The idea is this story takes place in alternate history England. The legend of King Arthur never existed, but magic is semi-prominent in the land. The British monarchy have a history of using the sword in the stone to decide future Kings, and it has prevented a lot of blood shed from families competing for the throne. Usually, someone has been selected within days. This time, it's been months, and the place has become a hot spot for tourists to try. It was a shock when Arthur, a true Brit, pulled it from the stone.

There are two very clear-cut versions that have developed from the story: either Arthur pulls the sword out by his own will or Merlin helps him to pull it out. In this particular story, Arthur and Merlin have equal weight as their own protagonists. That's why the first episode will be Arthur-centric, the second will be divided equally between them, and the third will focus on Merlin.

Because of this, I decided to make the episode oriented toward Arthur and his behaviors, which appear to interest Merlin. However, I do drop ambiguous hints about magic without explicitly mentioning it, and for a good reason. I want you as the reader to question if Arthur actually pulled it out on his own, or if Merlin assisted him. This question was never answered in the end. I didn't even confirm if magic really existed--I'll save that for Morgan La Fey. Was it Arthur's divine right to be king? Or did Merlin decide for him? How does Merlin know all these things? Carry those questions through to the next episodes.

I decided to set it in modern times because I think it would be more interesting, especially with the current fascination toward the British royalty. I don't think an old, stuffy medieval king has the same impact as a twenty-two year old just on vacation does. I also made Kay a fun character, and didn't have him try to pull the sword (he's still traumatized from the crowd).

In this selection, I struggled most with word count. I wanted to keep building and building, but I had to stop and edit myself. It was a good subject in brevity, and it made me really focus on my word selection so each word carries significant weight.

This would be considered the mid-season finale of this fictional story line. Previous episodes would have surrounded his coronation, difficulties with his brother, the selection of Merlin has his adviser--there are so many that I unfortunately had to skip because I wanted to select three key moments in Arthur's reign as king.

That is why I selected one that paints Arthur in a negative light. Both Merlin and Arthur are operating under the assumption that they are protecting England, but they end up making the worst mistake of their lives. Arthur is visibly upset, while Merlin continues to play the part of the supporting adviser. If there was more words to work with, you would be able to see both Arthur and Merlin's perspective. Merlin blames himself and his magic for misinterpreting the situation, and he will contemplate taking the blame. Alas, the word count prevented me from doing this.

Magic was present in this part, but wasn't explained. I still want to leave that to Morgan, but I will give a brief explanation to stay any confusion. Magic does coexist in this modern world, but it's more of a handicap then an asset. There are so many rules and regulations for the common people that they just don't use it. The Crown, however, is not subject to this. He or she can surround themselves and provide sanction to magic users, which is what he does for Merlin. Magic used for the purposes of official royal duties is allowed. However, magic users cannot leave their country except under special circumstances and with the proper documents. Otherwise, it's like shipping a nuke from America to England and not telling the British there is a nuke on board. That is why Arthur and Merlin were very weary of undocumented magic users.

Just a point of reference: Arthur mentions the CTC in this. That is the British task force who counteracts terrorism in Great Britain.

Fun fact: Arthur found out Merlin was a magic user at tea time. Kay and Arthur were arguing, and Kay almost dumped his cup of scorching hot tea all over himself when a plate mysterious shot out and protected him.

Kay thought he had magic for two weeks straight, but Arthur understood what really happened.

This story actually has a subtle spin. If I had many more episodes, the reader would get to see the plot unfold, and that is the relationship between Arthur and Merlin. It's modern times. They spend 24/7 together, and almost never see any other people in a casual/not business like setting. In fact, Merlin lives in the Palace. (Two doors down from Arthur's room. Arthur insisted after the Mayday incident, in case something happened and he needed his adviser immediately.) Merlin has put his entire life on hold for this single man--of course some romance will blossom from that. And Merlin is hurt that Arthur seems oblivious to this, and if this was to progress into a full series, it would become a serious point of contention between them, and would threaten to destroy their once good relationship.

I wanted to make Morgan a firecracker. Even though she didn't get much screen time in this episode, you can bet she is a force in subsequent ones. In this episode, Merlin refers to her as a witch. As I explained in the previous episode's notes, a magic user must be documented. A witch is someone who is a citizen of the country but openly practices magic without being documented. Morgan was not caught until recently, and the idea she was a witch swarmed the rumor mill in the palace. It's the idea of the "palace walls have ears." The moment Merlin caught wind of it, he knew the PR would be bad, and he had to put a stop to it before it turned into a huge fiasco, like what happened with Princess Margaret.

I am absolutely considering fleshing this out in greater length--maybe writing more episodes, or turning it into a novel. I have grown to love these stories. (I actually was going to dress up as my image of Merlin for the medieval fair, but alas, it was cancelled.) I hope, in the future, I will be able to show you more of my beloved storybook.

Thank you so much for reading.