A Special Day

Marayna yawned as she stretched out in her cot, squinting and blinking blearily as she saw that…it was rather bright in the room…too bright. She shot up in bed and looked over to see Merlin's cot was unslept in, as normal, but that the shadows on the walls were too long and not in the same places. She jumped up and ran to the window, looking out at the sun and let her head fall forwards onto the base of it, shaking it.

Arthur was going to murder her!

She turned and dashed around the room, trying to grab at any piece of her own clothing she could find, which was not as easy a task as one might imagine, especially since she shared the room with her brother and his clothes were all mixed in with hers. She managed find a white dress and the frock that went over it, and pulled it on, quickly running a hand through her hair in a vain attempt to comb it out and look somewhat presentable when she went to face Arthur. She wasn't quite sure how she'd managed to oversleep. She was usually up rather early despite the fact she would rather sleep like she was dead and not wake up for hours. She loved sleep, she did, but for some reason it always eluded her and she could never hold onto it for long.

She was often up with the sun and waking up Merlin, and if she wasn't Gaius was and he would wake her and Merlin together. That or she'd hear Merlin bumbling about as he tried to sneak back into the room early in the morning. But none of that had happened it seemed as she was late for work. Arthur would likely be fuming because, unlike her, Merlin really could sleep like the dead. It always surprised her though, how easily he could wake when he sensed someone needed him. Whenever she'd have a nightmare as a child or not feel well, or whenever Morgana had a nightmare, he was up in an instant. All other times he was dead to the world.

"Ah Rayna…" Gaius smiled when he saw her stumbling out of the room, trying to put a boot on while she stumbled down the stairs, ending up falling on her bum as she laced them, "I have something for you, a gift…"

"Sorry uncle!" she cut him off, running to the door, not even grabbing an apple off the table on her way, "I'm late and Arthur will murder me!"

"Ray…na…" Gaius called, but she was already out the door.

He had to chuckle and smiled though, shaking his head at her antics and wondering if she even realized what today was and that she wouldn't be expected to tend to Arthur today. Not only had Merlin requested she have the day off from Arthur last night, promising he'd do ALL the chores himself, but…it was an unspoken sort of rule in Camelot, that this sort of day was the one day that no one expected a servant to work, truly just about the one day a year they actually had off.

~8~

Marayna ran through the halls, trying to avoid crashing into servants on her way…and failing miserably, she was always disoriented when she first woke up and given how she'd been rushing around her room trying to get ready so quickly, she hadn't had time to get her balance going…what little balance she actually had to spare. She'd tripped UP the stairs, raced around a corner so quickly that she'd slammed into the wall on the other side of the hall, tried to lean to the side to avoid a servant with a basket of clothes and ended up toppling into another that had a bundle of sheets. She'd stopped to help them pick up the already soiled sheets though, and then took off again. She was quite certain there had been someone with a chicken at one point because, when she reached the hall to Arthur's rooms she had a feather or two in her hair.

She honestly couldn't remember for certain though as it had all been quite a blur really.

"Arthur!" she gasped as she reached the door, only for it to open as Arthur stepped out, Morgana and Gwen with him, "I am so sorry, I overslept and…"

"Merlin didn't tell you, did he?" Arthur gave her an almost unamused look.

"Tell me what?" she shook her head.

"That you had the day off?" he cut in.

Normally he'd have stood there, playing disappointed, playing cross, and let her ramble on as long as possible and apologize and grovel for her tardiness. Normally he'd do that, but…it was a bit different with Marayna. It wasn't that something twisted painfully in his gut at the thought of guilting her about something that wasn't her fault, not at all, no, certainly not. It was more…he knew she'd never fall for it. Yes, that was it. She'd apologize once, and that would be it. She'd see him staring at her expectantly to continue and just give him a look, probably cross her arms and give her Gaius's eyebrow and then HE would be the one trying to apologize to her for what he didn't know.

