AN: Hello my dear readers, New Perspective this chapter! Let me know what you guys think of the new viewpoint.

I think this'll be the last set of scenes before I start poking the bear that is distraught-Arthur, but we'll see.

I've got a little nugget of mystery in here, which I hope you guys will enjoy. Anyways, I'll stop rambling and let you guys read, and send me your comments when your done! Always greatly appreciated!

Aithusa lay at the foot of Merlin's bed watching him read from his dusty book about dragons. After leaving Prana House, she watched him more closely than ever. To anyone else, he would look his normal cheery self, but she was not fooled. She could sense how he really felt.

'Why he feels so inadequate when he's always managed to keep his friends safe, I don't know.'

Although, that wasn't completely true. She did know. She had been there with him, in a way. Experiencing his memories had revealed to her a lot about the man who was her dragon lord. 'I don't call him that any more, because I know it would only make him uncomfortable.' There may have been a time when he had wanted to be recognized for the things he did, but that was long gone. Tempered by the wisdom of age and the realization that recognition was much less important to him than keeping his friends safe from harm. He was best able to do that when nobody knew who he was, when everyone underestimated him.

But working in the shadows had it's consequences. It meant that you couldn't ask for help, more often than not. It meant that all his actions were utterly and completely his own. She knew he blamed himself for the ones he could not save. 'His "failures", as I know he calls them.' She didn't know how to make him believe otherwise. It didn't help that he was good at shielding her from his emotions when upset.

'I understand how he really feels so much better when he's not doubting himself.' It seemed to be the only time he was truly separate from her anymore, and she did not like it.

A black shape flitted through the shadows making it's way to a sheltered inlet some way from the city. The cloaked figure walked out purposefully to the centre of the open space and knelt down on the ground. Calloused fingers brushed almost hesitantly over deep gouges in the stone. Chips of ragged rock snagged on flesh, tugging incessantly before letting go, leaving scratches in their wake not deep enough to bleed.

The marks were no doubt left by the claws of a massive beast, one which had dug into the rock before kicking off.

A satisfied smile glinted from the depths of the black hood as the figure made it's way back through the night.

Percival sat prodding the fire absentmindedly with a spare stick for his shift on watch. Around him, it was true midnight. The creatures of the day had settled into the rhythm of sleep, and the night critters had quieted down from the excitement of their awakening. It was the worst shift if you wanted to get any actual sleep, but it was the best one for thinking.

Five days ago, Arthur was attacked by a vengeful sorcerer and was saved by Merlin, who subsequently disappeared. The whole time they had been out searching, he had been thinking, and watching.

Initially he had been furious about Merlin's disappearance because he knew, with absolute certainty, that he would not have run off of his own volition. Not unless there was something he had to do elsewhere in order to protect one of them, most likely Arthur. Yes, he had disappeared in the past, but he knew that wherever Merlin went, he had good reasons for it. He was much more dependable than Arthur usually gave him credit for.

But this time felt different. For starters, Arthur had reacted immediately by enlisting their help to look for him. Every other time Merlin had disappeared, Arthur had bumbled around in frustrated anger searching for his wayward manservant. This time, he immediately noticed the younger man's disappearance and acted to rectify it.

In some ways, Arthur was behaving the same now as he had that one terrible time they lost Merlin after a bandit attack at the entrance to the Valley of the Fallen Kings. But this was different. This time, Arthur felt guilty enough to head out himself to search immediately.

That first time they had lost Merlin, it had really been Arthur who had lost him. The king had blamed himself, but it had really been the rockfall that was to blame. Arthur would not have left Merlin if that hadn't have happened. He couldn't have done anything. But now it was like Arthur knew it was all his fault, knew he had nothing and no one else to blame. The king was more frantic than he had ever seen him. Somehow, all this was his fault. But someone else had still taken Merlin. There was nothing in all the world that would convince him Merlin had left on his own, without telling anyone where he was going.

It always took a couple days for Gaius to really get worried. This time, it hadn't.

The next strange thing to consider was Gwaine. He was more protective of Merlin than anyone else, even Arthur, and while the first couple days he had been properly worried, he wasn't any more. Gwaine was also the one who knew the most about the people they were looking for, whom they believed had kidnapped Merlin. And they had kidnapped him. There was no other explanation.

But Gwaine wasn't worried about it. So he wasn't in danger, even by proximity, because if he was, Gwaine would be ragging around like a rabid dog looking for him. He was however angry with Arthur. So again, Merlin's disappearance boiled down to being the fault of the King.

He had no idea what to think. For the first time since sitting down at a round table with a group of people he had barely even met and pledging his allegiance to a dethroned prince, he felt like everyone was keeping secrets from him. 'Merlin always kept secrets, but he had been the only one. And even so, I still knew I could trust him. Lancelot had made that much clear to me.'

A soft breeze rustled the leaves over his head as he stared unseeing into the flames. It washed over his skin soothingly, almost a sigh of contentment.

No, he did not know what was going to happen. He just knew that it was going to change everything, and he wasn't sure they were prepared for what came next.