Hello! This is late, I know, but I hope the heavy plot here makes up for it haha. At this point, this basically crack lol. Anyways, enjoy!

Even at Noonday, Upon the Marketplace

"You run a grave risk, my boy," said the magician, "of being turned into a piece of bread, and toasted."

-T.H. White, The Once and Future King

Though Council meetings and the paperwork it ensued usually made the King a bit irritable, George had never seen him as out of sorts as he did that morning.

Even the extra sausages he'd managed to fight the cook for weren't enough to snap the High King from his sour mood, and though George was quite convinced it was not his fault the King's glare made him feel as nervous as a new squire. For the first time in fifteen years he was careless enough to let a single drop of wine fall on the precious silverware.

He thought he'd faint from shame right there and then, but took a deep breath and reminded himself of the praise the King had bestowed so generously only a few days ago. And then the double doors opened with a racket, and the Queen and the Court Sorcerer came in, laughing and joking, and if George had not been too preoccupied now with a new drop of wine on the King's sleeve he would have thought that they were almost as giddy and gossipy as they had been back when they'd both been servants.

He had much more important things to worry about, however, and as he stuttered out his shame the King merely waved him away impatiently. His glare had found a new target on the newly arrived and although George would have thought it shameful to not greet his highness right away he knew for a fact Arthur would forgive his wife and best friend everything.

"…it didn't work with Archimedes," Merlin was telling Guinevere with his back to them, as he helped her take off her bright lavender cloak and let it float to its hanger. "I suppose the enchantment was too strong."

"what will you do with it?" Guinevere asked him, peering curiously at something Merlin held in his hand, "It's very well done, the Druid's say. It would take them months to do such an enchantment."

Merlin shrugged humbly. "Well," he said, and pocketed whatever it was he'd been holding, "I offered it to Gwaine but he laughed at me. He said he didn't need to be babied."

The Queen chuckled at that and for some reason the King found that quite irritating and cleared his throat so loudly he might as well be a boar. He tapped his fingers over the tray George had just set down and a bun rolled over from the plate and bounced on the floor.

George thought his heart would give out.

"Hello, dear," the Queen said breezily and Merlin looked over his shoulder to shoot the King a smirk.

"Still not a morning person, are you, dollophead?"

But the King did not answer with an insult back nor did he launch a goblet at his Court Sorcerer's head. Instead, he continued glaring. George felt his palms had started sweating behind his back but the Queen and Merlin didn't seem to mind.

"Are you ready for the Council meeting?"the King asked finally, and his voice sounded strangled, almost as if he'd intended to shout. "Or do you have another rendezvous with the druids I should know about?"

Merlin raised an eyebrow but smiled nonetheless. "Ready as I'll ever be," he said, and dug both of his hands into his cloak's interior pockets. "That reminds me…! Would you like this?"

He opened his right hand to reveal a small, circular band, as wide as a pinky. It gleamed like polished marble.

"Not that you need it." Merlin prattled, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "But you know…with all of these rumors about Lot's deserting assassins…."

Gwen had finished braiding her hair and was now standing beside Merlin with a hand on his shoulder. It was she who shushed him when the King's face turned so red George thought it would explode.

"Well, of course he'll wear it." Guinevere said. "right, Arthur?"

"Of course." The High King said with gritted teeth, "Why not? After all, it seems I do need it, don't I?-"

It looked like he wanted to say more but Guinevere clapped her hands loudly and mentioned just how lovely the roses looked from the window and though George tried his best to squirm his way out of the room before the King could fire him, a glance from his highness made him stay even after Guinevere had retired to the antechamber and Merlin had left.

"I have a most secretive task that needs to be done, George." The High King told him hushedly.

"Do you, My Lord?" George replied, "I'm sure Lord Merlin couldn't have gone far."

"I don't need him for this," The High King said with a scowl. " I need you to do this, George."

Had it been any other day George would have kissed the floor the King stood on. Today, however, with the mood he was in…whatever the King needed, it would probably get him not only fired but drawn and quartered.

"My Lord," he stuttered and tried to look contrite enough, "…I am, er, needed in the armory."

The King's brow knotted together. "whatever for?"

