The Dragon-Prince-turned-Dragon-King did not speak to his daughter quite as soon as the Queen would've liked. He did not see his daughter for three days.

Early on the fourth morning he found himself upon the private training pitch that had been set up specifically for Alianna's training alone. He sent away the two magic trainers and single sword trainer and took their place waiting for Alianna.

The Princess had grown more and more sour with each passing day in which she did not see her father. She was pleasantly surprised to find him waiting for at the training pitch, leaning casually on of the stone walls that surrounded it. She did not smile or wave to great him, however. She was still upset with him and she would not be letting him off easily even if she had mostly forgiven him.

Sir Henry bowed at the sight of the King and then went off with the King's request to return within the hour.

Alianna whipped out her sword and held it aimed towards her father. "Shall we start with this?" 

"No." Merlin said calmly, stepped up to his daughter and clasping his hands behind his back. "We have a bit of a-- uhm, different-- training regiment for today. Come, please."

She sighed, the words 'yes, dah' ringing in her head but going unspoken. She followed her father and was surprised when they approached the two large main doors of the castle. She started at her father with wide eyes as a guard began to open one to admit the passage of the noble royals. Alianna paused, looking to her father with wide, astonished eyes. "You're taken me out of the castle? Where? Can we stop in the town?"

"Yes, and yes I plan to stop in the lower town on the way, but our final destination shall remain unknown to you until we reach it." He looked towards her and smiled softly at he child-like excitement, a twinkle in his eyes. His smile melted softly though as the thought that most of that excitement spurred from her life mainly stuck within the Castle and rarely out of it.

They walked at a brisk, but leisurely, pace through the Entrance Courtyard. They kept walking and soon reached the lower town. As they walked, person after person greeted Merlin, and he responded to most of them by name. Those who he did not know he apologized to and requested their name, vowing to remember it best he could. He did however have to apologize to a few who's faces he remembered but names he had forgotten. He joked that he didn't know whether to blame the fact of the plentiful population or simply age. Although the king wasn't nearly as old as he felt. Almost 40 summers? -- more like almost 80!

Alianna watched, and he heart softened slightly as she did. She was completely in awe of how many names and faces he father was able to remember. How many stories he knew. He always seemed to know which of his people were with child, which were dying of old age, which were sick, and who was pursuing what jobs.

"How do you remember it all?" She asked him once some quiet came around.

"Years and years of practice. Also, I was a servant."

"You were a servant?" She nearly gasped it out.

"You've heard the stories of the Kingdom, right?"

"Yes. It got overthrown by your uncle, and then years later you took it back with the help of Uncle Arthur."

"Did anyone ever tell you how I met your uncle?" Alianna shook her head, so Merlin continued. "Well when the kingdom was overthrown, your grandmother and I went to a small village called Ealdor while the hatchlings, your aunt and uncle, went away to distant family. Eventually, I had to leave Ealdor."

"Why?" Alianna was confused by that, what could possibly make her father have to abandon her grandmother?

"I know what you're thinking, and I fought leaving very hard, but in those days... magic was not accepted in that kingdom. Nor was it in Camelot. The villagers were becoming... suspicious. We were strange people that they took in, and I wasn't the most subtle. I was a bit arrogant, not severely, but just enough to allow myself to stand out. Despite growing up in an equal kingdom, I had grown stronger much faster than most. By the age of thirteen I had surpassed my trainer and become a knight. I had learned more magic than most, and had much stronger magic than anyone in the kingdom. When the kingdom was overthrown I wanted to fight alongside your late grandfather. I wanted to defend the kingdom despite being so young. I thought I could take the enemy on full force. However, I had a lot to learn. Your grandmother sent me to Camelot--"

"I thought you said there wasn't magic in Camelot either?"

"Oh, there was much. It was just illegal. I went to live with Gaius. It was better to hide in a crowd, and in a place that I could learn from someone. That's what your grandmother told me, and I knew she was right. On my first day I had already landed myself thrown into the dungeon."

"How did you manage that!?"

"I didn't like how Arthur was treating one of his servants. I told him he could stop. That he had had his fun. However, he just saw me in my poor fabrics, he couldn't see past the peasant he met his eyes upon. He didn't respect me, or what I had to say. I wasn't being aggressive, but I, an assumed peasant, had spoken out against him, an arrogant prince. Although, I really had thought he was only a knight. Either way, he thought I needed to know my place, so he brought up a conversation." Merlin paused, as if caught up in the memory for a moment. He glanced up to the sky, to his daughter, and then back to his shoes. He let out a sigh before continuing. "Honestly, in that moment, I hated Arthur. I had had my taste in arrogance, but never in the way that it wafted from Arthur. It was so thick you could almost see it in the air around him. In all my days as a prince, I never once thought about treating a servant the way he was. In our Kingdom, servants weren't lowly. They had it harder, they had to work so much more, but they had just as many rights and respect as any other man." 

Alianna watched her father in interest, she had never heard the story this way, in this much detail. She couldn't imagine her beloved Uncle being anything but the brave, humble man she knew. She hadn't known her father had been a servant at one point. She had heard story after story of his feats in battle, and his kindness to the people he ruled, but she hadn't witnessed any of it, nor heard it from his own mouth.

"What he say to you, when he started the conversation?" she asked.

"He asked if he knew me.'

"If he knew you?"

"Yes, see, I called him friend. When he asked, I introduced myself and he criticized me for it. "

"Wait, so how did you get thrown in the dungeons?"

Merlin laughed to himself. "It started when I called him an ass..."

"My mistake. I'd never have a friend who could be such an ass."

"Nor I one that could be so stupid."

Merlin stopped in his tracks. His blood was boiling. No knight should act like this, nor treat anyone like this. His fists were aching to form fists and hit out and put the arrogant prince in his place. Arthur walked up right behind Merlin. "Tell me, Merlin, do you know how to walk on your knees?"

Through gritted teeth Merlin responded simply, "No".

"Would you like me to help you."

Merlin was almost shaking now, but you wouldn't know just quite how angry he was unless you looked right into his cerulean eyes or payed attention to the tightness in his jaw. However, nothing could mask the strain in his voice. At the end of the day, that was probably what urged Arthur on.

"I wouldn't if I were you."

"Why? What are you going to do to me?"

"You have no idea." Merlin thought of all he could do, all he was capable of, the opponents he had taken down in the past. Years had gone by, but even if he was rusty he knew he could take the prince on. He didn't even have to move, or utter a word, if he really didn't feel like it. He could, but he wouldn't

"Be my guest. Come on!" Arthur taunted. "Come on! Come oooon!"

Merlin couldn't take it. He was seeing red. He swung at Arthur, but he was too unfocused, too angered, to make the hit. Arthur caught Merlin's arm and twisted in behind his back. Gasps were released by everyone surrounding.

"I'll have you thrown in jail for that?"

Merlin huffed, "What, who do you think you are? The King?"

"No. I'm his son, Arthur."

Merlin crumbled internally. He felt like a fool, but his anger was no less. If only he had learned to hold his tongue.

"And I spent the night in the cells." Merlin pulled to a stop and turned to his daughter as he completed the story.

Alianna was in shock, absolutely aghast. She couldn't picture this ever happening, but... she couldn't picture her father lying either. "That... that really happened?"

"Well, of course. Everyone starts somewhere."