So really, it was a better use of time, and less humiliating for him, to just tell her straight that she didn't have to be so flustered.

Marayna blinked, "What?"

"You have the day off," Arthur repeated, "Which I'd rather like to know why, if you don't mind. Merlin all but demanded I give you today off and swore he'd get his chores and yours done if I did. So…" he looked at her, "Would you care to explain what was so important about today that you HAD to have off?"

She blinked again, "I have absolutely no idea."

She really didn't, it was just another day in Camelot, there wasn't anything remotely special about it. The sun set last night, rose this morning, everything was going the way it always did except her brother seemed to have finally lost his mind.

"You never do," a voice said behind her and she turned to see Merlin walking down the hall, a small pouch in his hand, "You always forget what today is. Honestly Aya, if mother and I didn't keep track…" he tossed her the pouch.

She frowned, truly not having the slightest clue what he was talking about, 'Merlin…explain.'

He just shook his head and smirked, 'Open it first. You'll figure it out.'

She gave him a look and slowly opened the pouch, reaching into it, her eyes widening as she pulled out a small handful of berries. It was a small assortment of berries, just a couple different varieties that she knew were edible and grew in the forests. Sometimes, when she and Merlin were gathering herbs for Gaius, they'd take a break and munch on a few of them. But this…for him to have collected them and brought them to her.

"Oh my god," she blinked and looked at him, "Is that today!?"

"Is what today?" Morgana frowned, shaking her head, seeing Marayna looking at Merlin with wide eyes and not having a clue as to what was so important about the berries. She knew Merlin and Marayna ate them at times when they had a moment of rest, so why was there such a big to do that Merlin had gathered some for her.

Merlin just laughed, "It's her birthday," he told them, moving over to his sister and hugging her tightly, "And you always forget!" he lifted her up and spun her in a circle, setting her back down to noogy her head, "Always, every single year."

"Not EVERY year," she countered, smiling widely at her brother for his gift.

It was a tradition for them, it was something they did every year on their birthdays. They didn't have much in Ealdor, and that was fine with them, they liked the simple life more than anything else, and birthdays were something that were usually celebrated by the entire village. They were such a small village and, with how often babies died when they were born, those who survived were celebrated. The villagers would usually gather for a small bonfire that night and they'd just warm themselves and talk and have a bit of fun.

It didn't really happen with them though the villagers and celebrating their birth, it seemed to be something the others pretended they weren't aware of. It had made them feel all the more out of place in Ealdor, to be so cast aside and ignored that their birthdays didn't even get a small bonfire. So they made the day special for each other. They didn't have much to spare so what always happened was their mother would let them sleep in, the other tending the small crops with her to help out. And then they'd sneak off to the woods and gather berries, because berries were free, they just took so long to gather at times that it was tedious. But they'd still gather them, and bring them back. Their mother would use just the tiniest bit of sugar that she rationed for the year to sweeten them a bit and they'd wait till one of them woke, for the other to present their gift, the berries. It was the simplest of gestures, but it meant SO much to them and they loved it.

"If it weren't for mother and I you'd not know you're 20!" Merlin laughed.

"You're 20 today?" Gwen looked at her with a smile, "Well happy birthday to you both."

Merlin blinked, "Us both?"

"You're twins aren't you?" she laughed, "Don't they usually have the same birthday?"

"We're not twins Gwen," Marayna told her with a smile, she knew they often gave that impression though, they were so close and acted and looked so much alike that people often though that, "Merlin's older than me by a few months."

"Mum always said it was like she'd just had me and then found out she was having Aya too," Merlin nodded, putting his arm around her shoulders.

"So Morgana's the oldest of us, then," Gwen nodded.

