Long time, no see, friends! Not really. But seriously, sorry about leaving you all those days with the weak cliffhanger. Hopefully this does it justice. A slightly different interpretation of Percival for me (he's quickly becoming one of my favorites!), a little Arthur!caring for you, and a little Gwaine-and-Merlin-Bromance for everybody!

"Percival! Have you come to save me from the clutches of my jailor?" Merlin called with a wide grin as the two older men walked into his room.

"Ignore him," Gaius said, waving a hand at the servant as a confused look spread across the knight's face. "He doesn't do 'ill' well. Now, slow down and explain."

The warlock frowned. "Explain what?"

Percival shook his head and tried to speak slowly, but his enthusiasm quickly got the best of him. "It's Arthur—Arthur and Cenred. Only not Cenred, obviously, but Cenred's kingdom. And not all of it, but—"

Merlin glanced at Gaius, amusement rather than fever making his eyes over-bright. "Percival, stop."

The knight shut up—the reason Percival didn't like to speak, after all, was because when did all the words came out at once in a big, tangled jumble.

"Now breathe."

He took a deep breath.

"What did Arthur do to Cenred's kingdom?"

"A peaceful takeover," Percival said, releasing that breath at the same time. "He's had spies in the court ever since Cenred's death—said he put them in place to do a little behind-the-curtain espionage, just to see if he could, and actually uncovered something. He won't say what, but he's giving information to the current king in exchange for land."

"How much? What part?"

"…Ealdor. He asked specifically for Ealdor."

Merlin's breath caught as he stared at the knight, a grin growing on his face. "…Ealdor's part of Camelot? I'm officially a citizen of Camelot now?"

Percival nodded, his mouth mirroring the warlock's. "Arthur said he's been ready to negotiate for a while. He just wanted to wait for the time was right?"

"And that time was now, huh?" Gaius asked, lifting the ever artful how-fascinatingly-convenient eyebrow.

The knight shrugged and nodded. "I guess. I mean, he is doing extremely well today. Being king. Although he's beginning to look very…um…"

"He's not getting sick, too, is he?" Merlin asked, eyes narrowing.

"No. He just seems…stressed."

"Stressed?"

"To put it lightly." His excitement grew again. "Anyway, he got Ealdor out of the deal, and a fair bit of land surrounding the town, and he says another week, and he'll get my village, too!"

Merlin grinned. "Percival this is amazing!" he cried, and for the first time in two days was truly able to raise his voice without so much as a gasp. Gaius nodded in approval, although the present company assumed he was as happy at the new arrangements as they were. He was thrilled that the border between Camelot and Ealdor was nonexistent and both Merlin and Hunith could now travel back and forth with impunity, but pulling his ward from the grip of illness seemed to be more important that boundaries and kings just now.

Percival nodded, his face practically split in half, so wide was he beaming. "I know! And Arthur took some grain fields, too, so the kingdom will have to pay Camelot for winter stores, and his spies are still unrevealed, so they can do more work. The council is predicting that within two years, all of Cenred's kingdom will belong to Camelot without a single drop of blood spilled!"

Merlin laughed, a sound of complete relief and joy, and Percival joined in. The two of them had always been disconnected with the others of the Round Table—they were all brothers, yes, but there was something about having a home outside of Camelot that separated them from the rest. Not anymore. Gaius allowed himself to crack a smile, proud of just how good the young Pendragon was getting at the whole being king thing.

Percival didn't stay for long after he'd delivered his news—he was leaving on patrol first thing in the morning and hadn't yet packed. Merlin remained placated and docile for an entire, wonderful hour while the physician prepared potions for the following day. After Gaius gave him a few old storybooks, he even agreed to read quietly while the medicines were bottled.

The piece de resistance of the entire day came when the servant was beginning to grow antsy from being still a whole two hours. Gaius had one eye on Merlin's door and one eye on his, and was not disappointed when Gwaine staggered in shortly after the warlock's second escape attempt, a stack of papers in hand. He peered around the room with squinted eyes before fixing on Gaius. "I am suspicious," he said, taking a step forward. "I am suspicious because Arthur has given me a lackey errand and said I could have the evening off to go to the tavern. What exactly is going on here?"

The physician rolled his eyes. "Let me guess. The errand relates to Merlin?"

If possible, the knight's eyes narrowed further. "How'd you know?"

"Merlin's been sick. Arthur's been giving him things to do." And people to see. Gaius picked up the paperwork he'd been doing and led him into the warlock's room.

Merlin's face lit up when he saw the knight trailing behind. "Gwaine!" he said, sounding pretty much like his old self—the rasp was still there, but barely. "What are you doing here?"

The knight snuck a look at Gaius while the physician settled down in the farthest chair and continued working. "Arthur told me to bring you these reports to look over before I headed to the tavern," Gwaine said, sitting next to Merlin's bed. "…I didn't know you were sick, mate."

"Camelot's best kept secret," Gaius said, then bit his lip to stop the ironic laugh rising in his throat.

Merlin shrugged. "Not so bad, really. I mean, today. I don't remember much of yesterday or the day before, but today's been mostly good." He took the stack of papers from Gwaine's hand with a grimace. "Clearly Arthur never got the message that I'm sick. He keeps sending me work."

"Shame," Gwaine said, kicking his feet onto Merlin's bed.

"Aren't you going to the tavern?"

"Naw. The company's better in here."