Today, Merlin was limping.
It was slight, and if Arthur didn't have a habit of hiding injuries himself he wouldn't have noticed it. He watched carefully from his table in the morning as Merlin walked - still with a slight limp - over to the table and set the plate of extravagant breakfast foods down, then walked over to Arthur's cupboard to pick out a few shirts for Arthur to choose from.
"Merlin, where were you last night?" Arthur asked, trying not to sound as though he were suspicious, even though he was.
"With Gaius," Merlin simply replied. "Like every night. Why do you ask?"
"Just wondering," Arthur responded. "And what did you do with Gaius that gave you that limp?"
Merlin froze, and Arthur could see his eyes widening briefly before he quickly returned to his previously relaxed expression, strained as it looked. "I fell, while getting herbs. Gaius is working on this new thing you see that requires a fair bit of rosemary and ginger, and he was fresh out of both. It's nothing special."
Arthur raised an eyebrow, but got up and walked over to the side of his bed, dragging a chair with him. "Sit." He pointed to the side of his bed.
Merlin looked as though he were about to object, but sighed and sat down. Arthur sat on the chair and Merlin crossed his leg over his knee to expose the side of his calf, where a gash glimmered a shiny red color with nearly fresh blood. Arthur winced a bit looking at it, but didn't question Merlin's clearly fake story about how he'd received it and wrapped the wound with a bandage. He then sent Merlin on his way, after he had reassured Arthur that his leg was in perfect working order and he would have no trouble completing chores.
Arthur intercepted Gwaine in the hall later on that day, and whispered "Keep an eye on Merlin. There's something he's not telling me and I need to know what it is."
At approximately two hours after midnight Gwaine noticed a figure moving outside the castle. He'd been put on midnight watch above the gate, which gave him perfect view of the happenings below him, but also caused him to yawn every two minutes or when Percy yawned, who was assigned to gate duty with him.
"Who's that?" He asked, pointing at a figure, probably a man, running towards the woods. Percy shrugged, but said "Go check it out, I'll wait here."
Gwaine nodded and hurried off towards the figure who was moving quite fast, almost as if they were trying to escape someone.
It was twenty minutes afterward when Gwaine finally caught up with the person, who, once they turned to the side where Gwaine could at least see half their face, he noticed was Merlin.
He followed Merlin a long ways, walking for multiple hours and hoping that Percy didn't think he was dead until finally they reached a lake, surrounded by mountains and with a few patches of strawberries growing along the lake's edge. He watched as Merlin approached a stone with an inscription on it he read as "Freya". He couldn't read the rest as it was in smaller text, but what he could make out was helpfully viewable by a little viewing glass he'd created for such occasions as one where a person needed to observe without being observed.
He watched in awe as Merlin's eyes glowed a bright amber and suddenly a patch of wildflowers sprung from the ground in an array of pastel colors. Gwaine jerked his eye away from the viewing glass, blinking a few times and looking back through to see him do it once more, until the entire area surrounding the grave was covered in colorful wildflowers.
As he watched Merlin sit down with a book he hadn't realized he was holding and begin reading to Freya, a book about a collection of legends and myths or otherwise. It was clear to him that Merlin loved this woman.
It was at this point Gwaine came out of the shadows and sat beside Merlin, who looked like he'd had a heart attack at the sight of Gwaine.
"G-Gwaine, I-uh, how long have you b-been here?"
Gwaine smiled. "Don't worry Merlin, your secret's safe with me."
Merlin looked simultaneously scared and relieved, but Gwaine didn't make any moves to pry or ask questions. Just sat next to Merlin and looked off towards the lake, which he noticed was a really beautiful one he'd never noticed before.
"I was born with it," Merlin offered quietly, to which Gwaine simply replied. "Oh. I didn't know you could be born with it."
A bit of silence ensued, which was broken by Gwaine.
"Who's Freya?"
It was the first question he had asked, and a bit of a loaded one. Merlin waited a few moments to think of what to say and simply replied,
"She's someone I should've spent my life with."
Gwaine understood, so didn't ask any more questions. It was just silence after that until the two walked back to Camelot together before sunrise.
"Ah, Gwaine!" Arthur called as the two passed each other in the hall. "Just the man I was looking for. Got any info about what I asked you?"
Gwaine shrugged his shoulders and made an expression of indifference. "Nothing. Don't think there's anything there. Sorry to disappoint."
With that, he walked away, leaving Arthur in the hallway.