A/N: Once again, thanks to my beta sarajm for her support. Reviews and concrete criticisms most welcome.
Birthday Wishes
It was early morning; the kind of early where it almost seems that everyone and everything are holding their breath for just a moment before getting on with their day. Merlin lay on his narrow bed simply listening to the sounds of the castle waking up: the clang from the smithy as the blacksmith started the fires, pigs and horses calling for their breakfasts, the clatter of armour and calling of voices as one group of guards went off duty and another group took over.
Merlin had been at Camelot for going on close to two years now, and he was still amazed, every day, by the changes time had brought to his life. He was happy here in Camelot; he had made quite a few friends – including several of the Knights. Even Arthur had, in recent months, started to occasionally treat him a little less like a servant and a little more like a friend.
But still, he missed his mother and the village of Ealdor, especially today; today was his birthday. If he'd been home, he knew his friends would have planned some sort of event – even if it was just sneaking off from chores for the day to go fishing – and his mother would have made his favourite meal.
"Ah, well, no use lying about here", thought Merlin to himself. Just because it was his special day didn't mean that he could shirk his responsibilities as manservant to Arthur, nor avoid the list of chores that he knew Gaius had waiting for him. Still, it was looking to be a beautiful day, and Merlin hoped that he could get all his work done early enough so he could have some time to just enjoy himself.
Up and dressed for the day, Merlin was about to head out of his room when he glanced over at the small table beside his bed and saw the brown leather strap he sometimes wore about his wrist. It was a gift from his mother on the day he left Ealdor. She had had his name burned into it; a "remembrance", she called it. As if he needed any help remembering his mother or his village! He missed his mother and thought of her every day, especially today when she would have made sure that his birthday was something special. So he reached over and tying the strap around his wrist he whispered a small "Thank you, Mother. How I wish you were here with me."
On entering the main chamber, Merlin saw Gaius was already up and standing in front of the small cooking flame. "Mmmm", thought Merlin, "a birthday breakfast!"
"Good morning, Gaius. Beautiful day, isn't it?" said Merlin as he headed towards the table for breakfast.
"Good morning, Merlin. You seem very cheerful this morning", answered Gaius as he prodded the contents of the pot sitting over the flame. "Something special going on today that I don't know about?"
"Ahh … no …. it's just …. you know, with the sun shining and the birds singing; I think it's going to be a great day, don't you?", said Merlin, a little surprised that Gaius had not mentioned the meaning of the day. Merlin knew that Gaius was aware today was Merlin's birthday; after all, Gaius himself had made mention of the fact just the day before.
"If you say so. Sit down and eat your breakfast; and don't dawdle, because Arthur's already looking for you. Hurry up, hurry up!" said Gaius as he spooned some rather lumpy grey-looking … stuff … into Merlin's bowl.
Merlin looked at his bowl, looked up at Gaius, then back at his bowl again. So much for a lovely birthday breakfast.
Not wanting to insult Gaius, Merlin managed to swallow three spoonfuls of the porridge - with the help of a great deal of water - before giving it up as a lost cause. He grabbed a hunk of bread and was heading out the door when he heard Gaius call his name.
"Ahh, here it is, my birthday wishes", thought Merlin as he turned back to Gaius. "Yes, Gaius?"
"You didn't finish your breakfast, Merlin. Don't worry, though; it'll keep until tomorrow", said Gaius.
"Oh, yes… um … sorry about breakfast", responded Merlin, "but I really shouldn't keep Arthur waiting". With that, he was out the door and heading towards Arthur's chambers.
On arriving at Arthur's chambers, Merlin quickly rapped on the door and stepped into the room. Arthur was sitting at his desk, already dressed and scribbling away on a piece of parchment. His rooms, however, looked like a tornado had passed through. There was mud all over the floor, three boots in various corners of the room and Merlin couldn't see the bed covers for belts, tunics and chain mail.
Merlin let out a yelp and cried "ARTHUR, what happened?!"
"There you are, you lazy sod" said Arthur as he looked up from his writing. "What are you going on about? And where have you been? I've been waiting for you".
"When I left here last night, your rooms were spotless. Now look at them! What happened?!" said Merlin, trying to stay calm.
"Well", replied Arthur, "you were nowhere to be found this morning so I had to dress myself. I don't see what you're so worked up about; I was the one inconvenienced by your absence".
Merlin stepped further into the room, his eyes flitting everywhere and desperately trying to understand how this much mess could have been made in such a short time.
"I …. but …. how could ….", spluttered Merlin, barely able to string two words together.
