Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.

Chapter twenty-four: Of kin, lovers and brothers.

Merlin sat in his room, watching the pale light of dawn creep through the window. His injuries had been healed, but had left him with some new scars. After he had been healed he'd gone to the druid meeting, the first meeting he'd attended as king. Merlin shut his eyes as a single tear rolled down his check. He had gone to the meeting and all had been well until they brought up the subject, it still reduced him to tears even now. He just hoped they did not find him weak, crying and mourning for the ones you love is not weakness, it is strength.

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Merlin stood listening to the druid council members speak and discuss whatever problems they were here to sort. Merlin was only half listening, even though his injury had been healed it still was causing him pain. All nine change-wings had been killed, the kingdom was safe for now. Gilli had broken a great many ribs when he had been thrown into the tree and Bercilak had sustained quite a deep cut. Beside Merlin, Iseldir was watching him carefully. It seemed he could tell there was something troubling Merlin and that it wasn't just his recently healed injuries, it was something that caused him pain far deeper than any mortal wound.

"On to a matter of great urgency, the main reason behind tonight's meeting," One druid member speaks up. "Merlin Emrys needs a queen. Our people have a king, but they also need a queen."

At this Merlin's head snaps up, at such a speed it was amazing he hadn't broken his neck. "What?" Merlin asks.

"You need a queen," The same druid replies. "You are king now, you need to choose a queen."

Merlin goes pale. "You cannot ask that of me."

"You have to have a queen, Emrys." A second druid speaks up. "All kings need a queen, someone to support them and offer them council. You more than any other need this, the burdens you carry are far greater than any other king."

Merlin shakes his head. "I cannot choose a queen."

"Then we will choose for you." A third druid speaks up.

"NO!" Merlin snaps. "I will not marry someone I do not love."

"But you need a queen!"

"I cannot take someone to be my wife and queen, when my heart belongs to another." Merlin answers.

Iseldir looks at Merlin in surprise, he had not heard of Merlin loving someone. "Who?" He asks curiously.

"I do not wish to speak about it," Merlin answers. "She is dead."

Iseldir took a sharp breathe and the council fell silent. "I am sorry."

"Don't be," Merlin muttered. "You didn't kill her, Arthur did."

Again the council was stunned into silence.

Iseldir placed a hand on Merlin's shoulder. "Tell me about her, what happened?"

Merlin smiled sadly. "It started one night, there was a storm raging and Gaius and I were returning from treating someone in the lower town. We passed the tavern, there was a cage on a cart outside. As we passed a druid girl suddenly moved inside the cage and looked at us. She looked so scared and alone. Gaius had told me to do nothing, she had been brought to Camelot to be sold to Uther. But later that night I snuck out and freed her, we hid in the catacombs under Camelot. I stole candles and food from Arthur, I even stole a dress from the lady Morgana, all for her.

"We fell in love, I told her about my magic and for a while we were happy. On the night we were going to run away together, she left early, not wanting me to leave my life in Camelot. But the thing was she was cursed. She'd change into a winged creature that killed, at night. She got caught, cornered in the court yard. Arthur dealt her a mortal wound. She fled back to the catacombs were I helped her change into the dress I'd stole. I took her to the lake of Avalon and she died in my arms. I did not have the power to save her. And so she became the lady of the lake."

With that Merlin turned and left the hall, there was only one place he had to go and one person he needed to speak with. Silent tears slipped down his cheeks, he had forgiven Arthur a long time ago. He had only done what he needed to, to protect Camelot. But Merlin would always love Freya, he loved her with all his heart.

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Merlin appeared in the crystal cave, on the floor of the cave his friends from Camelot slept. He ducked behind one of the cave walls and listened for a moment, everyone but Arthur was asleep. He had been on enough patrols and quests with the knights to know what they sounded like asleep and he lived with Gaius. Gwen was also asleep, Merlin knew so were Tristan and Isolde. Magic did come in handy.

"Arthur." Merlin whispers.

Arthur eyes snap open and he looks round.

"Arthur." He repeats.

Arthur gets to his feet and draws a sword. "Who's there?" He demands.

"Merlin!" Merlin answers, stepping out so Arthur can see him.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Merlin shrugs. "I got bored and decided to stop by, you know, see if you were going to drag me back to Camelot to wash your socks or something."

Arthur smiled. "No, really, why are you here?"

Merlin sighed. "I don't want to talk about it."

Arthur nods and sits down, Merlin sits beside him. After a moment Arthur speaks.

"I've been thinking-"

"Don't think too hard, wouldn't want you to hurt yourself." Merlin grins.

