Chapter 15 – The Beginning

"Hi, Merlin!"

"Morning, Merlin!"

"Good morning, Merlin, I hope you are well."

"Hey, Merlin, come to the tavern later if you have time!"

Merlin had never felt as incredibly visible as he did now. Not only friends, but casual acquaintances and even complete strangers acknowledged him as he passed them in the hallway. Now that the entire population knew that he was a powerful sorcerer he could no longer blend into the background and go unnoticed as he had up until now. Sure in the seven years he had spent in Camelot prior to this moment he had become quite well known – but that had been different. People may have known who he was, but he doubted they ever gave him much thought and most people certainly hadn't bothered trying to interact with him. But now he suddenly found himself the focus of every room he entered – for better or for worse.

Everyone was treating him differently. He couldn't decide whether it was good or bad. He supposed in reality it was a mixture of both. Some people seemed to be going out of their way to avoid him, even indiscreetly making hasty retreats if they saw him coming, while many others who had never spared him a glance before were suddenly stopping to talk to him. He could almost swear Lydia was following him. He certainly seemed to see her red hair everywhere he went. She always just happened to be at the wash basin next to his when he was doing laundry, and fetching her mistress' dinner when he was in the kitchen, and grooming her mistress' horses when he was in the stables. Not to mention, every moment he spent around her she kept up an endless barrage of questions to the point that he was at a loss to understand how she never ran out of them.

The funny thing was that he was still doing the work of a servant. He was spending a week training a castle servant named Ransley, who would be his replacement as Arthur's manservant. It seemed incredibly unfair, since he had never had training when he first got the job. He was just thrown into it and expected to figure it all out on his own. He had a sneaking suspicion that Arthur secretly wanted him to train his next servant to be less formal and boot-licking than most of the servants were around the king. Well, whether or not it was Arthur's intention it was certainly something Merlin had taken upon himself to do. After all, what else was he supposed to train Ransley to do? Merlin's lessons certainly did not involve how to complete chores.

In the time they had spent together, Ransley had gone from fearfully agreeing with everything Merlin said as though he was terrified of being turned into a toad, to vocally expressing his horror at the disrespectful names that Merlin called Arthur, so Merlin figured he was at least learning to have a little backbone. Ransley hadn't bowed as low or as long as usual to Arthur when they had dropped his breakfast off for him, which Merlin took as a sign that he was making progress in his training.

"If he throws something at you, that's how you know you've done a good job waking him up in the morning," Merlin was saying to Ransley as they made their way to the armoury after waking Arthur up and bringing him his breakfast. "If he doesn't even throw a pillow it means you weren't annoying enough. In that case…"

Merlin had to suddenly cut himself off as he nearly collided with Lydia, who had just come around a corner in the hallway.

"Merlin! Fancy running into you again after we were just talking in the kitchens!"

Who did she think she was fooling?

She dove right into what she had obviously contrived this accidental meeting to ask, "Did you enchant the chamber pots in the castle to be harder to find the more desperate you are to use one?"

"Of course not!" Merlin replied with raised eyebrows. "Why on earth would I do that?"

"Hah! I knew old man Archie was wrong about that! He seems to think that just because he was right once that people should believe any old nonsense he says!"

"Yeah, that's Archie for you. Well I'll talk to you later, I have to get on with my work for now," Merlin said, hoping to get away before he got stuck in a long conversation and got in trouble for being late bringing Arthur his chainmail.

"Can you turn into a falcon?" Lydia asked, completely ignoring his not-so-subtle hint that he wanted to leave. "Because John said yesterday that he saw a merlin land on the battlements."

Conversations with Lydia often gave some very interesting insight into what the people of Camelot were talking about.

"It wasn't me. Just because my name is Merlin, doesn't mean I turn into one."

"Can you though?"

Merlin considered it for a moment. He had never looked into it and was now actually starting to wonder how hard it would be. It would be really useful and possibly incredibly fun to turn into a bird. He decided to add that to his rather long mental list of 'spells I will try when I have time'.

"I've honestly never tried," he said in answer to her question.

