Once in England he found they had a new King called Henry V111, he had been made a King at only 19 year old and he had a hard task ahead of him. For such a young man to rule such a large area would be difficult. But the people seemed to love him. Merlin took great care not to expose his gift, as witchcraft was persecuted, and he didn't want to expose himself to the authorities. London was overcrowded and filthy in places, with human waste running down the centre of the streets. He wondered what Gaius would have made of it all. It wasn't right for people to live this way. No wonder there was so much sickness about. Not able to stand the stench any longer Merlin made his way as fast as he could to the lake and stayed there for a week before collecting another small bag of gold from the site of Camelot, now completely invisible. He felt sorry that a place that once held such an important role in his life was no longer there.
Leaving England once more Merlin made his way back to Florence and spent a couple of weeks with Leonardo before heading once more back to his cave. Leonardo gave him one of his notebooks as a farewell gift. Merlin was amazed at the gift it contained many drawings of the human body that so fascinated Merlin, as well as some wonderful machines that seemed totally fanciful. In exchange he gave Leonardo one of his gold coins, explaining that it once belonged to King Arthur.
He didn't visit any other towns or cities on the way but travelled as quickly as he could back to his cave. He was pleased to hear that Aithusa had started on her clutch of eggs. He was so happy for her and wondered if, as they were a mixture of the two species of dragon, he would need to call them from their shells. Only time would tell. The nest as yet had only three eggs so he supposed he would have some time to find out. That at least would stop his travelling for a century or two.
He put his gift from Leonardo in his protected space with his spell book and settled back into his life. He loved the Chinese dragons, they were so different from Kilgarrah, but that may have been due to him seeing all his kin killed. Merlin always thought that had twisted the Great Dragon's mind somewhat.
The local dragons were so colourful ranging from white, azure vermillion and black, with all sorts of shades of in between. Once he had got to know them, he was surprised at how their characters varied. In many ways Aithusa's partner Gang had a similar personality, in dragon terms, to Gwaine although he was less of a flirt. Dragons were very loyal to their partners. Merlin learnt that Gang meant strength, which is what Gwaine had been called by the man on the bridge many centuries before.
Merlin couldn't be happier for Aithusa, it made the move to China worthwhile, just to see her happy and settled. Merlin still had periods when he sat thinking about his friend, sometimes for days on end, and he always felt worse on his return from his trips. It was probably because he mixed with humans so much when he was away. He couldn't understand their need to fight wars, and the unkindness shown to those less fortunate.
Now he was back he stayed in the hills most of the time, but still helped the locals if they asked for it. Through them he heard about another war going on, between the British and the Chinese, he understood that the drug Opium was the cause. The British had been in China for some time, the villagers told him weren't liked and wanted to run China, which the Chinese took exception to. He didn't get involved nor did he seek out the truth of what was happening. Most leaders, to his mind, weren't happy unless they were fighting someone. A few of the injured escaped to the hills and he helped them if he could, but did not willingly seek them out.
Aithusa's eggs had hatched and she was a good mother, they hadn't needed his help to be called from the eggs, but she had got him to name three of them. He was so pleased for her and her mate. Only one of her babies had wings, she was of stockier build and white like her mother. They called her Aithusa after her mother. During the first few years he often found the baby dragons in his cave. They liked his company, but they were mischievous and he had to make sure he kept anything away from them he didn't want damaged. As they got bigger it became more of a problem so instead he visited them daily in one of the larger caves nearby. They often brought him gifts of game they had caught in the nearby forest.
When they first started to bring him things they were often so chewed he couldn't use them but they gradually improved. The baby dragons would have help, from their parents for the first century of their lives, when they would teach them all they needed to know to cope with their many duties. He never said but his favourite of the babies was the young Aithusa.
It was good to see the family so happy. When Arthurs call finally came and he left China, it would be good to know that Aithusa was happy would be well looked after by her mate.