A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing, hope you all enjoy this next chapter!

CHAPTER 2

The next morning George was chattier than ever before, as he gushed endlessly about the Harness Polishing Guild. Arthur considered how different things might have turned out if he had been given George, rather than Merlin, for a servant all those years ago. He'd have been bored senseless, that much was certain.

"-and I had a swift look over the speech Lord Merlin wrote." He held up a jacket for the King to put his arms into. "I must say he knows a thing or two about polishing!"

That he did and Arthur's speech (or rather, Merlin's) went down a storm. The King suggested George stay longer with the Guild if he so wished, an offer which entirely dumbfounded the dutiful servant.

"Stay?! But Sire, I could never shirk my duties!"

Arthur spent so long persuading him that he was nearly late for his next order of business - hearing that day's petitions. He arrived at the Council Chamber just in time, relieved to see Merlin seated in his usual place at the right hand side of the throne and looking far better rested than the evening before. He was less pleased as one Lord, a few empty seats across, eyed the Court Sorcerer with open disdain.

Now was not the time to do anything about it, however. Arthur waved to the guards to allow in the first petitioner and took his throne. Merlin murmured to him so softly that his lips barely moved, "No George today?"

"Still with the Polishing Guild- Harness Polishing Guild," Arthur corrected himself with remarkable equanimity; laughing as a former-refugee begged forgiveness for their past crimes would not be good. "He liked your speech."

Merlin's face was carefully impassive, but he didn't fool Arthur for one moment. "Oh. Great."

"Don't," Arthur warned, and did his best to ignore Merlin's badly-concealed smirk, focusing instead on their first visitor of the day. It was a young man with dark hair who, now he drew closer, looked somewhat familiar...

"Gilli?!" Merlin sprung to his feet with a barked ha! of disbelief. "I can't believe it!"

The same Lord from before - Lord Kendrick - sniggered unpleasantly at the Court Sorcerer's lack of decorum and a few other Council members rolled their eyes. Arthur even fancied he could hear some of the serving staff giggling derisively in the corner. Of course Merlin was entirely oblivious, running forward so he could pull the man into a warm hug.

"Merlin!"

At his King's impatient call, Merlin turned back the throne, tugging the petitioner forward. "Arthur, this is an old friend of mine, Gilli. He fought in the Decennial Tournament."

Ah, so that was where Arthur recognised him from. He was the young man who had faced his father in the Tournament's finale.

"I remember you," Arthur said graciously. "You have magic?"

"I do, Sire." Gilli looked tentatively to Merlin who eagerly nodded his encouragement. "I have come to confess my past crimes and to repent for them. When I fought in the tournament I used my magic to win fights and achieve glory. It was Merlin-" Merlin beamed. "-who taught me that this was not magic's true purpose. He always said one day magic would be free-"

"And now it is." Quiet whispers and murmurs had started now, from both the serving staff and the nobility. Arthur decided it best to cut this particular pardon short. "Do you have somewhere to stay in Camelot? Family you are returning to?"

Gilli lowered his eyes regretfully. "No, Sire. My mother died when I was young, and my father was attacked by three men during the time of the Purge. He refused to use his magic to fight them and died of his injuries."

Arthur felt instantly terrible for trying to rush Gilli. Damn what the Council thought! "I am sincerely sorry for your loss under our former law. Of course I grant you my pardon. We can help you find somewhere to stay in Camelot, if this is where you wish to be."

Gilli bowed. "Thank you, Sire."

"I'll find a room for you," Merlin offered, walking Gilli to the door. "What have you been up to since you were last in Camelot?"

"Merli-" the King started, but they were already out of earshot. More hushed conversation echoed around the room, and Arthur resisted the urge to lower his head into his hands. Instead he cleared his throat pointedly and the whispers fell silent, just as the guard ushered in the next petitioner.

Once he had seen everyone for that day he had George, recently returned and still glowing from his experience at the Harness Polishing Guild, bring Merlin to his chambers.