"The real question," said a voice behind Merlin and he turned around to see Gwaine coming down the hallway towards him, "is can you turn me into a bird? After all – you did promise you would make me fly one day."

Merlin didn't remember promising any such thing. The only time it had come up was when Gwaine had asked him to fly him through the air and Merlin had tried to control the 'fly' spell to create a gentle flight rather than throwing the person roughly through the air as it usually did. He had failed spectacularly and Gwaine hadn't brought it up again after that day. Had Gwaine somehow continued that conversation in his head to include Merlin promising to make him fly one day?

"Looking back," said Merlin, "I probably should have used a 'levitate' spell back then, rather than a 'fly' spell."

Gwaine put his hands on his hips and grinned.

"Go on then," he said excitedly, obviously interpreting Merlin's words to mean that he was going to try the levitation spell now.

Did Gwaine really not see any possible downside to letting a sorcerer try out new spells on him?

Merlin shrugged. If Gwaine was a willing test subject, who was he to say no? He concentrated and lifted Gwaine into the air with magic. The levitation spell got harder to control the heavier the object was and Gwaine was definitely heavier than the types of things he usually lifted in the air with magic, but Merlin thought it was still well within his capabilities. After all, he had once lifted the entire collapsed roof of the throne room, albeit only for a very short time.

"Whoooo!" Gwaine exclaimed as though he was having the time of his life.

He flapped his arms like a bird and then moved them in strokes as though trying to swim through the air. His excitement dampened, however, when he remained in the same spot.

"Uh, Merlin, why can't I move?"

"Well this would be a lot easier if you weren't so heavy," Merlin said. It wasn't terribly hard just holding Gwaine in the air, but his weight meant that it would take concentration to move him in a controlled manner and he certainly couldn't think on the spot of any way to give Gwaine control over his own movements.

"I think I should be insulted by that."

"Ok, here we go," said Merlin and he made Gwaine float away from him down the hallway.

"Weeee!" Gwaine called out childishly.

Then Geoffrey de Monmouth came into the hallway, holding a large stack of papers and walking with a determined look on his face. He wasn't paying much attention to his surroundings and didn't see Gwaine floating in the air above him.

Gwaine, of course, shouted, "Boo!"

Geoffrey jumped and the mass of papers he was holding went flying spectacularly in every direction, including out a nearby open window. Merlin sighed in exasperation and lowered Gwaine to the floor. He ran to the window and made the papers that were floating down into the courtyard below fly back up and into his hands. He added them to the stack of papers that Geoffrey, Gwaine, Ransley and Lydia had picked up from where they were scattered around the corridor.

"Sorry about that," he said, although he felt like it should really be Gwaine who was apologizing.

"Not at all, not at all. I wasn't looking where I was going," said Geoffrey, who had been acting much nicer to Merlin since his true identity had been revealed. "I was looking for you actually. I was wondering if you would do something for me."

"Sure, what do you need?" Merlin asked. It was very odd how Geoffrey de Monmouth, who had always seemed to think of Merlin as nothing more or less than 'liable to mess up my books', had recently started speaking to him as though they were colleagues or something.

"Well, it was a little project that I started about thirty years ago. It was only supposed to take me a few months but you know how one thing leads to another and suddenly thirty years has gone by. First I was busy working on other things, and then I completely forgot about it for a while, and then I was busy again, and then the purge happened and I couldn't work with sorcerers anymore. Anyways, I'd like to finish what I started back then."

Geoffrey paused as though waiting for Merlin to respond. Merlin, however, did not know what to say. In his rambling answer, Geoffrey hadn't actually said what he wanted Merlin to do.

"Erm, so what is this project?"

"These are genealogies of the knights of the ancient kings," Geoffrey said, shoving the entire stack of papers into Merlin's arms, "but the ink has faded, making them completely illegible. I used to know a man – great scholar he was, you know. Always a thirst for knowledge. Man after my own heart, as it were. Anyways we were both very interested in history and we had a good old time pouring through these pages together. He was a masterful magician and he knew this spell where he could look at the faded ink and magically see what it used to say. He would read the words that had been lost to time and I would transcribe them anew – preserving the knowledge for generations to come!"

