A/N: Okay, here's like my longest chapter yet, but it's got fluffy parts so hopefully enjoy it. I'm not very good at descriptive writing, but I did try my best, but just in case you need a visual on the things described in here, scroll down to the bottom and I've included visuals. Love you guys! Please review!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the storyline. Merlin belongs to BBC, the dances belong to Red Riding Hood.

Day 3

Arthur, once again, to his greatest dismay, was woken up at the crack of dawn. But this time, it was by Lancelot

"Morning, sire!" He was the only one out of the four of them that seemed to know how to address a prince. "Emrys took the druid children to the lake. He wants you to join."

"My god, does the man know how to sleep in?" Arthur threw his blankets off and stood up, stretching.

Lancelot shrugged and left the room without responding as everyone in this household seemed to do. Arthur changed, grabbed an apple from upstairs and met Lancelot outside where he stood with two horses saddled.

They rode out to the lake, which actually took a hell of a lot longer when you weren't flying on the back of a supposed-to-be-extinct dragon. Arthur briefly wondered if Merlin had flown, but probably not, since had had children with them. Or maybe they had all flown.

And that's how he got the visual of a large dragon with twenty children and a grinning Merlin shooting through the sky.

They got there a little after midday. It was the same lake Merlin had brought him to the day before. Merlin was standing in the deeper part of the lake, the water licking at his bare lower stomach, as children swam around him, splashing him and laughing, not a care in the world.

Merlin, much to Arthur's surprise, wasn't at all scrawny. His chest and abdominal muscles were well defined, his shoulders broad, long, lean muscle stretching over the length of his body. He wasn't horrible to look at either, but Arthur would never say that out loud or even admit to himself that he thought that.

Merlin turned as a child, no more than four years old, attacked him from behind, putting his back towards Arthur. There, on his left shoulder, was a dragon tattoo, similar to that of the Pendragon Crest, but not quite. The body was longer, the wings stretched higher, and the head was tilt upwards instead of downwards, his mouth stretched open in a frozen scream. The ink itself was black, but the details, like the veins in the wings and the eyes, were gold. There was another tattoo on his inner forearm, a druid symbol, outlined again in gold instead of black.

"Are you going to stop checking me out?"

Arthur jumped, realizing he had been staring and blushed. Merlin beamed at him from across the water. Arthur frowned, and plopped down on the sand closer to the tree line, Lancelot doing the same, "Shut up, Merlin."

The idiot sorcerer smiled and waded up to the shore, the children following. He stopped once he was out of the water, reaching his hands up by his face and cupping them together. He whispered something, unheard from this distance, and then opened his hands.

Two beautiful butterflies, almost exactly like the ones he had seen at the druid camp two days ago, emerged. The children laughed, clapping their hands and proceeding to chase them around the beach.

Merlin came to stand in front of Arthur, blocking the sun, and then shook his hair, water droplets hitting Arthur in the face.

He glared up at him, "Would you stop?"

"Someone's grumpy." Merlin said as he collapsed in the sand next to Arthur, resting his forearms on his knees and letting his hands hang.

One of the butterflies, a beautiful glowing blue and black, floated happily towards Arthur. Arthur held out his hand, just wanting to see what would happen if he touched it. He knew it was nothing but an illusion, but the life-likeness of it was almost perfect.

The butterfly landed on his hand, warm and weightless, no explosion into dust or anything. Arthur's eyes widened, "What…."

Merlin just raised an eyebrow, "It's a butterfly, Arthur. They're a type of bug."

"It's real," He said slowly as the creature continued to rest on his finger, "I mean, it's not an illusion."

"You thought it was an illusion?"

"Merlin, this is a real butterfly."

"Wait! No way! Are you serious?!" He held up his hands to his mouth, his eyes widened in exasperation.

"Stop. I'm being serious. You created this. You created life. You shouldn't be able to do that," he whispered.

Merlin didn't say anything back, just frowned and looked back out at the children.

