No answer was forthcoming, so Bo asked again, "What are you?"

"I'm Merlin, Prince Arthur's overworked and underappreciated manservant. I was born with magic, something Gaius said he's never heard of before, but other than that there's nothing special about me. I'm just a nobody, really."

"That," Bo declared, "is pure crap." Merlin gaped at her, which she imagined was mainly due to the fact that he'd never heard a lady (or any woman, for that matter) swear like that. At least she'd gotten his attention. "You've got power like I've never seen before, and I may not know what that makes you, but I can tell you're not a nobody."

"I was only given this…gift, if that's what it is, to protect Arthur. He is destined to be the greatest king Camelot has ever seen, and it's my destiny to serve him."

"Says who? Arthur didn't make you the way you are - that's all you. He doesn't make your choices for you either. Nobody owns you." Bo had once said those same words to Lauren, although Lauren only let herself be owned because serving the Light Fae had been her best hope of saving the woman she loved, not because she'd been brainwashed into believing being a slave was her destiny. Bo wondered how she was doing but quickly put that out of her mind; with Nadia awake, Lauren should have a much easier time finding her way out from under Lachlan's thumb if she so desired.

What about Merlin, though? There's no dog collar on him, unless he's hiding it under that scarf. Who convinced him that Arthur should run his life? Bo was determined to find out, and when she did, that person was in for a serious attitude adjustment.

Merlin wondered if she was trying to turn him against Arthur, but found that the notion didn't ring true. Her eyes - which were finally losing their eerie glow - held only conviction and…sympathy? For him? Why would she feel sorry for him? Being Arthur's servant wasn't so bad, even though it probably seemed that way to her. Merlin doubted Lady Isabeau would ever deign to serve anyone for any reason.

In any case, nothing she'd said indicated that she wanted him to join her in overthrowing the Pendragons; in fact she had just said nobody owned him, and didn't that include her as well as Arthur? All she really seemed to be suggesting was that he could choose to walk away from his destiny if he decided he didn't like it. The dragon had told him the exact opposite, and Merlin didn't know who to believe. The idea that his magic served a higher purpose than simply making him an oddity was comforting…which was why he had chosen to devote himself to Arthur's service. If he chose to do something different, no one could force him to continue working for Arthur, he supposed. But what else could he do? What other options did he have?

"Hey, hi, incoming!" Merlin's bedroom door swung open and Kenzi entered with her hand over her eyes. "We haven't heard anything from in here in like half an hour, so Gaius sent me to make sure you haven't death-sucked Merlin, you know, to death."

"He's still alive, Kenz. Merlin, say something."

"Why does she have her eyes covered?"

Kenzi spread her fingers, peeked through them, then uncovered her face altogether. "You have clothes on. Guess that explains the lack of shaking rafters and dust falling off the ceiling. So did you just have the quickest quickie ever or…?"

"No, Kenzi, I just took his chi. It was enough for a snack, trust me."

"Great, so can you come downstairs and let Gaius know he doesn't have to find a rug big enough to hide a dead Merlin in? 'Cause he's got his old man panties in a serious twist."

###

Once Gaius' fatherly concern had been assuaged, his scientific curiosity asserted itself and he began quizzing Merlin about the experience of feeding a succubus.

"Well, she kissed me," Merlin told his mentor. "Then we kissed some more and she fed…" He paused to search for the right words to describe how that had felt, but there were none. She had reached inside the deepest parts of him and drawn out the very essence of his being; it was the most intimate experience he'd ever shared with another living creature. Words were utterly inadequate to convey the sensation of letting her dismantle all his defenses, surrendering himself to her - she might say nobody owned him, yet for a moment it had felt like she did - so he decided to skip over that part. It seemed like the sort of thing that should remain private anyway.

Bo jumped in to fill the gap in the narrative. "And it would've knocked me on my butt if I wasn't already sitting down. Your boy has got some serious magic juice - energy, I mean."

Gaius nodded sagely. "That doesn't surprise me; Merlin's magical gifts are quite extraordinary-"

"That's what I said."

