Authors Note:
Here is chapter 3. Hey! Look at the picture I am using for the story. Yes, that is a younger John Lynch! (the actor that played Balinor).
The story will update slower after this chapter. School starts next Monday and my daughter's birthday is that Friday…so that means a lot of back to school shopping and house cleaning in my immediate future. But I still should update every 2-3 days.

Enjoy!

Horatius laughed. "I don't know that any of it concerns him at all. If you remember, we got sort of side tracked."

"You're right, we were talking of Balinor, weren't we?" Arthur chuckled. But in the back of his mind, he couldn't help but think that somehow, someway, at least part of it did concern his manservant.

"Like I said, they moved here when Balinor was around 16 summers. Their land truly wasn't hospitable to farming. The soil was good, but very rocky. We made arrangements that Balinor would work for us when he wasn't needed there. At first, I wasn't quite sure how it would work out. Balinor was quite tall, thin, and completely uncoordinated." Horatius laughed, "I swear the boy could trip over thin air!" Arthur had to chuckle, he could see where Merlin would have reminded him of Balinor. Horatius continued after taking another sip of wine. "Balinor was well liked by everyone. He always had a smile on his face and was always willing to help out wherever he was needed. However, he did seem to babble on incessantly about this thing or that. Half the time, he acted like a complete idiot. Drove me mad half the time. But strangely enough, when troubles came…he always knew the right thing to say. He would display a wisdom of someone thrice his age." Horatius shook his head "It was a truly amazing thing."

Arthur just stared at him like a doe caught in the sights of his bow. The man had just described Merlin to a T.

The old man didn't notice and continued on. "Balinor continued to grow and fill out. When he was about 18 he started growing a beard. We all laughed because it was so scraggly at first, but it finally filled in." He laughed again, then all mirth left him. "Then the bad times came.

"Word came of King Constans' murder at the hands of Vortigern. We refused to acknowledge Vortigern as the rightful king. When he called for the nobles to assemble, we refused to go. Likewise, we also refused to send men when he requested them for his army. We did, however, tell those that held fief that they could go if the wished without threat losing their homes. They all decided to stay as well. So we knew Vortigern and his army would be coming for our lands eventually."

"Weren't the other nobles just as upset?" Arthur interjected.

"Well…" Horatius began, then paused. After a moment he began again. "Constans was a good man. He was kind. He was well learned, especially in history and philosophy. He would often quote Cicero, Plato, Aristotle" Horatius laughed. "You name one, he could probably quote him." The old man became serious again. "He did care a lot for the people. The people were fond of him as well.

"However, he was not a strong king. When I said earlier that a king needs knowledgeable and wise advisers, I was dead serious. However, in the end, it is the KING who must make the decisions. Unfortunately, in Constans' case, he allowed his advisors to rule through him. Vortigen was one of his closest advisors…How, I don't know. It was obvious to anyone with eyes that the man was downright seedy. It was probably because they were related through his mother. I guess he couldn't conceive of the notion that family would try to use him or betray him.

"I presume that the other lords wanted to see how Vortigen would rule. They had known Constans was weak. They probably feared that he would not be able to protect their own interests. Not all, of course. There were many that sided with us. Then there were the lords with weak holdings, even if they were against Vortigen, they could not resist. However many of those worked as spies for us, passing us information from the court."

The prince and goldsmith decided to take a break as both had been sitting for some time. They walked along the outer corridor and came to a covered balcony overlooking the town. The night was cool and the air refreshing. They stood there in silence looking at the town below. Every now and then, they could hear laughter coming from the tavern, but overall, it was a quiet night. The prince turned to say something to the goldsmith when there was a sudden commotion below. Apparently someone had been thrown out of the tavern. They looked down to see a figure on the ground. It slowly stood up. In the moonlight Arthur could make out a thin, tall frame. Dark hair. Brown coat. Red neckerchief. Arthur ran his hand over his face and sighed. The two men watched has Merlin stood up and brushed himself off. He stood there for a moment, hands clenched by his side. He then marched straight away back into the tavern.

Arthur shook his head and murmured "Idiot." He looked at Horatius and said in a long-suffering tone "I've told him not to go to the tavern." Before Horatius could respond, there was a loud bang of a door and they watched this time as two men were thrown out. Both landed on the ground as Merlin had before. Merlin got up then helped the other man to stand. Arthur sighed again. He signaled the old man to step back into the shadows so they could observe without being seen.

