Disclaimer: I really don't have the money to buy the rights to this show, so it is still not mine. Nor the characters sadly, so all I have to keep me warm at night is my lurid imagination!
Rating: M, for the last chapter.
Spoilers: Up to the end of Series 2
A/N: Hello all! I seem to find myself adding more content to each chapter as it goes by! Oh dear, I hope you were in the mood to read. I really didn't mean for this chapter to be this long, but well I wanted to make sure that both Arthur and Uther's relationship as Prince and King as well as Father and Son were showcased. I feel Uther might have come out a little OC, simply because he finds humor in Arthur's spell when in the show he is usually narrow minded in giving any emotion but anger where magic is involved. But well, I needed him to give the spell a chance so that both Arthur and he could grow from hearing the king's "song". Hope it is enjoyable! And that you will continue reading tomorrow!
Summary: Arthur thinks on the kind of king he will be and all that he has learned from spells. After explaining the circumstances of his spell, the Prince asks the king to sing him a lullaby.
Chapter 3: Uther
Making his way toward the dining hall that had contained so many meetings between himself and his father, Arthur couldn't help but think of how much had changed in the last year.
Morgana was gone, his kingdom was ravaged by a beast that had till a month ago been a captive held under the castle, Arthur's best mate was his manservant (that was truly the weirdest one for Arthur, he had no idea how that had happened), but the greatest change had been in how he viewed his father.
Before, Uther's word had been held in the greatest esteem by Arthur, if the King told Arthur to do something he might question his father but in the end if he disagreed he would swallow his reservations and simply do what the king commanded.
In the past year though, simply going along with what his father said wasn't enough.
Risk imprisonment to save his servant's life? Done. Perhaps get expelled from his own kingdom to save a small child who would be executed simply because he was magic? Of course. Leave his kingdom to help protect his friend's village from evil men, even though he might incite a war between his and Cendrid's kingdom with his presence? Well, what else could Arthur do?
Thinking on it, for some time now Uther and Arthur had been differing on their decisions for the kingdom.
It was why Arthur had reacted so violently with the illusion Morgause had offered of his mother. It truly was not that hard a leap in Arthur's mind to imagine Uther damning the entire community of magical beings simply because of his own choices.
More and more Arthur was coming to the conclusion that he was going to be a completely different ruler than his father. Uther was far too tied in what once was and following what his own needs demanded of him.
Arthur had learned much at the hands of spells, not just suffered under them. There were lessons in every instance if he thought hard enough on them. For instance, the woman who had posed as Lady Sophie did so because of the death of her son at the hands at Uther: every decision has a consequence, don't think of just what you want.
Merlin drinking that poison meant for him: there are those who were willing to risk their lives for Arthur the person, not just Arthur the Prince of Camelot.
Lancelot defeating the Griffin: a person's worth isn't based on their station in life, but in how they conduct themselves.
The Trial of the Unicorn: everything Arthur does will somehow affect the kingdom of Camelot.
This particular spell seemed to be on the track of showing him the hearts of those closest around him, who they are and will be. On the ride back to Camelot, Arthur had realized what he had the potential to learn; this spell had the potential to teach him the greatest lesson of all: who to trust.
For some time now, Arthur had decided that he would rule his kingdom differently than his father. Instead of sitting at the head of a council chamber ruling over those who were giving their advice and opinions, he wanted an equal standing with those in his inner circle.
Instead of choosing those around him by their birth and station, he wanted those advising him to have earned his respect with their choices and hardships, no matter how wrong those decisions once were.
This spell was giving him the chance to do just that and he couldn't help but want to take advantage of it. He had the chance to see what those around him would usually hide. He could know not just how they were now in the present but how they would be in the future.
It seemed more like a gift in that light than a curse but Arthur could see where the woman had meant harm. If he did not find the right person he would be going without sleep tonight and many nights from now. What if there truly wasn't a person who could fit into such a grand position?
