13: Home Again

The argument had been going on for days. When Merlin and Arthur had first sent for the other leaders of the now finished rebellion, they had simply assumed that the necessity of national unity was obvious to everyone. The past week of bickering between thirty-nine men and women who'd fought in the rebellion seated in the throne room of the Lord of Camelot had proven otherwise.

Arthur, being trusted and well-liked by everyone present, had been volunteered to lead the discussion and maintain civility. At first, he'd been able to do so quite well, but the issue was rather a contentious one and there began to be more and more frequent outbursts of incivility. Whenever one of these occurred and Arthur found himself unable to get the involved parties to settle down, he simply called an end to the discussion so that everyone could cool off. This, in addition to the fact that many of the present delegates tended to talk a lot without saying very much, had left the discussion of the establishment of an Argentian nation rather than a collection of city states in more or less the same place as it had been when they had first started.

Now, another one of these outbursts seemed to be brewing, this time between Lord Seraph and one of the delegates from Caerleon. Merlin had actually paid very little attention to the goings on since the start of the arguments and had said very little, assuming that the disagreements would eventually settle and they could actually get to the how of the nation rather than simply discussing if it would happen at all. This, however, did not seem to be the case. If anything, the situation was escalating and they were no closer to settling the issue.

Finally, before the outburst could occur, Merlin stood up and spoke, loudly and clearly. "Look," he said. "For those of you who are opposed to a single Argentian nation, I understand your concerns. After all, we did just fight a war to win the sovereignty of our cities and the liberties of our people back from an empress. None of us wants to then just hand that all away again to a king. And that is exactly why we need to band together."

"I'm sorry but-" Seraph began to retort but Merlin interrupted him.

"I'm not finished yet." Once the Lord shut up, Merlin continued. "The population of the whole island has been devastated by both Morgana's plague and the war. Much of the once great cities of the island lays vacant or in ruins, often both. The great navy of Camelot that once protected all your cities from the vikingr is all but gone thanks in part to Morgana and also to Uther Pendragon. The other cities like Thorncoast and Ferroton that once had similar forces have also been disarmed by Morgana's destruction. But raiders from the north are the least of our worries.

"You're all concerned about losing your sovereignty again to another ruler but in establishing the unity of Argentia against outside invaders, we can avoid that. Should we really be afraid that the people we fought alongside, our brothers in arms, will tread upon our liberties? Or should we be more concerned about opportunistic rulers from the outside, like the king of England or the king of France? Rulers who know full well that the island has been weakened and who do not rely on mercenaries to fight for them but rather on their bannermen who are far more reliable.

"You can bicker all you want, or cast insults at each other rather than have intelligent discussion about what we should do. But remember that the longer you do that, the more time we give foreigners to make plans to invade us a second time and when they do, they will almost certainly crush us, unless we are prepared. Unless, we are united against them."

"Foreigners like Morgana you mean?" Lord Seraph jabbed. "You know, she wouldn't be a problem if you hadn't let her go. Why did you let her go Merlin? Is it perhaps because you really are a traitor and you're plotting something with her?"

Merlin was at a loss for words at first but eventually he found his voice, "She won't be a problem anymore."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because I magically bound her to her word."

"Would have been simpler if you'd just killed her."

Merlin didn't respond. The truth was, he hadn't really thought about why he'd let Morgana live. Perhaps it had been out of pity. The way she'd seemed so destroyed after she'd been beaten. She'd built her life around taking revenge on Uther and when that had been done she wanted revenge on his whole house and as she descended deeper into the black pit of violence, she'd lost her true self to a creature that thirsted only for power and blood. Such a fate, Merlin thought, was punishment in and of itself.

Lord Aquila rose to respond to Merlin's earlier argument about the necessity of unity, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen across the room. "You speak well and I would be a fool to deny the truth of what you speak. But is it really wise to accept a ruler of this island from among its disparate peoples on the offhand chance that we get invaded by another ruler? You may think otherwise Merlin, but this island is not one nation but thirteen distinct ones. There are four different languages spoken on the island, one of them can only be heard in one city while the others are spoken predominantly in one city or another. Even those cities that speak the same language have different customs and manners that set them apart. You may get the people of Civs Aquila or Camelot to accept me as their ruler, but Borthladd Britannia and Embercross would not. Nor would we be likely to accept Lord Cadwalader or General Evawn as our king in this part of the island."

