Hi again everyone! Thanks to all those who gave me positive reviews! They always make my day! Any who, as I said last chapter, the new season of Merlin started so now that's all I can seem to write about. So this chapter is mostly Merlin plus my OC, but hang in there. I'll try to write more Aragorn and Legolas in upcoming chapters! I swear! And just a heads up to anyone who's been reading my other Merlin fics, I will be writing an 'Arthur finds out about Merlin's' fic. I don't know when… but I will be writing one due to request! So never fear! Ok… so maybe fear a little…

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin, Lord of the Rings, or 'bending' which is from ATLA

Enjoy! And once again, sorry for the lack of Aragorn and Legolas, please hang in there!

~0o0~

"So… you're saying that it's impossible for the orc to break through to the courtyard again?"

Arthur had been discussing battle strategies with Aragorn for several hours now. He had voiced his concerns on whether the army would break through to the courtyard again, but the king of Gondor had reassured him.

"Yes. They can destroy that wall as much as they please, but they will not be able to get through again, because Clara will just replace the wall; making it even more difficult to get through each time. That gives us time to further prepare and train our knights for the battle."

Arthur nodded in understanding, and added to the plan;

"It will also give Merlin more time to fully recover and learn some new spells."

"Good morning sires."

Both kings turned their attention to Clara, who had just entered the room.

"Clara, how are you feeling today?"

Arthur was as concerned as Aragorn. Shortly after Merlin was healed, she had passed out from exhaustion and had slept for at least two days.

"I feel a little tired still, but it's nothing that a little food can't help."

Aragorn chuckled, while Arthur grinned.

"Of course. I was just about to lock Merlin in the dining hall so he would eat. If you would like, you can join him."

"I would love to." She smiled at them.

"Great, I'll have someone show you to the dining hall."

"That won't be necessary; I can find it on my own."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded, and bowed to both kings as she left.

The young man gave Aragorn a confused look. The older man responded with a pat on the shoulder.

"She can find her way around easily. She learned some techniques a couple of years ago from other benders. One of them was to sense the vibrations in the ground using earth manipulation. Merlin is already in the dining hall. So she will probably just look for him."

"Huh…" was all he could reply with.

~0o0~

"Hello Merlin. How are you feeling today?"

The young warlock turned his head from the ridiculously large spread of food in front of him, to the blonde who was now moving to sit beside him.

"Oh, hello Clara. Much better thanks to you."

She simply smiled at him as she sat down next to him, and he continued.

"I'm truly grateful, thank you."

"You're welcome. But I should also be thanking you. You took great risk contacting me like you did, so I am grateful for that."

"No problem."

They smiled at each other for a minute before Merlin turned his attention back to the table.

"Please tell me you're going to eat some of this…"

Clara raised an eyebrow and grinned.

"Why?"

"Last time I was unwell, Arthur made me eat until I almost bursted. And I'm pretty sure he's trying to do it again. He thinks I need to gain a few pounds… he needs to lose a few…" He mumbled the last part.

"Don't worry," she chuckled, "I'll lend you a hand… er… stomach?"

The warlocks expression looked relieved.

"Oh gods thank you!"

They both laughed before diving into the feast. Throughout the meal, Merlin had asked Clara several questions about her magic, which she happily answered, leaving Merlin more and more curious.

"What's it feel like? When you use your magic?"

The girl smiled at this.

"Well, what do you feel when you use your magic?"

The warlock stared off into nothing while he thought of an answer.

"I feel… peaceful. Like I'm in touch with the world and everything around me. I feel…"

"Alive?" Clara finished.

"Yeah." He grinned.

"There's your answer then."

They sat in silence for a moment.

"Merlin, do your eyes change color when you use your magic?"

"Yeah, gold. Why?"

"Huh…"
"Do your eyes change color?"

"Yeah, different color for each element… Actually…"

"What?"

She looked at the boy curiously.

"When I manipulate the earth, they turn gold."

Merlin's eyebrows shot up, and he opened his mouth as if to say something, but he quickly closed it again. Clara continued to look at him, obviously intrigued by her realization. Suddenly, she stood up and walked towards the door. She then stopped and turned to look at Merlin' who was still sitting with a confused look on his face.

