A/N: I know this is listed as a Trollhunters story, but this is actually a Wizards story. I just couldn't find a Wizards option, or even a Tales of Arcadia listing, which is really lame. I don't know how to ask how to add a fandom, or even a character, so for now this is going to be a Trollhunters story and Douxie won't be listed as a character.


Douxie looked around somewhat anxiously. He'd been living on the streets and looking out for himself his whole life. He couldn't remember the last time he had stayed in a building that wasn't a tavern or a stable, or when he'd been around so many people who weren't just as poor off as he was. And yet here he was, walking down the hallway of a castle, passing knights and nobles. Even the servants that Douxie passed seemed so much more proper than he was.

Douxie flinched and yelped in surprise and slight pain when he was hit over the back of his head with a staff. "Keep your eyes forward, boy," Merlin said sternly. "You look suspicious."

"Sorry, Master," Douxie mumbled as he rubbed the back of his head. He lowered his gaze and avoided looking at anybody else. He wasn't normally this shy around people, but he also wasn't normally walking down the same halls as the knights that had tried to kill him just the day before. Douxie hadn't forgotten that they had been so eager to kill him just for using magic, and he was sure they hadn't forgotten how he had tricked them.

Douxie knew he wasn't the only one who was a little nervous, because he could feel Archie's claws digging into his shoulders. Douxie reached a hand up and scratched behind Archie's ears.

"It's okay," Douxie assured his familiar. "Merlin told us we'd be safe here."

"Do you really think it wise to trust the wizard who works for the king who has outlawed all magic?" Archie hissed.

"Do you think it wise to talk that way about the one who saved your life?" Merlin raised an eyebrow at Douxie, who grinned sheepishly. Archie growled at Merlin, his fur standing up on end.

"Sorry," Douxie said. He lifted Archie off his shoulders and held him close to his chest. "We're just a little nervous, I guess,"

"There's nothing to be afraid of," Merlin said. Douxie hunched his shoulders slightly and bit his inner lip. That was easy for Merlin to say. He'd probably never had his life threatened over something that came so naturally to him. Douxie also doubted that Merlin knew how it felt to never know where he was staying at any given night, or wondered where his next meal would come from.

Douxie's stomach rumbled. He put a hand over his stomach, both to try to sooth the pain, and to attempt to hide the fact that he was hungry at all. Hunger made someone weak, and it was never a smart thing to let others know that he had any weaknesses.

Merlin gave Douxie a somewhat amused look. Douxie was partially in awe, because he'd never seen Merlin amused before, and partially upset. Douxie didn't know what Merlin found so funny about him being hungry. There was nothing funny about not having food. "Is that your way of saying you would like breakfast?"

"Please," Douxie said. He'd been feeling hungry from the moment he'd woken up, but he hadn't dared to say anything. He'd had a hot meal the day before, it was too much to ask for more food so soon.

"You should have said something," Merlin said. "I admit, I don't normally eat until the mid-day meal, but if you're hungry, well, I can't exactly blame you for that." Douxie and Archie exchanged looks of confusion. There were specific times for eating? Douxie considered meal time to be whenever he was able to get his hands on food.

"Come along," Merlin led Douxie down another hall and into the servants' kitchen. There were so many wonderful smells, it was a little overwhelming. There was freshly baked bread just coming out of the oven. There was all kinds of meat and game that Douxie didn't recognize being cut and prepared for cooking. There was cheese on the counter, and more kinds of nuts, fruit, and vegetables than Douxie knew how to count.

Douxie had never seen so much of so many different kinds of food all in one place. The closest he'd gotten was when he decided to spoil himself and spend what little money he had on a bowl of stew at the local inn. This was way too much. The weirdest thing of all though was that nobody was eating. How could somebody stand to work in these kitchens and not grab at least an apple?

