A/N: This came out rather longer than I expected...but anyway, here you go. Arthur gets caught up to speed.

IDOM


By the time Merlin, Mordred and Arthur made it back to Camelot with Elyan, they were all nodding off. Arthur decided to postpone the "long conversation" until morning and told the brothers to get some sleep. They gratefully did so.

In the morning, Mordred accompanied Merlin to deliver Arthur's breakfast. Arthur barely glanced at the food and nodded at a pair of chairs. "Sit. Start from the beginning."

Merlin took a deep breath. [Well, starting from the beginning…I was born with magic.]

"What?" Arthur interrupted. "That's impossible."

Merlin shook his head. [Rare, but certainly possible. Especially if it runs in the family. I suspect I got it from my father. And if you still don't believe me, ask my mother. Apparently I could move objects with my mind before I could talk.]

"That is a bit more than rare," Mordred spoke up. "People do sometimes get born with magic, yes, but Merlin's the only person we know of to manifest it at birth."

"Clearly I have a great deal to learn about magic itself," Arthur muttered. "Go on."

[I could always use my magic consciously, but unfortunately I also had a tendency to use it without meaning to,] Merlin continued. [Luckily, there was a druid clan living nearby. The whole village traded with them from time to time, but Mother and I visited at least once a month so the elders could help me get my magic under control.]

"Wait, you were never actually a druid?" Arthur interrupted again.

[No, never. Freya would always make fun of me for that. We had a…rather complicated relationship when we were children.]

"You say that like you knew her as an adult…" Arthur's eyes widened. "You mean the druid girl you harbored really was an old friend of yours?" Merlin nodded. "God, I'm so sorry."

[I already forgave you years ago. And if Saemar forgives you for his death, then so do I.]

"That's the spirit who possessed Elyan?"

[Yes. He was probably my closest friend, after Will.]

"So he wasn't your brother?"

"Merlin and I aren't blood siblings," Mordred spoke up. "Saemar was my brother by blood, but I don't remember him or my birth parents."

Arthur sighed. "I did wonder why the spirit addressed Merlin as 'my friend' and you as 'brother'. Anyway, continue."

Merlin took a deep, shaky breath. [As you know, I was at the druid camp on the day it was attacked. I found Myra—Mordred's mother—dying by the well. She told me she'd hidden Mordred in a hollow tree by the edge of the camp and asked me to protect him. I promised her I would. I found the hollow tree at the same time as Ector did. I moved to protect Mordred, and, well…you know the rest.]

Arthur frowned. "No, I don't. I remember seeing it from halfway across the camp. I saw you vanish, but I didn't see any baby."

Merlin swallowed, trying not to think too hard about what happened. [I slowed time, grabbed Mordred and ran toward Ealdor.]

"You can slow time?!" Arthur exclaimed.

[Yes,] Merlin replied curtly. [I ran as long as I could, but I passed out maybe halfway to the village. Woke up at home two days later.]

"That must have been rough," Arthur said sympathetically.

[Very,] Merlin agreed. [About three years later, Will caught me slowing time to save Mordred when he fell out of a tree. And then we realized…]

"I was using magic to transport myself in and out of the tree," Mordred finished. "I have no idea if that was the first time I ever did magic, but it was the first time anyone noticed."

Merlin shuddered. [Thank god it was me and Will and not one of the other villagers.]

"Your friend was never actually a sorcerer, was he?" Arthur guessed.

Merlin shook his head. [Not an ounce of magic in him.]

"Merlin helped me get my magic under control, but neither of us knew any spells until we came to Camelot," Mordred continued.

"How did you learn spells in Camelot?" Arthur asked, sounding thoroughly mystified.

"Um…Gaius gave us a spellbook," Mordred confessed.

"So he knows?"

"We startled him into falling off his balcony the first time we entered his chambers," Mordred explained. "Merlin used magic to save him. I tried to deny we had anything to do with it, but…Gaius wasn't falling for it, and I ended up admitting we both had magic."

Merlin rubbed his head, looking thoughtful. [If we're going to go over everything, I suppose I should mention I was using magic when we fought in the marketplace.]

"You cheated!" Arthur exclaimed indignantly.

[You were trying to take my head off!] Merlin retorted. [And you had far more experience with maces than I did, so I think it was only fair!]