She was the second oldest, just a few months older than Arthur was. Arthur, had celebrated his coming of age, his 21st birthday only last month, and Merlin was older than Marayna, by nearly a year, so his birthday had to be in a month or so or something like that. Morgana was older than Arthur by almost 4 years, that was how old she'd been when she'd first arrived in Camelot, having come with Ygraine, the daughter of her first husband, Gorlois, by his own first wife, and taken in by Uther. Poor Ygraine, she thought briefly, was the second wife of two different men. But she loved Morgana as though she were her own and she had heard tales, whispers really, of how Morgana and Ygraine had been together, mostly stories from Morgana herself, who had only been a very little girl when Ygraine had died.

It had been odd though, when she looked at portraits of Morgana and her father and Ygraine, well, really there was only one. But Morgana looked like Gorlois, yes…but there was just something…different about seeing them together. It had always been her opinion that children had their mother's noses and their father's chins for some reason, she didn't know why, she just thought that. Morgana didn't have Gorlois' chin, but she…she did seem to have his nose…which was odd. But then again, that wasn't always the case.

"Thank you for bringing up my old age Gwen," Morgana joked, nudging Gwen a bit as the girl blushed for her flub, she knew the age of a woman was a delicate thing, especially in court, especially for Morgana. She was well within the marrying age, yet was still unwed, something that was…quite unusual given how young most noblewomen were married off.

She supposed Uther just had too soft a place in his heart to do that to her. Or perhaps it was his own belief that her father should have been there to select a suitable companion for her and Uther just…hadn't found one to honor Gorlois enough. She didn't know.

"Oh my God," Marayna blinked, "Does that mean…I'm the baby? Still!?" she groaned at that, she'd been the youngest of her and Merlin and now she was still the youngest of their group of friends.

"Well you certainly act like it," Merlin remarked…only for her to punch him in the shoulder for it, "Ow!"

"Merlin," Morgana looked at him, "Why don't you take Rayna to the kitchens for some bread to have with the fruit," she gave him a pointed look.

He frowned though, not quite sure what the look meant, "O…k…"

Morgana shook her head and focused, 'We need a gift…' she tried to say to him, practicing speaking in JUST his mind more.

"Oh!" he nodded, catching it light the faintest whisper and realizing Morgana was going to try and surprise his sister with a gift of her own. He glanced at her and saw she hadn't seemed to have heard what Morgana had told him, "Yes, bread would be lovely, I mean, come on Aya!" he turned and pulled his rather confused sister on.

"He's not very good at subtlety is he?" Gwen had to remark, having gathered Morgana's intention even without hearing her words to Merlin.

"Why would he need subtlety to go fetch a slice of bread?" Arthur countered.

The women looked at each other a moment, trying to determine if he was serious or not, "Arthur he's distracting her for us."

"Distracting her for what?" he shook his head, "What does she need to be distracted for?"

"So we can get her a gift without her knowing and telling us not to."

"Morgana it isn't proper for us to gift servants with…"

"Sais?" Morgana cut in with a smirk, "You forget, Arthur, Tom is Gwen's father."

Arthur's lips pursed at that, realizing now he probably should have purchased the weapons he'd given Marayna from another man in town. He hadn't expected Tom to tell Gwen though, he'd been very clear in his message that he merely required the purchasing of a pair of basic sais, nothing more about who they were for. Though he knew Morgana and Gwen had been aware of what Urry had done to Marayna and why, they'd found out about her small victory over the man with the sais ages ago, they'd probably worked it out.

"That was for her own protection," he defended, though it really wasn't. It had been his attempt to try and help ward off her nightmares, to give her something that was from him to…well, he supposed it WAS to protect herself. But it was more meant to be a comfort that he'd be there to protect her through the sais and…well, he honestly wasn't sure, he was certain the note he'd left her was utter rubbish and hadn't made a lick of sense, not that his own reasoning for giving her the weapons made sense in his own mind either.

"And this is for her birthday," Morgana countered, "Surely we can gift her with something today of all days."

"I already have," he crossed his arms, "I gave her the day off."

"Yes, you gave her the day off on the day that ALL nobles give their servant a day off. That's truly quite the generous gift Arthur."

"It's still a gift."

"A rubbish one."

