Battle

"The king would have your head…

Stick to girls who are more... on your level."

Arthur barely withheld a cringe as he uttered those words. He knew full well how hypocritical they made him sound. But if they were the only way to get into Merlin's thick skull just how dangerous the circumstances he'd put himself in were, then they had to be said. If Arthur's seeing the signs then Uther would be able to as well. He can't allow that to happen. Merlin's braver than he gets credit for, but this was a battle neither he nor Morgana would win.

Merlin sputters at Arthur's words, trying to evade the conclusions his master had come to, distract him the way he has in the past. Arthur understood the worry and confusion the attempt at casualness was covering up, he couldn't even help having a bit of sympathy for the situation. Morgana is a beautiful woman and she's always been especially kind to Merlin. His servant wouldn't be the first to fall for her. Arthur wouldn't even have been that concerned but for the fact that lately Morgana seemed to be forming an attachment to Merlin in return.

Arthur knew from experience how much pain came from falling for a person you couldn't have. And he didn't have the added danger of getting banished - or worse - if it's found out who the object of his affection was. These two could never be together. His father wouldn't allow Morgana to marry a servant any more than he would allow Arthur to. And given Merlin's background and lack of any truly useful skills there's little chance of his status ever improving enough to change that. The sooner those facts are accepted, the faster the pain will go away. At least that's Arthur's theory.

Knowing the first step in dealing with the problem would be getting Merlin to admit to it, Arthur had tried dropping hints about their behavior earlier that week. He'd called Merlin out on the flowers he'd picked for her, hoping it would clue the boy in that his actions wouldn't be seen by the majority as simple kindness, the sort of thing a friend would do for someone.

Not that a servant could even be friends with the king's ward - as he informed Merlin quite candidly. No one would approve of it, and to force the issue was simply not safe. Arthur's allowed Merlin more freedom then he should in the way the two of them interacted - mainly because it was such a refreshing change from how everyone else treated him. But for many of the other nobleman all it would take is one show of insolence, be it in word or action, and Merlin would be lucky to leave Camelot with his skin intact.

For the first time in his life Arthur found that a bit unfair, but there was nothing he could do save keep the situation from ever getting to that point. Someday when Arthur became king - if Merlin managed to still be around then - perhaps that would change. There were a lot of things Arthur would change when he was king... Shaking his head he forced his thoughts away from Guinevere. He didn't need to be fighting his own feelings right now. Trying to sort Merlin's love life was taxing enough.

Scolding complete, and Merlin quiet if not cowed, Arthur gave him a not unkind clap on the shoulder and moved away from Morgana's rooms back in the direction of Gaius'. Hearing the younger man fall into step behind him he breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

The prince was going to have to be even more diligent in keeping his servant occupied and away from that part of the castle, especially at late hours of night. He shuddered at the thought of what would have happened of someone besides him had seen Merlin enter and leave Morgana's chamber unattended.

Moving on automatic Arthur spent the journey back musing on how he could guarantee keeping the two of them apart. Reluctantly he came to the conclusion his best chance would just be to keep as close an eye on Merlin as possible, even though that meant having him underfoot even more than he already was.

Many of his chores could be done in Arthur's chambers so that part would be easy enough. As long as he could manage a way to keep him quiet while Arthur was doing serious work. The prince snorted - like that would happen. Maybe he could get a hold of some cotton to stuff in his ears.

As for the chores that would require him to be out of sight… Arthur supposed some of them could be assigned to others temporarily, (not that he wanted Merlin getting used to that) and the rest would just have to be meticulously scheduled for times when the king's ward was wholly occupied elsewhere. Preferably in full sight of those who would consider it quite suspicious if someone who wasn't her regular attendant was accompanying her.

Just thinking about how much of his time would be involved in all this made Arthur want to groan. He'd managed long campaigns before - on paper anyway - but this one was already giving him a headache. Perhaps he should ask for a tonic when he dropped his servant off.

Arthur's best hope was that being out of the woman's orbit for a while would be a quick enough cure for his servant's infatuation. In the year they had known each other, Merlin had either bounced back from things right away or not bounced back at all - he still couldn't say Will's or Lancelot's names without flinching. Arthur just prayed this was one of the former.

He'd do whatever it took to get Merlin through this (although he didn't want the younger man getting any idea he cared that much) but he still didn't fancy doing so for a moment longer than necessary.

As he pushed his servant through the door to the physician's quarters - with the strict understanding that if he wasn't on time in the morning he would find the consequences extremely unpleasant - a new thought occured to Arthur.

When force wasn't an option, a good strategist would implement diversionary tactics. He couldn't exactly force Merlin to give up on Morgana - not when he could have his feelings for someone of a different station thrown back in his face - but there was always the possibility of getting him interested in someone else. Setting people up was definitely not within Arthur's scope of dealings so he definitely wouldn't be handling that personally, but if he could get Guinevere on to the task…

Arriving at his chambers with a much lighter load on his mind Arthur chided himself for getting worked up about the matter. What was he always telling Merlin about his having been trained to fight since birth? This was nothing he couldn't handle.

Now if only his own feelings could be so easily sorted... Ah well, that was a battle for another day.

So I don't know if it's really amusing or sad to have Arthur put a great deal of care and thought into this and have there really be no reason for it but there you have it. Hope you enjoyed.