"I wouldn't have actually taken your head off," Arthur muttered.

[I didn't know you well enough to know that,] Merlin pointed out.

"Well…oh never mind that, what was next?"

Merlin grimaced. [That night, I heard the dragon calling me.]

"The dragon called you?"

[In my mind. Wait, did we mention people with magic can speak in each other's minds?]

Arthur stared at Merlin. "No, you definitely didn't. That sounds useful."

Mordred shrugged. "Can be. Merlin and I tend to do that even for casual conversations, so long as we're just talking amongst each other."

[Allows me to keep my hands free,] Merlin explained.

Arthur nodded. "Makes sense." He paused. "Now that I think about it, I've never seen you two having a private conversation. I suppose now I know why."

[Yes,] Merlin agreed. [But back to the dragon…]

"Wait a minute, did you say the dragon could talk?"

[Dragons aren't monsters,] Merlin signed firmly.

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "You're telling me that the creature that tried to raze my kingdom isn't a monster?"

[Uther slaughtered his kin and chained him up for more than twenty years, he was angry,] Merlin defended. Then he scowled. [Not that it excuses his actions. Nothing excuses the mass slaughter of innocents.]

"No, it certainly doesn't," Arthur agreed. "So what did the dragon want with you?"

Merlin scowled again. [He wanted me to help you become king, though he said it in a manner that did not inspire me to either trust or believe him. I told him as much and I left.]

Mordred looked at Merlin. "The next night was the feast, right?" Merlin nodded. Mordred turned back to Arthur. "The chandelier didn't fall on that witch by accident. That was me." Mordred shuddered and swallowed. "I hadn't meant to kill her, I just wanted to stop her…"

Merlin put a hand on Mordred's shoulder. [And I told you not to feel guilty for saving a life.] Merlin looked back at Arthur. [I had to use magic to reach you in time to save you from that dagger. For a moment I was terrified that your father might have seen.]

"Well, I think we can safely say that he didn't," Arthur commented.

Merlin shuddered. [Thank god. Anyway, moving on to the tournament a few days later, the snakes didn't come out of that knight's shield by chance. That was me. Then there was that plague. It was me who healed Gwen's father.] Merlin swallowed. [I felt so horrible when she was arrested for it. I half considered confessing, but then Mordred fell ill. Between Mordred's illness and Gwen's impending execution, we were running out of time to find a solution, so I ended up asking the dragon for advice. He told me how to defeat the afanc.]

Arthur frowned. "That was…helpful of him."

Merlin shrugged. [Wasn't the only time. As for the afanc, if I recall correctly, I had to summon wind to blow the flame from your torch onto it.]

"Then I think the next big thing was the Mortaeus poison," Mordred said thoughtfully. "It was Merlin who sent that light to guide you."

"Wait—wasn't he dying of poison?" Arthur demanded, bewildered. He looked at Merlin. "How on earth could you have sent me a light?"

Merlin shrugged. [Not a clue. Mordred told me about it after I woke up, I don't remember it at all. Couldn't replicate the spell if I tried.]

"So you sent me a light, from miles away, while unconscious and dying?"

"He conjured an orb of light in his hand and he kept telling you to follow it," Mordred replied. "If that didn't have something to do with the light that guided you, then it's one hell of a coincidence."

Arthur stared at Merlin. "Just how powerful are you?"

[Very. I don't know much more than that.]

Arthur turned to Mordred. "And you?"

Mordred shrugged. "Not as powerful as Merlin, but still fairly strong."

"Okay then," Arthur said, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Anything else about the poison, or can we move on?"

Mordred shuddered. "Well, Merlin did die…"

Merlin stared at him. [What are you talking about? No I didn't, I'm still here!]

"Your breathing and your heart stopped for about a minute," Mordred replied. "And according to the Cailleach, you really were dead and she had to revive you." Merlin looked rather unnerved to hear this.

"Who's the Cailleach?" Arthur asked.

"Gatekeeper to the spirit world," Mordred answered.

[Let's please just move on to the griffin,] Merlin urged. [It could only be killed with magic, so I enchanted Lancelot's lance to help him kill it. It was a rather obvious enchantment though, he figured out right away what I'd done. Scared the life out of me when he told me.]

"I always did wonder if Lancelot knew," Arthur commented.

[Yes, he did,] Merlin confirmed.

