Loving the dark start to the new series! All the faint screams in the background really send shivers down the spine don't they?

Anyway, looking forward to what the writers have come up with this year. Should be good. I heard that Howard Overman (writer/creator of Misfits) was doing a bit of writing for Merlin these days.

Disclaimer: Merlin belongs to the BBC.


Leon tried to put as much distance between himself and the hallway as quickly as possible. The frozen horses on the main aisle did not make his heart race as much as those that he had seen blazing with life one minute and quite still the next. And some of these horses were no longer turned off, instead merrily munching on hay in bright and gleaming stalls. Leon paused at one such stall to let his breathing slow to a normal speed. The signs on the stall doors removed the mystery of why these horses were awake, for these were horses that were assigned to several of the permanents. The stall that Leon gripped in an effort to stop gasping belonged to Prince Arthur's horse and was the nicest arraignment Leon had yet seen, as only befitting Arthur's status within the business.

Finding the stuntsman was easier than Leon expected. Or rather, it was the stuntsman who easily found him seated against one of the posts. Frankly the whole incident with the horses had unnerved him more than he cared to admit. Closing his eyes for a brief second Leon focused on his lines for the upcoming scene and almost leapt when he heard the stuntsman's voice right above his head. Eyes snapping open he glared up at the man. "You're going to get punched if you sneak up on the wrong person like that."

"I called your name twice!"

Well that explained it, Leon wasn't yet used to his name. It was like trying to break in a stiff new leather jacket. When he first put it on it hung off him in a formless shape, chilly and bruising where it poked at his skin. But slowly and surely he was warming to it and was bending it into a layer that showed him off and protected him from the cold, cold anonymity. Shaking his head to clear the fog Leon softened his glare and said, "Did you have something to say or are you just hovering?"

"Where were you? We came back here after They picked the horse but you were gone! I had to spend half an hour looking for you. They missed the shooting window because of you."

"I'm here now, I'll just apologize to Them and we can do the scene."

The stuntsman stared at him in astonishment, "It's raining! We can't do the scene today."

Leon winced. It was bad enough that he missed the shoot but to have the scene delayed by a whole day? He would be surprised if They didn't put him back early again.

"Look, I'm sorry I messed things up. It's just, after you left with Them there wasn't that much for me to do so I thought I'd look around. I didn't realize I'd been gone so long."

The stuntsman nodded and sighed, "I know. I just followed Them around and agreed whenever They asked my opinion. They didn't really want to hear what I had to say. Listen, I've come on Their request to tell you to report to the Upper office. Immediately."

At least the guy had the decency to look sympathetic.

The trudge through the rain was just as Leon expected, extremely cold and over much quicker than he would have liked. Inside the main sound stage house Leon wrung as much water out of his cloak as possible creating a nice puddle on the floor that someone else would have to deal with. He dawdled another few moments straightening his clothes and fixing his hair. Finally he could delay no longer. Taking the stairs on the right two at a time he found himself knocking at the door of the Upper office with no idea of what he was going to say.

There was no answer. Leon knocked again. There was still no answer. Quietly Leon pushed the door open with his fingertips wishing he still had his quarterstaff or at least a sword, just for safety's sake. The office was empty. Leon looked at the door again, yep this was the right office, so where were They? Figuring that They might be right back Leon took a seat on the black leather couch that rested just inside the door.

Settling back into the stiff cushions Leon closed his eyes again and counted back from one hundred. Everyone had a trick they used to calm down before returning to the store room. One of his fellow knights made maps in his head, a different knight practiced French verbs, and another one recited recipes for bread (which was strange because Leon didn't think he could actually cook). It was a trick you had to learn early to get by or you'd eventually go crazy.

By the time Leon hit negative twenty three he was feeling calmer about everything, which was lucky because that's when he heard voices outside the office.

"But is he ready?"

"We don't know. We might have to let him go." This second voice was lighter than the first and sounded younger, although Leon wasn't a reliable judge when it came to Their ages.

The first voice again, hoarse and gravely, "No. Let it play out."

Leon leaned closer to the crack between door and frame hoping to hear more as the voices dropped down to whispers. He could barely make out the voice of the first but the second was less adept at cloaking his voice. Leon listened to the whispers for a few more seconds picking out only, "You really think…?" and "Yes, I suppose that's true."

The first voice cut through, loud enough to hear again. "Don't make me wait forever."

Leon scooted down to the other end of the couch as he saw the doorknob turn. One of the speakers entered and moved to the desk on the opposite wall not sparing any looks in his direction. The other lingered by the door, his eyes focused squarely on Leon with something akin to curiosity.

There was an uncomfortable silence as the figure settled into the desk behind the chair. After a few moments of shuffling through the papers in a neat stack the figure at the desk spoke, revealing himself to be the first speaker, "so glad you could join us sir knight. Actually I am loath to use such formalities, they put distance between people. We are all friends here, are we not Leon? May I simply call you Leon?"

Leon shrugged, "it's your name."

The figure chuckled and finally lifted his eyes from the clearly important and official documents to look directly at Leon. Leaning forward in his seat slightly he fixed Leon with a winning smile and said, "I think you will find that it is indeed your name, Leon."

Leon was unsure how to respond to that. He was also still slightly unsure as to the reason for the meeting. People who went missing for a few minutes were not generally summoned to the Upper Office.

"You're wondering why you're here."

"A bit."

"We are concerned with your behavior Leon. Most would be thrilled to be in your position, excited to finally have a chance to be recognized. But you Leon, I can't figure you out. You've never done anything out of character, aside from that unfortunate fighting incident, and yet all of a sudden you have the notion that being granted a name gives you license to cavort around and make people wait. Let me inform you, it does not. I don't know where you've gotten these ideas from and I don't care. We expect your perfect behavior and we will be forced to step in if we do not receive it."

He smiled again and nodded to the other figure, "Leon, you have a good thing now. Don't mess it up."

The one in the doorway firmly took Leon's elbow and politely, but purposefully, showed him to the door. Once outside the figure let go and stepped back inside the office. The figure at the desk had already turned back to the stack of papers which seemed to have grown during the short meeting. The door swung shut.

When someone tells you not to do something, the automatic response is the impulse to do whatever it is that you're not supposed to do. And as Leon was learning, he was kind of an impulsive guy.

Please Review! Suggestions, critiques, hate mail (I hope not), etc.