AN: This ignores the events of episodes 3 and 4 of season 2.
Giggling. That sounded like two young girls giggling. Who could it be? It couldn't be Morgana and her maid. They hadn't giggled like that since they had decided they were too grown up to behave so childishly. Who else could it be though? Morgana was the youngest noble lady in the court of Camelot and no peasant would dare to walk the passages outside the King's chambers unless they were serving someone in this corridor; which was reserved for royals.
Uther opened his eyes to go investigate this mystery. Moving seemed to be a challenging endeavour. His muscles felt as if they hadn't had much use recently. Uther raised a hand to his face in thoughtful contemplation. He had a beard! Yesterday he had been clean shaven; he was sure of it. But beards cannot grow overnight. Uther turned to the looking glass. His reflection was practically a stranger; a long beard and rather long hair were the most noticeable difference but the weight loss was also confusing. How thin he had become. He was skinnier than that serving boy of Arthur's.
More giggles reached Uther's ears. Slowly the man made his way to his door. Movement was difficult. Opening the door, Uther wondered at the lack of guards outside his room. At one end of the corridor two girls, who looked to be roughly twelve summers, stood with their backs to Uther looking at something and giggling. One of the girls was blond, the other raven haired and both wore the rich fabrics of nobility but this was all Uther could tell about the two.
"Who are you?"
The girls turned to face Uther and two pairs of blue eyes widened in shock. A look was shared between the two girls. Without speaking the two young ladies turned and ran off in the direction of the throne room. Uther paused in the act of following. He had just remembered that he was dresses in his bedclothes. He needed to dress before he found out what was going on here.
As his manservant was not there, Uther had to dress himself. It took him longer to find the clothes than anything else. Half an hour later Uther was ready apart from his crown which just simply was not in his chambers. Talking of his chambers, why was there no paperwork on his desk? It made the room seem incredibly empty without it. Crossly Uther left his room and marched down to his throne room. The room was empty so Uther decided to try the council chambers. This was more successful.
Everything in the room was different. A round table had been placed in the centre of the room replacing the long rectangular table Uther usually sat at the head of. Arthur, wearing a crown more ornate than his father's, sat in the chair facing the door of the room. His manservant sat to Arthur's right and Morgana's maid was on Arthur's left. Both servants were fair better dressed than Uther had ever seen them. Morgana was on her maid's left and to her left sat a blond lady whose appearance held similarities to Morgana. Many of the other faces around the table were unfamiliar to Uther though there were some knights he knew and Gaius and Geoffrey were there.
The two giggly girls who had woken Uther stood between Arthur and his servant, slightly behind their chairs, speaking in low voices to them. This meant Arthur was not looking at the door and hadn't immediately seen his father. Suddenly Arthur turned his head to address the other people at the strange round table. His eyes fell upon the figure stood in the doorway. Shock crossed his face before he quickly schooled his features into a neutral expression.
"Father." Arthur's voice was curt.
"Arthur." Uther matched his son's tone of voice.
"How do you feel?"
"Like I have been abed too long." Arthur nodded.
"I ought to give you a physical examination sire. Just to ensure there are no negative effects of the enchantment remaining." Gaius spoke up.
Uther was displeased at the mention of an enchantment. He also didn't like the suggestion that he may not be in full health being made in front of his knights and the strangers.
"What enchantment do you speak of physician?"
"You were placed under an enchantment by a troll who posed as the Lady Catrina. The enchantment has caused you to sleep for a long time. Our best efforts could not break the enchantment. Not even the death of the troll caused you to waken. I do not know how you have woken now."
"How long have I been sleeping?" It seemed they were attempting to avoid his eye.
"How long?"
"Fifteen years. And it has been fourteen years since we killed the troll responsible and its strange accomplice." Arthur told his father.
Fifteen years. No wonder everything seemed strange and there were so many people around he didn't know. Wait, hadn't he banished that peasant? How was he now a knight? It seemed Arthur had made a lot of changes in his fifteen years as regent. Now it was time for his son to concede his throne back to Uther so the king could restore Camelot's glory.
Little did Uther know of the events that had taken place over the last fifteen years. Many of that man's secrets had come to light.
"Arthur, I would speak with you alone," stated Uther.
Arthur rose from his seat and indicated a small antechamber which he then walked ahead of his father into. Uther frowned. He should have preceded his son; the highest ranking person always went first. Arthur was only regent; Uther was the king!
"Well?" Arthur turned to his father.
"I have been asleep for fifteen years. You will have to fill me in on the main occurrences of this time before I can return to my duties as king."
"You will not be returning as king. During your enchantment many truths were unearthed and you have been declared unfit to rule. I am not regent here father. I am the King of Camelot and the High King of all Albion."
Uther stared at his son in shock. Not regent? High King of Albion? What exactly had happened?! Wait, did Arthur mention something about truths being revealed?
"Explain." This was the only word the former king could manage to get out.
"Everyone knows your hypocrisy now father. How you asked a high priestess to give you a son at any cost then started persecuting magic when the cost turned out to be my mother's life. We've also discovered that magic is not evil as you had us believe. You would have executed one of your best friends, if he hadn't escaped, for his association with magic. Also, Morgana being your daughter is no longer a secret."
