"We have to find Arthur"

"Merlin hang on-"

"No Merlin, sit."

"Gaius I-"

"Merlin, for the love of God sit down or I will sit on you!" Gwaine leapt up out of the chair, grabbed his best friend by the collar and shoved him down into his seat.

"Now," he growled, leaning down so his eyes were barely inches from the boys. The knight pinned the servant's scrawny arms to the armrest under his own giant hands. "You are going to calm down and listen. Lady Úna knows that we know about Arthur, she would have figured it out. We can't just roll in there like Percival on a full moon; she's got magic she'll take us out with a thought. The other knights will think we've gone mental and too much hype will cause suspicion. We need a plan ok?"

Blue eyes bored into emerald green, daring them to challenge his authority. Somewhere deep inside the knight, he knew that there was more to this boy that met the eye. He went into battles without a scrap of armour yet always came out unscathed. He'd happily sacrifice himself for any one of his friends in a heartbeat, he'd fought off dragons and an undead army yet still here he was, mere hours after suffering obvious agony once again begging to jump headfirst into battle. There was honestly something about Merlin that terrified Gwaine, yet for the love of mead he couldn't put his finger on it. Not that he'd ever admit it of course.

"Ok…" Merlin muttered breaking the stare between the two.

"Good! Now plan anybody?" Gwaine stood up, releasing Merlin from the chair and walked around to the table.

"We need to get Arthur on his own." Gaius muttered.

"How on earth are we going to do that? He spends every minute entertaining Lady Úna." Merlin replied in annoyance.

Gaius and Gwaine both stopped dead. They looked at each other before turning towards the king's manservant, huge grins plastered to their faces.

"NO! No no no no no!" Merlin backed away from the two grinning eejits, tripping clumsily over the haphazard furniture. "No, not again!"

"Just a little distraction! Something big enough that he'll have to lecture you alone on responsibility and your lack of competence."

"Yes, IN THE STOCKS!"

"He won't throw you in the stocks. Look just spill a pitcher of wine over him or-

"PUT HAY DOWN HIS TROUSERS AND WATCH WHILE HE SPENDS THE WHOLE DAY IN FRONT OF LADY UNA SCRATCHING HIS B-"

"Shut up Gwaine!"

Gaius laid a hand on his wards shoulder. "Look Merlin, we need to stop Lady Úna before she lets loose what's in that box…"

"I know… Right, you stay here. Gwaine, go down to the knights. If you're missing for too long they might get suspicious. I'll go find Arthur."

"And this is the hay bales. As you can see we have a plentiful supply of food and bedding for the horses and animals, all sourced locally from farmers in surrounding villages."

"Arthur I must admit you run a very prosperous kingdom. Your father would be proud. And it's so beautiful. The castle, the stalls, the views. You are a very lucky man."

Arthur smiled modestly. "I am. You should see the land outside the walls. The lakes truly would take your breath away."

Úna nodded, "Yes, I think I would like to see them. We should go now if we want to get back before the sun goes down, do you not think?"

Hidden beneath silken fabrics tattooed onto his shoulder, a dragon burned and writhed on the tanned skin of the King of Camelot, willing its host to do its masters bidding.

"Yes Lady Úna. I believe you."

Gwaine sauntered down the hallways towards the training yard. The clouds had begun to gather overhead, casting the kingdom into a dulled darkness. He passed one of the windows in the hall that overlooked the northern borders. Something caught his eye and he froze in his tracks, his head snapping back to the glass. If he squinted his gaze, it was almost as if you could see the clouds rolling in on each-other in the distance. A faint shimmer seemed to hover in the air… He could have sworn he could see-

"Gwaine!"

The voice cut into his concentration, knocking his train of thought completely off the rails. Jane ran towards him, her skirts gathered up in her hands. She collided into him, her tiny hands hovering rapidly over his frame as if trying to sense some hidden injury.

"Where did you go!?" She asked, her voice quivering slightly. Her hands never paused in their healing hover, head down muttering into his chest.

"Hey, I'm fine!" The knight gasped, slightly in shock. He wasn't used to having somebody worry for him; he didn't know how to handle it. After standing there for a few seconds letting the girl fret over him, the awkwardness took hold. He took a step back placing both of his hands on the young woman's arms and stooping to meet her eyes. "Just had to run a few errands for a friend that's all."

A sharp force collided with the side of his face. The knight's head snapped to the left, the sting of the slap still tingling his cheek.