Merlin stood quietly for a moment thinking on what the other leader had just said before finally replying. "In answer to your question, the answer is no. It isn't wise to accept a single ruler, nor do I have any delusions about thinking that we could get everyone who was involved in the rebellion to accept a single ruler, even one as honorable as Arthur. We all thirst too much for independence and the rule of one can easily become tyrannical. We need only look to Camelot's recent history for proof of this. But just because we shouldn't have a single ruler doesn't mean we can't have any leaders of the alliance nor does it mean that we must choose only one among us.

"As to your concern about Argentia being a single nation it is true, there are differences between us, but those differences are fewer and less meaningful now that we have endured this rebellion. The fight forced us to work more closely with the people of other cities than we had ever done before. The men who are now living in their home cities are no longer just people of Argurbus, or Wolfmoon. They're people of Argentia. Through contact with the other peoples of the island we have all acquired some of the customs and manners and even much of the languages of our neighbors. And those differences that remain are of less importance because of the necessity of working together to rebuild after the bloodshed. But most of all, we are a nation united, perhaps not by customs or language, at least not at the moment, but we are united by a principle, an idea, and that principle is the very principle that we all fought against Morgana for. We fought for our liberty."

"Forgive me Merlin," Lord Caerleon began. "But it sounds like you want to establish a unified nation but one that is not unified by a monarch but rather by what, an idea? And one that is ruled not by one man but by many? Has such a country ever existed? Can such a country exist?"

"Admittedly no there haven't been any like what you' described," Merlin replied. "At least not one exactly like that. But there have been similar countries. Rome for example."

Lord Seraph scoffed at this. "You Westerners and your love of Rome," he said shaking his head derisively. "Don't you remember what happened to Rome? Their rule by many fell away to rule by one which itself fell to rule by foreign invaders. Hardly a society to model ours on."

"Yes, Rome fell," Merlin conceded. "But it fell because its people abandoned liberty and personal responsibility for security and wealth in the immediate term. It fell because its rulers became addicted to slavery and political backstabbing. These things can be avoided. Here, we have no slaves and we can take steps to preserve liberty by making the state just powerful enough to defend the nation but not so powerful that it tramples our rights."

A contemplative silence fell over the chamber as Merlin finished. It lasted several minutes before Arthur broke it in an effort to push things along again. "So, do we have an agreement? Shall we proceed with the planning?"

A murmur of assent rippled through the gathered delegates before Lord Cadwalader rose and addressed everyone. "I think there is a general agreement that we should proceed, but I should give fair warning, that every aspect of this new union must be up for negotiation and I reserve the right to depart from this alliance should I find that any part of it is unacceptable both for myself and for the people of Borthladd Britannia."

"I shall reserve the same right," Evawn interjected.

"And I," replied Lord Aquila.

Soon it was understood that all those present had reserved the same right with regards to their respective cities and the discussion of the more technical details began. From the outset, it was clear that this would be more of a military alliance than a political one. Had Merlin not actively participated in the following discussions, it would have been little more than a continuation of the rebel alliance. But Merlin knew that in order to truly secure Argentia's future, there would have to be more than just military cooperation among the cities of the island. For one thing, while there had been a loose mutual defense pact existing between all the cities in the past, it had always been Camelot that handled the greatest portion of the island's defense with its powerful navy. That had to change. If Argentia was going to defend itself in the post war period, all the cities would have to contribute equally to defense. Merlin was able to get this provision added to the agreement, on the condition that the leaders of the other cities have a say in military policy rather than having the entire military force of the island controlled exclusively by the king whom everyone had agreed early on would be Arthur.

However, even the discussion on who would be king was contentious. Though everyone believed Arthur would be the best choice, the concern was on how to determine who would head the alliance after Arthur was no longer king. This was an issue that had been raised first by the delegates of Camelot but also advanced by the delegates of Embercross. The people of both cities had experienced severe oppression at the hands of their lords. The concern was that if the position were to be hereditary, there would come a time when the kings were no longer fit to rule and the only way to remove them in favor of a better ruler would be through military force.