"I'm afraid we can't yet have as nice a meal as we had yesterday," Merlin said. "We don't want to get in the way of the servants preparing the meal." Douxie nodded. He was a little disappointed that he wouldn't be able to have a completely filling meal like he'd had before, but the bread was so fresh, and the fruit so tempting looking that he would settle for just a bite.

Douxie reached for a bowl of raspberries, but Merlin swatted his hand away. "You can't just take what you want. We need to ask permission first." Douxie swallowed thickly and looked at the cooks and servants nervously. In his experience, people who worked in kitchens weren't very nice or generous with their food. Despite Douxie's hesitations, he followed Merlin to where the cook was spreading herbs on the meat.

"Excuse me," Merlin interrupted them from their work. "My young apprentice would like some food." Douxie wished that Merlin hadn't mentioned him at all. If the cook was going to give food to anybody, it would be to the court wizard.

"Please, help yourself," The cook said with as much respect as he might have if the king himself had come there looking for some food before the meal. "The meat isn't cooked yet, but we have some freshly baked bread, and plenty of fruit."

Douxie nodded, because how else was he supposed to respond to that? Could he really just take what he wanted, and nobody would stop him? It seemed too good to be true, and Douxie wasn't going to take any chances. He pet Archie and lifted him up so he could whisper to him quietly, without anybody else hearing.

"You know what to do," He set Archie down. His familiar ran off under a counter. Nobody gave Archie a second look, because most people didn't think that a cat could cause any real trouble. While Archie got to work, Douxie slowly accepted the two slices of bread that a servant had offered to him. Douxie shoved a slice into his mouth before the servant could offer some cheese or jam for him to put on it.

"Take your time," Merlin scolded. The wizard snatched the second slice of bread from Douxie's hands. "You don't want to get sick like you did yesterday, do you?" Douxie just stared at Merlin in betrayal and slight horror. He may have eaten his food too quickly yesterday, and he'd gotten so close to getting sick and wasting that nice meal, but that happened sometimes. Douxie knew it might be safer to eat slower, or eat less, but if he had the chance to eat food, he was going to eat all that he could get his hands on. As for how fast he ate, what was he supposed to do, take his time and wait for someone to steal his food from him? Not if he could help it.

Archie, now in his dragon form, hissed and jumped up onto Douxie's shoulder. Douxie felt Archie drop things into his hood and shirt, and he adjusted his clothing to hide any lumps. It wasn't nearly as much as he would like, but Archie was distracted from the job he'd been given.

"What do you think you're doing?" Archie glared at Merlin. "Give his food back to him." It took a lot to get Archie this fierce and protective. Even though Merlin had only known them for a day, he seemed to know this much. Merlin frowned, and he looked a little confused.

"There's plenty to go around," Merlin said. "I'm not going to steal food from you," Merlin offered the bread to Douxie, who grabbed it and began to scarf it down even faster than he had the first slice. He wasn't going to risk his food being taken from him again.

One of the servants gave Douxie a sympathetic look. "I have to get back to work," The servent offered him a plum. "For if you get hungry again. If Merlin takes this too, come back anytime. There will always be food available to you," Douxie grinned appreciatively and accepted the plum. He was tempted to eat it right away, like the bread, but fruit wasn't as rare a commodoty as fresh bread. Douxie wasn't so sure about food being available any time he wanted some, but he knew where the royal plums were grown. It shouldn't be too hard for him to sneak out and grab a plum if he was really desperate.

Douxie decided to just hold onto the plum, for now. It felt really nice to just hold food right in the palm of his hands, available for when he needed it. Merlin looked a little annoyed at the way that Douxie clung to the plum, but he didn't say or do anything to stop him.

"Are you ready to get to work?" Merlin asked impatiently, even though taking this detour to the kitchen had been his idea.

"Yeah," Douxie said. He followed Merlin out of the kitchen and down to the stables. Merlin had given Douxie the basic tour yesterday, so he knew that they were probably going to get some ingredients for potions or something along those lines. Douxie had been a little overwhelmed about everything that Merlin seemed to expect him to do on his own. He was just grateful that Merlin wasn't quite setting him loose yet. At least for today, Merlin was going to walk him through all of his duties. Starting tomorrow, Douxie would be on his own.