"What were you thinking galloping off like that!? And not a word to me? You disappeared! Nobody knew where you were! Sir Percival and Sir Leon came asking me for you, I had no idea what to say to them! Have you any idea how worried I've been!? You could have been attacked? Dead!? How could yo…-"

Gwaine's lips met her frantic ones, silencing their frenzied rant. His hands gripped her waist, pulling her tighter. Jane's eyes widened in shock at the surprised kiss before closing automatically. This wasn't like Gwaine's usual behaviour. His lips were soft and gentle on hers, barely moving. Kind, loving. Jane's hands followed the muscular arm around her waist up to the knight's shoulders. She got to his elbow before her brain clicked back into reality. She grabbed his arms and pushed herself out of the knights grasp.

"No you can't just kiss me and think it's all ok! I'm still angry at you!" she desperately fought the smile threating to ruin her stern composure.

"No one's ever worried about me like you do…" Gwaine muttered, crossing his arms over his chest, not meeting Jane's eyes.

"And you wonder why." Jane couldn't help but to smile at this. She knew Gwaine. At least she thought she did. This tough, arrogant, charming man who could crack a joke and crack a skull in the same sentence. He wore his reputation like a cloak and relished in it. Yet this man, the man with an angry red mark blossoming on his cheek, shifting his weight from one foot to another nervously in front of her, the man who eyes were glued to the floor right now. This was a new Gwaine, a hidden Gwaine. And she couldn't stay angry at him…

Tentatively Jane placed her hands onto the knight's arms and placed a soft kiss on his bruising cheek. He looked down at her and smiled. "Sorry." He whispered.

"Yes well, if you do it again I won't be so forgiving." She announced, brushing down her skirt before crossing her arms firmly in front of her chest.

"If that was you being forgiving remind me never to get you angry…" Gwaine muttered, rubbing his injured cheek mockingly.

Jane flashed her tongue at the grinning knight. "Where did you go anyway?"

"I told you, I had to help out a friend." He replied. "Which reminds me, have you seen Arthur?"

"The King? He left with Lady Úna about an hour ago. A tour of the lands I think. The stable boy said something about a lake?"

"He left? Dammit. I've gotta go!"

"What!? Are you serious! Are you asking for me to hit you again!?"

Gwaine swooped down meeting Jane's lips again. His hands cupped the back of her head, holding her gently to him. He could feel her soft lashes tickle his cheek, her hair tangled within his calloused fingers. The kiss ended just as quickly as it had begun.

"You can't counteract every fight by kissing me, that's cheating!"

"Who ever said I played fair?" the knight teased before turning on his heels and sprinting back down the corridor.

"Can you at least tell me where you're going!?" Jane called after him

"To save the damsel in distress! Again!"

"Arthur you were right it really is beautiful out here. Look at the trees! The sun! It's so perfect. Just how I remember…"

Arthur slid down from his horse before helping the noble dismount hers with a grace that didn't match her age.

"I forgot you used to come when you were a child. Has it changed much? Camelot I mean?"

Lady Úna began to walk towards the edge of Lake Avalon. The icy black pool was eerily calm and undisturbed; the surface lay like a glass pane at her feet, echoing the fierce storm clouds that had rolled in from the mountains. Calm before the storm.

"In some ways it has changed. When I was a child this land was in war with a force greater than itself. Magic versus monsters… It was hard, the people were different, they were scared. Scared of what they didn't understand and what they couldn't control."

"Were you scared?" The question slipped from the Kings lips before he could stop it. His father had rarely talked of the Great Purge and when he did it was only of how he had reclaimed the dying land of magic's' evil grasp. He never ceased to be intrigued by it.

The noble chuckled quietly and looked down at her hands clasped tightly around her stomach. "Yes, I suppose I was… I was confused and frightened like everybody else. I didn't understand what was happening. Some people tried to explain, tried to help me but that only made it worse… Sometimes you need to figure things out for yourself. It was a hard war."

Arthur gazed out over the crystal water. Úna's words swam about in his head, not all of them making sense. His concerns more focused on the grey clouds accumulating above them. A change in the wind… "Still, we won out in the end right?"

"Did we?" Úna replied.

Arthur turned to her, taken aback by her response. "Well didn't we? I mean, the mage's were put in their place. Magic and all its corruption was banned and the lands of Camelot returned to peace and safety for its entire people."

"Mage's put in their place?" Úna's voice was becoming as riled as the clouds above them.

