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Arthur walks slowly from the council room to his chambers, in no rush to return to an empty room.
Usually Merlin would be walking with him, prattling about something, but since Merlin isn't here, he has to walk in silence.
He keeps reminding himself that Merlin is doing important work, and that he'll be back soon.
But when you're used to having someone by your side near constantly, the absence is too noticable to ignore.
When he enters his chambers, he finds George tidying up with the window open.
He shivers as a breeze blows through, which George notices and quickly goes to shut the window.
"Wait!" Arthur calls, spotting something.
"My Lord?"
"Is that a bird?"
"Seems to be a carrier pigeon, Sire."
"Maybe it's from Merlin!" Arthur says enthusiastically, no longer caring about trying to act indifferent.
George doesn't respond, just gets back to his cleaning.
The pigeon lands on the windowsill, likely wanting something to eat.
Arthur tells George to find it something, while he takes the note.
Hello, Dearest Clotpole
I sent Pam to tell you the meetings went well, and that I should be back soon. I got a bit delayed but nothing serious. Don't burn the kingdom down before I get back, yeah?
Do I really need to sign off? Nobody else calls you a clotpole.
Arthur smiles as he reads, though he does hope that Merlin didn't have any real trouble.
He's likely to be kidnapped and say it's nothing serious, so it's slightly worrying.
But at least it seems like he'll be back soon.
Since he must've sent it a while ago, depending on how far he was, so the bird shouldn't be too far ahead of him, right?
~
Wrong.
It's been nearly another week, and there's been nothing else from Merlin.
Arthur tries not to let anyone see that he's panicking, but it's not hard to tell.
"Should I send a search party?" He asks Morgana, after lamenting about how long it's been since the bird arrived.
"I'm sure he's fine, Arthur. He can take care of himself."
"I know, but still! What if he's in trouble? Someone could have used cold iron!"
"They'd have to catch him first."
"What if he was asleep?"
"He always puts wards."
"I should've insisted he take some knights." Arthur mutters, anxiously twisting his mother's ring around his finger as he paces.
"He never would've accepted that. You know how worried he gets when he's not around to protect you."
"But I get worried when he's not protected!"
"He's Emrys!"
"So?!"
Before Arthur can continue nervously pacing, a servant knocks on the door to his chambers.
After being told to enter, the servant bows before speaking, though Arthur wishes he'd just hurry up.
"Lord Merlin has been spotted by the gaurds, he has nearly arrived." The poor man has barely finished speaking before Arthur is racing out the door.
He tries to act slightly dignified, since Merlin isn't even there yet, but when he hears the clatter of hooves on the cobblestone, he picks up the pace again.
"It's about time!" He says as he pulls a barely-off-the-horse Merlin into a hug.
Merlin returns it with just as much enthusiasm, squeezing tight enough it hurts, but that doesn't make Arthur let go.
He only pulls away enough to kiss him, and then when the horse nickers and starts nudging them after a while.
"Can't a stablehand take care of her?" Arthur groans as Merlin takes the reins and heads toward the stables.
"She deserves to be taken care of properly, not by someone who's just going to feed her and that's it! She saved my life!"
"How?!" Arthur's worries quickly return, while he's simultaneously agreeing to give the horse plenty of affection.
"She got me away from the Druids! They're all so nice, and I'm happy to talk to them, really, but all the bowing and the "Mighty Emrys"-ing gets exhausting!"
"Merlin! I thought you meant she saved you from a bandit or something!"
"Oh, she did that too, kicked him right in the head! But the Druid thing was more tiring."
"Was that your delay? And why did it take you so long?"
"Yeah, I ran I to a couple groups of them, but they were easy to get rid of. Not like the Druids, they kept wanting me to stay longer and wouldn't let up until I said you'd probably be losing your mind without me."
"I was not! Just don't ask Morgana about it."
"I don't need to, she spoke to me mentally a while ago, asking me to hurry up because you were driving her mad."
"That traitor!" Arthur hisses, swearing to get back at her.
"You still haven't explained why you were so long! The pigeon got here days ago saying you'd left the Druids and would be back soon!"
"Days ago? She shouldn't have flown that fast. Must've been ready to get back to the coop" Merlin shrugs, handing the horse an apple.
"I thought something had happened to you!"
"Nothing other than the bandits."
Arthur huffs, but falls mostly silent as he watches Merlin finish.
"Alright, she's ready to sleep, and I am too." Merlin says as he finishes with the mare, stroking her mane as he exits the stall.
"We can talk about the Druids and the laws and stuff tomorrow, right? No need to call the council now?" Merlin asks hopefully as they walk hand in hand back to the castle.
"Of course not, they wouldn't want to meet this late anyway."
They talk of things that the other missed as they go through the nightly routine of washing, Merlin helping Arthur dress, teasing him all the while, ("Were you able to be clothed at all while I was gone?") and finally, climbing into the bed.
When Merlin first became Court Sorcerer, Arthur offered him new chambers, but Merlin just decided to take Arthur's, and that was that.
"So did I miss anything important?" Merlin asks, wanting to be caught up before the meeting.
"No, the council only used your absence to talk about useless things like marrying Princess Vivian, as if that could ever happen."
"Olaf won't even let that happen, why would they suggest it?"
"As a way to start suggesting others." Arthur responds, annoyance clear in his tone.
"What did you tell them?"
That I'd rather marry a clotpole than her."
"She's scary, isn't she?"
"I didn't want to say it, but yes."
"So they all seem rather adamant that you marry for an alliance?"
"Yeah. Even though I'm pretty adamant that I won't, but they refuse to listen."
"I have a suggestion."
"What, turn them into toads or something?"
"That would be fun, but no, I have a suggestion for an alliance."
"Just because Ealdor is in Essetir doesn't mean you can get an alliance like that."
"Not them! I meant the Druids!"
"But you're not a Druid."
"No, I'm just the person they... I'm not really sure what exactly I am to them, but they treat me like most people do you, so that counts for something."
"An alliance with the Druids... You may be onto something."
"Yes, well. I am highly knowledgeable."
"Oh of course, Mighty Emrys. So wise."
"Don't start calling me that."
"Why not, Mighty Emrys?"
"Because I'll use my "Mighty Emrys" powers to turn you into a worm and feed you to Pam."
"Who's Pam, and why does she eat worms?"
"Pam's the pigeon I sent!"
"Oh." Arthur says, remembering her vigorous appetite.
"That's what I thought." Merlin says as he closes his eyes and pretends to be asleep.
But when Arthur tries talking again, he finds that he really did fall asleep, so he just pulls him closer and presses a kiss to his temple before closing his own eyes.