"And what would YOU get her?" he pointed out, "It's not like you can just hand her over a jeweled brush, that's not Mara."

"I already have the perfect gift in mind, don't you worry," she smirked, "And I'd guess that Gwen does as well?" she looked at her maidservant who nodded, "All that's left is YOU Arthur," she moved to walk past him, heading down the hall, "You'd better make it a good one."

Arthur shook his head, he wasn't going to get her anything, no. He'd already given her enough as it was. Just last month, around his OWN birthday he'd given her sais. They really were rather basic and generic sais, not at all personal, more to practice with than anything, some sort of niggling reaction to Urry being there and realizing if she'd had the only weapon she'd been trained in at hand she might have been able to defend herself and not be hurt…but still! He'd given her a gift, many gifts.

She didn't need more.

So him going to the market had nothing to do with her birthday, it was just…he needed to make sure Morgana and Gwen didn't spend an unbefitting amount of money on a servant.

Yes that was it.

That was why he was going to the market.

…even though Morgana and Gwen were not.

~8~

Marayna laughed at a joke her uncle was telling her, well not really a joke, he was just recounting his past birthdays when he'd been a lad and living with her mother and aunt, she and Merlin were gathered around his small table, eating a slightly better meal than the mush they'd actually grown accustomed to, just…listening to him recount his childhood. Apparently he and their mother and aunt had had similar traditions, but instead of gathering berries, they'd go and pick flowers. As it turned out their uncle was quite adept at making crowns of flowers as a result. That had been his gift to Marayna that he'd tried to give her that morning when she'd run off, which she'd apologized profusely for.

Now as she was sitting there with a crown of baby's breath and delphiniums on her head, with her brother and her uncle, just…laughing. It had been a good day. After Arthur had found out about it being her birthday, he'd actually given Merlin the day off as well…and then disappeared for the rest of it. She honestly had no idea where he'd gone, just that a servant or two claimed to have seen him wandering the towns. Morgana and Gwen were also acting very strange and had barricaded themselves in Morgana's rooms the entire day, not even Merlin had been allowed in.

It had made for quite the quiet day but a rather suspicious one as well. She really had no idea what they were all doing that was taking up such time. She supposed that, whatever it was, it was lucky that Uther was kept up in rather bland council meetings that day, nothing drastic enough that Arthur was needed so the king hardly noticed the preoccupation of his ward and son, especially as they'd been back and out of their rooms for dinner, so he was none the wiser that anything had happened out of the ordinary.

They looked over when they heard a knock and then a muffled voice saying, "Honestly Morgana, you CAN just open the door."

Marayna rolled her eyes at hearing Arthur speaking, knowing that he was referring to the fact that he 'owned' the castle and didn't have to knock, yet insisted everyone else knock when coming to speak to HIM. Merlin shook his head at that and got up to open the door, smiling when he saw Morgana, Gwen, and even Arthur standing there, the two women with parcels wrapped in cloth and string and Arthur…with nothing.

"Hello," he greeted, stepping to the side to let them in.

"What's that?" Marayna frowned, eyeing the parcels as the women walked over to sit on either side of her on the bench she was on.

"Our gifts for you," Morgana smiled, placing her slightly lumpy gift, wrapped in dark blue cloth and a white string on her lap.

Marayna blinked and looked at it, "You…got me something?" she looked at them, "Is that normal? To…get people things?'

Morgana frowned, "It's your birthday, of course it is."

"Oh…" she murmured, looking at the parcel again, "Even servants?"

"Yeah," Gwen nodded, starting to frown herself at how Marayna was looking at the gift as though she were stunned, "Some nobles gift their servants on their birthdays, small things you know, sometimes an extra coin or a small trinket…"

Marayna was just silent, staring at the cloth, still not opening it.

"Is something wrong?" Arthur had to ask after a full minute of that.

