Author's Note: Hey, I'm trying to get as many chapters out as soon as I can, but I probably won't update for at least another week. So, please review, and I hope you enjoy it.
PS: Thank you for everyone who has already reviewed!
It was a half an hour before everyone had gathered in Arthur's chambers. Whoever had delegated the chambers to each of the Camelotians had been kind enough to give Gwen and Arthur interconnected chambers.
Arthur sat everyone down at a table in his rooms. Oddly enough, it was a circular table almost identical to the Round Table. There were just enough seats to sit everyone with one seat left over where Gaius would usually sit.
Once everyone had found their places, Arthur asked, "Thus far, what is your opinion of King Merlin?"
Gwaine grinned and stuck his feet onto the table, "I think he's awesome and the kind of guy who would be hilarious when drunk."
Lance frowned at him while Percival pushed his legs off the table, "You can obviously tell that his people love him immensely and his knights are beyond loyal to him."
Gwen threw in her opinion, "He seemed kind of goofy at first, but then I looked past it and he was looking not at us, but into us. He became almost scary when I realized that. Though, it is hard to see him and think of the person who wrote the letter."
Morgana nodded, "Merlin did seem very young and childish and yet he seemed ancient at the same time. The king is a walking contradiction."
Leon got to the point, "I think that he will be fairly easy to make a treaty with, except if he has something he is adamant about, I believe that he will be very adamant about it. He seems as if he will be a very stubborn man."
Mordred said, "I think he's nice, but this 'air of mystery' thing he has is starting to get on my nerves. The lights, the winding pathways, the small amount of people, the lack of guards. It's ridiculous! How many mysteries can one man hold?"
Percival commented, "I don't think he is just trying to be mysterious; I think he is protecting himself in case we don't end up making the treaty. If we end up as still an enemy, he won't want us to know all of his secrets. I am personally amazed by his city. It's so clean and wonderful." That was the most they had heard Percival say at one time and they were a little awed. He grinned sheepishly at them.
Arthur nodded at Gwen's brother, "And you Sir Elyan, what did you think about this King?"
Elyan said, "He almost doesn't seem like a king. You could actually mistake him for a servant with the way he looks and the way he acts. He didn't even wear a crown. The only thing that would mark him out as a king on the streets would be his sword. Other than that, nothing."
Arthur nodded sagely, "I agree with all that has been said so far. The question is, how do we proceed? How do we get the king of Criladien to open up to us?"
They sat at their table and planned and plotted until the servants came to lead them to dine with the king.
It took the servants longer to navigate the halls of the castle. Eventually, they reached their destination. The maids bowed to them, opened the doors, and left.
Everyone in the room had quieted when the doors were opened. Once again, the knights were lounging around the room, most of them leaning against walls. The difference was, this time King Merlin was doing the same thing. The watched as the young man padded over to where they stood.
His face split into his characteristic grin and he said, "Alright, sit wherever you want to! There are plenty of seats and no head of the table, so sit and then we'll sit and then we'll eat! I, personally, am famished. And, we're having roast chicken tonight, which is really quite good. I hope you like it."
He was going to continue when a knight with pale blonde hair a little longer than his and ice blue eyes grabbed his shoulder and said, "If you don't stop now, they won't make it to the peace treaty talks. They'll have died of boredom."
Merlin actually pouted at him, but the older man just smiled and stuck his hand out saying, "I'm Sebastian. It's a pleasure to meet you all. As the King said, please sit."
As the guests sat, they heard the King mutter about him not being able to talk even though Sebastian talked more than he did. Gwen stifled her giggles into Arthur's arm, but Merlin caught her doing it anyways. He just grinned at her.
They ended up sitting, in clockwise rotation, in this order: Arthur, Gwen, Elyan, Percival, Leon, Morgana, James, Taylor, Stone, Joseph, Sebastian, an empty seat, Merlin, Gwaine, Mordred, and then Lancelot.
Arthur frowned, "How is it that both tables I've sat at so far are exactly as many seats as are needed for the present company plus one extra seat?"
