Light disturbs Arthur for the first few days. He is put in one of Granny's spare rooms. They only light candles.
For the first few days, he sleeps mostly. He eats one meal, soup, and can barely choke it down for his hurting throat.
No one knows who he is, or where he comes from. Belle has poured through book after book to learn his history, checking every family folklore book from kings to beggars. There is no clear legendarium about an "Arthur" in Storybrooke.
Finally, after the third day, Regina is fed up. She decides to create a spell that will make him able to speak English. Or rather, a spell that will make them understand whatever language he is speaking as if it was English.
"Well, I'm not sure we have to worry about it killing him, Grumpy. It seems like something wanted him to be alive pretty badly or he wouldn't have materialized in the ocean!" Regina shouted, rattling the potion draft she had mixed up. Grumpy was standing guard to the door of Arthur's room. He was unsure of the new guest, but even less sure of Regina or her motives.
"Or someone..." Emma's tone brings them all back to the gravity of their situation. They have no idea if this guy was good or bad, and who might have wanted to bring him back to life.
Hook frowns. He then raps his hook hand against the door.
"Arthur?" He calls.
"Open up, mate. We need to talk to you."
Arthur creeps to the door, blinking.
"Drink this." Regina gasps, and pushes it into his hands. He looks at her and his brows narrow. Then, he repeats a word over and over, something that sounds like a refusal, shaking his head.
"It's good!" Regina smiles. He shakes his head again.
Emma looks at him and frowns.
"He thinks you're putting a spell on him." Emma can tell that Arthur is reluctant because of the magic. Somehow, looking into his face, he feels familiar. Like someone she knew a long time ago, and hadn't connected with for a long time.
"I am putting a spell on him. But it's a good spell." Regina snaps, shrugging.
"Come on now. Drink it. It's good for you." Regina shakes the vial at him. He stares blankly at her, with a look of peevishness at her demands. He appears to be someone not used to taking orders.
Emma looks at him then and nods
"Bring Ariel up here. If she says it's okay, he'll be more likely to trust it. She's the one who saved him."
The others look at her in confusion.
"You can tell, can't you? It's because it's made out of magic that he won't drink it." Emma looks back at him. He is staring at her in surprise now.
"What?" she asks him directly, even though she thought he couldn't understand her.
"I...Yes, that's exactly why. You can speak my language?" He seems deeply surprised. Emma's head tingles, shocked beyond belief when she hears his words like English.
"I...I didn't think I could, but if you just understood me, then...I guess I can? That or you are suddenly speaking English, cuz it sounds like you're speaking English to me..." Emma stares at him now, completely perplexed.
The others look at her in wonder.
"You can understand him?!" Regina gasps.
"I...can now? I couldn't when he first got here." Emma swallows. Arthur blinks, perplexed.
After staring into oblivion for a long moment, Emma clears her throat.
"She was trying to give you a potion to make us able to understand what you say. All of us. It won't hurt you." Emma frowns.
He studies her in earnest for a moment.
"Swear to me the magic isn't evil." He squares his jaw.
"I swear?" Emma raises a brow.
He studies her, as if familiar with her himself. They weren't sure how it was possible, but both of them were starting to feel a strange pull to each other.
"Then, I believe you." He reaches his hand out and drinks the potion.
They stare at him awkwardly for a moment.
"Well, seeing as you haven't turned me into a frog or something unnatural, I suppose I can trust you." He smiles.
They all sigh in relief when they can understand him.
"Okay, time to spill. Who are you? Why did you magic back to life in the middle of the ocean?" Regina gasps.
Arthur draws a deep breath.
"I am called Arthur Pendragon. I am the king of Camelot, at the heart of Albion. But..I have no idea how I came to be here...Really, I don't have any clear memory of my final days. I'm sorry..." He tilts his head.
A silence and dread falls over the hallway of Granny's upstairs loft.
"Well, I guess I'll have to work on a memory potion next..."Regina says softly, annoyed and afraid all at once.
"Is...sorcery legal in this kingdom?" Arthur sounds a bit fearful.
They all looked at him in earnest.
"Yeah, the entire town is magical..."Emma frowns. Arthur gulps, and looks at the floor as if contemplating trying to escape.
"Am I in the Druids lands, then?" He tilts his head, as if he's made his decision and now he has to live with it. They can see he is still mistrustful of them.
"No, you're in Storybrooke." Regina says it flatly, and blinks at him. Then, her eyes open wide.
"Wait...Druids? You said Druids...Those...in the Enchanted Forest they were a myth. The first people to ever live there? A long, long time ago..." Regina's eyes pop wide open.
"Oh, bloody hell, what is it? I don't like that face." Hook is anxious now.
"Maybe Belle couldn't find any lore that might tell us who you are because you lived so long ago that no books were written?" Regina's jaw drops, mortified by the thought.
Arthur blinks at her, and his face tells them the notion bothers him too.
"I remember nothing but preparing for battle with the Saxons and their pact leader at that time Queen Morgause. I remember doing battle, and reaching a pact with the witch Nimueh, Morgause's rival Mage. We agreed to trade my life for my people's lives with a blood sacrifice that defeated Morgause's spells. After that, I remember nothing...I'm sorry. Only this little came back to me now, as I have talked with you. I don't really even remember going to be sacrificed...I...I only remember agreeing to it, if you understand." Arthur sighs. He is exhausted in that bone deep way that can only come from magic.
"Well, those are names at least!" Snow, who has been quiet this whole while, speaks up at last. Something about the newcomer is a bit intimidating to her, but not in a bad way. The only other time she felt it was standing next to her father, a great king. Snow begins to wonder who Arthur was, if he is a legendary person, and if her father might have known. The ancient books of the Enchanted Forests castles would know.
"Those are names...maybe...maybe if we return to the Enchanted Forest, and search the archives of my father's castle, and your castle, Regina...Maybe there is lore that is older than other lore we've ever read. That can lead us to the truth." Snow smiles at her own clever idea.
Regina nods.
"We can try that...I think I've finally made a spell powerful enough to zap us back there. If it doesn't work, well,...maybe you can remember." Regina glares at Arthur, who may be about to pass out.
"Okay, let's go easy on him. I mean, it's not every single day you come back to life after like forever being dead. Give the guy a break. Why don't you lie back down, huh?" Emma looks up at Arthur, feeling strangely sympathetic to him.
He studies her for a moment, a bit perplexed himself.
"Thank you, milady. I will do that exactly." With that, he shuffles back into the room he'd just occupied and collapses on the bed, before he even remembers to close the door.
Emma stares after him for a moment, feeling her heart moved by him. All at once, in a way she can't explain, she cares about him. Like family. Like she can't let anything bad happen to him.
"You seem fond of him?" Hook teases, with a hint of jealously in his words.
"I can't explain it. I just feel like...I know him from somewhere..." Emma frowns at Hook, letting him know with a look that her pull towards Arthur isn't like that. He smiles, letting it be.
"Well, I suppose we have to find a way back to my castle then. Come on. Let's let Chatty Kathy there sleep while we figure this out." Regina huffs putting the potion bottle back in her coat pocket. They follow her downstairs, all of them feeling a bit disturbed.