okay okay Imagine Camelot under uther but magic is still legal juust under constant scrunity, uther dislikes it and does not trust it at all but he'd be an idiot if he didn't use it to his advantage, cue Arthur receiving training from Balinor and the existance of this weekly awkward and full of spite meeting. (does balinor truly adore arthur? maybe but maybe he did it just to spite Uther)
Thank you to everyone who participated in the inaugural Mergwenthur Week, whether you created content or just engaged with it. You can browse all the submissions for this fest under the cut, and check out the AO3 collection here!
Fanfiction
@princess-of-the-worlds
in the deep green of forest (on the side of a hill)
in a field of dandelions
@burglarhobbit
when it was easy to say (in praise of you)
@flight-of-fantasy
When Dragons Call
Heart & Soul
@toshsato
The stakes are high, the water's rough (but this love is ours)
Day 2 - what does merthur mean/represent to you? + orange
-Dusk and Dawn, Mirtha Michelle, Letters to the Men I have loved
For me personally merthur is the inevitably of fate. Where every beginning would have an end just like how we started our day at dawn and it ended at dusk. For merthur specifically there's still hope even after the ending (Merlin's however long wait for Arthur) just like even after the darkest nights, morning would follow. You just have to be there to see it. (Keep waiting merlin, we'll see our sun rise yet)
Day 3 - merthur scene(s) that made you realize they were in love + yellow
-My Heartache, Lang Leav, The Universe of Us
"Who are you to decide that I'll not love you still if you reveal your worst side to me? It's no concern of mine if you hate parts of yourself, I have the right to love you still."
(Magic reveal AU in which Arthur stumbled upon merlin playing with his magic, and Merlin jumped to the worst case scenario in his head, Arthur has other ideas)
"Perhaps, but not in the ways you could comprehend."
(Perhaps a loose continuation of Red . Where Arthur goes for a ride to clear his head after work because his dreams kept haunting him, and he meet someone)
"Merlin’s voice was always something that he never thought about twice, whether it's Merlin yammering in the morning while Arthur’s half asleep or Merlin bellowing for him to get up from bed, or Merlin whining about his duties or the upcoming hunting trip. Somehow, he never thought merlin could sing, a lullaby even, how is Arthur supposed to know that his manservant’s voice is anything other than annoying and irritating and-
"Call up your men, dilly, dilly,
set them to work
Some to the plough, dilly, dilly,
some to the fork,
(-Soothing, calming, because at the end of every banquet, every tourney, every quest, there’s Merlin, babbling about god knows what while serving him dinner, bandaging his wounds, or tending to the fire. The whole castle might belong to him, might be his birthright, but his chamber is his. Behind the closed doors of his chamber he gets to be Arthur, not the King, not a knight, just Arthur. And while Merlin has perfected his way of serving him while not being a servant long ago, it's always different, under the candlelights, just after the world went to rest. In the one place where the weight of the crown could be discarded. At the end of the day it’s just Merlin and Arthur.)"