Chapter Eleven

"Merlin!" Gwen moved away from the market stall she had been examining and waved the man over. He smiled and approached her.

"Hello!" He greeted her. "What are you doing?"

"Buying some food. Arthur is finally feeling well enough to have something a bit more substantial, and as Gaius said he could start getting up today as long as he takes it slowly, I promised to make him some roast chicken as long as he *does* take it slowly."

"Oh, well that's thoughtful of you," said Merlin, looking innocent.

Gwen frowned at him. "What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing. Just that you were being thoughtful of Arthur."

"He's been sick."

"Yes, it's nice of you."

"Uh-huh," said Gwen skeptically. "And where are you off to?"

Merlin gestured to the small basket that was under his arm. "Gaius is having me deliver some medicine."

"How have you been?" asked Gwen. "I've seen so little of you lately."

"I'm alright." Merlin shrugged.

"What's wrong?" Gwen asked, sensing something was wrong.

"Oh nothing really." Merlin looked down at his feet.

"What?" she persisted.

"I don't know I just feel...lost I suppose. Like I'm completely lost as to what I'm supposed to be doing."

"You feel lost? You know Arthur said something very similar a couple days ago."

"Oh good, well at least I know I'm in good company," Merlin grinned. Gwen slapped him playfully on the arm.

"Well I have to go, but Merlin, I'm going to tell you exactly what I told Arthur, that everyone has a destiny that they lose sight of. But you'll find what yours is. And Gaius and I, we're always here for you."

Merlin smiled. "Thank you Gwen." He gave her a quick hug. "Though I don't know how Arthur would feel about you sharing his pep talk aroung."

"Merlin," said Gwen, crossing her arms.

"Sorry, sorry. So, what is he going to do? Once he gets better I mean? Why did he come back to Camelot?"

"I…don't know. I was actually going to talk to him tonight about those things."

"Well, good luck. I'd better go, Gaius will get impatient." Merlin waved and hurried off.

The table was being laid for dinner; the bed had been pushed back away from the fire into its original position in the room, and Gwen was laying out the chicken.

"That looks wonderful," said Arthur, seated at one end of the table, as the steam gushed out from the chicken as Gwen cut into it.

"Thank you. Here, taste it," she laid a plate in front of him. "I hope it's good."

"Hmm, that's the best chicken I've ever had."

"Good." Gwen sat down and took her own plate. They ate in silence for several minutes, each hungry, but as they started to fill up Gwen took a moment to broach a suggestion she had been mulling over in her head for the past couple of days. "Arthur, what are you going to do once you're completely well?"

Arthur dropped the piece of chicken he was holding and looked slightly sick at the thought. "I don't know."

"What did you come back to Camelot for?"

"I had nowhere else to go," he said quietly.

"I understand," she nodded. "I thought so. Arthur, you need a place to stay, long term, and you need a living. You said so yourself the first night you got here that you were out of money."

"I-"

"I have an idea. What do you know about blacksmithing?"

Arthur blinked at her. "Blacksmithing?"

"Yes. Do you know anything about it?" she asked hopefully.

"A bit," said Arthur very slowly and very uneasily.

"Good," Gwen leaned forward eagerly. "You see my father was a blacksmith. He was a wonderful one, but Uther executed him last year for assisting sorcery. He didn't mean anything wrong he just…" she sighed and shook her head. "The important thing is I still have his shop. Now I know you can't become a master blacksmith overnight, but if you worked cheap, some of the poor people would come to you. And there's an old cot in there from when father would occasionally work late. You would have both a place to stay and make a small living."

Arthur's mouth was hanging open by the time she was done. "Me?" he asked slowly, "A blacksmith?"

"Yes."

"Gwen…it's a fine idea but when I say I know a bit about blacksmithing I-"

"You must have shoed a horse at one point in your life."

"Hmm," said Arthur noncommittally.

"And you could repair some metal work, pots and pans and some farm tools. And you would learn as you went."

Arthur thought.

Since Iseldir had presented his options to him, he had been desperately struggling to decide what to do. As he had told Gwen, he had had nowhere else to go but Camelot. His first thought had been to find the sorcerer, even if it meant he had to sit and wait, but an awful image had kept presenting itself to him, an image of years spent waiting for someone who would never come. Also Uther had all but thrown him out of the castle. As things stood he could not be near enough his father to ensure he would even see the sorcerer should he happen to show up. And as he waited and watched, what could he do? And if he didn't choose to wait, what could he do? Gwen was right, he needed both a place to stay and at way to live. At least until he had a plan.

He had led men into battle, fought magical beasts and played the diplomat; surely he could learn to blacksmith?