Merlin

1:00 Have lunch with Gwen

Merlin led the way at a leisurely pace, but faster than he would normally be able to travel by walking. Gwen rode beside him and Leon just behind the two—Arthur had insisted that they take a knight with them for protection.

They reached the clearing in no time at all and Merlin dismounted before helping Gwen down from her horse and beginning to set up the picnic. He pulled the basket from his horse's saddle and untied the blanket they would sit on.

"Here, let me help." Gwen offered, reaching out for the blanket Merlin held.

He quickly pulled it out of her reach. "Absolutely not. You're the queen, just let me set up the picnic."

"Merlin, you know how much that annoys me. I am still just as capable of doing things for myself as I was before I was queen." She feigned being frustrated with her friend. She knew he meant well, but it really did annoy her that everyone seemed to think she was suddenly incapable of doing anything herself.

"I know you are, but I wouldn't have let you do it before you married Arthur and anyways I won't have you getting your dress dirty. If you come back with a ruined dress, Arthur will make me wash it tomorrow."

Gwen rolled her eyes, giving in only because she saw the truth in his words. "Alright fine."

Sir Leon smiled to himself at the antics of the two friends as he positioned himself in an advantageous vantage point to guard them. He leaned against a nearby tree, close enough to hear the conversation between the queen and the acting king.

Merlin dramatically spread out the blanket with a flourish and helped Gwen pull out all the goodies the kitchen staff stuffed their picnic basket with.

As they sat down Merlin passed a honey pastry to Leon, who accepted thankfully and ate it quickly since he took his guard duty seriously and didn't want to be distracted.

Gwen took the small jar of jam and began to cover her own pastry with it. She took a big bite before starting the conversation with the question both her and Leon were dying to know the answer to. "So Merlin, how do you like being king so far?"

"You must promise not to tell Arthur a word of this or I'll never hear the end of it." Gwen nodded her agreement and Merlin turned to Leon. "You too."

Leon chuckled. "Not a word." He promised.

Merlin evidently believed them because he began to rant about all the problems he had already faced that morning. "Every muscle in my body hurts. I am exhausted. There is absolutely no good reason for anyone to be training that early in the morning. And to top it off I had to fight Gwaine. Gwaine! That's more than the new knights do. And after that ordeal I had to switch to staying perfectly still in the throne room listening to people argue over chickens. Honestly, I don't know how you do it Gwen. I think my spine has changed shape from sitting on that uncomfortable throne the past few hours. Anyone who plans to overthrow the kingdom does so at great risk to their own health because that glorified chair could kill a man after a few days."

"It's good to know that the power isn't going to your head." The queen commented with a smile.

"I didn't say that." Merlin said.

Gwen raised her eyebrow. "And what exactly do you mean by that?"

"I'm just saying, it is my right, as king, to abuse my power as I see fit." Merlin did his best impression of Arthur, infusing his tone with arrogance and haughtiness.

Gwen laughed. "That is not how that works and you know it, Merlin."

"What powers of the king can I abuse?" Merlin mused, grinning.

"You do technically have power over the treasury." Leon informed him.

Merlin glanced up at him in surprise. "I thought you of all people would be against me abusing Arthur's power."

"I am. But in this specific case I have an idea." Sir Leon smiled good naturedly and Merlin was instantly curious as to what could be a good enough idea to make Leon suggest that Merlin take money from the treasury.

"Do share your idea, Leon." It seemed Gwen was also very curious.

"I will just say that with this servant's challenge going on, I don't think that the king has had a chance to buy Lady Morgana a birthday gift. And it would be rude for Merlin, as her host tonight, to not have a present for her."

Merlin's eyes lit up. "Of course." He too had forgotten he wouldn't actually have a chance to go and buy her gift today. He had been thinking of things to get her for a few weeks and while he had a few good options, this would give him so many more.

The three friends spent the rest of their lunch discussing various presents for Lady Morgana.

As they went to pack up and head back to the castle, Merlin grabbed the now empty picnic basket and began to pluck the leaves off of various plants around the clearing, depositing them into the basket.

"Merlin, are you doing what I think you're doing?" Gwen asked.

"It has to get done. And Arthur certainly won't be able to do it today. So if I collect them now, I won't have to come back out here tomorrow." Merlin explained his reasoning for collecting the herbs.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Alright, what does Gaius need?"

Merlin rattled off a decent sized list and Gwen started to help him gather. Leon shook his head, waiting for them to finish their task.

Leon broke the easy silence that had descended. "Merlin, did you choose this clearing specifically so you could collect herbs after lunch?"

"Yep." There was no hesitation in the admittance.

"You really do work too much, you know that?" Leon told him.

"Of course I do; make sure to mention that to Arthur every once in a while and maybe one day I'll get a day off." Merlin said. "Besides, it wasn't like we wouldn't have time to do it; Arthur scheduled two hours for this lunch. It's longer than any other lunch I've ever had."

"How long do you normally get for lunch? I mean, I know you wouldn't ever have two hours free, but surely you get a decent amount of time?" Leon asked curiously.

"Usually I can scrape out about fifteen minutes, but sometimes it's as little as five. And of course Mary wouldn't hear of it if I tried to skip lunch altogether, despite her constant reminders that there will be no stealing food from her kitchen."

Gwen laughed. "She worries over you, but that doesn't mean she'll make an exception for you. I at least used to get half an hour or an hour for lunch. Arthur really does work you too hard."

"It wouldn't be so bad if it were just Arthur, but Gaius is just as guilty." Merlin moaned dramatically. "I don't even know the meaning of the term 'free time'."

The three laughed together as they mounted their horses to head back to Camelot.

Merlin stood next to the queen on the steps outside the castle. Morgana and her party were riding into the courtyard. Their timing could not have been better, Merlin had just returned from having lunch with Gwen and didn't have to start the council meeting for another half hour.

As she slowed to a stop, Leon moved to help Lady Morgana down from her horse. Her husband, Lord Urien, dismounted his own horse and turned to the knight to discuss something as she rushed forward to wrap Gwen in a tight hug.

"I have missed you so much, my friend."

"And I you, Morgana." Gwen smiled.

Morgana pulled away and looked around. "Where is my dear brother? Is he too busy to greet me after I came all this way for my birthday?" She turned to hug Merlin, "You look great, Merlin. Did Arthur finally wise up and give you a title?"

Merlin blushed. "You know I wouldn't accept even if he had. But it is related to a birthday present I have for you."

Morgana raised an eyebrow, "Do tell." Merlin grinned maniacally.

"I challenged Arthur to try and be a servant for a day and he agreed. He's not here to greet you because he's helping to prepare for your birthday feast." Merlin smirked. "Or maybe still mucking out the stables."

Morgana matched his grin as he explained what had occurred in the past few days. "I dare say this'll be the best present I get this year."

"I do try." Merlin smirked.

Lord Urien joined them and Queen Guinevere decided to reintroduce them all. "Lord Urien, Lady Morgana, may I formally present King Merlin."

Urien blinked in surprise. "King? You seem to have moved up in the world." Urien's tone was flat; he always did have a dry sense of humor.

Merlin blushed again. "It's only for the day. I made a bet with Arthur."

Urien laughed. "Well then, I wish you the best of luck."

The four ascended the steps into the castle. Gwen excused herself to make arrangements for Morgana's birthday gift and Merlin graciously showed the couple to their room, even though they already knew exactly where they'd be staying.