And here it is, the final chapter of this story, so without further ado, I give you the epilogue! Enjoy!

Chapter 100

Epilogue

Ten years later

Alina

Four children were lying on their stomachs at the royal garden's pond, two boys and two girls. There was a wooden toy boat on the water, sailing to all the corners as the children laughed. There was no wind, yet the boat moved as if there was. From where Alina was standing she couldn't actually see the golden flashing of their eyes as they used their still developing powers to send the small object to one another.

'Turon, that's not fair!' the dark-haired girl protested as the fair-haired boy created something of a tidal wave that soaked the girl.

'Your boy again, Alina?' a familiar voice spoke up from behind Alina. Morgana sat down on the grass next to Alina.

'Your girl seems to be more than capable of holding her own against him,' the queen remarked as Morgana's daughter gave Turon back as good as she got, soaking him and the rest of the kids in the process. 'Definitely your temper, that one.'

Morgana smirked. 'Well, someone needs to keep Arthur's son and heir in check. I swear Turon is just like Arthur when he was that age. Mind you, he has magic, which makes it all even worse.'

Alina chuckled. That realisation had certainly created some shocked nobles. Shortly after he was born Arthur had proudly presented the youngest Pendragon to the court, where said Pendragon immediately made a lasting impression by turning Lord Harold's hair purple. That would have been funny, had they known how to fix it. But it had taken Merlin and Morgana two solid days before finding a way to counter the spell. Lord Harold had most certainly lived up to his nickname then, strutting around the castle with bright purple hair, glaring at everyone who seemed to think that fact was extremely funny.

'I'll be having a word with him later,' Alina promised her friend. She knew she had trouble reprimanding her kids for anything, but it was one of those things that needed to be done every now and then. She was trying to get it into her kids heads that magic wasn't meant to play pranks on people, a fact she needed to remind Turon of a lot, it would seem. Arthur of course wasn't really helping. Given the chance he would spoil the boy rotten. He all but worshipped his kids, would probably ride to the mouth of hell for them.

'And I'll be telling Vivienne that revenge is not the way to solve her problems,' Morgana nodded.

There was definitely a deeper meaning behind those words, saying as much about the mother as it said about the daughter. 'That's very… wise,' she commented.

Morgana smirked again. 'That's me. Look, here they come.'

The children, all four of them came running at their mothers now.

'Mum, he soaked me!' Vivienne began. 'I did nothing and look at what he's done!' She may have inherited her father's blue eyes, but the glare she sent Turon's way was pure Morgana.

'You called me a dollophead!' Turon shot back.

Alina tried and failed not to laugh, but she was quick enough to disguise it as a coughing fit. Fortunately the children were not yet old enough to catch on to it. You should probably be telling Merlin to keep his name-calling private, Morgana, she thought at her best friend.

Like you should tell your son that he shouldn't fly off the handle at a simple name-calling, Morgana retorted.

Fair enough, she agreed. 'Turon, what have I told you about using magic for pranks?'

Turon at least had the decency to look a little ashamed of himself. 'That I shouldn't?'

'That's right.' Turon's expression reminded her ever so much of Arthur, but she wasn't going to let that sway her now. 'So, now you will apologise to Vivienne and then I want you to go inside, to your room, and stay there for the rest of the afternoon to think about what you have done.'

Turon's eyes widened. 'Mum!' he exclaimed.

'None of that, young man,' Alina told him sternly. 'This is non-negotiable. Now apologise.'

'Sorry,' the boy muttered, glancing at Vivienne's shoes and definitely not her face.

'Apology accepted,' Vivienne replied with the same amount of enthusiasm.

'To your room now, Turon,' Alina gently reminded him.

'Same goes for you, Vivienne,' Morgana told her daughter. 'You can't use your magic as a means of revenge. I do believe your father and I have told you about that, haven't we?'

The girl moved her feet uneasily. 'You might have.'

'Off you go.'

The two broke into a run. 'Race you to the castle!' Turon challenged his cousin.

'Eager to be beaten?' Vivienne shot back.

'By a girl? Never!'

The two ran away at neck-breaking speed, leaving the two mothers shaking their heads in mild amusement. Morgana directed her attention to the two remaining kids. 'Oh, look at you. Let me fix this.' She muttered a spell that dried their clothes instantly and then pulled her son onto her lap. 'Are you cold?'

Balinor tried to wriggle out of her arms, clearly thinking that at five years he was far too old to be snuggling up to his mother. 'Fine,' he muttered.

Alina's little girl had less reservations about the subject, positioning herself in the most comfortable position she could find before putting her thumb in her mouth and closing her eyes. She was asleep in less than a minute.

