A/N: Hello there everyone. I know it's been a while, but I lost all motivation for some of my stories, as well as dealing with a new member of my family. I hope you enjoy this chapter after a long wait.

Heading back into Camelot was rather amusing, but then it had been amusing to listen to Arthur complaining about the clothes that Merlin had brought for him to wear. They were Merlin's clothes, and Arthur moaned about them smelling, even though they had been washed, just for the Prince. I wanted to smack him and warn him not to be so rude, but I managed to refrain from actually doing it.

When we were finally heading back, I was bouncing along like a little kid. I was wearing one of the pale blue dresses that Gwen had given me, my hair was tired up in a very messy bun, and I had a lovely tatty brown cloak draped over my shoulders. I was going to enjoy just being me for a while, just strolling through the streets of Camelot without having to worry about my uncle.

"Isabella, will you please calm down." Arthur called to me as I skipped along happily. "You're acting like a child."

I stopped where I was and spun around to face him. "Me? A child? When have I ever acted like a child? When have you ever seen how a child acts? I do not need to calm down and I am not acting like a child." I told him, before spinning back around and carrying on my happy little skip.

"You will blow our cover, Isabella." He warned me, before jogging to catch up to me. I felt his hand latch on to mine and he gave my arm a slight tug. I couldn't help but look up at him with my big, sad, puppy dog eyes. "That is not going to work this time." He warned me, before yanking the hood of my cloak over my head. The way he had pulled it made it fall completely over my face.

"Spoil sport." I grumbled at him, before flicking the hood back a little so that I could see where I was actually going. "I do hope that you are not going to be ruining all of my fun while we're undercover." The only fun that I was planning on having was simply being me for a few days. I wasn't planning on running off or getting into trouble or anything like that, I just wanted to have some time to be who I really was, and not a Princess.

The look that Arthur was giving me told me that he really did not approve of me having fun of any kind what so ever. "You still have to be careful, you cannot let anyone work out that it is really you. If your uncle is hanging around here, if he sees you…" I knew what he was saying, and I knew that I needed to be careful still.

All I could do was simply nod my head at him. "Yeah, I know, Arthur." I told him, letting out a sigh. "I don't plan on doing anything stupid, I promise." At that answer, the Prince smiled at me softly, and I couldn't help but smile back at him.

A few minutes later, and we were walking back through Camelot. Arthur was still holding onto my hand tightly, and I was keeping my eyes firmly locked on the ground. We had to keep ourselves unnoticed, we had to try and just blend in. Being unnoticed was a special gift of mine, especially when I was trying to avoid the wrath of my uncle back on the farm.

The days when he was in a bad mood were always the worst, no matter what happened, whatever went wrong or upset him, he would blame it on me. I learnt to stay out of his way on those days, it only took me a few slaps around the face to work that one out. I was just lucky that I had somewhere to go to, somewhere that he wouldn't bother to go to try and find me, the bed and breakfast that was run by my one and only friend, Sally. She was the one person that I missed from back in my own time, Sally.

"This is the place." I heard Merlin whisper, before I was tugged over to a house. I didn't bother looking at it until we were standing right in front of the door, I had only paid attention to my feet.

As with every other house that lined the street, it was built out of wood, which I didn't really mind too much. Just from looking at the outside I knew that it was going to be pretty tiny inside, all of the houses that the normal, hardworking people lived in were small. I had a feeling that was going to be a slight problem for the Prince, but if he really did want to live like a normal person and earn some respect then he was going to have to deal with it.

Merlin opened the door, and I felt a hand on my lower back. When I looked over I noticed that Arthur had let go of my hand and was signalling for me to go inside before him. I smiled at him before I stepped past and entered the house, my eyes drifting over what was there waiting for us.

"Well, this isn't too bad." I said quietly, throwing the hood of my cloak back and wandering around the single storey wooden home. There was bench style table, which I didn't mind, it was somewhere to sit and eat as far as I was concerned, and there was a sideboard with cooking pots sitting on, just begging for me to use them. "I kind of like it."

I missed the look on Arthur's face as he entered the house and took a look around, but I didn't miss what he said. "You can't really expect us to stay here." The Prince whispered to her servant while I continued to look around.

