Disclaimer: as before

Note: this is the final and very short chapter. After a lot of consideration as to how I would finish this fic, here's how it goes…

Arthur stood down from his horse and faced his father.

"The letter explains everything. There is nothing more." The Prince moved to stand protectively in front of Gwen who was looking anxiously from father to son.

"A letter? After everything, all you would leave is a letter?!" Uther was incredulous. He turned his attention to Gwen. "And you, you also left letters?"

Gwen chewed her lower lip, unable to think of what to say. "I..uh…"

"Leave Guinevere out of this," interrupted Arthur. "She did not know of my plan until today. I asked her to come with me and she accepted." He fixed his sapphire stare on the older man. "I love her and I will not give her up."

King Uther studied the two people standing before him. For the first time in a long while, he saw the man that his son had grown into and he also caught glimpses of the person that he was to become. At the moment, he was presented with the sight of a determined young man, proud to stand up for his beliefs to protect the one he loved. Truly, Gwen must be someone very special to have such an effect on the young royal. Perhaps it would not be so bad to have a servant as part of the family. Uther made a mental note to look into the geneaology of Gwen's family, there might some noble line lurking about somewhere. Uther knew it was time for some change. For all of his imperfections, one thing that made the elder Pendragon a wise ruler was acknowledging when flexibility of attitude was required (except when it came to magic, of course!).

"Arthur, Gwen, come back inside. Please. I think we have a lot to talk about." The King's manner was conciliatory. He had no desire to lose his son and far better to gain a daughter whom others held in high regard.

The young couple shared a startled look and obediently followed Camelot's ruler into the main body of the castle. It was going to be a long night ahead of them and there would be much to discuss, share and laugh about in the days, weeks, months and years to come. For the time-being, however, it appeared that Arthur Pendragon had won the future queen that his heart desired.

Note: firstly, I would like to apologise to anyone who was expecting this last part to be a long, dramatic affair so I'd like to take this chance to explain why I did the opposite.

I don't write my fics with a set plot in mind, I never do drafts or make notes beforehand – only tweaking of spelling and grammar afterwards, everything u read is what my over-active imagination churns out at the time. I start with a vague idea of what I would like to imagine happen and sort of go from there and I'll come up with ideas for later chapters as I go. That's kinda why I can update really quickly with some fics whilst others will take a while to complete..but back to the matter in hand…

A lot of my decisions with this story, especially this chapter, were pre-determined by the Arthurian legends themselves – we all know the story: Arthur and Gwen have to get married; Morgana has to become evil and join with Mordred; Gwen and Lancelot have an affair; etc, etc.

Therefore, I felt that it was enough in this case to take Arwen to the stage where Uther will accept this version of the couple (the Guinevere of legend already being of high-born nobility). From there, I make it up to the readers to decide for themselves the exact dialogue and other actions which will eventually lead to the wedding of Arthur and Gwen. Also, I wanted to keep the precise details vague as I am super-keen to know how the show does it and am afraid that my attempt will just end up as a lot of endless waffling with no substance.

Hope this clears up any misgivings you might have about this fic. Perhaps I will write a more embellished ending in a different fic.

In any case, thanks to everyone who has been following this story and hope that it has been enjoyable for u.

:D xxx