Yeah, I'm horrible and I'm really sorry for making you wait for way too long – is it me or am I apologising every chapter, wow I really need to write faster, I'd hate to die before my 18th by a raging mob, probably headed by my very own Susie666 as she knows where I live and has been harassing me to get this finished for the last few weeks (she's also very, very scary), but no worries now cause my exams are finally over so I should be writing a lot quicker.

Thank you to –pie, V, izzy, Leonarema, CM, Starts with a D, KayKit, CONTINUE CONTINUE CONTINUE (lol), rmargison3, Ringo'simaginarycat, Shalimar, NykSkyBlue and finally Blank(s) – for reviewing, it means a lot XD and I hope the rest of you will get your personal thanks soon or already have as I have finally decided to pull my socks up and answer all my Merlin stories' reviews, except PT reviews cause I honestly don't have the time to answer 200 reviews on top of the rest and thought you'd all rather I write the next chapter of this.

Oh and I just realised that I haven't put any disclaimer in this story at all so I'll say it now – I DO NOT OWN 'MERLIN'...unfortunately...

Thank you also to Susie666 for looking over half of this, not all because I thought I had kept you waiting long enough.

Wow, now after that exceptionally long A/N I hope you like this, so please enjoy!

Magic was ubiquitous.

The whole area was teeming with them and Arthur had to wonder how many still practiced the dark art, especially with his father's attempt to purge them all. It also made him re-evaluate this Emrys, the sorcerer must be incredibly important to the magical society if they thought it an excusable risk to camp so close to Camelot's border just so they can see for themselves if this Brotec was the real deal or not.

They had only just arrived, quicker than planned, and Arthur had to stop himself from wincing each time he saw a person performing magic. To say he was uncomfortable was the understatement of the decade.

The prince walked rigidly to a sight large enough to house the three of them, ignoring the flashes of colourful sparks and the wagging of spell ridden tongues, briskly ordering Merlin to set up camp while he went for water.

He made sure his hood stayed up as he moved toward the sound of water. As he drew closer he saw others collecting water too from what seemed to be a river and luckily wearing a hood was popular – it seemed many of the sorcerers didn't want to be identified, and with good reason.

As he squatted down on the river bed he heard a girl's soft cries, he glanced in the direction of the noise and was met with a small child seated against a tree not far from him, her knees were drawn up, her tiny arms clutching desperately around them, head bowed so that the golden locks covered her face.

It was strange, as Arthur contemplated the girl, that if this had been a normal child in his own kingdom he would have gone to her without hesitation, but as it was she was probably a magic user, though a young one it could still be a trap. Really? She's a small child, she doesn't know who you are and I'm certain the thought of hurting you, let alone trapping you, hasn't even crossed her mind. Arthur sighed, wondering when exactly his inner voice of commonsense and wisdom started sounding suspiciously like Merlin.

Sighing again Arthur stood, magic or not she was still a child in need of help and the knight side of him couldn't just leave her alone.

He slowly made his way toward her, not wanting to startle her, and knelt down to her level when he final reached her.

"Hey, are you alright?" Stupid question prat, she's obviously not alright, the irritating voice said and Arthur wondered for a second if he was going crazy because having a Merlin in your head could be in no way good for your health.

Her head slowly rose and watery chocolate eyes slowly meet Arthur's blue ones.

"My name's...Elyan, what's yours?" He asked softly, saying the first name that had popped in to his head that hadn't annoyed or upset any of the magical community and silently thanking the heavens that he hadn't said Merlin, because god knows how many his idiot servant had inadvertently pissed off.

"My mummy warned me against talking to strangers, says strangers can hurt me, strangers can give me to the bad man."

"Well I'm not going to hurt you, okay? I want to help." And then Arthur couldn't help himself but add "who's the bad man?"

"The evil one" she replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Everyone knows him, he hunts us, he hurts us, but we did nothing wrong, nothing, but he still hates us, he still burns us, still slaughters us." A tear trailed down her cheek as she shuddered in thought of the 'bad man' and Arthur had a horrible feeling he knew the man that haunted this innocent girl's dreams, but she isn't innocent, she practices magic, therefore she's evil! Arthur closed his eyes, receiving a headache from the arguing voices in his head; the other being his father's.

"Well I promise not to hand you over." Was that treason? "So why are you so upset?"

"My friends left me, they were supposed to hide but they ran instead, now I'm alone and I can't find my way back" she sobbed, more tears falling from her eyes.

