I would just like to take a moment to rant about the doc manager's spellchecker. I typically type the chapters up in Google docs and then copy them over here. Every time I do, not only does the word count change, but I get a bunch of squiggly red lines where there were none in Google. So I look up each word to see if I really spelled it wrong.

Sometimes the fanfic spellcheck is just wrong. Sometimes Google just missed something for some reason. Other times, and what seems to be the most often for me, it isn't wrong but but it is based off of American English. I am American, but I'm also a bit of a freak and tend to spell things the British way. I blame this on the fact that I read a lot of books by British authors as a child.

For example, in American English every form of the word "practice" is spelled like that. In British English, "practice" is a noun and "practise" is a verb. So the practice of magic vs practising magic. This site does not like practising. It also doesn't like colour, or scepticism, or any number of things. I am also more likely to use "grey" than "gray," but FF doesn't seem to care about that one.

So every time I write a chapter I have to go through and "fix" all my nonsense mix of British English and American English, and I wonder if I even should, considering this story is faux-British anyway and I've already botched my use of the metric system. But I'm not British, and I don't want to feel like a poser or something dumb.

I'm probably just overthinking this, and y'all probably didn't even notice. But now you have, and now maybe you'll be overthinking it too every time I mix them up.

Chapter XXVI

Arthur woke gradually, content to stay in his soft, warm nest of blankets. He could feel the morning sun on his face and Guinevere's body pressed into his back. She had one arm thrown over his stomach, her fingers tangled within his own. Her thumb was gently stroking the back of his hand, so he knew she was awake as well.

He rolled over sleepily and tucked his face into her neck with a sigh.

I have missed this.

"Are you awake?"

Arthur hummed in response and pulled her closer.

"We have to get up soon or we will be late for the meeting with the council."

Arthur groaned. "Time is it?"

"Nearly midday."

Arthur finally pried his eyes open and looked at her face. "Fine. I need a bath."

Guinevere smiled. "Yes, you still smell of horse. I will have to have the sheets washed."

Arthur leaned in for a kiss. "You are lucky horse is all I smell of. It was quite the journey."

Her smile faded. "I know. I would like to hear all of the details. It has been difficult, waiting and wondering all this time. Elyan told me what he could, but he left before Merlin had even woken and I did not know what to expect, or if he would even survive. I worried for you, as well. Elyan told me you bound your life to his? I feared I would lose you both."

Arthur traced her cheek with his fingertips as he thought back to those harrowing weeks after they had first rescued Merlin. "It was a close thing, I admit, but he pulled through. I will tell you everything, but it is not a short story and we do not have the time now. You will hear some of it during the meeting, but I cannot speak much of Merlin to the council. I'm afraid I must ask for a little more of your patience."

"I have waited for so long now, I can wait a little longer," she leaned in and kissed his forehead, then sat up. "Now, a servant has already been by to draw you a bath, and our breakfast is on the table. You must get ready for the day."

Arthur groaned, but pushed himself up and got out of bed. Sure enough, the bath was full and a tray of fruits, sausages, and potatoes was sitting ready for him at the table. He wondered absently how the servant had managed to come in and out so many times to prepare everything without him noticing. He must have been more tired than he thought.

He quickly shed his sleeping clothes and got into the bath, grimacing slightly at the cool temperature. It was certainly better than the ice-cold streams he had been using before, but it was not nearly as warm as Merlin always made it. It was one of Merlin's best skills as a servant, and he had never had another servant be able to match it. He realized sadly that piping-hot baths were likely another thing that would never happen again now. Even if Merlin recovered to the point where he could resume his duties as a servant, he would not be able to haul the bucked up to fill the bath with only one arm.

His mood sufficiently ruined, Arthur bathed quickly but thoroughly and dressed himself for the day while Guinevere ate her breakfast. Cold water or not, it felt amazing to finally be properly clean and wearing his own fresh clothes. He had gotten used to the strange foreign garments, but it was still a relief to put on the familiar shirt and trousers. It was another small piece of home.

By the time he had finished, Guinevere was already done eating. There was still ample food remaining on the tray, so he picked it up and turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" Guinevere questioned, puzzled at his behavior.

He paused, having not even realized that things had changed during his journey and she of course would not have known that. "I am going to see Merlin. He...doesn't eat unless I make him."

