Meeting some old friends, making some new.

Notes:

Few things to keep in mind from here on.

*There are some curses in this chapter, so please don't hate me for it. I am not a rude person. Well, mostly. :p

* References from Harry Potter. Because JK Rowling is GOD. And also because if these creatures were alive during the HP world, then why shouldn't they be in Merlin's world too!

* Younger Merlin is only supposed to be a year younger to Arthur. Not three. So if Arthur is 19, then technically Merlin will be 18, even though he looks more like 23 in the story. (Explained further into the story)

* Every magical creature knows that there is the Kingdom of Ambrosia, but they don't know where it is. The people who have been called to the land follow the Magical pull.

(See the end of the chapter for)

Chapter Text

It had only been 3 days since Merlin had completely accepted that he was now the King of Ambrosia and he was already regretting it. Currently, Grettir was forcing Merlin into clothes with such scratchy material that it felt like he had multiple ferocious cats fighting in his nether regions.

"You have guests approaching Emrys, you can't address them in-," Grettir was searching for an appropriate term for his clothes, "-peasant garb. I have a reputation to keep." The elf muttered with as much disdain as he could manage towards a piece of clothing.

Merlin snorted, which made Grettir look at him sharply. He knew he was thin ice, but he couldn't resist, so he went ahead and said, "What reputation?", seriously, Merlin had never heard of a fashion elf called Grettir. But all that Merlin got in return for this was a glare that could kill (even though he was immortal) and a hard tug on the belt which made Merlin gasp for breath and hold it in.

Merlin looked down to see Grettir smirking. Cheeky little shit.

"Meet me at the border in 10 minutes, Emrys!" the elf shouted before leaving. Merlin gritted his teeth and made sure that Grettir had vanished completely before discreetly making his belt looser and taking a breath of relief.

"8 minutes, Emrys!"

Merlin jumps. Blasted elf!

The animals had been the first to arrive since their senses caught the pull of magic much more easily than sorcerers or people with no magic. Hordes of Griffins and Hippogriffs came at once and made their nest in the forest behind the castle. Merlin had also been glad that they seemed to accommodate well with the Wyverns already there. He had also been happy to see some fairies, as well as some vilia(water spirits), become resident on his lands.

Then, Merlin saw something he had only read about.
Horses.

But they weren't just horses, no. These horses could fly. Pegasus was a magical breed that was very rare, almost extinct and the fact that they were here - at least fifty of them blew Merlin's mind.

Merlin was embarrassed to say that he had spent a whole day in the stables that day. Voluntarily.

But today was the first time someone was coming to the Kingdom. Hence all the manhandling of a poor warlock by a torturing elf.

In the past three days, Merlin had decided a few things regarding the Kingdom. He and Grettir had sat down together and started planning the city. The druid homes, the residence of the Catha and the marketplace was the first to be a part of that plan. Merlin also wanted to build a school for magic and a place for Dragons specifically.

Sometime in the future there will be Dragons and when that time came, he wanted them to feel at home in Ambrosia. He had magically built houses and huts in the town so that the people that came could settle down immediately.

It was finally starting to look like a real kingdom.

Merlin reaches the border and senses someone waiting. Grettir was going to pelt him to death with his pudgy hands.
He grimaced and already had an argument ready - not all of us can vanish into thin air, Grettir!
Or could he?
He will have to speak to Grettir regarding that at a later date. But for now, he looks up to greet the visitor.

It was his mother.

Merlin's features grew slack as he saw her for the first time in more than a thousand years.
Ohh, how he had missed her every day of his life. Merlin has to calm himself, it may have been a thousand year for him but it had definitely not been that long for his mother.
He looks at her to find her crying. Tears down her face as if she doesn't believe it's him. Mentally thinking, isn't he the one supposed to react like that?

"Mum." It's that word that does it for Hunith.
She runs to Merlin, barreling herself into his chest, and after a second Merlin can feel her tears seeping through his shirt. He doesn't think much of it because he is in a similar state.