"Yeah kids can be cruel, can't they?" She nodded, sniffing. "Okay, how about we go find you're mummy and daddy, eh?"

"Only mummy" the girl mumbled as she got up, brushing herself down and still sniffling, "daddy got taken away by the bad man."

And then something weird happened as Arthur froze, a feeling of guilt washed over him. He felt shame because her father had been executed for sorcery, by his, maybe even captured by yours truly. He shuddered at that, suddenly sick with himself.

Had he been killing innocents all this time? No! His father said harshly, they are EVIL! Perhaps it was an enchantment, the girl making him think this way?

But it couldn't be because he had the treasonous thoughts for years, the nagging voice of Merlin in the corner of his mind that whispered, 'but what if father's wrong?' The one Arthur has refused to listen to for so long because if it's true then...his father truly was a monster.

A tug on his arm drew him quickly from his thoughts; his eyes quickly finding the little girl. She was peering up at him through thick lashes, her head tilted in slight worry and confusion.

"Are you alright, mister Elyan?" She asked polity.

"Hmm?...Yes, yes I'm fine, thank you. Hey, you never told me your name." Arthur said, going to his feet also, the girls hand still on his sleeve.

"Rosina, but you can call me Rose." She gave him a bright smile, her two front teeth both missing.

"Well, Rose, do you have any idea which direction you came from?" She pointed in a direction close to which he had come from and they started their journey back.

As they walked Rose chatted happily, having seemed to have found him harmless and Arthur was growing fond of her. She had a strong hold on his hand now, and as Arthur looked at her, he couldn't help but think that there was no way she was evil, but did that mean that not all magic was evil? So he just added this to the ever growing list of things he ignored, because facing the truth was just far too painful.

They had been walking around the woods for a while and they found themselves close to where his camp was set up. It wasn't long till he saw black hair and a red neckerchief appear, when he and Merlin locked gaze he saw the relief that flooded his friend's face, and as his servant got up, stepping over a lazy Gwaine who was chewing on a piece of wheat, and walked towards him he saw Merlin turn confused as Rosina came in to view.

As Merlin reached them the prince interrupted the man before he could speak.

"Rose this is my friend Gaius, Gaius this is Rose."

Merlin's eye brow shot up, true to his new name, as he looked between Arthur and Rose, then back again, as if repeatedly looking at them would magically explain why Arthur had a small child clutching his hand.

Finally Merlin just sighed and knelt done so that he could be level with Rose, a smile gracing his lips.

"Hello Rose, it's nice to meet you" he said softly; however Rose quickly frowned and disappeared behind Arthur's leg, obviously shy.

"I found Rose by the river and she seems to have lost her mum, we've tried looking for them but she's starting to feel hungry and I was hoping we still had some food left over in our bags."

Merlin smiled, nodded and then walked back toward their small camp, Arthur and Rose following. When they reached the sight Gwaine finally looked up, surprise also registering on his face at the sight of Rose before it set in to a firm smirk.

"Who's the kid?" he questioned, eyes evaluating the blonde girl as she disappeared behind Arthur's leg once again.

"Wow I must have dozed off for awhile 'cause it seems you've been busy with the ladies...hey, does this mean Gwen's back on the market? 'Cause if she is then..." He left the sentence hanging at Arthur's glared and Merlin barely concealed snort of laughter.

"Rose this is Gwaine the idiot."

"Well it's lovely to meet you my Princess."

"She's not my illegitimate daughter that I had from the time I left and now, and how you came to that conclusion in the first place remains a mystery to me – though coming from you I'm not surprised. She needed some help and I couldn't just leave her there, anything could've happened - it's dangerous around here."

Gwaine exchanged a look with Merlin as the servant rummaged for food, thinking how ironic it was that she chose to be safe with Arthur, the son of a man that would have killed the cute little girl without a second thought, all in the name of justice and good.

Merlin finally repapered from the bag, passing a chunk of bread to Rose, while Arthur and her sat on a log and he went to find some fire wood.

They sat there in silence, thinking of what they could say as Rose bit into the bread, her grip now iron clad on Arthur's thigh, his breaches fisted in her hand.

Once she had finished Merlin came back, setting the wood down and built the fire, the wood was damp and Merlin knew he would have to use a spell to light it, like he normally did when he couldn't find dry wood, and just hoped it wouldn't take long for Arthur to turn away in annoyance as Merlin tried and failed to light the fire manually - he was freezing.

