Hello and welcome to another multi chapter story that I might actually finish.
First of all, Merlin belongs to the BBC and I am not the BBC. Second, I'm being deliberately vague with things in the first chapter, but it will be explained as the story goes on. Anyway, hope you enjoy!
Camelot, tenth year of king arthur's reign
Merlin huffed as he stomped through the grass, trying to keep the mud off his new tunic as much as he could.
"I don't see how this has helped." He complained, glaring at the king.
Arthur grinned. "It's important for the general populous to see magic as a useful tool."
"And the only way you could think to do that was by having me muck out their stables with magic?"
"It was either that or have you put on that hat and juggle."
"Prat." Merlin muttered under his breath.
"Heard that." Arthur replied with a smirk.
"You were meant to."
"Seriously though," Merlin said. "If you make me put on that hat, I will turn you into a toad."
By now, they had reached the gates of Camelot, and the guard turned a good natured smile their way as they argued. Merlin couldn't help but grin back. Life was good.
He and Arthur had just come back from what Arthur called an 'official royal visit' and what Merlin dubbed 'flaunting my magic to show how powerful Camelot is now.'
Either way, he had mud on his best boots and he needed a bath.
Arthur rolled his eyes at him one last time as they parted, the king on his way to brief the knights, and Merlin off to his chambers where there would hopefully be a warm bath and a change of clothes.
For some odd reason, George (who had decided that he was going to be Merlin's personal servant when he got promoted to court sorcerer,) had not read Merlin's mind, and prepared a bath. Never mind. Merlin could do it himself in seconds, and he did so, glaring at George all the while.
"You're going soft, Merlin." George said, managing to be disrespectful, yet completely humble and deferential at the same time. "you'll be wanting to be waited on hand and foot before too long."
"Yeah yeah, I know. Privileged nobles and all that."
George raised his eyebrow. "Says you, Lord Ambrosius."
Merlin narrowed his eyes and glared again. "Have you been taking lessons from Gaius? Are you replacing me?"
"Your old room is rather nice." George smirked, bowed and turned around. "If you'll excuse me, my lord, I have some brass to polish." He paused, "Unless you want to come with me? I have some brilliant jokes."
"Don't call me Lord!" Merlin groaned. "And no. I don't want to hear your jokes. No one wants to hear your jokes."
"Well if you're going to be like that about it," George huffed. "Maybe Gwen will appreciate my talent."
"Yeah right. She's out on a trip with Morgana today anyway."
"Then I'll find someone else."
"You do that."
"I will." And with another huff, George walked primly out of the doorway in search of some poor soul who would soon be subjected to his brass jokes.
Merlin let out a laugh and collapsed into a chair. He reached inside for his magic, and set to work preparing a bath for himself.
He mentally filled buckets with water from the pump, trusting that his magic would do the work. Then, he tugged, and winced as he heard screams coming from the stairways throughout the castle.
"Sorry!" he yelled to whoever had tripped over the flying buckets of water.
They came hurtling into his chambers a few seconds later, and he tipped them into a waiting tub, heating them as he went.
He relaxed back into his bath and closed his eyes.
When he resurfaced a good hour later and stepped out of the tub, Merlin got dressed into clean non mud ridden clothes and made his way down to the council chamber where he knew Arthur would be.
The king was having dinner with the knights and Merlin slipped into his place at the right hand side of the round table.
"Nice of you to join us, Merlin." Arthur said. "Got caught up in another spell did you?"
Merlin rolled his eyes. "I was having a bath because someone got me covered in mud."
"Now that's a story I'd like to hear." Laughed Gwaine. "I take it the magic thing didn't go well?"
"He made me clean the stables." Merlin growled. "With magic. Magic should be used for wonder and life and beautiful things. Not stables."
"You cleaned the stables with magic for years here in Camelot." Arthur pointed out. "What's the difference?"
"Shut up, you clotpole."
The next morning, Merlin woke with the sun, still used to his morning routine as a servant. It had taken him ages to get used to the idea that he didn't have to get up at dawn and serve Arthur, and even longer to realise that he didn't have to get his own breakfast. He usually did anyway, but sometimes he appreciated the lie in.
He ate and dressed at a leisurely pace, making the most of his clear schedule. After he'd eaten, he decided to go for a stroll around the gardens to clear his head before he got to work on a spell he'd been meaning to try in his workshop. Hopefully, he wouldn't blow up the east wing this time. That had… not been a good day for him.
His plans were interrupted sometime around noon when Gwen and Morgana, back from their trip, took him by the arm and led him to the courtyard.
Frowning and raising two questioning eyebrows at his kidnappers, Merlin wondered what the hell was going on.
"You'll see." Gwen giggled. "It's a surprise."
He rounded the corner, expecting to see a bucket of water tipped on his head or some other kind of practical joke that Gwaine was fond of. Instead, he saw his parents.
"Mother!" he beamed in delight. "Father! What are you doing here?"
Hunith smiled and ran to embrace her son. "We thought we'd come and visit. Balinor wanted to see Aithusa and the eggs, and I wanted to see you."
