The rest of the day passed fairly uneventfully. Merlin and Will completed two more puzzles, during their free time. Arthur knocked down the wooden block castle Morgana had built, while Leon kicked over a single block, looking extremely guilty. Gwen helped Morgana rebuild it, after stopping her from tackling her brother. Nearing the end of the day Miss Davie began to really teach, not just games anymore.
"Does anybody know how to read?" She asked. Every single one of the childrens hands shot up. "Does anybody know how to read anything but their own names?" Every single hand went back down. Except Merlins.
"I can read the whole alphabet! Mummy taught me at the lake once. She drew all the letters in the sand lots of different ways and I had to read them lots of times." The small boy stated proudly.
"That is very good Merlin! Can you tell me what this letter is?" Miss Davie turned to the chalkboard behind her, and began to draw a peculiar shape.
"That's two letters!" Merlin laughed, "And it's W and N."
"Exactly right!" Miss Davie smiled at the boy.
"I knew that too!" Arthur screamed, not wanting the other child to be getting praise when he was not.
"Did you?" Miss Davie asked, feigning belief. "What letters are these then?" She proceeded to write two more letters on the board.
Arthur hesitated, having not expected to actually be challenged. He thought he could get away with saying he was a prince, and didn't need to answer questions, but according to the lecture he had received earlier, he knew that wouldn't work. His mind began to race through the alphabet, as he remembered every letter he knew.
"K and L." Arthur decided, though he wasn't remotely sure.
Miss Davie smiled nicely, "Very close Arthur. But this is actually J and E. Very good try though!"
Merlin hid his mouth behind hand, stifling a giggle. Angrily Arthur drew back his foot and with all his might kicked the other boy's shin, yet again.
"Ow!" Merlin screamed. "Quit kicking me!" Truthfully, Merlin would have hit Arthur, if he wasn't holding on to his leg in pain.
"Arthur and Gwen. Switch seats immediately." Miss Davie snapped, "Arthur, you and I will have to have a discussion with your father when he comes to pick you up."
Gwen, without protesting once, picked up the small stuffed toy she had on her desk and began to shyly walk over to Arthurs desk. Arthur, on the other hand, walked to the opposite side of the room quite grumpily. In fact, he decided to trip the poor girl as they crossed paths. Gwen stumbled, dropping the toy and as she landed on her stomach her eyes began to fill with tears.
Merlin indignantly pushed back his chair, rushed over to the girl and helped her back to her feet, placing the stuffed toy on her new desk.
"Thanks…" The girl sniffled, sitting down in the seat. Merlin glared at the older boy, as he sat down in his own seat.
Miss Davie let out a frustrated sigh, "Thank you Merlin, for helping Gwen. Arthur. Why did you feel the need to trip your classmate?"
Arthur smirked and shrugged obnoxiously, "I didn't trip her. Maybe she's just as clumsy as the cabbage head!" Nobody laughed now. The look on Miss Davie's face made them all feel nervous. Arthur, however, seemed utterly oblivious to the stern glare that was directed at him.
Miss Davie grabbed his arm and marched the boy to the principals office. Upon returning ten minutes later, Arthur sat down quietly in his new chair and said nothing for the last five minutes of class.
While the two were gone, Gwen leaned across the table and whispered to Merlin, "You were very brave. Standing up to Arthur, I mean. He's a bully."
Merlin's ears turned a bit pink and he said "He's a clotpole!" Gwen smiled back at this odd boy, amused at how proud he was of his word.
"Mummy!" Merlin cried, flying across the schoolyard into Hunith's arms. "Please don't ever make me go to school again! It was horrible! Can't you teach me? Like you did with the letters! And Will should come too, cause he's my friend. And Gwen. I think I will like Gwen, she can come!"
Detaching the child from her waist, Hunith looked down at Merlin, "What was so horrible about the day sweetheart? You had no fun at all?"
"Well," Merlin thought for a second, "There were lots of fun parts. Will and I did four whole puzzles! And we talked about letters and I was the only one who knew them all. But Arthur is so mean! He kept calling me names and kicking me and he got me in trouble."
"He got you in trouble did he?" Hunith asked.
Before Merlin could answer, a voice called, "Excuse me! Merlin! Miss!" It was Miss Davie, she rushed over to the two, waving at them.
Merlin grimaced, thinking he was going to get into trouble again.
Miss Davie smiled at Hunith, "I have to admit, I was very surprised by your sons ability to read letters. I have never had a student be able to tell me random letters before him, unless they were in the childs name." The teacher smiled at Merlin to prove she was happy. She then leaned closer to Hunith and whispered, "But he is having some slight problems with a classmate of his, and I think we should consider setting up a time frame to discuss this with the other boys parents. Especially considering the father has demanded I have them sit together, and wishes to have Merlin spend an hour after school, twice a week with his son to study together."
