AN: Welcome welcome, it has been far too long! Hello new follows and favorites, I hope you have been enjoying the story so far. As for my reviewers thanks to NicoleR85, foxchick1, KayeBell, HPuni101, Ghouly-Girl, Daughter of Trickery, Dark-n-Twisty (thank you for your kind words they mean the world to me :)), PointeShoes13, grayson4life, AngelHope12, and Guest for reviewing, as you know by now you guys are my number one motivation :)

I actually wanted to address a review I got a while back, but has been on my mind every now and then, they suggested that Merlyn was too powerful and that maybe I should tone her down, but I would like to say that Merlyn is not Merlin. She was raised by Druids and Balinor all her life, had access to all the magical knowledge they did, and played a role in leading her people for several years. To me, she wouldn't tolerate Uther or his propaganda, because she knows what it's like to be a leader. She wouldn't let something like a man (who leaves his incantation to revive his beetles of death on the box) make her fight to find the counter spell. To me, I think she is exactly as she should be, especially now that she and Arthur are involved and are so protective of each other.

That said, I hope you enjoy :)

Merlyn happily avoided Uther for the week that followed, knowing that he would see her presence as her holding her power over his head. She had taken her father's words to heart for many years now: You either treat a man with respect or kill him, anything else will only cause anger and resentment.

She also happily shadowed Arthur for that week, knowing that while he never took off the pendant she had given him, it was safer if she was there in case the assassin Morgana had seen did show up. It had nothing to do with the fact that it allowed her to sleep beside him at night. Nothing at all.

"Ah, Sir Pellinor, it's good to see you on your feet again, how are you feeling today?" she greeted warmly as the knight carefully sat on the bench beside her, watching as a couple of the younger knights jousted. The knight smiled back at her with a hint of pain escaping his expression.

"Much better thanks to you, though I doubt I will be up to jousting anytime soon."

"That would be foolish of you." she agreed with steel beneath her words, knowing that Pellinor was one of the ones who usually followed her directions of rest, but knowing that first and foremost he was a man.

Her attention refocused on the knights before them once more as Sir Leon and Arthur geared up to go against each other. She carefully watched as they charged, as Arthur was blinded by the light on Leon's armor and Sir Leon not unseating Arthur from his horse. Sir Pellinor made not a sound, practically feeling the anger that welled up within the woman as she silently stood and stalked forward, jumping over the rail (good thing she decided on her leather ensemble today as she was planning to spar with Gwaine later on) and heading straight for the knight who was already being railed at by Arthur.

"-all due respect, your highness, but you are the Prince!" he was saying. So focused was he on the blond, he didn't notice the healer until she already had a grasp of his collar, kicking his feet out from under him and knocking him flat on his back. He let out a pained groan as the weight of his armor made him drop a lot faster and harder than usual.

"My dear, sweet, Sir Leon, you would not be going easy on him would you?" she asked, venom in her voice as she grabbed his chin roughly, her nails digging lightly into the sides of his face as she pinned him to the ground with her body. "You would not be potentially crippling your future king by not allowing him to learn from his mistakes, and making him stronger, would you?"

Her point made, she released him and quickly jumped to her feet, whirling on the other knights with a fire in her eyes.

"If any of you go easy on that man I swear to any of your gods and ancestors I will make your life a living hell! I don't care what orders Uther may have given you in regards to Arthur! Do you not see that going easy on him may endanger him later? He needs to learn, he needs to be able to trust his own men to help him become strong!" Merlyn roared. Yes, it was her supposed destiny to protect Arthur, but he needed to be able to fend for himself, to be able to protect her in turn if they were going to be able to bring about Albion as her people so hoped. She thought she had nipped this in the bud when they tried to go easy on her for being a woman. Honestly.

Men.

There was a lengthy silence, the knights too smart to move and risk bringing her ire down upon them.

"You are all dismissed. And when you come back to training tomorrow, you had better be ready." she sighed, her disappointment just as potent as her rage.

