Merlin woke up far earlier than he would have liked. He opened his eyes and immediately shut them as the sun assaulted him. He couldn't remember how long he had left in Camelot.

What he did know was that the treaty was going to be signed, and that when it was, he was leaving Camelot to rule his own kingdom.

Why did he have to go?

He didn't want to leave the comfort of sleep, but he did want to talk to Arthur. They only had a day or so left, and he wasn't sure if they had finished with his "lessons". He still called them lessons, because he didn't know the word for "I randomly became a prince and now Prince Arthur is teaching me how to not screw it up".

In all of the chaos of the last three days, Merlin had almost forgotten what being Arthur's servant had been like. He remembered things about him, but lately , they had nothing to do with being his servant.

Lately, he remembered the kiss, the first one far more vivid than the second. The first few seconds of shock, followed by the feeling that something had been missing, and he hadn't noticed its absence until it had been returned. He remembered the look of annoyance that Arthur had shot the door when they had been interrupted, and how eager they had both been to continue.

In short, he remembered Arthur as the one person that had ever been able to actually make him feel happy. Like the second side of the same coin, just as Kilgharrah had said.

These memories were interrupted, just as that first kiss had been, by a knock on the door.

This time, however, it was Gaius. "Merlin?"

"Yes?"

"The prince wants to see you."

Gaius couldn't have understood Merlin's eagerness to report to the prince, but fortunately, he didn't seem to have noticed. Merlin rushed through the castle's halls, and stopped outside Arthur's chambers. Another knock. He could still imagine Arthur's scowl.

That, however, was not the look that greeted him.

A smile.

When Merlin heard the familiar command to enter the room, he was not expecting to hear a tone of voice that suggested that Arthur had been smiling the entire time.

When he actually opened the door, he was not disappointed. He saw Arthur, happier than he ever remembered... except for one time.

One moment, the night before. He had seen this look on the Prince's face once before, but the memory was largely obscured by shock. Somehow, Merlin knew that he was the only person that Arthur had ever fixed with this particular stare.

"What do you need, sire?" Merlin could hardly say the sentence without laughing.

"You really are an idiot, aren't you?"

"You're never going to stop calling me that, are you?"

"Why? Does it bother you that much?"

Merlin pretended to consider for a moment. "No."

"Good."

"Now, seriously, what did you want?"

"Well, I suppose there isn't a chance that I would call you up here for no reason."

"I wouldn't put it past you."

Arthur laughed. "Of course you wouldn't"

Merlin smiled. He had known Arthur for years, but he was only now learning about the side of him that took Merlin's smile as an invitation for a kiss.

The kiss didn't shock Merlin this time, but he could still feel electricity running through him. In the back of his mind, he knew that Arthur had reponsibilities to deal with very soon, if not right then. But at the front of his mind were Arthur's lips and a wish- a wish for the moment to never end.

Unfortunately, it did end, and it ended on his terms. He pulled back, and was immediately hit with another of Arthur's looks that only the prince could fix him with, begging him to continue. He was very tempted to oblige, but instead whispered, "The king will be expecting you, won't he?"

Arthur sighed. "I have mentioned that I hate it when you're right, haven't I?'

Merlin replied, "You have, and I agree. The thing's that I'm right about are normally quite infuriating."

Merlin's comment forced a smile from Arthur, who said, "You should come with me. For practice, of course."

"Of course, my lord." That comment coaxed a laugh from the prince.

When they arrived in the great hall, Arthur addressed his father. He had been away from the castle for several days, investigting alleged witchcraft and needed to be updated on the events of the time he had been absent. That responsibility fell to Arthur.

Arthur told him of the peace negotiations with Carlain, and the reason that they were necessary. Merlin noticed that Arthur had left out a few of the details, but he wouldn't have volunteered them either.

When Uther dismissed Arthur wil hardly a nod towards Merlin, he figured that it was a good enough indication of Uther's attitidue towards him: completely unchanged. He didn't particularly care, still being used to the life of a servant. It still felt conpletely foreign to fear himself reffered to as a prince, a king, or any sort of nobility.

There was also the matter of being able to follow Arthur out of the great hall without being regarded as suspicious.

As soon as they returned to Arthur's chambers, Merlin nearly tackled Arthur, not that Arthur was putting up much of a fight. Merlin hadn't been the only one that had been not so patiently waiting to resume the kissing. At any rate, neither of them were complaining.

They had no reason to waste the last of Merlin's time in Camelot. That time, as they both knew, was quickly drawing to a close.

Merlin, once again, was the one that had to point out that he could no longer stay in Arthur's chambers for extended periods of time, as he was no longer Arthur's servant.

"Fine, but no leaving for Carlain without saying goodbye. I forbid it."

"Of course not, sire."