A/N, which you do not have to read by any means (but it would be nice).
Like many people, I was a bit angry with the series Finale. And, like many, I wanted to write an AU. But the thing was, the AU I was writing gradually had more and more things building up that happened in the 3-year timeskip between Series 4 and Series 5. In the end, I realised that if anyone wanted my AU, they'd have to understand what happened in the timeskip. And so I give you TWIXT TRUST AND MAGIC.
In many ways, this might be a bit mundane. I'm a social history undergrad, and it's gonna show. Not that I'll be making Merlin historically accurate in any way - it's taking place wholly in a fantasy world (dragons and magic anyone?), but I'll be using a lot of tools from my history classes to create and understand the Land of Albion - how it is and what it means. There will be economic problems and famine and a refugee crisis. There will be council meetings and battles. There will be magic used and magical incidents. There will be some very dark things, like depression and crime and a Really Big Spoiler I Can't Put Here. All to get in place for my reveal-fic, the AU of Series 5.
I hope I can keep your attention until then.
July, the morning after the wedding
"So," said Guinevere. They had had a very slow morning, disturbed only by Merlin bringing them breakfast, but tomorrow work was going to start up again. "Do you have any ideas as to what I ought to do tomorrow?"
"Didn't you have some ideas?" asked Arthur.
"Some. But I wanted to talk about it with you. I was thinking that I might study with Geoffrey and continue my work in the infirmary for now."
They had discussed this between themselves earlier. Guinevere could read, write, and cipher, she was trained in nursing, housekeeping, and accounting, and she had a very good brain, but there simply hadn't been the time or opportunity for Guinevere to get the formal education expected of a queen.
"You'll be expected at all court functions," said Arthur, "And I'll probably be asking your advice a lot."
Gwen laughed. "In that case, I ought to join Geoffrey in the library as soon as possible."
"Easy, wife. We've only been married for twenty-odd hours."
"I'd forgotten," she said, and they both laughed again.
"Seriously, Arthur," said Gwen when they'd finished, "You need to go back to the rebuilding efforts as soon as possible. And I'd like to help you, now that I mention it. We have the fruit of Morgana's campaign to deal with. And we are still dealing with the effects of the Dorocha."
Gwen was right. After the dust from last Samhain and Arthur's coronation had settled, the demographic disaster of the Dorocha had quickly begun to make itself known. Whole villages and large chunks of cities had been wiped out, leaving proportionate numbers of women and children without a benefactor. In some villages, so many people had died that it was either difficult or impossible for the survivors to continue farming. Young men, if they could, took to the woods for forestry and hunting; others left for other villages where they had relatives, and still others took to the roads or the cities for work. The amount of refugees on the road had increased, and increases in refugees always meant increases in crime and banditry, with some men turning to it out of sheer desperation, and others out of the prospect of easy pickings. After that, Camelot's cities had begun to grow overcrowded, and with overcrowding had come the increases in food prices, made worse because there were so few people left to till the land. Camelot's tax base had taken a pretty serious hit, but then, so had the tax base of every other kingdom in Albion, so in relative terms their treasury was all right. But the high prices of food meant that food was all that people were buying, which meant that craftsmen's wages were falling.
"We have a lot of socio-economic problems to sort out," said Arthur. "Tristan and Isolde may have had the right idea about Free Trade."
"Well, the way I see it," said Guinevere, "We have too many people in the towns and cities and not enough in the countryside. Of course, we need to help them start farming again, but they must do so on good land and in safety. And until then, something needs to be done for the people until we are able to help them help themselves. They will need to be fed this winter."
"Well, you can get on that."
"Arthur, I know almost nothing about agriculture. I've never lived on a farm, not for any length of time. I suppose I'll have to get Geoffrey, Merlin and Justin to teach me about that first."