He broke off his musings upon reaching the dining hall and being allowed entry by the personal guards. Though it was well past lunch time it seemed the king was just now partaking of his meal, the meeting deciding where they would divert the money for rebuilding the kingdom would come from must have went on longer than expected.
Making a motion to the seat near him, Arthur realized that Uther still had no idea that Arthur was under a magical curse. One of the palace guards at the gates must have told Uther that Arthur had returned then. Preparing himself mentally for the tirade he was about to receive about magical beings from his father, Arthur made his way to the offered seat and poured himself a flask of water.
The king made eye contact with his son and raised his eyebrows at him, "When I offered you time to hunt in the woods with the knights, I did not expect you to be so successful that you would return merely a few hours later Arthur. Were the woods too boring for you that you had to return to the matters of the kingdom as quickly as possible?"
Arthur chuckled at the mere idea that he could find boredom in hunting. Even with the worst of luck, Arthur still found himself having fun just by trying to blend so completely with nature that the animals that lived there would accept his being as just part of the background. It was what Arthur liked the most about hunting with his father when he was a boy and still the part of hunting that Arthur tried the greatest to improve on.
Sobering his expression quickly so as to alight his father to the fact that it was a serious matter that had made him return to the city so quickly, Arthur started in the events that had led to his return, "Unfortunately father, my return was not under my control. My hunting excursion was cut short by that of magical encounter."
Once more Arthur found himself under the complete attention of his audience when he started to explain his newest curse, just as Gaius had upon hearing that Arthur was under a magical attack once more. Really, Arthur was the target of far too many magical beings to be normal.
"What? You were attacked? Why did you not immediately come to me so that we could go after the cur?"
His father's outrage was exactly what Arthur had wanted to avoid. "Because father, the spell does not immediately affect my health or the kingdom so I wanted Gaius to make sure that I was physically fine before coming to you and explaining what happened. I have passed his examination and was about to come see you when the guard beat me to it by coming to fetch me."
Looking a little less tense when assured by Arthur that he was not in immediate danger, Uther nodded his head toward his son, "So what does this particular spell include, if it is not damaging to your person?"
Looking at his father's worried face made Arthur feel guilty for coming to see him after he had seen Gaius, his father had lost so many to magic and though he was King of Camelot he hated letting Arthur deal with all the magical problems the kingdom encountered. "Well, it's actually a little embarrassing father. Strictly speaking I, uhm, *cough* need to be sung to.", his father's face was still serious after his admission but his eyes seemed to show more amusement than worry as they were before.
"You need to have someone sing to you? What does that mean?"
Keeping his attention on the flask of water in front of him, Arthur stammered out, "Well, technically speaking, a person has to sing a lullaby to me from their heart, to ,uh, to allow me to sleep."
There was a stretch of silence after this embarrassing admission from the Prince that seemed stifling to Arthur. Finally though, the silence was broken by the King's laughter. "Pfft, you have to be sung a lullaby? What did you do to have that spell placed on you Arthur?"
That was the second time that Arthur had been laughed at for the circumstances of his spell. The more the Prince explained, the less funny the events were to the young Prince. Pride was important in making decisions for a kingdom. You had to believe in yourself to make decisions for so many people and this spell was greatly bringing Arthur's self-confidence down. He had to demand others to sing him a lullaby like some petulant child who couldn't sleep, perhaps the point of the spell was to make Arthur die of embarrassment? It was certainly working.
"Yes, yes, it is quite hilarious being sung to like a child at my age. The unfortunate side effect being that if I don't find the right person I might never sleep again."
His sarcastic statement of what might be his fate quickly remedied the king's amusement, "I think you had better start at the beginning Arthur."
Heaving a sigh at having to tell his morning over again (He was probably going to go through these sequence of events every time) Arthur began by talking about his journey into the woods all the way to the woman's explanation of the spell "She said: 'This spell will leave you sleepless until the lullaby of the one who will be closest to your heart and soul, the one who will touch you the deepest, sings their lullaby to you. You need only ask others to sing and the lullaby of their heart will be sung to you, but only the lullaby of your destined other will lull you into peace. This is a gift and my lesson to you little Prince, may you learn well from it.' After that, the woman and the child disappeared."