"We need to keep you both out of sight. Gwen only lives a few doors down, and she can be trusted not to tell anyone the pair of you are here." Merlin reminded him, knowing that he was a little annoyed that Gwen knew of our plan. As far as I was concerned there was nothing wrong with telling her, it was so that she could help us and meant that if anything happened she would be able to tell Uther. It made me feel a little safer knowing that we had a backup plan in case anything did go wrong.

While Arthur continued to moan, I pulled back the curtain that separated the front of the small home, which was basically the living area, kitchen, and dining room all in one, from what was simply the sleeping area. I couldn't help but let out a giggle as I saw the only bed that took up most of the space there. "Oh, you are going to love this, oh great and wonderful Prince." I called, before taking a step to the side so he could see where we would be sleeping.

Honestly, his face just fell even further than it already had. "Is that meant to be a bed?" He questioned, coming and standing beside me and looking at the crooked wooden frame with blankets thrown over it. There was no mattress, the pillows were rather flat, and it was nowhere near as big as his bed back in the castle.

I hear Merlin let out a small laugh as well. "If you really can't go without your big bed and your soft pillows…" He ended up saying, knowing that it was going to annoy Arthur even more.

The Prince let out a sigh of defeat. "This will be fine. How are the preparations coming along?" Arthur asked, having a look around our temporary accommodation and trying to distract himself. "Have we found someone to play our knight in the tournament?"

A confident smile filled Merlin's face. "He's a farmer from one of the outlying villages, and no one will recognise him."

"But does he look the part?" As soon as Arthur said that the confident smile that Merlin had been wearing faded a little. He wasn't sure, and that just made Arthur even more nervous about the whole thing.

I stepped over to the Prince and rested a hand on his arm. "Arthur, it's going to be fine. Whoever this farmer is, I am sure he will be absolutely perfect. And besides, he has the best teacher possible to make sure he gets the part right, doesn't he?" Yes, I was giving him a bit of an ago by saying that, but if it stopped him from stressing out I really didn't care. "Now, we need to unpack and get settled, while Merlin goes and checks in with Gwen to make sure there are no problems."

"Yes, of course." It was clear to see that Arthur was more in his own little world than the real one, so Merlin took that as his chance to slip out and go fetch our knight.

Once he was gone, I took Arthur's bag that Merlin had carried and placed it on the bed. "You know, this really isn't that bad, Arthur. And remember, it's only going to be for a few days, I'm sure you can manage to live like your people do for a few days." I had to remind him that this was what some people had to live in all of their lives, while we would be able to go back to a nice comfy castle after a few days.

"How do people live like this?" He asked me, opening some of the cupboards and looking inside. "This is... it's…"

"This is life, Arthur. You were lucky, you were born in to royalty, and you can have whatever you want, whenever you want. These people, the people that live in all houses like this, they have to work hard for everything they own." I told him, knowing how hard it was for those people. I had lived a life like that, a life full of work and very little else. My room with my uncle wasn't big, I had a single bed and a small wardrobe shoved against the wall. There was no space in there to do anything, a path from the door to the bed and that was it. I could relate to all those hard working people that Arthur looked down on.

Arthur looked at me with a frown on his face. "You were born into royalty as well, you know." Of course he had to remind me of that.

"Yeah, but I was never given everything I wanted. I've always known that there were people out there that had very little, and I never took advantage of my royal status." It wasn't completely true, because I hadn't grown up as a Princess. However, when I was little I did have to do chores if I wanted something. I would have to help with the washing, or clean the dishes, little things like that, to get money to buy what I wanted.

When I glanced at Arthur, I noticed the sombre look on his face. He was finally starting to learn, to understand that not everything really was about him. He was going to have to live without his luxuries and comforts, and I could already see that it was going to be a struggle for him. "So, you think you're going to be all right living in a place like this?"

I shrugged my shoulders at him. "I don't see why I wouldn't be. There's a roof and a fire, everything else doesn't really matter." I told him, before actually going over to the small fireplace and picking up the flints that were sitting on the ground. I was going to get a fire started, I was going to show Arthur that I was going to be just fine living in that tiny house with none of the comforts.

"Isabella, what are you doing?" He asked me, standing back and watching me with his arms folded across his chest.

