Epilogue: Fate and Forgiveness

Arthur left his knights in charge of the clearing up whilst he lead his whole family back inside the palace. On their way up to his chambers, they almost instantly encountered Walt rushing down - bag in hand.

"Artie … you're back … ah ... Sire ..?" He gave a brief bow. "How many injured?" The physician's glance then fell on Merlin and he jumped at the sight of his still golden eyes.

"Probably none – unless any of the prisoners tried to resist arrest, which I somehow doubt," said Arthur calmly.

"Sorry? None?" Arthur laughed at the expression on the man's face.

"Just one dead but, you'd better go and check, anyway."

"Yes, of course. Ah …?" Walt looked at the family party with a confused look on his face.

"We'll all be in my chambers but .. not to be disturbed except for the gravest of emergencies."

"Sire." He gave a brief, slightly messy bow and hurried on his way.

As they arrived in the room, the whole group seemed to sag - the three sorcerers most of all. Merlin lowered himself onto a chair, but sat fairly upright, his golden eyes now fading – gradually turning back to their original blue ... thankfully. No-one had said a word, most stunned into silence, others looking at him to start. Arthur sighed; he wanted answers and suspected he might not like some of what he heard but, he also knew that he had neither the energy or the inclination to loose his temper, especially considering the outcome of today's battle.

"So, Artie, Elaine … care to tell me what you two were doing with the Dromerd?" he asked.

"Spying, as Morgana guessed," said Artie with a shrug. "I meant to come back to tell you of their plans but … well, I ran out of time."

"Well, I'm proud of you, as I said." The boy just nodded, tears obviously threatening again.

"And I'm grateful," said Merlin. "I wasn't going to last much longer before you came to help."

"How did he help?" Gwen asked.

"I used the pendants to help me access his magic and also to strengthen mine." Merlin frowned and shook his head. "There's something odd about how they were reacting today – something about the various enchantments that have been put on them that is giving them and their wearers powers that I didn't intend. We'll need to explore this a little more, you two. Find out exactly what has happened?" The pair nodded but Elaine's head was down and it seemed to Arthur that it wasn't just because of tiredness.

"Elaine?" She raised her head to him and he saw tears streaming down her face. "What is it?"

"I'm sorry … I should have told you about Morgana … all of you ..." She turned to Merlin, biting her lip nervously.

"How long have you been seeing her?" Arthur was glad that Merlin had asked the question. He knew that he would not have been able to sound so calm and sympathetic. Not that he was really angry with Elaine, but Morgana always brought the worst of his temper out and, even now, he could not forgive her entirely.

"I met her first on the day I was taken ill. We bumped into each other in town and … recognised each other, of course."

"Why were you there?" asked Gwen. "Why were you with the Dromerd?" Elaine looked at her calmly - apparently surprised at the question.

"Because she asked me to visit," the girl said simply and Arthur almost laughed at her beautiful innocence. Even Merlin looked confused by her answer.

"And you didn't think that she might have some ulterior motive?" her father asked.

"Well, of course I did but, like Artie, I thought I might be able to get some inside information for you."

"Well, as it happened, it all turned out for the best," said Guinevere briskly. "Let's not have any more blame. If Merlin and Elaine can forgive so easily then the rest of us should try to follow their example.

"Talking of that, Merlin," said Arthur. "What was with that kiss in the square?" His friend attempted an innocent look which Arthur didn't believe for a moment.

"She did save Elaine's life."

"Well, yes but, you could have just said thank you?" The warlock grinned. "I saw the way you were looking at her, Merlin. After what she did to you …?" He saw Merlin's eyes flick nervously to the children and he shrugged.

"I would try to explain, Arthur but, to be honest, I don't really understand my feelings for Morgana myself. Let's just say I forgave her for Fyrien a long time ago and anything else I held against her was gone the moment she saved Elaine's life."

"Just be grateful that a warlock as powerful as Merlin is so forgiving, Arthur," said Guinevere. "Can you imagine what type of sorcerer he would be if he wasn't?"