"Gods he really is happy, isn't he?" Merlin watched, disbelieving, as the King's manservant veritably skipped from the room. "Each to their own I suppose."

"Merlin, sit down. We need to discuss something."

Merlin looked apprehensively to the King. "Is this because I left the petitions without permission?"

"Just sit."

They both took their places at the table and Arthur took a moment to frame what he wanted to say.

"The issue was not so much you leaving without my permission, Merlin," he began. "Your rank and station place you above any other Lord, so that isn't a problem in itself. But I think what you fail to realise is that doing so for the sake of a peasant, even one who is your friend, doesn't come off so well to the other noblemen."

Merlin frowned. "I was a peasant until two weeks ago. Surely it stands to reason my friends would be too?"

"Ye-es," Arthur said carefully. "But it's a matter of appearances. No one is used to your promotion yet and until they are... Perhaps best to try and... well... fit in. You're a noble now. You have to act like one."

"I'm not going to treat an old friend badly for the sake of keeping up appearances."

"Of course not! House him, talk to him, whatever else, but perhaps not in the middle of the Council Chamber?" Arthur pled. Then a thought struck him and he was suddenly suspicious. "Where is he going to stay, anyway? All the spare rooms are reserved for the parties from the Five Kingdoms."

Merlin shuffled guiltily in his seat. "Ah yes, well... you did say my new chambers were going to waste."

Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose and counted slowly to ten. "Merlin, those are your chambers. You're a nobleman now, you can't just stay in Gaius's spare room! And something else that should have happened two weeks ago - you need new clothes!"

Merlin looked down at his outfit then back to Arthur, indignant. "What's wrong with my clothes?"

"They're not the clothes of a nobleman, Merlin."

"Well, I'm a nobleman and they're my clothes so by that logic-"

"Merlin," Arthur cut across the irritating ramble. "What have I said, not two minutes ago, about the importance of fitting in? These things may not seem important to you but they make an impact on those around you. So will you just, for once, do as you're told?"

Merlin pursed his lips, mulish. Finally he said, "You won't make me wear anything stupid will you?"

Arthur pretended to consider this. "Well I did have some ideas... a pointy hat maybe?"

"Ha ha," Merlin deadpanned. "As long as they're not bright pink or- or covered in feathers or anything else you can scheme up, then fine. As to Gaius's spare room, I did have an idea. What if Gilli were to be Gaius's new apprentice?"

Arthur leapt joyfully to his feet. At this point he didn't care if Gaius's new apprentice were a toad. "Perfect! He can move in straight away."

"Straight away?" Merlin blinked. "But I have to move my things and there are the defences for the Lower Town to cast-"

"Now, Merlin!"

And, just as if it were the old days, Merlin scampered hastily after his bellowing King.

They told Gilli, who was delighted - apparently he had come to Camelot to learn the healing arts from the Druids - and Gaius, who was beyond relieved.

"I'm glad you've finally settled on someone." All the physician's suggestions had been immediately vetoed by his ward, for reasons that ranged from the legitimate - she wants to keep living in the Lower Town, Gaius, she'll never even be here - to the less legitimate - his beard is strange. "Though it will be quite an adjustment, not having you upstairs."

"The end of an era," Merlin reflected sadly, but Arthur wouldn't let him stay melancholy for long.

"Right, everyone upstairs - grab as much as you can and take it to the second bedroom of the East Wing!"

They had enlisted Gwen's help, as Gaius wanted to get started on teaching Gilli some basic herblore straight away, and between the three of them it didn't take long at all until Merlin's room was bare.

"Is that really all you have?"

Arthur had been thinking the same - it had only taken one trip to transfer all his clothes, for heaven's sake! - but was glad Gwen had been the one to ask. It would have sounded a tad more, well, prattish coming from him.

But Merlin smiled slyly. "Not quite." He knelt by the side of what would soon be his old bed and pried up a long floorboard. "My secret stash."