Though the issue was important to Camelot and especially Embercross, which had essentially been a kind of slave state even before the war, Lord Aquila and a few others had also taken interest, though for different reasons. Lord Aquila's concern was the issue of succession. "A valid concern," he'd said when the first arguments for a non-hereditary leadership had been made. "But I think there are other reasons to be concerned with the matter of succession. Suppose, for example, the king were to die before his heir was of age, or perhaps even before he had an heir. Who would then fill the vacancy? Elsewhere that task would fall to a regent until a suitable heir was able to take charge. But this presents problems since the regent could easily just put themselves in charge in perpetuity." The solution had been a kind of elective monarchy similar to that of the Holy Roman Empire. It was agreed that when the time to decide the king's successor came, the sovereign leaders of each city would decide on a new one from among their number.

Another thing that Merlin had insisted upon was open markets and free movement of people between the cities. At first he had been ridiculed for the suggestion but he was backed by Lord Cadwalader who helped him make the case that the best way to return the island to prosperity, which was badly needed to fund the defense of the realm, was to allow people to trade freely not just between cities but within them. This too was eventually agreed upon.

As the discussions continued into the next day, it was General Evawn's turn to insist upon something. "Commoners ought to be allowed a seat at the alliance councils," he'd said.

"Why on earth would we do that?" Seraph had asked incredulously. "Commoners outghn't have the right to rule, they are subjects of the crown, not the crown itself."

This time Lord Aquila sided with Seraph though not for the same reasons. "My concern isn't so much whether commoners have the right but rather whether they have the capacity to make such decisions as would need to be made on the alliance council."

"I'm a commoner am I not?" Evawn returned. "Do you think me incapable of making policy?"

"Well no but-"

"It's commoners who'll be fighting to defend the island and it's commoners who are subject to the land's laws. We ought to have a say in how these things play out," Evawn interrupted. The issue once again divided the assembled delegates with Borthladd Britannia and part of Camelot siding with Embercross. The rest of the alliance, however, was far more obstinate in this matter than they'd been on other things prompting Evawn and Cadwalader to threaten to withdraw from the negotiations. At this moment, Arthur, who had mostly just focused on keeping order and setting the agenda up to this point suggested a compromise. The result was that the alliance agreed that commoners would have a say in the governance of the island, but that power would be divided between the low born and the high born. Instead of one council, there would be two, one on which the sovereigns of the member cities sat and had primary control over military matters and secondary control over domestic ones and another on which representatives of the commoners would sit and have powers that were the reverse of the sovereigns.

After this matter was settled, the issue of funding for the military was raised. It had already been determined that funding for the alliance as a whole would be managed by the commoners' council but how the funding would be collected was still an unanswered question. Merlin suggested that it simply be a matter of having the alliance members pay into the organization in a manner similar to paying tribute. However, this was objected to out of concern that the individual cities may not pay their dues and that the only way to recover them would be for the national military to engage in war on the people it was supposed to protect. It was thus decided that taxes should be collected directly rather than through the cities as tribute from the various sovereigns.

Matters of currency were also an issue. At the outset, each city had wanted its own currency to become the national currency or else to simply have thirteen separate currencies. After all, it was an alliance, not a country in its own right. Of course, Merlin fully intended that even though Argentia was still closer to thirteen different nations than it was to one, that it should eventually become one nation. He thus suggested that the solution to the problem would be to make all thirteen currencies acceptable in all thirteen cities, essentially transforming the thirteen currencies into one national currency.

Many other things were discussed in the following days including how justice would be administered and a national language, but eventually, the final articles of the alliance were agreed upon and the Argentian Alliance was born. After everything had been agreed upon Merlin said, "We should write the agreement down."

"Why?" asked Lord Caerleon.

"So we have a record. And so we can distribute that record across the country so that people know what it means to be in the Alliance," Merlin replied. "So that that can then be passed down generation to generation."

To this everyone agreed including Arthur who replied, "An excellent idea Merlin. Perhaps you would like to write it down?"