"Uh, what does it look like I'm doing? I'm getting a fire started, or are you not going to want the warmth from it, and the ability to be able to cook?" Merlin wasn't going to be there to cook for us, I was going to do it. I had already asked him to grab some things for us, some food for me to cook, and I knew he would get it. I was going to make Arthur the best meal he had ever had.

"Well, I suppose that would be helpful." I heard him grumble, clearly not impressed that I had thought about it before him. "Why don't you let me do it?"

Just as his feet stopped beside me, the flints sparked once more and a flame burst from the wood. "I can actually do it myself, Arthur. I have lit fires before, you know." I told him, noticing his hand beside me and reaching out so that he could help me to stand. "It's really not going to be that bad here."

Before the Prince had a chance to reply, there was a light knocking at the door, followed by the muffled voice of Merlin. I went and sat down on the bench while Arthur let him in, this was going to be a pretty long day, I could just tell.

A man followed Merlin into our temporary home, a man who hadn't washed in a few days and was wearing some rather tatty clothes. Although they looked tatty to me, they were probably the best clothes that he actually had. I could tell by the look on Arthur's face that he was far from impressed, in fact he looked more disgusted than anything.

"Okay, this is going to take a little bit of work." I muttered, looking the man up and down as he stood there nervously. "First things first, we need to get him cleaned up." Merlin nodded at me, and quickly set to work. Actually cleaning the man himself, while he just stood there, most likely enjoying having a servant do things for him.

A short time later, while Merlin was still working on the farmer, who I had learnt was called William, there was a light knocking at the door. A second later Gwen's voice floated through from the other side, and I quickly went to let her in. Her arms were filled with clothes and chainmail, and I quickly reached out and grabbed some off the pile. How she had even managed to knock on the door with all of that stuff I had no idea, but I could see she was grateful for me taking some of it away from her.

It was an even longer time later when the farmer was standing in front of us, fully dressed and actually starting to look like a knight. He had his chainmail on, and he had his shield. "From now on, you're Sir William of Daria." Merlin announced to the man, showing him a seal of nobility. Arthur seemed to be less amused, and I could tell that he was really starting to have doubts about his plan.

"It's going to be fine, Arthur." I whispered to him, knowing that he just needed a little reassurance. "He's starting to look the part, but now you have to get him to act the part." I had every faith that Arthur could turn the man into a knight, there was no doubt about it, but it was getting Arthur to believe it as well.

I was starting to understand how Arthur was feeling. We had been sitting there for hours now, trying to get William into character, to make him seem like a knight, but it wasn't going so well. "Imagine you're really… arrogant." Merlin said to him. I would have laughed a little if I weren't so fed up. "Knights like to think they're so much better than everyone else."

"It's not arrogance." Arthur called in protested as William stepped from one side of the room to the other, trying to get it right. "Ignore him, he's an idiot. A knight must behave with honour and nobility." I was actually surprised with the way that Arthur was keeping calm, and not shouting in frustration. That was always a good sign, it meant that he wasn't in as bad a mood as I thought. We all watched as William's funny little walk turned into something more of a strut. He held his head up high and stood up straighter. Arthur commented that it was better, but he really didn't sound that convinced. "You must convince everyone that you were born into a noble family."

William stopped his strutting around and turned to face Merlin. "Polish my armour, boy."

Arthur seemed impressed, while I simply rolled my eyes. "Oh great, another Arthur." I mumbled, resting my head in my hands a little.

But the Prince just kept on smiling. "Now you're getting the hang of it." And then he remembered something. "That's a good point. You need to polish our armour." Arthur told his manservant. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him, because he now had to do whatever Arthur said and what William told him as well.

I watched Merlin's face fall as he let out a groan. "I'll go get started with it." He muttered, before getting up from the table we were all sitting around. He had a really long task ahead of him, and I was glad that I could help him by lightening his load.

"I best get started on supper. It won't be long until Arthur starts complaining that he's hungry." After saying that, everyone else seemed to disappear from the house. Gwen went back to her own home, and Merlin went with her. I knew that she was going to help him with the armour, Gwen was a lovely person with a kind heart.

It was only when everyone had left that Arthur let his mask fall. "This is never going to work, he is terrible." The Prince grumbled while I started sorting through the food that we had. I was going to have to get creative with it from what I could see there. "No one is going to believe that he is a knight."

