Arthur was absolutely starving so before they did anything else, Merlin helped the man to his house. Wales was unrecognizable to the former king. Urbanization had run rampant through Europe so that even Wales, land of great mountains, valleys, and seashores, had only one of it's natural beauties left. The mountains had been mostly leveled, mined of all their resources, covered in cities. The natural seashores had been extended out to allow for more buildings. The valleys were the only bit left of the old country, the sheep long gone, the people long dead. Nearly every river was past the mature stage, the banks eroded to the point they were hardly even there. The rivers weren't visible anyway though, cities were built up on top of them, so the rivers run beneath them in man-made caves. Avalon was one of the few lakes left above ground in fact, Merlin had made sure of it, he'd been able to become very influential several different times throughout history to be sure of these sorts of things.

The walk was past the bullet train, which terrified Arthur until Merlin informed him it wouldn't leave the track; by several skyscrapers of all shapes and sizes, which both amazed and confused Arthur; under several flying cars, Arthur still didn't understand how the bullet train worked, let alone cars that could fly; and through a group of kids playing around with magic under a bridge. Merlin had a lot of explaining to do.

Once at Merlin's humble apartment, the warlock worked to get his King comfortable. He wrapped the man in a blanket to warm him up. He took out several books and even a few tapestries he had saved from the old castle for when the Once and Future King returned. He ran a warm bath for Arthur and rushed about making the sitting room as familiar as he could.

"I've tried to keep the place as familiar as possible," Merlin said, taking some food from the kitchen. Soy was really the only thing that was still grown, everything that wasn't artificial flavoring was soy based. Tofu Chicken was to be the king's welcome home meal, it wasn't much, but there wasn't much Merlin had.

"It's tiny," Arthur shivered. Merlin shrugged.

"Welcome to the future."

After his tofu, which he disliked quite a bit, Melin helped him with a bath. Arthur was very glad to feel such warm water; although Merlin had to explain it wasn't sorcery, but technology. He found himself saying as much often over the next hour. The two men were walking through the house. Arthur was catching up with his friend's long life and Merlin was teaching him about the new technology.

Once they got to his bedroom, Merlin gently opened a case and handed Arthur a small medallion. It was a perfect replica of the silver dragon Arthur had given Gwen at their wedding, down to the French Azurite scales down it's back and the large blue diamond in its front claw, the only difference was it was facing the opposite direction and its mouth was open, teeth bared.

"Gwen," Arthur whispered.

"She was a great queen," Merlin said softly.

"Did she rewed?" He asked.

"Never. But, she was pregnant at your passing," Merlin explained, taking a painting of the woman and a young man, similar in every way to his father, but age and skin, from his desk, "He was named after you. I helped her raise him of course. He eventually made magic legal again, slowly at first, with my help."

"Was he a good man?"

"One of the best, died too young, like his father in every way, despite never meeting you, at least it was peaceful."

Arthur couldn't continue the conversation.

"Whose amulet is this?" Arthur asked, "was it his?" Merlin shook his head no.

"I had another made when it became clear you wouldn't be back for a few generations at least. Started a legend so they wouldn't forget," He said, "the Royal family know the amulet you gave Gwen, she handed it down to, um, your daughter in law, it's become a secret family heirloom."

"You've really thought this through."

"I've had a lot of time."