Chapter Text
“I don’t care if you have to turn over every blasted pebble in Camelot, I want my toad of a servant back in time to make me supper!”
“Yes sire.”
…
Returning to his chambers and raking rough hands through his disheveled hair, Arthur took a seat at the foot of his bed. Merlin had been missing for so long that he actually put himself through the humiliation of going to the tavern to look for him, only to look like a fool when the dark haired idiot was nowhere to be found. Imagine. The King of Camelot in the tavern, personally searching for his servant boy who didn’t even end up being there.
Arthur was not only embarrassed by this, but increasingly worried about where Merlin could be if not indulging in what seemed to be his usual getaway at the bottom of an ale mug. He hadn’t seen the man since the night before, when he retired from kingly duties early after a council meeting on a ridiculous topic that had managed to wreak havoc on Camelot in the most infuriating ways. Now, not only did Arthur have to worry about the mystery sorcerer that calls himself “The Jester” (laughable) that was going around the nation causing bizarre and often downright inconvenient happenings, he has a missing Merlin (and by consequence no ongoing banter to distract him from his own mind). Has something happened? God knows Merlin isn’t capable enough to read a map, let alone defend himself.
This “Jester” has seemed to have made it his life’s mission to make Arthur’s life a living nightmare. At the beginning of the month, his horses started talking. Signed off “The Jester” in the stables on a fucking scroll with a comically large bow to tie it together. Just as that phenomenon was over with, random items in the palace took to floating, seemingly with a mind of their own, not allowing themselves to be captured and returned to their rightful places. Then (because of course there was more), for about a day, everyone in the castle was stuck speaking in tongues. After that, the strange happenings ceased, and everyone thought they would finally see peace, despite not having captured The Jester.
But now, not a week after the oddities stopped, Merlin is gone.
Arthur had spent the better part of a day out leading a search party, scouring the wilderness outside of Camelot, but the sun started to dip before anyone had found a trace of Merlin’s whereabouts, and the king begrudgingly returned to the castle to continue the stacks of civil duties he was obligated to, which seemed to pile up faster on his desk than he could complete. Usually Merlin would sort them for him, taking some of the load off of his shoulders and making things more efficient. Arthur would barely admit it to anyone, but he missed the bastard. Gwaine, Percival, and Leon opted to continue the evening search while the rest of the castle prepared for nightfall.
A knock snapped Arthur out of his spiraling thoughts. It wasn’t Merlin. The twat rarely knocked. Arthur thanked the timid serving girl holding his evening meal at the door and dismissed her with a tired sigh, putting the plate aside and getting into sleepwear instead of sitting down to eat.
The council had planned a tour of the villages on the outskirts of Camelot, which normally didn’t get much attention from the capital, in order to address the common people’s problems, build trust, and foster a good relationship with border town populations. It was an exhibition of strength and goodwill, really, and it had already been made public. He was set to leave for a fortnight of travel at the end of the week- in three days. He couldn’t cancel the event, but he also couldn’t just leave without Merlin.
Arthur was sighing a lot today.
…
Sleep came slowly, and was restless. Arthur would doze for less than the length it took to burn a full candle before he would worry himself awake again, and then slowly drift off after getting his anxiousness under control.
This cycle repeated numerous times, until he was awoken with a start at a certain commotion in the hall. Getting out of bed and tentatively grabbing a sword, Arthur crept towards the door of his chamber, trying to make out the loud-yet-hushed conversation happening just outside.
“We can’t wake the king in the middle of the night based purely on speculation, no matter how convincing she may sound.” Arthur could recognize Sir Leon’s voice anywhere, and frowned. What were they ‘speculating’ about that could warrant waking him? Leon didn’t sound very convinced of his own argument, and he heard Gwaine groan.
“But if it’s true? We can’t exactly just throw him… her… in the dungeon for the night. She hasn’t actually broken any laws if we can’t confirm the validity of her claims yet.”
Then, Arthur heard the voice of the woman that seemed to be causing the controversy. “Please, I just need to see Arthur. I promise he’ll understand.” His frown deepened. He definitely wasn’t familiar with this woman. Who did she think she was to not address him with his title as king? Or any title, for that matter.
The doors swung open suddenly, and the party huddled in the hallway all turned to face Arthur with surprise. “That’s King Arthur to you. I don’t believe we’ve…”
Arthur trailed off as he set his eyes on the girl. He had a long and narrow face, with warm yet unsure eyes, as blue as blue can be, which contrasted her thick, dark hair strikingly. Dressed in a rich purple gown that complemented her fair complexion, Arthur found himself uncharacteristically caught off guard.
“...met.” He cleared his throat and motioned towards his knights, suddenly rather self aware of his messy hair and haphazardly thrown on clothes. “What’s going on here? Who is this woman?”
