Bearing the Path to Destiny
A/N: I think you'll be liking this one. Arthur brings his new ideas for Camelot to light and it's taken to by mostly everyone. There will be some romantic tension as well as a jaw dropping revelation about a certain sorcerer that I hope you will find funny, in a certain way.
Letting go is not always about forgetting the past, but living and growing for a better future
Chapter 38: Change in the Wind
Leon lay awake, staring into the night sky. Tomorrow their group would be able to push on into the border into Elena's land. Hopefully after that, they shouldn't have any more jars for Todd to carry. All the people that they've lost and had put on the funeral pyre, they had gathered the ashes and placed them into little pots where Todd would carry and care for. Their fallen friend Beat had already had his ashes placed in a jar and now Todd had to care for more. The Albions would be given to their friends and loved ones while those of the knights would be honored and mourned by all their friends and comrades back in their camp. He just hoped that after they crossed into Elena's land there wouldn't be more ashes that they would have to carry along with them. Dregan may not have made things easy for them in the beginning but in the end he proved himself worthy of his position as a Knight of Camelot. He also mourned for the others that fell the other day as well, especially the young Albion Bran who he had last seen dejected as how they couldn't have taken a more direct route for them to return to Albion.
He could hear the light snoring coming from Garrett's spot to his left. Galahad's son had saved him and Leon had been able to help him get justice and revenge for the pain that Angus had put on his parents. The events of the battle came rushing back. The most perplexing thing, the effects of the wound that he had inflicted on Angus; how it seemed to spread and fester from the point where he had stabbed him from. Judging from what he saw, it almost looked like something that a magical sort of poison would've done. However, he knew it couldn't have been the blade even if was taken back from Wirtgernesburg because he had used it before the fight and it hadn't caused any effect like that in the previous times.
He had asked Garrett if he had any clue on what had happened but he was as lost as he was on the subject. All they knew was that it was something that Angus hadn't been counting on. Even more lost on him was the difference that Angus' presence seemed to have. When they had to discard their old clothes, they had to discard the protection that those clothes had. Meaning that he and his fellow Albions lost the added protection against the chill that the Thorns seemed to leave in their presence and yet Angus didn't leave that chill. He really didn't know what he was feeling when they had faced him down but it was different. Leon hadn't been able to help him in that mystery either.
Leon was now trying to get some rest to prepare for tomorrow but he couldn't. Leon spent a good half an hour turning about trying to let himself fall asleep until he just gave up and stood up to take a small walk. He took his new sword (taken from Angus) and went off to try and swing away all his nervous energy. He found a nice thick tree to start hacking away at.
He didn't hack at it long before a voice interrupted him. "Sir Leon?"
Leon swiftly turned to defend himself but lowered his sword at the voice's owner. "Hunith?"
Hunith smiled at him gently before she calmly made her way to him. "Can't sleep?" her voice leaked her concern.
He shook his head. "I assume that you weren't able to as well?"
"It has been a hard couple of weeks." She then went and lightly pat Leon's head. "I'm sorry for the loss of your comrade."
Leon went to sit and lean on the tree he had whacked at. "I've known him for years. The man wasn't perfect, far from it actually. Dregan may have been an idiot but, in the end, he proved that he was truly a follower of the Knight's Code."
"No man is without his faults and while Dregan seemed to have his fair share of them, I could see that he still wanted to be a good man. He obviously succeeded if nice boys like Todd and Dane are mourning him." She had been watching them all day today and they hardly said anything, even to each other. She had stayed to the side and let them be together in their grief while she watched over them.
Leon smiled. "You seemed to have grown close to those two."
Now Hunith smiled as she went to sit in front of Leon. "It was hard for me not to. They remind me of Merlin and Will when they were their age."
"They do?" Leon was curious. "How?"
"Dane reminds me so much of Merlin: trying to shield everyone he cares about and a little loose with his tongue too," she chuckled. "Will was like Todd though, he was slightly older than Merlin and always tried to be like the big brother. He would always yell or even get in fights with anyone that tried to tease Merlin. He always used to say that Merlin was his to tease and he would fight to keep it that way."
"They sounded like quite the troublemakers."
"Oh, believe me, they were. What of you Sir Leon? I see that you have been off to the side with Garrett mostly since we met up again."
"Oh well you see, Garrett happens to be the son of my childhood friend Galahad. I hadn't seen him since I was around Todd and Dane's age. I thought of him both as my teacher and my surrogate older brother. I had thought he was dead and I found that he had been alive all this time."