He wraps his arms around her small figure and hugs her to him for dear life.
She was the one person who had always know him for what he was and still loved him like no other. She would always box his ears whenever he thought that he was a freak of nature. She will never have any idea how many times he had needed his ears boxed in the past thousand years.
He could hear her saying, 'my boy, my dear boy', again and again, as if she has to make herself believe that he was there in her arms.

He is confused for a second, but also glad for it- as now he doesn't have to hide how much he has missed her. He had expected a reaction like this from himself but not from his mother.

They part after Hunith has stopped shaking, but she still holds his hand, afraid to let go. When he hears,

"Where were you?" He looks past his mother for the first time since she got here and sees Will. He feels sudden guilt. Both at not seeing him at first and also because Merlin couldn't save him, his best friend, in the past life.

"Will!" Merlin shouts and goes to hug his friend. They pat each other on the back like they used to.
Merlin gets assaulted by all the memories they had together, all the pranks they played.

"We missed you, Merlin!" Will says in his ear and then repeats his previous question after they are done hugging their hearts out, "Now, where have you been?" his voice questioning.

"What do you mean?" asks Merlin. He had assumed that since he found himself in the stables of the village near Camelot, then his past self must have just left Ealdor to meet Gaius. So, this question didn't add up to Merlin.

"You have been missing for two years, Merlin." this comes from his mother, who still hasn't let go of his hand.

"You left for Camelot, but you never sent word that you'd reached." Hunith's other hand flows to her mouth in a vain attempt to stop the sob that comes out. "When a month passed and you had still not sent anything, I assumed the worst and sent Will to Camelot to speak to Gaius."

Merlin was getting worried here. But before he could say anything Will continued from where his mother had left off, "When I spoke to Gaius, he told me that you had never even reached Camelot. Then I searched for you everywhere- Mercia, Caerleon and even went as far as Rheged. But no one had seen anyone that resembled you."

Merlin was silent for a moment. He had known that time travel would have adverse effects on both the timelines involved, but he had never expected this.

This was starting to make sense now, why his mother had reacted so strongly to seeing him, why he now had two years extra before starting his destiny. He had left for Camelot early in this life- he would have been of sixteen summers, but he had also arrived back in time, Early. Full two years early. Just as long as he had been missing, apparently.

Somehow, the Old religion had managed to maintain balance in even this. Merlin smiles ruefully at that.

At least there was one upside to this whole 'missing' thing, thought Merlin. His mother and Will were not questioning his appearance- which was a whole lot different than his previous self.

His hair was longer and he had a bit of a stubble but the main change was in the body. Merlin's body type was now more similar to that of Gwaine's than his previous self.

The downside was that Merlin definitely didn't pass as an 18-year-old kid. He looked more like a 23-year-old man. This could get a bit hard to explain and he was suddenly very glad for Grettir as the elf came at that very moment to tell them that they should probably go inside and not stand at the border all day, 'because that was his job!', and gave Merlin a bit of time to make up a good excuse for missing for the past two years.

Safe is to say that it was not a good excuse.

Merlin had spewed some bullshit for about thirty minutes before realizing that no matter how many years passed, he was always going to be shit at lying. So, he had decided to give them the truth, or at least as much truth as he could manage without making him sound like a madman.

"I don't know how to explain, but i-it had something to do with magic." Merlin pauses, trying to decide the best way to say this,

"I have a destiny and that required me to leave to…... learn. And I couldn't do that from Camelot, so I had to leave..." He then chances a look at Will and says, "I would have told you, but I didn't plan this. I was…. unwillingly transported to a different world from where I couldn't reach you. But- but I missed both of you every minute of every day that I was gone, and I am here now and I will never leave again, I promise" He takes in air shakily, that is as close as he can give them without actually telling them what really happened.

