The Blue Butterfly

A/N [show-me-your-tardis]

Plot – The Prince is turning five and per the usual Pendragon tradition, Uther takes him on tour of the towns he will one day rule. They visit one town called Ealdor, and while there, Arthur meets a strange young boy with an unusual talent.

"How much longer?" Arthur asked, leaning lazily forward on his pony.

"Not much longer, Prince." Sir Walter said, rolling his eyes at the impatient five year old.

Arthur sat up and patted his pony's neck. They had been riding for a really long time, like almost thirty minutes now! He was bored and didn't even want to go on this stupid tour. Uther was making him because it would "make the people happy" or something like that. Arthur didn't care though, he just wanted to get back to Camelot and play with his friends.

Arthur sighed loudly and Sir Walter gave him a disapproving look. Arthur waited until he'd looked away to stick his tongue out at him. Sir Walter never let Arthur have any fun. He was his daddy's favourite knight, but he was Arthur's least favourite. He was always telling Arthur to behave more like a King, and he didn't let him play in the mud like the other kids.

He didn't even let him ride fast on his new pony!

Uther was riding at the front, leading him, the servants, and Sir Walter forwards. They were coming to their third town in the tour, Ealdor. Apparently, they'd meet a few of the townspeople, stay for a while, before riding for the next town.

Arthur knew it would be just as boring as the last two towns. People he'd never met before would meet him and joke with him, they'd offer his father presents and gold. Arthur would have to be a well-behaved Prince all day and then he'd have to give a speech. He hated giving speeches.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, they made it out of the forest and Uther motioned for Arthur to ride next to him. Arthur kicked his pony forward. Once there, he saw the town of Ealdor ahead of them. The townspeople were all lined up and all of them rode past, like they were a parade. Arthur waved at the people and they waved back, pointing at him and smiling really widely. Arthur had to admit, he liked making the people smile.

Once in the centre of town, an old man was waiting to greet them. Uther, with the help of his servants, got down off his horse. Arthur followed but jumped rather than let the servants help him down, he heard Sir Walter tut when he landed in the mud. Arthur smirked.

The old man bowed so low to Uther and Arthur, Arthur thought he'd break his back. When he eventually stood up, he seemed hesitant to meet Uther's eyes.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, my Lord." The man gushed. Arthur was already bored, he glanced around the town. It was like most towns beyond Camelot; several huts, lots of fields and farm animals. Boring. "I'd like to say what an honour it is to be graced with your presence."

"My pleasure." Uther said, in a monotone. Arthur watched his dad, he never seemed interested in what the people had to say, yet he always made Arthur do things to make them happy. It was weird.

"And your son." The old man said, turning to shake Arthur's hand, "What a handsome Prince."

Arthur grimaced, the old man's breath smelt horrible. He suddenly remembered his manners, and what Sir Walter would say if he could see him, and smiled, shaking the man's hand, "Thank you."

The man seemed satisfied with that answer. Sir Walter walked over then and they began talking about what Uther would be doing while here and other uninteresting things. The old man, Uther and Walter all walked away followed by the servants. Arthur was about to walk away to find something to do, when Uther called his name. He ran after them and followed them all into the biggest hut in the town, bracing himself for another boring meeting.

While Sir Walter and Uther were distracted, discussing facilities and accomodation with the old man, Arthur tiptoed out the back door. He was sure, when they discovered he was missing, he'd be in so much trouble, but he didn't care. He was tired of all these meetings, they always said the same thing. The leader of each town would willingly give whatever Uther asked, and his father would be completely ungrateful.

Arthur stuffed his hands into his pockets and kicked a rock ahead of him. He looked around for townspeople, in case they saw him and made him return to his father. There were a few in the field nearby, they seemed too distracted to see him.

Keeping an eye out for any more townspeople or his servants, he ran to the side of a nearby hut and sat down. He picked at the grass absentmindedly. Why was there never anything to do in these towns? Where were all the other kids?

He was about to get up and go searching for the other kids, when something blue flashed next to him. He turned and saw a tiny blue butterfly flying away. Arthur watched it for a while, before another butterfly, this time pink, flew out of the hut and followed the blue one. Arthur pressed his eye to the hut and looked inside.

It was dark inside, Arthur could barely see anything. He heard a whisper, followed by a flash of white. Then right next to Arthur's head, another blue butterfly floated out of the hut. Amazed, Arthur stood up and ran around the side of the hut, looking for the entrance.

He found the door and glancing over his shoulder, he pushed it open. As soon as he was in, he heard someone gasp and something scuffle across the floor.

"Hello?" Arthur asked.

No one replied. Arthur took a step further into the hut, and putting on his best, brave voice, he said, "You have to come out, I'm the Prince."

There was another scuffle, followed by footsteps. Arthur saw the sillouette of a boy, slightly smaller than himself, step out in front of him.

"I can't see you." Arthur said.

The boy said something, in another language. Arthur was about to ask him to repeat himself when suddenly a fire started in front of him. He shielded his eyes away from the brightness. Once he felt his eyes had adjusted, he turned back to the boy, who was now holding a lit torch.

The boy had messy black hair that draped across his forehead. He wore clothes that were clearly too big for him. His eyes were wide and fearful, like he'd just been caught doing something bad. Arthur folded his arms across his chest and trying to sound brave, despite how scared he felt, he asked, "How did you do that?"

"Do what?" The boy asked, speaking for the first time.

"Light that torch."

"I..." The boy stopped speaking and his eyes went wide. Arthur thought he was about to cry.

"It doesn't matter." Arthur said quickly, worried the boy might start crying and tell his mother. Then Arthur would have to go back to Uther and probably get told off, "I'm looking for the butterflies."

