and merlin wore a robe and justice for merlin is a strange mix but I wanna see it

YEAH GIRL POWER
...
sorry I was really deep in the moment

"is this the au moment ?"
hope for a reveal in the heart of a fan...

so you've made it an either/or prophecy. if arthur doesn't fulfill his, then morgana/mordred comes into play. and kilgarrah's words to merlin on the subject were to try to subvert that by taking both out of the equation early on, or did he intend on making merlin the instrument by which both morgana and mordred were alienated to arthur?...

it was kind of amusing - one minute arthur is determined to claim his vengeance on morgana's life, the next he's thanking kilgarrah for burnishing his sheath... ;)

although, i've never seen arthur react selfishly to the oafk and emrys prophecy. usually he focused on how terrible it's going to be for merlin, not how he doesn't want to come back...

and, erm, hasn't gwen gone awfully fast to giggling with delight? it was only yesterday she didn't know if she could trust him ever again?... (i guess, since you're continuing the story into a sequel, the possibility of this disjointed trust cropping up again continues also...)

well done! i'm glad you had help from our shared friend - i've been waiting for this story for a long time! (looking forward to the next...)

interesting conclusion of the paradox: arthur vs. morgana and who holds divine favor.
so morgana is not to die by her brother's hand, she is to live under punishment from a higher power... and there's still a part to play, all of them contributing and by no one's /choice/ exactly...

i have to admit, i like it.

wth, kilgarrah? kill a lot more innocent people by causing a stampede of terror in a packed place? i hoped he was there to stop morgana escaping, but... seriously?
although, i never have read of kilgarrah /helping/ morgana - so congratulations on writing an original twist!

(i have never understood how 'destiny' can champion two opponents - if the triple goddess supports morgana against arthur, what about arthur's great and shining destiny with merlin?...)

i want to say it's a mistake to let morgana out of her cell to watch the executions... i want to see her go first and immediately. or else stay where she is, in the cells until last. less chance of something /happening/ at the last minute...

seems to me also, the bloodshed of the mass execution might just as well symbolize the washing away of the old regime, as to bear any ill omen upon the new reign. wash it backwards, not forwards... this is the price paid for the expected upcoming peace...

omg! i just realized! a mistake arthur made! can't believe i didn't see it before... the one remaining sorcerer who might support/aid morgana is a master of disguise - and arthur gave the one guy who might recognize him, the day off...
and then kilgarrah! what a cliffie...

poor merlin. that's another disadvantage of arthur's ignorance of magic, imo. when he asks something /huge/ of merlin w/o really understanding what it will take, and merlin will half kill himself performing w/o complaint...

and i've never taken it that merlin (and/or maxwell/galahad) would have mistrusted arthur with the knowledge of their magic. i think they would have fully trusted him to obey the letter of the law in spite of his feelings - and it's not fair to confess and then ask arthur to amend the law for them.

but hooray for percival being betrothed! all those guys deserve happy love lives! (is there any hope for leon?...)

(i don't know why, but last chapter i got the feeling that the executions were all over, maybe even weeks ago, and gwen was planning for and stressing over her wedding - and that was what the crowds were there for...)

and now i'm not happy with arthur for pushing for what he wants. that's not fair either. though i don't want him to 'make it up to her' for ever, this is too soon to insist on having his own way. especially if it's all based on his libido.
ps, i also don't believe for a minute that arthur can proclaim magic free and then go away on an indefinite honeymoon... (and, she's agreed to this so quickly? last chapter she was determining whether she could marry him in name only for a while and put off the intimacy, right?)