"Then there was Edwin," Mordred said with a scowl. "He caught me casting a spell that was written on one of his boxes, but he was really nice about it and offered to teach me. Turned out he just wanted to kill Uther. I refused to help him and he tried to kill me. Merlin had to save me."

Merlin shuddered, wondering if he was willing to mention what he had nearly done to Edwin, and decided against it. [Do you remember that girl you tried to elope with?]

"Uh…vaguely?"

"She and her father were Sidhe—vicious magical creatures," Mordred continued. "They tried to sacrifice you for a life of immortality. Luckily…" He swallowed. "Luckily, Morgana had a prophetic dream about them and warned us."

"Prophetic dream?"

[She's a Seer,] Merlin explained. [She's always been able to see the future in her dreams, although Mordred and I didn't know that until her dream about the Sidhe.]

"Was she born with magic too, or just the dreams and she chose to learn magic?"

"Born with magic too, but we'll get to that later," Mordred replied. "She didn't have it yet."

Merlin coughed. [Back to the Sidhe…I took one of the Sidhe staffs after using it to kill them. I still have it, though I don't use it much. It doesn't seem to have any non-violent uses.]

"Where on earth do you keep that?" Arthur wondered. "And the spellbook, for that matter?"

[Under a floorboard in our bedroom.]

"I conducted plenty of searches when my father was king, but I don't think I ever checked under anyone's floor…"

Mordred snorted. "That was the idea."

"Right," Arthur said, slightly sheepishly. "Anything else about the Sidhe?"

Merlin shook his head. [I think the next point of interest was the wraith. Only a sword forged in dragon's breath can kill something that is already dead, so I asked Gwen for a sword and convinced the dragon to burnish it. He agreed on the condition that you use it; he was furious when he found out your father used it instead. He ordered me to hide it, so I threw it in the Lake of Avalon.]

"You threw away a perfectly good sword?" Arthur said indignantly.

[I could hardly leave a magical artifact lying around!] Merlin defended. [Then we saved Ealdor from those raiders…]

"And that whirlwind was really you, wasn't it?" Arthur interrupted.

Merlin nodded. [I tried to tell you about my magic before the battle, but…I've had secrecy drilled into me my whole life. And once Will took the fall, I could hardly let his sacrifice be in vain.]

Arthur grimaced. "As much as I hate to say it, I probably wasn't ready to know then. But the incident did get me to start rethinking whether all magic was evil."

Mordred frowned thoughtfully. "Next was the Questing Beast, wasn't it?"

Merlin shook his head. [Before that, I saw Morgana plotting with that sorcerer who got Gwen's father killed. They were going to kill Uther.]

"Wait, she was a traitor all the way back then?" Arthur interrupted.

Merlin shook his head again. [I took out the henchmen, but Morgana killed the sorcerer and saved Uther. I don't know whether she had a change of heart or whether she was setting a trap for the sorcerer all along. After that, yes, the Questing Beast.]

"You killed it after I passed out, didn't you?" Arthur guessed.

[You'd figured out I had magic by then?]

Arthur shook his head. "No, but looking back on it later I was pretty sure I hadn't killed the beast."

Merlin sighed. [Killing the beast was the easy part. Curing you, on the other hand…there is no cure for the bite of the Questing Beast.]

"Then how am I alive?"

[No cure except to trade one life for another using the Cup of Life. I went to the Isle of the Blessed and made a bargain with Nimueh to trade my life for yours.]

"But…you're not dead either," Arthur pointed out.

"He got pretty sick though, remember?" Mordred said. "Gaius went to the Isle to bargain his life for Merlin's. I followed and…I thought I got there too late. Gaius looked dead when I arrived. Nimueh tried to persuade me to join her in plotting against Uther and Camelot, but…" Mordred swallowed, remembering how he had nearly accepted her offer. "I refused and I attacked her. I was losing, until…" He swallowed again. "I tried to find Gaius's pulse, and I couldn't find it. I was angry, and sad, and…I screamed. Lightning came out of nowhere to strike her, and she…sort of…exploded. And then Gaius woke up. Somehow I traded her life for his. I don't know how and I don't want to."

"Nimueh." Arthur frowned. "Wasn't she the witch that killed my mother?"

"Yeah," Mordred confirmed.

"So you avenged my mother."

