Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin or any of the characters in the series, I'm just borrowing them from their respective owners to play with a little and I promise to give them back when I'm done. No copyright infringement is intended and I don't make any money from writing fanfiction.
Making an impression
Arthur turns to Merlin and his magic for help when he finds it hard to deal with the social aspects of being a king but the result isn't what either of them expected…
"It sure was a pleasure to make your acquaintance, lord Adelais, I mean lord Edealis, and I really hope that your daughter finds a nice husband." The lord frowned as he left and Arthur looked at Merlin standing behind him.
"What did I say?" he hissed at his manservant.
"He has a son who hopes to become a knight, not a daughter" Merlin whispered as he leaned over under the pretence of refilling Arthur's cup of wine. The king cursed under his breath.
"Not again" he muttered and then straightened up, ready the face yet another guest.
"Lady Gahenas, widow, two sons" Merlin supplied, nodding discreetly towards the blonde woman making her way through the room, and Arthur put on a welcoming smile.
"Lady Gahenas, how lovely too see you this evening. I trust that your husband is well?"
Merlin couldn't supress a groan and put his face in his hands. It was going to be a long evening.
"If only they'd make more of an impression" Arthur groaned exasperated, pulling his shirt over his head and throwing it carelessly on the floor for Merlin to pick up. "Instead, they all look the same and say the things that they think I want to hear and I can't tell the difference between them." His shirt was followed by his boots and socks and then his pants. Merlin scooped up the clothes, put them in the hamper with the rest of the laundry and then began to polish Arthur's boots as the king got into his bath and continued to complain.
"Do they really have to dress the same, all of them?" he muttered.
"Maybe you need to be more observant, sire" Merlin answered him lightly, unable to resist.
"Shut up, Merlin" the king grumbled and then his shoulders slumped. "I try, I really do, but it's all a blur to me. It's not because I'm arrogant" he insisted in answer to Merlin's unspoken question and the manservant shrugged.
"If you say so, sire" he said and then promptly had to duck as Arthur threw a bar of soap at him. They passed the next moments in silence before Arthur spoke again.
"Gwen always knew what to do in situations like these." He pinched the bridge of his nose and looked at Merlin accusingly, as it was somehow the manservant's fault that his intended queen had eloped with one of his knights, but then his look shifted to a worn out one and Merlin decided to take pity on Arthur.
"Maybe I could find you a spell or an enchantment so you could remember names more easily?" he suggested.
"A spell could help me with this?" Arthur jumped out of the bath tub with a slosh and spilled water everywhere. "Why didn't you tell me that before?"
"Because you didn't have lords threatening to withdraw their support because you kept forgetting their names before" Merlin muttered in response and looked at the wet floor with a grimace. He only knew too well who'd be in charge of cleaning that up. "And besides, I haven't found one yet."
"Then let's get to it" Arthur prompted and strode purposefully across the room.
"Um, sire?"
"Yes, Merlin?"
"You might want to put on some clothes first, sire."
The next morning came and went, as did the afternoon and when the evening had almost passed, Merlin was still wrapped up in his research, so far without any luck. Arthur was beginning to get impatient, or desperately cranky as Merlin put it, swiftly forcing him to duck for a cup that came flying through the room. He made a face at Arthur who only scowled and stomped back to his chambers, slamming the door behind him.
"Hurry up, Merlin!"
Hasty steps smattering against the stone floor and a loud bang when the door slammed into the wall announced Merlin's arrival.
"Sire."
"You better have found me something, Merlin" Arthur snarled as his manservant burst into his chambers holding a small flask and a dusty book with worn leather covers. Arthur had just returned the noon meal, another disastrous meal of forgetting peoples' names and mixing up their spouses and children and he wasn't sure that he'd be able to face another ordeal like that without killing someone.
"I think I have found just what you need, sire" Merlin smiled and Arthur all but pounced him and grabbed the flask eagerly.
"So what is it? What does it do?"
"It's that potion that you'll need to drink and then I'll do a small enchantment. It'll help you remember people, they'll make an impression on you and you'll be able to tell them apart."
"Brilliant." Arthur swallowed the contents of the flask grinning, not even complaining about the foul taste, and Merlin started his incantation.
At dinner that evening they first started to notice the effect of the enchantment. It began the second Arthur stepped into the hall, flanked by Elyan and Leon, and Merlin following close behind. So close, in fact, that he trod on Arthur's heels and almost tripped the king. However, before Arthur even had the chance to scold him or hit him over the head, three different lords had thrown themselves at the manservant to restrain him and were proposing different punishments that would be appropriate for such insolence. As Arthur turned down their offers to have Merlin burned, or hanged, or at least flogged, he assured the lords that a suitable punishment would be administered and bade them to return to their seats. The knights looked equally perplexed and Merlin at least had the decency to try to look contrite, to not aggravate the situation further.