In truth, he'd sent two servants to tidy the armory that morning but the King didn't need to know that.

"The, um, shields, my lord. They're in disarray and they need my expertise to arrange them as perfectly as the armory of the High King of Albion should be tidied."

To his great surprise the High King rolled his eyes, "oh, do quit your bootlicking, George. Do you mean to tell me Merlin did not do what I told him to, yesterday?"

But George could only splutter in distress at being called a bootlicker to give him an answer, and the High King ended up stomping away once again.

…

This time Arthur took care to stand as far away as possible from the owl. He also declined any wine.

He bent over the maps by Geoffrey's side, almost elbowing Gaius accidentally as he looked closer to scrutinize a particularly small village a couple of miles away from Ealdor, noting the fertile terrain that must have been between both of them. The owl hooted softly somewhere in front of him.

He gritted his teeth when he saw Gwaine move his chair to face the thing from the corner of his eye.

"We could offer our citizens a boon for relocating," he started slowly, and though at first he'd spoken out of sheer annoyance, determined to drown out the owl, he realized that his idea wasn't half bad and he went on. "There must be many willing to settle over new lands to secure a better future." He narrowed his eyes at the inked name of the village. "I'm sure that in a few months both Ealdor and…Aedor can grow steadily by trading with the capital."

"That was absolutely brilliant!" Merlin said happily in front of him. "I'm so proud of you!"

Arthur couldn't help the smug smile that found its way to his face, and even as he lifted his eyes from the map to smile at Merlin, he was quite satisfied with the nonchalant shrug he'd managed.

"Well, you know…"

And then his gaze found Merlin and the others, and instead of the affectionate look he'd learnt to expect from his friend, he saw that he, Guinevere, and Gwaine were all huddled over Archimedes and the owl had taken a stencil with its tiny claw and scribbled nonsense on Arthur's old speech.

"I've never seen an owl do that." Elyan commented slowly from Geoffrey's side. "An owl shouldn't do that…right?"

"It can't be that different from when a dog grabs a stick." Percival observed. He inched closer to Gwen as he spoke and looked over her shoulder. Guinevere had clasped her hands on Merlin's shoulders.

"That's wonderful!" She gushed, "can you believe it, Leon?"

Leon, who'd been veritably squished between Merlin and Gwen, and was now desperately craning his neck to give Arthur an apologetic look about the meeting derailing, said, "I can't, actually."

"I've never seen him do this before!" Merlin explained, dropping to his knees to stare into the owl's eyes with adoration. "You are such a smart boy, aren't you, Archimedes?" He scratched the owl's feathery chin and the owl's tiny talons tippy-tapped on the Round Table's smooth surface. "It's no wonder the name of an old Greek inventor fits you so well."

"Yes…" Elyan repeated, looking doubtfully between the owl and the scribbled parchment. "…smart." (1)

He looked at Arthur and the High King was very tempted to let them all know about his suspicions of dark sorcery but instead a far more unbelievable, crucial matter made it past his lips.

"That's mine!" He leaned forward on the table in such a rage that the ink pot almost fell over. "It took me a week to write that speech, Merlin!…I thought you were going to transcribe it?"

Merlin shrugged. He raised his eyes from Archimedes' briefly only to roll them impressively. "It's just a stain, you prat. I can magic it out."

Arthur didn't notice Lancelot's pinched face or his own wife's sudden look of realization, he was so shocked.

"Why don't we take a break?" Gwen suggested, almost running over Percival and pushing Leon aside when she walked towards her husband. "I think we've made quite a lot of progress today."

Arthur wanted very much to stay and glare at the owl for however long it would take. The owl had turned its head completely and stared at him unblinkingly, with the vacuous gaze of a two-month old child.

"I think that's a wonderful idea, Gwen." Elyan agreed quickly, and after giving Lancelot a quiet nod, both of them stood up and silently encouraged the rest of the council to do so too, earning a glare from Gwaine and a very telling silence from Percival.

"We can reconvene in an hour, after lunch," Guinevere said, wrapping her arm around Arthur's and tugging him gently towards the double-doors. "Let's go, dear."

"Did you hear that, Guinevere?" Arthur all but seethed after they'd left the Round Table behind, "he's never seen the owl do that before, the idiot, but that doesn't mean the owl hasn't in fact done it before!"