"I take it you mean the prince. Arthur." Hunith frowned slightly, as Miss Davie nodded. "Yes, Merlin was just telling me about how the boy was being cruel to him." She looked at her son, "Merlin, go find Will and ask his mother about ice cream, okay?" Merlin looked curiously at his mother before nodding and running off to find his friend.
Hunith sighed, "I am sure, of course, Arthur is not the only child at fault here, and will discuss the situation with Merlin at home. I think it would be extremely helpful to have a meeting with Arthur's father, considering the role he has deemed Merlin should take. If you are to speak with Uther, just set a date and I will come."
"Thank you, Hunith. You seem like the kind of parent who has everything under control. And Merlin speaks quite highly of you." Miss Davie smiled reassuringly at the exasperated mother before her.
"And I think, Will's mother has said yes to ice cream!" Miss Davie laughed, gesturing towards the two small boys racing each other towards Hunith. They wore matching grins and both were panting by the time they reached the adults.
Gasping out the words Merlin breathed, "Miss Lizzy says we can get ice cream!"
The ice cream store was a small, outdoor place. People stood at one window to order, then another to receive their ice cream. Though the shop itself was small, the land around it was quite impressive. Dozens of acres with lush green grass surrounded the area. And wandering around in the grass were hundreds of cows, the milk from which, was used to make the ice cream. This, besides the park, was Merlin's favorite place to be.
Merlin ordered a double scoop of caramel and chocolate ice cream in a sugar cone, and Will asked for a double scoop of pistachio in a waffle cone. Both mothers ordered a simple scoop of vanilla in cups.
Upon receiving the ice-cream's, the boys ran towards the fence, so they could watch the cows grazing. Hunith and Williams mother, Elizabeth, laughed, and sat on a bench talking about what Merlin called "boring mum stuff".
"Cows smell really bad!" Will gagged through a bite of ice cream.
"Yeah. Just like you!" Merlin teased his friend.
"Hey!" Will exclaimed, pulling a few blades of grass and throwing them at the smaller boy. Both boys looked at each other for a split second, before shoving the last of their ice creams into their mouths in a single bite. Merlin proceeded to be tackled by Will, and the two wrestled in an attempt to pin the other down. Laughing as hard as the two were made it quite difficult to even sit properly and they ended up collapsing in the grass, tears running down their faces.
"This proves nothing Merlin!" Will gasped, between giggle fits, "I bet I can climb that tree faster than you!" He pointed at a large apple tree, near the benches where their mothers were sitting.
Merlin turned his head to face his friend, "I bet you can't!" With that, Merlin clambered onto his knees and raced towards the tree, his friend on his heels.
"What on earth are you two doing?" Hunith laughed at the sight of the two grassy haired boys racing towards her.
"Can't talk mum!" Merlin screeched as the pair ran past their mothers. The boys began clambering up the tree, holding onto reachable branches.
True to his word, Will was extremely good at climbing, and had climbed almost the entire tree while Merlin was not yet half way up. And true to his proven clumsiness, Merlin stepped on a branch that decided to break as he did. The boy lost his footing and flew past the branches, hitting every limb on the way down.
"Merlin!" Will screamed, as he lowered himself back down the tree. Merlin blinked a few times, before the shock of just how far he fell set in and he burst into tears.
Hunith and Elizabeth rushed over to the boy, and his mother scooped him into her arms. Merlin's shoulders shook with the sobs that racked his body. It was easy to tell that he wasn't actually injured, just frightened.
"Merlin! Merlin, are you okay?" Will clutched his friends arm nervously, tears beginning to fill his own eyes.
"It's okay sweetheart. You're okay. It was just a little fall, you aren't hurt." Hunith whispered comfortingly in Merlin's ear.
It took almost five minutes of soothing words for Merlin to calm down enough to breath properly.
"M-m-my elbow." Merlin stammered, holding the elbow that was paining him to his chest.
"Level?" Hunith asked calmly, like she had asked this question numerous times before. With the boys natural clumsiness, she probably had.
Merlin paused before answering, "s'not bad anymore…" his voice was hoarse. "Three." He decided with curt finality.
"I think it might be time to go." Hunith chuckled softly, glancing back at Elizabeth. "Say goodbye to Will, okay, Merl?"
Merlin waved goodbye, and Will smiled goofily back, making both children giggle slightly.
As Hunith and Merlin walked away Hunith told her son, "We will discuss what happened at school with Arthur when we get home."
Merlin just sighed and laid his head on his mother shoulders. Within minutes he had fallen asleep. Hunith smiled gently, relishing her son's innocence.
As mentioned in the last chapter, I am considering adding Merlin's magic into the story, but I might not. Magic or no magic? Whichever gets more votes will be the one published. All rights belong to BBC, as per usual. Please leave reviews, it will help me to write this story the way you like to read it. I will not post another chapter until I have at least 5 votes on the magic situation.