"Yes, yes", interjected Arthur, with a wave of his hand. However, he was still holding the quill so Merlin watched with despair as ink flew across the desk.
Arthur carried on: "I know, you're sorry, it won't happen again, please forgive you, blah, blah, blah. You don't have time for this, Merlin. Here is a list of everything that I need you to do today." Arthur then proceeded to hand over the lengthy list of chores that he'd been working on when Merlin arrived.
Taking a quick glance at the list, Merlin quaked inside. "All this, Arthur, and today of all days? Really? I'll never finish! You've got me doing your laundry, cleaning your rooms, scrubbing the floors, mucking out your horse's stall as well as grooming her, polishing your boots and armour, sharpening your sword, exercising your hunting dogs, attending your training session and, oh yes, let's not forget, taking a look at your falcon because she's looking 'peaked'. What does that even mean?" Standing there, taking deep breaths to try to remain calm, all Merlin could see were the thoughts of enjoying a lovely birthday flying out the window.
"Well, MERlin, if you'd been on time this morning you'd already have my rooms cleaned and would be well on your way to working through all the chores on this list! So, stop wasting time and get to it!"
Merlin looked around the room, glanced again at the list in his hand and thought "All right; if I can get right on to these chores with no further interruptions I should be able to get everything finished before the evening meal. That should still give me some time to enjoy myself before it gets too dark."
Suddenly a hand waved in front of his eyes and he heard Arthur say, "Merlin, what are you doing? Staring at the list won't get things done any quicker. Get these rooms cleaned first and then I'll meet you at the training grounds. After that, you can get started on everything else. Hurry up and don't be late!" was the last thing Merlin heard as Arthur headed out the door.
Looking at the disaster before him, Merlin realized there was nothing for it but to get to work.
Almost two hours later, Arthur's chambers were spotless; not only had Merlin returned all the clothes to the wardrobe, the boots were once again in pairs (one had been hiding behind the curtains), brushed and lined up against the wall; he had straightened up Arthur's desk (including cleaning up the spilled ink from Arthur's list-making exercise of the morning), made the bed and was just finishing scrubbing the floors.
Merlin stood up, stretched to get the kinks out of his back and looked around the room with a very self-satisfied expression on his face. "No one", he thought, "could find fault with my work here".
Then, hearing the castle bell, he realized that if he didn't hurry he would be late to the training grounds. He grabbed the bucket of dirty water and the scrubbing brush, and hurried off to dump the water and return the bucket before meeting up with Arthur and the knights.
Merlin was rushing down the corridor, running through the list of chores Arthur had left him in his head and admittedly not looking where he was going when suddenly he found himself sitting on his backside, covered in dirty water. He spluttered and shook his head; as he was pushing his wet hair out of his eyes, he heard peals of laughter washing over him. Looking up, he saw Gwaine and Percival staring down at him both laughing at the sight of the poor drenched serving boy.
In fact, Gwaine was laughing so hard he could barely catch his breath and was bent over, with his hands on his knees, pointing at Merlin and gasping "You ….. you ….. you look ridiculous; you look like a drowned rat!".
Merlin just glared at Gwaine while trying to stand up, but his feet kept slipping on the wet flagstones. Percival thrust a hand in front of Merlin's face and said "Here, let me help." Merlin gladly took hold of Percival's hand and quickly found himself on his own two feet again.
"Thank you, Percival" said Merlin, all the while glaring at Gwaine who was still chuckling under his breath. "You, unlike your friend here, are most kind".
"Ah, Merlin, don't be like that", said Gwaine. "Honestly, if you could see yourself, you'd be laughing too. Why were you rushing around anyway?"
"I've spent the morning cleaning Arthur's chambers and now I'm late to meet him at the training grounds, no thanks to you. He's going to be so annoyed with me; he specifically told me not to be late", responded Merlin.
"Don't worry, Merlin", said Percival. "That's where we're heading; we'll let Arthur know that you're on your way."
"Oh, thank you Percival. I've just got to bring this bucket and brush to the storage room and then I'll be at the training grounds. Are you sure you don't mind explaining all this to Arthur?"
"It's the least we can do, Merlin, after sending you flying like that", said Percival as he dragged the still-chortling Gwaine away with him.
About ten minutes later, Merlin was making his way down the castle steps and wringing out his still-dripping clothes. So far, he was thinking, his birthday hadn't been the greatest, but it was sunny and warm, so at least his clothes would dry quickly.