"Shut up, Merlin." Arthur smiles. "No, I was thinking about what my mother told me. It was true. You knew it was true, if you hadn't stopped me in that throne room, magic would be free. So why did you stop me?"

"You would have killed your father. Plus, not everything your mother told you was true."

"What do you mean?"

"Both she and Uther went to Nimueh. She entered the deal knowing she would die as a result, she always knew but she wanted you to live more than anything. She did not blame your father, she made the choice knowing what would happen. She loved you more than anything else. Seeing you before she died was all she needed to know she had made the right choice."

Arthur nods. "How do you know so much?"

"I can speak with the dead," Merlin answers. "Ever since the Isle of the Blessed, I have been able to speak to and see the dead. Not all the time though, it uses up a lot of magic. I can only see the dead who want to be seen. All others I have to summon through a ritual like Morgause did."

Arthur nods. "I bet you hate it sometimes."

Merlin laughs. "I always say magic is a gift, but sometimes, sometimes it feels like a curse."

Again they fall into a comfortable silence.

"I'm thinking about legalizing magic," Arthur suddenly announces. "But I have no idea how to do it. If I suddenly go 'I declare the ban on magic lifted' the council will go into uproar. So will the people, I fear."

Merlin looks at Arthur. "You know your kingdom best."

"But what should I do?" Arthur asks. "You have magic, you must have some idea."

Merlin looked at Arthur. "You are seriously asking me for help?"

"Surprising as it is Merlin, you sometimes turn out to be really wise."

Merlin laughs. "Me? Wise? I don't think so."

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"So, what do you think I should do?" Arthur asks.

Merlin glances at Arthur. "I think legalizing magic is a good idea."

"Yes, but how do I do it?"

"Well you go to the library, get Geoffrey and ask him to help you change the law. You then get some paper, write the new law down and sign it with the royal seal," Merlin explains, as if talking to a small child. "You call the council, declare a new law and then magic is legal again."

"I'm serious Merlin." Arthur replies, looking slightly annoyed.

"That is for you to decide Arthur, you are the king of Camelot."

"Please Merlin, I need help."

"When I give you help you never listen, so what will make it any different this time?"

Arthur sighs. "Just please help me, I don't know what to do."

"You are king, Arthur. The council has to listen to you, no matter what you say. You've always bossed me around saying you're king, why can't you do that to the council?"

"Merlin, you don't understand-"

"No," Merlin answers forcefully. "I understand perfectly. Today I stood before the council I am part of and told them the god honest truth, none of them listened. And as a result I and some of my friends had to go out and sort the problem ourselves. I and two others were hurt, I almost died from blood loss…. You know why they didn't listen to me? They didn't listen because I am young, because I am not even twenty-two yet. They would not listen because they did not think I had the knowledge nor wisdom they had. That I was some young headstrong boy, with a druid crown, thinking I knew best."

"They think they can pressure you into doing what they want, use you as a puppet for their personal gain. You are the king, they have to respect that. You cannot give in to them, if what they say goes against everything you believe in then listen to what they say, but do not take it to heart. You rule the kingdom, not them. You are the one who gets the blame if something goes wrong, not them. The council is there to give advice, it is your choice whether you listen to it and act on it."

Arthur just stared at Merlin for a moment. "I take it being king of the druids isn't as fun as it looks."

Merlin snorts. "Being king of the druids is no problem. I'm talking about the council that rules the magical community."

Arthur nods. "So you think I shouldn't listen to the council."

"I didn't say that," Merlin sighs. "Listen to the council, but do not blindly follow what they say. Do what you believe is right."

Arthur nods. "Right, but what happens if the council doesn't like it?"

"Then they don't like it." Merlin answers, with a slight smile.

"I bet the druids love you as king, it's like you have a no nonsense attitude."

Merlin smiles. "I have had to baby sit you for the last three or four years. How do you think I managed to put up with you?"

"You did not baby sit me," Arthur all but yelled. "You were my manservant!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Merlin laughs.

"Why did I even miss you?" Arthur sighs.

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Merlin yawned as he got to his feet. He had a busy day today, first he had a meeting with queen Annis. Merlin really wasn't looking forward to that, last time they had met hadn't been under the best circumstances. He just hoped they could form an alliance, if not that was one more enemy for them to fight. After that Merlin was meeting Alice to speak about Terrance. Merlin truly had no idea what it was going to be about, all he knew was it was about his magic. After that Merlin was meeting Gwaine's mother for a chat. The last time they had met Merlin had been in a hurry and they hadn't had chance to talk. Merlin sighed, and he still had to make time to attend his lessons. To make it worse Kilgharrah had demanded Merlin start 'dragon lord' lessons, whatever they were.