It seemed he wasn't the only one as Rose shivered and moved closer to Arthur to find some warmth. Merlin was about to reply to the glare Arthur sent him that clearly said 'Hurry up now because I'm cold and I'm the Prince and you do as I say, idiot' when Rose looked at the fire and quite clearly spoke, her eyes turning gold.

"Forbærne."

Merlin had to jump back to prevent himself from being burnt as the fire roared to life. Both Merlin and Gwaine's heads snapped to the Prince as Rose approached closer to the fire to bathe in its heat.

Arthur's eyes never left the girl, every muscle tense from the sight of magic, he didn't know what to do, but then he realised he couldn't do anything anyway unless he wanted to blow his cover. What Arthur hated was the sense of relief that over took him when he realised he couldn't burn the girl, the sense of gratitude that he didn't have to shove her into his Father's hateful hands, because that's not what he should feel.

Merlin let out a breath that he hoped Arthur hadn't noticed, and he felt Gwaine do the same from the seat next to him, when he saw Arthur relax a bit, knowing the Prince wouldn't hurt her. The warlock couldn't stop the hope that crept into his heart at the knowledge Arthur would still help the girl, even if she had magic.

Rosina seemed to have noticed the tension in the group and looked up at them with wide eyes. Merlin knelt down next to her quickly, trying to appease her fear. He wished he could do some magic too to further comfort her and maybe get the smile that she had been sorely lacking, but even though Arthur had no wish to kill Rose, it didn't mean he would accept her and it certainly didn't mean Merlin would be accepted.

"Its okay" Merlin whispered, his shoulder knocking hers gently, trying to comfort her, "we're not going to hurt you, your safe." He hoped that worked, he knew all too well the fear that accompanies magic.

"So how long have you practiced magic?" the warlock asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. "You seem rather gifted for someone as young as yourself."

He was rewarded by a grin, her head turning to him.

"It's the only spell I can do, but mummy says it's very useful and soon I'll be able to do a lot more. Mummy says I'm a natural."

Merlin smiled back, "shall we go and look for your mummy again then, I'm sure she's very worried."

He stood and brushed himself off, Rose taking his and Arthur's as they turned to continue the search, leaving Gwaine to guard the camp, not knowing how much guarding would take place as Gwaine turned to lay back down, still chewing the piece of wheat, and shut his eyes, a snore erupting from him causing Arthur to roll his eyes - the rogue was almost as useless as his manservant. Almost.

It didn't take them very long this time to find her. As they were searching Rose had released both of them and ran towards a panicked stricken woman and screamed "MUMMY!" before flinging herself into the woman's arms.

They watched as the woman with the same blonde hair as Rosina seemed to nearly collapse in relief, her arms wrapped tightly around her daughter's frame as if afraid she would disappear if released.

She finally let go slightly, holding Rosina's shoulders and examined her daughter, no doubt checking for any injuries.

"Where the hell have been, Rosina?" Her relief turning to anger, now knowing that her daughter was safe and wanting an explanation quickly of her disappearance.

"They left me by the river on my own and then Mister Elyan found me and helped me find you." She answered quickly, not wanting to fuel her mother's anger.

The mother and her group of friends seemed to finally notice Arthur and Merlin's presence and turned their attention to the two.

Merlin shuffled nervously under the mother's suspicious eye, even though his and Arthur's faces were both half obscured by their hoods.

"Thank you" she said earnestly, her posture finally relaxing, "the world's a hard place to find good people anymore, so thank you, I don't know what I would have done without my little girl."

"That's alright, it was the least we could do, we're just happy she's okay." Merlin said as he realised Arthur wasn't going to respond. With a quick glance to assess Arthur's face and finding a tense smile that fooled the woman but not Merlin, he quickly added "We better be going, I'm sorry for not finding you sooner."

"Nonsense, and thank you again." She gave them a final smile and ushered Rosina back to their camp after the men had said good bye.

So yes that was a bit of a filler but I think there were points in it that needed to be addressed before the next few chapters and hopefully it made sense :) I'm looking forward to writing the next chapter as there should be a little bit of action, more Gwaine humour (cause he was sorely lacking in this) and a bit of mental whumping of Merlin which I can safely say all of us enjoy ;P

Oh and did anyone else have the mental image of Merlin and Uther as angel and devil on Arthur's shoulders? 'Cause I couldn't seem to get it out of my head, lol.

Thank you for reading, and please tell me your thoughts, even if it is that I'm a meanie for making you wait XD

LL x