Merlin couldn't imagine anything more boring! How on earth was he going to get out of this?!

"Thing is, we only got through about half of them before –" Geoffrey seemed to choke on his words a bit. "Well it was a sad day," Geoffrey looked down and added quietly, "I'll never forget that day."

Merlin felt his heart soften. Well, he thought, it wouldn't hurt to help Geoffrey translate his boring papers. How bad could it be?

"I'll look up that spell," Merlin promised, hoping he wouldn't regret this later. "And when I have time I'll help you with your project."

Geoffrey smiled at him and Merlin felt a strange kind of companionship with the old man.

"Why don't you hold on to these for now," Merlin said, handing the stack of papers back to him. "I wouldn't want them to get lost or anything."

Geoffrey took the papers and held them as though they were his only child. He always had been a bit odd.

"Anyways I need to get on with my chores," Merlin said, and he pulled Ransley down the next corridor, leaving the others behind. Thankfully they let him go without further interruption – even Lydia, who he had been slightly worried might follow him.

They were almost at the armoury when Merlin suddenly felt as though something was pulling him and the world seemed to jerk as his surroundings suddenly changed. He lost his balance and fell over, landing on the floor of Arthur's chambers. Come on, he thought, not again for goodness sake!

"Yeah, it still works for me," Arthur said to Gwen. They were both standing beside where he had fallen, looking down at him.

Merlin got to his feet. It was very disconcerting suddenly going from one place to another without prior warning. He glared at Arthur. "I thought we agreed you would only use the ring in emergencies."

Merlin had been rather annoyed to discover that the ring the druids had given Arthur was enchanted to summon him to Arthur's side whenever Arthur rubbed the jewel and called for him. They sure had a lot of nerve making such a thing without his permission. If they wanted Arthur to be able to summon magical help they should have made the enchantment summon one of them! When Merlin had complained about it to Arthur he had told Merlin that he was being ungrateful, since the ring had helped save him from being trapped in a stone for all eternity. But seriously – what if Arthur summoned him when he was doing something important? Or bathing? Merlin couldn't help but think that the druids had not properly thought this one through.

"Sorry, sorry," said Arthur, not really sounding like he meant it. "I wanted to see if the ring could be used by other people too, but it didn't work for Guinevere. Nothing happened when she tried it so I just needed to make sure that I could still use it and it wasn't because it stopped working completely."

"So the ring only works for you," Merlin summated. It was rather comforting knowing that he didn't need to worry about being summoned by someone who stole the ring from Arthur, but Merlin was too annoyed at the moment to feel appreciative of that knowledge.

"Do you realize that I just left this room to fetch your chainmail from the armoury? I went down all those flights of stairs and was almost there and now suddenly I'm back where I started! Do you have any idea how frustrating that is?"

"Don't be such a baby, Merlin," Arthur said unrepentantly. "You could use the extra exercise."

"Well I'm not going all the way back down there again," Merlin said stubbornly. "You can go to your morning training with no chainmail."

"That's fine with me," said Arthur. "I'll just wear the ring you gave me again."

He could be so frustrating sometimes!

"I told you not to wear that ring during training," Merlin said. "I shouldn't have to refill the magic in it just because you used it all up by letting the knights smack you repeatedly with swords!"

"Well then," said Arthur triumphantly, "you'll have to get my chainmail."

But Merlin was not going to give in. He concentrated on the hallway where he had left Ransley and cast the spell that let him throw his voice to another location, saying, "Ransley, go get Arthur's chainmail without me and bring it up to his chambers."

Merlin grinned at Arthur. There – he had won hands down.

"You've probably given him a heart attack," Arthur said disapprovingly.

"He'll recover," Merlin said dismissively.

"Anyways, I'm glad you're here," Arthur said, suddenly changing topics and talking as though Merlin had just stopped by coincidentally rather than been summoned against his will. "I want you to do a favour for me."

