MERLIN POV

"Please tell me you're not wearing that to court!?" Arthur said looking down at my normal attire.

"I wear this to every meeting." I reminded him. "It's not like I'm actually at court, I'm just a servant."

There was not a single thing different about my dress. Same old worn leather boots, brown pants and jacket, and blue shirt that was covered slightly by my red neckerchief. It had all seen better days and more important meetings. No one had batted an eye because why should they? It hardly matters what a servant wears to an important announcement, servants are far from important. The only time my outfit ever changed was when Arthur felt the need to humiliate me with the "official servant's robes." After that incident he said he never wanted to see me in them again, that I looked hideous. Gwen said she overheard him telling Morgana he blamed himself for that servant singling me out to tell of Bayard's poisoning. No matter the reason, I only had one outfit to wear as one of the lower class.

"No." Arthur drawled shaking his head. "That won't do."

I shot him a look, begging him to explain what the hell was going on. Was this another way to mess with me like the former incident? Had he only just noticed that my clothes were not of good quality? Probably not that. He probably thought they were an eyesore everyday.

Arthur walked over to his wardrobe and started rummaging through it. To my utter dismay when he frowned at a piece he threw it behind him onto the bed or floor. I rushed forward to start picking up the pieces. Frantically I asked him:

"What are doing? You're already dressed."

He ignored me, as usual. Four, five, six shirts tossed to the ground in search of something. Finally he landed on his signature red shirt that he refused to let me dress him in this morning. His eyes were dazzling as his innocent - maybe not so innocent - smile spread across his lips.

"Try this on." He said throwing it at me.

My shocked stare could probably be likened to that of a doe at the end of his crossbow. Whatever his plan for this couldn't be good. There were a number of jokes he could pull on me if I complied. His eyes traveled up and down my figure. I clung the shirt to my chest feeling exposed despite being dressed head to toe.

"Ah, you're shy." He said half mockingly. He pushed me behind the screen. "It's fine, I won't look or tell anyone. Everyone already know's you're the human personification of a girl's petticoat."

I heard him continue to loot the wardrobe. a sigh escaped my lips. The jacket and shirt came off easily. They were quite too big for me. Better to have larger clothes in case you need some off. His shirt slipped on the same way mine would. We were not the same size, as he had proper muscles to fill it out. The fabric was soft against my skin and was much more comfortable on the almost healed serket sting than the rough cotton of my tunic had been. I played with the ties in my fingers for a bit, pondering whether to finish it and tie them. I shouldn't be wearing princely clothes. Yet, I didn't want to take it off.

"Looks great! Now these." He passed me black pants that he himself had not worn since before his cancelled wedding.

"Your father's going to kill me if he catches us doing this!" I exclaimed. Reluctantly I slipped into the pants which were probably the most pleasant article of clothing I had ever worn.

Yep, most definitely a dead man.

"I have it on good authority that he won't. We could always say Gaius bought them for you." His voice got louder as he got closer to the screen. "It's not perfect but it'll do."

He actually wanted me to wear them to court!? Arthur strode up behind and patted me on the back. His hand was far from where it should have been and he ended up graing the sting. I hissed in pain. Then tried to smile it off.

"I'm sorry are you okay!?" He was sincere. Not something I was expecting. "Let me see."

He tried to grab at the bottom of my shirt but I pulled away from him.

"I'm fine." I said, backing to the wall. "I just ran into the table this morning."

That was easily the worst lie I'd ever told. Next to "I'm an open book." Most my friends didn't even know my favorite color was green. I hadn't told anyone. As if somehow the color could be associated with sorcerers and have me burned. That fear trickled into every little thing about me. No one knew Gaius was my uncle, or that Arthur and I shared a birthday, or the fact that I could use my left hand just as well as my right. Maybe if I started telling Arthur these things it would ease him into the whole magic bit. maybe it would give me the courage to one day tell him and not hide every little wound. It would be nice to share my pain with those who care.

"I can't wear these." I tried again to reason with him.

"It wouldn't kill you to be presentable for once." He ruffled my hair in defiance of the words coming out of his mouth. "Come on Merlin, we'll be late if you argue any longer."

I'll just have to fix my hair on the way then.

As I expected the meeting was typical. After thirty minutes of Leon briefing the king on damage, casualties, and restoration plans I tuned out. Next they'd talk about what to do about Cenred and his attack without provocation. Peace for once would be nice, but Uther was not the kind of king that extended peace offers after battle, something about "showing weakness."

After the main gist of it was over we moved to the hall of ceremonies so that Uther could proclaim his brilliant leadership and the skill of Camelot's army like he did after every battle. As we flooded into the hall I strode up beside Arthur instead of behind.

"I need to tell you something, about Morgana."

It felt wrong to be telling Arthur after she let me save Camelot, but not telling Arthur last time was what got us into an even bigger mess. I needed to keep reminding myself of that.

"It's alright, we know what happened." His tone was even. He didn't seem remotely angry about her betrayal.

We couldn't be talking about the same thing.

"In my time we've won many battles," Uther started as people finished filing into the room. "But none so important as this. Every man, every woman and child, has performed their heroic best. And I thank you, and I salute you all."

This speech was quite different from speeches of the past. He never mentioned Gwen or Morgana's efforts and yet now he acknowledges the women's effort in the infirmary. It was far from what I was expecting. On the bright side he hadn't noticed me yet, in clearly noble quality clothes.

"Even before the battle we knew there was a traitor in our midst." Gaius and I exchanged a look. Maybe Arthur did know about Morgana. "One who was almost the undoing of us. However, we have to thank the one person who outwitted them." Morgana was taking the credit, how typical. "And who almost single-handedly, turned the battle."

Morgana walked up from the side entrance and stood tall at Uther's left hand with a smile. She then gave me a pointed smirk. It was all too obvious what would follow. What should have followed.

"The boy, Merlin!"

AN: I probably won't have much time over the weekend for writing, so I thought I'd get this finished on break.

simple realization: working on re-plotting

Because I loved you: 2k (will likely be 10k)

When insanity knocks: plotting C3 and C4