Merlin

7:00 Make a speech during the feast and entertain the guests

Arthur

7:00 Serve at the feast

Merlin stood regally at the head of the table; Queen Guinevere to one side and Lady Morgana to the other. Arthur was nowhere to be found and Merlin had waited long enough before starting already; or really he hadn't waited as long as he could have, but he couldn't resist the opportunity of making jokes about Arthur being late when he did eventually get there.

Merlin waited a moment as the conversations around him died down, everyone waiting for him to speak. He didn't particularly like being the center of attention so he took a deep breath to prepare to give the speech he had written the day before. "I am required by the rules of my challenge to give a speech." A small bit of laughter rippled through the crowd. "I think Arthur expected it to be hard for me to write and give a speech at a feast. I will admit that this is the biggest crowd I've ever spoken in front of, but I do have a fair bit of experience writing speeches, since I am the one who writes all of Arthur's." A much bigger laugh went down the table.

Arthur slipped through the side door, holding a full pitcher of wine, and trying to move as quickly as possible without spilling. Or Merlin noticing he was late.

Merlin glanced sideways as he was speaking, smirking at Arthur trying to sneak in. Time for some payback. "And there's my servant now." Merlin announced to the room. "He seems to be late, though I can't believe he would dare to be late as he is always reminding me that I should be on time. Seems a bit hypocritical if you ask me. My point is, that the thing about being king is that the service is terrible. My manservant is so bad that he needs his own manservant to show him what to do." Arthur would kill him for this later, but Merlin wasn't going to let this opportunity go to waste. "If I may quote our great king, 'truly, one of the worst manservants I've ever had.'"

Arthur was now right behind Merlin, where he was supposed to have been the entire time. "Merlin!" He growled.

"Hush up, Arthur." Merlin waved a hand behind him to silence the rightful king. "It's a good thing that the actual king has an excellent servant." More laughter echoed through the room. Everybody, with the obvious exception of Arthur, was enjoying Merlin's speech. Merlin smirked back at his king, who was scowling.

Merlin knew he had to get back to the original point of the speech or Arthur probably would kill him in front of everyone. "I know I've been talking on and on about the challenge between Arthur and I, but we aren't really here to talk about that. We've all gathered together for this feast to celebrate a much more important event. Our own Lady Morgana's birthday."

The crowd applauded as Lady Morgana stood and curtsied for everyone. Once she sat back down Merlin continued to speak. "As we all know, Lady Morgana has recently married Lord Urien. And though she is dearly missed in the castle, we are all very glad that she has found possibly the only man brave enough to be her husband." Lady Morgana swatted Merlin's arm good naturedly even as she smiled. "In all seriousness, we're incredibly grateful that they could both make the journey for this momentous occasion. Morgana is an amazing woman and her birthday is always a wonderful day and I do believe that I have now stalled long enough that I can announce my gift to her without ruining it."

Everyone around the table raised their eyebrows. "With the blessing of our dear Queen Guinevere I have ever so slightly abused my newfound power and commissioned an art piece. The painter in the back of the room has been capturing this lovely dinner, my glory as king for the night, and—most importantly—Arthur's position as my servant."

Arthur stepped forward looking like he was going to drop the pitcher he was holding to strangle Merlin but received a glare from his wife that made him back down.

Morgana stood to hug Merlin. "This was the best gift you could have gotten me." She whispered to him.

"I wanted to immortalize the occasion for you." Both of them were grinning as they pulled away from each other.

Merlin turned back to the crowd. "On that note, let the feast begin!"

Morgana turned to Gwen; the queen had switched places with Lord Urien so that she could catch up with her friend and Merlin could talk with the lord. "I know both of them have told you everything." Morgana said to Gwen.

"That they have." Gwen smiled, eyeing where her husband stood, listening in to Merlin's conversation. "Arthur has been struggling with the manual labor involved with being a servant. I may have spoken with some of the servants about trying to get him to carry as many buckets of water back and forth from the well as possible."

