A/N: Apologies of the lame pun of a title. I said I'd do another Shakesspear-Merlin thing... it just took me longer than I thought. Since A Midsummer Night's Dream is his most famous play to feature magic 'n' stuff I thought I'd be good to do.

Uther sighed and threw down his quill. He was too old and too warm for this. It was the middle of summer and the kingdom was experiencing one of the worst heat waves it'd had for a long time. "For love of Oberon, why is it so hot?" He asked the empty room.

"My lord, are you alright?" Catrina asked, walking in slowly.

He sighed and ran a hand over his forehead, "Yes, I'm fine."He glanced down at the papers on his desk, "Just busy with legal matters... and wedding plans. Four days seems an eternity away."

Catrina smiled and walked forward, "And I am counting the minutes until I can call you 'husband'." She brushed the desk with her fingers and moved closer to Uther, "But perhaps you should take a break..."

He looked up at her as she placed a hand on his shoulder, "Perhaps you are right..."

It was then a knight walked through the door, "My lord." He said giving a small bow.

Uther threw his head back, "For the love of- what is it?"

"There is a lord here who wishes to see you as a matter of urgency."

"Fine, send him in."

The knight left and then came back with a small group of people. An older man, two younger men and a young woman."

"My lord." The older man said, "My name is Lord Thomas. I come to you today because my daughter Guinevere wishes this man, Arthur Pendragon," He gestured to the fairer haired of the two men, "despite the fact that she is already betrothed to Cenred of Escetia." He pointed to the darker haired. "I want you to cast your verdict as to adequate punishment."

Guinevere stepped forward, unable to keep quiet any longer. "Please, my lord, Arthur is a good ad honourable man, as honourable as Cenred. Both of these men are equal yet I am forced to marry the one I don't love."

Uther leaned back and sighed, "They may be equal but as your father disapproves of Arthur, Cenred is the better man in this situation." He considered the scenario, "Guinevere, I see three choices for you: The first is to marry Cenred; the second is for you to become a nun; the third is for you to be executed for going against your father's wishes. You will make your choice in four days when Catrina and I are married."

A look of horror crossed Guinevere's face, "But- I can't-"

"Thank you." Cenred said with a slight sneer, "Your wisdom is impeccable as always."

Arthur walked forward, "My lord, I beg you to reconsider. Me and Cenred are equals in everything but our love for Guinevere and in that I excel him. Surely that overrides-"

Uther waved his hand dismissively, "My decision stands, take them away."

0000

"Why don't you just marry Cenred?" Vivian asked, playing with a lock of fair hair.

"I don't love him."

It was late evening by now. Guinevere sighed, she could never understand what Vivian saw in Cenred- though then again she didn't really understand anything about Vivian. They had known each other growing up but had grown to be so different that they probably would have hated each other if they'd met in adulthood.

"How exactly did you get him to love you so much, Gwen? I've tried everything but he still hates me?"

"I wish I knew. Maybe then I could get him to leave me alone. What was that?" She glanced to the window where she had heard a small tapping sound. This was quickly followed by another and another. She walked to the window and opened it, Arthur was standing there, throwing small pebbles at the window, "What are you doing?" She whispered, "If my father finds you he'll have you reported to the king."

"I have a plan." He replied, "Please, Guinevere, this could be our last chance to be together."

She paused for a moment before asking, "What's your plan?"

"I have an uncle, Agravaine, he lives just outside of the kingdom. If we were to elope, we could go to him, I'm sure he'd give us shelter. Then we could be married and Uther wouldn't be able to do anything because we'd be outside of his kingdom. It's perfect."

"Unless we get caught." She murmured. Letting out a breath she considered the options the king had given her, then Arthur's plan. "If we leave now, how far would we get?"

"Far enough into the woods so that they'd have a hard time finding us."

She thought again, "Yes." She said finally, "Let me just get some money and we can leave tonight."

"You're actually leaving?" Asked Vivian, who had been listening to the entire conversation with an increasing amount of disbelief.

Guinevere glanced at Vivian, "I have to, I can't spend the rest of my life married to someone I don't love." She sighed, "You've been a good friend, Vivian. I'll miss you. You might want to leave now; I don't want you to get caught up in this."

Vivian nodded, suddenly feeling very numb. She walked out of the room, bid a quick farewell to Guinevere's father then left to return home. "It's not fair." She thought, "I'm obviously prettier than Gwen. So why doesn't Cenred love me? And now I'm losing her as well. He used to love me, before he saw her. Maybe he could love me again now she's gone. I just need to do some grand gesture to win him back."

She stopped suddenly. She had gotten what she thought was a marvellous idea, "I know... I'll tell him that Gwen's eloped with Arthur. Then he'll be so angry with Gwen for running away with another man and grateful to me for telling him that he's bound to love me again." She laughed and shrill, frilly laugh and broke into a run, heading for Cenred's house.