This is set sometime in the second season or thereabouts. It's kinda a bit all over the place...

Yeah, yeah, I don't own Merlin, blahblahblah...

The knights were gathered around the fire while Merlin hummed and bustled around.

"Merlin, shut it!"

"Huh?" Merlin jerked his head, and it was obvious he had been daydreaming.

"I said," Arthur repeated slowly. "Stop humming. It's getting on my nerves."

The rest of the knights rolled their eyes at what they knew was coming.

"Oh, terribly sorry, Sire, I forgot the whole world revolves around you. Please forgive my grievous trespass and accept my humble apology."

"Very good, Merlin. You're almost sounding like a proper servant for a king. Just drop the sarcasm down a few notches."

"What sarcasm?" This was said with a straight face and widened eyes that Merlin associated with innocence.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Can you just get some firewood?"

Merlin dipped in a curtsy, holding the legs on his pants like a skirt. "Certainly Sire, for I live to serve you."

Elyan distracted him. "Ay, Merlin, leave it for now. Come sit down for a while."

Merlin happily obliged, humming all the while. He plonked himself between Gwaine and Arthur, snatching a bit of bread from Arthur's meal.

"Hey!" Arthur made to slap Merlin's hand, but wasn't fast enough, and Merlin began munching on it, deliberately exaggerating his enjoyment of it.

Arthur just huffed.

Percival tossed him a water skin, and Merlin caught it, fumbled with it, dropped it, picked it up again and gave a nod of thanks to Percival, ignoring Arthur's snickering.

They remained by the fire for a while, everybody laughing and simply enjoying each others company.

When the light started to grow dim, Gwaine produced a canteen of dubious substance. He took a swig before passing it onto Merlin.

He eyed it with caution, then took a sniff and immediately recoiled. He sneezed loudly, at the very same time the fire roared loudly, and became much bigger. This was only for a moment, however, before it retreated back down to normal size. While everybody else was slightly put off, both Merlin and Lancelot had identical looks of horror on their faces.

"Merlin," Lancelot said quickly. "Why don't I help you gather some firewood?"

"Yes," Merlin agreed, just as quickly. "Yes, let's go."

He shoved the canteen at Arthur and stood up, leaving behind a dumbfounded group of people.

"Merlin, what was that?" Lancelot hissed at him as soon as they were far enough away.

Merlin frowned, and bent to gather some wood. "I don't know. My magic... it's been," here he gestured in the air vaguely. "Going a bit haywire." he finished lamely. "I can't really control it all that well, and Gaius thinks it might have something to do with my birthday, some important date in the Old Religion, so I'm just kinda hoping it...goes away..."

Lancelot turned from the half broken tree branch.

"Seriously, Merlin? That's your plan?"

Merlin shrugged, and Lancelot groaned in irritation.

They stumbled their way back to the campsite, arms full of wood.

Gwaine turned around at the sound and raised his canteen. "Hey! The mighty heroes of firewood have returned!"

They all turned to look, all grinning in greeting, except for Arthur, of course, who was pretending to scowl.

Merlin led the way, still looking a bit concerned, but grinning all the same, while Lancelot trailed behind him, full-blown worry masking his face.

It was then Arthur noticed the root. He opened his mouth to shout a warning, because god knows Merlin needed it, but it was too late, and Merlin went flying.

It was almost like it happened in slow motion. Merlin's face changed from grinning, if slightly apprehensive, to horror, as he tripped. The firewood went flying and Merlin's arms splayed out.

But before he hit the ground, his eyes glowed golden, and he was suspended in midair. He was frozen, the ground a metre away from his face, a look of complete and utter shock on his face. The firewood was similarly hanging in the air. Merlin's eyes flicked up to meet Arthur's horror struck ones. Nobody moved for a second, before Merlin was finally released, and landed with an 'oof', the wood raining down around him.

He pushed himself up shakily, and staggered to his feet, aided by Lancelot. He swayed a bit, before planting his feet firmly in the dirt and looking up.

Emotions battled for precedence on Arthur's face.

"You have magic, Merlin." Even though his tone was even, they could all hear the pain and betrayal behind it.

Merlin scratched the back of his head, looking decidedly sheepish for a man just accused of sorcery. "Uh...surprise?"

So... there it is. Not my best work, but certainly my most complete. I have a nasty habit of writing a lot of fanfic, but never getting round to finishing it, so I kept this as short as possible. I do have some ideas, some back story, and where I could go with it, if you guys really wanted, but I can't imagine you would. This is definitely not my best work...