"Gwaine, c'mon, we need to get you back to your quarters" they heard the manservant say.

"Naw! Come on Merlin, you've only had one drink. Live a little" the slightly unsteady knight said.

"I hadn't intended on a drink at all. You're the one that shoved it at me" Merlin argued.

"Well, you need another. You are much too sober." The knight quipped.

"Gwaine, if we go back in there, they will call the guards. I don't need Arthur finding out I was in the tavern. He'll throw me in the stocks for sure!" Merlin all but whined.

"If you are so worried about Princess, why were you in the tavern in the first place?" Gwaine asked.

Merlin threw his hands up in exasperation. "To. Get. You. You have early patrol tomorrow, remember?"

"Sleep is so overrated. Come on" he said trying to pull Merlin towards the tavern.

The manservant pulled away from the drunken knight. He appeared to be looking about to see if anyone was around then lowered his head and murmured something. Gwaine stopped and turned around. "What?"

"What what?" The manservant asked innocently.

"You said something"

"Oh, that was nothing" He paused looking straight at Gwaine. "Now Gwaine, I need you to go to your chambers and get a few hours sleep."

"Okay." Gwaine chirped happily. He looked around as if he couldn't remember which way to go.

Merlin sighed taking Gwaine's arm and started to steer the drunken man towards the knights quarters. After a few moments Gwaine stopped and pulled out his waterskin and took a drink and passed it to Merlin. Merlin sniffed at it and looked askance at the knight. Gwaine laughed and slapped the younger man on the back. "C'mon, you know as well as I that you want to"

Merlin laughed and tipped the skin up and took a long drink. Both men laughed and headed down towards the knights quarters.

Arthur harrumphed. "How did Merlin do that? Gwaine usually puts up a much stronger argument when he's in his cups."

Horatius hid a smirk. "I'm sure I couldn't say, My Lord. Let's just be happy that he was able to convince him to go home.

"I can't argue with that." The prince responded as he and the old man started to make their way back down the corridors.

Arthur looked over at Horatius and noted that the old man looked tired. He was getting rather tired himself. The wine and then the mead had relaxed him somewhat. Not enough to make him tipsy, no, not at all. But enough to relax him after such a long day. "Horatius, I really would like to hear the rest of your story….but it is getting late, and I think we are both tired. Do you think we could continue with it tomorrow? Say, possibly around lunch time?"

"That would be fine, My Lord. Are you sure you won't be too busy?" The old man asked.

"No, I canceled all meetings for tomorrow. I only have training in the morning." The prince yawned. At Horatius' questioning look, he added "I just needed a break. We have no urgent matters that have to be discussed, so…I just decided to cancel everything. Well, other than training."

Horatius laughed. "That is quite alright Your Highness. We all need a chance to step back and reflect from time to time."

"My father never did." Arthur said sadly.

Horatius stopped, forcing the prince to stop as well. He looked at the prince with an expression that brooked no argument. "Arthur, I can assure you that your father did indeed take time out for reflection or to relax. He would not have been able to lead had he not. The human mind is not meant to be spinning with thoughts constantly without reprieve…especially in times of trouble. It has to take time out to slow down and calm itself – to think clearly, or sometime, not to think at all. A chaotic mind makes mistakes."

"I never notice him doing so" sighed the prince.

"Ah, but he did. He was just good at hiding it so that no one noticed" the older man assured him.

Arthur smiled at the old man and they continued on their way. Arthur thought about what Horatius said and it made sense. As the came to the hall where the guest chambers were, Horatius made his leave and assured the prince that they would continue tomorrow.

Arthur continued on to his chambers and put on the bed clothes that Merlin had laid out earlier. Instead of going straight to bed, he walked to his antechamber and refilled half his goblet with mead. He went to the window and looked out on the quiet courtyard below trying to think of nothing at all.

About an hour later he was still there leaning relaxed against the window when he heard someone walking in the courtyard. He looked closer and realized that it was Merlin coming back from the direction of the knights chambers. He watched as his manservant crossed the courtyard in a considerably less steady manner than when he had walked the knight home. Arthur's lips quirked as Merlin stumbled a few times. He outright laughed when Merlin walked into the corner of the wall leading to the stairs that went up to Gauis' chambers. When Merlin was finally out of view the prince set down his goblet and headed for his chambers and to bed.

He shook his head one last time and chuckled fondly. "Idiot."