Hey guys! Thanks for everyone who wrote after my A/N! It means a lot and I'll keep updating! =)

Some people assumed I had doubts because it was me who didn't like the story and that I didn't want to keep writing it! Well, it's not true! I LOVE it! =D I'm so excited for Merlin's and Arthur's little affair. I just wasn't sure if you liked it! But based on the reviews it seems you do, so I'm gonna post all the chapters.

I'm confident about finishing the story because I have all the chapters outlined and I know exactly what I want to do with Merlin and Arthur (if the updating gets slower, it's only because I have exams in June…but I tend to choose writing instead of studying! =P)

OK, enough of my rambling…

I don't own Merlin/English is not my first language…

Chapter 3

Gaius' reaction was better than Merlin's.

But he was still shocked. At first, he'd thought that Merlin was playing some kind of joke on him – Arthur wondered what a strange sense of humour Merlin must've had if his mentor had the idea that this was only one of his ward's jokes – but after asking Lady Lora all sorts of questions about Prince Arthur's childhood, he was finally convinced about her true identity.

After that, Gaius was looking at her with total amusement, he was studying her with the curiosity of a scientist– he had even wanted to examine Arthur's body more closely to see „if the transformation was, indeed, complete"! Arthur, after recoveringfrom her momentary shock, had refused the suggestion in an instant (fortunately, Merlin had been just as outraged by the idea as her, so he'd sided with his master).

They finally came to discussing the possible solutions for Arthur's problem, but it wasn't fruitful at all, as Gaius had never even heard of a curse like this.

„I'm sorry sire, but I have never seen a case similar to yours." – he said from behind his desk.

Arthur was pacing in the physician's chamber in her uncomfortable dress, grabbing her long her furiously.

„No, Gaius. There has to be something!" – she shrieked.

„I'll start to search through the books immediately, sire. If they ever recorded something like this, I'm sure it will be here…somewhere." – he glanced around.

„If they didn't?" – Merlin asked silently from the steps of the stairs where he was sitting. This was the first time he said something.

Arthur turned to Gaius, waiting for him to say something reassuring, but he remained silent. This only made Arthur more desperate. Then something popped into her head, something that would definitely work, she was sure.

„I'll go after her." – she stated with determination in her voice.

„What?" – asked Merlin incredulously and stood up.

„I'll go after her, hunt her down and then force her to reverse the curse!"

„Arthur, I don't think that's a good idea…" – said Gaius with a hint of parental worry in his voice. But Arthur took none of it, she was too furious.

„And what should I do Gaius? Just sit and hope that the witch will be kind enough to undo the spell?" – she snapped with anger, but it was not at all directed at Gaius, she could only hope he knew this – „you can't expect me to do that." – she said in a more pleading tone as she leaned over to him with her hands on the table.

„Arthur, it's dangerous!" – Merlin was now standing right beside Arthur and tried to convince her – „please, just let Gaius search!"

Arthur didn't say anything, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and was just staring up at the pleading Merlin hopelessly. Apart from her emotional outburst – for which she blamed the huge amount of female hormones in her body – she could see sense in their words. But they had no idea how horrible it was to be stuck in the body of a weak woman.

Merlin must've thought she remained silent out of stubbornness because he continued his persuasion.

„We don't even know where she is! Besides, it would cause suspicion if you, Lady Lora left the castle all of a sudden with a horse and a sword."

He stepped in front of Arthur and touched her shoulder briefly but reassuringly, waiting for her answer.

It was so strange to look up at Merlin, he'd always been taller than Arthur (and it had highly irritated Arthur in the first few month of his service) but Merlin always made sure to hide their little height difference – at least when they were in public. Whereas now she was staring at his ridiculous neckerchief and couldn't be taller, even if she'd been standing on her toes!

But this gave her the opportunity to closely observe Merlin's Adam's apple and jawline from a new angle. And somehow she found his features rather masculine…

These thoughts scared Arthur and she told herself that she only showed interest in them because they reminded her of her one-time manly face.

Anyhow, Arthur snapped back to reality and turned to Gaius.