"Ahem, thank you Merlyn," Arthur spoke, drawing her attention back to him and away from where she was glaring the lingering knights down. Merlyn brought one hand to rest on his cheek for a moment before smoothing it down his armor to rest over his heart.

"I want you to be safe, and they threaten that by not allowing you to learn from injuries and mistakes in spars. It's unacceptable," she explained needlessly, closing her eyes as he brushed some hair from her face, his hand smoothing over her cheek in turn.

"Oh, and it has nothing to do with the fact my father seems to have lost much of his authority over my knights?" he teased.

"Our knights." Merlyn corrected trying to hold a scowl but failing in the face of his contagious smile.

"Oh, ours are they? I was under the impression they were knights of Camelot, not knights of a beautiful woman." Arthur laughed, feeling his frustration wane as she hit his chest once in reprimand before reaching up to whisper in his ear.

"No that is just you, Sire."

She darted off with a quick glance at his expression, and she couldn't help the laugh that escaped her as he stood frozen before dashing off after her. They amused the servants and guards as they tore through the castle for the third time that week, Merlyn darting in and out of servants passages, some Arthur hadn't even known were there until he was racing down them trying to catch her. They were forced to stop when she ran into the courtyard and was caught around the waist by a bemused Gwaine who was quick to sweep her off her feet and spin her away from the prince who was still intent on catching her.

"Sweet 'Lyn I heard you gave our poor Sir Leon quite the scolding this morning!" he commented nonchalantly, watching the Prince quietly accept he wouldn't be catching her this time and taking the time to catch his breath. While he was used to chasing his witch all over Camelot, he had not tried to do it in full armor before, it was more exhausting than he-hold on, he just had a new idea for training.

Merlyn scowled at the reminder even as Gwaine finally set her back on her feet.

"Yes, they were going easy on Blondie in training."

Gwaine grimaced slightly, understanding filling him as he looked between the pair in front of him. He had met Merlyn when they were children, him having been picked up from the road where he was left half-starved not long after his father's death. While recovering, he had seen Balinor and Iseldir, even Langet at one point, berate each other and anyone else who had something to teach the girl against going easy on her, who even at the age of nine was already leading her people with the wisdom of her father and compassion of her own.

"In that case, I'm surprised you aren't still there chewing him out!" he exclaimed, laughing when she hit him on the arm, a small angry blush coloring her face.

"I am not like my father in that respect thank you!"

"Just in all the others then?"

"Gwaine!"

The day before the tournament was to begin, Merlyn watched her knights train with a sharp gaze, Sir Pellinor once more at her side watching, learning from the mistakes of his fellow knights even if he couldn't participate physically. Gwaine was in the middle of the chaos, once again sparring with the Lady Morgana who was pleased to find someone who would not go easy on her. Arthur had made a few half-hearted protests in the beginning, more out of principle to annoy Morgana than anything, but was soon appeased when both gave as good as they got in each fight. Not unlike his and Merlyn's fights, just with less flirting.

Currently, Arthur was locked in a lively spar against Lancelot who was just as crafty as the first time they fought, using Arthur's sense of honor to create openings in his defense which he then exploited. It was a slow learning process, but the prince was steadily learning much to Merlyn's amusement. Both had forgone their armor under the heat but were thankfully using blunted weapons as neither wanted to risk injury so close to their jousts.

"You're getting better," Arthur noted, carefully trying to control his breathing, during one of their pauses.

"As are you, Sire." Lancelot acknowledged with a small grin, his head tilting to Merlyn who was every inch the stern healer as she made sure her knights stayed in proper health. "I assume Merlyn is to be thanked for such rapid improvement."

"Are you implying that I train harder to impress pretty girls?" Arthur asked with a short laugh of disbelief.

Lancelot shook his head even as they clashed once more, their swords locked and their faces close for but a moment long enough to respond with a cheeky, "No, just a certain beautiful woman."

Arthur's laugh was infectious and they ended the spar with a pat on each other's shoulders before heading to Morris and Sir Pellinor who held all the water skins.

