Alaia Skyhawk: Whew, that's all the visiting relatives stuff done. Boxing Day = I got to sit with the rest of my close relatives at one of our family's houses for several hours bored out of my mind. The only perk is that the get together also involved a buffet, but even then by the time I got to come home I was yawning so much with boredom that I left working on part 2 until today. Yesterday I was coughing too much from my stupid remainder of flu to concentrate on much more than plotting this fic out... Anyways, here it is :)

Disclaimer: I don't own the Merlin TV series or any of its characters, however I do own Liam (OCs FTW)

~(-)~

Chapter 2: A Question of… Gift Wrap? ~Part 2~

Warm jacket... check. Boots suitable for snow... check. Axe to cut the log with... check.

Securing the axe to the back of his saddle, Arthur climbed up into it and sent his horse out of the stables and around the side of the castle to the drawbridge. It was still only a short time after dawn, and the banquet wouldn't be held until the first hour after noon. It meant he had plenty of time to go to a large oak tree he knew, one which was old enough that it had a good chance of also having the second of the items he was off to get growing on it.

He knew he could get a Midwinter's Day kiss out of Gwen anyway, but where was the romance if he didn't go about it the traditional way?

He smiled to himself as he rode through the city, the snow muffling the sound of his horse's hooves. There was something about Midwinter's Day that made everyone and everything in Camelot seem to relax. Never in all of history had an attack or act of evil occurred here on the winter solstice, and now that he understood magic and the Old Religion better he knew why. The winter solstice was a time of rebirth, a time when the days would cease to grow shorter, and instead begin grow longer and bring with them the eventual arrival of spring. People of magic everywhere would be celebrating today for its magical significance, and he just had to wonder something as well.

He frowned slightly at the through. Did his father realise that in celebrating Midwinter's Day, he was promoting one of magic's most significant festivals? Even the burning of a Yule log was part of that, a kind of ceremonial gesture of respect to the powers of the land that guided the seasons. Yes, people these days made wishes over the log before it was burned, but that didn't change the original source of the tradition. Thinking it over, Arthur had to guess that his father had forgotten the old significance of the festival, like so many others had. It was just a pity that Merlin and Gaius couldn't celebrate it the proper way while Uther was on the throne. There would be no chanted prayers as the sun set, or spells worked over the log to bless it, and no magical entertainments like the fiery apparitions made of embers that he'd read about. The first winter solstice after magic had returned to Camelot, he was going to make sure it was honoured the right way.

That thought in his mind, he exited the city and headed out into the surrounding woods. It wasn't that far to the oak tree he had in mind, and it didn't take him all that long to reach it. He lucked out when he got there, in that there was a fallen branch beneath it. The freezing weather had stopped the moisture from the snow from soaking it, which meant it would burn just fine once Merlin dried the outside of it with a spell or something.

He got down from his horse and retrieved the axe from his saddle, going over to the branch and proceeding to hack a reasonable sized chunk from it. It only needed to be as long as his forearm, and so that was as big of a piece he cut and tied to his saddle alongside the axe. He then turned his attention to the next task... seeing if the tree had any mistletoe on it.

He backed up away from the trunk to better see the upper parts of the big oak tree, the prince breaking into a smile when he spotted the unmistakable bush of a ball of the white-berried plant hanging from an upper branch. Now all he had to do was go up there and get some.

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The red liquid in the pot bubbled gently, the two physicians watching over it carefully while the elder of the two stirred it with a wooden spoon.

Gaius dipped a small ladle into the mix, pouring half a mouthful worth of it into each of two cups. He tasted it, frowning a little as he mulled over the bit he'd sipped, and then tipped the remainder into a bucket at his side.

"It's still not quite right. We're close, but still not there. Can you taste how the flavour from the cloves is just a bit too strong? It won't do. Liam, pour that batch into the barrel with the rest."

Liam did as he was told, swaying a little on his feet. Mulling the wine may remove most of the alcohol from it, but with the amount he'd tasted over the past hour it was starting to fuzz his senses. He was actually wondering how Gaius wasn't being effected, having failed to notice the partially filled bucket next to the physician's feet. Gaius was no fool, he'd only been sipping enough to get the taste of each batch at intervals during the mulling process... his apprentice had been drinking every drop given to him to taste.

Liam tipped the contents of the pot into the small barrel stood on one of the other tables. Gaius had already explained that the contents of it would go to the servants' dining hall, for the meal to be held in there after the banquet had ended. And at this rate there wasn't going to be a shortage of it to go around.