"I suppose so. But it definitely wasn't what was going through my head at the time."

"I can't decide whether to thank you or be upset that I didn't get to kill her myself."

[Given that Nimueh's dead and gone, I don't see that it matters,] Merlin cut in. [After that, I think Sigan's escape came next. The dragon gave me a spell to force him out of that thief's body and back into that jewel, but…]

"Sigan possessed Merlin instead," Mordred finished. "I had to help him force Sigan out."

Arthur shivered. "I don't even want to think about what Sigan could have done with Merlin's power."

[Me neither,] Merlin agreed. [Then a few months after that, Morgana's magic awakened. She was terrified out of her wits. Came to Gaius's chambers in the middle of the night and spilled everything to me. I couldn't quite work up the courage to tell her I had magic too, so I sent her to the druids instead.]

"Wait…she was never kidnapped?" Arthur realized.

Mordred shook his head. "No. I followed her, and good thing I did, because she'd been stung by a serket when I caught up to her. I called for help and some nearby druids heard me. They treated her and told her she had magic. That's when I told her I have magic too. Didn't mention Merlin's though."

"She knows about you?" Arthur asked. His eyes widened in realization. "Of course she does, no wonder she still likes you."

[I didn't find out he'd told her until nearly two years later,] Merlin signed with a stern look at Mordred. [I went after them to persuade Morgana to come back to Camelot before your father executed all the people he'd arrested. I think I inadvertently led you straight to the camp. I created that fog bank to give everyone time to escape.]

"Not in time to save Aglain," Mordred said bitterly. "And three soldiers tried to kill me too. I, um…I panicked. I'm not entirely sure what I was trying to do, but…I killed them."

Arthur opened his mouth to speak, but Merlin interjected. [It can happen to anyone who was born with magic. Sometimes our magic reacts to our emotions. We get terrified or angry, we blindly lash out at the cause. With practice, we can limit the outbursts, especially as we get older, but…it's still liable to happen in extreme situations.]

"So, basically, try not to startle you?" Arthur said worriedly.

[The situation would probably have to be more extreme than that, but you've got the gist,] Merlin replied.

Mordred shivered. "Anyway, the troll. Merlin and I tried to use magic to expose her in front of the court, but she resisted our spell."

Merlin frowned at Mordred. [Didn't we tell you to let me do that alone?]

Mordred turned slightly red. "You did. I ignored you."

Arthur snorted. "Why does that not surprise me."

"Anyway, later that day the troll's servant told me she kept transformation potions in her lair under the castle—worst smelling place I've ever been, by the way—and I stupidly believed him and she trapped me down there. Luckily, Merlin came and helped me break out."

"How did he know you were down there?"

"We can talk in each other's minds, remember? We don't have to be in the same room, we can talk from as far away as opposite sides of the city."

"Ohh," Arthur breathed, eyes widening. He looked at Merlin. "And I'm guessing that's why you didn't immediately race out the door when I told you I'd been ordered to arrest Mordred?"

Merlin nodded. [My immediate reaction was to warn him via mind speech. I think you already know everything after that—we switched the potion the troll was using for a disguise and then had you fake your death.]

"And then…" Mordred swallowed and shut his eyes. "A few weeks after the troll was killed, I made the worst mistake of my life. I conjured an image in a column of smoke in the woods and someone saw. And then…then Uther summoned the witchfinder." Merlin turned very pale. Mordred took a deep breath before continuing. "He was a fraud—he planted the amulet in our chambers and he forced the apothecary to sell belladonna. But Morgana and I planted all the amulets you found in his chambers and I made the toad come out of his mouth. He wasn't actually a sorcerer."

Merlin coughed. [You made a toad come out of his mouth?]

"Oh…I never told you that?" Mordred asked, surprised. Merlin shook his head. "It would have been funny if I wasn't so worried about you…"

"That was when I first started suspecting," Arthur cut in. "I saw the damage to the interrogation room, and, well…I had a whole day to think about it before Aredian was exposed. Realized some things that couldn't be explained away by Aredian being a fraud. But I didn't want to confront you when you couldn't even sign, and then…never could seem to find the right moment until last night."

Merlin shivered. [Can we please just move on?]

Arthur nodded. "Go ahead."

