“Merlin!”

Merlin winced slightly at the shout, but turned to see who it was. Aurelius was jogging up to him, smiling, but the soft grin faded once he saw Merlin’s expression. “Oh, sorry, was that too loud?”

“Just a bit, but it’s fine,” the wizard muttered.

“I’ll try and be a little quieter,” Aurelius promised, stifling a yawn. Looking closer, Merlin could see the bags under his eyes looking a little darker than usual. “Anyway, I just needed to check on how you’re doing. Uther’s still worried about your hair thing.”

“I told him,” Merlin began with a heavy sigh, remembering the conversation from a week ago, “It’s fine, it doesn’t hurt me.”

“You know how he gets,” replied Aurelius, shrugging. “Besides, I do want to make sure you’re actually eating and not trying to sustain yourself on books alone.”

Merlin actually pouted. “I finished all the ones I have with me.”

“Ah, that’s annoying,” Aurelius muttered sympathetically.

The blond shrugged. “I’ll find some more soon.”

“Hopefully in Camelot,” commented Aurelius with a wistful smile.

Merlin perked up. “Uther always said you had a big library there.”

Aurelius smiled and shook his head, as if shaking the cobwebs off of old memories. “I’m surprised he remembers it. He was only four the last time he saw it and it was never exactly his favorite part of the castle.” He chuckled, fondness creeping into his voice. “Wasn’t much of a reader back then.”

“Well, he’s not much of a reader now, either,” Merlin pointed out, and was a little surprised when Aurelius laughed again.

“Yeah, he’s certainly not a scholarly type,” Aurelius agreed. “Insanely good at warfare, although I wish he’d tamper that with some more morality on the battlefield.”

Merlin wondered for a second if Aurelius knew what Uther was prepared to do, but decided he really shouldn’t bring it up. Uther did usually ask him not to tell Aurelius about his plans, and he didn’t think his friend would appreciate being tattled on to his older brother. “I think he just momentarily forgets about the people he’s hurting.”

With a nod, Aurelius smiled and lightly patted Merlin’s shoulder. “You’re right, he’s just not thinking things through, like always.” Aurelius sighed and shook his head. “I really wish he would be more responsible sometimes. I’m glad he got to grow up without being weighed down by duties, but we all have to grow up eventually.” The prince rubbed his eyes and stifled another yawn. “Speaking of which, I should be inspecting our food stores. We’ll be approaching Camelot soon, and we won’t even get through the gates unless we’re well supplied.”

“When was the last time you slept?” asked Merlin, looking into tired gray eyes.

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead, which won’t be long if our army’s not in its best shape,” Aurelius retorted, but not unkindly. With a heavy sigh, he looked off in presumably the direction of his next task. “Would you like to join me?”

Merlin cocked his head to one side. “What do you need me for?”

Aurelius’s expression fell and his cheeks turned a little pink. “Never mind, it’s alright if you don’t want to, I’m sure you have more important things to do.”

“No, I’m pretty free for the rest of the day, I’m just not sure what help I’d be,” Merlin replied slowly, confused by Aurelius’s reaction.

“I don’t really need your help, per se, I would just like your company for a bit. I don’t get to talk to you a lot,” Aurelius admitted, rubbing his arm.

Merlin blinked and smiled. “Oh! In that case, I’d be happy to go with you.”

The crown prince’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped halfway open, before twisting into an easy smile. “Alright, come on. And please try to keep up.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Merlin promised, falling into step with Aurelius. The prince smiled warmly and led Merlin along toward the storehouse.

Aurelius ended up leading Merlin around for the entire day, neither of them having a moment to stop and rest. As Merlin settled down in bed after they parted ways, it occurred to him that he never really appreciated how much Aurelius did. Maybe once they won, once Aurelius had the throne, he could take some breaks from time to time. It would be nice to see him well-rested for a change.