"Yeah, well no one believes you can live like a normal person, so let's just prove everyone wrong." I told him, grabbing a knife and starting to carefully peel away the skin of the carrot that was in my hand. "It will be fine, Arthur."

The next thing I knew, the knife had been taken out of my hand and I looked up to see Arthur gazing at me. "What do you need me to do?" He asked, before grabbing the carrot as well.

I was actually kind of shocked, shocked that the Prince of Camelot was offering to help me with making us something to eat. "Uh, they need to be peeled a chopped. So do those." I managed to tell him, pointing over to the potatoes. "Not too many, there's only two of us and we need to make what we have last the few days that we're here."

Arthur nodded at me before sitting down on the other side of the bench style table and concentrating on peeling the carrots. "So, what exactly are we having then?" I had been wondering when he was going to ask that. The thing with Arthur was he never really knew what he was going to be eating until it was placed in front of him.

"Well, carrots and potatoes, obviously, and Merlin brought some lamb from the castle kitchen for us as well. I'm not sure if I'm just going to boil the potatoes or mash them." I hadn't really decided what I was doing with it just yet, I knew there was some butter, and that would be nice with the potato if I did mash it.

After that we sort of fell into a comfortable silence. The world outside began to calm down, everyone heading home as darkness took over. It was actually rather peaceful, and I was enjoying just sitting there and having nothing to worry about. It was nice to be able to cook for myself for once as well, and the Prince as well of course.

In the end I did mash up the potatoes, since I may have boiled them for a little too long so they were already falling apart in the pot. Arthur wanted to help with serving it up, but I had to shoo him away because he was doing nothing but getting in the way. I could feel his eyes watching my every movement as I served it up and placed the plate down in front of him. I knew it wasn't much, it was just some lamb chops with potatoes and carrots, but I really didn't mind.

"I know it's not much and you're used to lavish meals, but this is still more than what other people have to eat." I was pretty sure that he was a little disappointed with how little he was being given, he probably wanted sausages and bread and a nice goblet of wine. Unfortunately there was no wine for us, and even if we did have some, I would most certainly not be drinking anything after what happened the last time.

"Isabella, it's fine, it looks wonderful." Arthur assured me, smiling at me before tucking into his meal. I moved a little slower, watching and waiting to see what he really thought of it. I tried not to make it obvious that I was watching him as he raised the fork to his mouth and tried some of the lamb. A frown formed on his face before he filled the fork with mashed potato. "There is no way that this is potato." He commented, having tried it and clearly not too sure about it.

All I could do was raise an eyebrow at him as I started on my own food. "You saw the potatoes, you peeled them and cut them up. You put them in the pot and you saw me boil them. Those really are potatoes." I had to stop myself from grinning like an idiot at the fact that he seemed to think it wasn't really potatoes when he really knew that it was.

"How did you do it? This doesn't taste anything like potatoes. I might have to get you to cook more often." I'm pretty sure that was a compliment from him, I was sure that he actually liked my cooking. I already knew that he liked my chicken soup, and it would appear that the Prince of Camelot enjoyed really did like my food.

"Yeah, you haven't reached breakfast yet, I'd hold your opinion until then. We do not have sausages and bread and cheese, we have oats." I knew how much he hated oats, he really did not like them. "Hopefully I can make them taste at least a little better than they usually are." There wasn't anything wrong with Merlin's cooking, I just wasn't used to eating porridge that was sloppy and tasted like wood shavings.

"I am sure it will be lovely, Isabella. This really is delicious. Do you remember where you learnt to cook like this?" I was actually surprised that he had asked me that, we hadn't really had time to worry about my memories any more, not that I was worrying about them in the first place. With everything that was going on with my uncle, that was our main priority and not my missing memories.

I looked up at him, a sad smile on my face. "My mother. I… I used to always get in the way in the kitchen when someone was cooking. In the end, she started to show my how to cook things. I can remember making bread with her one morning, and I ended up covered in flour, my hair was pure white because of it." Maybe taking about it wasn't such a good idea after all, as my eyes started to fill up with hears. I quickly grabbed at the cloth on my lap and wiped my eyes while I cleared my throat. "Anyway…"

Arthur was just watching me, the sadness in his eyes crystal clear. I may have lost both my parents, but at least I had had some time with them. Arthur had lost his mother when he had been just a baby, she died giving birth to him from what I've heard, and he never had a chance to meet her, to get to know her. It must have been harder for him than it was for me.

