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Arthur paced his room, hesitating barely a moment when Merlin walked in with an object wrapped in cloth.
"I brought —"
"The council knows Hans is here, and they're not convinced he shouldn't die at sunrise. And I can't tell them Elsa's here, can I? They'd just go after her too, queen or not." It was a miracle that they didn't know about Elsa already. Gwen had her moved to an unused guest room, but there was every chance that someone saw her when she moved from one place to another.
Merlin set the object down on the table, dismissing Arthur's concerns with a wave. "We'll leave before sunrise, then. We've got the rest of the day to prepare."
"And when they ask where I sent the knights? Do you really think they'd believe I'd send all of you just because Gwen wanted to travel for a few days? If you're gone longer than that, I have nothing else to tell them." Thinking about the plan over the past few hours since the group had put out the rough ideas, Arthur had found more reasons not to go through with it. It simply wouldn't work, at least not for long.
If Merlin saw the same issues Arthur did, he said nothing. He unwrapped the cloth from around the object — objects, Arthur realized. Two ornate hand-held mirrors, one silver and one gold. The class shone clear and recently dusted, but the metal edges still held dirt in their crevices, enough that Arthur guessed they hadn't seen a polish for quite some time. He handed the gold one to Arthur and picked up the silver one himself.
"Er, thanks?" Arthur said. He looked at himself in the glass. There wasn't anything unusual about his appearance.
He looked back at Merlin when directed to watch. Merlin ran a finger deliberately along one edge of the mirror until the surface rippled like water.
"Look at yours."
Arthur looked at the gold mirror, only mildly surprised to see the ripples had appeared there too. He repeated Merlin's motion across the surface, and Merlin's face and the objects behind him appeared in the glass. The Merlin in the mirror waved with a grin. The Merlin standing in the room with him did the same, looking into the mirror as he did so.
"Better than sending letters, right Arthur?" He laughed a little, seeing Arthur's face. "I only have the two, so if we need to talk to Gaius or anyone else, you'll have to hand it over to them, but I'll try not to reach out. It would be better if you're the one to check in with us so that we don't use the mirror when you're busy."
It didn't address the most pressing problem, but a part of the weight lifted from Arthur's shoulders.
"Once we leave, there's nothing the council can do about it," Merlin pointed out. "You just have to maintain that we left on your orders, and that Hans is not our prisoner to convict. I know they'll ask questions, and maybe you can tell them something close to the truth. There was a magical disturbance reported anonymously and you want to make sure it won't be a problem, or something like that."
"And Gwen?"
"She's not really needed for that story, but I doubt she'll back down on wanting to go."
Arthur knew Merlin was right. He didn't want to let Gwen go, but he doubted he could stop her, either. "She helped save Princess Anna while she was here. Hopefully checking in with a friend will be enough to stop at least some questions."
They both fell silent, thinking of what was about to occur. Arthur had never sent this many of his closest friends on a long quest without going himself. He looked down at the mirror again. They'd still be so far out of reach. There would be no Merlin to wake him in the morning or to throw things at, no Leon for advice, or Gwaine to lighten the mood, or Elyan to bring the group together. And no Gwen to turn to when he just didn't want to think about any of his responsibilities for a moment.
"Enjoy the brass jokes while I'm gone, sire," Merlin teased.
"I do hope he's moved on to something else by now."
"I'm pretty sure anything else he could come up with would be worse."
And when Arthur watched his friends ride away that night, he remembered that. Anything else would be worse — at least when George joked about brass, it reminded Arthur of Merlin and how the two of them laughed about George's stupid jokes.
The council was not in any way unconcerned or amused.
"Let's get this straight," Lord Pelham said. "You sent a powerful magical enemy to be placed in the hands of… a powerful magical enemy."
The accusation held no question, only disbelief that anyone would be so stupid.
Arthur did his best to ignore the clenched jaws, and the one member who had just placed his head in his palms and looked as though he might just reconsider reappointing Uther as acting King despite his insanity. "Queen Elsa is not our Enemy. We fought together on the same side, and she has no fondness for Prince Hans, I assure you."
"Was that not a circumstance of enemies fighting together to defeat a common foe? What happens when the two of them decide to team up against Camelot?"
"Elsa would not."
Lord Pelham grimaced. "You treat the sorceress as though she has the same morals as you or I. She does not. No one who practices magic does."
"I made my choice, Lord Pelham. Thank you for your insight, but there is nothing to be done."
Agravaine spoke up from Arthur's side. "That may not be true. There is still time for a party to catch up with the group you sent and direct them back."
"Perhaps, but as I said. I made my decision."
"Arthur, think about this, is it really in Camelot's best interest, in your father's best interest—"
"I made my decision while considering both things." Though he hadn't really considered his father's interest with a significant amount of weight.
The rest of the meeting continued with a repetition of concerns about Hans and Elsa, as well as a plan for their "inevitable" combined attack. They only mentioned Morgana once, Agravaine quickly pointing out that alone she was much less threatening than the others, and hadn't been seen for an entire year.
"She might even be dead for all we know," Agravaine said.
Of all the things that could have happened to his sister, death had never crossed Arthur's mind. She'd committed treason, and harmed innocents, but somehow Arthur couldn't help but hope that she was alive and well, that somewhere the old Morgana could live a good life. But if Morgana returned with Merlin gone, Arthur didn't think Camelot would stand a chance. Maybe it would be better if she were really gone.
"Gaius?" Arthur reiterated his thoughts to the physician when the meeting ended, sitting at Gaius' table as the old man searched through some old books.
"Hmm?" Gaius looked up from the text he was reading. "Apologies, sire, was what you were saying important?"
"Important? Of course it was important. To me."
Gaius waited for Arthur to restate his message, finger marking his spot on the page.
Arthur sighed. "I guess it wasn't really that important. What are you working on, anyway?"
Gaius moved the book so that Arthur could catch a glimpse of the delicate script that filled the pages. "A request from Queen Elsa. She didn't want to bother anyone but Merlin and I with this, but she's been having problems with her magic, and they're worse than she made it sound in her letters."
You treat the sorceress as though she has the same morals as you or I. She does not. No one who practices magic does. Problems that might change Elsa's morals, or if not change them, outweigh her previous ideas?
"What sort of problems?"
"Internal ones. Before, her magic exploded outwards, and now that she can control that, it seems to be imploding. It makes her cold, and I fear it could destroy her if we find no solution, but I think I may have found one." He pointed at the book he had opened. "It's a journal by a Queen from long ago. She writes quite a lot about her magic, and that of a friend's in different ways."
"Different from what?" As far as Arthur knew, there were few ways to think about magic: magic as a tool for good, neutral, or evil; or as Uther believed, magic as a purely evil entity.
Gaius shook his head. "From everything I've read before. It connects somewhat to what druids believed, but it's stated differently. The author talks about types of magic like they're languages. Someone with power over the air is someone who can speak to it and someone that controls fire can speak to it, almost like you would a person. And the issue happens when you are at an imbalance. Someone who speaks with fire must also speak with water or the fire will burn them from the inside out."
Arthur stared at Gaius in horror, imagining a corpse burned, not by an accident with a candle or by a pyre, but because of the person's own power going against them. And there was Elsa's ice. Would she simply freeze to death? How long did she have?
"We have to warn them."
"Indeed, we do. Merlin will have to teach her some other type of magic to balance herself."
"If I ride out, I can catch up with them."
Gaius snorted. "Don't be ridiculous, sire. Merlin gave you that fancy mirror for a reason, don't let months of that boy tinkering with those things go to waste."
Question: Who's POV are you most curious to see at this point?