He waits for them to say something, he looks at his mother first, who smiles at him and nods, gently pushing a hand through his hair.

And then he looks at Will, who unlike the Will he knows has been silent instead of loud and boisterous. But Will isn't looking at him, but Hunith, and addresses this to her,
"How can you believe what he just said?!" he then turns to Merlin and continues,

"If you can't tell us the truth Merlin, then the least you can do is not lie to us."

Will stops then, waiting for Merlin to say something, anything, Merlin doesn't know what else he can say, so he closes his eyes and faces away from Will. He waits for a minute more.
"ok then, that means I'm leaving." Will turned and started to walk the way they'd come.
"Will-," Merlin called after him,
"No! I only came here to drop Hunith anyway!" That was a lie, Merlin was sure of it. Will had a bag on his back, which surely contained all of his meagre belongings.

Merlin grits his teeth and looks at Hunith, a plea of 'what should I do' in his eyes.
His mother gives him a smile she would always give whenever he was being a …. well a dumbass.
"He never stopped you know, never stopped looking." She takes a deep breath here, "He went everywhere to look for you, every. single. day." She looks pointedly at him before adding, "He is your closest friend, Merlin. He deserves the truth, the full truth …. even though you are not ready to tell me. Yet."
She cups his face and kisses him on the head, then she looks him in the eyes and says, "Go".

Merlin ran and caught up to Will quickly, he tried to make him stop walking but Will stubbornness almost, almost rivalled Merlin's own. This ended up in them fighting, wrestling on the ground and playing tug of war with their tunics- all in the span of 10 minutes.
By the end of which, they were both panting and asking for a break.

"You…. were…. never this good at… wrestling!" says Will, still trying to catch his breath.
Merlin flashes him a cheeky grin and after a moment says, "Are you ready to listen to me now?"

"Are you ready to tell me the truth now?" Will throws back. They stare at each other, both unyielding.
And then Merlin asks"Can we at least sit down first?" at first Will tries to look rebellious, but then accepts realizing that his back aches from lying on the ground, no matter how much grass it has on it.

They sit on one of the benches and Merlin turns to face Will. He takes a deep breath and says, "I am going to tell you everything, but", here Will's eyes narrow, "you must promise that you will listen till the end and not interrupt." Merlin waits for Will's nod before starting.

.

.

"I don't know where to start from?" He says after full 15 minutes of floundering for the right words. He looks at Will who rolls his eyes fondly and replies with, "Start from the beginning, mate. What happened after you left for Camelot?"

Merlin frowns here and says, "I left for Camelot when I was 20 years old, not 16." Will's jaw is tight, he thinks Merlin is lying to him again, Merlin holds up his hands in front of Will to prevent him from getting up.

"No! no, listen. I promise to tell you the truth, all of it. Just let me finish and don't interrupt." Will is glaring at him now, so he adds, "Please" voice beseeching.

Will must have seen something in Merlin's face because he sat back down and moved his hands in a flourish- as if giving Merlin the stage.

He takes a deep breath and starts,

"In a different time, I left for Camelot when I was 20 summers old." He chances a look at Will before continuing, "On my first day there- I met the prince of Camelot, was thrown in a dungeon and pelted with potatoes in the middle of the market." He smiles here. Even Will was trying hard not smile and Merlin knew that whatever way Will reacted to this information, they will be fine.

This relieved him, so he continued, "Now you would think that no one could have a more interesting start in a new city, I thought so too. But then…. Oh boy, then I met the Dragon…...

By the time Merlin is done telling Will every major detail, it's dinner time. But before they get up Merlin looks at Will, biting his cheek. Waiting for his reaction.

For a minute Will does nothing but stare at Merlin, his face showing blank- but his eyes, his eyes were a different matter. Merlin had never wanted to be a mind reader before, but these eyes made him wish for it. Will nods without a word and then says,

"I knew you looked older." A look of triumph on his face, as if he finally managed to solve the Rubik's cube, and a hand pointing at Merlin's face.