"Oh." She said softly, her face falling.

"It will be alright." Arthur said. "You did not see him before. He is recovering. It will just take time."

She nodded, standing up and wiping her eyes. "Go, then. I will see you at the council meeting."

Arthur smiled and kissed her cheek before leaving. He made his way quickly to Gaius and Merlin's chambers, nodding to servants and guards as he passed them by but did not stop to speak to any of them, despite their excitement at seeing him. Apparently word had not quite gotten around yet, because a number of them looked surprised to see him.

He barged into the physician's chambers without knocking and quickly spotted Merlin standing by the window and staring out of it. He gave no reaction, despite the noise Arthur was making. "Good morning, lazy daisy!" he announced cheerfully, hoping to infect Merlin with his good mood. Who knows, perhaps with their new soul thing that was actually possible.

Merlin turned to look at him, one eyebrow raised in a stellar impression of his absent mentor. Arthur noted that he was wearing his own clothes again too, and that the red tunic was hanging off of him nearly as loosely as his borrowed one had, but it made him look just a bit more like himself regardless. A thinner, more ragged, scruffier version of himself. The stubble on his face was almost turning into a proper beard again. His neckerchief was conspicuously absent, and Arthur wondered if he chose not to wear it or if he simply couldn't tie the knot with one hand.

Actually, with his hair long and beard growing in, he almost looked like a skinnier, sickly version of Gwaine. Arthur almost grimaced at the thought.

"Lazy daisy?"

"I mean, here you are, my servant, and here I am, bringing you your breakfast."

"I'm surprised you know where the kitchens are."

"Here's the thing, Merlin, I don't need to know where the kitchens are because someone quite helpfully went down there for me and brought this to my room. Such are the perks of being King."

"So it isn't my breakfast after all; it's yours."

Arthur set the tray down on the table and pulled out two chairs, dropping himself into one of them. "Right you are, Merlin. I, in my infinite generosity, have decided to share my breakfast with you. I was still asleep when it was delivered, so I was unable to inform the servant that they had brought too much. It would be an insult to the cooks to allow it to go to waste, so I thought to myself, 'say, isn't there some skinny idiot somewhere around here who could solve this dilemma?' So here I am. Don't get used to it." Arthur wasn't fooling anyone, least of all himself. He knew he would be back, probably every meal for every day until Merlin was better.

Merlin slowly approached the table and sat down in the second chair across from Arthur. "Of course not."

Arthur grabbed a fork and stabbed a sausage, pleased when Merlin did the same with a chunk of potato and slowly started to eat. "So, sleep well?" he asked between bites, examining the dark circles under Merlin's eyes critically.

Merlin shrugged, eyes focused on the food. "Fine."

"That's a lie."

Merlin's eye twitched. "No nightmares."

Arthur knew that was true, because he had slept like a baby after his head hit the pillow, and they had not yet sorted out the whole dream sharing situation. "You know, it doesn't count if you had no nightmares because you never went to sleep."

"Gail stopped by this morning to check on me. Callum seemed a bit overwhelmed by the citadel, but I think he will get used to it."

Arthur sighed, ignoring Merlin's attempt to change the subject. "You do not have to hide things from me. I thought we went over this."

Merlin stabbed aggressively at another potato with his fork. It fell apart into tiny pieces, but he kept stabbing at it.

"When I offered to stay last night, I did mean it, you know."

"I know. It's not that." Merlin mumbled. "I was just thinking."

"About anything in particular?"

Merlin stopped stabbing his potato and sighed. "I was exploring. I needed to know if I forgot anything else. Ealdor...I had no idea that I had even lost it. I hadn't noticed the gap."

"So you were looking for more gaps."

Merlin nodded, taking another bite and staring distantly at the wall.

"Did you find any?"

"Not many. I had little reason to hide these rooms from them, so they were familiar. Their location is public knowledge. I think I didn't forget Gaius because he is, as well. Everyone knows who the court physician is, so forgetting him wouldn't protect him much. And he was safe here."

"You thought if they knew where your mother was, if they knew she was alive they would find her and use her against you."

Merlin flinched. "It was one of the only things that would have worked," he admitted.

"Do you want to write to her?" Arthur asked. "Or I can write one. I can send an escort to bring her here."

