Accepting fate in Camelot:
King Arthur was studying the scroll to the location of the rest of Excalibur and once he realised it, showed it to his Queen Guinevere and his most loyal knight and friend Lancelot. Arthur explained 'this is it, the thing which will led me to the remainder of Excalibur after all this time of searching for the end of Excalibur, I will complete Merlin's quest and fulfill my destiny to repair the broken kingdom as a repair the broken sword".
Guinevere insisted "that's wonderful my love, now take a rest and have fun with your wife at the party".
Arthur insisted "yes, I will be yours forever when I just complete this it will be all over".
Guinevere sighed in annoyance and Lancelot suggested "how about we all take a rest tonight and tomorrow all work on it scroll and find Excalibur because it's still going to be there and your not alone in this".
Arthur agreed "yes thank you brother that's a fine idea, what would I do without you".
Lancelot joked "probably stuck underground repeatedly reading the same scroll by yourself for three years".
Arthur laughed and said "you are probably right, thank you my friend. I wouldn't know how I would survive without either of you in my life".
Guinevere stated, "you my love are too determined on the future and forget today. Now please come to the party and dance with your wife because she needs you right now".
Arthur agreed and all three went to the party and enjoyed the festivities with all eyes on Arthur and Guinevere as they danced. Arthur and Guinevere awoke early to work on the scroll to find the missing piece of Excalibur. They found Lancelot already working on the scroll, they all worked on it for hours but couldn't find anything useful with Arthur exclaiming "how can I be a strong leader and if I cant figure out this scroll".
Guinevere realised and exclaimed "I have an idea, you two get horses and provisions while I get the item we require".
Arthur asked, "what is it my love, you know the way to the missing piece".
Guinevere answered, "no but I know something that will lead us there".
Arthur replied, "great then let's get moving and complete this quest".
Guinevere returned as they finished getting supplies and she showed them the gauntlet and Arthur responded, "my love that wont work because it wont work because it will only lead us to my greatest weakness and the sword is my strength".
Guinevere responded, "your right about the actual sword but the search the remaining part is your greatest weakness, and this will lead us to it, so we can end this quest".
Arthur rejected her by stating "Guinevere, I don't think it works likes that, the scroll is our answer".
Lancelot intervened "I'm with Guinevere on this one, I think it will and maybe find the answer and the scroll is regarding to something else on this journey.
Arthur retorted "I appreciate both your opinions as I always have but this cannot be the way, Merlin would wants us to follow; it will fail".
Lancelot stated "we can only know that if we try and fail. If we do, then we will go back to what we were already doing".
Arthur relented "okay let's do it, you two have always helped me and a good king never rules alone, he always needs his Queen and his most loyal friend to help him".
Guinevere replied, "and we always will because your our King and we love you".
Lancelot nodded in agreement and all three rode out with Guinevere using the gauntlet to led them to where the gauntlet told them to go. They followed it to a well in the ground that was covered and had symbols on it.
Lancelot noted "hey look the symbols on this thing are the same on the scroll, this is it, this will lead us to Excalibur".
Arthur exclaimed "well it appears you were right my love, I never should have doubted you, when I fully know how smart and intelligent you are".
Guinevere exclaimed "at least you always know that, and you must always remember that I'm here for you, I love you".
Arthur said, "I know my love, now let us complete this quest together". Arthur pressed the tiles in accordance with the scroll and the well oozed out black goo and then dissipated in black smoke revealing the stairway down to where the rest of Excalibur lied, they journeyed down the corridor and were attacked by flying black goo which surrounded Lancelot.
Both Arthur and Guinevere exclaimed "Lancelot".
Arthur told Guinevere "grab a torch" which she did and when they both had one pressed it into the black goo surrounding Lancelot. The Goo fled Lancelot and they continued into a room that looked like a jungle and saw the end of Excalibur hidden behind some black vines. Arthur tried to grab the end of the sword which looked like a dagger and once he did all three were blown back by magic and when they got up, they saw Rumpelstiltskin standing right next to the dagger.