Looking outraged, Uther slammed his fist on the table startling Arthur. "When will they learn? Magic will not be tolerated in my Kingdom! Always planning to undermine the throne. I will send a group of knights to the forest at once to track down the woman! She will pay for her crimes, just as the others before her!"
Raising his hands in a calming gesture Arthur tried to reign in his father's furry (He was always so testy when he hadn't eaten) "You can't just send a group of knights into the forests now Father, the only reason you allowed my men and I to venture off for two days was because we were ahead of schedule with the repair to the wall and you wanted to meet with your cabinet to discuss fixing the upper wing of the castle that was destroyed before we started on that next project. My men won't be able to find her in a day, especially with her magic aiding her. No, the men are better used here where they can help the citizens of Camelot."
"So you are suggesting we let her get away with what she has done? Mock all of Camelot without even putting up a fight?", though still looking unconvinced the king did sit back in his chair.
"As long as only those trusted are brought in on the circumstances no one in Camelot shall be the wiser that anything is off. I have already talked with my men and the servants accompanying us, they are aware to not speak of this with anyone until I have spoken with you and decided on a course of action. Camelot is still recovering from one magic creature; we do not need to give them doubt in us by admitting that I am suffering under another magical attack so soon."
After thinking a moment the king nodded and began to continue eating his meal, "What do you plan to do then? I assume you have some people in mind that are worthy candidates to hold your *snort* right song? Otherwise we might have to make it open to the public. Oh, I can hear the proclamation now: Come sing the Prince a lullaby, Camelot's safety rests on your vocal skills!"
"Father, of course I have some candidates in mind (well, one really) and there is no need to involve the citizens when they have their own problems to take care of! Gaius is still tending to those wounded by the dragon!"
Waving his hand at his son to calm him down, Uther took a long drag of his own flask of liquid, "Yes, yes, let's not talk of what that beast did for just one sit down between us, can we? When we leave you will be dealing with your spell, but I will have to go on to talk to out of town merchants on the cement we need to begin the north wing's roof. Who are these candidates you were thinking of Arthur?"
His father's abrupt question caught Arthur off guard. There was no way he could think of bringing Gwen up at this point with his father. As he had been thinking on before entering the hall, he and his father differed on their thinking of who deserved trust and why.
He knew his father would not take well to the fact that Arthur wanted to seek out a servant and ask to be serenaded to. "What?"
"The people you are going to ask to sing a lullaby, who are they?" His father had been busy cutting a piece of pheasant off while Arthur asked his question and now gave Arthur his full attention as he stuck the piece in his mouth.
Thinking quickly, Arthur decided on a diversion of sorts, "Uh, well I was hoping you would be one of those people, Father."
Choking on the meat he had been previously trying to swallow before being surprised by his son's request, the king wheezed out a "What?", after being thumped on the back several times and a few careful sips of water that is.
Planning on using his spell to better understand his father, and perhaps learn on how to avoid some of the mistakes he was never willing to comment on, plus avoid explaining Gwen to his father, Arthur continued on in convincing his father to sing to him.
"I have been thinking on the wording that the woman used in her explanation of who I needed to find. Perhaps "destined other" is that of the person who will understand me the best and what I will go through in my life. Who better a candidate for this is there than you father? You, who I will inherit the kingdom from some day and have been with almost my whole life? We share many similarities simply because we are father and son, the same blood. Perhaps that is what she meant when she said same heart."
"I don't know son, the wording sounded more like it was describing your true love than a family member."
Heartened by the fact that his father had not continued eating, though that may have been because choking ruined one's appetite, Arthur nodded his acquiesce to his father's point.