"Yes. They chose to practice magic. Magic is unnatural, it corrupts and destroys. It has no place in the land of Camelot and all those who practice its teachings must be stopped. That is why the Purge took place."

"Arthur, has a sorcerer not two hands with ten fingers on each? Have they not two eyes and a mind? They are man as you are man Arthur. They are no different than you."

"Yes but they chose to practice magic."

"What if they did not choose?"

"I do not understand."

Lady Úna took a small black box out from beneath her shawl and held it in her hands, stroking it softly. Her slender hand moving rhythmically over the wood as if trying to calm herself.

"Did you choose to be a king Arthur?"

"I took my oath yes."

Úna smiled, "No, I mean did you choose who you grew up to be? Did you choose your fate or was it thrust upon you?"

Arthur paused… He had never asked to be King. He was born a prince, born a royal with expectations and responsibilities and a whole life planned out for him from the day he arrived on this earth. He had never had a say his title, his destiny. He was born with it.

"You never had a choice. What if sorcerers don't have a choice in their fate either? Some witches and warlocks are born with magic. Others, like you, are born it. Some are born into druid covens where magic is a way of life. They have no choice whether they practice it or not, it is their fate. Should they be persecuted merely for being born? Should anybody be persecuted for their birth right? Should a title, a name set them apart from the others, be it for better or worse?"

"I…. I-I never thought about it like that…"

Lady Úna smiled and walked to the edge of the lake, the black water lapped the toes of her shoes. "I believe the Purge was a mistake. I believe that it should never have happened and that innocent people died because others were scared."

Arthur joined her at the lakeside, the noble place a hand on the Kings shoulder, rooting them both down to the stony shore. The first roar of thunder shook the very ground beneath them as Arthur replied-

"I believe you."

Gwaine lay sprawled on the cobblestone floor on a third floor corridor. Watermelons flew temporarily before coming to land with muted thuds on the stone, stray pips and scraps of juice splattered his face and chainmail giving him sweet crimson freckles. A piece of parchment fluttered from the ceiling and landed on the knights knees. He sat up rubbing the back of his head slightly...

"Gwaine! What- you're supposed to be down with the knights." Merlin picked himself off the floor rubbing the side temple just above his eye."

"I came to find you. Seemingly you missed me…" Gwaine helped pull the boy from the floor before picking up the stray scrap of parchment. On it was a fairly decent sketch of a black and white cat labelled 'Arthur'. Only it seemed to be juggling watermelons whilst hopping…. "Merlin… what are you doing?"

"Distraction… for Arthur? Never mind!" Merlin snatched the sheet from Gwaine and shoved it in his back pocket before bending down to gather up the escaping melons. "What did you want?"

The knight smiled, clearly holding back his contained laughter. "I bumped into Jane. She said that Arthur and Lady Úna left for a tour of the grounds about an hour ago."

"WHAT!?" Merlin snapped up straight, his arms laden with watermelons. "Where did they go!?"

"I dunno!" Gwaine replied, holding up his hands in defence. "A lake? Lake Avalon maybe? It's not too far from here and Arthur would want to get home before dark. It's our best bet."

"We have to go after them. He could be in danger. We'll go now, Gaius is already down at the market, come on!" The servant began to race down the stone steps towards the town square.

"Erm Merlin?"

"What!?"

"Melons…"

Merlin looked down at the mound of fruit he was still carrying. "Oh yeah…" He spun 360 degrees before pausing at a large ornate vase. The boy shrugged before dumping the entire collection of watermelons into the priceless antique.

"Ok? Let's go!"

A/N: Chapters are getting shorter! Oopsie!

Well that was fun! My first kissing scene… I'm so so sorry… I cringed while writing it too. I have no idea what the hell I was doing, it was certainly more romantic than any of my own experiences so! A lot of trial and error to get that bit remotely readable without feeling too awkward. Sorry!

Lady Úna's opinions are… well, hard to find an argument against them really… It is up to you whether Arthurs final line was of Úna's will or his own. Personally I'm not sure. I'd like to think that on some level Arthur agrees with Úna but there are definitely some negatives to be found to her opinions. This will be shared as soon as I make them up….

And finally, anybody who has heard me talking will know that I could never pass up an opportunity to shtick in a few watermelons! They just make everything better. And of course Arthur the Cat! How could he not get a mention! He was going to be riding a unicycle but I didn't know how to describe that from the mind of a medieval knight. Trust me I tried….

Anyhoo! Thank you very much for your fabulous attention! Goodnight and farewell! Xxxxx