"Oh, I'm sorry. That couldn't have been easy to find out." She knew what that was like. Merlin had told her that he and Balinor had gotten to meet before he died. She was happy Merlin had the chance to see his father but she would've liked to have had the chance to meet him again herself.
"No," he said shaking his head. "It wasn't and Galahad isn't quite the same as I remember but being with Garrett has been helpful. He reminds me so much of him back then: strong, proud, eager."
"He does seem like a fine young man."
Leon smiled and nodded. "He is…though he does seem too hard on himself at times. I fear he's trying too hard to try and live up to his father's name."
"That is the way most sons are. Sadly, Merlin and Will grew up without their fathers around so they were never really able to go through that rite of passage in boyhood. I'm sure that you went through something similar when you were a boy, hoping to live up to your own father's name."
"Yes…I always tried my hardest at every chance I had so that I didn't let my father ever feel an ounce of shame. I never wanted him to feel that for a moment."
"I'm sure that's how Garrett feels right now."
"It can't help that his father is known as a hero through all of Eire. Yet, I know that Galahad wouldn't care if his son is a hero or not, as long as he is a good and honorable person, he would be proud of him. So he should be because he already is." Suddenly Leon was letting out a slight yawn. "Oh, excuse me."
Hunith wasn't bothered, in fact, she just smiled. "Perhaps you'll be able to rest now."
Maybe the problem wasn't too much energy but too much on his mind. He just needed to unload some of it. "What of you Hunith? You should get some rest as well."
"Don't worry, I'll be okay. These men still need you and you need to take care of yourself so you could take care of them properly. Now go on," she playfully scolded.
Leon chuckled at being sent off to sleep like a child but still followed through. As he went to return to his spot by the fire he couldn't help but grin as he discovered where Merlin had gotten his need of caring for others.
The day before, Arthur called for a meeting of his men to the command tent of the camp the following afternoon. Not only his knights, but Guinevere, Merlin, Gaius, Eli and a few of the refugees were there as well. There was some light chatter as Arthur never called a meeting like this without offering some kind of reason behind it.
Gwaine found Merlin and lightly tapped his shoulder. "Hey Merlin, any idea why Arthur called this meeting out of nowhere?"
Merlin shook his head. "No. I asked him last night but he just said that I'll find out tomorrow. He said that he didn't want to spoil the surprise."
"Spoil the surprise?! I've never known Arthur to give us a treat."
Merlin let out a small laugh at the mental picture Gwaine made him conjure in his head.
"Knock it off boys," Gaius said as Arthur walked in.
"Thank you all for coming," he said as he took his place. "I'm sure that all of you are wondering why I called for this meeting all of a sudden. I need to speak with you all on the future of Camelot. Recent events and circumstances have forced me to truly look into what I want for Camelot."
This made some soft speaking break out. Merlin looked over to Gaius but saw that he didn't seem too surprised. In fact, he was lightly smiling. Merlin looked over to Eli, silently asking if he knew what Gaius knew, but the apprentice just shrugged.
"Really?" asked Ferris. He caught the eyes of Sir Rhein and a few of the others from the Labyrinth. "What is that sire?"
Arthur cleared his throat lightly and readied himself. "I have two very important things to say on that. The first of which, I'm sure that most of you know that Guinevere and I have taken Amr whom we found in Ealdor as our unofficial ward?" A lot of the people in the tent nodded. Guinevere was close by with Amr in his arms peacefully snoozing away. "After some thinking, I've decided that Amr won't be mine and Guinevere's ward after all. He will be taken in as our illegitimate son. Given the name Pendragon."
There was quite a silence until Merlin broke it by lightly clapping. Gwaine followed right after him with Elyan, Tristan and Percival behind him. Gaius and Eli started clapping and then there was scattered applause from all around the tent. Merlin could make out a tear falling slightly from Guinevere's right eye. A part of him still felt grim that he couldn't free him or anyone from the grips of the curse. It really is sad that Arthur and Gwen wouldn't be able to truly have a child of their very own but it seems as if Arthur managed to overcome that on his terms.
"Congratulations Arthur," he said softly. "You too Gwen."
"Sire," Rhein said before Merlin could say more. "Do you think that this is a wise decision?"
"Yes," Arthur nodded. "I understand that this would name him my heir and; believe me, I have given this matter a complete thought and I believe it is what is right for the kingdom. It will serve to show its new state."