Guinevere raised a brow at him. "Arthur, I was there. Archimedes barely made a recognizable shape."

"But don't you see, Guinevere? That is exactly what a spy would want you to think."

A little smile blossomed in the corner of his wife's lips. Arthur was almost annoyed.

'What?"

"Say that you are right, Arthur. Then why would this supposed spy reveal its secret skill to the whole Round Table?"

Arthur couldn't quite answer her. He tried a dignified frown.

"It might be luring us into a false sense of security." He said, raising his chin.

Guinevere's smile was so big the corner of her eyes crinkled. "Of course. And I suppose Archimedes has also been trained to somehow understand the intricacies of kingship and what it entails."

The High King couldn't help it. He grinned, even though he knew he was being shamelessly manipulated. "...That was rather a good plan, wasn't it?"

Guinevere kissed his cheek. "Indeed."

…

Arthur Pendragon, High King of Albion, ruler of an empire as vast as the sea and The Once and Future King that the druids foretold of had dealt with quite a substantial amount of treachery, insolence and insubordination during his lifetime, but he'd never faced- he realized as he banged his head against the table right before breakfast. - something that could reach the standards of Merlin's new pet. But no matter -he told himself, straightening and narrowing his gaze- the owl would somehow get what it deserved.

When Guinevere entered their chambers again, with a bouquet of flowers from her personal gardens, she was almost run over by George, who'd been carrying a pile of books so large that only his forehead was visible.

She frowned at her husband but Arthur all but skipped towards them both, grabbing his wife's hand gently and guiding her towards the table as George stumbled his way to the desk and let the books fall with an audible 'thump.' Gwen put her bouquet on water but her beautiful face was pensive and Arthur kissed her cheek distractedly, all but bee-lining towards the book once George had bowed and taken his leave.

But soon enough he saw Guinevere raise an eyebrow from the corner of his eye and acquire that calculating glint on her gaze that meant she was ready to outsmart the captain of the guard himself when it came to putting pieces together.

'What is all this?" She asked, and made her way towards the books, tilting her head to read their spines. "'A history of magical transformation,' 'unveiling the mysteries of animal anatomy,' 'transfiguration in the time of Bruta,'"

Arthur hummed, skimming through some of the pages. He read a paragraph and felt his gaze waver.

It was all gibberish.

"Oh, you know," he told Gwen pleasantly, turning the page as if he'd actually read it. "just some light reading."

Guinevere raised her eyes towards him. The depths of them flickered with amusement. "I see. And I suppose this doesn't have anything to do with Archimedes or how you are suddenly convinced you've been enchanted."

The High King gaped at her but Gwen did not avert her gaze; and he read in her eyes everything he needed to know.

" I do not think I'm enchanted!" He squeaked. Guinevere's lips lifted upwards into a smirk. "Gaius told you?"

"He was worried about you. You should count yourself lucky he told me and chose not to tell Merlin."

The High King glared at the ceiling. "Why? Do you think that idiot would even consider getting rid of that-that beast if I asked him to? He cried for hours over that baby unicorn, remember?"

Gwen let out what sounded like a snort and the King pretended he didn't hear it, choosing instead to try and read the next volume. It was still as good as ancient Latin.

"Hmm. Arthur, dear…."

"What is it, Guinevere?"

"If you're so convinced the owl is enchanted, then why isn't Merlin here with you, reading all this? Isn't that his job description? "

Arthur swallowed once, twice, and still he couldn't help the slight resentment that colored his tone. "He hasn't been very dutiful, now, has he? He's been forgetting his duties because of that thing-"

"Has he?" Gwen had crossed her arms over her chest, "because I have seen them handling them admirably these past few weeks. In fact, what he has been missing out are on our daily walks in the gardens, or that storytelling time he does with Percival on the lower town for the children or…" and here her gaze turned so soft and tender that Arthur felt his cheeks flush and had to look away, " your breakfast chats. And those are not exactly duties, are they, dear?"

Arthur tried not to look at her; it was unbearable. Because if he truly thought about it, that was what hurt the most: the fact that Merlin hadn't made time for his friends but seemed to have all the time in the world to parade the owl around three different Druid chieftains and their tribes.