Merlin set his fork down and clenched his fist, trying and failing to stop the trembling of his hand. "I don't...I don't know what I want. I want to see her, to know she is alive, but...I don't want her to see me. Not like this. I'm...it would hurt her, and I can't hurt her. But she needs to know I am alive too."

"We can write to let her know you are back in Camelot, but ask that she does not visit yet. She already knows you are alive, Elyan reported that much."

"I don't want her to think I don't want to see her."

"I can explain it to her. She will understand."

"I don't know what to do." Merlin whispered.

"You don't need to decide right now. Right now you need to eat. Whenever you do see your mother, I cannot have her thinking I have been starving you."

Merlin nodded, blinking away tears, and picked up his fork again.

They spent the rest of the meal speaking of lighter topics─or rather, Arthur spoke of lighter topics and Merlin nodded and hummed and made an occasional rare comment. He told him about the servant he passed on the way here that looked like she had seen a ghost when he rounded the corner, of how little he was looking forward to meeting with the council later, and of how amazing his bath had felt this morning after so long on the road. He said that he would have a servant bring water to Merlin's chambers later, only to revise the statement when Merlin looked a bit panicked at the thought of company. He promised to have things delivered outside the door instead for Merlin to bring in himself, without having to see or speak to anyone he did not wish to.

Sooner than Arthur would have liked, the tray was cleared of food. Arthur had done most of the clearing, but Merlin had managed to eat more in one sitting than Arthur had seen in the past weeks. He noted that Merlin had mainly only touched the potatoes and the fruit, and left the spiced sausages alone.

"I have to go speak with the council," Arthur said, standing and gathering up the tray. "I will stop by again later. Is there anything you need?"

Merlin shook his head at first, but then froze. "I...Could you...the letter..."

"I will write it, and explain, if you want."

Merlin nodded, staring down at the table again.

"Good. Now try to get some sleep, Merlin. You look exhausted."

He left him behind again, once again feeling a little bit wrong about it. It was ridiculous. Merlin would be just fine in his chambers for a while alone. He made it through the night relatively fine, and was no worse off than he had been before. Arthur needed to stop being so clingy, it didn't suit him.

On the way to the council meeting he spotted a young serving girl and waved her over, thrusting the empty tray into her hands. "Take this back to the kitchens and tell the cooks to include a different variety of foods on my trays from now on. Soft foods, gentle on the stomach, not overly spiced. Things to help put on weight. Once you are done with that, I need you to go fetch a bucket of water from the well and deliver it to the physician's door. Do not open the door under any circumstances, just leave it outside. Oh, and don't fill the bucket more than halfway. Understand?"

"But, sire, Gaius is not in Camelot?"

"I am aware of that. I need the water delivered anyway."

The girl nodded and dipped into a curtsey, though she was clearly still confused, and hurried off to the kitchens.

That done, Arthur found himself with no more reasons to continue delaying the inevitable, and made his way to the council chambers. He was the last to arrive, not because he was late, but because everyone else was early.

He took his place beside Guinevere, taking her hand and kissing it before turning to address the council. "Lords. I know you are all eager to hear of my travels, but I have some questions of my own first. I have heard some stories along my way, but many of them were conflicting rumors. When I arrived last night, I found that the city was under a curfew. I presume there is a reason for that?"

Several of the council shifted uncomfortably and glanced at each other before one spoke up. "Yes, well, we have had a spot of bother lately. We have caught spies attempting to infiltrate the citadel to learn more about your absence and the state of Camelot."

"Nearly three months ago Sarrum of Amata paid us a visit," Guinevere added, her lips curling in distaste. "He claimed that he knew you were dead, and that Camelot was adrift without a strong leader. He proposed an alliance by marriage."

Arthur squeezed her hand under the table and clenched his jaw in anger. Guinevere gave him a small smile before continuing. "Of course, I refused his offer, and told him that you were alive and well. He did not believe me, and resorted to taking the city by force. He camped his army in the woods and we prepared for siege.

"They were only there for two days before...Well, we are not entirely sure what happened. We could hear the screams in the night, terrible sounds. The forest glowed and smoke rose from the trees, but they did not burn. A patrol was sent out to scout the area at first light, and they found that the entire army was gone. The clearing they had stayed in was burnt to a crisp. There were some bones and pieces of weapons, but even most of that had burned away."

