"Rise and Shine!"

The call once again echoes throughout the room, the curtains thrown wide open to allow the sunlight to filter through.

Merlin can feel the grin split his face as he watches Arthur groan in annoyance, pulling the pillow up to cover his face.

No. Not today.

Grinning even more, Merlin sneaks up on the unsuspecting king, cold hands reaching out to pull at Arthur's feet.

In one quick movement, Merlin grabs hold of the feet which are poking out of the covers, and yanks, feeling a bubble of laughter at Arthur's howl of protest.

Smothering his laugh, Merlin continues to drag Arthur out of bed, before turning round to set up breakfast.

"Oh, dear," the amused voice comes from the door, and Merlin looks up to see Gwen covering her mouth with her hand, an amused expression across her face.

Merlin, feeling much better than he did yesterday, sweeps into a deep bow, which sends Gwen into even more peels of laughter, as she claps in mock amusement.

Finally, now that his wife was here, Arthur got up off the floor, moving across the room to give her a quick peck on the lips.

Finally, after much palava in getting Arthur dressed, the two of them were sitting down to eat breakfast, while Merlin pottered around the room, cleaning up.

With their morning routine over with, Merlin moves to clear the plates, Gwen sneaking him a couple of tidbits of food as he does so, much to the fond annoyance of Arthur, who just rolls his eyes in exasperation.

With the plates cleared and ready to be taken down to the kitchens, Arthur leaves Merlin with a long list of chores.

"I need you to polish my armour, sharpen my sword, take my dogs for a walk…"

And on the list goes, as Merlin stands there trying not to wince at the number of things that need to be done.

No doubt whilst he also has to complete chores for Gaius. Ah well, it's the price he has to pay for being allowed not to stand at attention for the entire day in the council room as stuffy nobles talk about the outline for the treaty.

After Arthur had left, Gwen leant in towards him, a conspiratol look in her eyes, "If you need any help, I'm sure the stable boys need the work, and one of the squires could sharpen his sword if need be."

And, with a wink, his best friend was out the door to follow after her husband.

Merlin laughed, shaking his head slightly. He wouldn't need the aforementioned help, not when he had magic that could complete it for him.

Spinning on his heel, he rubbed his hands, a gleeful expression on his face.

It was time to begin.

After a few hours, and one luncheon later, which the king and queen took in their room, Merlin collapsed in his bed for a couple of minutes.

No doubt Gaius probably had some chores for him to complete as well, but other than that, Merlin had the entire afternoon off.

Which reminded him…

There were a few things he wanted to ask Gaius, particularly involving one Prince Balinor.

Pushing himself off of his bed, he made his way back into the main room and began crushing some more herbs.

Gaius was probably out on his rounds. Merlin might as well start with something useful while he was gone.

He didn't have to wait long.

Gaius was unfortunately getting older, no longer able to walk around the entirety of Camelot as he used to. Merlin usually went in his stead, but with the delegation, he had been too busy as of late.

"Ah, Merlin, there you are," Gaius smiled lightly at him, before pottering around their shared chambers, putting empty vials away, and checking their stock of herbs.

After a few minutes of silence though, Merlin worked up the courage to start a conversation with his mentor.

"Prince Balinor stopped by last night."

There was immediate change in Gaius' body language, as he turned, body tense, eyebrow raised, something akin to fear crossing his face.

Turning away from Merlin once again, Gaius spoke, trying and failing to sound conversational, "And what exactly did he want?"

"He said he wanted to see you. I didn't know that you were close friends with the crown prince of Deaestidria."

It was Merlin's turn to try and fail to be inconspicuous. Innocently, he continued to crush the herbs, waiting for Gaius' reply.

It wasn't long in coming.

"I used to live in Deaestidria. It was where I learnt my craft, and where my sister still lives to this day."

Merlin knew Gaius had chosen these words carefully, but found that he didn't care. He never knew that Gaius had lived in another place besides Camelot! This was the most Gaius had ever said about his past, and their shared family.

Wait a minute. If Gaius said that his family lived in Deaestidria, then surely…
"Gaius?"

A sigh escaped Gaius' lips as Merlin interrupted him. Not that he should really be surprised. Merlin would be the first to admit that he was curious. This wasn't the first time he had interrupted Gaius due to it either. But not only was this the most Gaius had ever spoken of his family, but the most Merlin had ever heard about his own family. Why had his mother never spoken about this with him before? Why had he never met these people in his life?

"Did my mother ever live in Deaestidria?"

The something crossed Gaius' face once more. Except this time, Merlin could clearly see the fear that was written there.

"Your grandmother came with me to Camelot, she said that she wanted a change in scenery. She and your grandfather met, and were soon married, before they moved to his home in Ealdor."

Something wasn't adding up. There was something niggling at the back of his mind, but Merlin couldn't quite grasp it. Something his mother had said to him years ago…

But before he could begin to think about it, Gaius shoved the herb basket into his hands.

"I need some more yarrow and feverfew."

Something definitely wasn't right.

And Merlin was going to figure it out.

A/N I meant to post this last week, but completely forgot that I was going away for the weekend. I am hopefully now going to be able to keep to a schedule of about one chapter per fortnight, and these will be posted on Sundays (my time). If it's any longer than a fortnight, just assume that school has absolutely killed me, and I have lost the will to live. I hope you enjoyed! Things are going to get more interesting from now on...