Merlin's mouth falls open, he literally just told Will that he is a mega-powerful warlock, who can kill with a thought but sucks at dying himself. He told him that he has the history and experience of a thousand years in his mind and all that Will has to say is that he...looks older?

He can't help it, a snort manages to escape him. This was just like Will, to latch onto the most inconsequential thing, and once Merlin starts there is no stopping him. He laughs like he hasn't in centuries, Will joins in a second later.

And this is how his mother sees them entering the castle. An arm on each other's shoulder and still laughing their hearts out.

Hunith smiles, relieved and shakes her head fondly, boys.

After the dinner, he shows Hunith to her chambers- fit for the mother of the king, as Grettir had put. He knows that he will have to tell her everything sooner or later, starting with the reason of why he looks older but for now he just wants his mother. And, maybe she wants it too, that's why she doesn't ask him any further questions, just kisses him on the head again and retires.

Merlin then takes Will to the room he chose for him, it's a room for a knight of Ambrosia.

Will enters and mutters a 'woah' at seeing the room. He opens the closet and sees the Ambrosian knight uniform amongst other things. Will doesn't look at Merlin immediately, but when he does there is an understanding in his eyes.

He won't fight for a noble, but he will fight for a friend.

That night just before Merlin is about to retire, he hears Grettir in his mind.
'My lord,' Merlin straightens, Grettir only calls him that when people are present.

'Grettir?' He asks questioningly.

'You are needed at the border.' Merlin thinking that it must be an emergency goes to his balcony and whistles loudly (he learnt that trick when he was trying to hail his first cab in London). For a second nothing happens.

Merlin is thinking about whistling again but then a pure white Pegasus comes zooming into his view. Merlin beams, he knew it would work!

Merlin recognizes the Pegasus, its Gemini. He had come to know each and every Pegasus's name in the full day he had spent with them in the stables. She is one the 12 females and they are even rarer than males. And Gemini out of all the females is the only one that is unicorn white in colour.
Merlin jumps on her and they fly towards the border. He is there in a matter of seconds. It was just like flying a dragon, he thinks…. only with more chances to fall.

When Merlin reaches Grettir, he senses something but can't pinpoint the magic. It's a bit like Grettir… but also not really. He turns to the elf, questioningly.

"My lord, when you healed this land and called for every magical creature, that gave us hope." Merlin smiles, if he is proud of one thing, then it is giving magic a home, no matter in which form it came in.

Grettir bows his head and continues, "It was because of that hope, I took the liberty to call on my kin." Merlin suddenly feels someone move, from behind the tree. In Merlin's eye, he can detect a small figure, much like Grettir. Then the figure multiplies, from one to ten, from ten to hundred and soon at least three hundred Elves are facing Merlin.

They are the most adorable looking, nothing like Grettir, Merlin smirks mentally at that. They have huge eyes and pointy ears (Arthur would say, much like Merlin's) and Merlin can feel his grin grow at the thought.
One of the elves comes forward and bows so low, Merlin was sure its head was touching the ground.

"We heard your call Emrys, but didn't know if we would be welcome." The elf now raises his head to look at Merlin in the eyes, "we heard then that you mentioned that anyone who had felt repressed was welcome. We have been repressed all our lives, Emrys. I contacted Grettir, our kin, as soon as we drew closer to the border and realised that the kingdom was the previous perilous lands and asked if you would welcome us." Merlin chances a quick look at Grettir, the elf looks quite proud of himself, really.

"What did he say?" Merlin asks the elves, still looking Grettir.

"He said that he had never met a kinder," Merlin smirks at Grettir, who was starting to look a little red in the face, no longer proud, "wiser", his smirk widens, Grettir looks more like a tomato now, "man than you. And that everyone was welcome." Merlin turns back to the elves now.

"Everyone is welcome in the Kingdom of Ambrosia." The elves beam all at once, looking at their families, hope in their expressive eyes. They really are cute.