One of the lords cleared his throat. "We believe that Amata had brought a sorcerer and lost control of it."

Guinevere looked skeptical, but didn't refute the claim.

"I may have more information in that regard than you do," Arthur stated, straightening in his chair. "I have learned quite a bit during my quest, and I ask that you all keep an open mind when I explain. I will be implementing many changes in the coming months, and I would like your support, though I realize it may be difficult for you."

He cleared his throat, looking every one of them in the eye before continuing. "Understand that I will be going forward with these changes regardless. You are welcome to give advice and voice your opinions, but the changes will be made."

Some of them looked nervous now, but no one objected.

Yet.

Arthur took a moment to gather his thoughts, wondering where he should start. "As you have all likely heard from Sir Elyan, we identified and located the group who attacked us this last spring. This group calls themselves Destiny's Mirror. They have knowledge of ancient prophecies, and they believe that they are trapped by the predictions. Their goal is to fight against the predicted events and seek to change them, regardless of whether or not the changes are for the better.

"Some of these prophecies are about Camelot's future. I have come to learn that Camelot is destined for greatness and prosperity, and that the prophecies foretold an impending age of peace. An individual was named in this prophecy, someone who is said to be instrumental in helping us bring about this age of peace. He is said to be Camelot's greatest ally, as well as the most powerful magical being to ever exist. The Druids know of him, and apparently they also work for him.

"He is called Emrys, and he has been working to protect Camelot from the shadows for some time now. I believe it is he who destroyed Amata's army. In the same way that the army was burned, our way home was cleared just ahead of us. The mountain pass was snowed in, and someone melted it. Not only the snow, but the stone itself was turned to glass."

"I have heard of this," Guinevere cut in. "There have been rumors. The people are calling the pass the Dragon's Throat. They say it is still warm."

Arthur nodded, then brought the conversation back on topic, trying to word it in such a way that Merlin was not mentioned. "Emrys is, we believe, the Mirror's main target. Because he is so important to the prophecies, they are attempting to find him. Whether they want to kill him or use him for their power, I am not certain.

"These people already have an enormous amount of power. I am sure you have heard by now of the sickness that plagues the land up north. They are the cause. They have been draining the magic from the land and storing it for their own use. This cannot be allowed to continue. If it spreads, all of Albion could fall."

"We have received word a few days back from the Northern king, Cinaed," Guinevere interjected. "He has heard of your foray into his lands and your dealings with Destiny's Mirror, and he wishes to speak of the issue and perhaps forge an alliance to deal with them. He should arrive in a fortnight."

"Excellent," Arthur said, "Saves me the trouble of inviting him. We will need all the help we can get with these people, and we would not be able to take the fight to them without his involvement.

"This, in a way, brings me to my next point. If I have learned anything over these past months, it is that we cannot hope to fight such a powerful enemy alone. We could not even find them until we received assistance from a northerner we met along the way. A healer from a small village. She guided us to their base, helped us fight against them, and then treated our wounds after the battle. I can say with certainty, we would not have all made it home without her help."

He watched them all carefully, ready to gauge their reactions. "She has magic, and she used it to help us."

Many of them looked uncomfortable, afraid, or even angry.

Arthur wasn't even close to being finished yet. "I have brought her back with me, and offered her a position here in Camelot."

At that, someone finally protested. "Surely you don't mean to appoint a sorceress to court! Sorcery is outlawed, she is a criminal! We have no need of a new physician, Gaius is still in good health."

"You misunderstand me, I will not be replacing Gaius. As far as I know, he has no plans to retire. I do not intend to appoint her as a physician." Arthur resisted the urge to smirk as the outraged Lord Baldwin settled down a bit. He paused for dramatic effect, then clasped his hands, leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table.

"I intend to knight her."

The predicted uproar was somewhat louder than he had expected. Baldwin actually stood up from his seat, his face flushed red. "You can't do this!"

Arthur raised his eyebrows. "Can't I? By all means, if you have a reason why I should not, speak your mind."

He sputtered, face darkening even further. "She is a sorceress!"