[The night before the Crystal of Neahtid was stolen, I'm positive I heard a woman's voice in my mind. She said something about Morgana's chambers, which is why I was so convinced there'd be an intruder there. I never did figure out if I was imagining it or not. And…] Merlin looked at Mordred. [You said they kidnapped you because they thought you could wield the Crystal, right?]

"Uh…" Mordred hesitated. Was he willing to admit that he'd been a willing participant in Alvarr's plot? He'd kept that secret not only for his own protection, but to spare Merlin the knowledge that his violent attempted rescue had been unnecessary. "Yeah, they thought I could wield the Crystal. I did, actually, on the way home. Had a vision of the dragon attacking Camelot."

"Would have been nice to have some warning," Arthur said sourly. "No, I'm not blaming you for not saying anything. My father would have ignored the warning and sentenced you to death."

Merlin swallowed. [After that…the Knights of Medhir.]

"Did you collapse the roof in Idirsholas?" Arthur asked curiously.

Merlin nodded. [Then when we got back to Camelot…I didn't actually find the solution in Gaius's books. We were falling under the spell and time was running out, so I asked the dragon for help. But he wouldn't give it, not until I swore on Mordred's life that I would release him.]

"You mean to say that you released the dragon?" Arthur said angrily. "Even after Mordred had a vision of what would happen?!"

[If I hadn't promised to free him, Morgause would have taken over Camelot!] Merlin defended. [And Mordred never actually told me what his vision was until after the dragon was defeated. Even so, the dragon attack haunts me to this day. More than a hundred innocent people died because of me. That's not something I'll ever forget.]

For a few moments, Arthur continued glaring at Merlin, breathing heavily. Then he sighed. "Am I at least right in thinking you also defeated the dragon?"

"Wait, aren't you going to ask how he stopped Morgause?" Mordred interrupted. Merlin never had told him what happened, and he was mildly curious.

"He's already told me that story," Arthur said darkly.

Mordred looked between Merlin and Arthur, seeing that both looked especially grim. Then he turned to Merlin. "Is this why you blame yourself for Morgana becoming corrupted?"

[Yes,] Merlin confirmed. [And yes, I defeated the dragon. Balinor…] Merlin swallowed, holding back tears. [He was my father.]

"Your father?!" Arthur exclaimed.

Merlin nodded. [Mother always told me he'd died, Gaius didn't tell me the truth until right before we left to find him.]

"And you didn't tell me?" Arthur asked, sounding hurt. "Surely you didn't think I'd arrest you just for who your father was?"

[I almost did,] Merlin admitted. [But like I said before, secrecy is very deeply ingrained into me. I couldn't work up the nerve.]

Arthur sighed. "Fair enough. So, Balinor taught you how to defeat the dragon?"

[Not exactly. I inherited his powers when he died. Took a few minutes for me to figure out how to use them once we faced the dragon. When I speak in the dragon tongue, he must obey.]

"When you…speak in the dragon tongue?"

[Mental voice. From what Father told me, I think most Dragonlords speak out loud, but Kilgharrah still obeys when I do it mentally.]

"The dragon has a name?"

[Yes. Like I said, they're sentient creatures, not monsters. And even though I was furious with Kilgharrah, I couldn't bring myself to kill him—we're essentially kin. I ordered him to leave and never attack Camelot again, and he hasn't.]

"But what if he attacks another kingdom?" Arthur asked worriedly.

[He only attacked Camelot for the sake of revenge on Uther. He's not mindlessly aggressive, he doesn't attack unless provoked.]

Arthur sighed. "I hope you're right. What next?"

"Hmm," Mordred mused. "I don't think anything particularly interesting happened while Morgana was gone."

[When she came back, I found the enchanted root under your father's bed because I could hear it scream,] Merlin continued. [Gaius later told me that only people with magic can hear a mandrake's cries. And then when I followed Morgana, she caught me and Morgause bound me in magical chains. I couldn't break the enchantment and resorted to calling for the dragon. He came and rescued me, but by that point I'd been stung by a serket. Kilgharrah took me to some cliff to heal. Word of warning: being stung by a serket is not pleasant. At all.]

Arthur grimaced. "I've heard horror stories of serket stings before."

Merlin nodded. [Then when Morgana raised that skeleton army, I found her in the burial vaults. That's when she told me she knew about Mordred. We had a bit of an argument about how we were both trying to act in his best interests…]

"Don't either of you ever do anything but fuss over me?" Mordred grumbled.