"There are even those who believe he may be the most powerful sorcerer ever to walk the earth."

"For realz?" Kenzi asked. Nothing about the scrawny kid exactly screamed 'magical powerhouse' but if living in the fae world had taught her anything, it was not to judge a book by its cover. "Any chance of him whipping up a time travel spell for us?"

"Traveling through time is impossible, even with the use of magic," Gaius said at once.

Kenzi and Bo exchanged glances, silently agreeing that it was time to share their last remaining secret. Merlin might be their best chance of ever seeing their friends again. "Actually, it isn't. You've noticed that Kenzi and I don't exactly fit in here? That's because we're not just from a different place - we're from a different time. What year is this?"

From Gaius' and Merlin's flustered looks, Bo guessed the people of Camelot weren't big on calendars. "I believe this to be the four-hundred-and-ninety-eighth year of recorded history," Gaius said at last.

The girls' eyes widened; prior to hearing that, they hadn't fully appreciated just how far from their own time they were.

"Holy fae… This is the year 498?" Bo asked when she could speak again. "We're from 2012."

"Twenty… Two thousand and twelve? That would be over a thousand years in the future!" Merlin yelped.

"One thousand, five hundred, and fourteen years, to be exact," Gaius said faintly.

Kenzi bobbed her head in agreement. "I'm not so good with math, but that sounds about right. Feels longer though."

"Those weird clothes we were wearing when we showed up weren't forced on us by some kinky sorcerer. In our time, everyone dresses like that. And we don't grind up herbs when we need medicine, we take pills, horses aren't our main form of transportation, and our cities are so enormous that thirty castles this size could fit in one of them. And I know this sounds like crazy-talk, but I swear we're not crazy."

Gaius, who had clearly been pondering that very possibility, looked guilty. Merlin, on the other hand, was gazing thoughtfully at Bo and at last said, "I believe you. You told me about the different remedies physicians in your land use yesterday…and honestly, no noblewoman rides as poorly as you did. You should have seen her, Gaius; she looked afraid before Morgana and I even got her in the saddle, like she'd never ridden a horse before."

"I hadn't," Bo muttered.

"And you must have noticed that she and Lady Kenzi are…not like us. As insane as it seems, the idea that they're from another world is the only explanation that makes sense."

Gaius couldn't refute the points Merlin had just made, yet his rational mind was still unwilling to accept that the strange women in front of him were in fact visitors from another time. Even in a world populated by magical creatures, this was too much. "Even if we accept those things as proof of such a farfetched tale, it still doesn't explain how they came to be in Camelot."

"It's a funny story that ends with me getting really drunk and crashing into this old warlock on my way home, and he cast a spell that sent us to the forest where Merlin and Arthur found us."

"Which was totally appreciated, by the way," Kenzi chimed in. "One more minute in those woods and the Evil Dead and Wrong Turn flashbacks would've gotten to me. The whole fae-cation in a castle's been fun too, but I miss toilets and iPods and Hale and pants - I'm even starting to miss those stupid Kardashian shows, so can you wave that magic staff thingy of yours and get us out of the merry old land of Oz already? And can I take this awesome dress with me?"

"I'm sorry, my lady, I can't do that."

"I'm not allowed to take souvenirs? Okay, I can live with that."

"No, what I mean is that I can't help you get home. As far as I know, no spell for sending people into the future exists."

"But Gaius said you're the world's most powerful sorcerer. If the old guy could send us here, shouldn't you be able to reverse his spell?" Bo argued.

"Maybe the sorcerers of your time can do things I can't - after all, they've had a thousand years to invent new spells." Merlin shrugged helplessly and lowered his gaze to the floor, unable to look into the eyes of the girls he was sure he had sorely disappointed. "I would help you if I could; I just don't know how."

"Well this sucks balls," Kenzi griped to the room at large.

Bo forestalled another apology by laying a hand on Merlin's arm. "Hey, none of this is your fault, so don't beat yourself up. If anyone deserves to get beaten up it's that crazy old man, not you. I'm just glad you don't think Kenzi and I should be locked up in some tower with padded walls. Thank you - again."