So the King chose to bat the mere notion away. "I don't know what you're talking about." He told Guinevere as breezily as possible.

The tenderness in Guinevere's eyes did not abate. Though Arthur squirmed, she held his gaze firmly and grabbed his hands in her own until he finally looked into her eyes.

"Do you want to know what I think of all of this?" she said softly, placing a hand on his cheek.

The High King rolled his eyes good-naturedly, "Do tell me, Guinevere! What do you think?"

"I think that you are not cursed and neither is the owl."

Arthur huffed. Guinevere smiled and leaned over the heavy tomes with him. She read a couple of paragraphs before letting out a little noise of disapproval.

"Well, I don't think you'll find any valuable information in these, my love." She said, reaching over to pat Arthur's hand delicately, "I am quite certain Merlin has already found and taken the best books on magic from the library and the vaults. He's also read every single one of them." She made a strange emphasis on that phrase.

The High King stared at her, puzzled. "Do you mean to say…?"

Guinevere's eyes were far too innocent when they found his. "Oh, nothing. Only that if there's any actual proof to what you're saying, Arthur, it will certainly be found in our Court Sorcerer's possession. Now, what do you say if I ask Merlin to stay for lunch right now and the three of us talk about it?"

But Arthur wasn't listening to her. His mind was reeling, a thousand miles away, and the slow smile that had found its way to his lips was nothing if not hysterical.

Guinevere was right! Of course! Anything he could ever need to prove his theory would be in Merlin's chambers.

He jumped up from his chair so fast that Guinevere startled beside him but then he planted a hurried kiss on her lips before he reached for his coat.

"You're a genius, my love!"

Gwen walked beside him for a couple of steps, "so you'll talk to Merlin then?" She asked him, clearly pleased.

Arthur was too busy hurrying off his chambers. "Hmm? Yes, whatever you say!"

He didn't notice Guinevere's light smirk as he closed the door behind him. He had a tower to break into, after all.

….

He was halfway through the castle when it happened. Truly, it was just his luck to double the corner and be face-planted by a soft ball of feathers that flew at him at the speed of a javelin.

As he spluttered and cursed and managed to grab Archimedes by the throat like the silk-doll he'd seen Morgana play with in their childhood, he realized he'd been a fool to think it would all go smoothly. Of course the owl would somehow know he was planning its demise that very moment and would not go down quietly!

"What is it now?" He hissed at the owl, shaking it so strongly that he almost looked like the cook did when she used the salter after fighting with the lower-town baker. "Are you planning to smother me too?!"

The owl let out a wheezing sound and when the soft warmth of his soul made itself known past his anger Arthur knew what would happen. He barely had time to stuff the tiny owl on his coat pocket like a rag and spit out a feather before Merlin doubled the corner, humming and smiling as if he hadn't single-handedly brought an assassin into court.

"Hey," Merlin said pleasantly, and his eyes flashed briefly, doubtlessly noting the tension Arthur held on his shoulders. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." And Arthur found he didn't even have to pretend to be angry to keep Merlin from discovering the owl, for he was in truth, seething. "What are you doing here, you idiot?"

"Gwen told me to meet you both for lunch. She sent me a flying note." Merlin answered, searching his eyes like Gaius would have a patient's. "She didn't tell you?"

The owl hooted so softly that if Arthur had not felt its beak open beneath his hand he wouldn't have heard it. He promptly squashed the beak between his fingers.

Merlin raised both eyebrows. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Arthur snapped at him. "Are you sure you aren't hearing the sound of your own laziness, Merlin?"

Merlin shot him an incredulous look and The King half congratulated himself on how easily he could derail his friend's train of thought. "…Are you angry with me?"

The owl squirmed on his grasp and Arthur clenched his teeth as he strode past his best friend, purposely not meeting his eyes.

"Where are you going?" Merlin asked him, beyond surprised. "I thought we were going to have lunch. Gwen told me-"

"Feels good, doesn't it!" the High King retorted snappishly, all but storming away,"-to have your plans squashed? Well, now I have more important things to do than having lunch with you."

