Test
Anhora studied the young man before him, so fiercely protective. It had been quite the test for both the prince and Emrys, although it had only truly challenged the prince.
Emrys had known enough to not kill the unicorn in the first place; he had felt the stirrings of kinship all creatures of the Old Religion possessed, and knew better than to kill such a pure creature. The prince, however, did not know such things, and the unicorn fell.
And then came the tests, and Anhora was as much testing Emrys as he was the prince, although the testing was much less obvious. Emrys, of course, passed all three of Arthur's tests so easily that they were not tests at all, merely obstacles to reach his prince.
Anhora had seen Emrys's tense posture when he posed as a thief for the first test; Emrys had been ready to intervene and stop his prince from seizing the man if Arthur had not come to the decision himself.
The next test had been much more subtle. Of course, Emrys never actually ran into the thief, but the fact that he put up with the rather arrogant prince on a daily basis told Anhora enough to know that the thief's mockery would hardly affect him. No, Emrys's second test had been one of constraint. He could have easily overpowered Anhora when he was captured; all it would have taken was a flicker of his immense power and he would have been free to search for his prince. However, he instead submitted to the test, patiently waiting for his prince to appear. In Emrys's great destiny, he would need all the strength and patience of heart he possessed to keep his heart pure. It would be no easy trial, and it was comforting to see the ease at which Emrys passed this particular test.
The last test was, in truth, the most fascinating. There was no hesitation on either's part to sacrifice themself for the other. It was a sacrifice born of duty, yet driven by the undeniable friendship they had - even if both were too stubborn to admit it. Yet still, their individual decision to drink the poison was unique and compelling. Arthur chose poison after a sense of duty; he would always put his people above himself. Beyond that, he was a fair, if not yet truly understanding king. He knew the curse was his fault, and he was determined to be the one to make amends. Emrys, on the other hand, was quite a different story. As soon as he understood the test, he immediately sought a way to protect his prince - Anhora didn't believe the though even crossed his mind to allow any other way.
He winced as Emrys turned around and the prince seized the goblets. That gullibility was going to exact a heavy toll if left unchecked.
In the end, they both proved themselves pure of heart. The prince proved himself arrogant but just and merciful, while Emrys proved himself entirely pure, yet alarmingly naive. What an interesting destiny you two share, he thought, reassuring the panicked Emrys that his prince was indeed well. He was content to wait for the rising of destiny; with Emrys at his side, the prince would never stray far from his pure heart for long.
All right. I'm officially ditching the idea of restraining drabbles and oneshots to only behind-the-scenes/everyday events, although they will certainly play a prominent role. What I'm really after here is writing about Merlin in a way that is more reflective than action-based, at least in this fanfiction. There's a lot of unexplored depth to Merlin, and stepping back into a reflective role allows me to explore these depths much more thoroughly than I might otherwise. So, if I begin to explore more canon-important events, know that's what's going on.
For those of you who like the lighter, less plot-significant events, never fear! The vast majority of these will still run along "everyday" lines.