About a week to the day had passed since the young warlock was ousted from within the palace staff itself, and was forced to flee or face death by the pyre.

Uther had been outraged at the thought of a sorcerer so close to his only son and heir, but perhaps overly so, considering who the culprit was. Arthur's manservant, Merlin, who'd not only been accused a concerning number of times over the course of his employment, but had actually confessed to being so once himself, no less.

Still the king was livid, while the prince had resigned himself from the realm of reasoning and found himself distracted by a growing concern over the dark-haired boy's whereabouts since the day he had left with an apology in his eyes. There hadn't been time to explain.

Had he been the Arthur of previous years, he would have long since made up his mind that he cared not for the boy- the fool, his friend, the sorcerer. Putting all three names together no longer made his head spin, but Arthur had now found himself brooding over the fact that Merlin hadn't come clean with him to begin with.

…Well obviously not to begin with, heavens knew what sheer suicide that would've been, but the fact that Merlin had kept the secret to this point, after (he'd assumed) their friendship had been reluctantly accepted on both accounts- it disappointed him.

Merlin was no coward, despite how often Arthur fervently contradicted it, yet he'd been afraid to tell Arthur about the magic. His most incriminating secret, that it was, but perhaps also the most fundamental key to understanding Merlin in full. And what good was that now that he'd run off? He couldn't help but think that it was just like Merlin to put him in a situation of this sort.

'You idiot.." Arthur sighed, hefting his crossbow over his shoulder as he strode, heavy-footed through the underbrush. How he'd love to have the scrawny servant tramping reluctantly behind him. Then he could fill the quiet by explicating just how thoroughly irritating the younger boy was. Arthur had managed to escape his duties for the time being to indulge in a solitary hunt in the woods, though he hadn't managed much an hour after embarking.

He hadn't brought a replacement servant along, or even any of his knights- hunting had become an activity strictly reserved for irritating said manservant in return; it felt oddly wrong without him there to gripe. The woods themselves seemed lonelier and more solemn without their indignant banter echoing through the trees. Wet snuffles and soft snorts disturbed the quiet woodland instead. Not on his part, obviously. Arthur had opted to bring a small team of his dogs out for the exercise. They paced about, sniffing, heads lowered with such intent one might think they could see through their nostrils.

Suddenly a crash resounded from beyond their clearing, and the dogs took off yowling, with the prince keeping up the best that he could before they finally sprinted beyond his line of sight.

Branches snapping loudly underfoot, he took a minute to catch his breath once chancing upon the last of his dogs. The hounds were sniffing about uncertainly now, pacing this way and that in confusion. Just as Arthur had come to the decision that their quarry had been lost, an attention-seeking "woof" caused him to look back towards the tree line behind him. At the edge of the wood, a lanky black dog -that had certainly not been brought along at the start of the trip- opened its mouth and panted in greeting. Arthur desperately forced his mind not to jump to conclusions upon noticing its frayed red scarf and beseeching blue eyes, uncommon in most breeds.

The dog wasn't one of his. But the overwhelming familiarity he felt at the sight of it told the prince it still was, in a strange sense, his own.

Vaguely aware of the absurdity of the situation, and choosing to ignore it, he took a very Arthurian step forward- cautious and confident all at once.

"...Merlin?" He tried after a beat, his skepticism practically tangible.

Tail swishing left and right, the scruffy fellow stood up, clearly all legs. Then, although it could have been his imagination, Arthur swore that he received an affirmative sneeze in reply.

This brought forth a grin the prince hadn't been able to muster up all week.

...

Didn't really know how to break into this, but hey, now it's here and the good stuff can get going :D

Basically, I was thinking about Merlin recently, and realized most of the things I love about the guy, loyal, endearing, eager to please, impossibly friendly, and ALWAYS SMILING (even while getting pelted with rotten tomatoes), when you add them all up, you realize one single, incontestable truth.

Merlin is a dog ^_^ So I made him one :D

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