My Special Star

A "Stray" Dog

Hi! I rewatched 1x02 Valiant last Friday, and I'm here with a really short fanfic based on that episode. I'm gonna rewatch 1x03 The Mark of Nimueh tonight, and if everything goes according to plan, there will be another fanfic next week, either as another chapter here (if it's short) or as a new oneshot (if it's longer than 1k words). Enjoy! :)

Summary: Merlin has spent the entire night trying to turn that statue into a dog, and now that he has, he's really not sure what to do with the dog. Lucky for him, Arthur orders him to exercise the Camelot dogs, so adding an extra dog should be no problem. But as luck would have it, Arthur notices.

. . .

A "STRAY" DOG

. . .

"Do you ever answer just yes or no?"

Arthur was growing rather impatient and Merlin found himself wondering if, by the end of this conversation, he'd yet again be without a job.

"Well, erm, yes?" Merlin smiled helpfully. Judging by Arthur's expression, he didn't appreciate it. "No? No." He shook his head. "Maybe? What do you even want me to answer here?"

Arthur groaned. "I only want you to answer what I've been asking for the last five minutes!" He sighed and once again looked over at the dogs behind Merlin – all sitting, patiently watching them argue. "How did you manage to return with an extra dog, Merlin?"

It was at that moment that Merlin realized that in order to keep his job and use his magic for its intended purpose – to protect Arthur – he'd have to get a whole lot better at lying.

He shrugged and looked at all the dogs himself, not even bothering to count them. His eyes landed on Arthur's exasperated face again. Scratching his cheek in pretended confusion, he said, "Look, I really don't know, he must have just . . . wandered in from the . . . the . . . well, wherever he was, and here he is now."

He smiled again.

Arthur didn't smile once.

"So a stray dog, miraculously of the same breed, colour and age of the Camelot dogs I ordered you to exercise, just happened to wander in, and joined my dogs? Is that what you're trying to say?"

Merlin shrugged again. "I mean, it's not impossible."

Arthur rolled his eyes in frustration. "Merlin, even if that was possible, we can't just allow a stray dog in, he must be trained from the beginning, and that's only in the case we don't find his owner."

"Okay, so we'll look for his owner then."

Arthur was already shaking his head, a mischievous smile on his face. "No, you'll look for his owner. And I want this resolved by the end of the week."

With that, the prince turned around and left Merlin there alone.

"But . . . " Merlin protested weakly, Arthur long out of earshot. " . . . But it's- it's Friday."

He closed his eyes in frustration and sighed. He was only glad that the dog he'd made from the statue hadn't bitten anyone and turned out to be quite friendly, once fed. Merlin turned to all the dogs then, not really sure what to do.

But hey, if his destiny really was to help Arthur accomplish all those things that the dragon had told him, then he'd find a way.

*the end*

Thanks for reading! :)