Merlin turns to Grettir, "Why do you not look more like them? They are related to you, right?" Grettir exhales huffily as if offended Merlin would question his looks.

"My father was a goblin," Merlin's eyes widen, his one encounter with a goblin hadn't been good. Grettir rolls his eyes, "Not the kind of goblin you are thinking, but a better- behaved goblin, and my mother was a house-elf just like them." Merlin frowns at the 'house-elf', Grettir notices, the elf really was intuitive.

"House-elves are elves that live to serve. They take pride in their work. They love taking care of people under their care and once they have pledged allegiance, no one can be more loyal." Grettir sobers and turns to look at the lands, which now is the Kingdom of Ambrosia. "I pledged my allegiance to this land centuries ago, and now I pledge my allegiance to you, Emrys." Grettir bows. Merlin liked the elf, he really did. He didn't treat him like a god, well, most of the time. He tilts his head in recognition of the vow.

"It will be an honour to serve you, Emrys." said the elf who Merlin now knew was called Friggo. The elf bows and says, "We pledge our allegiance to you, for as long as we shall live." The rest of the elves following after him.

Merlin blinks, and blushes- he needs to stop doing that! He is a king for god's sake. But he is still overwhelmed with this level of freely given loyalty. This is how Arthur must feel, he realises. Merlin addresses them as he thinks Arthur would.

"I promise to return your loyalty with my own. Please remember that you are free to be who you are in Ambrosia. You will be treated with kindness and are free to choose any occupation you like, not just serving." Merlin knows that someone is always different, not everyone likes to be a servant and not everyone likes to be served.

"I welcome you to the Kingdom of Ambrosia."

Merlin had asked Grettir to give the elves a place to stay in the Kingdom, but the elves had already made a home in the servant quarters of the castle, no matter how much Merlin argued with Grettir about that. They had also taken up the Kitchen duties and cleaning.

Friggo, who the elf Merlin had spoken to on the border was the leader of them, he had assigned himself as Merlin's servant- he knew Grettir had a part in it, as all of his 'peasant' clothes were now being used as mops.

A few of the elves had chosen to not serve but to decorate. In two days' time, the castle looked like it was in a time of celebration. Deep blue curtains and golden rails followed along the hallway, every important room had glass chandeliers, which though were quite common in the 21st century, had not even been discovered in the 5th century.

But nothing could compare to what the elves had done in the throne room, candles floated in the air lightening every corner and the roof had been enchanted to imitate the sky outside. It was marvellous what the elves had achieved in a few days.
Every corner of the castle made Merlin happy.

Another elf, called Dobby was more interested in the castle library. He had been reading nonstop and had self-assigned himself as the castle librarian. He could answer any question Merlin had regarding the castle history. He would often see Grettir and Dobby debating on some matter or the other.

Dinky, another elf, had taken a particular liking to his mother and followed her everywhere. Hunith was making herself busy by managing Ambrosia's finances and food stock in a much similar way she had taken care of Ealdor.

The only one terrified of the house-elves was Will, especially after one of them had offered to dress him. Will had locked himself in his room and come out screaming and running when he realized that house-elves didn't need doors to enter a room.

He hadn't seen Will since then. He should probably go look for him.
Merlin paused on it for second and then thought,
'Nah.'

Next day

In the morning Merlin woke up to the delicious smells of his breakfast. He sees Friggo waiting on him, and compliments him.

"Thank you, Friggo. This smells amazing." The elf smiles and lets him know that Grettir required his attention as soon as he woke up.
Urgh, what does the ruddy elf want now? Merlin nods at Friggo and eats his breakfast before contacting Grettir through mind speak.

'Yes, Grettir. Friggo told me to contact you?' Merlin asked. And then Grettir replied in a very casual tone. As if he was telling Merlin the time of the day.

'Yes, Emrys. I wanted to inform you that the Druids are here.'