"Well you have a funny way of asking," Merlin said in annoyance. It was obvious to him by Arthur's sudden change to a forced-casual tone that this was the real reason he had been summoned, and testing the ring with Guinevere had only been a secondary motive. He had obviously been stalling before and had only just worked up the nerve to ask it. But Merlin was not too happy to be pulled away from what he had been doing because Arthur wanted a favour.

"It's for Guinevere," Arthur said, the finality in his voice telling Merlin that he knew perfectly well that that would be enough to convince Merlin to do whatever it was.

"Ok," Merlin conceded. Obviously he wouldn't refuse something for Gwen. "What do you need?"

"Can you do this spell?" Arthur asked and handed Merlin a folded up piece of paper.

Merlin unfolded the paper and saw Gaius' handwriting. Obviously they must have asked Gaius for help with something and he had referred them to Merlin because the spell was beyond his own powers.

Then he realized what the spell was and looked up at Gwen in shock and wonder. She was looking excited, nervous, and happy all at the same time. He had a sudden urge to hug her.

"Can you do it?" Arthur asked again, his own voice betraying nerves now.

"Yes, hang on," said Merlin and he reread the spell several times to make sure he would get it right. He was getting pretty nervous himself now.

Merlin took both of Gwen's hands in his own and held them together to form an open cupped shape in front of her, with his hands below hers, and chanted, "Ic pe réocan fealahiw eowan baarneacnigen. Cann réadian. Wipsacendlic hæwen."

A small ball of white smoke appeared over Gwen's hands. Merlin held his breath. This was it – if the smoke turned pink it would mean she was pregnant!

Then the smoke turned pink and Merlin gasped. Gwen and Arthur glanced at each other nervously, obviously unsure what that meant. Merlin let go of Gwen's hands, dismissing the spell, and exclaimed, "Congratulations!"

Gwen burst into tears of joy and ran into Arthur's arms. Arthur picked her up in the hug and twirled her around. Merlin felt his own face plastered with a compulsive grin so big he couldn't seem to close his mouth properly.

Merlin couldn't be happier for his friends. He knew that they both wanted this more than anything.

Arthur and Gwen kissed and Merlin edged towards the door, deciding he should give the happy couple some time alone. But Arthur detected the movement and pulled back from Gwen and grabbed Merlin by the shoulder. The next thing Merlin knew he was caught up in a group hug as all three of them grinned at each other and simply basked in the joy of the moment.

Merlin decided to ignore how weird it was that he was being included in this moment. He just hugged them both – the woman who had been his first friend in Camelot and the man who had changed his life. It was so exciting to think that this was just the beginning of a family and that, despite being unrelated, he knew he was still a part of that family.

Merlin waited in the anteroom outside the throne room, listening to the crowd assembling. He didn't know how many times he had stood here with Arthur while waiting for him to enter for some ceremony or another in his honour. However, Merlin had never imagined he would one day be here for himself.

How did Arthur do this so easily? He was about to go out there and be the center of attention in a room full of friends and strangers, commoners and nobles, people who liked him and people who hated him. And he wasn't hidden under a cloak this time; they all knew exactly who he was and what he could do. And they all had opinions about him. Arthur had done this sort of thing every day of his life and Merlin had never imagined it as particularly challenging. It was only now that he was waiting to go in there himself that he strangely found himself wanting to simply stay hidden in this back room.

He kept readjusting his clothes. It felt so strange to be wearing an outfit where every piece of clothes was new. He had worn the same clothes for so long that he had stopped ever thinking about them. He was at the point where he adjusted his jacket or his neckerchief without conscious thought. But now that he was wearing something he had never worn before he was in the new position of never being sure if everything was still in place. He figured he would eventually get used to it but it would probably take a while. He had a whole set of new outfits that was more clothes than he had owned in his entire life. He was used to only having two sets of everyday clothes – one to wear while the other was being washed. Was he supposed to change clothes as often as Arthur did now? It was hard to imagine wearing something different every single day.

The door opened and Arthur came in.

"Ready, Merlin," he asked.

"I think so," said Merlin, checking that the silk scarf and the long, navy-blue coat he was wearing were still positioned ok.

