After Sir Donalt had assured him that no one was trying to force him to marry Lady Vivian and that he was simply confirming that it was a possibility, he had finished his check and left saying he must report to King Olaf that Merlin was indeed Lady Vivian's soulmate.
Which left Merlin pondering on what in the world had just happened and how he had ended up in this situation, though he wasn't entirely sure what the situation was.
After thinking on it a bit longer he decided not to worry about it and busied himself with polishing up Aruthr's armor as Thomas had only just been about to start on it when he had found him. He then proceeded to do any and every task he could remember that Arthur had given him.
Several hours later when he was running short on things to do to keep his mind distracted he went in search of Arthur, hoping he would have more tasks for him.
"Where have you been?" Arthur asked, sounding slightly annoyed as Merlin closed the door behind him.
"Working my way through chores." Merlin said. "You did give me quite a long list this morning. Do you have any more?"
"You're asking for more." Arthur said, surprise coloring his voice. "What did my father do to you?"
"Nothing." Merlin said, which though true, his voice came out too quickly and with a slight squeak to make it very believable.
"Nothing" Arthur said, the disbelief evident. "Then why did my father want to see you?"
"Just a small matter." Merlin said, trying to think of a lie or a distraction to get out of this conversion, but nothing was coming to mind. "Nothing to worry about."
"If it's a small matter and nothing to worry about." Arthur said, leaning forward against the table. "Why don't you want to say what it is?"
"Because it's not important!" Merlin snapped. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for dinner?"
"Yes, Sir Donalt of Norge is visiting and My father is having a small dinner for that." Arthur said. "But you are trying to change the subject."
"Yes I am." Merlin agreed, as he started pulling out clothes for Arthur to wear to dinner. "Because I don't want to talk about it right now."
"Fine." Arthur said, standing up and taking the proffered clothes. "But this isn't over."
"I am well aware." Merlin said, taking the dirty clothes Arthur draped over the top of the changing screen. He only wished it was over, but he had the feeling that wishing nothing would come of this whole thing would be too much to ask and then there was the small feeling of excitement in his chest at the thought of perhaps seeing her again that he was trying to ignore.
After Arthur had left saying he wouldn't need him for the rest of the evening and giving him a strange look when he asked if Arthur was sure there wasn't anything else he could do, he had gone in search of Gaius, but Gaius didn't have any chores for him either. Determined not to think about the happenings of the day. He decided to use the time to study magic.
He hardly noticed as the sun sank out of sight as by that point he was starting to nod off and didn't realize that he could not actually read the words on the page.
"Merlin." someone hissed in his ear and he started knocking his magic book onto the floor and blinking in the dim light of a candle and trying to clear the fog of sleep from his mind. It took him a moment to realize that it was Arthur standing over him.
"What are you doing?" He asked, as he sat up, subtly letting his blanket fall over top of the book. "What time is it?"
"Late." Arthur said. "Gaius is asleep, so keep it down."
"What happened?" Merlin asked.
"What happened is that you're Lady Vivian's soulmate." Arthur said.
"Oh that." Merlin said.
Of course he had found out on his own.
"That's all you have to say about it?"