'Well, looks like little Lynn here has inherited her father's love of sleeping,' Morgana commented.

'Hey, no insulting my husband here,' Alina warned her, feigning anger. 'At least mine is not as clumsy as yours.'

Morgana's grin widened. 'At least mine is not a dollophead,' she countered.

Alina happily joined in the name-calling their husbands were so fond of doing. 'And mine is not an idiot.'

They laughed together, letting the sun warm their faces. Alina breathed in deeply and smiled. No one could have predicted that things would turn out the way they had in the end, but she was happy now. She had a wonderful husband, two great kids (most of the time) and the kingdom was at peace. What more could she wish for?

Merlin

There might have been something wrong with Alina's assessment about a kingdom at peace, because at that very same moment there were two persons who were most definitely not at peace. Merlin and Arthur found themselves in the council chambers staring at words and numbers on papers that they had no idea how to deal with.

'What on earth is this supposed to be?' Arthur demanded of the person on the other side of the table who was looking altogether too pleased with her own performance.

'This, oh mighty king, is a figure of the income and expenses of your kingdom,' Cathy announced. 'Took me a bloody month to get it all together,' she added under her breath.

Merlin had no problem whatsoever believing that statement. It was the content of this bookwork in front of him that he had a problem with, since he couldn't for the life of his figure out what it was supposed to mean. Once again, he regretted the day Gwaine had proposed to Alina's little sister. He hadn't even been drunk at the time. Merlin was still trying to decide whether that made things better or worse. In his opinion it certainly didn't make him think any better about Gwaine's intellect, or lack thereof.

Cathy had moved to Camelot after the completion of some kind of economic study back where she came from and was now official advisor of the king on economic matters, although Merlin suspected she wouldn't be that for very much longer, not if she kept looking like this.

'Could you by any chance translate this into a language we can all understand?' Arthur's voice had a hint of desperation to it.

The young woman snorted. 'This means that your finances are healthy,' she clarified, pointing at the papers. 'You're actually doing better than the government in the country where I come from. Not that you could do much worse,' she added as an afterthought.

Merlin smirked. 'I think that is actually the first time I hear you say we're doing something better than where you come from. Maybe we should tell Geoffrey to put it in the chronicles.'

That earned him a glare. 'You still suck at everything else,' she informed him.

'I bet,' Arthur muttered, before clearing his throat and continuing in a slightly louder voice: 'Very well, if that is all?' No one spoke. 'Council dismissed.'

The nobles began to leave and the king leaned over slightly towards the Court Sorcerer. 'Please tell me you didn't understand a word of what's written too.'

Merlin couldn't hide the smirk completely. 'Not the faintest idea, sire.'

That seemed to reassure Arthur. 'So, how did I do?' he asked briskly, but Merlin wasn't fooled. He had known his best friend for years now and could therefore easily tell when Arthur was uncertain about himself, again. But in this case he believed the uncertainty was justified. It was after all only five months since Arthur's coronation and while he had taken over more of his father's duties as the time passed, he hadn't been given full authority until after Uther's death.

Merlin had never liked the old king. There had been too much wrong that Uther had done for him to ever really like him. And the feeling had been mutual, especially after Uther learned Merlin had fallen in love with his precious daughter and had magic on top of that. But since the law on magic had been repealed and he had given Morgana free choice of husband, there wasn't much he could have done about it. In the end they had settled for tolerating one another. They were civil, but never truly friendly.

But Merlin could not deny the fact that Uther simply doted on his grandchildren, even though they had inherited their parents' magic. He had spent every free minute with them and they in turn loved him enormously. Both Vivienne and Balinor had been devastated when he had died. Well, at least it was a peaceful passing in his sleep, lots better than the death he could have died had Alina not intervened.

'It's fine, Arthur,' he reassured the king. That seemed to be a part of his official job description as Court Sorcerer. Now that Alina was queen, her job had been passed to Merlin and Morgana both, arguing that, with magic once again legal in Camelot, they would have their hands full on it. And they sure had, because the repeal of the ban on magic had not been well received amongst all the people. In hindsight, it shouldn't have come as a surprise. The people had been taught to fear and hate magic and those feelings had only been increased by the many magical attacks the kingdom had suffered over the years. A lot of people had been less than pleased with Arthur and for some time they had had a full-time job on calming citizens down, and locking up those who felt it necessary to get violent to land the message home.

But that was mostly behind them now. The kingdom was at peace, destiny fulfilled and Merlin was quite pleased to realise that he was happy. He had married Morgana several months after Arthur and Alina's wedding, once Uther had gotten some time to get used to the idea of it all. And then they had given him a heart attack all over again when they found out Morgana was expecting, two weeks before the wedding. But, he had survived the famous Pendragon wrath (and the two days in the dungeons for doing something he wasn't supposed to do before the wedding) and now he could honestly say everything was all right.

