I do not own any BBC Merlin characters!

Chapter Eleven

"So it works in the same way as the Druids' speaking to each other with their minds?" Merlin asked, his voice unsure and his eyebrows almost touching as his forehead furrowed in concentration.

"No, not exactly." Erin replied, sitting on one of the chairs next to Merlin's bed. "It- It works- It's complicated." He conceded, not wanting to admit that he couldn't really explain the finer details of the device.

The device in question was a copper coin that sat snugly in the palm of Merlin's hand. Examining the ruins carved into the circumference, Merlin found he could recognise the odd one of two, like the symbol for union and another for danger.

Erin had brought the item into the room two hours before, and since then the pair had been discussing its workings, alongside numerous tangents, most of which concern magic. Glad for the distraction and the company, Merlin had launched into the conversation happily, trying to ignore heavily furnished chamber around him.

After his little 'escapade' as Arthur had dubbed it, Annis had demanded that Merlin be lodged in the guest rooms adjacent to her own. Arthur had little choice but to agree, and grudgingly allow Annis to also post two of her own guards outside the doors.

"You're almost as bad as Kilgharrah." Merlin commented, turning the coin over to see what was on the back. "At least his cryptic remarks seem almost poetic."

Erin snorted. "A dragon is cryptic because it chooses to be, I'm just trying to bluff my way through gaps in my knowledge."

"I think that's all I do when it comes to magic." Merlin said, dropping his hands down into his lap. "There is only so much I can learn for Gaius' books, and even then, most of the useful ones are too dangerous to read. If Arthur ever found them-"

Merlin broke off, suddenly remembering that Arthur already knew about his magic and about most of the magic related incidents that Merlin had orchestrated to keep Camelot standing.

"He knew for two years." Merlin said thoughtfully, not really speaking to Erin or anyone else for that matter.

Shifting uncomfortably Erin coughed to clear his throat and attempted to bring the conversation back around to the coin.

"You can use it to contact Kaida. She wanted to give you something that would allow you to contact her both in an emergency, and also, if you simply wanted to talk."

Merlin's left eyebrow rose slightly.

"If I wanted to talk?" he repeated, the corners of his lips twitching as he saw the distinctly awkward expression on Erin's face. They both knew perfectly well that Kaida did not put herself across as the sort of person who offered herself up as someone that you could just 'talk' to.

"She may have phrased it slightly differently." Erin admitted.

Chuckling, Merlin turned his attention back to the coin.

"Tell her that I said thank you."

Erin nodded but didn't say anything in response. They were, in all honesty, family. But there was a constant distance that neither one really considered to bridge. Merlin was happy enough to allow Erin in far enough so that they could discuss magic, and Erin was content to offer what knowledge he had to the young Warlock. There was no fantastic friendship waiting to sprout though, Erin knew he would not be among the ranks of Arthur and his Knight. Merlin was his cousin, and in true Dragon Lord fashion, families did not show great displays of affection. What else could be expected from people who bonded themselves to cold blooded creatures?

A sharp knock broke the silence in the room, causing both boys' heads to snap in the direction of the door.

"Enter." Merlin called, scowling at the taste of the words in his mouth. His grandmother, (as he was now insisted to call her) was encouraging him to expand out into his 'princely' role. Suffice to say, the conversation had not ended well and Gwen had spent the rest of the day making sure that Merlin did not attempt to run off again.

The heavy oak door creaked open, and in a very un-Arthur like manner, the Kind shuffled into the room, catching sight of Erin immediately.

"I'll come back later." Arthur said quickly, making to escape back out of the door.

"No! Arthur wait!"

Freezing at Merlin's words Arthur lingered in the doorway, his hands still curled around the edge of the door itself as he stood half in and half out of the chambers.

"I mean." Amended Merlin. "Come in and sit down you clotpole."

Managing a rather strained smile Arthur slipped into the room and hovered by the foot of the bed, leaning against the bed post in an attempt to look relaxed.

"I just remembered." Erin muttered, standing from his seat and checking the floors around him, despite not bringing anything into the room that he could have put down, (excluding the coin he gave to Merlin.) "I promised Kaida that I would be back at the Rising Sun before now. She wants to sort everything out for the journey home."

"You're leaving?" Arthur asked, the surprise showing on his face. "Why the sudden rush?"

Erin balked, the colour draining from his face.

"I em- I"

There was no answer that he could give without either lying to the King of Camelot, or revealing one of the Dragon Lords' greatest secrets.

"Hogweed!" he blurted out, startling both Arthur and Merlin. "I need to study Hogweed."

"You need to study Hogweed?" Arthur said slowly, mentally noting down that Merlin's inability to lie well was hereditary and not specific to Merlin.

"Well not just Hogweed of course." Erin blustered. "I'm compiling a… a… a book! Yes a book, and I need to research plants of… of…" Erin's mind went blank.

"Plants that hold properties of both medicine and magic." Merlin supplied calmly. "Giaus uses Hogweed in numerous potions, but it can also be enchanted and warn in lockets."

"For what purpose?" Arthur asked, impressed with the lie, especially coming from Merlin.

"Women use it to ensure a clear complexion." Merlin told him, his expression completely serious. "It can be rather effective."

"Yes, exactly." Erin said, nodding along with Merlin enthusiastically. "I must return home to finish my book and then I don't doubt that Kaida will drag me back here to see Merlin again."

Before anyone had the chance to say anything else on the matter Erin had hurried from the room, pulling the door firmly shut behind him.

"Merlin." Arthur said calmly, staring at the recently closed door. "You really have the most peculiar family."

"I cannot argue with that." Merlin replied, closing his hand around the coin and finding it's presence rather reassuring. "They're… interesting."

Dropping into the chair that Erin had vacated Arthur ran his hands across his face.

"I don't know what to do." He admitted, watching Merlin over the tops of his fingertips. Arthur had imagined letting Merlin know that he knew about his magic in so many ways, but none of them had involved talking Merlin back to Camelot after every royal secret in the Kingdoms seemed to have come spilling out.

"Queen Annis is pestering me night and day to release you into her custody. Despite my protests that you are not mine to release into anyone's custody."

"If you told me to leave with her then I would have to go." Merlin said.

"You're not my manservant anymore." Arthur reminded him. "You don't have to follow my orders."

"When have I ever done so before?" Merlin joked. "But that's not what I mean. If I stayed in Camelot against your command, I wouldn't be able to make any sort of living. I would need to 'accept my birth rights' as my grandmother keeps saying."

Arthur felt a pang of sympathy. Merlin had grown up in a tiny village where the King never even showed his face. Being a Prince was something you had to be born into, trained for the moment go to the second that the coronet touched your head.

"What do you want?" Arthur asked, aware that it was probably the first time that he had ever asked Merlin that.

Thinking about it Merlin fell silent.

"I have an idea." He started, testing out the words. "But I need some more time to work it out."

"You want to stay in Camelot?"

When Merlin looked at him Arthur saw exactly how lost he was. Every certainty had been thrown out of the window and Merlin was scrambling for sure footing.

"Please." He said, almost pleading with Arthur.

"The gates are always open to you." Arthur told him. "And if not then I'm sure your magic could make them open."

Just like that they were laughing. The warlock Emrys and the once and future King were back to teasing each other without mercy, oblivious to the world outside.

On Canicus that ground shifted, and a furious roar echoed off the castle walls.

The dragons took to the sky, shifting from air current to air current as they circled the main courtyard.

They could feel the balance shifting, just not the direction that the scales would tilt towards.