"Sire?" Ferris asked.
"Camelot has changed and I'm not talking just about the city being destroyed and the land taken. From the time I have become king no one here and still behind its borders is the same. Camelot has been given a regime of knights whose loyalty to it is without question that isn't restricted by rights of birth. We've all been able to fight and work together to ensure the safety and security of its people. I have also gained a Queen that has helped me and will continue to help me in seeing to caring and protecting all the people proud and happy to call Camelot their home. We also have a guardian whose devotion and loyalty to Camelot rivals my own. Everything is different and even when we reclaim our land back from Vortigern it will never be the same as it was. Both Camelot's friends and enemies have been changed also as have our convictions. With that being said, our kingdom needs something to reflect all that change and that is what brings us to my second announcement."
Arthur pulled a small pouch out from inside his robe and he reached into it and pulled out something. It was a woven crest. The design was of a red dragon. It's jaws were open like it was in mid-roar with its wings out like it was about to take flight. The background was a pearly white. It looked amazing.
"What is this Arthur?" asked Guinevere.
"This…is Camelot's future crest."
"The detail is amazing," Merlin marveled as he turned the crest over in his hands. "It looks kind of like Madoc."
It was after the meeting and Arthur and Merlin were just walking the length of the perimeter of the camp and the village as Merlin admired the new crest.
"I know. I was surprised at the work myself. That tailor in Albion has a real artistic talent."
"How did you come up with this anyway?"
That part was easy. Madoc had drawn in awes and respect from the moment he had charged in to save him near three years ago. Then there was that battle in Annis' kingdom where he helped inspire the men. Then there were the looks he kept seeing from everyone whenever they spotted Madoc flying about over the city, those looks of awe and pride and those were the looks he wanted reflected on everyone's faces whenever they caught sight of his banner. "I thought it would work," he answered Merlin simply.
"Yes, I think it does," Merlin smiled a bit. "But why a white background behind Madoc? Why not keep the old colors of red and gold?"
Arthur laughed a bit. "That's funny, that's what the tailor said to me. He made several samples and one of them was like this one but with a gold background however I thought that this was better. I wanted it to mean the clean slate that the kingdom would be getting. A fresh start for us all."
Merlin looked back to the crest again for a few more moments before he handed it back to Arthur. "It's perfect Arthur."
"Thank you Merlin. I'm having Gale stitch it to my robes tonight."
"Arthur!"
Arthur turned around to see that it was Tristan running over to him. Merlin saw that he was slightly out of breath.
"Is there something wrong Tristan?" he asked.
"I think we may have a problem. One of our knights is missing?"
Arthur stomach dropped. "Which one?"
"Sir Ryan," Tristan answered.
Come to think of it, Arthur couldn't remember seeing him during the meeting. "What happened?"
"I was keeping track of our men watching over the border here with the Albions and I saw that Ryan hadn't answered to his shift twice."
"When was this?"
"A couple of days ago. I asked around but no one had really seen him since the meeting we had in the Manor. At first, I just thought that he was just slacking off until after the meeting today. You had called for all the knights to be there. When he didn't show up, I went to where he was staying and his cot looked like he hadn't slept there for a while."
"Tristan, could you inform the others? Tell them to keep their eyes and ears open for him?"
"Of course Arthur."
"What do you think happened to him?" asked Merlin as Tristan went off.
"Hard to say without more information. These kind of things are common in wars. He could've wandered and got lost, could've been killed or even could've deserted us."
"Why would he desert us? Desert you?"
"Tristan did say that he hadn't been seen much since that meeting and with everything that was said, maybe he could've been too scared to keep fighting. These things happen Merlin but don't you worry, let me handle this. It's probably nothing anyway."
"It's getting worse," Ferris cried out.
He had called for another gathering within the Labyrinth of Gedref only an hour after Arthur's announcement.
"How is it getting worse?" asked Lehman.
"Arthur is now being made to destroy everything that made Camelot strong. We have been sworn and fighting for this symbol," he said pointing to the crest on his robes. "This symbol is what built the great kingdom of Camelot and now it is being thrown away. Yet another thing that these people are manipulating Arthur to defile."
"It's not uncommon for rulers to change crests though. It's a practice that hasn't been exercised too often but it's not unheard of," argued Lehman. "Arthur's reason behind it does make a semblance of sense."
