The meal was a strained affair. Arthur was beginning to wonder why his father had asked him to dine with him and Morgana. Morgana was wishing she had gone with her first thought of faking a headache. Then she had wondered what was going on between Uther and Arthur. It was certainly something to do with Merlin, and Arthur's continually irrational response when it came to him. So, she had dressed for dinner, in anticipation of fireworks. It was disappointing so far, still the background was intriguing.
Arthur's servant getting himself poisoned for his master was not such an unusual thing. Merlin doing it for Arthur had caused some talk, and Arthur running off on a quest to save Merlin was causing even more. And it was quite clear to everyone that Uther had thought the scenario a perfect chance to get rid of Merlin.
Morgana watched the silence, feeling bored and irritable. Arthur was just fiddling with his food, while Uther ate, his eyes set steadily on his son. She wondered if she could bring up her headache excuse. This time she didn't think Uther would accept it that easily. She was getting so desperate she was starting to think she would have to start talking herself, with a conversation so vacuous that both men would not be able to take it. At least then they might start saying what they really wanted to say.
Then Morgana smiled.
"How's Merlin?"
Arthur's head jerked up in surprise, he frowned as he looked at her. Uther's chewing slowed and he looked at Morgana with interest. Morgana kept her eyes on Arthur.
"After the poisoning, he's all right?"
"Fine," Arthur said.
"I saw him falling over your armour this morning. Are you sure he isn't still feeling a little weak?"
"He's fine, Morgana. I'm not going to let him over do it."
"From what you say, he doesn't do anything."
Arthur glared at her, angry retorts building up in him. She could always do this to him, especially if she stayed calm. Arthur knew full well she could manipulate him, and he fell for it every time.
"He does enough," Arthur snapped.
"For heaven's sake, Arthur!" Uther suddenly yelled. "He's just a servant!"
Arthur looked at his father, then at Morgana, then back to Uther again. Morgana watched calmly. Now she forgot her headache. This was getting interesting. They might even get to find out exactly what Merlin had, that nobody else did. Morgana didn't think it was just the beating that caused it, but none of the knights of Camelot would dare challenge Arthur over Merlin. Nobody could. No one could find out what was really going on.
She and Uther waited with great anticipation. Arthur was going to say something.
"Possibly," Arthur said.
Morgana sat back in her chair and rolled her eyes. The headache was actually starting to make itself a reality. Give it a minute or so, and she could really act her excuse out.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Uther exploded, unable to contain himself any more, the servants that were in the room all tensed. Morgana saw them, watching carefully. Uther was starting to shake with anger, and pent up tension. Arthur seemed to look increasingly relaxed, the more his father riled.
"Do you really want to know?" Arthur asked, posing the question seriously, his expression matching it. He was looking at his father with interest. Morgana wanted to shout 'yes!' at him. This was the closest anyone had got to the information they all wanted. Uther could quite easily, with an angry wrong word, make Arthur pull back again, and refuse to give details. Instead, Uther answered the only way that would make Arthur continue. He nodded and kept his mouth shut. Arthur blinked in shock, reached for another slice of meat and started to pull it into small strips with his fingers. He popped one into his mouth and then looked at his father, and then at Morgana. She tried not to look too eager.
"It's like everyone doesn't realise that I know what people say about me. Prince Arthur, the spoilt little bully. Who prances around in his armour, thinking he's big and brave, I think that is an accurate quote from you Morgana, isn't it?"
She could feel her face starting to flush. It was what she had said to Gwen once, loudly and with others hearing, at a joust, just once. People clapped Arthur, cheered for him. Because directly afterwards he had unhorsed his challenger. He was the prince of Camelot, they wanted him to win. When it was that scenario, Arthur was something to be proud of. It was just there were a good number of other times, he was an idiot.
"I think Merlin really honed it down, with the word 'pratt'. It seems to be remaining a favourite of his," Arthur mused.
"And you allow him to be insolent!" Uther said.
"Yes, I suppose I do," Arthur agreed, eating a little bit more.
Morgana noticed that Uther didn't know what the hell to say, neither did she to be honest.
"If one person shows you a lack of respect, then others will, the knights will," Uther said.
"No, they won't, they know full well I won't tolerate it from them, or anyone else."
"Just Merlin?" Morgana asked, trying to keep the conversation on track and Uther from exploding.
"Yeah, I remember when he first appeared, just being an idiot and insulting me."
"He didn't know who you were," Morgana said.
"That doesn't make my behaviour any better. It also obviously meant that not one other person around me would ever tell me anything other than what I wanted to hear. Even when he knew who I was it didn't stop him. I don't think he could hide anything from anyone. He's just too honest. Even if he is a useless servant."
"You can dismiss him," Uther said.
Arthur looked at him, frowning, looking almost incredulous at the suggestion.
"And how do I do that?" Arthur asked. "The King of Camelot gave him the position, for saving my life, if I remember correctly. You are the one that put him in that position, how do I remove him and countermand the King's order?"
"Because the King will allow you to do it!"
Arthur shook his head. "You said that for what he did he deserved something special. Not only that, he did it again. He saved my life by drinking that poison."
"But you had no right to go off risking your life for him."
"I had every right," Arthur said. "I risk my life every day, I patrol this kingdom, I fight for it, I compete in the tournaments representing it."
"That's different," Uther said. "That is what you were born to do."
"And protecting people isn't? What I do gives people confidence in me, isn't that what you said. I can't go anywhere without anything I do being assessed, and talked about. Why the hell do you think I behave like I do?"
"Like a pratt," Morgana said. Arthur glared at her, heaved out a heavy breath and rolled his eyes.
"Maybe, but I know people watch everything I do. It's not just you," Arthur said to Uther. "Everyone does, and if I can't protect my own idiotic, annoying manservant, then what hope do I have for protecting a kingdom."
"The people don't see it like that," Uther said.
"Yes, they do. A lot of people could not believe that Merlin challenged me like that the first time. I couldn't believe it, there was something about it, at the time, I couldn't work it out. Now, I think I can,"
"What?" Morgana said.
"He's so open, and honest; and yes he is the only person in the world that can insult me like that, anyone else will end up in the stocks."
"And you let him off!" Uther snapped.
"Yeah, because… I don't know. It's kind of nice."
"What is?" Morgana asked. Her headache was bowing out of this conversation. She looked at Arthur, so did Uther. Both wanting to know what Merlin did.
"It's a bit hard to explain, he's just something that is… I can only really put it into one word. It kind of explains everything."
"So what's that then?" Morgana asked.
Arthur sighed. There were, in fact, many words that could be used to describe his hopeless, innocent and usually baffled servant. Arthur could pick out hundreds, but one fitted. Only one word really worked, it said everything to him, and probably to so many others, it said nothing. But in the end, it just really summed everything up.
"He's just," Arthur sighed and said the word.
"He's just… Merlin!"