"The butterflies?" The boy asked, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

"Yes." Arthur said, walking around the boy and looking around the hut. It was mostly empty, filled with just hay, "I saw them coming out of here."

Arthur walked to each corner of the hut and found nothing except hay. Confused, he turned around. The boy was trying to light one of the torches on the wall. Arthur ran over and gave him a hand, fearing that he might drop the torch and set the hut on fire. Once the torch on the wall was lit, the whole hut seemed to light up. Arthur again ran around the newly lit up hut, but found nothing.

When he turned back around the boy's torch was no longer lit. He was watching Arthur wide-eyed.

"You're a Prince?" The boy asked.

Arthur gave up his search for the butterflies just yet, and instead sat down on the dusty floor. Talking to this strange boy would be more fun than hanging out with Walter.

"Yes. I'm Arthur Pendragon, Prince of Camelot." Arthur said, sounding bored.

"What's a Prince?" The boy asked, moving to sit opposite Arthur.

"It means my daddy is a King. And one day I will be King." Arthur said, drawing a butterfly in the dust on the floor.

"Cool." The boy said, "I'm Merlin."

"Are you a Prince?" Arthur asked seriously.

"No... I don't think so. I don't have a daddy."

"You don't have a daddy?" Arthur asked shocked, "Do the servants look after you?"

"I don't have servants either." Merlin said, drawing his brows together, "My mummy looks after me."

"Oh..." Arthur said, sadly, "I don't have a mummy."

The two of them fell into silence, drawing pictures on the floor. Merlin kept stealing nervous glances at Arthur.

After a short while he said, "Want to know a secret?"

Arthur smiled, "Yeah."

"I know where the butterflies come from."

"You do!" Arthur shouted excitedly, "Where!"

"Shh!" Merlin warned, shuffling and peeking through the wall of the hut. Apparently satisfied with what he saw he scooted back over to Arthur, "You can't tell anyone."

"I won't."

"Promise!" Merlin said, holding out his pinky finger.

Arthur shook his pinky finger and said, "I promise."

Merlin smiled at Arthur, as though he was about to tell him the best secret in the world. He held out one hand and Arthur watched him interestedly, wondering what this had to do with butterflies. Merlin whispered a few words in another language and Arthur gasped when his eyes flashed gold. After a flash of white, a yellow butterfly appeared on one of his hands, it fluttered upwards and back down through a gap in the wall.

Arthur shuffled backwards and stumbled to his feet.

"YOU HAVE MAGIC!" He accused, pointing at Merlin.

Merlin stood up too, still smiling, "Yeah."

"But magic is bad." Arthur said, backing into the far wall.

"No it's not." Merlin said. Then as though emphasising his point, he said some more words and another butterfly appeared. It fluttered towards Arthur, who fled quickly to the other corner.

"Stop it!" He ordered.

"They're just butterflies." Merlin said, suddenly seeming so sad, "Butterflies aren't bad."

"Magic is evil and you're evil." Arthur said.

"No I'm not!" Merlin shouted.

"Are too!" Arthur said, "My daddy says so!"

"Well your daddy is wrong." Merlin said, folding his arms and stomping his feet, "I'm not bad."

"Are too, are too, are too!" Arthur replied, still pointing at Merlin.

Merlin suddenly burst into tears and Arthur felt incredibly guilty. The boy cried and cried, tears streaming down his face. Arthur ran forward and put an arm around the boy, worried someone would hear and come to investigate.

"Shh, I'm sorry!" Arthur said, "You're not evil, I'm sorry, please stop crying, please!"

Merlin sniffled and wiped his eyes with his sleeve, "You said I was baaaaad." he cried.

"You're not bad. Butterflies are pretty. Do it again, please show me." Arthur said, trying desperately to get Merlin to stop crying.

Slowly, Merlin stopped crying, "I... I... I can do other things." Merlin said through his gasps.

"Show me." Arthur said. He said it to stop Merlin from crying, but he also really wanted to see it. Maybe his dad was wrong? How could making butterflies be bad?

Merlin, with tears still on his face, whispered a few more words and waved his hand. Almost instantly, a cloud formed in front of them. Arthur watched in speechless amazement, as the cloud morphed into a dog. The cloud dog, ran around Arthur and Merlin's ankles, before disappearing into nothingness.

Arthur laughed. He genuinely laughed. Maybe magic wasn't so bad.

The two boys joked around and Merlin made a few more cloud animals appear and ten more butterflies. After a while they ended up drawing pictures in the dust together, Arthur drew himself as the King and Merlin as a wizard, surrounded by their butterfly army. The two of them eventually left the hut and began playing tag. Just as Merlin tagged Arthur, Sir Walter rounded a corner glowering at the two of them.

"ARTHUR PENDRAGON!" He shouted.

Arthur shied away from the voice and Merlin looked fearfully between the two of them.

"Where on earth have you been? Your father has been worried sick!"

"I was playing with Merlin." Arthur mumbled.

"SPEAK UP!" Walter shouted.

"I was playing with Merlin." Arthur repeated, looking down at the ground.

Sir Walter gestured for Arthur to follow him, "It's time to go. Say goodbye to..." Walter surveyed Merlin with disgust, "Merlin."

Arthur looked sadly at Merlin, "Bye Merlin."

Merlin looked back at Arthur with tear filled eyes, "Bye Prince Arthur."

Arthur followed Walter back towards the town centre, stuffing his hands into his pockets. As he was leaving, a blue butterfly fluttered past him. Arthur smiled and watched it fly dreamily into the sky.