Once they got to the stables, Douxie had no choice but to let go of his plum. He wasn't about to hand it to Merlin. Douxie gave the plum to Archie. He knew that his familiar must have eaten something in the kitchens, but like Douxie, Archie rarely said no to more food. He trusted that Archie wouldn't actually eat his plum, and that he would keep it safe. The plum had been given to Douxie, it was his, no one else's, and Archie respected that.

Douxie spent the next few hours listening to Merlin go on and on about all sorts of ingredients, both magical and seemingly normal. Each ingredient could be used in dozens of different potions and spells, and they seemed to do something different in each of them. For the first time in his life, Douxie understood why people would bother taking notes or getting books about things like this. There was just too much information, there was no way he would be able to remember all of this.

By the time Merlin was done with his explanation, Douxie's arms were full of ingredients that he didn't remember the names to. They weren't even done yet. According to Merlin, they now had to take these ingredients up to his workshop, sort them, and prep them for potions, spells, or magical tools. They were nowhere close to being done for the day, and Douxie was already exhausted.

Merlin led the way back up to his tower, with Douxie stumbling behind him, trying to keep his hands on all the ingredients. Despite Douxie's best efforts, he accidentally dropped a few herbs. Archie picked everything up, and instead of bringing them to Douxie or Merlin, he tucked them under his wings.

Douxie did his best to keep himself between Merlin and Archie. He didn't want his master to notice what they were up to. Merlin may have taken Douxie in as an apprentice, but he doubted that meant that Merlin would be okay with him stealing potion ingredients from him.

Douxie didn't know exactly what he would do with these ingredients, but that was what he was going to be learning from Merlin in his workshop. If some of these potions could come in handy, then Douxie thought it would be smart for him to have ingredients handy should something happen and he had to give up on this apprenticeship opportunity.

In Merlin's workshop, the wizard set Douxie off to put ingredients away. It was a lot more difficult than it really should be. Douxie would put all of the mushrooms that looked exactly alike in the cupboard, only to be condescendingly told that he shouldn't, under any circumstance, put briar shrooms and pulsing kaps in the same place. Merlin then looked at Douxie like he was a fool when he didn't understand why bright pink powder belonged in the same storage container as muddy brown goo.

Archie prowled around the workshop and watched Douxie work. Every few minutes, when Douxie was working with an especially strange looking ingredient, Archie would come right up close to him and pick up any bit of the ingredients that Douxie would subtly drop. Archie would hide these things under his wings, like the things he'd picked up earlier, and run off to their quarters.

This went on for another hour before Merlin finally announced that they could take a break. Douxie all but collapsed onto the floor. He'd never thought that standing around and being treated like an idiot was so exhausting. He wanted to fall asleep, but then he smelled food and he decided that he had never felt more awake. He sat up as Merlin opened the door and let in the servant who had given Douxie the apple earlier. Douxie didn't think he had ever seen a sight more beautiful than the servant boy holding two plates of food.

The servant gave Merlin only one of the plates, even though it was clear that the wizard expected to be given both so the servant could go on his way. Instead, the servant walked right past Merlin and gave the other plate directly to Douxie. There was another plum on the plate. The servant gave him a gentle smile, bowed to Merlin, and left the room.

Merlin scowled and sat at his table. He gestured for Douxie to join him, and the boy could tell that it wasn't actually a request. Douxie took the plum on the plate and some of the bread and nuts, and handed them to Archie, who ran off. Douxie took his remaining food and joined Merlin, who gave him an odd look.

"Do you not think your familiar would prefer meat?" Merlin asked.

"Uh, Archie likes to catch his own meat," Douxie said hastily. "He really likes toasted bread and nuts though."