"Because the Camelot we know is no more', those were Arthur's words," Ferris nodded. "And he was right but that doesn't mean we should just abandon our crest as a lost cause."
"Ferris is right," said another knight. "This crest is what we have sworn our allegiance to and I for one won't let it go without a fight. Unlike those other knights that Arthur has brought in, this has too much meaning to just easily discard it. We have all worn and fought for this symbol for all our lives and we shouldn't just throw it away. Do you want to throw it away Lehman?!" he asked almost accusingly.
He glared at him. "What? No of course I don't. How could you suggest such a thing?"
Ferris folded his arms. "Because you're sounding a lot like that traitor Ryan. He chose to discard the vows we took and he had to suffer the cost of his betrayal. He turned his back on both his own house's future and that of the House Pendragon."
"I can assure you, my loyalty to the Pendragon house is as strong as it ever was Ferris. I'm simply…curious, that is all. Why would Arthur suddenly make such a crude decision anyway?"
Ferris glared at the ground for a moment. He had seen too much at Samhain and he wouldn't disgrace the man he had given his sword up to. "It's all Merlin's fault. Filling his head with nonsense. Let us not forget, it was through him that he had Arthur forgo a marriage alliance with Princess Mithian and Princess Elena all so he could pursue his union with Guinevere."
"Yes it was, wasn't it," said Rhein. He may have tolerated Arthur's decision to marry her but he never liked her, even less when she humiliated him by slapping him for standing up to delivering justice against the witch Morgana. "As if that wasn't enough he has now made an orphaned village child his heir. Arthur does know that he can't have a child of his own so he could have no heir to pass the crown to. If he wasn't cursed and able to have a child himself then he never would've made such a proclamation."
"This only increases the importance of our mission. We can't just leave the future of our land in the hands of someone not born to handle it. Otherwise what is the point to reclaiming Camelot only for it to crumble again in the hands of an unworthy king?"
This made all the knights nod their heads in agreement, even Sir Lehman. He understood the importance of not letting lives be wasted. He respected Arthur's decision to wed the serving girl Guinevere even if, personally, he didn't fully approve. However, as long as she could produce him an heir to take care of the kingdom for him after he passed then Lehman would feel no ill will. Yet, with this curse that may not be possible.
"So then where are we on ending the curse then?" he asked.
Rhein looked over in the direction of Albion. "I've been staking out Malcolm in order to find out when he is in the right position for us to end the curse without any connection being made to us but it is proving difficult. So far, his recent schedule seems to have him in protective sight at all times."
"With the research that he said he would be doing, he is sure to be in relative safety. Even in the last few years he rarely steps out of Albion's borders. The last time he left was when we went to fight against Odin in Annis' land." Ferris couldn't help but kick some dirt. "It's a shame, if we had only executed him that time we had caught him near five years ago then we wouldn't be having this problem now."
"If he ventures out again, it would be easy to blame the dynamics of the war should he be found killed," said another knight.
"However, we can't just sit around and wait for an imaginary opportunity. From what we've heard it is clear that Malcolm has had a history of snaking his way out of tight spots. We might have to be more drastic than that."
"I'll keep my watch on Malcolm then," said Rhein. "If there has to be collateral damage then we'll have to make sure its low enough to not draw in Connor or his Order of the Bear's aggression on us."
Morgana was sitting in the grass, laughing lightly as Dylan recalled how he had frightened a few enemy knights back on Eire into actually wetting themselves.
"I'm sure you would never believe that they all had fierce and feared reputations," he recounted. "It was quite satisfying to dampen their pride in front of their men."
This made Morgana laugh a little harder. "Oh, I can imagine."
"What's going on?"
Dylan and Morgana looked up to see Merlin making his way over to them. Merlin saw a charming smile on Dylan while Morgana had been laughing so hard that she had to wipe away a tear from her eye.
"Oh, I'm just exchanging some stories. Morgana is quite the good audience." He grinned and lightly grasped her shoulder.
Merlin's gaze flew from that hand to that hand to Morgana's smile. It was wide with her teeth showing expressing no restraint or guard in it whatsoever. "I see."
"What about you?" Dylan asked.
"Oh, I've been at the Camelot's camp over near the perimeter. There was a lot of business to handle there today. What brought you here to the Manor anyway Dylan?" He had tried to make himself sound generally curious instead of crude.
Dylan didn't seem to notice. "I was doing some research with Malcolm's help and decided to call it a day. Morgana was here to visit Aithusa so I decided to join her before I left," he said before smiling at Morgana.
