"What the...?" Merlin span around, eyes wide, looking petrified.
"It's only me," Elze panted, bursting into laughter, "I tripped. Sorry."
"You only...what...you scared the life out of me!" he said, exasperated.
"Evidently," he laughed, "Go on, scooch over then, lemme have a seat."
He squinted at her before rolling his eyes and grinning, "Know how to make an entrance, don't you. Anyway, what are you doing out here?"
"Oh, well, I saw you leave, but then I thought I saw something else." She said, only just regaining her breath.
"Like what?" Merlin questioned.
"Like some kind of animal. Not a goat or anything, like a wild dog. I was up near the towers and I saw you disappear into the forest and then saw this wild dog thing go after you, so I sprinted down to see if you had been mauled to death."
"Which I had, obviously." He laughed, consciously patting his hair down.
She nudged him, "No, but seriously, I was sure I saw something. I think it might be out here."
Merlin glanced around, his senses pricking up as he became more aware of everything else around him. He thought of the noise he had heard earlier and wondered if that could be this aforementioned 'wild dog', or if it was something else completely. He also wondered if there was only one of these wild dogs, or if the wood was crawling with them. The more he thought about it, the more he realised it had been a stupid idea to come out here without telling at least Arthur or Gaius where he was going.
And then it dawned on him, "Wait, so you ran all the way from the tower out here just to see if I was okay?" he asked, his eyebrows raising as a grin crept onto his face.
"Well, yes, I mean, you could have been dead." Elze stuttered, pulling a face at him as he chuckled.
"But I'm not." He grinned.
"But you're not." She repeated, hitting him on the arm.
"Ow!" he said, rubbing his arm.
"I didn't even hit you that hard! Wow, you are weak." She muttered.
"Sorry?"
"Nothing..."
The two of them sat for a while, looking out across the valley as the sun set and not talking. It wasn't an awkward silence, it didn't hand in the air, it was more comfortable, chosen rather than forced, as they both thought their own thoughts.
"You shouldn't have such a low opinion of yourself." Elze said suddenly, turning to Merlin.
"Pardon?"
"I heard you," she said, carrying on cautiously, "You muttered to yourself just before I arrived, you said 'I'm not handsome or rich or strong or even particularly smart. I'm just Merlin.' You might not be rich, and you definitely proved you're not strong," she laughed, nudging him with her elbow to prove a point, "But you're smart. I've heard you talking to Gaius, you can't deny yourself that," she then looked at her feet and muttered more quietly, "And you are rather handsome."
He spluttered, choking on air, "Sorry, what?"
"I said," she repeated louder, "You are rather handsome."
He looked at her wide eyed, a smile appearing on his lips, "You actually think that?"
"See! Such a low opinion! And anyway, Merlin," she put emphasis on his name, "I think you should be happier I called you smart."
"Oh, oh yeah, thanks for that too," He said as an afterthought, and suddenly, not realising how much he had said aloud, asked, "Did you hear anything else?"
"No, why?" she replied inquisitively.
"Oh, no reason..." he muttered, looking at his feet.
"But listen to me, you're not just Merlin. You're so much more than that. From what I hear you saved the King's son, you have been a great asset to Gaius, you're one of the best manservant's Prince Arthur has ever had and," she grinned, "Your hair looks great like that."
He patted it self consciously but grinned, "Thanks. But you...I mean...you really think that?"
"Yes, of course I do Merlin! I don't see why you have such a low opinion of yourself."
"Because, I'm just a boy from a little village..."
She raised her eyebrows, "Really," it was more of just a word than a question, "And so how do I know all of this then? Am I psychic? That would be totally cool, but no. Because people think so much of you, they've told me. They've told Everglade, who's told me. I know that you saved the King's son, because someone in the village came up to me after I talked to you, and said 'you know that Merlin? He saved Prince Arthur, he's amazing'. When I briefly spoke to Gaius, he told me how much he missed having you around full time. Everglade told me how Arthur had mentioned to him that he had never had a better manservant, and that he was jealous. So no, you're not just an everyday village boy," she looked at him, straight into his eyes, "And how do you think that made me feel?"
Merlin stared ahead for a minute, not able to take in everything that Elze had just said. People had talked about him, saying how good he was at things. Gaius may have thought he was an amazing asset because of his magic, but neither of the others knew about that, and they still thought he was worthwhile...it was amazing the things you could find out from talking to other people.
