A/N: God, I can't believe this is officially the end... I kept putting it off and off, but now I actually have to say goodbye to this story, and to you guys (although I'm hoping that most of you will jump on the Paths bandwagon and keep reading that FemMerlin story).

I cannot thank you all enough for sticking with me through 7 freaking years. Whether you just joined, or if you've been with me since the beginning, I am so grateful to all of you for alerting, favouriting and, most of all, reviewing. I so appreciated all your kind words and requests for updates. They're truly what kept me going when I had serious writer's block. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

And with that said, I'll let you get back to what you came here for! Enjoy!

Chapter 27: Epilogue

It had been a year since Arthur was crowned King and magic had been brought back to the land.

I stood on the ramparts, overlooking the lower town, as it prepared to celebrate a 3 day festival to commemorate that momentous occasion. The year hadn't been without its difficulties; tensions between magical and non-magical folk still ran high, and Arthur'd had his share of problems with the neighbouring countries thinking this was the moment to strike. But they'd dealt with each challenge as it came, and Camelot was stronger for it.

There were laws in place now that both protected and restricted magical folk, though I still had to think of new rules or amend older ones I'd written. There was so much to consider, and so many types of magic I'd never heard of.

Gaius was, as always a tremendous help in this, but he was getting on in age, and I was grateful to Gwen for lightening his load as physician. Although the former maid did have her own struggles. We'd discovered that she had a slight affinity for magic. Not a lot, but enough that she could use crystals to cast small healing spells. I'd started out providing those for her, but with my work as court sorceress, I just didn't have the time. The druids living in the surrounding forests had offered to lend us a healer until Gwen - and by extension me - was capable enough to do it on her own. Gwen had been grateful for the help, especially when Lancelot returned, and she wanted to spend more time with him.

I'd appointed Mordred as my personal assistant, mostly so I could teach him to deal with his magic. Of course this snowballed until I was teaching a weekly class to about 10 students. I definitely had my hands full, but the only students I'd personally taken on were children who had too much magic for people like the druids to control. A little girl in the class possessed some type of fire magic that no normal water could put out, another boy had to walk around with a blindfold for fear that he'd freeze anyone he looked at. Most of these children had come to me from the druids, but some had travelled from other countries, some even as far as the mainland. Ellie would be joining the class soon, too, she'd be the youngest there.

"There you are."

I turned around to face Arthur as he approached me. "You found me," I said with a soft smile. Our relationship had suffered a little under the pressure our respective roles put on our shoulders, but he'd persevered. And now that there was no law keeping us apart, we could be much more open about it.

"So I did. Thinking again?" he asked, gently putting an arm around my shoulders.

"Reflecting on how much has changed in the past year. Can you believe it's only been a year?" I asked, turning my gaze back to the lower town.

"Hard to believe, isn't it?" he said, pressing a kiss to my temple. "But we survived it, and that's saying something."

"True…" I trailed off as we both watched the people below us scurrying about. "Do you ever wonder what would have happened if Alvarr had never come to Camelot?" I asked, suppressing a shiver. It was a little chilly up here.

Arthur must have noticed, because he moved to stand behind me and wrapped both his arms securely around me as he thought my question over. "Not sure. My father might still be alive," he said eventually.

"I'd probably still be a servant, having to hide who I am," I replied.

"You don't think you would have told me by now?"

"Honestly? No. I don't think I would ever have told you unless I had no choice. I would have protected Camelot from the shadows for as long as I had to," I said as I twisted around in his arms to look at him. I rested my hands on his chest, feeling his heart beating under my fingertips.

I expected Arthur to be indignant or make a joke, but he just looked at me seriously. "I love you," he said.

I raised my eyebrows, a little surprised at his reaction. "I love you too," I replied, a little mystified.

He seemed to be struggling with his words, so I just looked at him, giving him what time he needed to collect his thoughts. "This isn't how I imagined this going, I mean, I had a whole- and there would be flowers, and…" he trailed off.

"Flowers?" Okay, now I was thoroughly confused. What on earth was he talking about?

Arthur released me from his hold- though he held onto my hands - and I felt cold again, but I was too curious to let him know. And then he knelt.

My mind went blank. I knew what this meant. Did this mean what I thought it meant? I-

"Merlynn Emrys. You are the love of my life, and without you I quite literally would have hopped the twig a long time ago," he said.

I had to smile at the euphemism, which reduced my panic significantly.*

"This isn't quite as romantic as I'd wanted, but… I want to marry you," he said, looking at me with wide eyes.

I grinned right back, both amused and touched. When he didn't continue, I raised an eyebrow. "I do believe you still have to pose the question, though, love," I said, unable to keep from chuckling just a little.

He blushed a lovely red, before he cleared his throat. "Right. Yes. Uhm… Merlynn, would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"

This time my smile was all-encompassing. "Yes. Yes, of course, you prat," I said, pulling him up and kissing him deeply. "Of course I'll marry you," I said, once I'd finally let him go.

"Oh," Arthur said, looking a tiny bit dazed. "Good." And then he was kissing me again.

Yes, a lot had changed his past year, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

Not in a million years.

/*/

*Hopping the twig = kicking the bucket; pushing up daisies; aka, dying. First recorded use was in 1797. Also used in Monty Python's infamous dead parrot sketch (look it up if you don't know it, Monty Python is hilarious).

A/N: So. It's over. What did you think? Arthur sure took his sweet time, right?

Okay, so when I was writing this, I actually finished another scene, which I was going to add at the end of this. It's one of the visions Merlynn had in chapter... 22, I think. Anyway, I was thinking about publishing it separately, or as the first of that one-shot series I was thinking about writing. What would you guys prefer?

Also, please, please let me know what you thought about the series as a whole and the ending arch specifically.