The Lady Morgana laughed aloud. "So he'll truly understand everything the servants do for this castle."

Gwen feigned ignorance, her slight smirk belying her amusement with the whole ordeal. "I'm sure he will. I saw the list of chores Merlin made him do and he did not hold back. Though it was still a lighter load than Merlin normally has, what with his chores for Gaius as well."

"Well he has always overworked himself. Maybe this will encourage Arthur to give the man a day off once in a while."

"Hopefully. Merlin even managed to get some work in for Gaius while we were out having a picnic for lunch. Right before you arrived we were picking herbs and using the empty picnic basket to carry them."

Morgana didn't even look surprised at that statement. "That man would work himself into the ground if left to his own devices."

Gwen nodded in agreement.

Merlin and Gwen gracefully switched places so that Merlin could speak with the Lady Morgana and the queen could speak with her friend's husband. Merlin watched often as Arthur and his wife performed this ritual so they could speak with all of their guests during a feast. It felt weird to be the one doing it instead of just moving behind the chairs to stand at Arthur's shoulder.

"So, tell the truth, how was it being king for a day?" Morgana leaned over to ask Merlin. "Now is your chance to brag because I want all of the details."

Merlin lowered his voice so that Arthur wouldn't hear what he said. "Well if you want me to brag, then I feel as if I should say that this kingdom hasn't had such a good day in a long time." Merlin snickered as he said it, giving up any pretense of being serious.

"I bet. I heard around that you sparred with Gwaine."

"I can officially claim that I am better than some of the newer knights. I lasted more than a full minute in open combat and Gwaine did not disarm me at any point during the fight. I have no doubt that Arthur will use that as an insult to the knights for ages. I can hear him now: my manservant can fight better than that, and he can't even hold a sword without dropping it."

Morgana smiled. "I'm impressed. Though you are likely right, Arthur will hold it over them all for ages." She paused, leaning closer as if to share a secret. "Gwen said that he bet on you being able to keep your sword throughout the fight. I think he was rather impressed by you today."

"Well he should be."

Morgana rolled her eyes in fond exasperation. "Yes, I did also hear that the power was going to your head and you've gained an ego as big as his."

Merlin scoffed in mock offense. "You take that back."

The lady laughed loudly, drawing the attention of Arthur, who still stood a few feet behind his queen, ready to move forward and serve her or Merlin at a moment's notice.

Merlin waved him off and snickered to Morgana at his unamused frown. He was surprised that Arthur wasn't blatantly eavesdropping on his conversation; it was no secret that Merlin heard everything said to and by Arthur during feasts.

The feast proceeded normally, with the exception that the knights and guests of honor were taking great pleasure of calling upon Arthur to fill their goblets as much as possible. It was a pleasant experience for Merlin; not having to stand the entire time was wonderful. He almost felt bad for making Arthur serve, but every time the guilt appeared he remembered how many times he'd stood in that same position for hours on end listening into other people having a good time. Besides, Arthur would only have to do it this once.

Merlin finally decided to leave the hall a few hours later, the feast was winding down and he was beginning to feel the pull of sleep. The day had been long and exhausting in so many ways, and he still had some reports to finish if he wanted to win the challenge.

With a small sigh, Merlin signaled to Lady Morgana and Queen Guinevere that he was going to leave. With their nods of approval, he stood and announced to the hall that he would be retiring for the night.

Arthur quietly followed him out of the banquet hall. The quiet didn't last; the moment they were out of earshot of the guards at the hall doors Arthur began complaining. "I'm starving."

Merlin smirked. "I bet you are, but you still have to draw me a bath and ready me for bed, so I guess that just sucks for you."

"Do you really go without dinner this late on feast days?" There was a slight bit of concern in Arthur's voice, well hidden beneath the arrogance also in his tone.

"I'm smart enough to eat some food right before the banquet starts, but yes, usually I go without a proper meal until after the banquet ends."

Arthur didn't respond and Merlin was too tired to turn and look at his expression. He just wanted to go to sleep, even if that was in his own lumpy bed again.