Previously: "Oh. I'm sorry, have either of you seen Merlin? He's been missing since midday?" Hunith shook her head. "He left around that time." She told him. "Do you know which way he went?" Arthur asked, both of them shook their heads. "He's probably at the tavern. Again." Arthur grumbled to himself. "I'll find him."

Oblivious

Chapter 12: An Important Decision

The taverns yielded no results. Merlin was nowhere to be found, but Arthur kept looking anyway. It was unusual for Merlin to disappear without a note or a message with Gaius. He took a horse, he had no idea how far Merlin could have gotten, but he had a few hours head start which Arthur had to catch up on.

Arthur searched the village near Camelot, asked the knights and Gwen if they had seen him, they hadn't. He ended up searching the forest and eventually came upon a clearing that looked as though it had been completely decimated by something. Arthur abruptly remembered Merlin's magic and hastily added 'or someone' to the end of that last sentence.

Arthur guessed that Merlin had some kind of magical blowout, but he wasn't here now, he couldn't help but wonder what had caused Merlin to have such a reaction. The man was so laid back and easy going that it was strange to think that he had been angry enough to destroy a small section of the forest.

A few hours later, the sun was starting to set and it was growing dark. Arthur knew that he couldn't search for much longer but he didn't want to give up on his friend. He was just about to turn back when he noticed a small figure in front of a large lake up ahead.

It was Merlin.

Arthur sighed in relief, his earlier annoyance at not being able to find his manservant had soon turned to worry. Now he was just glad to have found him.

"Merlin!" he shouted, he saw Merlin turn slightly at the sound but made no other acknowledgement of Arthur's presence. Arthur marched up to him, feeling as though the effort he had gone to find Merlin was completely unappreciated.

"Where the hell have you been? You've been gone for hours!"

"You sound worried about me." It was supposed to be a joke but it was said so hollowly that Arthur couldn't help but frown.

"What happened?" Arthur asked seriously, Merlin stood up abruptly.

"I don't want to talk about it." Arthur was annoyed by this, he was sick of secrecy.

"Why not?"

"It's personal."

"Like your magic was personal? You can't just keep bottling things up, Merlin, it's not healthy."

"It's not like that." Merlin hesitated, "It's about my father."

Arthur knew this was a soft point for Merlin and immediately regretted his sharp comments. He knew he would have reacted the same as Merlin if something unexpected about his mother was brought up.

"Did you find out who he was?" Arthur asked carefully.

"Yes. Can we stop talking about this now?" Merlin pleaded. Arthur ignored his own curiosity and nodded, and they headed back to Camelot.

Once they got back, Merlin made a point of avoiding both his mother and Balinor. He wasn't angry anymore, just confused and unhappy about the whole situation. Everything was so incredibly awkward and he didn't know what to do.

Merlin had already told his mother he did not blame her and she had urged him to speak to Balinor, his father. He had made a non committal sound at the time and quickly changed the subject. He had seen Balinor several times for very brief awkward intervals. Both of them had only had a few days to come to terms with their new discovered relationship.

It would probably take something big to force the two to talk for more than five minutes at a time.

"Are you two still not talking?" Hunith demanded of Balinor. He shrugged sheepishly, he was glad that she was back to her usual self now that the heavy burden of guilt and worry had been lifted. She had mellowed considerably in the twenty year absence, probably the result of motherhood, but she hadn't lost the sharp edge that made her so different to other women Balinor had known. He had to admit it was a quality he found terribly attractive.

"It's like dealing with children." She said to herself, "Almost as bad as dealing with my brother."

"You're talking to William again?" Balinor asked in surprise, "I thought you were making a point not to?"

"I was, but he had offered to let me stay with him and his family." She tried to hide her reluctance at this but Balinor saw through her false enthusiasm.

"You told me his wife was no better than him and they were raising their children to be the next generation of pompous toe rags." Hunith gave an unladylike snort.

"And that's exactly what those brats became! Copying whatever their cow of a mother said behind our backs to Merlin." She muttered angrily.

"Then why are you going to stay with them?" He asked gently, aware that she was getting dangerously close to the point of either an angry or emotional outburst again, neither of which he wanted to cause.

"I don't have a choice." She said quietly, "I have nowhere else." Balinor had the feeling that he was about to say something potentially stupid but he did it anyway.

"Why don't you come with me?" He quickly hurried on when he saw her stunned expression, "If you wanted to. I'm going to a druid camp, they said I could bring family and I'm sure you would count." Aware that he was babbling he awkwardly trailed off, already anticipating the sting of rejection.

"Are you sure?" she asked warily, "That is a lot you are offering."

"Absolutely," he answered without any hesitation, "Besides, if I hadn't left you in the first place, you wouldn't have had so much to deal with by yourself. This is the very least I can do to make up for you having to raise Merlin on your own."

"It wasn't your fault." She reprimanded him, but there was no anger in her voice.

"Nevertheless, my offer still stands." He paused, "Will you come with me?"

A simple question, with only two possibly answers, but they both knew that he wasn't just offering her a home. He was offering her a new start, a chance to start afresh with him, without any of the worries they had when they first started their relationship.

"Yes."

AN: For everyone who was asking if this is a reveal fanfiction, we've already had the reveal, it was in Chapter 6 when Merlin had to defend himself from bandits. One more chapter and an epilogue left, then I'll see if I can give you guys some bonus content chapters.

Thanks to reviewers: MamzelleHermy, Laughy-Taffy the Grape, Lientjuhh, WE-ARE-SHER-LOCKED, SapphireShelle91, Guest, MegamiTenshiHime, Mediatrix, Amethyst M, Guest, skw, OhMyLeppy, SERIOSLYNICK.

Response to reviewers:

Laughy-Taffy the Grape: In my mind, Merlin's dad is a very sensitive topic for him, in the original episode Merlin had to deal with it very quickly because Camelot had to be saved, in this he doesn't have the same luxury. That and all the worry about his magic being revealed and his worrying about his mother all built up and he had to release that frustration.

Mediatrix: There will be another Merlin and Arthur seen next chapter as well.