A shorter project to give myself a little break from a longer plotline, and also just to keeping working with the characters while I take that break. For people waiting for the companion fic to I'm Yours, I am working on it, but it will take a little bit of time. I hope to have the first chapter up sometime in January.

Hope you'll enjoy some of my smaller works in the meantime :)

It wasn't always easy to know what was on Arthur's mind. Over the years, Merlin thought he had improved and knew how to read the prince's mood, thoughts and tendencies, but today was not one of those days. Usually when Merlin joined Arthur on horseback and rode beyond the castle, it was because Arthur wanted to hunt or, occasionally, because he was to embark on a dangerous solo mission of which Merlin would join him, completely regardless of whether or not Arthur wanted him there. But Merlin never joined Arthur on patrols. Patrols were dull, kept within the borders of Camelot and Merlin honestly had better things to do. So when Arthur had demanded that Merlin had come with him for a two day patrol - which was ridiculous since Arthur shouldn't have patrol duties extend beyond a day in case he was needed - where Arthur would also be bringing a group of young aspiring knights for training, Merlin was less than delighted.

"You don't usually complain this much," Arthur smiled teasingly, and Merlin shot him a dirty look. The day was beginning to reach its last hour of sun, and Merlin had complained the whole damn day. Arthur had somehow found time for both hunting, sparing, tracking exercises and lunch, and Merlin couldn't believe that he had at multiple times during this horrible, horrible day thought that he would much prefer scrubbing Arthur's floor, hell, he would be down for scrubbing the floor of every single room in the castle, if only it could get him out of this.

Arthur and Merlin were currently riding at the back of the group, letting the knights in training have some control and find a suitable place to camp by themselves, while only having Gwaine and Percival - whom Arthur had also forced along much against their will - to ask for advice and guidance. Both of them were about as fed up with this whole situation as Merlin, so only Percival was able to give some advice to the young recruits, as long as the questions asked weren't completely ridiculous. If they were, Gwaine would tell them they were stupid, which either resulted in lowering someone's self-esteem or a shouting match between Gwaine and some arrogant fool, who thought he knew better than one if the finest knights in the kingdom.

"I have other things to do," Merlin complained again, and Arthur looked like he did not believe him. Merlin almost wished that something dangerous would happen, because if he could go home feeling like he had saved Arthur's stupid ass, then perhaps he would feel like he had accomplished something.

"Like what?" Arthur huffed in a teasing manner, and it half-occured to Merlin that the banter was perhaps Arthur's weird way of apologizing for bringing him along, "It's not like you do your job anyway."

"Oh really?" Merlin said in a monotone voice. He couldn't even appreciate Arthur's efforts at this point, "Then how do you explain your clean clothes, sharp sword, shining armor and the fact that your bed is made every night before you go to sleep?"

Arthur smirked, "Magic obviously."

Merlin shook his head: "Obviously." Perhaps he should use magic to do his chores. Clearly, his master wasn't the brightest in all of Albion.

Merlin couldn't even begin to describe how absolutely miserable he was when they finally made camp. Hit bottom hurt from riding and his brain had grown absolutely numb with boredom. Arthur looked just as bored as Merlin felt, although he at least had the decency to hide it from his companions - Merlin notwithstanding because Arthur couldn't hide anything from him anyway - and Merlin could only imagine that he had been brought along so that the prince wouldn't have to suffer alone. Honestly, Arthur was such a prat.

And the knights? The knights were hardly any help at all. Merlin could, at the very least, forgive Arthur for not helping with setting up the camp as he was scheduling watches and watch posts - and also yelling orders at any knight who thought they knew better than him. Usually, Arthur would only assign one knight per watch post, but with the new recruits - who had hardly shown the best discipline - Arthur paired them up, because he couldn't very well keep them in line all night.

Gwaine and Percival were of course willing to help Merlin out with setting everything up. Percival saw to the horses - made sure they were fed and watered - while Gwaine came with Merlin to collect firewood. With this many people, Merlin decided that two fires would be more efficient than a big one, and then hope to God that he could separate himself from the most obnoxious knights-to-be, as he was most definitely on the very verge of saying something that both get him punched and start an unnecessary riot, which Merlin was honestly also not in the mood for. With each second that went by, Merlin was seriously wondering how he could punish Arthur for this when they got back. Currently, the idea was to give Arthur a cold bath. A very, very cold bath.

"Useless, the whole lot of them," Gwaine complained as they gathered the firewood, "Only a handful of them can put up a decent fight, but they are all a bunch of pompous nobles who think too highly of themselves."

"If they don't have skill, they won't pass Arthur's test," Merlin said absentmindedly. Knowing that Arthur was anything but soft in his final tests was the only thing that gave Merlin hope as he could not have lived with the thought that any of these people should be knighted any time soon.

"What test?" Gwaine asked and Merlin reminded himself that Gwaine had become a knight under very different circumstances, and had never even witnessed Arthur's test.

