A/N: I'm posting again after a long break for the holidays (and subsequent recovery). But I've been writing this whole time (albeit in dribs and drabs) and the story continues once more!

They were nearly late to the ceremony. The Doctor disappeared into the TARDIS for an unreasonably long time, and reemerged wearing his tux.

"Looking sharp," Jack said, whistling. "But it'll definitely make you stand out in the crowd."

"Yeah, well," the Doctor said, dismissively, "I'm a wizard. We're meant to dress eccentrically."

After he'd dressed, Jack escorted the Doctor up to Arthur's chambers. The young king had himself just finished dressing. To Jack's practiced eye, he looked equal parts hopeful and terrified.

"Merlin!" Arthur cried. "Have you come to rescue me?" He nodded greeting to Jack as well.

"Do you need rescuing?" The Doctor asked. "I thought you volunteered for this."

Arthur pulled his surcoat over his head. It was awkward; his left wrist was stiff and weaker than it should be. That, and a limp in his left leg, were the permanent legacy of his duel with Jack. "I volunteered to marry my Guinevere," Arthur said, pointedly, smoothing the front of his surcoat, "And, in earnest, I volunteered for the alliance with Leodegrance. But if I could simply be married, instead of having to get married..."

"I know what you mean," Jack said, with sympathy. "I can tell you from experience that there's nothing you can do but suffer through it."

"I wouldn't have thought you the marrying kind, Captain," the Doctor said, his eyebrow raised.

"I was never very good at it," Jack said, grinning.

"Well, Merlin," Arthur said, "If you will not rescue me, then I think that we are behind time to make our appearance- though perhaps no one will even see me with you attired so." He smiled in the direction of the Doctor and his thoroughly anachronistic tuxedo.

"Surely they'll be paying too much attention to the bride to notice either one of us anyway," the Doctor said, following Arthur to the door.

"Politic," Arthur commented, laughing, and they were gone.

Jack was left to make his way to his place on the parade ground- with all haste. That place was just outside the hall. He was lined up on one side of the road with the other knights of Arthur's household. The men that Leodegrance had offered as a wedding gift were lined up on the other side. Jack gave a British military salute to the man opposite him, grinning. The other knight looked confused.

The first sign of the approaching wedding procession was the music. In a less elaborate marriage ceremony, children would have run after the procession, shouting and banging on homemade drums. Here, there were what sounded like ranks of musicians playing music that was both loud and joyful. A few minutes after he first heard the procession, it finally came into sight. There were two columns. The far column was headed by Guinevere, veiled and dressed richly in blue and gold. Guinevere was escorted by her father, and flanked by her mother and the rest of her family. Arthur's colors stood out against her black-and-gold garbed family. It was a visual reminder that their daughter would leave them today to join another man's household.

Kinless Arthur stood at the head of the near column, flanked by Kai and the Doctor. Kai, unusually, was wearing his own standard (azure, two keys adorsed, or), showing that he stood in his own person as Arthur's foster brother, and not as the captain of Arthur's guard. On his other side, the Doctor walked with his hands shoved in his pockets, grinning at the though it were a vision from the future, Jack could hear the Doctor bragging about having stood in Arthur and Guinevere's wedding.

There were children present in the procession, though they were too well-behaved to shout. They marched alongside, tossing flowers and sweets to the crowd, smiling and laughing. Behind them came the dancers, and the jugglers, and the acrobats. They were a riot of sound and color, silks and balls and bodies flying through the air. The crowd gasped and clapped as they approached. Jack smiled, and then readied himself.

As the procession approached, Jack and his fellow knights stood at attention,their swords raised in a saluteas the royal couple passed by. They joined the procession as it passed; Guinevere's men joining with Arthur's in a symbolic gesture. Jack was one of the last to fall in line; Kai had placed him as close to the end as his status would allow. It was meant as an insult, but Jack didn't mind. It gave him plenty of chance to see the procession, and plenty of opportunity to get a good vantage point on the ceremony after he arrived in the Great Hall.

He ended up towards the side of the pavilion at the end of the hall. He was at an awkward angle, but close enough to see Arthur and Guinevere as they took their places at the center of the pavilion (Leodegrance releasing her with the same air with which one releases a hawk to fly, Arthur masking his nervousness as she approaches with a practiced facade of calm).

The Archbishop Dubricius took the stage, his robes making him look like a ship in full sail. He spoke, but Arthur and Guinevere barely looked at him. Jack watched them sneak shy glances at each other, as though they were afraid they might be caught at it. When their hands were bound together, Arthur's hand trembled, and Guinevere blushed. When the Archbishop crowned them with garlands of flowers, Arthur smiled as though he might forget how to frown. Behind them, the Doctor stood, rocking back and forth just slightly on the balls of his feet, grinning broadly.

The Archbishop finished his blessing, and raised their bound hands to the crowd. The cheering was overwhelming, and Jack couldn't stop himself smiling. "People of Camelot!" Arthur cried, stepping forward, "I present to you your queen!" Guinevere bowed her head, shyly. "Her grace and beauty will bless us all," he continued. "And on this most joyous day, it seems right to the both of us that we return that joy to our subjects." He turned, and nodded encouragingly to Guinevere.

She stepped forward. "People of Camelot!" she cried. Her body language was demure, but her voice was steady and clear. "To those of you assembled here today, we give a boon. If it should be in our power to give, you may ask it of us."