Merlin didn't look entirely convinced, but he didn't ask Douxie more. He just ate his food and left Douxie to eat his own. Douxie wanted to eat all his food at once, but Merlin kept on giving him unimpressed glances, and Douxie didn't want a repeat of what had happened that morning. He forced himself to take his time. It was a lot easier to do when Archie returned to the room and grabbed some more food from his plate.

"Honestly, we must remember to get that beast its own plate," Merlin split one of his loafs of bread in half and handed Douxie the largest piece. "A growing lad like you needs as much food as you can get," Douxie thought that he was pretty much done growing, but he wasn't about to tell Merlin that. If Douxie still growing was what motivated Merlin to give him more food, then Douxie would keep growing for the rest of his life.

When Merlin finished eating, Douxie took it as his cue to finish off the rest of his own food, after slipping Archie a few strips of jerky. Merlin stood up and cleared his throat. "I've got a meeting with King Arthur. Hisirdoux, until you're more used to the castle, and the people are more used to you, keep yourself confined to my workshop and your quarters.

Douxie didn't want to be confined anywhere, but he wasn't ready to take his chances among the knights who had tried to kill him yesterday. "Sure, I'll stay here," Douxie agreed. Maybe he'd actually allow himself to get some sleep.

Merlin gave him and Archie a stern look. "I won't be gone long. Stay out of trouble while I'm gone," Merlin left the room and closed the door behind him. Douxie saw the green glow of Merlin's magic around the door. Merlin had locked him in.

"Your new Master doesn't seem to trust you," Archie said.

"To be fair, we don't trust him either," Douxie said. He adjusted his clothes and set his plate down for Archie to lick clean. While Archie finished eating, Douxie grabbed a few more ingredients that Merlin had so much of, that he probably wouldn't notice were missing. When Archie was finished, he jumped onto Douxie's shoulders.

"Let's see what we've got," Douxie said. He went to the far side off the workshop where his so called quarters were. It was a small room that had enough rags, brooms, and dirty old buckets that Douxie was positive this used to just be Merlin's supply closet, but it had a decently soft bed, and it was quiet and a place that Douxie could call all his own. It was more than Douxie could usually expect to find for just one night, let alone multiple nights in a row. He considered himself lucky.

Archie crawled under Douxie's bed and pulled out a bucket. It had herbs, mushrooms, and goop all over the bottom. Douxie put the last ingredients he'd found into the bucket as well. He then took off his vest and let the loaf of bread, bunches of berries, nuts, and small wheel of cheese fall out of his clothes. Archie pulled out another bucket, which had a small collections of food piled in it. Most of it was simple food, nonperishable, because if Douxie was going to be keeping food long-term, he shouldn't try to keep food that would spoil.

"Having some real meat would be nice," Douxie licked his paws. "Better than that jerky stuff."

"I'll see if I can get Merlin to teach me a spell to keep food from going bad," Douxie said.

Archie looked like he wanted to respond, but he suddenly stiffened. "Merlin." Archie shoved the food bucket back under the bed. Douxie quickly put the food in the other bucket and tried to push it under the bed, but he accidentally knocked it over.

"Hisirdoux," Merlin called out from the workshop. Douxie looked anxiously towards the door. He hastily tried to clean up the spilled over berries and nuts. Merlin couldn't know, he couldn't let his Master find out. "Hisirdoux Casperan!" Douxie's door was slammed open by a very annoyed looking Merlin.

"M-Master," Douxie stepped in front of his bed and tried to hide his things as much as he could. Archie pulled the thin blanket off of his bed and used it to cover the evidence. "I-I thought you were meeting with the king?"

"I forgot to bring a harrows beetle," Merlin said. He glared at Douxie, who fidgeted under his stare. He'd been here for just one day, but he'd been too impatient and taken too much too quickly. This was always what did him in. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice that while I was supposed to have fifty beetles, there were only forty-nine there?"

"Master, I can explain," Douxie said. Merlin held up his hand, and Douxie couldn't help but flinch. Archie his and jumped onto Douxie's shoulders. He spread his wings out defensively.