[Sadly yes, as evidenced by the many people who've died because of Morgana,] Merlin pointed out. He turned back to Arthur. [Then when we went through the Valley of the Fallen Kings, you were shot by an arrow.]

"I could have sworn something hit me," Arthur said. "I assume you healed me?"

Merlin shook his head. [I tried, but it wasn't working. Then this old man came out of nowhere and healed you. He took me to this nearby place called the Crystal Cave and told me it's where magic began. He insisted I look into the crystals so they could show me the future. And…they showed me several images, culminating in Morgana stabbing your father in his sleep. I tried to prevent it, but that just resulted in her fall down the stairs…]

"Wait a minute," Mordred interrupted, realization dawning. "You didn't actually have a vision that she was in danger, you wanted me to stick close to her so she would behave!"

Merlin winced. [I'm sorry. It wasn't fair of me to manipulate you like that. But her fall down the stairs resulted in Uther confessing that she was his daughter, and I'm betting that's why she attacked him after she recovered. I stopped her in the nick of time.]

"Wait another minute," Mordred said, frowning. "If you knew she was a traitor, why did you heal her?"

Merlin bowed his head. [I seriously considered letting her die, but…I still cared about her. Still do to this very day, to be honest. The dragon was not happy that I forced him to give me a spell to heal her.]

"I know how you feel," Arthur said quietly. "She's a threat to my kingdom and I intend to deal with her accordingly, but I don't truly want her dead. I want my sister back."

Merlin swallowed. [Moving on…Elena was a changeling.]

"A what?"

[Inhabited by a fairy at birth. And her nurse was a pixie who took much too great an interest in Gaius.]

Mordred laughed. "You should have seen his face when she licked him…"

Merlin snorted in spite of himself. [The pixie wouldn't leave things be, so I killed her while Gaius and Mordred gave Elena a potion to get rid of the fairy.]

"Well, tried to," Mordred recalled. "She kept rambling about the wedding and ignoring the potion, so Merlin came in and poured it down her throat. She's fine now, completely human."

"Well, that's good then," Arthur said.

Merlin shot a stern look at Mordred. [As for the Castle of Fyrien, I assume you used magic to break us out.]

"Yeah," Mordred shrugged. "Although the guards really were stupid."

"And one of you interfered with Morgause's fire spell?" Arthur guessed.

[Yes, me,] Merlin confirmed.

"And then when you went to the Perilous Lands, Gwen apparently saw me doing some sort of magic with Morgana," Mordred continued. "I haven't a clue what it was, but apparently it looked sinister enough that Gwen thought I was a traitor too."

Arthur frowned. "Just how many people know about your magic?"

[Mother, Gaius, and Gwen know about both of us,] Merlin answered. [Morgana only knows about Mordred.]

"And Gwen didn't tell me she'd seen anything until months later," Mordred added. "I'd noticed she was being a bit jumpy, but I hadn't thought it was anything serious. And I came up with that old man disguise to save her from being burnt at the stake. I got caught on purpose in order to tell your father she had nothing to do with the love spell."

"I suppose I should be thanking you, then," Arthur said, looking a bit chagrinned. "Although, was it really necessary to wait until you were taken to the pyre before making your escape?"

Mordred shuddered. "Couldn't undo the spell. Merlin, Morgana and Gaius spent the night making a potion to reverse the transformation. I palmed it off Merlin when I grabbed him in the courtyard."

[And I led you and the guards in the wrong direction on purpose,] Merlin added, entirely unashamed.

"Now that I know the whole story, I wouldn't have expected anything less," Arthur replied.

Mordred glanced at Merlin. Should we tell him about Gilli?

Merlin thought about it for a moment. No, let's not go exposing other sorcerers who are peacefully living in hiding. He turned back to Arthur. [I also started the fire in Jarl's hideout.]

Arthur nodded. "I figured. I did ask you to create a diversion, and frankly I expected you to use magic to do it."

[You mean…you were purposely asking me to do magic?]

"That, and I hoped it would help you stay focused if I gave you a job to do."

Merlin said nothing for a moment, looking back on the incident. [I think it did help, so…thank you.]

"And I'm guessing you used magic to reach the Cup of Life?" Arthur continued.