Merlin frowned at him in confusion but then remembered, "Oh! Well, word of the famous 'Round Table' has reached far and wide, so I aimed to replicate the round table seat for seat in your rooms, but as I did not ask for your court physician to come, there was one extra. This time, it is the perfect amount for all the guests; it's just that Warrior isn't here yet."
"Ah," was all Arthur said. Soon thereafter, serving girls brought in a plate of roast chicken, peas, carrots, cheese, and some bread for each person. They filled their drinks with wine. All except Merlin's and the missing Warrior's, Arthur noted.
As if his thoughts were a signal, the door opened. The person who came through was not at all what they expected.
For one, it was a girl. For another, she looked very strange. It appeared as if she were only fifteen. She had jet black hair tied back into a braid. Arthur then noticed that her hair wasn't entirely black: she had a streak of purple and a streak of silver in it. She had one purple eye and one silver eye. Her skin was snow white and her lips were dark. Her nails were purple with silver flowers running across them. She went barefoot and carried a huge broadsword at her side. She was wearing a sleeveless tunic that showed her tattoos. Up the top of her arms and wrapped around her wrists were tattoos making a pattern, but, at closer inspection, Arthur realized that the tattoos were made up of smaller tattoos of animals.
The people of Camelot stared at her openmouthed. The Criladien knights looked up briefly, but went back to their food. Merlin hadn't even looked up.
The strange girl sat in the empty seat next to Merlin and arranged her utensils, cup, and plate a certain way. Merlin talked around a mouthful of food, "Why, look who decided to show up. I'm so glad you could make it Warrior."
Warrior scowled at him and said, "Next time have someone else train the horses then. They aren't trained so obviously it wasn't easy to get them back into their stalls." After a second, she added absentmindedly, "Don't talk with your mouth full."
This time Merlin scowled at her, "Don't tell me what to do. I'm the king and you can't do that." He nodded at her, a smile creeping across his face.
"Evidently you're a rude king as you have yet to introduce me to your guests and your guests to me." Warrior retaliated, promptly eating a piece of chicken.
Merlin went back to a scowl and pushed his shoulder into hers. She didn't even budge, but instead gave a small smile. Merlin sighed and introduced her to his guests. By then, Arthur and his people had gotten themselves under control and weren't staring too obviously at the girl knight.
"So," Merlin asked, "What do you think of your rooms so far?"
Gwen gushed at him, "Oh I think they are absolutely spectacular. I especially love that they have Camelot colors in them. That was so very thoughtful of you. You are such a kind person, do you know that?"
Merlin's cheeks reddened and he looked down, "Well, it was the knights who decorated them, so really, you have them to thank."
Gwen's smile spread and she thanked the knights and then thanked Merlin, who just smiled and looked down.
Arthur took that opportunity to ask about the castle, "How is it that your castle has a mind of its own, Merlin?"
The King looked at Arthur and grinned, "That's a secret. She doesn't like people she doesn't know to learn all her secrets. I can, however, tell you that her name is Eryas. This is the Eryas Palace. She tends to like people who use her actual name better than people who just call her the castle."
Arthur nodded sagely and pretended that a castle with a name, a gender, and personal preferences was an everyday occurrence. Some of the other knights smiled in understanding at the Camelotians who were all struggling to accept this kingdom's strange ways.
"So," Leon broke the silence, "Do you have a court? They obviously weren't there today, but do you even have one?"
Merlin shook his head, adding, "I really don't find any need for a court. The only time we have anything similar is when someone is murdered and the head man or woman from each town comes and forms a committee to judge the person responsible. Luckily, that doesn't happen very often. Well, we also get the head man or woman from every town to meet together once a year to discuss the state of the kingdom. Other than that, no I do not hold court."
"Besides," James grinned at them, "I doubt Eryas would let some of them get to the courtroom anyways. There're three of them that Eryas just hates for some reason. They're nice people and are completely loyal to the crown, but Eryas does not like them."
Taylor sniggered, "Remember that time when they had to go to the bathroom and it was three hours until we found them?"
"Oh mate, I've got to here that story!" Gwaine sat forward eagerly.
Taylor laughed again and happily obliged. Then the two parties started to share stories of nobles in the court and when things went wrong.
Arthur noticed that Warrior and Sebastian were both very quiet and only joined the conversation to agree or disagree to something. He was confused about that based on how open they were with Merlin.