The butterfly lifted from Arthur's finger and disappeared towards the children. Arthur stared after it, feeling something sink in his chest, "Only God can create and destroy life just from a thought. So tell me, Merlin," he turned his head to make eye contact, "what does that make you?"

Merlin didn't say anything. He seemed to have a habit of ignoring questions and it was really starting to rub Arthur in the wrong way. So instead he turned to Lancelot and said, "Are you a druid?"

Lancelot shook his head, "No. None of us are. Not even Merlin."

"Then how did you come to know him?" He pointed to Merlin. Merlin smiled.

"I saved him from a gryphon."

"You saved him?" Arthur said slowly, "Isn't he like invincible?"

"Basically, but he was refusing to use any magic at that point."

"I feel like there's a story behind this. And also, just a side note, if you're not a druid, how did you become King of the Druids?" Arthur's full attention was now on the sorcerer who had been doing a wonderful job ignoring them.

Merlin sighed, "My mom sent me to the druids to train me to control my magic. And I went through a period where I was terrified of using my magic."

"Why? It's not like you've killed anyone," Arthur says because he believes it to be true. His eyes aren't that of a warriors and, on top of that, of all the Camelot soldiers sent to kill Merlin, Merlin never killed a single one of them.

Merlin's eyes shifted to rest on him and Arthur suddenly fell quiet, because Merlin may not have the eyes of a warrior, but he did have the eyes of someone that has killed, "I never meant to kill anyone," he was quick to say, "I was seven. The only thing I had ever used magic for was to make the trees dance or to grow crops. I had never hurt anyone. Then they attacked my home. Bounty hunters of some sort, come to collect their prize. I was sleeping when they came and they grabbed me and my mother. They blindfolded us and gagged us and carried us into the woods. My mother had been knocked out. When she came to, she started screaming at them to let me go, not to hurt me and one of the guys hit her. I remember hearing it and being so angry and just thinking, 'don't touch my mother'. And then it was silent and when my mother took my blindfold off, they were all dead. I had burnt them to a crisp. My mother was crying. I was terrified.

"We didn't go back to Ealdor. She was scared they would find me. So we kept moving, never staying anywhere for longer than a week. My mother kept telling me not to use my magic unless absolutely necessary. We found a nice village to the west and stayed there. Everything was perfect, but then there was a huge draught when I was thirteen. I thought I could help. I mean, the kids were starving, what else was I supposed to do? I thought I was doing something good when I conjured the rain, but someone saw me. And that night, a group of villagers came for me with spears. Some of them wanted to kill me, but most of them just wanted me gone. They called me "devil-child" and a demon. I was so scared, I just backed into a corner and begged them not to hurt me. One of them raised his spear, and I think he was just meaning to knock me out, not kill me, but I didn't know and I closed my eyes and screamed. And then, when I opened my eyes, they were all dead. Their hearts had just stopped in their chest. My mom was staring at me, just kind of in this mixture of fear and awe."

Arthur was staring down at his folded hands, feeling something akin to fear spread in his gut. He remembered when he had killed his first man at the age of sixteen. He remembers the guilt, the fear, the nausea that came with knowing he had taken a man's life from him. Thirteen, though, thirteen was just too young.

"I hated myself," Merlin continued, "I thought I was evil. My mom was scared for me, so she sent me to live with the druids so I could learn to control my magic, but she told me not to tell them I was born with it, because they might fear me. I refused their lessons for three years. I didn't want anything to do with magic. That's when I met Lancelot, he saved me from an attack. He convinced me my magic could be used to help others and encouraged me to learn. So I did. They trained me to the best ability they could. But within weeks, my magic surpassed theirs. That's when they started to suspect something of me. When they learned I had been born with this ability, they started to call me "Emrys". They told me my birth had been prophesied since the beginning of time and that I was going to unite the lands of Albion. They said there was nothing else they could teach me, that I was to be more powerful than all of them combined. So I buried myself in books and taught myself everything I could know about the old religion. And like Lancelot said, I realized I could use my magic for good. So I stayed and protected the druids and ta-da, now we're here."

"The you know," Arthur pointed to his own blue eyes, trying to get the point across, "didn't give it away?"

