Family Seal by SilverHeart09

Summary- This is why it's important to ensure that your grammar is correct before you ask your son to arrest his servant for stealing your wife's seal.

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Arthur walked into his chambers with a confused look on his handsome face. Merlin was making the bed and tidying up the remains of Arthur's breakfast (at the same time! I know right, what a mulitasker).

'Um… Merlin…' Arthur said, not sure how to begin.

'Yes sire?'

'I'm supposed to arrest you.'

Merlin paused and looked as confused as Arthur. He hadn't been using his magic in full view of anyone recently; he hadn't filled Sir Goled's boots with mud recently, he hadn't even called Arthur a prat recently. Mental note… call Arthur a prat soon.

'Why?'

Arthur scratched his head. 'Queen Catrina has accused you of taking the… seal.'

There was a pause.

'The seal?'

'Yes.'

'What seal?'

'Queen Catrina's seal.'

'Why would I take her seal? I didn't even know she had a seal!'

'Well neither did I.'

The two men stood for a few moments in silence, trying to think of a suitable reason for Catrina to carry a seal around with her.

'I didn't see the seal when she arrived; I mean they're quite big,' Merlin said.

'And you'd need a large tank of water to keep it in too.'

'And plenty of fish.'

'LOADS of fish.'

'Maybe she dropped it off at the lake?'

'Can seals survive in a lake?'

'Well I don't know! You're the crown prince you should be the seal expert.'

'Well obviously my father didn't find it necessary to teach me about seals.'

Merlin sighed. 'It's kind of harsh for her to accuse me of taking something she doesn't actually have in her possession.'

'Maybe she's trying to make it look like she did and you're the reason she doesn't anymore?'

'Maybe, but surely the King would think it's odd for a lady of Catrina's standing to own a seal?'

'Obviously not; apparently he's seen it, she said she showed it to him when she arrived.'

'Where the hell would I hide a seal? If I had taken it someone would have seen me lugging it down the corridors.'

'They're quite loud too.'

'This makes no sense at all.'

Arthur sighed. 'Well, seal or no seal, and there is obviously no seal, I'm still supposed to arrest you.'

'You mean you actually are going to arrest me?'

'Well no you idiot, I'm not arresting you for something you didn't do, but I am telling you to get out of Camelot as fast as possible.'

'Oh okay.'

Merlin was halfway to the back door when he turned around again. 'What a sec… did you just say that she showed the king the seal when she arrived?'

'Yes.'

'What did she say exactly?

'Well my father said that she'd told him the only thing she'd been able to take with her was the family seal, and it's been stolen from her chambers.'

'The family seal or her family seal.'

'What does it matter? Either way she still owns a seal, whether it belongs to her or her family. Oh! You mean her family seal. That would make a lot more sense.'

'I still didn't take it though.'

'Well she thinks you have so you better get a move on and get out of Camelot.'

Merlin chuckled as he walked back to the door. 'I'm just getting images in my head now of Catrina taking a seal for a walk.'

Arthur laughed and turned it into a cough when the guards came in. Arthur glanced at the door but Merlin had gone.

King Uther sat in his thrown with Queen Catrina on his left. 'How goes the search for Merlin and the queen's seal?' he asked his son.

Arthur bit his tongue to hide the giggles. 'It appears Merlin has escaped.'

'Outwitting your great army in the process.'

Arthur ignored his stepmother's snarky comment and replied with 'it would seem so.'

'Do you have any idea how much that seal means to me?'

Arthur tried to think of something disgusting, something that was definitely not funny at all.

'It is all I have! I want my seal back!'

Arthur could feel his face going red as he tried to suppress his laughter.

Uther took his son's red face as embarrassment rather than lack of oxygen. 'It is important that you find my wife's seal,' he said angrily.

'Guards have already been dispatched sire,' Arthur said, thinking that he had to say something, except as he was biting his cheeks it came out as a squeak.

Uther looked at his son carefully. 'Are you feeling well, Arthur?'

'Yes sire.'

'Good. Then get the knights to also become involved in the search for the seal.'

Arthur truly felt as though he could contain his giggles until Catrina said:

'Also, check the lake, the boy could have thrown it in.'

The images of Merlin throwing a seal, and the startled expression on the seal's face made Arthur erupt with peals of laughter and he clutched his sides, giving up on hope of composure.

'Arthur what is the matter with you!' Uther said, standing up angrily. 'I assure you the theft of my wife's seal is no laughing matter!'

This only made Arthur laugh harder and Uther signalled for the guards to drag his son from the room while he apologised to Catrina for his son's behaviour.

4 months later

Arthur walked into his chambers holding a small wooden seal with the emblem of the house of Tregore on it. 'Hey Merlin!' he said, holding it up.

Merlin looked up from the sword he'd been polishing at Arthur's triumphant face and the wooden seal in his hand.

'It turns out 'Catrina' had hidden 'her' seal in a cupboard.'

Merlin's face was a picture. 'How on earth did she manage to fit it in there?'

The sound of their prince and his servant in hysterics brought the knights and the guards running to see if everything was alright.

Arthur tried to explain to them that everything was fine but the image of a seal being pushed into a small, cramped cupboard was still very much present in his mind and he only shook his head and laughed harder.

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