"Any time, my- Isabeau." Merlin gave her a smile that she readily returned.

As she observed them grinning at each other like a couple of giddy teenagers - the fact that Bo's hand was still on Merlin's arm and they were all up in each other's personal space didn't escape her notice either - Kenzi decided she needed to reassess the sparkage level between them.

###

"You took a very long time for lunch. What were you doing?" Arthur demanded when Merlin returned to his chambers.

"Eating lunch, obviously. Then I had to help Gaius prepare a headache remedy for the Lady Isabeau; apparently she gets them quite often." It was the first thing he'd come up with when it occurred to him that she would need a legitimate reason for being there if she was going to come to the physician's quarters every other day to feed on him. While he didn't know if her visits would be that frequent - they hadn't worked out any kind of schedule - Merlin figured it was never too early to start dropping hints.

"I see. Don't worry about it, Merlin, I understand completely."

"You do?" He had expected a reminder that he worked for Arthur, not Gaius.

"Of course I do, Merlin. Tell me, how long did you spend actually preparing Lady Isabeau's headache remedy, and how long did you spend moping over your hopeless infatuation with her?"

"How many times do I have to tell you I don't have feelings for her?" He probably shouldn't have enjoyed kissing her so much, but Merlin decided that was only due to the influence of her succubus magic. The warm, tingly feeling that had surged through him when she smiled at him couldn't be blamed on magic, though…

"Oh, you don't? Is that why you're blushing like a milkmaid?"

Merlin sighed; it looked like he was in for a long afternoon. Fortunately, after a few more jibes about Bo, Arthur lost interest in the subject and moved on to other topics, such as a list of chores that was extensive enough to keep Merlin too occupied to dwell on Bo's kisses. The succubus was all but forgotten until dinnertime, when Arthur announced that he was dining with the king that evening.

They went down to the private dining hall, where they were soon joined by Gwen, then Uther and his manservant. Arthur and Uther took their seats, but there were five places set at the table, and they couldn't begin eating until everyone was present.

"Have you any idea where your mistress is, girl?" Uther asked Gwen as the minutes dragged past with no sign of anyone else arriving.

"I believe she went somewhere with your guests, my lord," Gwen replied.

Finally, just when Arthur was starting to worry that the food would get too cold to eat, Morgana, Bo, and Kenzi rushed in. "I apologize for keeping you waiting," Morgana said breathlessly. "I was showing our guests around and completely lost track of time."

Uther gave her an indulgent smile, pleased that she'd had fun with her new friends. He sometimes worried that his ward was too isolated - Arthur had his knights for company but Morgana never seemed to form close bonds with her peers in the court, so it was a relief to see her showing fondness for someone besides her maid at last. "That's quite all right. Come and sit."

"How's your head?" Arthur asked Bo as she sat down across from him.

"Fine," she said with a touch of confusion.

"Arthur, what are you going on about?" Uther inquired.

"Merlin said the Lady Isabeau had a bad headache earlier today."

Bo raised her eyebrows at Merlin, who said, "Yes, that's why she came to Gaius during lunch," while shooting her a pointed look.

"Why didn't you say something?" Morgana demanded. "I'd not have dragged you through half the castle if I'd known you were unwell!"

"Because I wasn't - that medicine Merlin gave me pepped me right up. He's a genius."

Arthur choked on a mouthful of bread. "Are we talking about the same Merlin? My servant, Merlin?"

"Is there another Merlin running around Camelot? Duh," Kenzi shot back, releasing some pent-up snippiness on Arthur. Hanging out with Bo and Morgana had been like a live-action recap of Bo's interactions with every other person she'd ever been into, except this time the flirting wasn't reciprocal. Kenzi couldn't imagine how Bo thought crushing on a straight girl was a good idea, especially when she'd just started something with Merlin and maybe kinda sorta felt something for him too. It's like Dyson and Lauren 2.0, except Lauren was at least interested. Oh, Bo-berry, you never learn, do you?