Merlin frowned and held out his hand expectantly. "My beetle, boy."

Douxie grimaced and knelt down. He reached his hand under the blanket and into the ingredient bucket. He reached around it for a moment before getting his hands on what he was sure was the bettle. He pulled it out and, still kneeling, offered it to Merlin. The wizard didn't take the beetle, but instead he grasped Douxie's wrist rather harshly. Douxie cried out and tried to pull back, but Merlin only tightened his grip and drew him closer.

"Salamander dust?" Merlin was far past annoyed. "I take you under my wing, and the first thing you do is steal from me?"

"S-steal is such a strong word," Douxie said. He could feel his heartbeat in his head, like his mind was pounding. "I-I didn't think you'd notice-"

"So that makes it okay?" Merlin looked aghast. "What else have you taken?" Douxie glanced behind him towards the bed. Merlin scowled and pushed Douxie aside. It wasn't a hard shove, but Douxie tumbled into the wall anyways. His legs were shaking so much he didn't think he could stand up at all. All he could do was watch as Merlin uncovered his things.

Douxie should have known better. He should have waited a few minutes, just to be sure that Merlin wouldn't return. He should have hidden things more carefully. He should have known that the greatest wizard in the land would find out sooner rather than later.

Douxie suddenly found it very difficult to breath regularly. It was like he had both forgotten how to breath, and his lungs had forgotten how to hold in air. His ears were ringing. Douxie was only vaguely aware of Archie curling up against his chest, his wings spread out to hide and protect him as much as he could. It didn't help much, but Douxie appreciated it all the same.

"...Hisirdoux," Douxie closed his eyes tight and ducked his head when he heard Merlin's voice. He was expecting to be shouted at, at the very least. He thought that Merlin would throw him out of the workshop, out of the castle, out of the kingdom. In his panicked state, Douxie wouldn't be surprised if Merlin sold him out to the knights to have him be killed after all. When Douxie felt a gentle hand on his head, he didn't know how to handle it. He froze and sat perfectly still.

"Hisirdoux, look at me," Merlin said. He didn't sound angry, but he was certainly stern, and while Douxie may be new to this whole apprentice business, he knew better than to disobey a direct order. Douxie opened his eyes and looked fearfully up at Merlin, who was kneeling in front of him. The hand that wasn't on Douxie's head was on Archie's back, calming both of them.

"We will have to talk about the stolen ingredients," Merlin scolded, and Douxie was already dreading that talk. "But why are you hiding food?"

"I...don't understand," Douxie said, almost inaudibly. Merlin wanted to know why he was hiding food? Douxie wanted to know why so many people didn't feel the need to store food away. How were they so comfortable and confident that they would be able to get more whenever they needed it, let alone when they wanted it.

"I thought I made it clear that you can eat whenever you like," Merlin said. "If you want food, just ask, or go down to the kitchens and grab something for yourself. You don't have to hide it." Douxie stared at Merlin in desbelief. He knew that was what people said, and maybe that was the case for the people who properly lived in the castle, but Douxie didn't think that applied to him. He'd gone his whole life grabbing what food he could get, unable to trust anybody to provide it for him. The thought that he could be given food just because he asked for it was inconceivable.

Merlin sighed. He sounded exhausted. "I see it will take time for you to believe me." Merlin stood up. He offered his hand out to Douxie, and the young apprentice cautiously took it. Merlin pulled him to his feet. "This isn't necessary, but if it makes you feel more comfortable, I suppose I can tolerate it until you realize that I'm not lying to you." Merlin picked up Douxie's bucket of food and, taking notice of Douxie's panicked expression, handed it to him.

"If you're going to be storing food, you should be smart about it," Merlin picked up his staff and used it to summon a box a little larger than the bucket, which had a dozen drawers in it. "I've enchanted this so it will keep your food fresh. You can sort your different types of food into the different drawers, so your bread won't get soggy from the fruits' juices." Merlin set the box on top of Douxie's bed. Douxie stared at it in awe for a moment before approaching it. He opened up a drawer, closed it, and opened it up again. It looked safe enough, but Douxie knew that magic could be deceiving.