[Retrieved the dragon-forged sword from the Lake of Avalon, actually,] Merlin replied. [It could kill the immortal soldiers. And just holding it made me much better at swordcraft than I usually am.]

"But you don't seem to have kept it around," Arthur noted.

Merlin shrugged. [Kilgharrah insisted I hide it again as soon as the army was defeated.]

"Gwen finally confronted me about my magic during Morgana's reign of terror," Mordred spoke up. "Took a little convincing for her to believe I was only feigning loyalty to Morgana, same as her. And by then she'd convinced herself that Merlin was a traitor too."

[She did?] Merlin asked, surprised.

"Well, no one in their right mind would think you're my enemy," Mordred pointed out. "But anyway, Morgana was only letting Gwen go so she could track her, and I needed to have her deliver a letter to Merlin telling him how to block the tracking spell."

"Wait, tracking spell?" Arthur cut in. "Your uncanny tracking skills are magical?"

Mordred nodded. "Don't actually know much of anything about looking for tracks or things like that."

Arthur shook his head. "I really should have figured that out ages ago…"

Merlin coughed. [From what I gather, Mordred didn't actually tell Gwen I'd use magic to cancel the tracking, but she figured it out anyway. And then Morgause caught me as I was about to empty the Cup. Mordred intervened and attacked her.]

"Yeah, and then she turned on me and Merlin attacked her," Mordred added. "I thought he'd killed her. Morgana certainly seemed to think so when she showed up. And then when she realized whose side I was really on, she started screaming. She was lashing out with raw power, that's what was shaking the castle."

"You mean that wasn't from the destruction of the army?" Arthur asked, looking unnerved. "That was entirely Morgana?"

Mordred grimaced. "Yes."

Arthur shuddered. "Good god, that's a lot of power."

Merlin snorted bitterly. [At least she didn't actually destroy it.]

"Yeah…" Mordred grimaced again. "I don't think anything interesting happened after that until Morgana tore the veil."

[When she did, I saw the Cailleach—the gatekeeper to the spirit world—standing in the middle of the banquet hall,] Merlin revealed. He shivered. [And then…I felt really cold and I collapsed. I assume it was a reaction to the tear.]

Mordred winced, wondering whether to repeat what the Cailleach had told him about Merlin's collapse. He decided that would probably unnerve Merlin even more and he changed the subject. "Our magic didn't work around the Dorocha. Pretty terrifying, actually."

Arthur suddenly narrowed his eyes at Merlin. "When you shielded me from that Dorocha, did you know you would survive?"

Merlin shook his head. [No, and I'm not sure it was my magic that protected me. I remember…] He swallowed. [Freya wouldn't let me pass on.]

"Oh," Mordred breathed. "No wonder you kept asking about her." He glanced at Arthur. "Mentally, I mean. It was…not pleasant. I lost count of how many times I tried to explain that she was dead."

Merlin winced. [Sorry. That's all a blur to me, next thing I remember clearly is waking up in the Valley of the Fallen Kings with Lancelot.]

"Lancelot," Mordred muttered. "I should have stopped him." He looked at Arthur. "As soon as Merlin knocked you out, I knocked him out…but I got caught up talking to the Cailleach and didn't see Lancelot approaching the veil until it was too late."

"He made his choice," Arthur said quietly. "I doubt he'd want you to blame yourself."

Mordred swallowed. "Maybe, but I also should have sensed the amulet around your father's neck. I'm sorry. Truly."

Arthur sighed. "From the sound of it, it's Morgana I should be blaming. God, Mordred, you shouldn't have to deal with so much guilt at your age."

[And I shouldn't have had to deal with surviving a massacre and losing my voice when I was ten,] Merlin pointed out. [Life isn't fair.]

"I'm king, I should be able to make it fair," Arthur muttered.

[You can try, and I certainly hope you do, but I doubt any one man could make life completely fair,] Merlin replied.

Arthur sighed. "I suppose you're right. What next?"

[As the last of the Dragonlords, I could hardly let you destroy that dragon egg,] Merlin answered. [Aithusa is a very sweet hatchling.]

"You…hatched it."

[Her. Aithusa is a her,] Merlin signed firmly. [And don't you dare harm one scale on her head.]

Arthur looked slightly taken aback. "So long as she doesn't attack my people, I won't."