Merlin laughed. And so did Lancelot. And Arthur wondered what was so damn funny. Merlin shook his head, "My eyes aren't actually gold."

"They're pretty damn gold." Arthur argued.

"Yes, but they're not actually gold. I have blue eyes, like you." Merlin said and Arthur's eyebrow rose. Merlin laughed, "Here."

He turned to face Arthur completely, crossing his legs and looked dead straight at him. Arthur just tilted his head to watch, staying facing forward. Lancelot didn't even bother to glance over.

There was no change at first, Merlin's eyes stayed gold. And then Merlin closed them, muttering something under his breath, and when he opened them, the gold was circling in his eyes. Slowly, the gold deepened to a dark orange, and for a second, he looked the part of a demon, but then the orange swirled away, revealing a deep blue. It kept swirling, diminishing by the second, and it was absolutely fascinating. Then, Merlin blinked, and his eyes were suddenly a deep, ocean blue, wide and beautiful and incredibly alien looking on Merlin.

Arthur blinked at him.

Merlin smiled, and it made his eyes crinkle, the blue in his eyes shining. And somehow, it looked both right and wrong at the same time. He looked….human for once.

Then Merlin blinked again, muttered again, and when he opened his eyes, they were the swirling mess of gold, orange and blue all over again.

"What are you chanting?" Arthur whispered.

"A spell. The reason my eyes are gold is because of the protection spell on that camp. It's constantly using my magic, so my eyes stay this color. I just reapplied the spell."

"You can cast a spell from this far away?"

"Yes." Merlin said and then he turned to face forward again.

None of them said anything. Arthur was too busy thinking and he felt guilty, but not for the same reason he had in the past. He was guilty because he was thinking in a way his father would reprimand him for. He didn't think of these people as evil anymore and he didn't think they deserved to die at all.

"So today, I was gonna take you with me on a field trip."

"A field trip?"

"Well, we're having a festival here tonight, at that clearing Aithusa took us to. So I thought I'd take this as an opportunity to teach the children some simple spells."

Arthur looked over the giggling children, raising an eyebrow, "They can't be older than six."

"It's not too early to learn. Come on, you can help me teach them."

"I don't know magic, Merlin. That's a stupid thing to suggest."

"You can help them pronounce the spells. We're gonna work on the fire last. Right now, we're gonna use a tracking spell to help us find food. The older boys are gonna find the deer. I figure you can help them since killing seems to be right up your alley."

Arthur glared.

"Okay, so the older boys won't have near as much trouble pronouncing the spells as the younger ones will. But you see him over there," Merlin pointed to the dark-haired boy that was currently tackling another boy into the sand, "He has a speech disability. So you'll have to work with him. His name is Blaez. He's smarter than half of them, just can't talk well."

"Okay," Arthur said slowly and watched as Blaez sat up, as if he knew they were talking about him, and looked over at him.

"The spell is simple, 'Lære us".

"Lære us?"

"It means guide us, when it's literally translated. It'll expose a path of a deer."

"That must come in handy," Arthur whispered, because he couldn't say it out loud, not when he was the Prince of Camelot.

Merlin nodded and then stood up, "Hey, guys! Let's gather around."

The children dropped whatever they were doing, making them the most well-disciplined children Arthur had ever seen, and came to stand in front of Merlin. All together, there were about ten of them. They all carried the similar druid tattoo, but in various places. Some of them had them on their arms, others on their legs, and a few of the boys even had them on their chest.

"Alright, so we're gonna split into three groups. You four," he pointed to the youngest four of the group, "are gonna help Lancelot collect firewood, okay? And you three are going to come with me to get fruit and decorations," he then pointed to the oldest three, one of which was Blaez, "you three are going with Arthur to hunt."

The three oldest cheered, clapping, while Merlin rolled his eyes, "Alright, hunters! What spell are we gonna use?"

A girl in the front shot her hand up.

Merlin smiled and pointed to her, "Alana."

She couldn't be much older than seven, but she eagerly clapped her hands together and shouted out, "Laght us!"