Or maybe not everything. He could hear children's voices arguing as he accompanied Arthur down to the royal garden where he knew both their wives were hanging out.

'That's a lie, Turon!' Merlin could hear his daughter saying. And he knew that voice. Whenever Morgana spoke like that it was always best to run for cover. 'I did win! I was one step ahead of you all the time!'

'No, you weren't!' Arthur's son disagreed loudly. 'You just can't stand it that I am faster than you!'

'Well, I am older and therefore faster,' Vivienne replied disdainfully with unreasonable children's logic.

They came just around the corner at this point, right in time to see Turon's confused look, which was the very image of Arthur. 'What's that got to do with anything?'

'Everything,' Vivienne responded. 'You're just too young to understand such things.' She marched away without giving her dad and uncle as much as a glance, leaving Turon to ponder the meaning of those words all by himself. It was only then that Merlin realised both kids were soaking wet. What on earth had they been up to this time?

Arthur dragged Merlin with him before they could burst out with laughter within the young prince's earshot.

'There's no question about who her mother is,' the king chuckled, a twinkle in his eyes. 'I do believe Morgana was exactly like that at that age.'

There was absolutely no arguing that. Vivienne did take after her mother a lot indeed. 'Well, don't get me even started on your offspring,' he grinned at the king. 'Every good trait they have seemed to have come from their mother.'

Arthur nudged him, not so gently. 'I'll have you know my children are very intelligent, Merlin.'

The grin widened. 'Like I said.' He ducked as Arthur threw his half-eaten apple at the warlock's head.

'Oi!' the king protested.

'Well, you did tell me I should always speak the truth,' Merlin shrugged. He could truly enjoy the banter between them, one thing that had never faded with time. He hadn't been Arthur's manservant for years, which inevitably meant that there had been far less objects aimed at his head. Now they were practically brothers, as he felt it was always meant to be. Life was good indeed.

They found Morgana and Alina sitting on the grass, enjoying the early summer sun. Morgana had Balinor on her lap, but the boy immediately escaped as soon as his mother was distracted by the arrival of the men. Lynn, who had fallen asleep on Alina's lap, didn't stir as Arthur knelt down and stroked the girl's hair. That one was definitely her father's daughter when it came to sleeping habits.

'What was up with Turon and Vivienne?' Merlin wondered. 'We found them in the corridor, arguing,' he explained as Alina gave him a quizzical look. 'Both of them practically soaking.'

'They got into a water fight after your daughter called my son a dollophead,' Alina informed him. 'You haven't by any chance been teaching her those words, have you?'

Merlin tried and failed not to smirk. 'Not deliberately.'

That got a laugh from the other three. Merlin sat down next to Morgana and slipped an arm around her waist, simply enjoying the moment. Morgana rested her head against his shoulder and smiled.

Arthur groaned. 'Do you have to be so lovey-dovey in public all the time?' he complained.

'You're one to talk,' Merlin shot back, giving a meaningful look at the king who was holding his wife and daughter in a similar fashion. 'At least we're not kissing all the time in public, like the two of you.'

'And we're not in public,' Morgana put in. 'So shut up and enjoy the moment, will you?'

'Hey, that's my line!' the king protested.

Morgana sighed, irritated a bit. 'Arthur?'

'Yes?'

'Shut up.'

And so the king did as the queen pressed her lips against his, effectively preventing him from uttering another word.

,,I want a simple love like that

Always giving, never asking back

And when I'm in my final hour looking back

I hope I've had a simple love like that."

Órla Fallon, Simple Love

THE END

It's finished. This story is finished (I'm still trying to wrap my head around that fact myself)! 564 pages in Word, Times new roman, 12. Almost eight months of hard work and now it is done.

So, I guess here is the part where I say THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed, favourite and alerted. You guys have been absolutely amazing and you took to the story better than I could have hoped. Some of you have even missed sleep over this. I wasn't sure about my writing when I started, but you lot have definitely helped with my self-esteem (and boosting my ego). Again, thanks so very much. Your support has meant the world, and it still does.

Now, I have been getting quite some requests for a sequel and I'm happy to tell you that there is going to be one. You might need to have a little patience, but it's coming, so keep an eye out for it.

I am finished with this story, but I'll definitely keep writing (it's too much fun). I do have a few Merlin one-shots in mind. And of course I'm going to spend some time on Just Another Normal Day (you're welcome to check it out), which I have seriously neglected these last few weeks.

Anyway, thanks for all the support! Would it be too much to ask to review one last time?