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[Merlin] That Looks On Tempests And Is Never Shaken :: PG :: Het :: 1/1
Title: That Looks On Tempests And Is Never Shaken
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chaletian
Fandom: Merlin
Rating: PG
Summary: A missing scene from The Tears of Uther Pendragon pt I. Arthur/Gwen.
Arthur feels like he’s fallen down that bloody well himself, tumbling upside down, faster and faster, with no idea what’s going on or how to stop it. Which isn’t, he has to admit, terribly helpful, given the situation. His father’s... well, Arthur shies away from that thought. He doesn’t want to examine what’s going on with his father. And there are the rumours flying around about an attack. And sodding Merlin has sodding chosen this sodding time to disappear, which really shouldn’t matter, because Merlin is about as useful as a girl’s petticoat in a crisis, but Arthur just sort of got used to having him around. Sort of like a lucky charm.
“He’s like a rabbit’s foot,” he says out loud, and the fingers still that are slowly, smoothly, brushing back his hair from his temples. “Merlin,” he adds.
“I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear you think so highly of him,” says Gwen, and Arthur twists round in his chair to face her.
“Well, he bloody well should be,” he protests. “I mean, it’s not every serv... not everyone who gets to be a prince’s lucky rabbit’s foot. Some,” he says grandly, “would consider it a high honour.” He turns back so he’s sitting straight in the chair, and crosses his arms, and can feel Gwen chuckle behind him.
“I suppose it’s better than being your jester,” she says, and Arthur laughs.
“Yes, well, don’t give me ideas. I daresay we could find him a motley shirt from somewhere.” He frowns even as Gwen’s hands resume their former motion. “God only knows where he’s disappeared to.”
“He will be performing his duties,” says Gwen. “He is very loyal, you know.”
Her voice is not reproving, but Arthur takes the reproof nonetheless. “I know,” he says, catching one of her hands in his and drawing it down so the two hands, both hardened from work, rest against his heart. They stay there, still, for a minute. For two. Still, silent, each lost in thought, alone together and quiet in the stillroom Gwen had made her kingdom since the loss of Morgana the previous year.
“At least we have Morgana again,” says Arthur eventually, squeezing Gwen’s hand and releasing it. “For a brief moment, it was almost as if things were going back to normal.”
“Ye-es,” says Gwen, and Arthur, who had stood up and reached for his sword, looks at her quizzically.
“What’s wrong? I thought you’d be ecstatic that she’s been returned to us?”
“Oh, I am!” Gwen assures him hurriedly. “Of course I am! It’s just... well, she just seems different.”
“She’s been through so much,” says Arthur, and Gwen nods, though he can see she’s not convinced and later, when things are back to normal, properly back to normal, he thinks he’ll ask her what’s so different about Morgana that Gwen can’t be happy to have her back, but that’s not something he has time for now. Now, he says, “I should go and see father again. If he’s not improved...” He trails off, and shrugs. “I suppose I’ll have to call the council about Cenred.”
He’s once again Prince Arthur of Camelot, and she’s a maidservant with a basket of dried lavender at her hip, no equal, but she reaches out and says, “Be careful, Arthur, please,” and he catches her hand and presses a kiss to it, and smiles, just for that moment his attention entirely focused on her and not Camelot or the king or rumours of attack.
“I love you,” he says, and she knows he won’t be careful.
“I know,” she says, and watches as he strides out into the courtyard. He to his work. She to hers.
THE END
Author:
chaletianFandom: Merlin
Rating: PG
Summary: A missing scene from The Tears of Uther Pendragon pt I. Arthur/Gwen.
Arthur feels like he’s fallen down that bloody well himself, tumbling upside down, faster and faster, with no idea what’s going on or how to stop it. Which isn’t, he has to admit, terribly helpful, given the situation. His father’s... well, Arthur shies away from that thought. He doesn’t want to examine what’s going on with his father. And there are the rumours flying around about an attack. And sodding Merlin has sodding chosen this sodding time to disappear, which really shouldn’t matter, because Merlin is about as useful as a girl’s petticoat in a crisis, but Arthur just sort of got used to having him around. Sort of like a lucky charm.
“He’s like a rabbit’s foot,” he says out loud, and the fingers still that are slowly, smoothly, brushing back his hair from his temples. “Merlin,” he adds.
“I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear you think so highly of him,” says Gwen, and Arthur twists round in his chair to face her.
“Well, he bloody well should be,” he protests. “I mean, it’s not every serv... not everyone who gets to be a prince’s lucky rabbit’s foot. Some,” he says grandly, “would consider it a high honour.” He turns back so he’s sitting straight in the chair, and crosses his arms, and can feel Gwen chuckle behind him.
“I suppose it’s better than being your jester,” she says, and Arthur laughs.
“Yes, well, don’t give me ideas. I daresay we could find him a motley shirt from somewhere.” He frowns even as Gwen’s hands resume their former motion. “God only knows where he’s disappeared to.”
“He will be performing his duties,” says Gwen. “He is very loyal, you know.”
Her voice is not reproving, but Arthur takes the reproof nonetheless. “I know,” he says, catching one of her hands in his and drawing it down so the two hands, both hardened from work, rest against his heart. They stay there, still, for a minute. For two. Still, silent, each lost in thought, alone together and quiet in the stillroom Gwen had made her kingdom since the loss of Morgana the previous year.
“At least we have Morgana again,” says Arthur eventually, squeezing Gwen’s hand and releasing it. “For a brief moment, it was almost as if things were going back to normal.”
“Ye-es,” says Gwen, and Arthur, who had stood up and reached for his sword, looks at her quizzically.
“What’s wrong? I thought you’d be ecstatic that she’s been returned to us?”
“Oh, I am!” Gwen assures him hurriedly. “Of course I am! It’s just... well, she just seems different.”
“She’s been through so much,” says Arthur, and Gwen nods, though he can see she’s not convinced and later, when things are back to normal, properly back to normal, he thinks he’ll ask her what’s so different about Morgana that Gwen can’t be happy to have her back, but that’s not something he has time for now. Now, he says, “I should go and see father again. If he’s not improved...” He trails off, and shrugs. “I suppose I’ll have to call the council about Cenred.”
He’s once again Prince Arthur of Camelot, and she’s a maidservant with a basket of dried lavender at her hip, no equal, but she reaches out and says, “Be careful, Arthur, please,” and he catches her hand and presses a kiss to it, and smiles, just for that moment his attention entirely focused on her and not Camelot or the king or rumours of attack.
“I love you,” he says, and she knows he won’t be careful.
“I know,” she says, and watches as he strides out into the courtyard. He to his work. She to hers.
THE END
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Anyway this is a lovely little moment between the two of them.
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I really like the second-to-last line, but I also found it jarring that the entire short piece is in Arthur's POV and then all of a sudden we're in Gwen's.
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“I love you,” he says, and she knows he won’t be careful.
Oh, my heart...! Just wonderful. &hearts
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Bloody well done.