"No," Merlin answered, seeing his sister blinking rapidly, "It's just…we never…neither of us, we've never gotten anything quite so…large, on our birthdays at least. Ealdor's a small village, we don't do much by ways of celebrating or gifts…"

He knew Marayna had gotten other gifts, from Arthur, he knew about the sais, about Bartok, he was aware, she'd told him about them. They HAD gotten gifts in the past, but…a gift like that, ON their birthday…that wasn't something they expected to get, it had been so common in their village to ONLY have the berries and a small meal from their sibling and mother that, to actually get another gift was…startling. Marayna had actually been stunned when Gaius had given her the crown of flowers and that was their own uncle and it was JUST flowers.

"We never get anything from someone else on our birthdays," Marayna mumbled.

Morgana and Gwen exchanged a look at that, "Well you will now," Morgana stated firmly, "But you need to open it first, I need to know if you like it for next year."

Marayna glanced at her before reaching out and untying the white bow, opening the cloth delicately to see blue underneath. She blinked and reached out gently, lifting the blue to see it was clothing. She'd almost fear that it was a dress, but…it was a tunic instead. It was a light blue tunic, embroidered with dark blue along the hemlines, swirls of dark blue really. It was slightly longer than her usual tunics, a bit more fitted than they were as well. If she hadn't known any better she'd have thought it was just a very, VERY short dress, but it was just a fitted, slightly longer tunic. She had to shake her head at the color though, it was the same light blue Morgana seemed to insist she wear as Arthur seemed to stare at her when she did.

"I love it," she told Morgana, smiling at her.

"Gwen made the tunic, but I did the embroidery," Morgana added.

"Thank you," Marayna smiled.

"And now mine," Gwen handed her her own small parcel, wrapped in brown with an actual brown string around it.

Marayna had to laugh at how excited Gwen was, the girl was biting her lip and watching intently with her hands curled in fists and her leg bobbing. She gently opened that one as well, and smiled, seeing a black sort of shawl, much like the ones she'd often seen other women wearing when the weather got colder. That was one thing she hated about outfits and 'proper attire' it seemed women were hardly ever allowed to wear jackets like the men did, but had to rely on shawls and other things instead.

"It's wonderful, Gwen, thank you," she smiled at the girl, it would be very useful and she was rather relieved it was in a neutral color like black. Lord knew she and her bother seemed to tax out the reds and blues with just hints of other colors popping up. She glanced up at Arthur to see him watching her with a serious expression, "Please tell me you didn't get me something too Artie," she smirked, seeing him roll his eyes at her nickname for him but not comment as it was her birthday, "I think this is all I can handle."

Arthur shifted when the others, even Gaius, turned to look at him. He knew that they expected him to have a gift, that they felt he ought to give her a gift, but there was Marayna herself seeming to understand the predicament he was in and giving him a way out of it. Still…he sighed, "Would you join me in the halls, Mara?" he asked instead.

Marayna gave him a curious look, that wasn't exactly an answer but, given how Morgana was positively beaming, she shrugged and got up, following him into the halls, glancing back at Merlin who shrugged at her as well, not having a clue what that was about, "What is it?" she looked at Arthur once the doors had closed.

He paced a moment or two, looking up and down the hall as he did so, before turning to her, "Marayna, as you're aware, gifts like the ones Morgana and Gwen have given you are…lavish in comparison to what is proper."

"To be honest Arthur," she sighed, "Them even wishing me a happy birthday is lavish in comparison to what I'm used to."

He looked at her, his expression solemn at that, at hearing that her birthday (and likely Merlin's as well) were so overlooked so often that even getting a single well wish on it was considered an extreme thing, "I merely wished for you to know that…you should not expect something like that from me. If you require dresses, I'll have dresses made. If…"

"If I have a nightmare you'll give me sais and if you try to strangle me you'll give me a horse?" she cut in with an amused smirk, "You're not setting a good precedent for yourself Artie. What, should I expect crown jewels for my birthday?" she joked.