"They have to last a minute against Arthur in single combat," he explained and heard Gwaine laugh heartily at that.

"They don't stand a chance."

Merlin let himself laugh a little too. They really wouldn't pass the test.

Even when both Merlin and Gwaine had as much wood in their arms as they could possibly carry, they still didn't have enough firewood to last them the whole night. As Merlin deposited the wood in a pile and was about to follow Gwaine to get some more, someone spoke.

"That won't be enough," the voice said and Merlin had to take a calming breath before answering to prevent himself from blurting out I know! in a tone that was less than suitable for a servant.

"I was just going back for more," he said, letting a note of annoyance through in his voice and turned to face the young recruit who had spoken.

"I'm sorry," the boy apologized quickly and took Merlin aback, "I was going to offer to collect some for you… or with you. I don't actually know how much we need," he confessed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh," Merlin said a little dumbfounded, "Just gather what you can, and I will start the fire. We can always go back for more later, if we need it."

"Got it," the boy smiled and moved to leave.

"Thank you..." Merlin said slowly, but stopped as he didn't know his name.

"Matthew," he supplied and Merlin smiled.

"Thank you, Matthew."

When both Gwaine and Matthew came back to double their supply of wood, Merlin judged that they had enough. He had quite selfishly made one of the fires smaller than the other, in the hopes that Arthur, Gwaine, Percival and himself would sit together and leave the recruits by themselves. With the grand exception of Matthew, Merlin honestly didn't think he could take another moment of any of them.

"They are rude," Percival commented over the fire and Merlin agreed. As they had been incapable of cooking for themselves - which they would have had to do themselves under normal circumstances - Merlin had done that for them and received no thanks whatsoever. Gwaine had almost snapped at them when they had then left all their bowls lying around, but Matthew had come in to save the day as he had collected all of them and went down to the river to wash them all by himself. These nobles may have been the future for Camelot's mighty knights, but both Merlin and Gwaine - with the silent support of Percival - did not hold back at telling Arthur how much - or rather how little - they thought of them. Arthur almost seemed to find it amusing.

Merlin had never once been happy to sleep on the forest floor, but he was just so tired that anywhere was fine, as long as he got to sleep. Arthur was sleeping just an arm's length away, having just finished making sure that the recruits knew where to stand watch and who were to relieve them and, honestly, he looked just as done with the day as Merlin.

It was in the middle of the night, when Merlin woke up to the sound of the watch shift. Merlin sighed. Arthur would have to teach these boys how to stay quiet, because Merlin was sure they could be heard from Arthur's actual bedroom back in the castle.

It was also then that Merlin realized that he was cold and opened and eye to see how the fire was faring. It was dead. Great. Another thing the useless recruits didn't see to. Merlin was just about to get up and restart the fire, when he saw Arthur move. He followed him with his eyes as Arthur added wood to the dead fire and somehow brought it back to life - a skill Merlin was unaware that Arthur possessed.

"Go back to sleep, idiot," Merlin heard just before he drifted off again.

Merlin had almost forgotten that he wasn't in his own bed, but in his own bed, he would not be woken by Gwaine's annoyed voice exclaiming that these arrogant nobles deserved to be eaten alive by a wyvern for their incompetence. It was with great reluctance that Merlin opened his eyes to find Arthur sitting beside him, looking like he wanted to verbally agree with Gwaine - but settled for just letting his body language speak for him - and Merlin looked to the other side of the camp only to find that one of the recruits had somehow caught on fire and that none of the experienced knights moved to help him. Merlin didn't really feel a big urge to put the fire out either.

"How-" Merlin began, but Arthur just shook his head.

"Don't even ask," he sighed, "They are even more incompetent than you." And coming from Arthur this early in the morning, well, that was probably the most powerful insult he could have uttered.

When the fire had been put out and their camp emptied, they finally headed home. Arthur somehow spent most of the time getting the recruits in line as apparently one night in the woods had rendered them even more useless.

Near the rear where Merlin was riding was Matthew and since he seemed the only decent person, Merlin decided to strike up conversation with him. He was already miserable enough and he needed someone to talk to since his friends where elsewhere in their party.

"Hey," Merlin greeted, and Matthew gave him a smile, "Thanks for yesterday."

"No problem," Matthew smiled brightly, like he had only been happy to help, "It just didn't seem fair to let you do all the work."

"I'm a servant," Merlin reminded him, "It is my job."

"I don't think so," Matthew replied, "You are the prince's servant, not ours. Besides, we should be able to handle ourselves if we want to be knights."

"But it's okay that Arthur has a servant with him?" Merlin questioned teasingly and the young perhaps-soon-to-be knight fumbled over his words.

"Well, he is the prince, and, I mean, it's not like he isn't capable, but today, and yesterday, he was busy testing us, so, you know, it's different."