And from the hole in the floor he produced one of the most peculiar collections of items which Arthur had ever seen. An ancient grimoire, a carved wooden dragon, a pair of crystals dangling on chains, a jar of gold dust, a long wooden staff topped with a green gem and what looked to be a piece of blue eggshell.

Gwen's knelt beside Merlin to get a closer look at the objects. "What is all this?"

"And how long has it all been under here?" Arthur picked up the book, flipping through with a long-suffering sigh. "Really, Merlin, have you any sense of self-preservation? What if someone had found this?"

Merlin ignored Arthur's question in favour of Gwen's, pointing to the book in the King's hand. "Gaius gave it to me on my first day in Camelot. Do you remember Knight Valiant and the snakes on his shield? It was a spell from here that brought them to life. Then this-" he picked up the piece of shell and handed it to Gwen, "-is the shell of a dragon's egg!"

Arthur refused to be impressed, having already heard about the hatching of Aithusa. Merlin had promised him a meeting with both the Great and baby dragon, although Arthur was secretly glad there hadn't yet been an opportunity. This, after all, was the same dragon his father had kept shackled for twenty years. The same dragon which had devastated their kingdom.

Gwen picked up the wooden dragon next, turning it over admiringly. "This is wonderfully carved. Did you make it, Merlin?"

Merlin smiled tightly. "My er, my father did."

And that was a tale Arthur had still not fully heard. He knew his own side of it, what he had spotted even back in the days of his ignorance; Merlin's ill mood the entire trip, his tears at Balinor's death. But there were still so many questions unanswered.

Gwen returned the little dragon to Merlin. "I still have a dress my father gave me. I've not even worn it."

Arthur felt suddenly awkward. Lacking. He had things, plenty of things Uther had given to him - but none like that. Gifts lost their significance when everything was in abundance.

He picked up the staff. "You stole this. From Sofia's father."

"Well, only after he tried to sacrifice you to the Sidhe." Merlin took the staff and with a flash of his eyes the stone atop it began to glow. Arthur started when he saw the golden dust in the jar was glowing too.

"What is that?"

"Fairy dust. You remember the last time Lord Godwyn came to Camelot, with Princess Elena? Well, long story short, she had a Sidhe living inside of her." Merlin chuckled. "Gaius had to flirt with a pixie to save the day."

"I thought you'd told me everything about your magic?"

"It's hard to remember everything at once!" Merlin defended. "And er, don't tell Gaius I told you about the pixie. I promised we'd never speak of it."

"So what are these?" Arthur held up the final two items - the pair of crystal necklaces. "Taken to wearing jewellery recently?"

"Those-" Merlin plucked the necklaces from Arthur and shoved them into his pocket. "-are the necklaces those thugs from the tavern used to pretend to be Sir Ethan and Sir Oswald. Gwaine told you that one. Although maybe you don't remember," Merlin added cheekily. "It was quite late into my feast."

Arthur did remember, though it was admittedly hazy in his memory. "As I recall, Merlin, I was much steadier on my feet than you were that night."

"I'm not so certain about that," Gwen chimed in, and giggled when the comment left Arthur spluttering in indignation. "Now if you don't mind I do have my duties to get back to. Shall we get this all to Merlin's new room?"

Merlin clocked the empty wardrobe as soon as they walked in. "Arthur...Where have my clothes gone?"

Gwen ducked from the room with a sympathetic, "Good luck, Merlin!" and was swiftly replaced by a sallow man with a measuring tape. Merlin realised he had been ambushed.

The man bowed deeply first to Arthur, "Sire," and then to Merlin, "My Lord. Shall I begin?"

"I don't think I have much choice," Merlin huffed, but raised his arms with no further complaint as the tailor set to work measuring his waist. "I already told you I'd take the new clothes."

"Yes," Arthur said. "But then I realised we don't have any accurate measurements for you. And you're not the most reliable when it comes to following orders."

"Well this had best be quick." Merlin's eyes glinted gold and he looked decidedly smug. "A group of thirty have just crossed the Citadel walls. I believe the first of our four Kings has arrived."