As he approached the training grounds, he could see Percival and Gwaine standing with Arthur; Gwaine's arms were flapping around his head, he was sliding his feet along the ground and he had a huge grin on his face as he was speaking to Arthur.
"Oh, no", thought Merlin, "of course, Gwaine had to be the one to explain to Arthur why I'm late. I can just imagine what he's telling Arthur". Right then, Arthur clapped Gwaine on the shoulder, turned around and on spying Merlin burst into laughter.
Merlin approached a group of gathered knights, hoping against hope that he could simply get to work sharpening Arthur's sword and not be subject to any more ridicule at the hands of Arthur, but that was not to be. Arthur waved him over and as Merlin approached the three men, Arthur chuckled, "Merlin, you're late; what happened to you? You're looking a little moist at the moment". He would have continued with his joking, but was too busy laughing.
Merlin just look at Arthur said "Ha, ha, very funny. I'll just be over here sharpening your sword until you need me", and with that headed over to the rack of swords.
Merlin was seated at the edge of the training ground with Arthur's sword resting on his lap and the whetstone grasped tightly in his hand. The sun was warm on his back and he was actually enjoying just sitting there watching the knights going through their paces while swiftly running the whetstone up the blade of the sword.
The knights were running through some intricate manoeuvres and Merlin was entranced by the movements going on in front of him. Unfortunately, he got a bit too drawn into the actions in front of him, lost focus on what he was doing and dropped the whetstone. As he leaned over to pick it up, he saw blood dripping on the grass at his feet.
"That's strange", thought Merlin, as he looked around to see who was bleeding. It was only then he felt a sharp pain in his right hand and looking down at his palm, saw he was the one bleeding. With his lack of attention, he'd managed to slice his palm on the now-sharp sword.
Merlin dropped the sword, jumped up from his seat with his hand tightly clasped to his chest and let out a yowl of pain. All movement stopped and twelve pairs of eyes turned towards him.
"What now, Merlin? Get stung by a bee?" joked Arthur. Merlin just stood there, staring at the group of knights, his face very pale.
"Merlin?" queried Arthur. "Are you OK?"
Merlin was swaying a bit where he was standing, which worried Arthur. He rushed over to see what the problem was, but Lancelot made it to Merlin's side first.
"Here", he said softly, "let me see", and he gently pulled Merlin's hand away from his chest. Merlin's hand was closed in a tight fist and occasional drips of blood fell to the ground. Lancelot carefully pried Merlin's fingers open to see what had happened. Watching all the while, Merlin took a look at his hand and let out a small moan.
"Merlin, don't worry; it looks worse than it really is. The cut isn't deep and shouldn't cause you any trouble", said Lancelot, trying to reassure the boy.
A clean cloth floated over Merlin's shoulder and Arthur said "Lancelot, use this to bind up his hand until he can get to Gaius to have it properly seen to." While Lancelot was wrapping Merlin's hand, Arthur continued speaking: "Merlin, I want you to go straight to Gaius and have him take a look at your hand. I'm sure you'll be fine, but you should have it properly bandaged and soon. Then, don't bother returning here. You can just carry on with the rest of your chores. Do you need someone to accompany you back to Gaius' chambers?"
"No, Arthur, that's really not necessary. I can get there on my own", and with that Merlin headed back towards the castle and Gaius' chambers on wobbly legs.
As Merlin headed off, Arthur turned to Lancelot and said "I wonder what's going on with Merlin today? I mean, he's definitely the clumsiest person I've ever met, but he's generally not accident-prone. I hope everything is all right."
Lancelot had already heard of the earlier incident from Gwaine, and nodded his head in agreement with Arthur, saying: "I wouldn't worry too much, Arthur. You know Merlin; if something's wrong he won't hesitate to let us know. But, I'll keep an eye on him during the day and I'll have Percival and Gwaine do the same."
By the time he arrived back at Gaius' chambers, Merlin's hand was throbbing but seemed to have stopped bleeding. "Some birthday", though Merlin, "I wonder what else could go wrong today?"
Gaius was seated at his workbench mixing together some draught as Merlin entered the room. "Gaius, I need your help. I've had a bit of an accident", said Merlin as he sat down at the table.
Gaius looked over, saw the bloodied cloth wrapped around Merlin's hand and hurried over. "What happened?" While Merlin explained what had occurred, Gaius unwrapped his hand and examined the damage.
"Well, Merlin, you were very lucky. There's no need to worry. The cut is not deep and there does not seem to be any damage to any of the nerves. All it needs is a good cleaning, a bit of ointment and a new bandage."