"Someone's in a good mood." Merlyn commented wryly when they were within range, she feigned worry as she set her hand on his brow briefly, "Fevered and out of breath as well? Are you perhaps cheating on me with our dear Sir Lancelot, Blondie?"

Rolling his eyes, Arthur grabbed her around the waist and pulled her against him back to chest despite her protests as he was covered in sweat and smelled horrible.

"Yes, you've found me out, I am cheating on you with Lancelot who has always wanted to become Queen and has seduced me right out of your grasp." he replied blandly, dropping a short kiss to her brow before releasing her as Gwaine had come over in time to hear his sentence.

"Oh? I guess Merlyn should admit that she took Freya and Morgana as her lovers then," he interjected happily.

Arthur immediately frowned as his attention turned to Merlyn who was blushing even as she glared at her brother, not daring to meet his eyes.

"You know Morgana is not, and Freya was before I came to Camelot as you well know!"

"Y-you were with a w-woman?" Morris stuttered, his shock quickly fading as admiration filled his expression. "Merlyn is truly a wonderful person to love anyone no matter their gender!"

Merlyn sighed heavily and hid her face in her hands. "Please don't say it like that Morris, it is not so uncommon amongst my people."

Gwaine just laughed raucously at her obvious discomfort, earning a sharp kick to his shin in retaliation.

"Oh? And where is this Freya now?" Arthur questioned (not demanded-never demanded), his voice carefully concealing his ire.

"With the rest of my people, no doubt," she answered evasively before spinning on her heel and quickly taking Morgana by the arm, started to walk towards the Citadel. "Would you look at the time, we really must be going, we have things to do that are not here an away from all of you."

Arthur watched her go, his gaze near predatory, though he made no move to follow her. "Gwaine."

Jerking ungracefully and nearly toppling over, the man was quick to answer.

"Yes, princess?"

"Tell me everything."

A grin lit up his face as he took Arthur by the shoulders, leading the blonde off in the direction of the lower town. "Well, it all started when Balinor found me on the side of the road near the little village of Ealdor-"

If Merlyn was honest, she would say that the assassin, Myror, was greatly disappointing. Not to say he wasn't formidable in his own right (she was still pissed off that he had killed two of the guards and bribed another to betray his Prince), but his methods were...boring.

Taking Morgana's warnings to heart, she had kept Arthur from going on any patrols, and watched his opponents carefully for a bladed lance, the second he had unleashed the blade was the second she blinded him, making him miss his mark and end up unseated from his horse. She used the opportunity and her position to hurry to his side and remove his helmet, only to feign surprise when it was not the light skinned, dark haired knight it was supposed to be, but rather a dark-skinned, bald man who was struggling to catch his breath.

Sir Leon was quick to pull her away from the stranger while Sir Davis cried out in outrage, proclaiming for all to hear that there was a blade on his lance, an obvious attempt to kill their Prince. Predictably furious, Uther was quick to have the man interrogated and executed before sundown. The man was quick to continue fueling his wrath and anger and declared that Odin, the man responsible for sending the assassin in the first place, should be made to pay.

Merlyn was inordinately pleased with Arthur's response to his father's careless rage.

"Surely you can understand the grief he feels for the loss of his son?" he had asked solemnly. Merlyn knew he still regretted killing Odin's only son, he had been inconsolable for days directly following the incident. "We should try to make peace, enough blood has been shed."

For once, Uther seemed to listen to his son and nodded his acceptance of his words.

If Merlyn was beaming as they left the hall, then no one mentioned it. Or the hand she had firmly entwined with a certain Prince who smiled down at her gently.

AN: Alright guys, I know this is half the length my chapters usually are but hear me out-halfway through this episode I took a break and watched the Questing Beast episode which was the greatest mistake I have ever made. I have so many ideas for it that I have two drafts for that, and I lost all interest in completing this episode (hence the sudden, anticlimactic end). That said, once I fine tune it a bit more I hope to have the next chapter out a lot fast then my last few.

Thank you so much for reading, and I have a question for you:

What was your favorite episode or moment, and why?

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