"Why couldn't today just be a nice day to relax?" Merlin asked himself. "I don't ask for much, just one day off to relax."

"You know, talking to oneself is the first sign of madness." A voice behind him speaks.

Merlin turns around to find Iseldir standing there. "Iseldir."

Iseldir smiled slightly. "I wished to speak with you."

Merlin nods towards a couple of stools. "I have time."

The two of them sit down.

"I wished to apologize for causing you pain yesterday," Iseldir explains. "I did not know of your love, Freya, if I had I would not have let them speak of such things."

Merlin nods. "It's okay, Iseldir. I understand why they want a queen, but they must understand that I only love Freya. And I always will. You must know, she is still here…. She is the lady of the lake."

Iseldir looks up sharply. "The lady of the lake?"

Merlin nods. "She gave me Excalibur and guarded it for me. It gave me a chance to see her again, I could ask for no more. People do not come back from the dead, not without a price."

Iseldir nods. "They do not."

Merlin smiles slightly. "I am sorry if this has upset any of the council. I know how they are great lovers of tradition."

Iseldir nods. "You have nothing to be sorry for, we pride ourselves on our knowledge…. Yet we did not even know this about our king."

"Well I haven't really told anyone about it," Merlin answers. "Only Gaius knew. So it's no surprise you didn't know."

"Well I must bid you good day Emrys, I have matters I must attend to." Iseldir answers, getting to his feet.

"Good day." Merlin answers.

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Arthur sighed. "I still have no idea how I'm going to go about lifting the ban on magic. I doubt it would be a good idea to just suddenly lift it."

Merlin nods. "Lift it in stages then."

Arthur looks at Merlin. "What do you mean?"

"What I said," Merlin answers with a grin. "Even you must know what 'stages' means."

Arthur sighs. "No, you idiot, I mean how do you lift a law in stages?"

Merlin looks at Arthur. "You really don't know what I mean, do you?"

"No, I don't Merlin," Arthur asks. "Otherwise I wouldn't be asking an idiot like you."

"Yet I'm still more intelligent than you."

"Shut up Merlin."

"Fine, I won't help you then."

"For the love of… Merlin, please help me."

"You must have been taught about lifting laws, right?"

Arthur nods. "Of course, I was born in a royal family you know."

Merlin rolls his eyes. "Exactly, you must know how to lift laws. So how would you lift a law?"

"Well my father never changed or removed laws and he most definitely did not tell me how to lift the one on magic. I was always told you just changed it, after all you were the one in charge of the kingdom."

"Uther really was…." Merlin shakes his head. "Well what I meant is, you lift the law on magic in stages. You have already promised to leave the druids alone, your people know this. So next time someone is thrown in front of the court judge them based on the crime they have done, not the magic they have used."

"What do you mean?" Arthur asks. "Magic would be the crime."

Merlin sighs. "Maybe I should come back tomorrow, your brain has obviously stopped working for the day…. Oh I forgot it never works."

"MERLIN!" Arthur yells. "I am the King! You can't talk to me like that."

"Yeah, you may be king, but you are no longer my king. Plus I'm king of the druids, so going on that theory, I can talk to you however I like."

"Shut up Merlin." Arthur growls.

"Funny how you only ever say that when I'm right."

"Shut up, Merlin."

Merlin grins. "Well when your brain is actually working I'll explain my plan, but it may just be too intelligent for you."

Arthur glares at him for a moment. "So when you said judge them on the crime don't judge them on the magic they used, you meant, judge them on what they used the magic for not the use of magic."

"Finally," Merlin sighs. "There is hope for Camelot yet. Yes, judge them on the crime not the magic, so if they used magic to heal someone let them go. But if they used it to steal or kill then judge them according to the punishments for those crimes, not the magic used."

Arthur nods. "Right, that's a good plan."

"Was that a compliment?" Merlin asks.

"No… More of a congratulations you can use your brain."

Merlin laughs. "Shame you can't then."

"MERLIN!"

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Merlin smiled as he pulled his cloak over his shoulders, once the law against magic was lifted he could go back to Camelot. He walked over to the window and looked over the land before him. He liked it here in the perilous lands, it was going to be a hard choice choosing where to stay. Maybe he could stay in each place on different days of the week.

"Oi, Merlin," A voice behind him shouts. "Hurry up we're about to leave for queen Annis' kingdom."

Merlin sighs, today was going to be an interesting day.

Hey all, I will soon be editing the chapters for grammar and spelling mistakes. I would love to thank TheDoctorCafferyGirl who has agreed to help me do so, thanks so much =D should be updating soon,

Blessed be,

TreeOfLife1997.