Chapter Text
Waking up to a burning smell did not inspire confidence in Merlin. But then it wasn’t the worst smell he’d woken up to. He’d been dozing in his study, not bothering to head back to his bed chambers. Now he was slightly regretting that.
“Well you’ve done fantastically here Douxie.” Came Archie’s sarcastic drawl.
“Keep it down Arch.” Hisirdoux said, sounding a bit panicked. “If you’d just let me light the fire instead of breathing it...” Merlin dreaded to open his eyes but did anyway. One of his work benches was on fire. Hisirdoux was fanning it in a desperate attempt to stop it. Archie was licking his paw, looking as though nothing were the matter.
“Hisirdoux!” Merlin snapped. “What on earth are you doing?” Hisirdoux winced slightly, ducked his head a little.
“Morning Master.” He said. “I was just making breakfast.”
“Breakfast? By setting fire to my work bench?” Merlin asked, waving his to extinguish the flame. He tried not to sigh too loudly but Hisirdoux could tell he wasn’t best pleased. He’d turned back to the bench and picked up a plate with some kind of extra crispy omelette on it.
“You always say there’s never enough time in the day for everything.” Hisirdoux said, glancing up. “I thought I’d help by making breakfast.” At the very least the boy was well intentioned, Merlin thought. It was sweet actually.
“Very well, give it here then.” Merlin said, extending a hand to take the plate. Hisirdoux looked a little more hopeful at that, handing the plate over and grabbing a fork. Merlin ate the lot, choking down some of the crispier parts.
“Not bad right?” Hisirdoux asked with a bit more cheer.
“Not terrible.” Merlin admitted. “Although best to leave the culinary practices to those in the kitchen.” Hisirdoux’s shoulders drooped. “Are you trying to imply I don’t give you enough chores?”
“No Master.” Hisirdoux said quickly. “I just wanted to help.”
“By setting fire to my workbench.” Merlin grumbled.
“Technically Arch set fire to it.” Hisirdoux said defensively.
“Oh just blame the cat will you?” Archie input snidely.
“I did say not to use your dragon fire.” Hisirdoux pointed out. They started bickering causing Merlin to sigh again.
“Silence.” He said, watching as they both fell silent. “Thank you for breakfast Hisirdoux. Now you can clean up this mess while I go see the king. And don’t-“
“But master!”
“But master me.” He finished leaving Hisirdoux to clean up the mess.
“I think that went rather well.” Archie said, sitting up. Douxie gave him a look. “Well he ate it all didn’t he?” That seemed to cheer Douxie up.
“He did.” He agreed, cracking his knuckles. He looked at the burnt work top and just as burnt pan. “Right I can fix this.” He started to cycle through his runes on his armband to find some sort of repair spell. He couldn’t find one that would repair burn damages. “Guess we’ll have to do this the normal way.” Douxie sighed, gathering his normal cleaning equipment. The pan was more easily repaired, the sturdy metal looking much better after a quick scrub. The workbench was another matter. It was horribly singed.
“Think we should cover it with something? A tablecloth perhaps?” Archie asked, eyeing the burn mark.
“We can’t keep covering everything up with cloths Arch.” Douxie said with a grimace thinking of the other things he’d damaged while trying spells for the first time. The rate he was going there would be a cloth shortage. He pondered his options. The soap and water didn’t work, it did look a bit better though. “I’ll have to try some magic.”
“Don’t even think about it.” Merlin said from behind him. Douxie nearly jumped out of his skin. “Hmm not bad, I’ll repair this.” Douxie stepped away from the work bench. “You have other tasks to get on with. Like milking the Slorr.” Douxie hung his head a little. He should have known. He hated milking the Slorr.
“Yes Master.” Douxie said, heading off to be showered in blue.
“Oh and Hisirdoux.” Merlin called. Douxie turned, wondering what he’d done now. “Next time you get the urge to cook, maybe do it in the kitchens.” Douxie brightened a little.
“You know Arch.” Douxie said as they made their way to the Slorr. “I think Merlin likes my cooking.”