AN: I had a plot bunny and fallowed it through. Unfortunately, Merlin is very out of caracter and I think Uther is too. Please review and tell me how I can get better. Also, Eli and Sarabi belong to me everyone else is not mine.
The meeting room had been fairly quiet. Only the rustle of papers sounded through the room as documents were looked over and changes made. In the room just hours before there had been a large argument over what the peace treaty would include. Camelot, which was run by King Uther, had been on the brink of war with the land of Covolt, which was now run by Queen Sarabi.
Before Queen Sarabi and her younger brother, Crowned Prince Eli, their crazy father was in power. King Mambo was… not right in the head. He was rude, paranoid, and a monster. He taxed the people far more than they could afford, causing extreme poverty. He banished magic users to Camelot because he thought they were all planning a rebellion. Dragons had almost gone extinct in Covolt because Mambo demanded the overhunting of them. All documents about the Mage Wars were burned and healing was banned. King Mambo died because he went into the judgment room and magic saw the things he did. Magic, in all of her glory, killed Mambo.
The last document Mambo passed allowed only for his son to be king, and so the son ruled. For the four years that Eli ruled he did all that he could to help the people. He abolished the taxes his father set up, changed the form of currency from gold (which they had little of) to copper. Eli looked into why his people were unhappy and discovered the insane amount of money each person had to pay for education, and so, with help from his newly appointed advisors, Eli made all education free. Eli helped the dragons go from extinct in the wild, to vulnerable. Eli brought back all parselmouths to make sure each dragon was happy and the species overall was getting better. The last thing Eli did was change the last document his father put in place so that the people could choose their own leader.
While Eli had been working to make things better, his older sister became one with the people in a way. Her first love, before she and her father were banished, was a serving girl. Guinevere, the girl's name, was forced into the life of serving when her father became too poor to support both himself and his daughter. Gwen, as she liked to be called, fled to Camelot to live with her uncle at the age of fourteen. The loss of her first love hurt Sarabi hard and in an attempt to feel better, Sarabi went to many bars. One night at some nameless tavern, Sarabi got into a long conversation with the owner. The owner told her of his problems and Sarabi told him her life story. Soon, Sarabi was talking to all of the people and they began to have faith in their royals again. When the people were finally allowed to choose their own leader, Sarabi was unanimously wanted.
That was how Eli ended up being the foreign affairs advisor and making peace talks with the less friendly Camelot. Uther had no idea Covolt hid magic users and that was where most of the druids hid. Uther also didn't know that the land was ruled by a "Queen."
The meeting was just about to end when a young girl burst into the room. She gasped for breath as she told Eli the message she was sent to give.
"The Lady Morgana is in Covolt being judged by magic right now. Her sister Morgause is in holding to be judged as well. It's been three days already," the girl panted before she fainted on the floor.
Eli stood and walked to the girl before gently nudging her with his foot. When no response came, he picked the girl up and began to carry her from the room.
"What do you think you're doing? We're not done yet," Uther snapped at Eli.
"You may not treat your servants well," Eli began, "But we take very good care of ours in Covolt. It's likely this girl has been running almost nonstop for the past three days. I will make sure the girl is taken care of."
With that said, Eli swept out of the room.
Merlin woke just before sunrise to start his daily tasks. First he would dress, eat a little bread in the kitchen, grab a plate of food for Arthur, grab a second plate for the guest he'd been assigned to serve. Then, Merlin would do chores for Arthur, the guest and do running around for Gaius. At least, it would be if the royal guest was anything like others.
Merlin often found himself eating his bit of bread with Eli, the current guest. Eli would also help him do chores for Arthur, like mucking out the stables and cleaning Arthur's clothes. Then, the two would help Gaius in any way that he needed. Finally, the two would just hang out with each other at the tavern or in Eli's assigned room.
It was because of the daily ritual that Merlin shared with Eli that he knew when Eli was ill one day. Eli, who was usually first in the kitchen, was nowhere to be seen. Eli was not in the stables when Merlin went to start his chores after waking Arthur. Eli was also not in Gaius's quarters when Merlin when to help Gaius with whatever was needed.
Merlin was also prone to freak outs. When Arthur was in possible danger, he got scared. When Morgana had betrayed them, he was afraid. When Morgause almost died and Morgana's magic went wild, Merlin was panicked. It stands to reason than that when Eli didn't show up all day; Merlin went through the list of all the possible things that could have happened. Maybe Eli had a headache and was sleeping it off. Perhaps someone came in the night to collect Eli and take him back home? What if a druid stole Eli in his sleep or worse, Eli had been assassinated by a druid? Fueled by all the horrifying thoughts, Merlin ran to his secret crush's room.
When Merlin slammed the door open, a loud groan was heard from the bed. Merlin in his haste to make sure Eli was alright tripped over a chair and knocked the only candle lighting the room onto the floor. Only the sunset outside lit the lavish room now.
Merlin, who had tripped over his own two feet, fell half on half off the bed. The bundled up figure groaned softly and quietly asked Merlin to make sure the door to the room was closed. Blushing softly, Merlin did so before carefully making his way back to the bed, ignoring all the things he knocked over on his way to the bed before.
Eli's head poked out from beneath the blankets and Merlin placed a hand on his forehead. It didn't feel too warn so what was wrong with Eli? Eli's eyes glowed golden for a second and the candles Merlin knocked over earlier flew back on the table. Merlin gasped softly before backing away from the bed in freight. The only other magic user Merlin had met was Morgana and she became evil.
"Merlin," Eli's voice was weak and pitiful, "Don't fear me, please."
Merlin spent the night in Eli's room, waiting for the man he cared about to come to and talk about what happened with the candles.