Merlin doesn't belong to me.
The Choice
Gaius watched the young men and Gwen in the old tunnels; Arthur had managed to get himself, with Merlin's help of course, a group of worthy young men. As he watched on Arthur did something which Gaius had never thought he would live to see, he saw young men of low birth turned into Knights of Camelot and he rejoiced with Gwaine, Lancelot, Percival and Elyan as it happened.
Camelot was undergoing change and Gaius could tell that this change would be good for the kingdom, idly he wondered how Uther would react when he realized what his son had done but he couldn't fault Arthur's decision. It was a step in the right direction.
000
"So, how did you choose?"
Gwen looked up and smiled at Gaius. He was mixing some medicine, they were sure it would needed before dark. The battle for Camelot wouldn't be without casualties.
"Sometimes, I think that there never was a choice at all."
"Uhmm," Gaius nodded. "And yet I'm sure that there must have been a time when you were not as sure as you are now."
Gwen knew what he was talking about, and he was right, there was a time when Gwen's heart had been torn into two, when she couldn't decide between Lancelot and Arthur. She looked at Gaius, he was still waiting for her reply and she wondered if she dare put it into words.
She remembered the first time she had kissed Arthur, it had been a soft, gentle and totally unexpected kiss and yet for all that it had been unlike any other. She had known even as she had unconsciously followed him that it meant something more.
Lancelot's kiss had been passionate but even as she recalled it she realized that the fact that they had been on the brink of death had probably made the kiss seem more than it was. Certainly it had been memorable but nothing compared to Arthur's kiss.
Which brought her to the kiss, the kiss which had changed her mind, the spell breaking kiss. Gwen could remember how miserable she had been that day, how angry she had been at Arthur for making her sit up the whole night while he climbed into the Lady Vivian's room.
She recalled how her heart had leapt within her when Merlin had said that Arthur was enchanted but that she, Guinevere, could break the enchantment with a kiss.
She remembered how intense it had been, like an inferno. A bush wildfire, Arthur had gasped, inhaling like he was a man dying of thirst and she was the only one who could quench it. It had been magical.
"It was a kiss," she said, at last.
"A kiss?"
"Yes," she smiled again. "A kiss."
Gaius nodded although he clearly didn't understand what she was talking about. In the end the choice had been easy and Gwen was thankful for that.
000