(i wonder what percentage of the population do you feel had magic or used magic, before the ban/purge?)

so maxwell /is/ galahad? that's a surprise! i'll have to get over it... nice, though, b/c galahad often follows a 'type' - and maxwell isn't it!

it's kind of a jump, from the last chapter to this. morgana awaiting execution - and then gwen awaiting her wedding... (morgana was executed? i take it? i hope?)

i'm a little surprised gwen said yes, if she couldn't say it with all her heart. if there's still issues of trust.
i guess i get it if she agreed to be his queen for political reasons, stability of the kingdom and restored confidence in her after the proclamation of her innocence. maybe even expectation that they would be together, eventually, so why put it off. and i can also see them rushing toward and enjoying intimacy in spite of the emotional issues... but i /really/ don't recommend it. it won't be good/true intimacy if there is still hurt or mistrust between them - it may make that worse...
then again, no one is perfect. they will hurt each other again, intentionally and unintentionally. what you have to do is forgive, and pledge to forgive and keep trying...
honestly, i don't think a person can wait to stop feeling hurt, before they forgive. it's more... a choice, to let it go and move past it. to say that the relationship with the person and mending it, is more important than the grudge...

i think she knows what she /should/ do and she's resisting it, like forgiving someone gives them the permission to do it again carelessly - but you don't forgive someone b/c you're completely confident they'll /never do it again/...
i think it would be a great tactic for arthur to keep personal distance from her. /not/ pursue her physically or push for intimacy or seduce her. but be respectful of her privacy... but, you can't keep making up to someone, or promise that the pace of courtship will continue through years of marriage - it's too high a standard, and could prove exhausting for both of them. (though here again, i can admit the sentiment at the time...)

then again, i think relationships that have been over rocky ground and continue steadfast, are better/stronger/deeper than ones that have never had to weather hardship... you can understand each other and yourself, a lot better. you can be alone, but you choose to be together.

no, i get that she had a really sh*tty time of it, but a lot of that truly was beyond arthur's control. and you have to choose whether the person and the relationship is more important than holding on to the hurt - b/c until you let go, you can't heal. it has to come that way, not the other way round.

(i guess i assumed fredrick was a knight when arthur set him to follow and protect gwen at her banishment. i suppose you differentiate between guards and knights then, as being common/noble?)

interesting that arthur decides to gauge their reaction to the idea of protective magic before outing merlin - but he's not talking about merlin. he's talking about maxwell - does he guess that, or does he credit merlin with the assassinations?...

i don't particularly like the idea of arthur perpetuating the lie of old emrys upon the court... but it might be more palatable than revealing merlin's had magic all along and now he's the king's advisor. to those outside the inner circle. then you could play it like merlin was learning magic - and took 'emrys' place when he died... except for the complication of the druids' knowledge...

i still don't like gwen's state of mind. understand, maybe, but don't like. but i appreciate how she could be irritated that people would assume her status would go back to being engaged... and how that would make you want to behave contrarily...

the problem with forcing people to make something up to you when they've wronged you, again and again, is that they get tired of it and give up...
and i honestly think arthur should let gwen take her stand that 'we're finished', and appeal her to remain as his friend, a lady of camelot with influence. he needs her judgment and support now, not the romance...
and i don't think she should give in just b/c of desire for him physically...
(but it was amusing that arthur totally ruined his effect on her by mentioning merlin. :D) i do like how she isn't made even angrier, but almost less... b/c she understands the reasons behind merlin's reticence about the bracelet, maybe.
but i do approve that gwen's ordeal has given her a tougher skin, not to care so much what people think or say. (the kneeling thing made me uncomfortable personally, but i appreciate the intent.)

i like how excalibur has opened arthur's eyes, and colored his reaction, also. what merlin confesses isn't completely out of the blue and without context. i like how merlin doesn't shrink and excuse, he stands tall and owns his confession/explanation, all of it.

the best moment was the sound of the testing of execution apparatus, right into /this/ conversation, between the two of them.
another momentous point was when arthur dismissed merlin to take care of the names of agravaine's accomplices without even looking at them - he trusts merlin /that much/.

i think merlin did trust arthur with his life. but i think he also trusted arthur to do what he currently believed was right, according to the law, and he wouldn't put arthur to /that/ test, unfairly. not fear /of/ arthur, but fear /for/ him, what the revelation of such a secret would do to him.
though arthur also is right, he deserved the chance to react and figure things out himself...