"He would be like Mordred," said Elaine simply. There was a long silence as everyone contemplated this.

"So – family ..." Arthur eventually continued in a bright tone. "If anyone here has any more secrets, I think now is the time to air them, when I'm in an especially forgiving mood. Well?" He noticed Artie exchange a look with Elaine and raise his eyebrows in her direction. His ward pulled a face and nodded.

"I've been training as a blacksmith with James and Elyan."

"What!" That from everyone else in the room.

"I wanted to learn how to make swords," she said quietly.

"That sounds reasonable enough," Amr commented, and Arthur turned to his eldest son in disbelief. "Well, Elyan always said that the more you understand the weapon you're using the better you can use it. I often wished I could learn how to make swords too." Everyone gaze quickly shifted back to Arthur and he held up both hands.

"I'm not even going to try to give my opinion – not after last time. I assume you haven't got any more for me Art?"

"Not that I can think of, no," he said with a small grin.

"I bet Merlin has though," Arthur drawled. The warlock gave him a very long, slightly nervous look before shrugging.

"I also had secret meetings with Morgana in the past." He held Arthur's gaze and, seeing there was still quite a bit of gold still sparkling in those eyes, the king attempted to keep his anger under control.

"Why?"

"Mostly to talk about Elaine."

"Mostly?"

"Yes." He continued to hold his gaze and Arthur knew he'd get nothing more from him.

"Why did she leave Elaine here?" Gwen asked. "She seemed so surprised that we had a hand in raising her but, why would she leave her with you at all?"

"She was very ill and … I think she had one of her premonitions. A vision that Elaine would only survive if she was with me?"

"Imagine if I had stayed with her," said Elaine. "With me on her side … Merlin definitely wouldn't have stood a chance today." There was another long silence.

"Well, I am proud of all of you ... of all of my family," Arthur said with a grin. "It's good to know that everything that happened was for a reason and all came out in our favour in the end.

"That's usually the way it works," said Merlin quietly. "Today was not the day for ..." He paused and shook his head.

"For what?"

"Fate and Destiny have a purpose for all of us here, Arthur. Some of this I've already seen and … " Merlin seemed to be struggling to find the right words. "Now was not the time for any of us to die. Alvarr, yes but everyone else … Morgana, Mordred, you and Gwen … still have a part to play in the future." The warlock's head was down and Arthur felt a shudder course through him as his full meaning hit home. His friend looked up at him and Arthur saw that his eyes were now full of tears. He saw fear and grief in that gaze and realised that Merlin had seen his future and feared for that day - knowing that even the fabled Emrys would not have the power to prevent it.

xoxOxox

A few days later, Merlin was sitting in his chambers with Artie and Elaine, trying to work out exactly what the pendants could do.

"So you put an enchantment on this so that you knew where I was?" asked Artie, looking a little offended.

"Another one of my confessions, yes. Sorry about that, but we needed to know that you were safe."

"Plus it has the ability to make his magic stronger. Did you do that to mine too?" Elaine asked.

"No, you don't need it – neither do I. Honestly, it was Artie's pendant that gave me much of that extra strength in the courtyard the other day and that feeling was ..." He shuddered. "Addictive. If I hadn't given that pendant back to you then, Artie, I'm not sure I ever would have wanted to. It really was far too much power for any one person to have."

"So, what is it about my pendant that's confusing you?" the prince asked.

"That you could communicate through it when we swapped."

"But that was something you only recently discovered," said Elaine.

"Not like that – not for Artie. He shouldn't be able to communicate anything and yet, I heard his silent words clearly along with his emotions."

"Yes, it helped us when we were with the Dromerd," Elaine said. "We swapped them and talked."

"Talked? Easily, freely … just like you and I do?" asked Merlin and she nodded. Merlin shook his head.

"It really shouldn't be able to do that. To be honest, swapping any of them shouldn't enhance the telepathy. It should only work if we're holding our own. I'm missing something here – for all of us. All the pendants' powers are working better than they should and I don't know why."