"Really? That's it? Thank goodness", said Merlin with a sigh of relief. And, sure enough, less than five minutes later Merlin was all patched up ready to get back to work.
"Now, my boy, please be careful. Your hand will be fine, but you don't want to risk re-opening the wound" called Gaius as Merlin was heading out the door.
"I'll be careful, Gaius. Thank you!"
As he was heading towards the stables to muck out the stalls and groom Arthur's horse, Merlin thought to himself about how lucky he was that the injury to his hand was not worse. "Maybe my birthday isn't turning out so bad after all. I just wish I hadn't got hurt, though."
He passed Lancelot at the stable doors and gave him a smile.
"Everything OK, Merlin?" queried Lancelot.
"Yeah" answered Merlin, holding up his bandaged hand. "You were right … it's nothing serious and Gaius said it should heal fine, and without a scar, as long as I'm careful. He's put a nice thick bandage on it so I can still carry on as usual".
"I'm glad to hear that", responded Lancelot. "I'll see you later" and with that he headed off.
Merlin was feeling pretty good about everything by now, but unfortunately fate seemed to have it in for Merlin and his day went from bad to worse: as he was brushing down Arthur's horse, Hengroen, she decided that it would be highly entertaining to continually slap him in the face with her tail and then step on his foot multiple times.
Merlin then limped off to exercise Arthur's hunting dogs. Now, normally he loved taking the dogs out for their run, but for some reason today the dogs thought it would be great fun to run around after Merlin and continually tackle him to the ground. By the time he'd got them back to the kennels, Merlin was covered in dirt, scrapes and dog hair, as well as limping because of Arthur's horse.
Next on the list was a visit to the mews to examine Arthur's hunting falcon, Diamat. Diamat was a peregrine falcon that Arthur had raised himself from a hatchling and he was very attached to the bird, so Merlin knew that he'd better figure out what was wrong with her or Arthur's would have his head.
Diamat was well used to being handled by Merlin and was usually very calm when sitting on Merlin's arm but today …. well whatever had gotten into the horse and the dogs seemed to have infected Diamat as well. As he approached, Merlin could tell she was not happy today; she was screeching and very restless on her perch. Despite the calming, soothing sounds Merlin was making, Diamat wanted nothing to do with him. Instead, today was the day where pecking viciously at Merlin seemed to be the only thing that would calm her down.
Fortunately, there seemed to be nothing wrong with the bird and as Merlin returned her to her perch he muttered "She certainly doesn't look 'peaked' to me"!
So, here was poor Merlin, covered in bloody scratches courtesy of Daimat, limping because of Hengroen, and covered with scrapes, dirt and dog hair due to the dogs. Oh, and let's not forget the bandage on his hand and the wet clothes … which while dry now, only added insult to injury. What a way to celebrate a birthday!
Still, with chores finished and about thirty minutes to himself before he needed to be ready to serve Arthur at the evening meal, Merlin decided to give his hands and arms a quick cleaning and then head down to the Lower Town to wander around and see what was going on.
As he was heading towards the water pump, Merlin looked down to check the state of the bandage on his hand and felt his heart drop to his feet. He left wrist was bare! He'd lost his leather wristlet.
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no" moaned Merlin as he frantically looked around his feet. "Where is it; I can't have lost it. Not today. No, no, no".
He hurried back towards the mews, frantically scanning the ground, hoping to find the wristlet, but no luck. It wasn't on the ground, it wasn't in the mews …. it wasn't anywhere! In a panic by now, Merlin could only hope that by re-tracing his steps during the day he'd find the leather strap.
He was heading towards the kennels, scanning the ground, when he ran into Percival and Gwaine.
"Merlin! How's the hand?" asked Gwaine. As Merlin looked from his scrutiny of the ground to respond, both Percival and Gwaine realized there was something very wrong. Not only did Merlin look like he'd been on the losing side of a battle, he was pale and visibly upset; in fact, he was almost to the point of tears.
The two knights looked at each other and recalled what Lancelot had told them earlier about Arthur's concern for the boy.
Gwaine put an arm around Merlin's shoulder and pulled him a little off to the side. Percival, realizing that Merlin would be embarrassed if anyone came upon him will he was in this state, simply stood with his back to the two men and looked around, daring anyone to come near.
"What's wrong, Merlin?" asked Gwaine gently. "What's happened?"
