Greetings Readers! Here's a new Merlin story - it's a collection of reactions Arthur has, over the years, to the knowledge of all that Merlin has done with magic for Camelot.

Warnings: post season 4, post-magic reveal

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin or any of its characters.

Merlin had never intended to reveal his magic to the court, but destiny dictated that he do whatever it took to save Arthur. Even if it wasn't accepted officially for a whole week.

No one seemed quite sure how to react. At Court many called for his banishment, although a select few simply asked for the manservant's pardon. Merlin, they argued, had saved their king and that should be enough. When an enemy arrow had flown past the battlements and embedded itself into Arthur's shoulder through his chainmail, it had looked like the end - especially when the king had fallen from where he had been directing the battle atop the highest turret and plummeted towards the ground.

No one had expected the almost shabby looking young man who always stood beside their king to leap into the air after him, his blue eyes suddenly blazing gold as he stretched out both arms. It seemed like the warriors on both sides froze to watch the younger man grab his king around the chest and slow them both to a gentle landing on the cobblestones below. After placing Arthur carefully down, Merlin had spun around to face the enemy, his eyes blazing with power and anger.

The enemy army couldn't get out of there fast enough.

But still, the days dragged on as the whole kingdom waited to see what would happen to the young, awe-inspiringly powerful man who had calmly walked with the guards to the dungeons after the battle was over. He had paused just long enough to heal the unconscious king's wound before allowing the guards to take him away.

As for the people, it almost felt as though they were considering revolt unless the newly discovered warlock was freed from the dungeons immediately.

Years later, Arthur claimed he needed the time to process all that had happened and all that he had learned before making the proper decision; whereas Merlin asserted that Arthur had come to his conclusion by the third day at the latest and just made him hang around in the jail to be a prat.

"Don't listen to him," Arthur would bark in laughter to anyone in attendance. "He's a liar."

It would be years later before the pain in Merlin's eyes would stop appearing at the innocently meant insult.

Arthur had needed the time to process all that had happened – his visits to Merlin had filled him in on all the manservant had done to protect him and Camelot, the good along with the bad. Merlin seemed especially eager to get all the bad out on the table from the start, and almost downplayed all the good that he done, the pain he had suffered. He told Arthur everything.

And his friend and king did attempt to process everything – but it was impossible to truly grasp the magnitude of the events of several years in only a few days. Most of the events the warlock described would have each required a month of explanation to do them justice, but there simply wasn't time for it. However, Arthur's mind unconsciously wrestled with it for years and at often the most inopportune times, the memories would resurface and questions would emerge.

~.~

Merlin was clearing away the tack from his horse after they had returned from another quest (Arthur had offered to get his court warlock a servant, but being waited on seemed surreal to Merlin and he'd turned the offer down) when Arthur stormed into the stables.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

Merlin arched an eyebrow in a manner eerily similar to Gaius' as he went to face Arthur. "You really need to be more specific," he grinned as he turned back and pulled the saddle off his horse. "I don't say anything about many things."

In truth, he had an idea of what Arthur was talking about. They had stopped on the way to their quest at the Castle of Fyrien, which was quite safe now that Cenred was dead and the battlements abandoned. Merlin had sat down on a rock by the sea only to jump up, howling and clutching his backside with both hands. Arthur had nearly fallen off his own rock howling into distinctly unkingly laughter when he noticed what had caused the manservant/warlock pain until he'd recognized the offending object. A ring.

A ring that he'd seen Morgana wearing when they'd come to the castle to save Elyan. A ring she claimed to have lost before they returned.

But why then was it positioned so perfectly on the rock?

Merlin had recovered from his melodramatic reaction and had settled back onto the seat, holding the ring and staring at with a look that was both intrigued and disgusted. He held it out for Arthur to see. "Powerful magic was once in this." He looked at it once again before flinging it into the sea. "Useless now – it served its purpose."

Arthur nearly cringed at the latent bitterness in his friend's voice and was about to ask what Morgana had been doing with the ring when trouble came, as it always seemed to do – because the day they had an uneventful quest that didn't have at least one attack happen would be the day that Gwaine gave up ale – and the question slipped from his mind.

It only reappeared when he felt the bulge of Gwen's ring press into the back of his neck as she embraced him upon their return. He had taken the time to kiss her properly in greeting before heading to the stables, nearly knocking over the servant tending the horses in the process.

"About the ring." Arthur replied, "Why didn't you tell me about it?"

"Arthur," Merlin shook his head. "I'd never seen it before. I was just as clueless as you."

Arthur would have remarked on that, but he decided to soldier on. "But Morgana used it, didn't she? Did she have something to do with the guards finding us?"

She had everything to do with it, Merlin internally groaned, but settled for a verbal, "Yes."

The king leaned against the stable walls, crossing his arms. "Why didn't you tell us about her?"

"I should have thought that would be obvious." Merlin said almost sarcastically.

Arthur's eyes flashed. "Clearly you didn't think, Merlin! You let us walk in there like sheep to the slaughter!"

"Hardly." Merlin's voice was calm although there was a slight flash in his blue eyes that had nothing to do with magic. "I tried to warn you, didn't I? The night before AND just before we ran in there." He dawdled over the unfastening of the saddle. "But were my instincts compared to your years of experience?"

Arthur refused to feel guilty for that; he wanted answers. "If you'd just told us Morgana was behind it…"

He was interrupted by a burst of almost merry laughter. Merlin was laughing so hard he had to lean against his horse clutching his side. "Like you would have believed me!"

"I would have," Arthur replied indignantly.

"Sure you would have." Merlin rolled his eyes. "Just like you believed me all those times that I said Agravaine was up to no good." Upon seeing the flinch his friend made at the memory – even years later, the betrayal of the man he had trusted but had used him like a puppet stung – Merlin's face softened and his voice became more reasoning. "You had known him since you were a child, but you didn't really meet him until he came to Camelot to help you rule. And you wouldn't listen to a word against him."

Merlin slung the saddle over its hook and walked over to his friend. "How was I going to explain to you that a person you had
known all of your life and that you considered a sister was a traitor? You wouldn't have believed me." He looked away. "I certainly didn't want to believe it."

"How long did you know?"

"Since she came back after being 'kidnapped' by Morgause," Merlin replied softly. "She was the one who brought the dead to life during the siege."

"I remember." Merlin had mentioned breaking the staff to rid the town of the walking dead, which Morgana had taken credit for. "Why didn't you say anything then? You had saved Camelot, not her. You had proof that she was –" He couldn't quite finish the sentence.

"Any proof would have only gotten me killed." Merlin shrugged. "If I told your father I'd known because I had magic too, he would have me executed. If I told him I knew because of what had happened after I'd…poisoned her, I would have been executed." He sighed. "He wouldn't have believed me anyway, and with me gone where would Camelot be?"

It was a little disturbing hearing Merlin being so flippant about his own death, but Arthur put that away for another day. "I suppose."
Merlin looked him in the eyes. "I am sorry, Arthur. If there was any way I could have said anything…"

"I know." Arthur sighed. "I'm sorry, too."

As the king walked out of the stable, neither man was entirely sure what Arthur was apologizing for.

A/N: And that's the set-up and the first confrontation. More will be forthcoming!

Thanks for reading and please review! They make me happy!