"Do you think …? Has this anything to do with when I tried to connect my stone with Artie's that day?" asked Elaine nervously.

"Perhaps." Merlin sighed, "but I can't see how. As I said, you wouldn't have been able to use that same enchantment on it because Artie can't use his pendant to talk silently … Arrgh." He threw his hands up in frustration. "I'm too tired for this today. I'll keep looking into it and might ask you back if I need to run any more tests."

"That might not be possible," said Artie in a quiet voice.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going away again, this time with mother and father's blessing."

"Really?" Merlin noticed Elaine sit back in her chair and fold her arms, her lip pouting in the same way as it had when she was five. He tried hard not to smile at the gesture.

"Yes, we had a long talk and father's sending me on a diplomatic tour of the Alliance kingdoms. He want me to pass the more delicate documents between the kings - those things that could not be trusted to an ordinary courier - as well as help to cement the future of the Alliance by making friends with the younger lords and heirs."

"That's a great honour, Art."

"I know," he beamed. "Now Amr's jealous of me – he would love to travel like that but, of course, he needs to stay here by father's side."

"I still don't think it's fair."

"Be nice, Elaine. You should be pleased for him, not sulking because your friend's going away." Her frown deepened briefly but she quickly schooled it and twisted her lips slightly before nodding.

"Yes, sorry, Artie. My congratulations." She gave him a more genuine smile and Merlin saw Artie's reaction to it, even as he swallowed nervously when he saw Merlin looking at him. He just gave the boy a sympathetic nod, knowing that was the other reason he was pleased for the chance to get away.

"What about you, Elaine?" asked Artie. "Are you still allowed to work with Elyan?"

"Yes but, like before, I'm going to share my time between there and here. Be the Princess of Camelot some days and Elaine the apprentice blacksmith on others."

"And she wants to increase her sword training, and her magic lessons and her science work," said Merlin, shaking his head. "I don't know where she's going to find the time."

"That's easy, Father ..." she said with a grin. "Apparently, the powerful Emrys has the ability to change the nature of time itself - Morgana told me. That means it should be easy enough for you to make all the days longer – just for me." She gave him her very best smile.

"Don't be daft," he said with a laugh. Elaine's grin faded and she widened her eyes and pouted her bottom lip - looked at him pleadingly.

"Please, Papa Merlin."

The End

A/N - All over. Sob :(

So, for a while I had no idea about this last chapter as the story had always ended with the battle scene in my head. In the end I did a bit of heavy, a bit of light and left the question of the pendants open as that little mystery will be explored that in chapters nine and ten of King Arthur's Chronicles. In that I also address the postponed situation of Artie's feelings for Elaine so you might want to avoid that if you don't like the idea of cousin romances!

The central section is not supposed to be hinting at a sequel - rather it's foreshadowing the legend itself - A bit too heavy for my writing style I'm afraid.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for reading, alerting and reviewing this fic. This was a challenge in so many ways - and I nearly lost faith early on when I received a few negative reviews and lost my confidence. So, special thanks go to my regular reviewers who gave me that confidence back and convinced me that I was doing a good job. In addition, some of my most recent reviews have been really wonderful. Thank you again.

BTW. When I was writing my previous multi-parter "The Invisible Servant," I shared my initial thoughts about 'King Arthur's Ward' with my readers. I said ...

"Anyway, another "problem" has appeared for all of you mad TIS fans. I've had another fic idea ... a very exciting, very long one and it's now completely taken over my head."

I was amused by that when I read it the other day and wanted to share it with you - now you know what I knew then!

E/N Whilst finishing off the editing today, I accidentally posted one of the corrected chapters as a new 31, instead of replacing the old one. Because of that mistake, this whole fic was pushed up to the top of the published list. An accident, I'm afraid, and so my apologies if you received an alert and got excited about a new chapter. Although I do still plan to add a chapter or two to KAC in the not too distant future.

29/2/12