Balinor shrugged. "I'm a dragonlord. You know how it is."
Merlin laughed. "That I do."
"It's nice to see you, my lady, Guinevere." Hunith added, nodding to the two women who were whispering to each other.
"Oh please, Hunith. You know there's no titles for you. You're practically family!" Morgana insisted. "I don't see you calling Merlin 'my lord'"
"I could start." Hunith grinned. "You'd love that, wouldn't you, Merlin."
"Morgana!" Merlin whined.
After all the hugging and laughing was over, Merlin took his parents on a quick tour of the castle so they could see everything that had changed since they had last visited. They stopped off by their chambers to drop off their bags, then moved on to Merlin's workshop, where Balinor marvelled over spells and crystals while Hunith sighed and tapped her foot. Then, they went to the training field to see the knights and Arthur, all of whom greeted Merlin's parents with joy. After that, Hunith decided to go off with Gwen to help her in the blacksmith's with her father. Merlin and Balinor continued on and down towards the newly dubbed dragon cave.
When Merlin became court sorcerer, one of the first things he did was seek out Aithusa and apologise. The dragon accepted, and the two began to grow close. About a year after magic was made legal in Camelot, Merlin decided that he would go on a quest of sorts to locate dragon eggs. His journey took him further than he'd ever been before, and well beyond the shores of Albion. He had gone to the land across the sea from Albion (which he knew the Greeks had named Europe) and discovered the majestic and fiery dragons there. Then, across the Aegean Sea and up, he had come across the leaner dragons of China. He had gone back down to the southern points of Europe, and discovered more land below, where the dragons were more serpent like. He collected eggs from all of these places and brought them back. Some of the eggs needed dragonlords to hatch like the ones in Albion, but some were more like bird eggs and only needed warmth and care.
It was incredible to think of how many different species of dragon there were and Merlin remembered crying when he found the first one in Gaul. He had thought Aithusa and Kilgarrah to be the last of their kind, but to find so many all over the world? It was a wonder that Merlin would never grow tired of.
Now, he had the cave. It was an extension of the cave that had held Kilgarrah for so long, expanded with magic to house all of the eggs he had collected. Not many of them had hatched, but some of smaller ones had, and at least half a dozen baby dragons nested on the shelves of the cave, chirping to themselves. Aithusa lay off to the side dozing. Merlin didn't know if all of the babies were capable of human speech like Kilgarrah, but he was looking forward to teaching the ones that did.
Beside him, Balinor gasped softly.
"This is… incredible." He breathed. "What you've done here, it's just…"
"I thought you'd like it." Merlin grinned. "I want to reintroduce dragons to Albion, and the European ones are more like the ones here, but I want some of the others to live here too."
"It reminds me of when I was a boy." Balinor sighed. "When dragons roamed free. Thank you, Merlin."
Merlin only smiled and put his arm round his father's shoulder, gazing happily at the dragons.
Merlin ate with his parents that night, and then after they had retired for the evening, he sat outside and watched the stars.
camelot, first year of queen Guinevere's reign
"The king is dead."
Gwen sat solemn faced as the crown was lowered onto her head. She held back her tears – she couldn't afford to look weak. Not now.
She imagined that there would be nobles in the council calling for her removal, insisting that a woman and a commoner couldn't rule. She gritted her teeth.
With the ever faithful Leon and Gaius leading, a chorus of 'long live the queen' went up around the hall. It made it feel all the more real. Arthur wasn't there anymore. He was dead. Gone. She was left alone to rule a kingdom who didn't want her, and with no time to grieve. Camelot had suffered a huge loss after Camalan; half its army and most of the resources had been lost, and the people were disheartened. It was up to her to put things right.
Leon came up to her after the coronation, taking her hand and squeezing it. She gave him a grateful nod as she turned to face the people. Her people.
In her chambers that night, Gwen grieved. She dismissed her servants, knelt on her bed and began to cry. She cried for the man she loved, and for a great king. She cried for all the men and women who had been lost in the battle. She cried for at least an hour before there came a knock on the door.
"Gwen?" Leon's voice said. "Can I come in?"
"Yes." She said, clearing her throat.
He rushed in and hugged her close just as they had done as children.
"Oh, Gwen." He murmured. "I miss him too."
"He's really gone."
"Gaius said Merlin sent him word. He is."
She buried her face into his shoulder, and he wrapped his arms around her.
"We'll be ok." Gwen said, her voice shaky but certain. "We have to be."
"We will be."
Gwen paused and looked up suddenly. "He has magic. Did you know?"
"Merlin? Yeah. I've suspected for a while."
"He was the sorcerer in the battle."
"Yes."
"But he couldn't save Arthur."
"No. he couldn't."
After watching Wandavision (and oh my god that was an amazing show), I was struck by how similar Wanda's feelings of grief were to Merlin's and how similar the situation was. So, I decided to write this, and although it won't follow the same plot line as Wandavision, it is inspired by it.