Well, that's all it took for Merlin to completely lose what little composure he had. "I've lost it", he choked out. "It was a gift from my mother and now it's gone …. and then the horse …. my foot …. stupid dogs … and the falcon was fine … pecked for no reason …. and it's my birthday today ….." wailed Merlin.
Once he was finished, Merlin just stood there looking totally dejected and with tears in his eyes.
It took a while, but Gwaine finally got the whole story out of Merlin. "Ah, Merlin, I'm so sorry all this happened to you. And on your birthday, too. I didn't know today was your birthday. Even though it's a little late, best wishes and all that …." Gwaine's voice trailed away as he got no response from Merlin.
On hearing voices behind him, Gwaine looked over to see Percival speaking with Lancelot. Obviously Percival had heard the whole story and was now letting Lancelot know just what was wrong with Merlin today.
Suddenly Gwaine got a great ideal. "Look, Merlin, Lancelot's here. Why don't you let him take you back to your rooms so you can wash some of this dirt off and get changed. The supper bells will be ringing shortly and Arthur will need you." Gwaine turned to Lancelot and gave him a look that said "get him away from here, now!" Lancelot was quick to catch on, so came over, grasped Merlin gently by the arm and led him away, speaking to boy in a quiet undertone.
Percival, meanwhile, after watching all the goings on, said to Gwaine, "I know that look; you're planning something".
"You heard what happened. We're going to find Merlin's wristlet. Come on, start looking".
They made their way to the kennels, but no luck. "Where now?" asked Percival.
"The stables! Hurry", answered Gwaine. "And keep your eyes open, it could have fallen anywhere."
As the two knights were slowing making their way towards the stables with their eyes firmly fixed on the ground, Arthur crossed their path.
"What in the world are you doing?" he asked incredulously. A quick explanation from Gwaine was all that it took for Arthur to join in the search.
"I didn't know it was his birthday", said Arthur to the two knights as they all examined the ground around them. "And for all those things to go wrong, today of all days. What bad luck."
Meanwhile, Lancelot had gotten Merlin back to his rooms and while Merlin was cleaning up, Lancelot was explaining to Gaius everything that had occurred.
"Merlin, once you've changed, I'd like to take a look at your hand", called Gaius.
"I'm here" answered Merlin as he came down the steps from his room.
As Gaius unwrapped his hand, Merlin looked to Lancelot and said "Thank you, Lancelot, but you don't need to wait for me."
"Merlin, it's fine. We're both heading in the same direction, so I'm happy to wait for you. I don't imagine Gaius will take too long with your hand".
"I hope not; as it is I'm already late to Arthur's chambers. However, if I head right to the dining room I should be on time."
"Merlin, I'm pleased to say that your hand is fine, but you'll need to keep it wrapped for the next couple of days. And, I must apologize for this morning. I completely forgot it was your birthday and I neglected to wish you the very best for the day." With that, Gaius drew Merlin into a gentle hug. "Happy birthday, my boy" he whispered to Merlin.
"I, too, wish you the very best for the day. Hopefully the ending will be much better than the beginning" said Lancelot with a smile.
With that, the door to Gaius' room was flung open and Arthur, Gwaine and Percival marched in.
Merlin looked up in surprise and immediately started babbling: "Arthur, I'm so sorry; I know I'm late and the dinner bell has rung, and I haven't finished my chores, but …."
But he got no further as Arthur cut in with "Merlin, it's fine. But why didn't you say it was your birthday? Best wishes for the day! While I understand it hasn't been the best day … maybe this will help", and with that he placed a small bag in Merlin's hands.
The three men were looking at Merlin with large grins on their faces and poor Merlin was totally confused. "Wha …."
"Just open it", interjected Arthur.
Merlin looked around the men in front of him and then reached into the bag. As his fingers curled around its contents, his eyes widened and a huge smile split his face.
"My wristlet! Oh, thank you, thank you! How did you find it?" asked Merlin as he took it out of the bag and attempted to tie it around his wrist.
"Let me", said Lancelot, taking the ends in his hand and tying them into a tight knot.
"Well", said Gwaine in his most pompous air, "as for finding the thing, it wasn't easy, let me tell you. It was a quest only to be undertaken by the Bravest of Knights!"
"And their Prince", added Arthur, with a laugh.
"Come on" said Arthur. "'Tis a tale best told over some ale! We're taking you to the tavern for a small birthday celebration. Don't wait up, Gaius. This promises to be a late night!"
Surrounded by his friends, Merlin was all smiles they headed out of the castle, laughing and joking.
"I couldn't have wished for a better birthday", said Merlin.