(i also feel like, just as arthur didn't demand a full recitation of incidents from the lives of his common-born knights, he doesn't need to demand a full recitation of incidents from merlin's past, either... or maxwell's, or anyone's...)

no, but thing is: arthur is just as much a victim as gwen, of the enchantment. morgana wanted to hurt him as much as gwen, force his hand, ruin his love by placing them at legal and emotional odds. both of them were forced to act beyond the bounds of their own personal choices without understanding the forces that moved them...
but i can see gwen reacting emotionally here, and not with cool logic. poor girl.
(and, i see where you had arthur make the distinction between the 'treachery' of a commoner and that if she were considered a noble - good idea there!)

here's the rub, though. she /did/ do something wrong, even though she was enchanted to do it. it's similar to an insanity defense - not legally culpable, but the damage is still done. neither of them can forget that moment, or what followed.
and, arthur did ask for explanation. b/c he knew it was out of character for her - and she herself couldn't explain it. she didn't even 'feel' enchanted. there weren't black-out spots in her memory, or the feeling of helplessly being puppeted while trying to resist... just, inexplicable feelings impossible not to act on...
also, arthur was forced to act as a king, not just a man on the eve of his wedding. as a man he might have been allowed to forgive and understand and keep gwen - but as a king, he /cannot/, not without more proof than feelings or beliefs. not if he wants his reign to mean anything - and i feel like, if gwen was ready to be queen, she would understand that. personal feelings have to come second; a king cannot manipulate a trial to end the way he wants it to.
also, it's unfair of gwen to blame arthur for what happened in longstead (yeah, i get she's still emotional). how long had there been peace in that place - he can't anticipate this sort of thing. and he sent knights with her.
but, i don't think it's right for arthur to try to persuade her to stay, or to beg. if he respects her right of choice, he's got to let her make the decision to walk out. and then if he's serious about winning her back, take whatever time it takes to do it properly...

okay, i get it now. he sees there's something more, and won't let her leave without saying... but though i understand the emotion of blaming himself for when she was shot, it isn't really logical to assume that he can't go hunting anymore, /in case/ morgana enchanted gwen to look like his prey - if he thought like that, he'd be paranoid and useless and worse than his father.

i do like, though, gwen getting a taste of morgana's state of mind, in wishing revenge on the one who hurt her. but oh... all she's doing is giving morgana more of a victory. to be able to torment her further - to see the proof that she had succeeded in ruining their love... then again, i love the conclusion of the confrontation - gwen punching morgana in the face!
and then, even though she's rejected arthur, she's behaving like a queen toward fredrick. honestly, he outranks her and she's chosen to keep it that way - and so he has every right to treat and handle her like a common woman with no authority. besides friendship and caring for her - and then she turns on him imperiously, too.

i'm glad you have fredrick recognizing that she's making a mistake based on her emotions rather than logic - and that she's not the only one. usually i like gwen better, but this chapter... man, this chapter...

so arthur locked up morgana's magic, /magically/, with his own blood. that's technically using magic, isn't it? at least as much as someone like valiant?
i also appreciate his willingness to dispense justice - at least practicality, in regards to the prisoners - and execution to morgana for her crimes, regardless of how he feels personally.

i like gwen's reaction to his proposal, and agree with her. arthur feels like never losing her now, after the battle - but what about in six months, or a year? when people are talking and there are other stresses... a marriage and especially a royal one needs to be based on more than 'i don't want to lose you.'

it does make me feel bad when they get mad at merlin for not telling them sooner. b/c that wasn't an easy choice, at any time previous. and they might be upset, but i don't think they have any call to question his judgment. it wasn't maliciously done, at all - and not telling information is not the same as lying...