Douxie picked up one of the nuts that had fallen to the floor. He cautiously put it into a drawer. Douxie slowly closed the drawer, watching the nut carefully until he couldn't anymore. The second the drawer was closed, Douxie whipped it back open again, only to find that the nut was still there. It hadn't disappeared like he'd been worried it might.

Douxie laughed in relief as he opened and closed the drawer a few more times, just to be sure. He added more nuts to it, and it worked just as well. Douxie grinned and looked up at Merlin, who was smiling, though there was a sad look in his eyes.

"Thank you, Master," Douxie said gratefully. Merlin frowned slightly, and Douxie wondered what he had done wrong.

"Please, don't thank me," Merlin said. "Trust me, it was the very least I could do." Merlin sat on the edge of Douxie's bed and leaned towards him slightly. "I somewhat understand why you felt the need to hide away food, but why do the same with my ingredients? You don't even know how to use them properly."

"Douxie will learn how to use them," Archie said. Douxie didn't know whether to be grateful that his familiar was handling the explanation, because he didn't entirely understand himself why he felt the need to hoard ingredients, or annoyed that Archie was outing him like this. "If there comes a day when Douxie may need to make a potion or something, it would be better to have the necessary ingredients on hand."

"Yes, I understand that," Merlin sounded annoyed and impatient again. "If you need to make a potion though, why don't you just use my ingredients? After asking my permission, of course."

Douxie fiddled with his tunic. "What if I don't have access to you ingredients?"

"Why wouldn't you have access?" Merlin asked. He gestured towards the door. "They're just in there."

"But what if we're not here?" Archie asked pointedly. Merlin looked at him in shock for a moment before he sighed again.

"You do understand, don't you, that when I offered to have you be my apprentice, that was an offer for you to stay here for as long as you like?" Merlin said. That somewhat sad look returned to his eyes. "I'm not going to just send you on your way and leave you to your own devices."

That was almost harder to believe than the fact that Douxie would be allowed to have all the food that he wanted. People didn't just help each other for no reason. Merlin had given Douxie a place to stay, yes, but that was on the condition that he be his apprentice. What if Douxie wasn't as good at magic as Merlin wanted him to be? Or Douxie was never able to figure out the difference between briar shrooms and pulsing kaps? He would be a pretty lousy apprentice, and Merlin would probably think he was better off without him.

Merlin must have seen the doubt in Douxie's eyes, and he looked disappointed by it. He didn't scold Douxie or try to reassure him more. He just stood up. "I see that it will take time for you to trust me, and that's fine. However," Merlin waved his staff and lifted the bucket of ingredients out from under Douxie's bed. "I will not tolerate you stealing from me. Once I'm confident that you know how to handle these ingredients, maybe I will give you some of your own. Until then, my ingredients are to remain in my workshop, understood?"

"Yes, Master, I understand," Douxie nodded. He was a little disappointed that his plan had backfired on him, but it didn't look like Merlin was going to throw him out, or even punish him too harshly. Douxie didn't know how to use the ingredients anyways, and at least Merlin allowed him to keep his food. "This won't happen again, I swear it."

"See that it doesn't." Merlin said. Still levitating the bucket of ingredients, Merlin approached the door. "I suppose this is as good a time as any to show you how to decontaminate ingredients. Come along."

Douxie didn't want to leave the safety of his room. He wanted to carefully put each nut, berry, and loaf of bread into their drawers, but he couldn't keep Merlin waiting. Merlin had been incredibly patient up to this point, and Douxie didn't want to test that patience.

"Yes, Master," Douxie said obediently. He left the bucket of food on the bed, left Archie behind to protect it, and followed Merlin back into the main workshop. It was time to get back to work.