The crowd broke out in murmuring. Arthur stepped forward again. "To that end," he said, "We shall retire, and in a moment we will hold court in this hall, that we may hear each of you, according to your station." With that, he and Guinevere turned, and went from the stage.

"Very clever," a voice said, in Jack's ear. Jack turned to see the Doctor standing beside him, his tie already undone. "Politically, I mean."

"Maybe he just wants to give us all presents," Jack offered, smiling.

"Well, that too," the Doctor said, hands in his pockets. "Give presents, and emphasize his wealth and generosity, and strengthen his relationship with his vassals." he smiled back. "It's good when it's politically useful to do something you wanted to do anyway. Do you know what you're going to ask for?"

"I haven't had a chance to think about it," Jack said amiably.

"You should," the Doctor said. He grinned, suddenly. "It's like Arthur is Father Christmas!"

"Are you going to ask Santa for a bicycle?" Jack asked, slyly. "Or a miniaturized fusion reactor?"

"You'll just have to wait to find out," the Doctor said, with a touch of smugness. He sauntered off, grinning like a lunatic.

From the back of the hall, servants appeared carrying two thrones. One was the throne that Jack knew well, that he'd seen the first day he'd arrived in Camelot. The other was smaller, more delicate and much newer. Once the thrones were installed on the platform, Arthur and Guinevere reappeared, their hands still bound. They smiled, and seated themselves, and the first petitioners came forward. Most gave some variant of "I ask for nothing but to serve thee, my king", and were rewarded with small, but precious gifts- gold and silver armbands, jeweled goblets, and the like. A few asked for favors of various kinds, but nothing unreasonable. It occurred to Jack that this was a sort of trust exercise. Arthur had made himself vulnerable to his vassals, and had to hope that they would not petition for anything that would prove too difficult or embarrassing for him. It was a powerful way to build loyalty- the Doctor was right.

Jack stood and watched, fascinated, as the high ranking kings and lords shuffled by. At last, it was the Doctor's turn. "I want to borrow your sword," the Doctor said, grinning, daring Arthur to argue with him.

Arthur looked at him warily. "Now?" the king asked, cautiously.

"No," the Doctor said, waving the idea away with his hands. "Sometime not now. I'll let you know. What I want is for you to lend me Excalibur when I ask for it next."

Arthur looked hard at him a moment. "Then I shall grant thee that boon," he said, finally. "Against some future need. When you ask it of me, I shall give it thee."

And then, sooner than he thought it would be, it was Jack's turn. He approached the dais, and dropped to one knee. "Sire," he said. He needed to put on his best knightly airs here- not for Arthur, as much as for those watching.

"Sir Jack," Arthur said. "What gift may we grant you?"

"I would ask of thee a chance to prove my loyalty," Jack asked, in his best approximation of the local mode of speech. "There are those who think me false." He honestly didn't care whether the other knights liked him or not, but if he was going to be living here indefinitely, he didn't want to have to start an argument every time he needed to get his armor fixed.

Arthur looked vaguely guilty. He hadn't condoned the other knights' treatment of Jack, but he had unintentionally encouraged it by keeping his distance this last year. "We have never doubted your loyalty," Arthur said, quietly. "If we had doubts, then my sister proved them mere phantoms."

"Still," Jack said, smiling. "Set me some task, sire, that I may prove myself to the rest of Camelot as well." In a culture where legal matters could be decided by challenge and combat, Jack could publicly confirm his innocence with a quest.

Arthur was quiet a moment, considering. Then Guinevere turned to him and spoke. "My lord?" she said, sweetly. "May I suggest something?" Arthur nodded, and Guinevere continued. "I know that you have been sore vexed of late by the troubles in Malahaut, my lord. Sir Jack is a man of fair speech and quick mind- he might serve you well there."

Arthur looked thoughtful. "Well-considered, my lady," he said. "Then my gift to you is this, Sir Jack: take yourself to Malahaut, with all my trust and assurances that you speak in my name. Make some peace with King Haraut, and all will know that you are my loyal knight."

"It's a deal," Jack said.

It took hours for Arthur to see everyone in the hall. Some of them asked for tokens, some asked for favors, and some asked for money. Jack came to realize that this wasn't just Arthur making himself vulnerable. It also gave Arthur the chance to take the measure of his subjects. There is no quicker way to reveal someone than to ask him what it is that he wants.

When his last subject had bowed and retreated, Arthur stood once more. "My people!" he said, wearily. "Soon, my bride and I will take to our chamber." There was more than a little ribald catcalling and cheering at that. Jack contributed to it- that sort of thing was traditional for weddings, here. Arthur smiled, tolerantly, and waited for it to die down. "Before we go," he continued, finally, "I have one further announcement." The hall grew hushed with anticipation. "My people," Arthur said, "I have decided what I shall do with my father-in-law's wedding gift. That great oak table shall be the foundation of a new order of knights. Each man in this order shall stand equal to every other in virtue, in strength, and in dedication to the principles of chivalry: that the strong must protect the weak, that we all stand subject to the laws of God and this land, and that might does not make right in Camelot." Arthur paused. The hall remained still. "I shall make my invitations to this order in the coming days," he finished. He turned to look at Guinevere, and kissed her hand where it was still bound to his. "And now," Arthur said, smiling, "I bid you all good night."