Merlin blinked at him. "But…Why did Gwen tell me to be there in the first place…? And don't we have to be back with the Round Table in an hour? What in earth could you have scheduled now?"

"Seeing as you left the armory a mess last night," the High King continued, as if he hadn't heard, "I want you to sort through Gaius' potions today. Without magic."

That should keep Merlin occupied long enough.

Merlin stared after him, open mouthed. "What…? Hey, that was not my fault! Elyan wanted to tell me something and I-"

"So you have time to talk to Elyan but not to fulfill your duties, don't you?"

He didn't stay to hear whatever excuse Merlin would come up with but rather hurried to double the next corner. Merlin did not come after him, which made it easier to make it to the Court Sorcerer's tower undetected and yet the High King could not quite shake the lump in his throat.

Oddly, Arthur did not feel a flicker of guilt breaking into Merlin's chambers. It was as good as strolling into his own citadel. Though not everything belonged to him, surely, everything was for him- filling him with an odd sense of ownership. Merlin had explained it countless times when Arthur visited or when he added to his growing collection of magical artifacts. As he sauntered through his Court Sorcerer's tower his eyes roamed from one thing to another and he could all but hear Merlin's prattle in his head,

"I've placed these chairs near the fire so we can talk as often as you want to, this one is yours," and the High King had ordered a matching pair for the Round Table rooms a mere day later, "and this is a magical sundial that points in the direction your heart belongs to. I thought it would be fun to use in on an outing with the knights and bring an apple pie; I'm sure that's where it will point to when it gets to Gwaine;" Arthur had laughed at that for a week, "and these are runes I've carved specifically in case you get a cold like last time, and these are magical needles I've been working on so that Gwen can knit twice as fast; and these are potions I'm perfecting for your headaches after Lord Geiron visits, and this is-"

And there he paused. Arthur had never seen that thing before. It simply did not belong in his best friend's chambers.

He narrowed his eyes at it. It sat right by the window- a wooden contraption of some sort that didn't hum with vaporous enchantments or had been fitted perfectly to Arthur's and Gwen's boot size (like Merlin's last wooden invention had, magical sleds.) It took him a lonesome heartbeat to understand what he was seeing. A perch.

He had to consciously keep his hands from fisting so that he didn't squeeze the owl to death.

"Of course," he spat out. His vision swam and there and then he understood perfectly the meaning of blinded by rage, "but don't you worry owl, you won't be needing it for much longer because I am going to unmask you for the filthy spy you are."

The owl squeaked forlornly.

"That's right, owl. There's no way in hell you're spending one more hour spying for Morgana, or Bayard, or whoever else. Albion has many enemies and I wouldn't put it past any of them to use dark sorcery to achieve their means."

He strode towards the wooden cabinet where Merlin kept his written spells; scraps of paper imbued with magic that could perform simple spells for any magical friend that came to visit. They had become especially popular with the Druid children, and Merlin had an over abundance of butterflies, super-speed, and strawberry tart spells stuck messily in the highest drawer.

Arthur looked well past them. The spell he was looking for had to be related to transfiguration and animals, and he knew exactly where Merlin stored such spells after Gwaine had enraged a barkeeper with a young sorcerer for a son that had turned his nose into a pig's. After he and Merlin had laughed so hard they could no longer breathe, Merlin had whipped out one of his spells and asked the beet-red sorcerer to recite it.

There, elbow deep in Merlin's mess of a drawer, Arthur thought he'd never been more grateful for Gwaine.

That's when he found it. He felt a manic grin split his features for what could very well be the first time since the owl had arrived, and his hold on Archimedes tightened so much that the animal let out a strangled wheeze. The High King ignored it, and studied the scrap of parchment carefully. He could barely understand the language of the old religion as it was but he was fairly certain he knew and could recognize the word beithioch - animal.

He thought he'd jump in place. The last time he could remember feeling so exhilarated was last year's tournament and yet here he was, all but a criminal in his own castle, and he felt remarkably similar as when he'd beaten Morgana in a race around the citadel. That was, Arthur remembered with a start, the very first time his father had told him he was proud.

He shook the memories away and swallowed the lump on his throat. The owl stared at him unblinkingly, and Arthur couldn't quite get rid of his apologetic grimace. "I'm sorry," he said, finally. "At least you won't suffer."

