Hi! I know it's been long, and this chapter's short, please don't hate me! This one's mostly filler, but I'm working on the next one and I'll post it soon! Pretty please review, thank you for your support!

*disclaimer* still not mine!

XII

Arthur paced, fuming. Today wasn't supposed to be like this! First Merlin, then a near fatal accident that could have claimed his life, and Gaius was now informing him that the princess' state was rapidly deteriorating. He sighed heavily. "You have no idea what triggered her relapse?" Arthur asked again, head in his hands.

The physician patiently answered, "No sire. It could be that the situation triggered painful memories. I believe it was not fatigue or any form of malady, it is all emotional. Only she can tell us what triggered her relapse, but I don't believe she will. Sir Leon is sitting with her now. He'll send word if her condition changes."

Arthur sat heavily. "Thank you Gaius."

Gaius didn't move "Sire, if I may?"

"Yes?"

"What of Merlin?"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "I'll go deal with him now, but he'd better have a good explanation!" Gaius nodded and left. Arthur waited until the older man left, then fled to the dungeons to talk to Merlin.

As Arthur approached, Merlin stood and grinned. Arthur fought the urge to grin back and instead donned a stern frown. The guards let him in, and all of his planned scolding left him. Without anything else to say, he went with his usual response. "Merlin, you idiot."

"Sorry sire," Merlin said, donning an abashed look.

Arthur caught a glint of fear in Merlin's down-turned eyes. Fear of what? Fear of Arthur? The thought slammed him in the gut hard as a physical blow. But that couldn't be it, Merlin had never feared him before, even in the beginning when he'd been... well, a prat. Not that he'd admit it to Merlin... He snapped his thoughts free of his tangent, deciding he'd think about it later. "Yes. Well. Is there something you want to say?"

"No sire." Mrerlin answered, clasping his hands together.

Arthur pursed his lips. Merlin was lying. "Well then. You are free to go," he paused a moment to get Merlin's hopes up, then added "but you need to polish every piece of armory in the dungeon."

"What! But that'll take hours to finish!" Merlin complained.

Arthur smirked. "You shouldn't break curfew," he said with a shrug. It gave him a measure of pleasure, even after all these years to torture poor Merlin. Merlin got back at him with verbal abuse and tricks anyway.