"I..." he looked at the girl, sat on the rock, facing away from him slightly, "I don't know what to say."
She turned back to face him. It was now getting dark; the sun had almost set and the moon could be seen, as could the stars which were coming out one by one. The dark had brought with it the cold, which although there was no breeze still clung to both Elze and Merlin like an unwanted friend which couldn't be gotten away from easily.
"You don't have to say anything." She said, smiling slightly.
Merlin suddenly reached forwards and quickly placed his lips on Elze's, only for a second, before abruptly moving backwards and looking alarmed at himself.
"Sorry, I...don't know why I did that." He muttered, a blush forming on his cheeks.
"That's okay, I didn't mind. I quite...liked it actually," she grinned at him before standing up and quickly moving the subject on, "It's getting chilly and rather dark, and if there are wild dogs in the wood then we don't really want to be hanging around."
"I...no...no, let's go." He smiled at her, still bashful, as he stood up.
The two of them walked slowly back through the woods towards Camelot, talking about the villages they had grown up in. Merlin told Elze all about his mother and what his village was like, obviously leaving out anything magic related, and Elze told Merlin of the village near the town of Melheart, where she had been taken to at the age of sixteen to work for Everglade.
A cold wind blew through the trees and Elze shivered, pulling her arms around herself for she neither was wearing anything warm, still in just her dress. Merlin tentively put an arm around her and then continued walking.
Suddenly something rustled to the right of them and they stopped, dead still, looking at the place where the noise had come from. They could hardly see their way through the forest anymore as it was dark, and Merlin hoped that they were almost out.
"Come on, it was probably nothing, best keep walking." He said, squeezing Elze gently.
But after a few more steps rustling was heard by them again, but louder, making it obvious whatever had made the noise was getting nearer.
Merlin spotted a large stick on the ground, but before he could think about sending it into the woods with his thoughts to chase whatever it was away, the stick had already vanished. He peered more closely, wondering if the light had been playing tricks on him, but after a couple of seconds he heard a thump deeper in the woods as supposedly the stick dropped to the floor and something could be heard bounding after it.
He shook it off, realising they were not safe, "Okay, come on, we should really get out of here."
The two of them walked at a brisk pace in silence for the next couple of minutes until they reached the clearing and scaled the grassy bank back up to the kingdom and castle beyond.
As they reached the castle entrance Merlin spotted Arthur and immediately let his arm drop from around Elze, trying not to look shifty.
"And where did you run off to?" Arthur asked.
"I...I went for a walk in the woods." Merlin replied, looking at the Prince.
"I..." he noticed the girl stood beside Merlin and raised his eyebrow, "Ladyservant of Knight Everglade?"
She nodded, "Run along, he was wondering where you had got to."
Elze looked into Merlin's eyes for a second, before Arthur prompted her, "Well, off you go then!"
She shook her head, clearing her thoughts and ran off back into Camelot to go and find Everglade. Meanwhile, Merlin was left stood in front of Arthur, not sure where to look.
"Well? Are you going to explain yourself?" Arthur asked, tapping his foot impatiently.
"Like I said, I went for a walk in the woods." He replied evenly.
"You just happened to go with that girl for a walk? Just a walk?" the Prince raised an eyebrow, looking at Merlin.
"What...I...no! Yes! Yes, just a walk!" he spluttered, looking slightly alarmed.
"Yes, I didn't think you...and..." he shook his head, "Anyway, you shouldn't just head off like that. I needed your advice on something and looked rather a fool when you were nowhere to be seen. The Prince doesn't know where he own manservant is! Anyway, you're back now, you can prepare my armour for tomorrow, make sure my sword is ready, and be there first thing in the morning to tend to me," Arthur looked at him expectantly, "Yes?"
"Oh, right, yes!" Merlin nodded his head quickly, looking like a demented chicken.
"Right, yes, you can go now." Arthur said, giving Merlin a look.
"Right, thanks, sorry, yes." he babbled as he walked back into the streets of Camelot, back towards his bedroom.
As he headed along the stony streets he looked up at the sky. It was a dark navy, the colour of the sea in a raging storm. It was scattered with thousands of tiny stars, and the moon glowed slightly to the right, a full moon. It was beautiful.