The trip back to Camelot went surprisingly well. Lyra left the camp a few hours before the Camelot knights in order to reach the town her sister was staying in. They got back to Camelot late in the evening four days later, Heldin and five others still locked to the back of a cart, Arthur was quick to explain what had happened to the round table.
Morgana and Merlin worked together to make sure the six prisoners where properly contained down in the dungeon almost as soon as they reached the citadel, Merlin only pausing to help Arthur get out of his armor before they ran off in different directions. The other knights, exhausted after being away for more than a week were quick to return to their homes and eat a home cooked meal or fall asleep in their own beds.
Well after the sun had set Arthur was finally released from the numerous meetings he'd been engaged in since his return and returned to his rooms, only to find them empty, with no sign of Merlin. When he checked the warlocks rooms next door the only sign that he'd been there was the bag tossed haphazardly upon the bed.
Arthur sighed and trudged out into the now empty halls, wandering up the various levels of the castle until he reached hall that lead out onto the walls. There he found Merlin, sitting in between two of the walls crenelations, legs swinging aimlessly out over empty air.
Arthur slipped into the empty space between Merlin and the wall and knocked his shoulder into the other, "Everything alright?"
Merlin blinked at him before nodding, "Yeah. I was talking to the dragons and then lost track of time afterwards. How'd your meetings go?"
"Could have been better. Most of the advisors think I should sentence Heldin to death and be done with it. The knights on the other hand all think he should be given a chance to redeem himself seeing as he never got around to attacking Camelot, only me." Arthur reached over and took one of Merlin's hands from where it was resting on the castle stone and began playing aimlessly with the ring on the warlock's finger.
Merlin frowned, "And what do you think?"
"I want to give the man a chance to speak for himself before any decisions are made. I want to hear the others views on the matter as well." Arthur muttered, "I don't like making decisions until I can see the whole picture."
Merlin nodded, "I know. Which is why it'll turn out fine." He nodded to the road, "The dragons saw Lyra less than a half day's ride away. She should be here tomorrow."
Arthur frowned, "I know this may seem like me just worrying some more about nothing, but do you think she's completely trust worthy?"
Merlin frowned, "I think she is. She did willingly stop her father and is now bringing her sister here. I don't think she'd bring her sister anywhere near here if she wasn't trust worthy."
Arthur nodded, "You're probably right."
"What was that?" Merlin asked innocently.
Arthur scowled, "I'm not repeating myself." He muttered as he scooted backwards to put his feet back on the wall walkway. "Come on. It's been a long day. And tomorrow will be plenty longer."
"Look at you being responsible." Merlin laughed as he stood and hopped off the ledge next to the king, "Took long enough."
"Hey!" Arthur wrapped an arm around the warlocks shoulders, using his free hand to ruffle Merlin's already messy hair, "I'm the king of Camelot. I'm always responsible."
"Keep telling yourself that." Merlin grinned, swiping at the hand in his hair. "Come on. I'm going to get the tub for a bath. You could really use one."
"Oh shut up." Arthur grumbled but followed him back towards their rooms.
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"Arthur wake up." Merlin poked at the blond who was sprawled across the entire bed, "Arthur, wake up, you have things to do today."
The king just rolled away from the wizard and grumbled half heartedly about being tired. Merlin sighed before ranking away the pillow Arthur had been hugging and hitting him in the head with it. "Up."
Arthur shook his head as his eyes snapped open and he rolled over to stare at Merlin, still half asleep. The wizard sighed, "The next thing to go are the blankets." He said as he got up, going to rummage through the king's cloths, before tossing some on the chair.
Arthur groaned, tried rolling over again and promptly fell off the bed, only for Merlin to catch him with a flick of his hand. "You're going to hit your head eventually." He told the blond, dumping him unceremoniously on the bed.
Arthur groaned and swung his feet around to sit up, "You're the one who woke me up. Your fault."
Merlin pulled him up on to his feet, ignoring his grubling in favor for getting him ready for the day.
When Arthur was finally fully awake, dressed and presentable, Merlin sat him down at his desk to eat before disappearing back into his room, returning with a book. "We have about an hour before you have anything you need to do." Merlin informed the king as he sat down, "And that would be a small meeting with just some of the knights to assign them to their duties for the week."
Arthur sighed, "Which I haven't-"
Merlin pulled out a paper from between the pages of the book, "Already handled that."
Arthur took the paper and scanned it, shaking his head, "What would I do without you?"
"Probably wreck the kingdom." Merlin smiled, and took the piece of bread on the king's plate, taking a bit before returning it.
Arthur rolled his eyes and continued reading the list as Merlin pulled more papers from the book, "I don't think it'd be that bad."
"Hmm. You're right. You wouldn't be around to do it cause you would have died half a million times by now." Merlin shuffled the papers around and after a few minutes nodded when he got them how he wanted, "I need to go give these to Morgana. I'll be back." He told the king as he stood and hurried out the door. Arthur looked at the book, one of the magic books that spent the majority of it's time recently attached to Merlin even during their trip. The King wasn't exactly sure what the book was about but from what Merlin and Morgana had said, he was pretty sure the warlock was giving the priestess high level spells to practice.
Arthur finished his breakfast and stood just as Merlin was walking in the door. The warlock didn't say anything as the King came around the table as he approached. Arthur pulled Merlin into him, ignoring the indignant grunt the man gave, before wrapping his arms around him.
"This has been a very, very long ordeal." He said quietly.
Merlin nodded, not bothering to disentangle himself from the King. "Not done yet either." He lifted his head off Arthur's shoulder to look at him in the face, "Very close though. From the looks of it."
Arthur grinned and kissed Merlin on the nose, "Very close. So what do we need to do to get it over with?"
"Well I suppose we would need to decide what exactly you're charging Heldin with. Whether it be treason, or something less."
Arthur leaned his forehead against Merlin's. "I do suppose we should sit down with the council and decide that."
"You're having a private, small session with just the inner ring of the round table. Maybe have them help you decide." Merlin pulled his weight away from the King so he was standing on his own two feet. "Let's get you to your first meeting." He smiled, "Then we can take it from there."
Arthur nodded, giving Merlin another, small kiss on the corner of the mouth, "You're rather good at this you know."
"Good at what?" Merlin frowned.
"Running a country from the shadows." Arthur explained.
Merlin thought about it before shrugging, "I'm just doing the most logical thing that I know youd be okay with."
Arthur laughed, "My point exactly." He tugged Merlin towards the door, "Come on. I want to get this over with."
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A/N: Hey guys thanks for all the comments recently. They really brighten my day.