In front of Merlin sat an entire table piled full of what could only be described as everything. Books, scrolls, plants and colorful stones, bottles of potions and probably poisons. It was enough to keep the eye occupied for hours, just staring at the endlessness of it. He didn't have hours though.
"Merlin!" shouted Gaius from the wrap around balcony that overlooked the main room. "Are you done with the table yet?"
Merlin sighed. "It's coming along!"
Gaius wanted the table cleared off so he could have more room to inevitably make more messes. Why Merlin had to be the one to clean it was beyond him. Unlike Gaius, he already spent the day cleaning up after the world's biggest baby.
"Well hurry up! I need to have somewhere to put these books!"
Glancing around him, Merlin made sure the door was closed and thankfully the windows were placed higher up on the walls. He took a deep breath and without even moving his mouth the items on the table began to hover and quiver in the air. He glanced towards the shelves and the piles of musty books flew to their places and slid in silently. It seemed as if even the dust followed them, settling lightly on their pages like they hadn't even been touched in months. The plants soon found themselves swishing peacefully from the rafters, stirred by an invisible breeze while the stones were placed lightly on different shelves throughout the room with no particular rhyme or reason. Gaius asked him to clean it up after all. If he couldn't find something he had no one to blame but himself.
Finally, there were only the bottles left. They floated silently as if suspended in liquid. With a wide smile that crinkled the very corners of his eyes Merlin watched as they flew up towards the beam of light coming in from the window. The different colored glass shone in the light and painted a beautiful rainbow on the barren wall, shifting and changing with his whims.
"Merlin!" Gaius shouted and suddenly the bottles dropped and in a steady and deadly descent towards the unforgiving stone floor.
Desperately Merlin stuck out his hand and stopped them mere seconds before they were nothing but colorful shards and spilled mysteries.
"What are you doing?" Asked Gaius as he made his way down. There was anger in his eyes but nothing that the good natured exasperation didn't cover up.
"I was cleaning up," said Merlin, "Like you told me to."
"I told you to clean up. Not use magic," he scolded quietly as if someone would hear. "Now put those down and take care of them."
Feeling rather put off, Merlin set them down gently to a chorus of delicate clinks. Bending down he began to gather them into his arms.
"How many times have I told you to not use magic Merlin?" Gaius began and Merlin let out a sigh. Gaius was going to start lecturing him now. "What if someone had seen you. I can cover for you sometimes but there is nothing I can do if someone catches you. I would think that you don't understand the danger you're in. Arthur may trust you now but-"
Gaius was cut off when the door swung open violently with a bang and Merlin jumped, scrambling to keep hold of the bottles that teetered dangerously in his arms.
He whipped around and couldn't stop the way his heart pounded in his chest. What if someone had seen? Was this the end? As those thoughts whirled around in his head his body let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding when instead of a palace guard he saw a short figure standing in the doorway.
"Gabriele!" Merlin exclaimed.
"...Merlin."
"Why are you here?" he asked as she strode quickly across the floor, obviously trying to put as much distance between the two of them as possible.
"I came to talk to Gaius."
She still wasn't looking at him.
"What can I do for you?" asked Gaius from behind his glasses as he looked up from a thick book he had picked up after Gabriele had intruded on them.
"The Queen needs something to help her sleep. She complains of terrible nightmares."
"Hmm…" Gaius hummed and stood up. "She's never complained of them before. I only ever had to make sleeping drafts for Morgana."
As soon as the words left his mouth both Merlin and Gaius winced but Gabriele remained blissfully unaffected.
"She didn't want me to tell you Sir, but I don't like seeing her suffer."
"She wouldn't," Gaius mumbled. "Alright. I have something that should do the job but it will be a few minutes. Merlin here will keep you company."
As Gaius walked away the two younger people descended into silence. Merlin knew that he had wanted to talk to Gabriele but now that he finally had a chance he didn't know what to say.
"How do you like Gwen?" he asked, attempting to act casually.
"Gwen?" Gabriele asked with a quirk of her eyebrow. "You mean the Queen?"
"Oh. Yes." Merlin stumbled. It was sometimes difficult to remember that she was the queen, as she had always been just his friend.
Despite herself, Gabriele smiled. "She is very kind."
Merlin nodded and once again, they drifted off into uncomfortable silence, the only sound being Gaius rummaging around.
"Has...Gwaine said anything to you?" Merlin asked apprehensively, admittedly afraid of what she would say. Gwaine had been acting weird lately and Merlin didn't want that to spoil her impression of Camelot any more than Merlin already had.
"Who's Gwaine?" She asked, more to fill the silence than anything else.
"Umm...long hair, about to here," Merlin gestured with one of his hands while balancing the bottles precariously with the other.
Her eyes widened. "Oh! Him!" She exclaimed, and a blush immediately rushed to her cheeks. "No, he hasn't."
Merlin nodded. It was probably for the best.
