Work Text:
Originally posted on Tumblr here
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The firelight cracks and throws sparks out in the darkness. Seated on a worn stone tablet beside the burning embers, Sir Elyan looks into the red flame and ponders.
The knights and their king had been following the tracks left ever so carefully by the witch for the better part of a fortnight. Leon was the expert tracker in their midst, and together with Arthur, who had studied from his previous knight mentor how to read the shadows that fall across the branches of trees, to decipher the hue of the green ivy leaves twisting around their trunks - they were all well on their way to rescuing his sister.
Gwen had been taken by Morgana.
It made a brother’s blood boil. It also gave Elyan a chance to reflect. Life had a funny habit of throwing a mirror up to oneself in the darkest and most perilous moments.
The earlier chattering and banter between travelling companions has ended. The other knights are fast asleep; Percy is spread out on the mossy ground a short distance away from the fire. Gwaine is snoring soundly by his side. Leon is dozing with his back pressed up against a cracked statue of an ancient king.
Arthur eventually stirs, re-settling his limbs to sit closer beside his silent friend on the cold granite of their stone seat.
The crackling fire continues to burn, throwing light and shadow over both of the knights’ faces. The young Pendragon is quite content to let them both enjoy this silence. Neither of their minds are idle. Therein existed a curious understanding between the two; they were both of them: Elyan and Arthur, deep thinkers.
“She never came to me, she never let me know the torment she was going through.”
Elyan’s voice breaks the silence at last. Arthur lowers his eyes; he knows better than to offer his opinion right away. His friend is only just beginning to open up.
“Gwen, she… she always knew she could come to me, for anything. Any problem big or small, I would help her with it. When we were children, she used to tease me with the hot iron in our father’s forge. Don’t go getting the wrong ideas, she’d say. I knew she was a strong woman, Arthur. I’d never. I never wanted to feel I was patronising her. I was just her big brother. I simply felt a need to- I felt-”
“You felt it was your duty to keep her safe.”
Arthur sighs.
The fire continues to crackle and spit flame into the night.
Elyan turns his head, sobering up. Glancing over at his king, the true-hearted man recognises the same sadness reflected in his friend. And Elyan knows. He’s always been the most emotionally perceptive of the blond’s knights.
He nods his head, making a promise within himself.
“If there’s a chance, Arthur. I won’t kill Morgana. I’d tear that witch apart with my bare hands if she weren’t- but I understand. I will do what I must to rescue my sister. As I trust, you would do the same for yours.”
Arthur pauses for a long moment before replying.
“Morgana… made her choices.”
Silence. Reaching down, the blond picks up a stick, tossing it into the fire. The flames show no mercy, setting at once to consume the fuel they are given. Arthur clenches his jaw.
“I can’t fathom to know her mind in its entirety, but she knew what she was doing when she took my wife from me. I do not see a woman who needs saving from her demons, Elyan. Not at this point in time. When we reach this dark tower, the rescue of your sister and my wife is my priority.”
And the heat provided by the fire is warming, life-giving. Arthur smiles at last, despite himself. “We are united in that aim.”
Turning his head, the lines on the young king’s face appear to melt away as he gazes fondly at his brother-in-law. The marriage of Guinevere Smith and Arthur Pendragon has brought two unlikely families closer together than once thought possible. Royalty and Commoner are now bound by love and understanding.
But there is a deeper joy still. Arthur had never known the effect having a brother would bring while growing up as a child under Uther’s stern paternal influence. Alone and without such a sibling, the boyish prince had no one to model his male behaviour on once, except for his father.
This bond he shares with Elyan now is perhaps one of the most profound and transformative of all.