The Once and Future King

A Good Talking To

Gwen woke up really early that morning to try and hide where she had slept, but she came to find that Grey was not asleep under her head which made her frown, but when she heard a gruff kind of sound that came from in front of her, she looked up and there stood Grey with a play in his mouth. Gwen took her plate to find food on it, some plain bread and grape. She looked at the plate and then back at Grey in shock.

"Is this for me?" Gwen asks the wolf that seemed to smile as his tail wagged. "Did you use your mouth to put the bread in groups in the plate?" He shakes his head quickly. "Did you nudge it onto the plate with your nose?" She asked not knowing any other way he could have done it, and his nods his head in pride. "Thank you." She smiles at him stroking his head, then proceeds to eat her breakfast.

Once finished, she gets up but before she could fold the blanket and put it away, Grey did it for her. She has no idea how Grey was able to fold it with his nose, but he did and placed it carefully on the potato sacks knowing she would need it again tonight, which made his ears drop. Gwen notices this and frowns at the back wolf she didn't know was actually Merlin. "Thank you for last night Grey, I really appreciate it. Merlin really has taught you well." She states making Merlin turned to face her. "But I wonder..." She states then smile slightly. "How much of Merlin's habits you've picked up from being his pet." She smiled cheekily, whispering to make sure she didn't wake Arthur. To make sure Grey new what she wanted to see him do, if he would actually do it that is, she looked towards Arthur and Merlin smirked.

Merlin quietly walks over to the bed and puts a handful of the sheets that kept Arthur warm in his mouth, and quickly pulls them off. Arthur awoke to the sudden, unexpected movement of the covers, and saw Grey staring at him. "Grey!" Before Arthur could continue, grey came in with Arthur's breakfast and placed it on the small table.

"Did you see what he just did?" Arthur asks Gwen who had to hide the amused smile that was on her face by making sure not to face Arthur.

"No sire, may I ask what he did?" Merlin called the amusement in Gwen's voice, but as usual Arthur didn't notice.

"Let's just say he's too much like Merlin for his own good." Arthur states an annoyance as he gets out of bed. Sits at the table and starts eating, without so much as a thank you to Gwen for the food.

"He is, isn't he." She said softly, looking at Merlin and wonder. "Excuse me sire, I need to let Grey out." She said, Arthur just waves his hand which frustrated her, but she started walking to the back door regardless. "Come on Grey." She called, Merlin obeyed not wanting to hesitate, but by the way Gwen looked at him a moment ago, he was starting to get scared. With she knew? Had she figured it out? Would she hate him? Would she tell everyone and turn him in? Merlin had to be honest, he doubted she would turn him in, but the fear still clutched at his heart fiercely.

When they were outside Gwen made sure no one was around, which luckily, they weren't. "Grey, sit." Merlin sat with his head tilted down slightly in fear. Gwen knelt down in front of him and looked deep into his golden eyes. Merlin did everything he could to keep astern, animalistic look about him, but he knew Gwen, and she's a very smart women. Gwen looked at him with a friendly smile. "Please don't be afraid of me Merlin. I would never want to cause you harm." She reassured him with a gentle voice. Shock was written clearly on Merlin's face, but soon faded into a small smile, as he allowed himself to change to normal.

"How did you know?" He asked nervously, still sitting on the floor.

"Two reasons." She smiles sweetly. "One, the point about you acting too much like Merlin was quite a good one." She stated, making sure to whisper so Arthur couldn't hear them. "Two, the Merlin that was just here the other day had green eyes whilst yours actually blue." She explained. "But why hide it from me Merlin? Surely you know better than that." She asked with slight sadness in her eyes.