"True, but it is still worth a try and since we are here now and you are not expected for another few minutes we might as well test my theory and if it does not work I can make way onto new leads, while you are busy dealing with the kingdom's problems. "
The king seemed to consider his son's words for some time before nodding his head. "Alright, I see you have thought hard about this and are quite right to try every avenue in overcoming this spell, if we cannot seek out the woman herself. How do we go about it though? Is it really so simple as you just asking me to sing?"
Nodding his head, Arthur decided to see how exact the spell was (He couldn't believe he was using his father as a test subject, at least Gaius had been willing, knowing somewhat on what would happen with the spell), "Yes, it should be as easy as saying 'Could you sing me a lullaby, Father?'"
When the King did not immediately begin humming, Arthur made sure to note that he could not casually ask the question. To enact the spell, Arthur had to specifically ask for the person to sing to him, just great.
His father nodded his head at him, not taking offense or either not noticing that Arthur had paused to see if his father would start singing after his statement. "Go ahead then."
" Oh right, well then, um, ok here it goes. *clears throat* Father, would you please sing me a lullaby?"
His father did exactly as Gaius had done previously and began humming some tune he knew and immediately Arthur heard his song in his head.
He had not thought to prepare himself for what he might feel with his father's song but it was surprisingly similar to Gaius'.
He saw his father as a young ambition and pride spuring him on in training and in every conquest he made.
His reign over Camelot in the beginning, his hope at creating an almighty kingdom with the best warriors and the best subjects who were loyal to him.
He saw the meeting of his parents, their courtship to their marriage and the years that followed as they ruled the kingdom while trying every avenue in conceiving an heir to the grand kingdom Uther had built up.
The pain Arthur felt at seeing how he was conceived, the fact that it truly was magic that had allowed for his birth, it was almost too much to bear.
Arthur didn't want to see any more, disgusted with his father but then he felt it. The utter pain at loosing Ygraine (Arthur had to choke off a cry at how intense his father's despair was), it was so consuming, so harsh.
His bitterness toward all the magic in the world seemed like the only option the king had. He still had a kingdom to run, even though he was grieving his wife. The only bright part of Uther's life at the time was his hope in Arthur, that he was truly his and Ygraine's son and his future successor.
The last feeling that resonated within Arthur upon the song's ending was at his father's utter pride in Arthur, as if he was his greatest accomplishment.
By the time his mother's voice sounded in his head telling him Uther was not the right person, tears were cascading down Arthur's cheeks. There had been so much there, he had seen so much of himself in his father before he lost his wife, could he suffer the same fate?
If he lost the person who was dear to him, would he fall just as much? His father had dreamed of uniting the kingdoms even those of magic and now he hated and hunted them without regret.
Finally gaining some semblance of control over himself, Arthur raised his head and found that his father was distracted as if lost in his own thoughts. Knowing how his father was about such displays of feelings, Arthur quickly informed him that he needed to still seek out the others he had in mind and quickly made his way out of the dining hall toward his room.
He may not have been sleeping tonight, but he needed that time to sort out what all he had discovered about his father this day.
Though Uther knew he should question his son's hasty retreat and learn more of the spell, Uther's thoughts were consumed with what his life had accumulated to.
After Arthur had asked him to sing, he had began humming a song Ygraine had sung to Arthur while she was pregnant with him. When she had become bed ridden, Uther used to join her and they would sing together to their son who would soon join them in the world.
He had forgotten those shared moments of joy, waiting to become a family. Looking wistfully out the large windows on the side of the castle Uther wondered when his dream of a family had given way to so much hate.
He had spent so much time with the pain of losing Ygraine and focusing on his want to protect Arthur that he had forgotten the wonderful memories that were before, when he was so full of dreams. He wondered if only through Arthur's reign could the kingdom have a king filled with those same sentiments of joy and peace again.
TBC in Chapter 4: Gwen
Preview: "I do have strong feelings for you as well! It is just the person that spell describes, the person who can touch you like that and be close to you like that, I just, I wonder if I am truly that person. If perhaps there isn't someone who fits that description better."