As Arthur went round the country her was given no end of things for Merlin, the country had taken him to their hearts, even if they had hardly seen anything of him. Arthur also seemed to have escaped the worse of the fallout from the scandal, although the antimonarchists still had a strong voice. Arthur went to see Mordred the youngest son of the Duke of Essetir about visiting Merlin.
"I know you might not remember him much but you were friends as young children as it might help if Merlin had people his own age around him, although I need to tell you he is quite emotionally damaged." Arthur told the young man.
Mordred was pleased to have come to the notice of the young King and felt he could easily do as asked, anyway like the rest of the country he was curious. Mordred vaguely remembered Merlin but more for the visits to the Palace. As he had recently been in his father's bad books, following several episodes that had got into the papers and this might help. "Of course I will your majesty when would you like me to visit?"
"I am back at the weekend, perhaps then?"
"It will be a pleasure Sir, is there anything I could get the Prince as a gift?"
"I don't know, he is only just discovering the world so to speak, so I will leave that to you, but it is your company that he really needs, you are free to stay at Windsor" Arthur hoped the two would get on but only time would tell.
Once Arthur had left the Duke called his son in "Make sure you don't mess this up boy, the Prince has had a rough time from what I can see of it and he will need friends. Association with him can only improve your abysmal public image, I'm surprised the King even asked you to be honest."
Mordred rolled his eyes "Father It's not that bad, the king was young not so long ago he knows how the press exaggerate things"
"Arthur never got into the bother you have my boy, and the press were watching him more than you"
"No but look who his father was! Some pillar of society he turned out to be" Mordred said sullenly.
"The King clearly wasn't perfect, but we don't know the whole story so watch your mouth!" the duke said "Just befriend the Prince, you will be in a prime position to benefit, as a younger son you need to find a place for yourself." The Duke had visions of his youngest son gaining influence through the Prince. The young King was clearly very fond of him. The Duke of Essetir, John Sarrum was always looking for ways of increasing the families influence and as there were so few close relatives to the Royals this might be their chance.
One of the visits Arthur went on was to the same Epilepsy Centre where Aithusa had come from. They not only helped train the seizure detection dogs but also researched and supported sufferers. This was a visit that Arthur had insisted on, he wanted to find out more about what could be done, not only for his brother but for others. Whist there he promised to become the Patron of the Society and help raise their profile and the prejudices that suffers encountered in their daily lives. Arthur wanted some good to come of this entire mess. He promised to bring Merlin when he was well enough, Arthur felt it would be good for Merlin to see he wasn't the only one, He also thought it might be an idea for one of the Garden parties to focus on the condition and put that on his list of ideas for the future.
Mordred arrived at Windsor at the weekend as promised, he had brought with him an iPod for Merlin with a couple of hundred music downloads already in place. Merlin was gradually getting used to meeting new people and Mordred and brought with him some photographs of them together when they were small. Merlin was wary as might be expected but loved the iPod and got the hang of using it quite fast. Mordred has also brought a docking station so Merlin could have the music playing in his room. The two went out with Aithusa in the garden several times. When Mordred left on the Sunday he promised to keep in touch and visit again. Leaving his phone number as well as getting Merlin's for his persona room phone.
On Monday Morgana and Arthur took Merlin on his second only car ride. He didn't remember the journey to Windsor form the hospital and was nervous about getting into the car. It was an anonymous one with tinted windows to give Merlin extra security. The twenty two mile drive was interesting for Merlin and he started to relax, as they arrived in London Merlin was amazed by the amount of people outside Buckingham Palace. They were soon in and Arthur took Merlin up to the suite of rooms that was to be his. He was also shown where Arthur's and Morgana's were. Morgana has decided for the time being to move back with her brothers and not to Clarence house, something she would have been expected to do before Merlin's discovery. What Merlin was pleased about were the gardens they were much larger than Windsor's, although he was told to avoid the parts open to the public.
Merlin settled in although he was confused at why they had come there. But other than the change in venue his life went on much as before. He was taken by Gwaine to watch the changing of the guard through one of the windows and enjoyed that.
Then on Thursday he decided he wanted to go and see Arthur in his office. It was the first time he had requested to do so, Gwaine checked he wasn't in a meeting and went with Merlin. Knocking on the door Merlin went in, Gwaine waited outside with Percy.
"Hello Merlin" Arthur said smiling, He was sitting at his desk with the red box, that was sent from the Prime Minister's office daily, in front of him going through the paperwork. "I think I'll stop for a drink would you like one"
Merlin nodded so Arthur ordered coffee and went to sit with Merlin in the chairs near the fireplace. "It's nice to see you Merlin, did you want to speak to me, or just say hello?"
Merlin was chewing his nails and looking worried. Arthur waited until the coffee had arrived and they were alone again before taking his brothers hand in his and asking gently once more "What's the matter Merlin? You know you can tell me anything."
Merlin looked up and Arthur could see something was really troubling Merlin "You head of family now, what's wrong with me?" he said softly
Arthur kept silent hoping to encourage his brother to continue, there was a significant pause. "His Majesty was my father, Uncle Agravaine was my family to." He paused again. "Books say family are supposed to be love and cuddles and protect, why did no one cuddle me? What did I do wrong?" Merlin shivered and he looked up tears in his eyes "Don't want you and Gana to have to punish me, like nice. What's wrong with me? Tell me so I don't do it again."
"Oh Merlin you didn't do anything wrong, they did, there is nothing wrong with you!"
"my…disgrace… don't mean to" Merlin was clearly talking about his fits.
It was clear to Arthur that Merlin's time in the library had clearly been spent trying to help him understand things.
"Merlin your seizures are due to you getting hurt when you were small, it's not your fault you can't help it. Gana and myself know that, we won't punish you. Father and Uncle were wicked people, father is dead now and uncle will not ever be able to hurt you again, what those people did to you was wrong. If ever you want a cuddle you can have one. I'm sorry we weren't there for you but we are here now and we both love you very, very much"
Merlin looked at his brother before speaking again "don't like people" he muttered.
Arthur gave a weak grin "Lots of people are very nice, you like Gwaine, Mithian and Gwen don't you?" Arthur stood up and made a call then took Merlin's hand "Come with me"
Merlin followed his brother "I went out yesterday to see people and when I was there lots and lots of people gave me things for you. We were going to look at them and give you some, but come and have a look" Arthur took Merlin through to the office that dealt with all the things the Royals either got sent or given. As they entered three people bowed and moved out of the way. "Look at all that and most of it was for you!"
Merlin went and looked at some of the cards and toys piled up in one corner of the room. "You can't have it all as there won't be room but we will give some to the children who are in hospital, but if you want anything say so and once it has been looked at you can have it"
Merlin looked at it all wide eyed "I don't know them" he whispered.
"They have read about you and seen you on TV Merlin, and they wanted to give you something, because they are sad about what happened to you"
Merlin sat on the floor and started to look at some of the cards that had already been checked through. Then he spotted a toy dog in the things set aside for a hospital and he picked it up and cuddled it.
"Do you want that one Merlin?" Merlin nodded "Take it then, it's been checked, you see lots of people love you"
Merlin hugged his brother and Arthur hugged him back. Arthur decided to ask Mithian or Gwen about either taking Merlin on one of the visits or having a small garden party so Merlin could see that the people loved him.