Knights and Merlin Friendship-spanning seasons 3-5.

The first time they all were together again was many weeks after they had retaken Camelot. They hadn't tried to avoid each other, of course- it was simply that they were all so busy. Due to his father's illness, Arthur found himself acting as Prince Regent, suddenly responsible for running an entire Kingdom, rebuilding a half-ruined city, and trying to keep alert for any news of Morgana. He was stressed under his new burdens, and didn't have time to even train the knights, which he let Leon handle.

A busy Arthur meant an even busier Merlin. Merlin's tasks in all three of what he saw as his jobs in Camelot- manservant, Gaius' apprentice, and secret warlock protector- had all doubled. With Arthur filling in for the King, Merlin found himself helping Arthur more and more on things such as tax paperwork and reports from outlying villages, on top of his other duties as a manservant (although he didn't have to clean his armor as much). Since Morgana's brief, but bloody reign over Camelot, Gaius' patients had increased to far more then he alone could handle, and he often sent Merlin on errands to deliver potions, gather herbs, and treat patients with him. And on top of both of those tasks, Merlin also continued his magical chores as well: strengthening the structures when no one else was looking, contacting Kilgarrah daily to see if he had any news of where the two sisters were, and returning the cup of life to the Druids secretly. By the time he was done with all of that, Merlin had no strength to do anything else then collapse on his bed, and sleep. Though he had seen the new knights frequently around the castle, and always managed to smile or wave at them, he was to busy to seek them out on his own or stop and chat for a while.

The knights' lives were also fully occupied. Leon was now responsible for the knights training, and due to the severe losses they had suffered at the hands of the immortal army, Leon found himself surrounded by squires and lords' younger son's that had been automatically accepted because of Camelot's need for men. Unfortunately, numbers alone didn't win a battle (as they had proved time and time again) and it was Leon's job to bring all the young knights up to scratch.

Beyond all that, Leon was also mourning with the other knights. They had lost many comrades in the fight with Morgause and Morgana, and Leon found himself naturally deviating towards those that shared his grief.

Which left Gwaine, Elyan, Percival, and Lancelot.

Elyan had found someone to take over his father's forge- not as skilled as Tom had been, but far better than Elyan felt he could ever be- and was able to dedicate himself whole-heartedly into the life of a knight, along with the others four. However, they hadn't expected all the obstacles in their way.

Many of the nobles were enraged that Arthur had made a bunch of commoners knights, and went out of their way to make the newcomers feel unwelcome. The training itself wasn't any more demanding than expected, but they found it difficult to make friends with the other knights; the older ones were all still grieving, and the newest recruits snubbed them. They also had different patrols and shifts in helping rebuilding the town, leaving them with very little time to talk even with each other.

This continued until nearly a month after they retook Camelot. Until one day, after a particularly muddy training, Gwaine, as was his custom, invited the others to go to the tavern, not really expecting an affirmative reply.

To his surprise, all four of them agreed. Lancelot and Percival hadn't had a night off in a while, Elyan wanted to avoid his sister (who was currently mad at him for who knows why) and Leon felt a little guilty that he hadn't really been talking to the men who had helped save Camelot.

They passed Merlin on their way out and badgered him into joining them after he served Arthur dinner, and even extended an invite to Arthur "if the princess has time to spend with us lowly knights" Gwaine joked.

Arthur declined at first, but Merlin essentially guilt-tripped him, and they all wound up together in the tavern.

For the first few hours, it was just the general swapping of jokes and tales that was expected of a group of men in the tavern, but it slowly deteriorated into something more.

Merlin's story of the scrapes he and Will used to get into lead to him admitting he still missed his childhood best friend dearly (a confession that made Arthur guilty, and all of them resolved to spend more time with the manservant)

Leon and Elyon shared several stories about themselves and Gwen growing up, and Elyan gave Arthur a not-very veiled threat of what he would do if he hurt his sister.

Eventually, the knight's and noble's snobbish behavior came to light, and Arthur resolved to fix it immediately, and Leon privately swore to visit a couple of the offenders himself.

By this time, it was rather late, and they all made their way back to the castle, a little bit closer and a little bit happier.

As the days passed, their tasks gradually declined back into their normal workload, and they were able to spend more time with each other during the day.

Percival and Gwaine could often be found conspiring to steal food from the formidable cook, Lancelot often went with Merlin to gather herbs (and to watch Merlin do magic), and Leon taught ELyan how to track.

The tavern became a bit of an annual event, at least once a month they would all go there and spend time together, and under the warm candlelight and cool drink they shed their roles as Prince and Knight and Servant and were just friends.

They discovered Gwaine was actually a noble, and what had happened to Percival's family.

Arthur shared how worried he was for his father's recovery, and his still-mixed feelings about Morgana.

They shared tales of loves lost and won (they all laughed at Merlin's all too willing retelling of Sophia, Vivian, and Elaine, rolled their eyes at Gwaine's boasting, and comforted Merlin after they found out what happened between him and Freya (well, as close to what happened as Merlin could get)).

They once spent an entire evening bonding over their own experiences with losing a parent, or growing up without one.

After Agraviane came, and tales of sightings of Morgana reached the kingdom, as well as a sequence of bandit attacks, the tavern meetings were put on hold for a while. The six of them still went on hunts and patrols together, just them, but the tavern went unfrequented by them until after the Doracha attacked.

And Lancelot sacrificed himself.

After the funeral, they found themselves in the tavern again, the same table they had always sat at, one chair glaringly empty. They toasted to Lancelot and shared stories of the different adventures they all had with him, their first impressions, all his qualities they both loved and hated.

The tavern meetings began again, and it was there they comforted Arthur after his father died, and he became King of Camelot. They went uninterrupted (except for when Morgana took over again) for nearly four years, until they were put on hold again when Gwaine and Percival went off on a quest, and disappeared.

After they were rescued, the visits started up again, and occasionally they invited Mordred, but most of the time it was just the five of them.

After Elyan died, they visited the tavern just like they had following Lancelot's death, and from then on there were always two empty chairs, sharing in the stories and secrets and friendships that followed.

The tavern became a way they could escape with each other without having to ever leave the castle. They bonded there, and learned about each other, and grew into the people that would one day become legends.

Wow. I had no idea this would be so long….I meant to put this up last night, but was called away to make cookies. As always, reviews and requests are always welcome. Can't wait for the Merlin episode tonight!