"Perhaps the boy has some promise as a physician then," Uther said. Much as he loathed the thought of trying to find a replacement capable of filling Gaius' shoes, he couldn't ignore the fact that his old friend was getting on in years and could hardly be expected to work forever. Of course, Gaius' great value lay not only in his mastery of the healing arts but also in his 'specialized expertise' which had so often proven integral to winning the never-ending battle against sorcery; Merlin couldn't provide that, but someone who could at least tend to the people's needs was preferable to having no one at all.

"You can't be serious. Merlin can barely keep my armor in working condition, much less keep the people healthy," Arthur sputtered. The thought of Merlin leaving his service to become a physician gave him an odd constricted feeling in his chest, so he made up his mind to nip it in the bud.

"Put a sock in it, Arthur," Bo snapped.

Arthur opened his mouth to tell her she couldn't talk to a future king that way, but Morgana kicked him under the table and he desisted, wincing and shooting her a dirty look. She responded with a smile as sickly sweet as rotten sugar.

Merlin sauntered over to Bo's chair on the pretext of refilling her wine goblet and whispered in her ear, "Don't fight with Arthur over me - it's not worth it."

"Yeah, it is. He's an asshat," she whispered back.

As if somehow aware that they were talking about him, Arthur cleared his throat loudly. "I'd like some more wine too, Merlin, if you aren't too busy." He balled up his napkin and tossed it at Merlin's head to get his attention, but it missed and bounced off Bo's chest instead.

She let out an indignant little squawk and, after a quick glance at the head of the table to check if Uther was paying attention (he wasn't, being too occupied with cutting up his meat), she picked up a clump of broccoli and took aim at Arthur. Merlin seized her wrist before she could throw it. "Please don't - you know who'll have to scrub out the stains if you get food all over Arthur's clothes, don't you?"

Bo sighed and let the broccoli fall back onto her plate. Kenzi, who had perked up in anticipation of a food fight, deflated and slumped back in her chair.

###

"You look worn out, Merlin. What happened?"

Merlin slammed the door of his and Gaius' shared quarters behind him. "Dinner with the royal family happened. Isabeau and Arthur hate each other." He quickly summarized what had transpired between them. "Morgana kicked him too; no doubt she's wanted to do that a number of times, but she hasn't actually done it before. I think Isabeau and Kenzi are a bad influence on her."

"Oh dear."

"I'm going to bed." Merlin went to his room and threw himself down on his bed, not even bothering to undress. Three feisty noblewomen and a prat of a prince who couldn't get along were too much for one sorcerer to deal with. Why couldn't he have a simpler problem, like an ogre ravaging the countryside?

Merlin… Come to me, Merlin, I must speak with you.

Merlin pulled his pillow over his head. Whatever the dragon wanted, it could wait until morning.

MERLIN!

He sat bolt upright, clapping his hands over his ears as if that would block out the booming voice vibrating inside his skull like a giant gong. All right, all right, I'm coming. Quiet down.

"Where are you going?" Gaius asked as Merlin passed him on his way out. The old physician had changed into his nightshirt and was blowing out the candles before going to bed.

"The dragon won't let me sleep unless I go see him first." The door banged shut behind Merlin for the second time that night as he set out on the familiar route down to the dragon's den.

Well, as you see I didn't quite get to the dragon's thoughts on Bo after all because everyone else's got in the way - even Uther, who thinks he's important for some reason. He's not, but he is the king, so we can't totally ignore him. Sigh.

I did get the Time Travel Revelation out of the way, and I know it's kind of soon for that, but it needed to happen since I don't want to make an ongoing subplot about Bo, Kenzi, and Merlin searching for a time travel spell when there isn't one - Merlin's older self invented it, so it doesn't exist yet. Besides, I have plenty of other subject matter to cover without this particular secret hanging around, waiting to be revealed. I hope my way of tying up this thread is satisfactory.

I'd also like to hear thoughts on the interplay between the ladies and Arthur if anyone has them. Does that kind of lighthearted fluff work, or should I cut it out? Do I persecute Arthur too much? Does Bo's righteous indignation at the way he treats his servant seem plausible? It feels that way to me what with her dislike of the fae aristocracy's snobbery, but I want to know what everyone else thinks.