"Nope, try again!"

A boy, not far from her age, raised his hand.

"Andrev," Merlin called on him.

"Lære us!"

Merlin clapped his hands approvingly and nodded, "Very good. Does everyone have that?"

The children nodded eagerly and Merlin smiled warmly at them. Something in Arthur's chest lightened and he couldn't help the smile that graced his features. These children clearly loved Merlin and Merlin loved each and every one of them. He was surprised if Uther even knew the name of one of the street children.

Merlin walked over to Arthur, shrugging into his shirt as he did so. He smiled at him and Arthur smiled back. Merlin stopped a few feet from him, the three children Arthur was supposed to take were gathering their supplies on the beach, "Okay, so you know which one is Blaez. The tall one, that's Masek. He's a bit aloof, tends to wander off, so keep an eye on him. And that last one there is Nevena," he pointed to the blonde girl who was currently weaving her hair into a braid, "she's the oldest. She may be a girl, but don't underestimate her. Her father is actually the lead hunter of the druid camp, he taught her from an early age. She's got the heart of a lion and never misses."

Arthur nodded. This he could deal with. Merlin made a move to head towards his children when Arthur grabbed his arm. Merlin turned, raising an eyebrow, and Arthur just mumbled, "Thank you. For including me."

Merlin beamed at him and then took off towards the children.

Arthur was left with three very expectant looking children staring up at him, but he didn't mind. He was used to working with children. Back in Camelot, he trained the children of his fellow knights to handle a sword and while he would never admit to it, he actually enjoyed it far more than working with the adults.

He led them off into the woods and stopped at the first dense area. He turned to Blaez and told him to say the spell. It felt weird, encouraging magic, but at the same time, it felt easy, natural, as if magic was what weaved this world together. Arthur pushed that down into the list of things he would sort out later and helped Blaez fit his tongue around the odd words.

They ended up following the golden path that was laid out for them and the rest of it was easy after that. Merlin was right, they were all skilled hunters in the making. Nevena was quiet, light on her feet, and could line up a shot without any instruction from Arthur.

They killed a few rabbits and one deer. Arthur showed them how to tie and wrap them so the blood wouldn't stain their clothes. He swung the wrapped deer over his shoulder and headed back towards the beach, the sun was starting to set anyway.

Nevena held his hand the whole way there, while the boys shoved at each other behind them. She looked up at him once they were almost to the beach, her blue eyes squinting in the afternoon sun, "You were really good."

Arthur peered down at her and gave her an easy smile, "I could say the same about you."

She giggled and turned his eyes back to the path ahead, "My father says he'll make a good hunter out of me."

"I don't doubt it for a second."

"You remind me of my father," She said simply.

Arthur readjusted the deer on his shoulder, "Oh yeah? Why's that?"

"He's brave like you."

"I'm brave, huh?"

"Yeah. You're friends with the druids, aren't you?"

Arthur glanced back down at her and raised an eyebrow, "What does that have to do with being brave?"

She shrugged, "Well, I know who you are. You're the Prince of Camelot. People in Camelot don't like magic. And I don't know, I think it's brave that you're friends with druids when you're from Camelot."

"Not everyone in Camelot hates magic," he said without thinking and immediately felt himself tense. Of course he couldn't be talking about himself. No, he feared magic. Hated its power and its users. He had to.

"Camelot killed my mother."

It was like a punch to the gut. Arthur felt his breath leave him and he stumbled a bit. They had just broken the treeline, emerging on the beach once again. Arthur yanked his hand away, a bit rudely, as if her hand was a branding iron.

There were more people on the beach now. There were a few families, even older adults. He spotted Lancelot and an older teenage boy carrying a few logs on their shoulders over to the beach and setting them down in a square formation for makeshift benches. In the center of the square was a giant unlit fire pit, which a few of the children were still throwing random sticks into. Off to the side, a few of the men had carried a wooden table over and the women were now assorting different fruit and bowls onto it.

He spotted Merlin sitting off to the side, with a bucket of water between his legs and washing fruit.