Merlin nodded in satisfaction. [Good. And after that, I caused that rockfall when I was injured in the Valley of the Fallen Kings.]

"I suspected as much," Arthur replied.

[I probably should have tried to use magic to escape Morgana, but, well…] Merlin swallowed. [I don't think very clearly when I'm tied up.]

"No harm done in the end," Arthur assured. He looked at Mordred. "Unless there's something you didn't tell me about your visit to Morgana?"

"Well, I left out the part where I used magic to knock her out and set fire to the Fomorroh, but that's about it." Mordred paused and frowned. "Wait. She was asking me about Emrys. No idea why she's so obsessed with that."

"What's Emrys?" Arthur asked, confused.

[Who is Emrys,] Merlin corrected. [And that would be me.]

"You," Arthur repeated, giving Merlin an incredulous look.

Merlin shrugged. [Druids and ancient magical entities insist on calling me Emrys. I don't know why. So far as I'm concerned, my name is Merlin. But Morgana seems to be obsessed with finding "Emrys". It's why she had Gaius kidnapped. But she had another sorcerer do her dirty work for her, which is lucky for me, because Alator actually succeeded in torturing my name out of Gaius. Fortunately, Alator decided he likes my peaceful philosophy more than Morgana's violent one, and he turned on her without revealing me. Not really someone I want as an ally, but better an ally than an enemy.]

Arthur grimaced. "I think I'd have to agree with you there."

"Lamia's castle," Mordred stated. "I think that's quite possibly the most powerful magic I've ever seen Merlin do."

Arthur gave Mordred a wary look. "I thought Lamia destroyed the castle."

Merlin winced. [No, that was me…I was trying to kill Lamia, but I was so rattled by the knights' hostility that I…overshot.]

Arthur stared at Merlin. "I think destroying a castle goes a little beyond 'overshooting'. Merlin, if you ever find yourself in a similar predicament again, extricate yourself from the situation and get Mordred to deal with it, all right? Don't let yourself reach the point where you destroy another castle."

Merlin shivered. [Believe me, I have no desire to reach that point.]

Arthur nodded. "Good. Was there anything else?"

"I used magic to confirm that Lancelot was a shade," Mordred replied.

Arthur frowned. "Wait a minute. Why didn't you just use magic to find Guinevere and bring her back?"

Mordred hung his head. "Because I'd already used magic to make sure Morgana couldn't find her. Unfortunately, that same spell stopped me finding her too."

"You—" Arthur broke off and clenched a fist. "As much as I want to be angry with you, I can't be upset that you tried to protect her."

Mordred swallowed. "Trust me, I wish I could find her." He took a deep breath. "Well, we've pretty much caught up to the present day. Merlin, you have anything else to add?"

Merlin thought about it for a moment. [I've lost count of how many times I've used magic to trip or disarm bandits or the like.]

Arthur gave Merlin a suspicious look. "You haven't been 'helping' me in tournaments, have you?"

[Only if someone is actively trying to kill you.]

"Like my duel with Annis's champion?" Arthur said challengingly. "I could swear his sword hit some invisible force in midair."

[Morgana cursed your sword. I was simply leveling the playing field. Without Morgana's sabotage, I'm sure you would have won the duel on your own.]

Arthur sighed. "Fair enough. Just don't go fighting all my battles for me."

[I don't,] Merlin assured. [You really are the finest swordsman in the five kingdoms, Arthur, you don't usually need my help.]

"Or mine," Mordred added. There was silence for a few moments before Mordred broke it again. "So, that's pretty much everything…what happens now?"

"Now?" Arthur repeated, looking thoughtful. "I don't think I can lift the ban quite yet, but I certainly won't order your arrest if I see you doing magic. And no more hiding. If something is going on, tell me. If you believe there is something magical you can do to resolve the situation—any situation—please let me know. I'm tired of being kept in the dark."

Mordred nodded. "Understood."

[I'll do my best,] Merlin added. [But a lifetime of secrecy is going to be a very hard habit to break.]

"Well, try," Arthur urged. "And some day soon, you won't need to keep secrets at all. I promise."


A/N: Sorry if I left out anything you felt was important, but Merlin and Mordred don't have eidetic memories and Arthur already knew more than in canon (particularly with regards to season 3).

Also, the prophecy was omitted on purpose. We'll get back to that later.