Chapter 2:

The Queen of the Fae came and stood before Merlin.

"Greetings Emrys, High Lord of Magic." Amongst the trees, several jaws dropped as the most beautiful of the Fae swept into a low curtsey before the prince's manservant. Mordred was trying to decide whether he should run or not.

"Greetings Niamh, Queen of the Fae. Will you explain your actions? They have greatly agitated your sisters."

"I will Emrys. You see, if Albion is not formed by the Once and Future King, magic will no longer exist after his death. Without the prophecy, magic would cease to exist after the death of Arthur Pendragon."

All the knights turned to look at Arthur. The King of Camelot's jaw dropped.

"So if this interference was acceptable, why was no other?"

"I did not wish to make the oath. I knew nothing good would come of it. But the others had agreed so we swore. At least they did. I did not swear the oath and I have been interfering as much as I could without being seen. I was unable to stop you listening to Kilgarrah though."

"How else did you interfere?" Merlin questioned the Fae Queen.

"I sent to you helpers. People who would make your job easier. And then I let slip to my sister's that it was I who made the prophecy so that they would call you here. I made sure you would be followed here by the friends who now hide behind the trees."

Merlin turned to face the trees and his friends came out from behind them.

"What is going on here Merlin?" asked Camelot's king. "What prophecy are they talking about?"

"Sit down," Merlin said as he did so himself. King and knights copied his action.

"I was born with magic," Merlin began. "I was moving things with my powers before I could even walk or talk." King and Knights were open jawed. Except for Mordred, who already knew most of this anyway.

"Merlin is known by the druids as Emrys because of his power, which is greater than any other sorcerer or warlock, and because of a prophecy," Mordred told the group. Merlin nodded at Mordred in acknowledgement before resuming his tale.

The warlock spoke of arriving in Camelot and witnessing an execution. He told the knights about his first meeting with Arthur and how the king had ended up with the nickname 'Prat'. Merlin then talked about hearing a voice in his head and eventually going to find the voices owner, who was the last dragon. The last dragon had told Merlin it was his destiny to protect Arthur and that it was Arthur's destiny to unite Albion and restore magic. Merlin explained how he had told the dragon he must be wrong and left only to find himself saving Arthur's life at a feast.

Merlin's story continued with a dishonourable knight and snakes emerging from a shield. A plague had come to Camelot and nearly killed Gwen's father but Merlin used magic to save him and got Gwen accused of being a witch.

"Wait a minute," interrupted Arthur as a memory suddenly hit him. "You confessed. You confessed and I told father you were in love with Gwen. Why would you confess you idiot?"

"So I was just supposed to let Gwen die for something I had done?" retorted Merlin. Arthur grumbled but Merlin ignored him and continued to tell of tracking down the afanc and getting the dragon to tell him how to defeat it. Arthur found things that had never quite added up made a lot more sense after hearing Merlin's side of things.

"Now what?" questioned Elyan when Merlin was done with his tale and everyone else had re-evaluated their entire perspective on life several times.

"We all go back to Camelot and start changing the laws on magic of course," replied Arthur.

"If I'd known it would be this easy to persuade you to do that, I'd have told you all this years ago," Grumbled Merlin to himself.

The nine Fae had also been listening to the story; now they stood as if preparing to leave.

"Goodbye my love." Freya gave Merlin a tender kiss causing Gwaine to wolf whistle. Merlin sent a spell at Gwaine to turn his hair purple. Arthur and the other knights burst out laughing at the sight of Gwaine with purple hair.

Gwaine, who couldn't see his hair, knew something was wrong but didn't know what. He used the lake as a mirror and gasped in horror to see his purple hair.

"Merlin, how could you? Change it back! Change it back!"

"Only if you say please," Merlin replied with a smile. He was stood with his arm round Freya.

The queen of the Fae was watching the warlock and the naiad with a sad expression on her face.

"Lady of the Lake?" spoke Queen Niamh.

"Yes, Lady of Magic?" replied Freya.

"You are not the first Fae to love a human. A spell was developed that would turn a Fae mortal, so long as she truly loved a human, for that human's lifetime. She would become a Fae again upon his death. If you wish it, we can cast this spell upon you."

I would be a human as long as Merlin is alive?" Freya confirmed.

"You would indeed," the Lady of Magic replied.

"So I would no longer be bound to the lake?" Freya checked.

"That is correct." The Fae Queen smiled indulgently at her subject.

"Then I wish to use the spell," Freya stated.

The other Fae took Freya off with them for a time. Merlin, Arthur and the knights chatted amongst themselves whilst they waited. Arthur amused himself with imagining various people's reactions to the revelation of Merlin's magic and the change in the law. A thought occurred to the king. He had heard that in kingdoms where magic was legal; it was common practice to have a court sorcerer who would advise the king on magical matters. Clearly Merlin would have to be promoted, but the king wasn't sure he wanted George to replace Merlin as his manservant. George was a boring bootlicker who made jokes about brass.

The Fae returned and Freya ran to Merlin throwing her arms around him. His own arms slid around the now human girl and pulled her to him. The couple held each other as if they would never let go. Eventually Arthur cleared his throat loudly.

"Come on Merlin, let's go home. We've got lots to do; laws to change; a court sorcerer to promote; and apparently a wedding to plan."