Merlin laughed: "It's okay, don't take it too seriously. Arthur usually manages patrols without me."

"Oh," Matthew laughed nervously, and the two of them continued chatting until they reached the gates of Camelot.

A week later was the test. Merlin had cleared his schedule for this (as had Gwaine and Percival). It wasn't to assess the new knights, but to see Arthur beat the crap out of them. Except for Matthew. Matthew alone was allowed to do well.

"Okay," Arthur clapped and got everyone's attention, "This is your final test. Succeed and you will be a knight of Camelot. You all know the drill. Matthew, you're first."

Matthew stepped forward and readied himself. Arthur did the same. As the gong rang signifying the beginning of the match, Matthew attacked. Arthur defended well and left no opening, but he didn't attack. Not yet.

"Is he just going to let him win?" Percival questioned, but Merlin shook his head.

"If he doesn't pass, Arthur needs to know what to work on, so he usually doesn't attack until the last thirty seconds."

"So this lad will last thirty-one seconds?" Gwaine said and Merlin sighed.

"Probably."

The prediction ended up being exactly right, as the moment Arthur countered, Matthew had to admit defeat.

All three of the bystanders sighed. There was a collective hope that Arthur wouldn't even give the other a chance like he had with Matthew, but Merlin knew that it was unlikely at best. However, Arthur did something unexpected and much, much better.

"That will be it for today," he said and took everyone by surprise. It didn't take long for the first recruit to protest.

"You can't just judge us all based on Matthew!" Some bloke yelled, "He is not better than us! In fact, he's probably the worst of us!"

"Obviously," Arthur mocked, putting the rude bloke in his place, "You did not listen to what I said. This is the final test. Do you know what final means?" The bloke was about to respond, but Arthur held up his hand, "It means that it was preceded by something else. Matthew was the only one to pass the preceding tests and was therefore the only one eligible to take the final test."

"A knight is a warrior," the bloke continued, "And I am strong enough to be a knight."

"Is that so?" Arthur said and looked him and up and down as if assessing him, "Step fourth."

As he did, Arthur walked to where Merlin was standing and gave him his sword. For a moment, Merlin thought that Arthur wanted him to fight - which would have been a mistake - but Arthur returned to the field immediately, completely unarmed.

"One minute," Arthur said, "If you can last that long, I will knight you."

"You will need a sword, my lord," someone said, and Arthur just grinned.

"I don't think so."

Watching Arthur win in an overwhelming victory was truly the greatest joy.

"I hate to think that you took me out on that awful patrol when you didn't even knight anyone," Merlin said as he served Arthur his dinner and the prince grinned.

"I would have thought that you would be happy," Arthur said, "You seemed to quite enjoy the test."

"I don't get it," Merlin speculated, quite sneakily stealing a cherry tomato off of Arthur's plate without the prince noticing, "Some of them could have made for some strong warriors."

"Yes," Arthur agreed as Merlin quickly ate the tomato, "But that is not all that makes a knight."

"Oh? And what else makes a knight? Surely not intelligence."

"Careful now," Arthur warned playfully, and Merlin merely smiled.

"Yes, sire."

"A knight should be honorable, chivalrous, humble-"

"You might want to re-evaluate that last one," Merlin cut in and Arthur sent him a glare.

"I tested those qualities on the patrol," Arthur explained and Merlin crooked his head to the side and thought back to the patrol.

"I thought you tested their skillset."

"Of course, I did that too, but knights shouldn't just behave when being tested, but at all times."

"So you told them that you would test their skill, but in actuality you judged their behavior."

"Oh no," Arthur dismissed the statement, "I didn't judge that. You did."

"What?" Merlin asked dumbfounded, and Arthur laughed a little.

"Despite what you think, I didn't just drag you along, because I knew you would hate it. I knew that most of them would act properly around me, but if I brought along a servant and a couple of unorthodox knights, well, I was sure that I could see them for who they really were. Of course, I needed some who would tell me, and you sure did let me know how much you didn't like them.

"Of course, with this particular set of recruits, I could probably have judged a lot of them by myself, but I didn't get to interact with Matthew, so in this case, you might actually have made sure I didn't just fail all of them at the spot. However, next time, you could be a little more… constructive in your criticism."

"Sorry," Merlin said sheepishly. As soon as they had been able to have a conversation in private, Merlin had talked for a solid ten minutes about how Camelot was as good as doomed if any of those recruits - save Matthew - ever became a knight. He had thought that Arthur would be more upset with him than he had been, but knowing that Merlin had only done what Arthur had expected of him, it all made more sense.

"Well, you served your purpose-" "There are nicer ways to say that." "-and I think it will serve Camelot well in the end."

"You're going to run out of knights at this pace," Merlin responded with a mild sarcasm in his tone, because, really, all of these nobles sure were useless.

"Well," Arthur smiled, "Noblemen aren't the only people who can become knights."

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