius looked up and Merlin struggled to straighten his expression. "And if he gets into my cures the replacements are coming out of your wages."
"Absolutely," Merlin agreed. "Um, Gaius? Can you think of anything I can illusion him as? I can't seem to stop him talking when he hears people's names…"
"You're in luck," Gaius said. "I happen to know just the thing."
"Merlin. What is that?"
Merlin pretended to be surprised.
"It's a parrot."
Not technically true – it was Aithusa, illusioned into one of the bright, talkative birds that travelling circuses occasionally brought with them to Camelot.
Arthur was not impressed.
"I can see that it's a parrot, Merlin. Why is it on your shoulder?"
"Because it's mine!" Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Well, for a while anyway. A friend asked me to look after him for a while."
Arthur sighed. "Well, for your friend's sake you'd better not let that bird make a mess in my room."
"Oh, he won't. Arthur's perfectly house-trained."
Well, he couldn't exactly call Aithusa a name in the Dragon Language, could he? He hadn't been able to resist.
"Arthur?" Both the King and the bird echoed the word at the same time.
"Well, he needed a name." Merlin tried not to smile.
"So you used mine?"
"What else would I call something that talks nonsense all the time?"
Arthur grinned. "You could have called it Merlin. Or Clotpole."
"Clotpole!" Aithusa echoed.
Arthur laughed. "You know what, Merlin, keep the bird. You never know, you might actually learn something from it."