He dropped the deer and rabbits off to the side, away from everyone, and sat down the log. He felt sick. The poor girl couldn't be older than fourteen and she had already lost her mother. And for what? Maybe her mother had just been trying to make the crops grow in the midst of a draught. Maybe her mother hadn't done anything at all. Maybe someone had just spotted the tattoo.

He grabbed a dagger that he had been carrying during hunting and started skinning the deer, making sure to have his back to the group of people on the beach so they wouldn't be able to see.

When it was finally dark and the deer was roasting over the fire Merlin had created, the druids, who now numbered over forty, gathered around the fire, sitting on the logs, grasping wooden bowls full of meat and fruit, and talking intimately under the stars.

Arthur ate quietly, sitting on the sand with his back pressed up against the log. He hadn't ate, hadn't felt like it. He just sat and watched everyone. Someone had brought out a flute, and another had a brought a drum. Couples were dancing beside the fire, laughing and giggling without a care in the world. Another group was sitting off to the left, playing some kind of game with dice. Leon and his knights were chatting with a few of the druid men. Merlin, along with Mordred, had chanted spells into the palms of their hands and when they opened them, light orbs had flown into the air, differing colors of blue and red and green.

It was easy to see how much the druid people loved their 'king'. Everyone was always lining up to talk to him and Merlin didn't seem to mind. He took the time to speak to every single on of them, shifting from group to group, taking time to play games with the children, gossip with the women and race on the beach with the men.

At one point, he even joined in on the dance, pressing his palm flat against a girl's, his other hand on the small of his back, as they circled each other. They switched, opposite palms and circling the opposite way now. He then grabbed her hand, brought it over the top of his head and slowly slid his hand down her arm as she did the same. She bent towards him, as he leaned back, and then he leaned forward and she was leaning back.

Arthur watched it curiously. He had never seen the dance before, but everyone seemed to be doing it, so it must have been a popular dance among them.

As the night went on, people were drunker, the dancing became the main activity, but it was definitely sloppier and less choreographed. It was a lot of dancing in a circle around the fire, arms linked with one another, until you had to let go to spin in a quick small twirl, and then grabbing hands once again to move in the bigger circle around the fire.

Arthur was perfectly content with watching, but Merlin had made it his life's works to make him miserable. He came bouncing over, reaching out a hand to Arthur's.

"Dance with us," his face was split into a bright, earth shattering smile, his eyes orange in the firelight, and his cheekbones casting shadows over his face.

"I don't really dance."

"You're a prince. Isn't it in like your job description?" Arthur shook his head, but Merlin frowned, though the humor from the alcohol was still in his eyes, "Come on, please?"

"Fine," He took Merlin's hand, Merlin joyously pulling him to his feet and yanking him towards the group.

He grabbed Arthur's hand and together, they danced around the flames. They were on their third circle, when Merlin released his hand to spin in a circle, Arthur doing the same, and Arthur couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous Merlin looked. Merlin just smiled back and they continued to dance, Arthur joining in on the laughter and cheer.

Later, when Merlin was well worn out as were most of the dancers, he sat down on a log, Arthur beside him. Stretching his hand out towards the sky, he whispered a few words and the light orbs that had been uselessly bobbing around the festival lifted into the sky at once, ramming into each other and bursting into a mixture of lights.

The people clapped, raising their glasses and cheering. Merlin did it a few more times, the colorful bursts fanning over the sky above them and casting lights down on them.

Arthur looked over to Merlin, watching as the blue and red lights danced off his face. Merlin was watching the sky, a small smile on his face, and he was beautiful. He was absolutely breathtaking and Arthur's breath hitched in his throat and he turned away, back to the sky to watch the colors even if the true beauty was beside him.

What the hell was he going to do?

TA DA! Can you guys please review? I'd love you forever.

Visuals: Alright, so it won't let me type in a link. Stupid. So go to youtube and type in Conwy Castle Medieval Dance and that's the second dance used. The first dance is called the "Wolf Dance" from Red Riding Hood. So, check them both out since I'm crap at descriptions.