The owl let out a long, mournful cry that sounded far too much like a child's.

"Ugh, fine. Look, the spell won't kill you. It will simply reveal what you are. So stop trying to guilt trip me into letting you go because I won't fall for it." he held the parchment in a tight fist and paced away from the cabinet but his foot slipped with something that felt like a discarded vial and Arthur could only scramble to take hold of the table before he fell.

He swore.

"Bloody Merlin leaving everything lying around, I have no idea what possessed me to ever let him clean my chambers-"And then his elbow collided with a swirling blue vial he had not noticed before and he could only wince as the vial fell to the floor and atop his boots.

He had time to swear once more before the owl let out a long hoot and he felt his hand all but burn. When he looked at his fist he saw the spell's words were glowing gold, so brightly that he had to shield his eyes and let the parchment drop to the floor. Then, the oddest sensation took hold of him. He felt as if he was being the latest victim of Merlin's teletransportation spells, and as if he'd suddenly drunk one of Gaius' calming draughts all at once. He thought he saw his feet all but blur and then the room spun around him and somehow seemed to get ...grander.

He could hear Archimedes hoot endlessly somewhere around him- above him, below him? Damn that blasted bird! And then, as suddenly as it had happened, it stopped and Arthur found that he was looking at a rather amorphous bird outside of Merlin's window.

It took him all but four seconds, after he hopped around, to understand that he was looking at himself in the reflection of the broken vial.

I'm a bird! He realized, horrified, I'm a bird! And I'm not even an eagle or a hawk. He tried to walk closer but found he could only hop. He studied the small, onyx eyes that blinked back at him and the fluffed up feathers that now made up his arms and he thought he would faint. Could birds faint? I'm a sparrow!

He fixed his gaze on Merlin's ceiling and saw, with stark clarity, the various spiders that resided in the five-foot high ceiling of the tower. When he looked out the window next, he found he could zero in on a servant's red hair as clearly as if he were a mere feet away.

Above him, circling like an omen, Archimedes let out a high-pitched hoot that had him preening all his feathers at once.

"Shut up!" He screamed, forgetting for a moment what he was. Then he looked up, terrified, and saw Archimedes swipe down towards him with the grace of a blind dog. For a lonesome second he thought the owl would eat him.

But instead Archimedes landed beside him, tilting his head to the side as if in greeting.

"Hello," Archimedes said.

It took every ounce of courage in him, but The High King did not hop away shrieking. He took a couple of deep breaths, closed his eyes and bid them to open again, before he ventured out a slightly irritated. "You can talk?"

Archimedes' pupils took up most of his face and Arthur tried not to shiver. He tilted his head further than the King thought possible. "Hello?"

Of course, the High King thought he would explode from rage, of course when I get stuck as an animal it is with a bird that seems to be a moron.

"Fantastic," Arthur snapped at him, "not only are you an absolute menace, you are also as idiotic as my Court Sorcerer. No wonder Merlin took a shine to you so easily."

Archimedes didn't seem offended. He still looked at Arthur with the same eyes the King had seen in newborn puppies. Then, after what seemed like an age, Archimedes marched away from the mess that Arthur had created and made his way to the window. Arthur followed his every move suspiciously.

Archimedes extended a claw and unlatched the window with practiced ease. He craned his neck, "out?" He asked the King anxiously. "Out? To find master?"

For some reason Arthur felt his blood boil at this. Not only was the owl capable of delivering incriminating notes to anyone out there by itself, it was also way too comfortable with its position in the household.

Puffing out his feathers as much as he could, the High King hopped towards the window himself with an indignant shriek.

"I am going to find my Court Sorcerer to revert this," he told Archimedes as he put a careful claw on the cold metal of the latch. "You never had a master, owl. I suggest you go free now. You haven't eaten me so I'll give you your life in return. Go on!"

The owl didn't seem to understand a word and that was all the better, Arthur supposed, but before he could form another thought he found himself pushed out of the window and speeding towards the cobblestones in the courtyard faster than he ever thought possible.

(1) Elyan being in possession of the logical brain cell in the knights collective brain is so canon lol

see you next time, hopefully sooner haha.

love!

Ocean.