He returned to the worktable as his mentor measured out the spices for a new batch, trying not to stumble as he did so.

~(-)~

A muffled curse echoed through the trees, coming from the prince clinging halfway up one of them.

Arthur swore under his breath, as he continued to inch his way up the ice-covered trunk. It hadn't been too bad near the ground, but the higher he'd gone the more ice he'd encountered, and now he was fighting to keep going in order to get some of the mistletoe now tantalisingly just a few arm lengths away.

Unbeknownst to him, the indignity of his situation was not going unobserved. Merlin sat astride his horse, watching from among the trees nearby. The warlock smothered his chuckles using his scarf, as his mirth-filled eyes followed Arthur's inching progress upwards the last few feet to reach the mistletoe, looking for all the world like some ungainly bear clinging to the tree. He watched as gloved fingers took hold of some of the plant, eyebrows raising a little in concern when the force the prince had to use to tug some free caused him to lose his grip on the ice-coated back.

Arthur slithered downwards with a surprised yell, hitting branch after branch on the way down until he hit one of the lower branches with an audible yelp as the impact flung him outwards from the truck. Merlin slowed his fall with a flare of golden eyes, not by enough to be noticed but enough to ensure he was unharmed by it. He then turned his horse and quickly rode away trying not to laugh, at the sight of Arthur struggling to get out of a snowdrift under the tree.

After nearly a minute of flailing legs and arms, the prince succeeded in extricating himself, thanking all manner of gods that no one had seen him fall... or so he believed. He then looked at the piece of mistletoe he held, smiling victoriously as he tucked it into the pouch on his belt, before he returned to his horse and set off back to Camelot, to warm up, dry off, and get ready for the banquet.

~(-)~

The elderly man's robes flapped as he strode through the castle, shaking his head as he made his way to the king's chambers with a flask of mulled wine. Why hadn't he noticed that Liam was being affected by all the sampling? If he'd realised the boy had that little tolerance for alcohol, then he wouldn't have given him that lesson in the finer points of mulled wine tasting. As it was Liam was in no state to be socially acceptable at the banquet, for all that he wasn't drunk as such; he was still unsteady enough that it would be a scandal to take him.

Gaius sighed as he turned into the hallway leading to Uther's chambers, nodding to the guards as he passed by with the flask. When he arrived he found that the usual small burner and pot to reheat the wine had already been arranged by the king's servants, and so simply set the flask beside it and left again.

He sighed again, descending to the ground floor and crossing it to the base of the tower where his chambers were. Uther did this every year, locked himself in his rooms after the banquet and mused about the past. It was a shame really, considering the festival of the winter solstice was supposed to be about looking to the future. Still, if Uther wished to dwell on the past, there was little he could do to stop him.

Gaius climbed the stairs up the tower, entering his chambers before stopping in his tracks. Liam was face down on the table where he'd left him sat, but he wasn't unconscious... He was giggling quietly under his breath, much to his mentor's consternation.

The physician hurried over, wondering what was wrong with his apprentice until he smelt something suspicious and did so with a sinking feeling. He'd handed the boy one of the flasks from near the door, which contained the drinks for this evening, and told him to pour himself a mug full. He thought he'd handed Liam the one containing the mixed fruit juice he'd had Merlin purchase from the castle cooks, but he'd given him the one containing the other purchase he'd had Merlin make... It had been filled with the tavern owner, Everic's, strongest spiced cider!

"...Oh dear..."

Gaius winced at his error, looking towards the door hoping he could sober Liam up before this evening. But given the fact that Liam had already been close to drunk when he'd unsuspectingly gulped down a large mug of the cider, it wasn't going to be likely.

Still grimacing at the situation, he tried to get his apprentice to go lie down on the bed in the corner, but succeeded only in dragging him off the bench and onto the floor instead. Realising there was little he could do about it, he went and got the pillow and blanket and brought them to Liam instead. He may not have been strong enough in his old age to lift the young man, but he could at least make the floor a bit less uncomfortable for him. He was just going to have to stay there until the banquet was over and Merlin got back.

Midwinter's Day had always been less than boring since Merlin had arrived, but now it seemed it had managed to become even stranger.

~(-)~

Alaia Skyhawk: lol, first Gaius got him tipsy, and now he's accidentally got Liam pissed out of his head XD