Rumpelstiltskin said, "it's not quite a sword in a stone but it does the trick", he then makes all their swords vanish and looks at the gauntlet and exclaims "so that's how you found this place, Merlin's gauntlet. That's quite a powerful object at least for a wizard stuck in a tree".
Guinevere exclaimed "that dagger is Arthur's birthright, and you will surrender it to us".
Rumpelstiltskin presumed "so that's King Arthur's weakness is it"? Rumpelstiltskin continued "which makes him Arthur, you Guinevere and you must be Lancelot. Sadly, I cannot give you what you want, though I may be willing to part with the next best thing, assuming of course you're willing to make a deal for that gauntlet".
Lancelot questioned "what's the next best thing to completing a magical sword".
Rumpelstiltskin answered "making it appear like it's been completed with this enchanted sand from the mystical isle of Avalon. One pinch of this can fix anything".
Guinevere asked, "even Excalibur".
Rumpelstiltskin said, "your people will never know because what sort of king doesn't keep secrets from his people".
Arthur annoyed at the continuation of this conversation "enough I've tired of your game demon, give us the dagger and allow me to complete my destiny".
Rumpelstiltskin retorted "I told you it's a no go, but the sand is still on the table for the gauntlet".
Arthur considered the offer but said "no, I will not make a deal with you demon, it's my destiny to reunite the dagger and make Excalibur whole again and I will".
Rumpelstiltskin reminded them "you failed at getting the dagger and you never will. So, give up your fools errand and stop listening to sorcerer that managed to get himself stuck in a tree and move on with your lives".
Lancelot advised "Arthur we know where the rest of Excalibur is, we will reunite it someday, it appears that for the moment we can't, but the day will come when we can; we just have to be patient".
Arthur reluctantly agreed "Lancelot your right, we cannot beat this demon, but Merlin knew the day would come when Excalibur would be able to be reunited and it would be us to do it but unfortunately, it's not today. We are going to have to wait because the day will come and one that day, we will be ready".
Rumpelstiltskin said, "well thanks for wasting my time", he then used magic to rip the gauntlet from Guinevere and disappeared with it.
Arthur exclaimed "no, we lost the gauntlet to that demon".
Guinevere comforted him "we now know the location of the dagger and the scroll was right which means Merlin does mean it to be you, just not right now".
Arthur complained "I wish he would be clearer about what he wants because all I want to do is help me".
Lancelot then stated, "I cant argue with that because it would be nice for at least one of our quests to be easy".
They all left and saw outside was a man who said "Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot I am the apprentice, apprentice to the great sorcerer Merlin".
Arthur asked, "did I fail Merlin quest because I didn't recover Excalibur".
The Apprentice replied "no, Excalibur will be whole soon but that will come in time, but you've completed another quest".
Arthur asked, "what other quest".
The Apprentice answered, "the quest of you, to see if you are truly ready to weld Excalibur".
Lancelot questioned "I thought he already did when he took the sword from the stone".
The Apprentice answered, "he did but that was only the potential, the full quest was in it's completion because a true ruler will not take the easy path to get what they want but go with their friend to travel the long and difficult path together".
Arthur stated, "so this was just another bloody test".
The Apprentice noted "it's true that the long path is annoying and filed with patience and determination but the rewards that come from it will be greater and they can only be accomplished with loyal friends besides you".
Arthur asked, "what does Merlin wish of us now".
The Apprentice responded, "what do you think".
Arthur guessed "be patient and rule Camelot with the people closest to me at my side until the time comes to finally reunite Excalibur".
The Apprentice said, "correct my King and it will not be long until the day arrives, and you'll complete the great task set before all of you".
Arthur nodded in thanks as the Apprentice left and the three journeyed back to Camelot to wait until the moment was right to make Excalibur whole again.