Christmas Eve was a big deal for the prince and princess of Camelot. Christmas day was taken up sitting through banquets and speeches, and occasionally spending time with their parents. So the day before Christmas was spent with their friends and servants, unsupervised and acting like other children their age. This Christmas was no exception. Arthur and Morgana took two of the knights' shields as they left the castle that morning. They met up with Merlin and Gwen outside their home, the forge. Still lugging the two huge shields, the 4 six year olds left the city entirely, following Merlin's lead. After 15 minutes walking, they came to the hill overlooking the frozen lake, just as Merlin had described. Finally, the kids put down the shields. The two boys climbed onto the first, Arthur at the front, naturally, and the two girls climbed onto the second, with Morgana in front and Gwen clutching the sides for dear life. "Race to the bottom?" Arthur said mischievously. "You're on!" Morgana's eyes flashed and her sled set off, with Gwen screaming on the back. "Not fair!" Merlin called, setting their sled off too. With another flash of his eyes, the snow around the other shield began to melt, slowing its progress. Morgana yelped, and a mountain of snow sprung up in front of the boys. "Coast it!" Merlin yelled, still slowing the girls, and Arthur did just that. All was going well until Morgana cracked the ice on the pool, directly in the path of the boys sled. With a high-pitched, unmanly scream from Arthur, the two boys and their shield plunged straight into the icy water.
Dragging them out, Gwen was panicking and Morgana snickering, but when she saw how badly they were shivering, she muttered a few words and started a fire. "I'm sorry…" Merlin laughed at the prince's grudging tone as Arthur said, "Huh. You're forgiven, I suppose." Gwen smiled tentatively, no longer afraid. "Let's go home," Merlin said. "Gaius'll have a hot drink waiting; he knows how accident prone you are, Arthur!" Arthur snorted. "Oh, I'm accident prone? Honestly, Merlin…"
And bickering gently, the four friends started for home.