A/N – Special thanks to Singing Tragedy for the constant fun reviews.

Disclaimer in Chapter one.

What happens next...

Chapter 11 Uther's Orders

There had been four more days that Tayla had been confined to bed and so far she had kept her promise and been a delightful patient. Whilst there had been more childhood stories, there had been no more embarrassing ones, at least that Arthur was aware of. Gaius was pleased with her recovery and was considering letting her out of bed today. Arthur and Merlin were on their way from a council meeting to her chambers.

"Arthur."

Arthur turned around at the sound of his father's voice, and stopped to wait for him.

"Yes Father?" Arthur replied. He was on his way to take over from Tristan, and hoped this wouldn't take long.

"How is Tayla's recovery progressing?" Uther asked. Arthur frowned, knowing that Gaius was giving Uther regular updates, he couldn't understand why he was being asked.

"She is doing well. Gaius thinks she should be able to get up today. I am on my way there now, would you like to join me and see for yourself?" What is it you really want Father, Arthur thought silently.

"That is good to hear. It is about time you were getting back to training your knights," Uther replied.

"Yes Father I will, as soon as she is able to move well on her own." Arthur replied, it was what had been agreed.

"No, you will start training again tomorrow," Uther said in a no nonsense tone that told Arthur he wouldn't accept anything less, a tone Arthur wouldn't normally question, but not today.

"Father, Leon is quite capable of continuing the knight's training without me," Arthur countered

"Tomorrow Arthur," Uther said as he started to walk away.

Arthur had a moment of clarity, a revelation of sorts. He didn't really know where they came from, only that these moments happened more often when Tayla was around.

"Father, why do you not want me to spend time with her?" Arthur asked his father's retreating back. Uther stopped and turned around to face him. Merlin took a slight step back behind Arthur, trying to distance himself from the situation. Arthur rarely took on Uther.

"Excuse me?"

"I have just realised that it was you who was responsible for us not seeing Tayla and her family over recent years. You always declined their invitation to visit Dover. And as for Tayla coming here, there was always something else happening that you said after it was done, you would invite them. But you never did. Why is that?" Arthur asked Uther, carefully watching his father's reactions to his words.

"You do not know what you are talking about, Arthur," Uther replied sharply, frowning at his son.

"Of course I do Father. I just do not know why you wanted to stop us seeing one another. Honestly Father, I would have thought you would have encouraged it. An alliance with them through marriage would have been a well thought out strategy." Arthur was digging, throwing Uther's words back at him, trying to get a response. It was confusing to him that given the close friendship that Uther had with Tayla's parents, that the contact had stopped, aside from the letters.

Uther glared at Arthur, normally causing Arthur to stop speaking, but he continued anyway.

"Or was it perhaps that you saw what a beauty she was becoming and had feelings for her..." Disgust flared in Uther's eyes, "Do not be absurd Arthur, that is not why I did it." Uther snapped. "Tomorrow Arthur, training, or your position as their leader will be in jeopardy, Prince or otherwise." Uther turned and strode away quickly, Arthur watching him leave.

"Well that was interesting," said Merlin, stepping back beside Arthur.

"Very," replied Arthur, not at all sure what was behind his father's reaction. Arthur starting walking again, Merlin falling into step beside him.

"So would you really marry the Princess?" Merlin asked.

"What?" Arthur replied, having been lost in thought and not having heard the question.

"Never mind," said Merlin. "Tell me about the Princess," he asked instead. Whilst he had heard a few stories, he didn't really know much about the Princess and was very interested.

A gentle smile appeared on Arthur's face as he thought about her.

"King Henry, Queen Isobel, Tayla and her brothers visited often, as we did them for a while. Tayla and I would spend the time playing, or talking. Her brothers were quite a bit older than us so they spent more time watching the knights whilst we played. She brought out the little boy in me." Arthur smiled at the memories. "We would run, swim, climb trees, anything that was fun. Her maid was most accommodating on letting us behave as children should. It was a welcome change and I always looked forward to their visits or ours. As we got older, the games changed but we still had fun. Tayla is reasonably proficient with a sword. I had managed to teach her one trip and she continued to train when she went back to Dover. But she has a natural talent for the staff, if you recall the story. I had trouble against her just on her own, let alone with Morgana." Arthur chuckled at another memory. "The time she was referring to that first day, regarding the blood. We had been climbing trees one morning and Tayla decided to go and actually jump down out of one of the apple trees, pretending she was flying. She has a natural grace and she even looked like she was floating down from the tree. Perhaps it was just the way the wind caught her dress. So of course, I had to try it, only I went higher, even though she had already been quite high. Trying to show off I guess," Arthur said.

"Even then?" Merlin asked, holding back a smile at the thought of a little Arthur showing off to the girls.

"Yes Merlin, even then. Anyway, it did not end well. I did not float like she did, I just crashed into the ground and managed to fall on the only rock under the apple tree. The reason I ended up bleeding. I still have the scar from that rock," Athur replied, thinking about his very first scar. He had others now, but that one at least came from something fun.

"So you ran away?" asked Merlin, remembering Tayla's comment.

"She wanted to fix it...by kissing it better!" Arthur said, a slight note of the disgust he would have felt as a little boy at the idea of a girl kissing him, coming into his voice.

"Oh," replied Merlin with a chuckle.

"Yes, oh!" Arthur smiled.

"So you didn't run because of the blood?" asked Merlin, slightly disappointed that he couldn't use that later. Perhaps all was not lost, after all, Arthur had run from a kiss.

"Of course not!" Arthur replied firmly.

"She sounds like lots of fun," commented Merlin.

"Yes, she is," agreed Arthur.

"Turns you into Mr Chatty as well," Merlin added.

Arthur was about to smack him on the back of the head for his cheek, but then thought better of it.

"She does more than that Merlin. For some reason I am a better person when she is around," Arthur said as they arrived at Tayla's chambers.

"I agree," said Merlin as they knocked on the door.

"Come in," Arthur heard Tayla and smiled.

Merlin opened the door, letting Arthur go through first.