"Ah, yes." Arthur clapped his hands together. "Next on my agenda for today. By the end of the week I will be announcing across the kingdom a blanket pardon on all past acts of sorcery. We will no longer be prosecuting the practice of magic. In the coming months, I will be drafting new laws regarding its use. The details will be worked out later."

"This is ridiculous, she has enchanted you!"

Arthur's eyes turned steely. "Is that what you believe?"

"Yes! It is the only explanation."

"I don't seem to recall you making any objections when my father was enchanted by a troll. You were too afraid then to say a word. Curious that you have found your tongue now. Could it be that you do not truly believe that I am enchanted, or do you simply think I am weaker than my father, and more easily influenced?"

The lord sputtered, clearly scrambling for another route. "Well, even if she has not, she is still a woman!"

"And why should that keep her from being a knight?" Arthur turned to Geoffrey, "Is it written anywhere that women cannot be knights?"

Geoffrey, for his part, looked bemused by the entire situation. "I do not believe so, sire. Only that knights are men."

"There we have it. Those things are not mutually exclusive. Knights are men, but that does not mean they are only men. And if we find that there is in fact a rule against it, I am prepared to change it."

"But it just isn't done!"

"That is hardly a good reason not to do something. As you all know, I have allowed commoners to join the ranks for years now. Gail will be subjected to the same tests and required to follow the same code as everyone else, and after fighting at her side I have no doubt that she will be able to measure up."

Lord Archibald, one of Uther's staunchest supporters, spoke up, "Lifting the ban on magic is a mistake. It will invite all manner of trouble into our borders. What is happening in the north proves that!"

"I disagree. What is happening in the north proves quite the opposite. It has proven that magic is essential for the land to prosper. When the evil sorcerers drained the magic from the land for themselves, the land died."

"Because of the sorcerers! Magic cannot be trusted in the hands of men."

"And how are we to fight these men, if not with magic?" Arthur countered. "Emrys has been protecting us from in hiding all this time because we have not allowed him to come forward. How many magical threats has he defeated without our knowledge? How many more could he have defeated sooner if he was allowed to operate publicly? For that matter, think of how many of our magical enemies over the years have been enemies only because of the ban itself? Many of them have attacked us out of revenge or desperation. Just look at what happened to my own sister. Morgause exploited her vulnerability and corrupted her against us because she had nowhere else to turn. My father's laws forced her into hiding just as they have forced Emrys. She could not remain in the shadows, so she took the only path left to her. It was not the right path, but we did not offer her an alternative.

"How many more of our citizens do you think are living in fear right now, hiding among us? Gaius used to practice magic, and if we did not know that before we would not know it now by the way he lives. For every person whose magic has been revealed, there could be one or a hundred more who managed to hide it. These people are not enemies, they are victims."

Arthur again made eye contact with every one of them, and he was gratified to see several thoughtful faces. "There have been too many secrets in this city, and it has caused irreparable harm. I will not continue to silently oppress my people. I intend to build a world where anyone can be free, and I cannot look the other way while a portion of the people suffer in the dark."

They all fell silent, though Arthur suspected for a few of them it was only because they saw he could not be swayed, and not because their minds had changed. No matter. Arthur wanted to have people on his council who disagreed with him, not just people who would follow along and agree with everything he said and lick his boots. It was important to hear different sides.

Another thing Merlin had taught him. He wished desperately that Merlin could have listened in on this meeting as he had many times before. Arthur always valued his input on these things, and this was perhaps the most important council meeting he had ever called.

Geoffrey was writing some notes on a piece of parchment, and he spoke without lifting his head. "I will begin drafting the documents for the pardon. I should have it finished in no more than a day, and then you can review them before they are put into place."

Of course, as much as he appreciated opposition, sometimes it was nice when someone just shut up and got to work. Arthur smiled, overall pleased at how this meeting was going so far. All in all, he had expected more problems. He glanced to Guinevere, noting the sheen in her eyes. She gave him a small smile that looked almost proud, for some reason. He was especially pleased that she approved, but he supposed it was no surprise considering how she had nearly been falsely executed for sorcery in the past. Her father actually had been. He resolved to speak to her about this in private later, and wished he had had the time to do so before.

"I will need to clear a day to hear the people after it is announced. No doubt they will have questions."

