Merlin had been all over the Castle at Camelot since becoming Arthur's manservant. The various errands took him everywhere - polish from her, new leather saddle straps from him. Along with that, he spent quite a bit of time in the library thanks to Gaius' many tasks.

Merlin hadn't always been able to read. He'd had to learn when he came to Camelot - apparently the instinctual reading when it came to magic didn't apply to regular text. Gaius had been the one to teach him.

His mother had taught him what she could, back in the village, but she herself only really knew the alphabet and what some words meant. Though he could not read until coming to Camelot, he had always loved to learn.

Coming to Camelot had, perhaps, saved him. Perhaps he was a manservant who didnt have much time to read. But when he could, he loved to spend a bit of free time in the royal library, devouring tomes of history he'd never heard of before. His mother had always said his curious mind was too big for Ealdor.

Being a child ostracized for being different meant he often played on his own.

He loved listening to the elders tell the stories the other children didn't like to listen to. Their lives had been so rich, and listening to them, Merlin felt like the part of him that was starving to know was finally being fed. Let alone when a scholar would pass through the village to collect their stories into a history.

It was in that stolen hour or so before he had to go to bed spent in the library that he spoke to you for the first time.

He'd seen you, of course. One couldn't be bustling through the castle constantly without seeing you. But speaking to you would have been deemed inappropriate. You were the god-child of King Uther. You spent much of your time with Morgana. You were, as a result... leagues above him.

But you were quiet. Delicate. You preferred reading to the activities of a princess. It was this quality that Merlin loved in you. Inquisitive, but not pushy. And your eyes... Merlin truly felt pinned.

He found himself staring. "...Your Highness," he murmured, remembering himself.