"Isabella, I'm sorry, I never meant for you to get upset." He told me softly, reaching over the table and gently giving my hand a squeeze. "It must still be difficult for you, thinking about your parents."

I have his hand a squeeze in return. "It's okay, I'm fine, really." I guess that had pretty much killed the atmosphere now, and we ended up finishing our meal in utter silence. I quickly cleaned everything up and put it all away, leaving the pair of us sitting there in silence, while I gazed at the flames dancing around in the fire.

Arthur was actually checking he had everything ready for tomorrow, and checking around the house. I had a feeling that he was a little worried about how safe it really was for us to be there, he was turning into a curtain twitchier. I kept catching him standing by the small window that was high up, pulling the curtain back slightly and glancing outside. I wasn't sure if he was just curious or if he was worried that someone was out there, but I heard the guards go past and he came and sat back down.

"You seem a little nervous, Arthur." I pointed out to him, wandering around and getting things ready for the morning. It was going to be a busy day, and I wanted to be up early enough to make Arthur's breakfast.

"Are you telling me that you're not nervous or worried at all?" Of course I was, I was terrified that my uncle was going to be out there waiting for me. I couldn't explain why, but I really did have a bad feeling about it all, but there was no way that I was going to let Arthur know that, so I just shrugged at him in response. "You are not the slightest bit worried?"

I couldn't help but let out a sigh, he had seen straight through me, like always. "Yes, I am worried, which is why Gwen knows exactly where we are. If something happens then she can go and get help. But what else is there that can be done?" Apart from staying inside the house and not going out at all, which I knew Arthur would not let happen. I was not to leave his sight, not even for a second. I still didn't think that was going to work out too well while he was jousting, but I was going to have Merlin with me at least.

"Just make sure you stay with Merlin tomorrow, and keep in my line of sight. I very much doubt that he will show, but we do not know who else is around." Arthur told me, being completely serious. We hoped that our little trip to the Northern Boarders meant that my uncle and his goons would be heading that way to look for me.

I nodded my head at him in response. "I know, I'll be careful, I promise." I would have some daggers with me, so I would be able to defend myself a little at least. "Come on, time for bed. Big day tomorrow so you need to get some sleep." It was going to be a long night, I could just tell that it was. The bed was going to be uncomfortable for Arthur, and he was probably going to do a fair bit of moaning.

To my surprised he actually got up and checked that the door was safely locked before heading to the back of the house where the bed was. He wasn't even going to bother to get changed, but then neither was I, and I was starting to feel too tired to care. It had actually been a long day, even if it didn't seem like it.

Once we were both in the bed, with Arthur fidgeting to try and get comfortable on the bed that I realised did have a mattress, just an extremely thin and old one. "Arthur, you really need to relax." I told him, knowing that he was probably still worrying and thinking over everything that was going to happen tomorrow. "Everything is going to be fine."

"How can anyone relax on a bed like this?" Of course he was going to complain about the bed, it just wasn't soft enough for him while I was fine with it. "How do people live like this?" He asked me, yet again.

I gave him the same answer I would always give, and that I had been giving him. "They have no choice, Arthur. This is their life, this is what they can afford. They don't have the luxuries that you do up in the castle, just having a bed is a luxury for some." I hoped that after these few days he would understand better the way that people in Camelot lived, the things that they had to do and the lifestyle that they led. If everything went well, this whole experience would be an eye opener to the once arrogant Prince. I could only hope.

A/N: Well, I have to say that I'm slightly disappointed. Reviews have seriously dwindled, only 2 for the last chapter. Now, I'm not one of those writers that beg and plead for reviews, nor am I the kind to threaten no more chapters until reaching a certain amount of reviews. I am just a little disappointed that people don't seem to be enjoying it so much anymore.

I will work harder on it, I'll try to update a little sooner but I can't guarantee it since life does tend to get in the way, especially now that I have a baby nephew to fuss over.

Either way, I hope those who do still read this story and enjoy it, did enjoy this chapter. Until next time!

Pippa.