Geoffrey looked up from his scribbling. "And of the sorceress you brought home. Until the new laws of magic are in place, it would be best if she refrained from practicing it, as Gaius has. It would not do to show that friends of the king get special treatment."

Arthur nodded. "I have already spoken with her, and she has agreed not to practice magic unless there is an immediate emergency. Her magic is not particularly powerful, and she does not rely on it much."

"Excellent. Now, there is also the matter of the treaty with the Northern king. I can draw up a rough draft of what you hope to achieve with it, but of course I will not be able to complete it until after the negotiations have finished."

"Yes, what do we know of King Cinaed?" Arthur asked. "All I have heard so far is that he is an old hermit with many sons. I am a bit surprised he made the first move to come out here; he does not seem overly involved in his kingdom."

"I am afraid we do not know much more than that, sire." Geoffrey said apologetically. "Camelot has not had many dealings with the northerners and our records are sparse. We know that he has had at least six wives, all of whom died young. The most recent died some ten years ago. Our records show that there are eight sons, though we are unsure of their names and ages. In fact, we do not even know Cinaed's true age, only that he took the throne when his father died more than forty years ago. We have only minor recorded conflicts with other kingdoms, and none recently. It seems he mostly keeps himself and his kingdom out of such affairs.

That didn't give them much to go on, but there was nothing that Arthur could foresee being a problem.

"We will need to prepare a feast in his honor. Have the kitchens been notified?"

"Yes, sire, and supplies are being ordered. They─"

The council room door flew open with a bang, startling them all. Arthur turned to look at who had so rudely intruded on the meeting and saw a guard standing in the doorway, face pale.

Arthur's heart leapt in his chest, his first thought of Merlin. Perhaps something had happened to him? No, you would have felt something. "What is it?" he demanded.

The guard bowed. "My lords, there is...um, well we aren't quite sure. There is something above the forest, I think it is best you come look for yourself, sire. I believe it is for you."

Arthur shared a confused look with his wife, but she looked just as lost as he was. He stood, addressing the council. "We will have to continue this discussion at another time. Think over what I said, and we will rejoin with new ideas."

With that, he strode quickly from the room, following the guard to the ramparts to see what he was on about, Guinevere following at his side. When they got to the top and looked out over the forest, his heart leapt again, but this time with excitement and nervousness instead of fear.

Drifting above the forest, by a large clearing, was a plume of dark smoke. The smoke twisted and curled into the distinct shape of a dragon.

Specifically, the dragon that flew on Arthur's banners.

There was only one reason he could think of for someone to magically conjure the Pendragon crest. This was a message, a summons.

Emrys finally deigns to come out of hiding, then.

He grinned, turning to Guinevere. "I have to go, alone. If I am not back by dinner...?"

She nodded, giving him a small smile. "I will. But are you certain this is a good idea? At least take some knights with you."

Arthur shook his head. "I have nothing to fear. He wants to speak with me, and I cannot risk him leaving and hiding again if I bring someone else." He could not let Emrys hide away again. Nothing else mattered right now. He thought back to the prophecy Lailoken had given in the woods, how he had said something about smoke coming to his aid.

This was important, and he could not mess it up. "Trust me."

She nodded, still uncertain. "Just...be careful?"

He took her head in his hands and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Always."

Arthur all but sprinted down the steps and towards the stables. He did not bother to summon a stablehand and threw a saddle onto the nearest horse himself, barely taking the time to adjust the straps properly. It wasn't even his horse, but he didn't care and hardly noticed.

He had no time to waste. Emrys wanted to meet, and Arthur wanted answers.

So, what is the opposite of writer's block? Because I posted the previous chapter and then immediately dove into this one, and actually had it all typed up the first day. Only I didn't stop there, and just kept plowing through. I passed 8k words and thought, "hey, this is a new record!" Then I passed 10k. And before I knew it, I was at 12k and still not done, and realizing I had to split the thing in half or double my previous record, which would put pressure on me to continue releasing increasingly stupidly long chapters and I don't think that's sustainable. I don't have that much patience for myself.

The second half will still probably break my previous chapter record of around 7.7k. This was not supposed to end on this cliffhanger here, but it was the only natural spot to cut it, sorry (but not sorry, because I love the cliffhangers and it had been a minute).

So yeah. I have a lotta words for you, coming imminently.