"I came to give you this," Arthur said, holding out a sword with an intricate pattern on the hilt, inlaid with rubies. "I had it made for you."

"A sword?" Merlin asked, trying not to sound too incredulous.

"It's a ceremonial sword," Arthur said as though explaining something simple to a child. "It doesn't matter how useless a swordsman you are, since it's just there to look impressive."

Merlin forced himself not to roll his eyes and instead took the sword from Arthur with a smile. He put it in his belt and said, "Thanks."

Merlin didn't know what had gotten into Arthur lately. All of a sudden he had been giving Merlin new stuff practically every day. He had already presented Merlin with an entire new set of outfits, his own seal, a dagger, a gold-encrusted storage chest, a set of writing quills – and now a ceremonial sword? Merlin already didn't know how to respond to all of the other outlandishly lavish gifts he had been given, or even what to do with them all.

Arthur took a step back, put his hands on his hips and looked Merlin up and down, looking pleased at what he saw. Merlin felt a strange sense of role reversal. How many times had he done the exact same thing after he had dressed Arthur for some event or ceremony? It was suddenly striking Merlin how bizarre his life had turned out. He had been born in a hut and now he was being outfitted by a king? He was about to stand in front of a crowd dressed like some kind of noble and partake in this upper-class pageantry? He had come from literally nothing – he wasn't cut out for this kind of thing!

"You know," Arthur said, cutting through Merlin's spiralling thoughts, "those clothes almost hide the fact that you are an idiot."

Ok maybe being outfitted by a king wasn't so extravagant when that king was a moron.

"Whereas nothing you wear can hide how much you look like a fat toad," Merlin replied automatically.

"I am not fat!"

"At least you admit to looking like a toad," Merlin said, now grinning.

Arthur gave him a gentle punch in the shoulder, but he couldn't hide his own grin.

"Ow!" said Merlin, even though it didn't actually hurt. "I thought you would stop hitting me now that I'm not your servant anymore."

"I do not hit servants," said Arthur with exaggerated offense. "I merely exact a fitting punishment on anyone who dares insult their king."

"But I only said you look like a toad," Merlin said, feigning innocent confusion. "There was no insult because I only spoke the truth."

Arthur gave Merlin another friendly punch, no longer even trying to hide his grin, and then turned and opened the door to leave.

It was only as Arthur entered the throne room and made his way down the aisle, the assembled people standing in respect for the king, that Merlin realized how effectively Arthur had made him forget all of his nervousness.

"People of Camelot," Arthur said to the crowd, once he had reached the front of the room. "We are here today to witness the appointment of a new member of the High Council of Camelot. It has been nearly thirty years since this position has been filled, but now that magic is once again welcomed in Camelot, it is my pleasure and my honour to reinstate the title of Court Sorcerer. The man who will be taking this position has served me faithfully for over seven years and has demonstrated great loyalty to Camelot and dedication to protecting the people of this land. I speak of course of our great ally Merlin Emrys of Ealdor. For years, Merlin has humbly performed the duty of a servant while working in the shadows to defend Camelot, with no thought of personal reward or glory. His skills with magic are legendary and he has chosen to use them for the good of Camelot. He has been personally responsible for many of the kingdom's greatest victories and, without doubt, Camelot would not be standing were it not for Merlin. Merlin has loyally stayed by my side through the hardest of times and has demonstrated, time and again, a willingness to give up his life for my own. I personally, and on behalf of the kingdom, want to thank Merlin for his steadfast dedication and welcome him to come forward to accept his new appointment."

Arthur gestured towards the back of the room, which was Merlin's signal to enter. As Merlin walked down the aisle, he looked for familiar faces in the crowd. There were a lot of knights in red capes but he had no trouble at all finding his friends amongst them, mainly because Gwaine was holding his hand above the crowd and waving at him. His mother and Gaius were in the front row and looked like they could not be more proud of him. Gwen stood at the front behind Arthur and when Merlin caught her eyes she smiled and nodded slightly in an encouraging way.

Merlin stopped a few feet in front of Arthur.