"Actually…" he started, making her freeze as HE smirked now, reaching into his pocket and clasping something so tightly in his hands she couldn't see what it was, "I couldn't for the life of me think of what to get you," he admitted, "I HAVE set a rather bad precedent for myself, haven't I? I'd already given you a horse, sais…it's not like I could get away with giving you a suit of armor…" he took a breath and opened his hand, letting the object within it fall from it and dangle before her as she stared at it, wide eyed.

It was a necklace. It was a simple one, one that a servant could likely purchase on their own if the saved wisely. But…it was for her, a gift for her. It was small, it was a small red gem the color of the Camelot banners inside a heart that was more like a small cage in the shape of a heart, it was just…lovely in its simplicity.

"May I?" he held it up to her, taking the clasp in one hand and opening the necklace as though to place it on her.

She couldn't even manage a nod in response, just turned and lifted her hair for him.

He moved closer, putting the necklace around her and working on the clasp in the back…his fingers ghosting along the scars that were near the top of her neck, reminders of Urry's torture, making her shiver when he ran a single finger along it before he stepped back. He reached out and took her hand that was holding up her hair, turning her to face him as he held it…just…looking at her.

He reached up his other hand to touch the necklace, "Be careful," he whispered, only a hint of a joking quality in his voice as he looked into her eyes, "You have my heart," he murmured, his hand drifting up to her chin, lifting it as he leaned in closer and kissed her gently, feeling his heart truly pounding in his chest, as though it were trying to break out of its cage and jump to her, much like the necklace represented.

It was true, he'd thought, the moment he'd seen the necklace and knew it was for her. It was true what he'd said just now, something he hadn't been planning to say at all but…that didn't make it a lie.

She had his heart, he knew that now, she had his heart and she will always would.

Now if only he could actually TELL her that.

A/N: I can't believe this story will be over in 1 week! O.O Wow, time flies! Lol :) This is probably the shortest chapter I have written for this series, just so you know lol :) I really just wanted a nice sweet chapter for them to have one nice day with no enemies attacking and no enchantments, and no dangers, just...a fun, peaceful day, with a bit of Marayna/Arthur :)

On that note, I realized I'd forgotten to put in a note in an earlier chapter about the poll for the pairing name starting today. So I just wanted to say that today will be the last day to submit names for a pairing for Marayna/Arthur and I'll have the poll up tomorrow for it ;)

I also want to apologize that this is slightly late in posting :( I'm currently updating and posting a Sherlock story at the same time, and, I'm not sure if it's just something that's been drilled into me after writing for so long, but I literally can't make myself post a chapter unless I've given it a final read through/edit just before posting :( I usually do it the night before I post and, when I was working on editing Sherlock (and you'd think I'd have learned my lesson with how often this happens to me) I went to save...and those annoying 'webpage cannot be displayed' expiration pages popped up. I lost ALL the editing I'd done (2.5 hours worth) and had to go through it again, which meant that I wasn't able to get through this chapter before posting. I managed to edit it while at work before my boss got in (thank god for conference calls that make him late) and have literally JUST finished editing it now, I hope you liked the chapter :)

Some notes on reviews...

I'm glad you liked the sais :) And thank you! ^-^ I was trying to make the letter a little confusing but still slightly understandable :) I figure it wouldn't be something Arthur does much of, writing letters for gifts he gives anyone, so I tried to capture his sort of 'failed' attempt at it :)

I've got some twists planned for Lady of the Lake :) I did love Merlin and Freya together, but I also think it's very Merlin for him to love someone that's the 'darkness to his light' and try to keep her on the light path and hope there's goodness in her that he can bring out :) Dark and hate don't have to be completely negative emotions, like Dark isn't necessarily evil and hate, well, you can hate injustice, you can hate rapists and murderers and that's not a bad thing. We'll definitely see a little of that opposition in their natures come to play, it's like they say, opposites attract ;)

Aww, thanks so much, I'm glad you're enjoying the story and Marayna so far :)