Then the doors of the dining room swung open and the occupants of the room turned to face the sound.
A frazzled looking servant ushered a seven year old girl into the room. Arthur watched as Merlin's face creased and he leapt out of his seat to hug the girl to him.
All of the Camelotians were amazed to see this goofy, strange King pick the girl up and hold her the way a mother would hold her child. He leaned his forehead against hers and said, "Martha, what's wrong? Is Thomas okay?"
The child shook her head, her braids almost whacking Merlin in the face. Arthur noted that the girl, Martha, had tears tracking down her face. He half got out of his seat to go help her.
Merlin asked seriously, "Martha, what happened to Thomas?"
Martha started to cry harder, her voice high-pitched and shaking, "We were playing in the forest, and he climbed a tree, but he fell off, and then his arm was the wrong direction and there was blood and he wouldn't wake up, and I didn't know what to do, and I don't know what to do, and I couldn't find the physician and I still don't know what to do!" She said it all in the same breath.
Without Merlin having to say anything, Warrior stood and pushed her chair in one smooth move, "I'll get some horses and your kit." Merlin nodded to her and she walked out.
Merlin asked Martha "Is someone with Thomas right now? Is Lucy with him?" When she nodded, he continued, "Did you check for a pulse?" Martha nodded again and stuck her thumb in her mouth.
They saw Merlin push her arm down and say, "Don't put your thumb in your mouth," distractedly before asking, "Can you lead me and Warrior to him?" She nodded again and then they were out of the room and the doors swung shut behind them.
Arthur sat back down in his chair and looked over to see Sebastian staring intently at him. He started to feel self conscious, so he asked, "What?"
Sebastian smiled, "Nothing, it's just that not many people, king or otherwise, would have gotten out of their seats to help her when she already had someone else taking care of her. It says a lot about you." Arthur tore his gaze from Sebastian's when he heard talking
Morgana was asking James something, "Why would Merlin help her? Well, I mean, he's her King, but how would he help her?"
Lancelot threw his own question in as well, "Does he have magic?"
Morgana raised her eyebrows at Lancelot, "I would know if he had magic. There wasn't any feeling of magic anywhere around him."
James slid into the conversation, "To answer your first question Lady Morgana, the King has been apprenticed to the court physician his whole life. He learns everything he can if he thinks that it will help his people. Turns out it's helpful. Things like this happen more often than you think. The court physician will be helping someone, for example, he's helping someone with a particularly difficult birth today, so the people will come to the King and he will be able to help them, like now.
"To answer your question Lancelot, you will have to ask him that. I do not mean any offense to you my Lady, but I doubt you would be able to tell if someone had magic in Eryas. Like, when we were all in here, when the King was talking to Martha, did you feel magic bearers?" James finished.
Morgana shook her head no and James continued with a small smile, "Martha has magic. Mind you, it's not enough, but it's enough that, if you were outside of Eryas, you would have felt it. Her brother has magic as well, but her best friend, Lucy, doesn't. Eryas doesn't like when people have an advantage over her family."
Arthur looked at him, "Her family?"
Joseph answered for James, "That's what we call the people who live in her all the time. We're the people who she really likes and will allow living in her constantly and without escort. Those people are the King, us knights, and a couple servants. Eryas is very particular."
Taylor snorted and started a conversation about the horrors of training servants to work in the castle. They told stories of hopelessly lost people or of Eryas making trips five times longer than they should be. They even said that there were times when Eryas tripped people in the hallways.
After about an hour, Merlin and Warrior returned. Warrior gave Merlin an undecipherable look and then took her plate, cup, and utensils and walked out of the room. The other knights looked at her with concern.
Merlin plopped down into his chair, nodding when asked if Warrior was alright, and asked, "So, what'd I miss?"
Taylor said, "We were telling them horror stories of training servants."
Merlin rolled his eyes and said, "Remember that one time when that servant was firmly convinced that Eryas was haunted and we kept trying to convince him that it was just Eryas being mischievous. I was starting to understand why Eryas didn't like him."
They spent the next few hours eating dessert and talking about their homes and lives. Tomorrow, the talks would begin.