"Follow me, were going to go outside for a bit."

"Um… ok?"

He rose slowly, and walked to join her. His injury was still bothering him, so he walked with worse posture than normal; in attempt to keep the stress off his chest. The young girl was able to close his wound and repair his ribs, but there was still bruising that he had to deal with. Clara waited patiently for him to catch up, and then as they walked she kept a close eye on him; just to make sure he didn't do anything that would upset his healing chest.

The bender led them towards a courtyard that was located inside the castle walls; safe from the possibility of any attack. The ground was pure earth, with grass growing over the top, and a small pond was sitting in the middle. When stepping through the stone archway, Clara let out a low whistle.

"This place is perfect!"

"What for exactly?"

Merlin walked into the courtyard behind her, and looked around as well. He was familiar with the area. It was the only place that the siege seemed non-existent, and even before, it was one of the most peaceful spots in the castle; he had come often.

"We are going to see…" she walked over to the pond and sat in the grass, Merlin following.

"If you can earth bend."

"What!"

"You heard me. Come on, it doesn't hurt to try."

"Bu…but you… I…" He was too surprised to form a proper sentence.

"What?" The girl leaned back into the grass with an amused smirk on her face.

"Wouldn't that be impossible?"

The two magicians turned their attention to Arthur, who was now standing in the courtyard.

"Arthur? What are you doing here? Why aren't you with King Aragorn?"

The king rolled his eyes.

"Well Merlin… for one, planning different strategies on how to get Camelot out of this siege is very exhausting, and like most normal people, we need our rest. Secondly, you weren't in the dining hall, so I wanted to figure out where you ran off to, and to make sure you got some food into that skeleton you call a body."

"Well… at least I have skeleton for a body and not a… whale…"

Arthur tried to look deeply offended.

"Are you calling me fat again?"

"No. Of course not. You're just… pleasantly plump."

"I'll have you kn- mfmfmm…? "

He was abruptly cut off by an "unusual" gust of wind blowing a few discarded leaves into his mouth.

As he spat them out, Merlin was laughing hysterically until some water hovering over his head proceeded to soak him. This time it was Arthur who was laughing, but this time it was Merlin who silenced him by knocking him off his feet by an "inconveniently" placed root. Clara smacked her forehead with her palm, and ran her hand down her face.

"Honestly, you two are like children…"

"He started it!" they said simultaneously.

She proceeded to let out a small laugh and sighed.

That was a dirty trick Merlin…

What the root? I agree, it was quite dirty, seeing it came from the ground.

Arthur smacked the warlock upside the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" He put on his best, 'I'm innocent' look. He was only answered with a glare, which slowly turned into a grin.

"Idiot."

"Prat."

"Arthur did you want to ask me something?"

Although she enjoyed watching their playful banter, she had brought Merlin out there for a purpose and she wanted to see if her hunch was correct. The king looked at her as if trying to recall what it was.

"What? Oh, right. You were saying you wanted to see if Merlin could earth bend. Wouldn't that be impossible? I mean, with everything you talked about before?"

"I said that benders couldn't learn other forms of magic. I didn't say that it wasn't possible for warlocks to learn some bending. In fact, I don't think it's ever been attempted. So really, there is no way of knowing unless he tried. He said his eyes turn gold when he uses his magic; and gold for me, is associated with earth manipulation. So I want to see if I can teach him some earth bending."

The two young men exchanged glances before turning their attention back to Clara.

"So? You want to give it a try?"

"Sure. I guess there's no harm in trying."

"Fantastic! First things first though. I need to see how strong you currently are."

Merlin could feel himself starting to sweat. All of the sudden this didn't sound like it would be much fun anymore.

"Um… and how are you going to do that?"

She smirked.

"Easy. We're going to fight."

For the second time that day, both Arthur and Merlin spoke in unison.

"What?"

~0o0~

Ok, so I know not much happened in this chapter, but I LOVED writing the banter between Arthur and Merlin. It was rather fun and amusing. So, Clara and Merlin are going to fight? Hm… Stayed tuned and see! Please review!

Cooking-Ninja