For The Cinder Crown, I hope you like it!

Word Count: 826

Haven't seen Merlin in ages and never the complete show, but whatever.

i can't sleep (but when i do i dream of you)

"You have to fall asleep, Lady Morgana. You have to rise early come tomorrow morning, if you recall. Sir Carlon and his parents are scheduled to arrive in the afternoon and the King wants you to be well rested and on your best for a possible suitor;" Gwen reminded her as she moved away from the door of the bedchamber and closer to Morgana.

The lady herself groaned. "That is precisely why I find myself unable to sleep."

"I am sure it will go well," Gwen tried to reassure her.

"You know as well as I do that that is the exact opposite of the result I desire," Morgana harrumphed. Around others, she had been careful to hide her disdain at the idea of marrying anyone, but around Gwen, well, she was the main reason why Morgana wasn't interested in a marriage.

That, and that males were just completely and utterly unínteresting and unappealing to her, with the possible exception of Arthur's manservant Merlin. Possible being the keyword.

"With all due respect, my lady—"

"Gwen, we are alone," Morgana interrupted. And it was late enough that if someone were to interrupt them, they would undoubtedly be in much bigger trouble. An attack of some beast or army of some kind would be needed to get Morgana's attention at this hour.

"With all due respect, my lady," Gwen repeated with a smirk, "I think that the two of us may have differing ideas of what a good result of these discussions would entail."

Morgana raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Well, inform me then, my dear. Since I am fairly certain that my view of these things is more than obvious. And I would not be at all opposed to you lying next to me here while you proceed to do so."

"Gladly," Gwen replied. She began speaking again only when the two of them had settled comfortably on Morgana's bed, at least for the moment.

"You are of course aware that Sir Carlon is the second son and that his older brother already possesses wife and children," she began.

"Yes?" Morgana confirmed. "But I do not understand what— oh. Oh!" Morgana began to grin devilishly at Gwen. "I approve of this brilliant plan of yours."

"Thank you, my lady," Gwen replied, making the pretense of moving to leave. Morgana had learned to differentiate fact and folly of these movements a while ago.

"Are you expected at home?" Morgana asked innocently.

"No, I told my father that you would likely take a while to fall asleep and wake up early and that it would make much more sense to sleep here. He agreed."

"Then I see no reason for you to leave this bed in the next few hours."

"Neither do I," Gwen replied. "Except, perhaps, to remove my dress."

"Alright, for that reason."

"Sir Carlon, thank you for taking the time to speak with me alone while your parents converse with King Uther. I think that we can both agree that they seem to think that they will agree that we should be married," Morgana summarized as Gwen closed the door behind their little group of four—Sir Carlon, his manservant Desmond, Gwen, and Morgana herself.

"That seems to be the situation, yes," Sir Carlon agreed.

"Well, I think I should inform you that my maidservant, Gwen," Gwen did a small curtsy, "will be joining me not only in your home, but also in my bed. Since the only real reason women aren't generally permitted to have extramarital relationships is the lack of assurance that any children will really be their husband's, if we're being honest, and this doesn't apply in this case, you can either accept it now or make your peace with it as time goes on. Because it will happen either way, whether you give your permission or not," Morgana informed him confidently, with Gwen's hand on her shoulder.

She wasn't sure what she had expected to see on Sir Carlon's face after these words—anger, maybe. Bargaining, perhaps. Possibly denial?—but this most certainly wasn't it.

Because the emotion visible on his face was relief. In fact, the same was true for the servant's face.

"You cannot believe how glad I am that you are saying this," Sir Carlon said, just barely stopping himself from laughing loudly by the looks of it. "You see, I have much the same arrangement with Desmond here. I have no problem with you having this relationship with—Gwen was your name?" he addressed Gwen directly.

"Yes, Sir Carlon," Gwen replied.

"In fact, maybe we should think about arranging a marriage between Gwen and Desmond to avoid having this conversation with a… less understanding party," Sir Carlon mused. "But there will be time for such things later."

"Indeed," Morgana agreed. "For now, we should perhaps talk about how far all of us are willing to go in satisfying your parents and King Uther."

"That certainly seems like a necessary discussion," Desmond agreed.