„And what should we be doing while you're going through thousands of books?" – she asked more calmly.

Even though she was looking at Gaius, she could see that Merlin had his stupid grin on his face, clearly satisfied that he'd won the argument. Arthur considered smacking him on the head but Gaius interrupted.

„Just play your role!" – he said with a shrug.

That was the answer Arthur had been afraid of.

She only huffed and murmured a few incoherent things to the ceiling and made the decision to leave and finally rest.

„Gaius." – she said as a goodbye to the physician and then turned to leave.

„See you tomorrow, Merlin." – she said in an indifferent voice, without looking at him and then she disappeared in the corridor.

After their brief discussion, Arthur had spent the rest of the afternoon in her new chamber.

It was one of the many guestrooms that the castle had. It wasn't either big or small but Arthur just hated it – probably because it represented everything she'd lost in the incident with the witch.

First of all, it lacked that deep scarlet colour which was Arthur's favourite. It symbolized Camelot and the royal family, therefore the Crown Prince's chamber was filled with that shade of colour. Now Arthur was a nobody, just one of the guests of Camelot in an average guest room. No one knew who she really was.

Secondly, everything was cream-coloured! The drapes, the baldachin on the bed, the pillows had this light colour – it made the chamber look very similar to Morgana's, except that hers was bigger and filled with her belongings. This room was basically empty, except for the bloody flowers! The room was full of them! Arthur could count eight vases of flowers – did women like them that much?

Well, they do make the room more cosy… - as Arthur realized what she'd just mentally noted, she gave a grunt and slumped onto the edge of the bed.

She buried her face into her soft hands. She felt that she was dangerously close to crying but she decided that she would not let those tears fall.

Arthur had sunk so deep into self-pity that she failed to notice the figure standing in the door and looking at her with sad eyes.

„Is everything alright, my lady?" – asked a soft voice, a voice which Arthur knew! She quickly snapped her head up and saw her lovely Gwen.

Arthur didn't answer, she was just staring at the girl from whom she'd stolen a kiss a month before.

The maid's eyes were filled with worry and when she saw Arthur's melancholy, she put down the fresh sheets she was holding and hurried next to Arthur.

„What's bothering you?" – she asked in an even softer voice and put one of her arms around Arthur's shoulders. It felt strange that such a small girl like Gwen could actually embrace the once strapping prince of Camelot, on the other hand her caring felt so good and comforting.

„Nothing…It's just that I'm exhausted." – Arthur looked up into her eyes and forced a smile but even she could tell that her answer was not very convincing.

Gwen was looking at her with empathy but after a few moments of staring into Lady Lora's eyes, something else also reflected in the maid's gaze; realization – or at least something very similar to that. So Arthur quickly cast her eyes down yet again. The last thing she wanted was Gwen recognize her!

„You miss your family?" – Gwen whispered into her ears.

Arthur was utterly clueless as to why she was supposed to miss her family for a moment but then it clicked that she was Lady Lora who had been attacked by brutes in the woods and now was taking refuge in Camelot.

Arthur nodded slowly, hoping that Gwen had missed her momentary confusion. It seemed she did because she gently pulled Arthur into a hug.

Arthur's eyes widened in surprise. This was the closest she'd ever been to Gwen, she could feel the warmth of her body and could smell her hair. But it didn't have the expected effect on Arthur…

Gwen was holding her firmly and all Arthur could muse about was how she didn't feel anything – or at least nothing that a man felt when the woman he loved hugged him. Well, that was sort of logical as Arthur was not a man, not in body anyway.

Body was the key word. Arthur still loved Gwen – she assumed – her presence still made Arthur happy, her closeness still brightened Arthur's mood (like now) but Arthur no longer felt physical attraction toward Morgana's maid. She was like a friend – a dear friend – to Arthur.

Did this mean that Arthur was now attracted to men? She hoped not!

Arthur silently started to panic, the idea that a man could arouse her new body scared her. She looked down and saw that Gwen's neck was exposed to her and for a moment she seriously pondered to kiss her soft skin just to test her theory.