Having told his father as much as he could be bothered to tell him, Arthur left the antechamber to resume his interrupted council meeting. Uther was in a state of shock. How could they know about Morgana? No one had known but her mother who had passed away many years ago. And did Arthur mean he was now pro magic? Had he changed the magic laws? Was the ban lifted? Had all Uther's hard work been undone?
A commotion came from the council chambers. Uther waited until it had died down before exiting the antechamber. Morgana, her maid and the blond woman who shared some of Morgana's looks were the only three people remaining in the council chambers. None of them reacted to Uther's presence so the former king seated himself across from the women at the annoyingly round table.
"Oh, hello Uther." Morgana noticed her father's presence.
"Morgana. It is good to see you."
"Is it? You surprise me. I assumed you were disappointed with me since you refused to acknowledge me as your daughter."
"I am sorry you have thought this Morgana. It was not true. I love you but I knew the strength of your love for Gorlois. I did not want to get in the way of that."
"You did not want to admit sleeping with a married woman you mean," snarked Morgana. The blond lady coughed. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm being rude. Allow me to introduce my half-sister, the Lady Morgause. And you remember Gwen of course. You had her father killed because he was unlucky enough to be seen in the same room as a known sorcerer.
"Uther." Both ladies acknowledged the introduction.
"If you will excuse us we must complete preparations for the Feast of Beltaine celebrations this evening," Gwen continued.
Uther was about to stand and exit the room when the young blond girl entered the room and approached the women. Now Uther could see her close to he realised she was the spitting image of his late wife.
"Mama, Vivienne and I wish to ride before the feast but the grooms would not saddle the horses without your consent."
"Of course, as long as you are accompanied by one of the knights," Gwen replied, "enjoy yourself and be careful Ygraine."
No. No no no. Arthur wouldn't. He would not marry a serving girl. Surely not. But Uther couldn't deny the evidence of his own eyes. Morgana's maid was now High Queen of Albion. It seemed as if the world had gone mad whilst Uther slept.
"Are you alright Uther? You've gone very pale." Morgause's words were the last thing Uther heard before the world went dark.
"…and then he passed out." Uther heard a slightly familiar female voice say as he came to.
"Indeed. It is probable that the king's father is in shock. Camelot is a very different place to what it was fifteen years ago and Uther has had all the changes flung on him at once. Everyone else encountered them gradually." That was Gaius who had spoken.
Uther opened his eyes. He was staring at the ceiling of the physician's chambers. It would seem he was laying on a cot bed being attended to by Gaius whilst Morgana, Morgause and Gwen informed the physician of what had occurred. The door opened and the two young ladies walked in.
"Sorry to bother you Gaius but Ygraine thought it'd be funny to spook my horse whilst I was on it. Now I've got scraped elbows and knees."
"I didn't do it on purpose," the blond retorted.
"Did so."
"Did not."
"Girls." Morgana interceded before the argument could develop.
"Sorry," both young ladies apologised in unison. Then Vivienne's eyes moved across the room and came to rest on Uther.
"Who is that man?" she asked, pointing at the former king.
"It's rude to point Vivienne," Morgana admonished the girl. "This is your grandfather, Uther Pendragon."
"The one who doesn't like magic?"
"I'm afraid so."
"Oh. I don't think I like him very much. Were you and papa ever scared of him mama?"
"Terrified. But we don't have to be afraid anymore. Your Uncle Arthur is king now and he'd never hurt anyone just because they have magic." Morgana had sat down and pulled her daughter onto her lap to embrace her. Ygraine was peering at her grandfather from behind her mother's skirts.
Uther's head was reeling. He had a horrible feeling that the conversation he had just heard meant that Morgana had magic. That she had had it whilst he was king and so had whomever she'd married. He wondered who her husband could be. He sincerely hoped that both his children hadn't married servants.
As Uther was contemplating his not-so-secret-anymore daughter, Arthur's manservant walked in. He was saying something about herbs but was cut off by Vivienne.
"Papa!" cried the young girl as she threw herself at the man who had just entered.
"I thought you were out riding with your cousin?" Merlin inspected his daughter as he spoke and noticed the blood on the sleeves of her dress. "Vivienne Ambrosius. What did you do?" Uther started as he heard the name Ambrosius. Surely that couldn't be? That would make the boy a dragonlord. Damn.
"It wasn't my fault. Ygraine spooked my horse." Vivienne told her father.
"Accidently!" added the princess.
Uther was wondering if the day could get any worse. A druid walked in and bowed to Merlin.
"Lord Emrys, we need your assistance immediately!"
"What happened?"
"It seems the changes were too much for your father Sire. He appears to have died from shock."
This was inspired by two brilliant fanfictions that use a similar premise to this but Uther's enchantment does not last as long and their are no royal children involved. The fanfictions that inspired this are 'A New World' by BringOnTheWonder1997 and 'Brave New World' by chaletian if you want to read them as well. Which you definitely should.