"Did you learn anything new?" His curiosity was genuine this time.
Dylan removed his hand and got up. "Sadly, no. Any mentions of them are bordering on basic. They come from hell, thrive on evil of men, fear the valiant, etc. Sadly, Malcolm and I could find no explanation for how Vortigern could be controlling all of them. No magical device matching Arthur's description has turned up in any of the texts either."
"Then it looks like we'll have engage them knowing only that then."
"Bold plan…I like it."
"Well, that's Merlin," said Morgana. "The prospect of danger hardly affects him."
Merlin couldn't tell if that was a slight or a compliment. He found that he wouldn't have minded either possibility as the former actually might have been meant to be amusing rather than angry. Though his smile lessened when he saw Dylan smiling down at her with amusement himself. Yet he then became curious when he saw Dylan gaze up and raise his eyebrows.
"What is she up to?" Dylan said pointing out.
Aithusa was raising herself on her crippled hind legs as she tried to stand herself straight and upright.
"Aithusa," Morgana cried out as she stood up.
"No Aithusa," Merlin shouted. "You still have to wait at least two more days!"
Aithusa lightly snarled before she started to harshly flap her wings. Dylan flew up a little to be level with her head as she violently tried to make herself airborne. "Listen to them, you could hurt yourself girl."
This time she full out roared in Dylan's face which made him flip back from the force of it. It also made the guards at the gate rush into the grounds.
"What's happening?" one of them asked.
"Stay back!" Merlin commanded. "Don't do anything to startle her."
Aithusa then turned her face up to the sky as she kicked off with her tail. She flapped and she was lightly raising herself in the air.
Morgana went to grab the closest thing she could, this case being Merlin. "There isn't a chance she could hurt herself by doing this, is there?"
Merlin kept his gaze on Aithusa's rising body. "As long as she doesn't push herself. If she could just ease into the air and not push herself too fast too soon then there shouldn't be."
"She couldn't fall could she?"
Merlin tried not to show his panic. "I don't think so. She should know to take it slow or else she would be grounded longer than before."
Aithusa had raised herself at least forty feet high when her ears picked up the sound of wings and they weren't hers. She looked up to see Madoc approaching her. He flew to be a little distance above her. Madoc was just looking down at her, as if he was silently goading her. She then raised herself even higher over the protests on the ground until she was level with the red dragon. The two of them stayed in the air just staring at one another before their snouts went to lightly caress one another. Then the two of them started to lightly descend to the ground. Madoc staying with her to help should she need it.
As the two dragons lightly floated gently back to the ground Morgana and Merlin broke into relieved laughs.
"She's okay," Morgana breathed out.
"And she is flying again," Merlin said matching her enthusiasm.
The two of them went to smile at one another before they looked to see that Morgana was still keeping a firm grasp on Merlin's arm. She started to let it go before Merlin suddenly grasped her, lightly, so she couldn't let go. The two of them caught each other's still shining eyes and then found themselves leaning in for a soft kiss. It barely lasted three seconds before they slowly pulled away. They just kept their gazes on each other before they rushed and crashed their lips together again. Their lips smacked and rubbed at each other with a passion that grew with every passing moment. Their eyes were closed as they took the other in but blips of golden light leaked from their irises whenever they opened a small crack.
Dylan was still in the air looking over the progress of the descending dragons. He then broke his gaze from them when their feet hit the solid ground to look back at Merlin and Morgana where he found them in the middle of their kiss. He couldn't help the smile he cracked when he witnessed their soft aftermath either.
There were another set of eyes watching the pair over at the gate. Sir Rhein had come along to try and scope the Manor to see if he could catch a glimpse of Malcolm here under the pretense of asking Connor how long the Albion tailor would need to mass produce the new crests for Arthur when he had stumbled upon them. His insides froze when he saw Merlin embracing Morgana but they heated up when he saw them just gaze at one another when they were finished. It seemed as if there was another danger to Camelot's future about to unfold.
Merlin and Morgana finally pulled away both breathless and speechless and were oblivious to the two men that were still observing them. All they did was just stare at each other like the last time but, this time, they weren't in a hurry to get away. But they nearly jumped out of their skin when Dylan called out to him.
"Hey Merlin!"
"Hm, what," Merlin said, his heart still beating a mile a minute both from the kiss and Dylan startling him. He now was starting to come to grips with what just happened. Had Dylan just seen that?