But Gwen probably wouldn't be happy about it. So Arthur was just resting in Gwen's comforting but asexual embrace.

It was Gwen who pulled away first after squeezing Arthur one last time. She slowly stood up, patted her lavender dress and addressed Arthur in a more formal manner.

„I came to inform you, my lady that your new servant will be here soon to prepare your bath. She's a lovely girl, she won't disappoint you." – she said.

„I'm sure she won't."

Arthur thought this was the end of their conversation but Gwen didn't leave, she shifted on her feet nervously. Arthur could tell that there was something on her mind and decided to help her.

„Is there anything else you want to say? – she said to encourage her.

„Actually there is, the Lady Morgana would like to know if you'd honour her with your company tomorrow." – Gwen had a broad smile on her face, obviously the invitation was supposed to cheer the grieving Lady Lora up a bit.

This got Arthur off guard, she had always liked to be with Morgana, they practically had grown up together, but they usually spent the time with bickering, not befriending – which was Morgana's intention now, Arthur was sure of that.

However, Arthur couldn't think of a reason why she should refuse, it's not like she had any princely duties to attend to. She was supposed to do what the ladies of the court did; nothing. It would be boring to that alone.

„Of course, gladly." – she said with excitement.

Gwen smiled at her in response, did a curtsy, then left Arthur alone.

And just like Gwen had said, soon Arthur's appointed maid was at her chamber's door. It was either her or Merlin – but the person was knocking and Merlin never knocked, he just dashed into the room whenever he felt like it.

„Come in." – Arthur said. When she heard her own sing-song voice, Arthur pulled a face. Honestly, her new voice was even higher than Morgana's!

A small girl slipped into the room, she was around sixteen which meant that she'd been a servant in the castle for only a few months. She had brown eyes that were radiating warmth and light brown hair which was arranged into a loose bun.

„Mary, my lady, at your service." – she bowed her head and did a curtsy in her simple, red dress.

Arthur could tell that she was nervous, even more nervous than Arthur herself. Great! She mentally rolled her eyes, they were such a mismatch for each other – the serving girl, who had no idea how to serve a lady and Arthur, who had no idea how to be a lady in general…

„May I prepare your bath, my lady?" – her soft voice interrupted Arthur's musing.

„Uhm, yes." – she nodded. Arthur was so not used to having such formal conversations in her chambers, not since Merlin had come along.

Arthur got through with bathing as fast as she could. She tried not to look while washing herself, so she set her eyes on a spot on the ceiling and kept her gaze there all along. Mary might have found this rather strange but Arthur couldn't care less. She knew that this was the last challenge she had to face on this extremely long and tiring day and after that she could be in bed and have some sleep – and maybe she would wake up a man the next morning…

When Arthur had finished the quickest bath of her life, she stood up triumphantly; she'd successfully overcome the obstacles set by that darn witch and she'd done that with only a few occasional temper tantrums, which – in Arthur's opinion – were totally acceptable in a situation where you lost your manhood all of a sudden and without any warning.

Arthur was standing there, dried, waiting for Mary to dress her into something – most likely a nightgown. If it was the case, Arthur decided that the moment Mary left, she would take it off for the night and would sleep without clothing instead – no one in the world would force her to wear a dress in her sleep! But it probably wasn't a smart idea, for who knew how Mary would react when she found Lady Lora naked in bed, so Arthur had to accept the fact that she would be sleeping in a fussy and uncomfortable dress…

While Arthur was preoccupied with her thoughts, Mary appeared in sight but instead of bringing any form of clothing, she was holding a pot which was filled with some sort of cream or balm.

Arthur was watching the approaching girl warily. What was she doing with that? Was it for Arthur? And most importantly; what was Arthur supposed to do with it?

Mary placed the pot on a drawer near Arthur, put some of its content on her hands and started toward Arthur but halted in her tracks when she saw Arthur's confused and frightened expression.

„Don't you wish me to rub lotion on your skin before bed, my lady?" – she asked uncertainly. She feared that she'd done something wrong.

