Arthur

3:00 Stand in for council meeting

Merlin

3:00 Run council meeting

After everyone settled in at the arrival of the acting king, king Merlin started the meeting.

"Sir Leon, I'd like to start with the reports from the outlying villages." Merlin stated, ignoring any and all opening pleasantries that most of the older council members were prone to.

Leon nodded and began reading off the collected notes; he had no hesitation in deferring to Merlin's orders.

Arthur listened in on Leon's report. He might get a full written report from Merlin tonight, but he'd rather not have to read all of it if he could get the information directly from the source. Merlin himself was also nodding along like he was paying attention. Arthur half expected him to start daydreaming like he was prone to do when he had to be a server.

Of course Arthur only made Merlin serve so he wouldn't have to explain everything that had happened later on when he asked for Merlin's opinion. But nobody, not even Guinevere knew that was the reason Arthur had Merlin come to all of the council meetings.

Arthur was pulled from his own daydreaming when Merlin began to address the group with a solution to the problems occurring in the outlying villages.

"We'll send a pair of knights to each village to assess the damages and determine what resources will be sent. Sir Leon can assign knights tonight and they can leave tomorrow." Merlin didn't hesitate in his decisions, but Arthur could just barely see the nervousness running through the man. It was weird seeing him in a position of power. He held himself well, in a way that had surprised Arthur. It wasn't that Arthur had ever thought Merlin was stupid—an idiot maybe—but he was a smart man; it was really that Arthur didn't think Merlin could play the role of nobility—the stiff politeness, and the unattached diplomacy.

He might have to actually listen to Morgana and give Merlin a title one of these days. Maybe he actually had learned something from spending so much time in all the council meetings. Arthur was practically dumbstruck.

"What about the taxes for the affected villages?" Sir Aldor, once one of Uther's best knights, asked. "It's four of the larger villages, we cannot allow them all to avoid paying taxes despite the various disasters."

"You are right, they pay a large portion of the treasury and we cannot lose that revenue." Merlin acknowledged the advisor's words with a nod. "We are already sending knights to each village. Someone can be sent along with them to determine whether anyone has suffered a loss of income. Those that have had their livelihoods impacted will have to pay a smaller amount in taxes based on what they can afford."

The councilmen slowly nodded their agreement to the proposed idea and Merlin swiftly moved onto the next topic.

Arthur was suitably impressed, with both Merlin's handle of the situation and the council members' apparent acceptance of his temporary role as king.

The rest of the meeting was much the same; Merlin conducted himself like that of a true king, giving the council members their time to talk and listened to their ideas, taking them into consideration before putting forth a solution to the problem at hand.

Arthur tuned out after a little while. It was much harder to pay attention when he was didn't have to contribute anything. And at the very moment he was much more focused on the ache that was developing in his feet. Standing all day was beginning to take its toll on him.

Movement from Merlin snapped Arthur out of his thoughts. Merlin waved him forward to refill his goblet. Arthur rolled his eyes at Merlin's distinct attempt at mocking his actions without alerting anyone else to the fact that Merlin was making fun of the actual king. Once the water was refilled, Merlin leaned his head close to Arthur, whispering, "This is the part where I take pity on you. I'm sure you still have chores to finish and the kitchens could always use extra help before a feast."

Arthur wanted to be annoyed at the phrasing, as if Merlin was doing him some grand favor, but in truth he was stiff from lack of movement and any reason to start walking was a good enough reason to leave, even if it was pity. He nodded, bowed, and left the room quickly. Just being able to walk felt great on his aching legs, he didn't get the chance to revisit his worries about how the council would react to Merlin without his presence in the room.

Merlin was prepared for the shift in tone of the meeting. He knew it would happen, the moment Arthur left, the councilmen would become colder and show their true thoughts about Merlin and his position. The smart ones would hold their tongue, knowing that anything they said would make its way back to Arthur, but Merlin had a feeling that arrogance would outweigh sense in many of the councilmen.

Surprisingly, they were more subtle than Merlin expected, but the room did get colder with the icy glares cutting across the table. "Next on the agenda is to discuss the upcoming patrols." Merlin announced in an attempt to ignore the sudden change.

Immediately the group began to argue with each other, leaving Merlin no room to control the conversation. "We need an extra patrol on the western border." "We don't have the men for useless patrols." "It's the eastern border we need to worry about."

Merlin took a deep breath and brought the group back to order. "COUNCILMEN!" It felt like he was obnoxiously loud and he barely held back a wince, but Merlin knew that any quieter and they would not have listened to the order. "We have three patrols out now and no reason to increase that number. So unless there is sufficient evidence of a need to increase patrols, the schedule for patrols will remain the same and Sir Leon can organize that himself."

"And what would you know of what patrols Camelot needs?" A councilman snarked.

And there it was. The challenge to him that he had been expecting. Sir Leon bristled at the man's tone and Merlin lifted his hand slightly to silently tell the knight that he could handle this. That he had to handle this. This moment could not only gain him the upper ground for the rest of the meeting, but there was the chance that he could earn the respect of some of the councilmembers. Not just for the day, but for the future, even after he returned to being a manservant.

"What would I know?" Merlin asked sharply, letting his frustration of years of being underestimated bleed into his voice. "Tell me, what would you know about it? When was the last time you participated in a patrol? It hasn't been since I've started working here. I help with all of the patrol preparations and I've never seen you with the leaving party. I happened to go on one last month. Or maybe you think your knowledge is greater than mine because you come to these meetings regularly. But that can't be it because you only attend about half of the scheduled council meetings; I would know since I am required to be at all of them. If you have a reason to believe we need another patrol, then please share, but if you are simply arguing to question my ability to handle this matter, then first ask yourself if you truly have the knowledge to be handling it better."

Silence settled on the group for what felt like hours as Merlin stared down the rude councilman. After a few long moments, Merlin sat back down, letting the anger leave his body and nodded towards Leon to announce what was next on the agenda so they could continue with the meeting. The knight was biting back a smile at all the men Merlin had rendered speechless.

The councilmen were civil for the rest of the meeting.