He couldn’t understand why his men seemed so hesitant and awkward all of a sudden. Even Percival, usually so large and imposing, seemed to shrink away from his gaze into the darkness of the hall. In his sleep-drunken state, he didn’t even question why the designated Merlin Search Party Goers were back in Camelot’s palace. Finally Gwaine, in true Gwaine fashion, broke the ice quite bluntly.
“She’s Merlin, sire.”
“...”
Receiving nothing but Arthur’s blank stare, he continued explaining. “Or at least… She claims to be Merlin. We found her in the woods, and at first it was preposterous, but the longer she spent in our company the more she really seemed like Merlin, so we brought her back to Camelot to sort the matter out… Arthur?”
Arthur thought this must be some strange, subconscious interpretation of his worry over Merlin’s disappearance translated into a dream in his restless sleep. If it didn’t feel so real, he may have pinched himself. After several seconds of silence, he choked out a lone sentence. “You think that’s,” he gestured to the undeniably beautiful maiden in their company, “Merlin?”
The young-woman-supposedly-Merlin addressed him. “Arthur please, I know this seems preposterous, but there was a sorceress in the woods, and before I could escape she cast-” she was stopped mid sentence by Arthur putting up a hand: “Stop.” He waved her over and started walking down the hall. “Come.”
Maybe-Merlin hurried behind him, stepping on her dress and nearly tumbling over in the process. Arthur stifled a laugh. If it wasn’t Merlin, she may very well be his long-lost sister. Once they were a number of paces away from the knights, just out of earshot, Arthur lowered his voice and learned in close to speak to her in a hushed voice. “Back when we were dealing with the Cup of Life. Remind me what it was you said to get Leon off of our backs.”
The girl blinked. “You’re still mad I told Leon you liked learning poetry? Gods give me a break, it was the first thing that came to mind. Now, listen to me, I really am-”
Merlin was cut off again. “Shut up Merlin.” Arthur walked back to the knights, Merlin following close behind. Arthur’s mind was reeling. No one else knew about the poetry situation. He had made sure neither Merlin nor Sir Leon would ever speak a word of it to anyone. Why is Merlin a woman? And why isn’t he bad-looking?
Arthur gave the boys an exasperated look and made an “it is what it is” gesture. “She’s Merlin.” The knights looked at each other, and then accepted the explanation. They all knew the king and servant shared a number of secrets, and knew each other on a surprisingly personal level. Arthur continued. “But, until this predicament is resolved she shall be known as Lady Aelin of Caerleon. No one but the knights, Gwen and Gaius must know that this ‘Jester’ has managed to strike again, and get close enough for the victim to be the king’s servant at that. This is clearly a threat. Have Lady Aelin stay in the guest chambers tonight, not Merlin’s usual room.”
“Yes sire.” The knights were both relieved that the search was over, but perplexed about the current, more bizarre situation that was now upon them. Gwaine went to inform Gaius of Merlin’s current state, and Leon and Percival were dismissed to go rest.
Arthur turned back to Merlin. Or, Aelin, for the time being. She was smiling stupidly. “So, you believe me then.” Looking at the lady now, with a lopsided grin and big ears that held back her hair, it was obviously Merlin. “Yes Merlin. No one else knows that I ‘love’ poetry. And you look stupid no matter what enchantments are cast upon you.”
Arthur went to playfully whack Merlin as usual, but he was smaller than usual, and rather short now, so he awkwardly placed a hand on his servant’s shoulder instead. It slightly shook him- Merlin wasn’t strong, but he wasn’t usually so delicate feeling either. He really was, momentarily, a girl. It was strange. “Listen, this needs to be resolved, but the tour of the outskirts can’t be postponed. You’ll have to accompany me like this.”
Merlin’s smile slightly faltered. “You want me to go on a two week trip with you around the kingdom as a woman? You can’t be serious, you said I’m posing as a noblewoman from Caerleon until this is resolved. It’s not appropriate to have a noblewoman from another kingdom acting as your servant.”
Arthur all but rolled his eyes. “Obviously, Aelin won’t be working as my servant. She’ll be accompanying the knights and I on a tour of the kingdom, perhaps posing as Gwaine's cousin, come to visit him. You’re lucky Merlin, I’ll have to find someone else to polish my armour and dress me for two weeks. In fact, you’ll have Gwen with you as a servant of your own. Maybe this predicament is actually your turn of good fortune.”
The grin faded from Arthur’s face, and then Merlin’s own. “Tomorrow we’ll meet with the knights for council and discuss the details of what happened to you and how to catch this rogue sorcerer.”
The two friends locked eyes, holding their gaze for several seconds. “I’m glad you’re back, Merlin.” Merlin smiled, and Arthur had to avert his gaze, his cheeks feeling slightly warm. He couldn’t help it- he didn’t see Merlin in such a light, but he undeniably made a pretty girl. He told himself that the situation in itself is so bizarre, it’s normal that he would get shaken up a little bit. Normal.
“Goodnight, Arthur.”