As the meal went on everyone's behaviour seemed to become more and more eccentric. The lords tried to outshine one another, boasting about victories in battle or the strength and wealth of their manors. On the other hands, the ladies had done their outmost to look appealing and if Arthur didn't know any better he'd have thought that he'd accidentally walked in on someone's wedding feast. He soon lost count on how many times he'd been more or less openly propositioned and when two of the lords had to be escorted to their chambers for fighting over the honour of joining the royal hunt the next morning Arthur was ready to snap.
"What in the name of all that is sacred is going on?" Arthur whispered when Merlin stepped forward to serve him more of the roast lamb.
"I don't know, sire." Merlin was perplexed. It was as if the whole room had suddenly gone mad and he and Arthur where, with few exceptions, the only ones unaffected. It didn't take long for Arthur to come up with a suitable excuse and soon he'd left the dining hall, closely followed by Merlin.
"You better have an explanation for this, Merlin" Arthur hissed angrily as soon as they'd entered the king's chambers and closed the door behind them. "Is it your spell that's doing this?"
"I have no idea." Merlin threw his hands up. "Honestly, this is not how it's supposed to work and I've never seen anything like it before. It's like people have suddenly gone mad."
"Thank you, Merlin, for that amazing analysis" Arthur said sarcastically. "I never would've guessed that myself. What I want to know however is why everyone seems to have lost it?" Suddenly he was standing very close and Merlin could feel the hasty puffs of breath as Arthur stared him down.
"I… I don't know" Merlin stammered nervously.
"Then find it out! Quickly!" Arthur grabbed his manservant's arm, dragged him over to the table and all but pushed him down into a chair. "You're not leaving until you're done." He crossed his arms over his chest and stood watching Merlin expectantly.
"I can't concentrate if you're staring at me" Merlin snapped annoyed. "Why don't you make yourself useful instead?"
"Aren't you forgetting who you're talking to, Merlin?" the king growled.
"The man with the problem that I'm trying to solve?" Merlin answered acidly and since Arthur really couldn't argue with that one he did the only sensible thing in the situation and kept quiet.
"Oh" Merlin suddenly said and started to quickly leaf through the pages of the spell book that he'd used earlier that day.
"What, Merlin?" Arthur growled dangerously when Merlin didn't continue but the manservant paid no attention as his finger paused at a certain paragraph.
"Oh, yes, of course, of course" he mumbled and Arthur cuffed him over the head. "Ow!"
"Quite an annoying habit that is "Arthur mused. "Probably one you've picked up from Gaius, I dare say."
"What?" Merlin asked angrily, rubbing his head.
"The thing you do, when you start saying something and then don't continue so one has to guess what you were about to reveal?"
"Do you want to hear what I have to say or not?"
"Please, go on." Arthur made an extravagant gesture and Merlin rolled his eyes.
"Well, it seems that I may have done a wee bit of a mispronunciation." Merlin coughed nervously and then shrank back in his chair as Arthur closed in on him, looking ready to murder someone.
"What do you mean, mispronunciation?" Arthur spat out through gritted teeth.
"That's when someone pronounces a word incorrectly, sire" he answered cheekily. Apparently, while his brain had long ago registered that Arthur was very angry, his mouth obviously had not. Either that, or it had no sense of self-preservation whatsoever because Arthur's eyes narrowed to tiny slits and he let out an almost feral growl as he grabbed the front of Merlin's shirt.
"I swear to god, Merlin, if you…" He was interrupted by frantic knocking on the door and abruptly let go of Merlin's shirt as he whirled around to face the door.
"Enter" he called out and the door opened to reveal a hesitantly looking Elyan. "Yes?" Arthur asked as the knight didn't speak.
"Sire, we have a bit of a situation." The knight winced slightly as he said this. "The lords and ladies seem to have, eh, initiated some sort of competition down in the dining hall."
"Well, go on." Arthur gestured impatiently as Elyan stopped talking and awkwardly shifted from foot to foot.
"They are competing for the right to court you, sire" Elyan looked, if possible, even more embarrassed when he said this and Arthur blushed furiously at the thought.
"Merlin!" he shouted and the manservant scurried over, cautiously staying out of Arthur's reach. "Elyan, keep everyone in the dining hall for now, I'll be there shortly." The knight nodded and left and Arthur turned to Merlin. "Well, what did you find out?"
"Instead of making an impression on you, so it's easier for you to remember them, the spell seems to have made them want to impress you. That's why they all seem to…"
"Yes, yes, very good, now can you reverse it?" Arthur interrupted impatiently and his heart sank as Merlin shook his head.
"No, but it's only a temporary enchantment. By tomorrow the effect will have worn off."
"Tomorrow?" Arthur exclaimed. "And what exactly do you suggest that I do to stop my guests from killing each other until then?"
"Um, name your favourite maybe? I'd suggest one of the ladies, less of a beard burn that way…"
"Merlin!"
"Ow!"