"Merlin," Arthur said formally, loud enough for the whole room to hear. "Will you swear an oath of office?"

Merlin knelt on one knee in front of Arthur. He stared up into the eyes of his king and meant every word as he recited, "I, Merlin, do solemnly swear allegiance to the King and to Camelot. I swear to serve you, King Arthur, with all of my capabilities, whether by my life or death. I swear to faithfully perform the duties of my office, to protect and assist the people of Camelot, and in all things to be a true and honourable councillor."

Arthur smiled down at Merlin. There was no record of what oath a Court Sorcerer was meant to swear, since any documents recording such things had been destroyed in the purge, so Arthur had told Merlin to just write his own oath and swear to whatever he wanted to. He seemed pleased with the result as he spoke again, "I do hereby accept your oath. Arise, Merlin, Court Sorcerer of Camelot."

Merlin stood and turned to face the crowd. Everyone was applauding, but Merlin's eyes were drawn to his mother, whose hands were so busy wiping away tears in an attempt to pretend that she wasn't crying that she was barely able to bring them together to clap twice. Merlin suddenly felt wet pools in his own eyes and quickly started blinked rapidly, staring at the ceiling. He was not going to cry in front of everyone!

Merlin knew all too well how much his mother had sacrificed for him. From being scorned by the villagers for having a child out of wedlock, to being shunned by friends because of the lies she had to tell to keep his secret, to going hungry herself in order to feed him – it seemed that his mother's love for him had only ever brought her hardship. She had always told him that he was special and meant for great things, but Merlin was sure that, deep down, she had fully understood that his low birth and the deadly secret hanging over his head had left him with very little prospects in life. He was so glad to finally be able to say that he really had lived up to what she dreamed he could become and not let all her efforts raising him go to waste. Seven years ago he had set out to Camelot, hoping to make something of his life, despite the odds stacked against him, but never in his wildest dreams would he have guessed back then that his life would turn out like this.

Merlin had never felt so light-hearted and hopeful for the future. He no longer carried the worries that had been such a heavy burden for so many years. In fact, it wasn't until they were lifted that he realized how much they had weighed down on him – the fear that his friends would reject him if they found out his secret, that he would be forced to leave Camelot because he was breaking the laws, or that he would not be strong enough to protect Camelot alone. Now his friends all knew his secret and embraced that side of him; Arthur had legalized magic and Merlin knew that he could stay by his side forever; and protecting Camelot did not seem such a burden because he no longer felt that he was alone.

Merlin felt Arthur step forward to stand beside him and put his hand on his shoulder. Suddenly Merlin was able to blink back his tears and look forward again without risking crying. The physical reminder of Arthur's presence gave Merlin a strange sense of confidence. The troubles of the past were behind them now. There was no doubt that they would face many new challenges in the days ahead, but Merlin was not worried - not with Arthur here.

With Arthur as king, Merlin felt that the kingdom could not be in better hands. Honest, fair-minded, true-hearted Arthur – how often was a kingdom so lucky to have such a ruler? Arthur had only been king for a short time and already he had started building a kingdom where no person was denied respect, no matter their position in life, and Merlin could see that this was only the beginning. This was the start of the time that was spoken of in prophesies. The prophesies had been annoyingly vague, but they had always painted a hopeful picture of the days to come. Arthur would unite the lands of Albion and rule over the greatest kingdom the world had ever known. Merlin believed that with every fiber of his being. This was the beginning of a bright future and Merlin was glad to be a part of it. He knew that he would spend the rest of his life right where he was meant to be – at Arthur's side.

Notes

And there it is – the end! I don't have plans for any more sequels. I hope you enjoyed my series!

Sorry it took so long to finish this one. Since writing Part 2, I got a job, bought a car, found an apartment, moved, bought and assembled all the furniture in my apartment, travelled – in short, I was a bit busy with life-related things. However I committed to writing this and I can't stand an unfinished story so – better late than never!

I don't know how this one ended up so long. It is more than twice the length of Part 2 and more than 3 times the length of Part 1. I didn't plan that. It just seemed to happen.