„No-no. I'd like that." – she reassured the girl. Arthur felt guilty for making Mary so confused, she probably thought that she was failing at serving as a maid while it was Arthur who was totally incompetent at behaving like a lady.

Guilt was quickly replaced by sheer shock as Mary stepped behind Arthur and started gently massaging the lotion into her skin. Arthur couldn't believe this was happening, Mary was slowly making her way downwards and never missed any part of Arthur's body – not even her buttocks!

No wonder everyone had been staring at her with wide eyes earlier in the Great Hall, it would've been very inappropriate for Merlin to do what Mary was doing at the moment.

As the young girl was massaging her calves, Arthur took some balm on her hand out of curiosity and boredom. She observed the substance on her fingers closely, she lifted her hand to her nose and figured that it smelled quite nice! It's odour was like a mixture of honey and…some kind of flower.

Arthur started to rub the balm onto her shoulder and her arm. She had to admit that it felt good, her skin was so soft, so touchable.

She eagerly reached for the pot to have some more but from the corner of the eye, she noticed a figure standing only a few feet away from her. She snapped her eyes up to have a look at the peeping perv before she gave a punch between the eyes.

But when Arthur realized who she'd seen, her eyes rounded in surprise and shock.

She was staring at her own reflection in a long mirror that was placed next to the changing screen, slightly to the right. Arthur wouldn't have believed that the woman looking back at her was, indeed, herself if it wasn't for Mary, since her figure also reflected in the mirror – it was unlikely that Mary's twin happened to be massaging another lady in the very same room…

It was so bizarre. She had long blond wavy locks which framed her young face, Arthur had always looked older than his age but now, with her soft cheeks and big eyes, she actually looked younger – like a nineteen-year-old girl. As far as she could tell in the candle light, the colour of her eyes had stayed the same and her lips were just like before, only a bit more feminine.

Her body structure had also changed drastically (though she'd noticed that already…).

Still gazing into the mirror, Arthur slowly lifted her hands and touched her flat stomach, even though her movements suggested that she was just rubbing the lotion, Arthur's true intention was to discover her new body – sooner or later it had to happen, she knew it'd been foolish to think she would be able to avoid it.

The next thing that caught her attention was her breasts – well, she'd noticed them already as they were the most eye-catching part of the transformation, but this was Arthur's first opportunity to have a proper look at them. They weren't small or big, but fit perfectly to her new body. She slid her hands up carefully and cupped them – to her surprise, the touch didn't evoke any special feelings in her.

Strange. Arthur's belief – that women must've been aroused all the time since they were in the possession of such wonderful things – had been proven wrong.

She examined her neck and shoulders next. She slid her fingers smoothly over her neck where his Adam's apple had been once, then skimmed down to her pronounced collarbones and finally her shoulder blades – they were so thin now.

On the other hand, her hips were a lot more curvy and round, making her body resemble to an hourglass.

Arthur took a few steps towards the mirror (Mary had already finished the massage and had gone to fetch Arthur's nightgown), she drew a sharp breath and took in the sight from head to the toe once again. True, her body was beautiful and maybe if Arthur had been a remarkably unattractive lad as a prince, she would've considered this turn of events as a blessing.

But he'd been one of the most dashing bachelors in the five kingdoms and he'd liked it that way!

„May I dress you, my lady?" – asked Mary politely.

Arthur tore her gaze away from the mirror and looked at the girl. She was holding a flimsy dress and what do you know; it was cream-coloured – though it was probably better this way, Arthur would feel completely out of place in the room if she was to wear any other colour.

After Mary had dressed her, Arthur thanked her services and dismissed the girl with a smile, hoping that tomorrow morning wouldn't be as awkward as the evening had been…

Arthur dragged herself to the bed slowly and threw herself on it, only to find out that laying on front was extremely uncomfortable in this body.

„Urgh!" – she gave a grunt and rolled over to her back.

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I know-I know, it was a boring chapter…but it's kind of a filler chapter and had to be done (I hated writing it, though!).

The next one is a lot better I promise, that has more Merlin in it! =P