The Girl

[Arthur Pendragon]

Arthur was currently in his chambers, reading over some papers. Guinevère had just left to tend to some things, and it left him utterly bored with reading through the documents with no hopes of distraction. But alas, a king's responsibilities never ceased. There was always a document that needed to be read, or a matter of state that needed to be discussed. At least this was better than sitting through a series of meetings. While Arthur often endured these, today he felt more restless than usual. Hearing footsteps approaching, he only looked up when he heard someone enter. It would either be Guinevère or Merlin for they were the only two who didn't knock. Well, Merlin didn't have to knock at this time of day. At night, it was a different story.

"Merlin," Arthur greeted casually before looking back down at his papers, though his mind was no longer focused on them. Now, he that had welcomed the distraction that presented itself. "Late night?" Arthur asked, trying to suppress his smirk but knew a smile came out despite his efforts. Even still, his voice was filled with teasing and well, clear suggestiveness as to what may have caused the late night. After he'd served them supper, Merlin had made his leave so, and Arthur had not soon forgotten the conversation they had. It was far more brief than the king would have liked and fully intended to discover more on the subject of this mystery woman.

_{Setting: In the Royal Chambers
Time of Day: Morning
Timeline: Right after The Hollow Queen
Tag: Merlin}

[merlinus]

Thanks to Guinevère, Merlin had been avoiding the royal chambers. Briefly, the warlock had entertained the idea that she had chosen the topic of his... lack of romantic interest... to personally spite him. The warlock sighed, shaking his head as he moved into the chambers, a bowl of fruit in his hands, a pitcher of wine in the other. Hopefully the subject would be dropped, and no more would be said. The warlock was still very much not over Freya yet; still missed her, even though they had only been together for a short while, and any mention of relationships - a topic Gaius had tried to broach once or twice - was off limits. Even to Arthur.

Unfortunately, Merlin had a feeling his King and best friend wasn't about to let him off so easily. He glanced over at him, trying to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach at Arthur's smirk, knowing exactly what the King was referring too. "Morning, sire." he said, respectfully, ablet through gritted teeth. "No, not particuarly. Helping Gaius recatorgorise his library" - which was actually true, and he had Gaius as his witness if Arthur ever decided to check

[Arthur Pendragon]

Arthur looked at Merlin when he claimed to have been helping Gaius last night. Arthur didn't believe him for a second. "Re-catagorizing the library?" Arthur repeated, in a bit of a question but one more rhetorical. It was merely a display of his disbelief. Apparently that's what they were calling it nowadays. Arthur recalled in his youth when he would make up excuses for what he was doing when he was actually in the company of a woman. Often excuses like, going for a hunt, patrolling, exercising his dogs, and so on. Re categorizing the library was certainly a new one. "I see," Arthur continued, the disbelief thick in his voice was it was in his expression.

He was not about to dismiss the subject, but decide to play around with it a bit more before being more blunt. Not that he was really trying to be subtle either. "And how is that limp of yours?" He asked, pretending to look at his papers again as he appeared to be nonchalant. Yes. He had noticed Merlin had walked with a limp. It was rather obvious. And if Merlin was with a woman well . . . that certainly opened the possibilities of how Merlin got that limp to quite a few. Most of them suggestive ones. Unable to resist, Arthur looked back up at Merlin, feigned curiosity on his expression because he wasn't asking out of concern for Merlin's injury. More out of teasing for what had obviously caused it.

[merlinus]

Apparently, it seemed as though Arthur was in one of his moods; out to tease and irritate his manservant. Though usually Merlin would put up with it - or recipicate -; today he was not in the mood. Not the least because of the subject matter. There were many things that he'd put up with... but a mockery of his non-existent romantic life wasn't one of them. Arthur didn't know how lucky he was to have Guinevère.... and although Merlin didn't begrudge his friend his fortune, he sometimes wished the King would be a little... well, a little more considerate.

He gritted his teeth a bit at the mention of the limp and rolled his eyes. "It's fine, sire." he said curtly, turning his head to meet Arthur's gaze just as the King looked up. "Is this all?" he asked, motioning to the food he'd just put down. Arthur could believe what he wanted; Merlin just wanted to get him off the current topic. "Don't forget you have training this afternoon," he continued on, hoping to distract Arthur.

[Arthur Pendragon]

Despite Merlin's attempt to dismiss the subject, Arthur wasn't quite done with him yet. "Is it . . . better?" Arthur asked looking at him, clearly disbelieving Merlin's statement of his limp having healed. Arthur wasn't sure he wanted to hear the details of how Merlin got that limp, sometimes the man could be ridiculously clumsy. But that did not stop the king from continuing to dig for information. "Ah, reminding me of my training so that you can go sneak off again, thinking I won't notice?" He asked, smirking at his friend. "She must be very special if you were willing to ignore your duties for days. Tell me, where exactly did you even meet her?" Arthur thought he was keeping Merlin so busy that he wouldn't have had the time.

On the surface, Arthur was of course teasing him. Inside, Arthur was actually quite happy for him. Arthur knew first hand the impact of falling in love. And while Arthur had no idea how serious Merlin was about this girl . . . it had to be somewhat serious if he'd disappeared for days to be with her. For all the times Merlin had covered for him, and helped him be with Guinevère . . . Arthur knew that if this continued, he would need to show some leniency and give Merlin some freedom . . . some being the operative word. But that was a conversation for another time. Right now, he was enjoying the teasing far too much.

[merlinus]

The young warlock groaned, counting to ten in order to keep his patience - which was waning - from snapping completely. "Yes, sire. Better, thankyou." He added, his voice holding a clear amount of sarcasm. He frowned at the King's accusation, rolling his eyes as he turned to the man, hoping he would see the honesty in his features. "There is no woman, sire. No lady who has my affections. Now, please, can we drop the subject?"

He had to admit, the conversation was bringing back bitter memories - memories of Freya that, though Merlin did not want to suppress, he certainly did not want to be brought too far into his mind. Arthur's teasing, though most likely well intentioned, also hammered home the fact to the young man that the likelihood of him meeting another - especially in Camelot - with whom he'd a connection with such as the connection he'd shared with Freya was almost impossible. There was no one, and there never would be.