"I already have," he replied, drawing out a stack of parchments with notes of the proceedings scrawled all over them. "They just have to be cleaned up a little is all." By the following day, Merlin had thirteen copies of the agreement written out, one for each of the sovereigns. After all the documents had been signed, Merlin used a duplicating charm to copy them for distribution among the citizens of the various cities.

Though Merlin had hoped there would be some period of rest now that the convention had ended, he knew not to expect it. Almost as soon as they'd finished, discussions began on how best to rebuild the defense forces of the island. In addition to that, there were the issues surrounding the rebuilding of Camelot. Needless to say, they all had their work cut out for them and Merlin did his best to help Arthur with the load. Finally, nearly a year after the agreement had first been signed, things had been moved along the road to recovery enough that Merlin could take a rest.

For the next two weeks he started rebuilding Ekelhart's farm. The morning after their victory the previous year, he'd gone outside the city walls to find it exactly as he'd left it. A smoldering pile of ash and rubble. Morgana, it seemed, had never taken the time to rebuild it, or even to clean it up. After asking around the town, Merlin discovered that she hadn't let anyone else do it either.

As sad as it was that the once great farm had remained ruined and abandoned for so long, it was also somewhat relieving, it saved Merlin the trouble of figuring out how land rights would work in the new regime, especially since at that time, that new regime had yet to figure itself out. It also wasn't unexpected that the farm would have been left by Morgana. She had plenty more like it and she wasn't driven by a desire to create or preserve. She was driven by vengeance against the Pendragons, a vengeance which had poisoned her until it grew into an insatiable powerlust. Such a person could not be a builder, only a taker, and a destroyer.

Merlin had also taken an interest in the pumphouse and had gone to see it, only to find it in ruins. The machinery was either rusted or rotted and mold grew on the stone walls. Merlin hadn't any experience with such things as the construction and maintenance of buildings and machinery, so there was nothing he would have been able to do there. He would have to find someone, an engineer, who could fix it.

Arthur had been doing his part as well and was turning out to be a far better Lord of Camelot than his father, despite having fewer resources and men at his disposal. Of course he also had Guinevere to help him. She'd rushed to Camelot as soon as she'd heard of their victory. When she'd arrived, Arthur had proposed to her and she'd accepted. Now they were married. The wedding had taken place on Liberty Day, which had been made a national holiday the day after the agreement had been signed.

So the days proceeded uneventfully as the island got back on its feet and prospered once again. The navy was quickly rebuilt and although most of the ships were built and harbored in Camelot's port, they no longer flew the banners of Whitecastle and Pendragon but instead the banner of the Alliance, a silver crown on crimson surrounded by thirteen silver stars. The vikingr who once threatened the island were once again kept at bay and the whispers of foreign powers' designs on the silver isle that had concerned Merlin from the start had quieted down. Arthur had also established a group of elite fighters who would be charged with safeguarding the peace in the realm and, if need be, beyond. These were his Knights of the Round Table. Among the first to be knighted were Sirs Cadogan and Bedivere who were rewarded for their services during the rebellion.

The Alliance was also, in practice, becoming less of a simple alliance and more of a single, integrated nation thanks to the unified currency and the free movement of people and goods between the various cities of the island. The languages were blending together even more than they had during the rebellion and customs that could only have been found in Borthladd Britannia previously, could now be seen as far west as Camelot and Ferroton.

Everything was going the way it should have. However, as the winter began to draw in ever closer, Merlin found himself developing an inexplicable sense of dread. No one else seemed to be affected, only him. The dread began to manifest itself as vague dreams, only half remembered by morning's light. Then the dream returned. The first dream, the dream that had haunted him since his first days at Hogwarts. Merlin awoke in fear and confusion. It couldn't be possible, Morgana had been defeated. He understood that Arthur was the red dragon and Morgana the white and that the white had forced the red out of Camelot. But the red dragon had returned. The rebellion was won.

Despite what he tried to tell himself, however, Merlin knew that they had not yet seen the last of Morgana. Somehow, somewhere, she was plotting a sinister return to power, and a revenge on both Arthur and Merlin. Merlin didn't know what she was planning, or where she was, but he knew that he had to stop her, and stop her he would. The red dragon would never again be forced from Camelot. Never. Merlin resolved to stop Morgana, and this time, he would do it for good, even if it meant killing her in cold blood.