Dylan definitely had but he decided to try and pretend otherwise. "Oh, I'm just heading out. If you don't mind, could you tell Malcolm that I'll look through the final tome myself and get back to him tomorrow on what I find?"
"Of course. It's not a problem."
"Have a good night then. You too Morgana," he said trying to not smirk at how uncomfortable the two seemed to be getting.
Morgana cleared her throat and tried to compose herself. "Thank you Dylan." As Dylan left Morgana started to lightly back away from Merlin. "Maybe I should head back to the house too. It's been a long day."
Merlin nodded his head. "Right. Good night."
Morgana started to walk away but she stopped for a moment and then turned her head to lightly look back at the warlock. "Good night Merlin," she forced out before she resumed her walk for the gate.
Dylan was lightly shaking his head with a small smirk playing on his lips. He had loved trying to get on Merlin's skin when it came to her. With all the times that Morgana had complained about Merlin when they first met and with all the looks Merlin would throw when Morgana started to smile at him, it wasn't too hard to find out that there was something hiding under there. It was more pronounced when he saw that green rose in Morgana's house and learned that it was Merlin who not only gave it to her but made it himself. Merlin tapped into great power to create such a gift and Morgana didn't seem to want to get rid of it. Granted with all their history he knew it wasn't going to be easy to overcome the issues for either of them but it seemed that the extra push he added with his presence seemed to help. With the added tension from himself on Merlin and the rejoice of Aithusa taking to the air again in Morgana, it seemed to break them free.
"Those two are more amusing to watch then I would've figured," he mumbled to himself.
Dylan made his way to leave the Manor until he felt a familiar tingle in the side of his brain. He smiled a little to himself before he took off to fly to the peak of the mountain behind the Manor. The sea came into view as he climbed higher. He reached the top and once he flew completely across then started to lightly descend on the other side. There was an outcropping ledge almost halfway where he saw Connor. He was lightly levitating from the ledge with his eyes closed in obvious meditation. He lightly landed beside him and just stayed there, sitting right beside him.
"At least you have manners," Connor lightly spoke before he settled himself back down. "Usually when people stumble on me like this, they do something to surprise me and I end up falling and feeling annoyed."
"Those fascists," he smirked.
"You at least waited for me to feel your presence. Arthur and Merlin tend to try to shout and poke at me to snap me out of it."
Dylan smiled a little savagely. "I wish I had seen that."
"What brings you here? I don't mind the company but you are hardly the type to seek company yourself."
Dylan huffed. "How did it get to the point where you speak as if you know me so well?"
"Because I do," he quipped. "No," he said seeing him roll his eyes. "It's a good thing Dylan. It shows how far you've come."
"Hurrah for me," he drawled. "Well, you are right this time."
He explained the little scene that he had witnessed. Connor was surprised at that but then he narrowed his eyes at him.
"You seem quite interested in this. Baiting Merlin with being so friendly with Morgana and trying to help Morgana with her issues about him? You're not the type to show interest in people's personal lives let alone get involved Dylan."
"You're right, I'm not," he smirked. "Yet, I have my reasons."
"I shudder to ask what those reasons are."
"And I gleefully answer that they are what they always are about: overcoming my enemies."
"Which enemy?"
"Don't worry about it." That was all he would say on that.
Connor wasn't worried but…he was concerned. This didn't sound like it needed his interference, as long as those two wouldn't get hurt, yet he couldn't fathom how Merlin and Morgana being together could benefit any kind of end of Dylan's.
"Well, at least you're not going behind Lina's back," he chuckled out.
He glared at him. "I'm not the type to betray anyone, especially my wife Connor, you know that."
Connor held his arms up. "Relax, it was just a joke."
End of Chapter 38
A/N: I was inspired by the new crest from the movie Excalibur which has the Pendragon crest as a red dragon with a white background. It's a contrast against the old symbol. Uther used Kilgharrah's image to show his power and achievement of conquering the Old Religion and imprisoning the Great Dragon while Arthur is using Madoc's image to signify the new beginning that everyone will be receiving. Things are heating up between Merlin and Morgana and it seems that Dylan has been fanning the flames. I wanted to have it so their second kiss was unavoidable and this seemed to help. It's like how two parents see their little child take their first steps or ride a bike or something similar for the very first time, they can't help but loss themselves in each other when they celebrate. I hope you all liked it though it looks like there was someone who didn't.