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winterknightsTitle: A Snowy Fight
Author/Artist:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ajsrandom
Pairing(s): Arthur/Gwen
Prompt: #5
Word Count/Art Medium: 1810
Rating: PG
Contains (Highlight to view): *Please warn for possible triggers and squicks.*
Disclaimer: Merlin characters are the property of Shine and BBC. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: Thanks to the mods for hosting this fest, which is always fun to participate in!
Summary It's been a long winter and Arthur's going stir-crazy in the castle. Merlin and Gwen concoct a plan to get him outside enjoying the snow.
Read it on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16805398
Arthur eased out of bed, being careful not to wake Guinevere. He padded over to the window to look out and found it snowing again. He stifled a groan—there was already six inches of snow on the ground. Camelot didn’t need any more. Training would, once again, be inside.
This time, he did groan. Training inside was no fun. There really wasn’t an adequate space for it and he longed to be outside where there was space. Being confined to the citadel these last few days wore on him like nothing else could.
Merlin arrived a few minutes later, with breakfast in hand. Guinevere woke up then, and together they ate while Merlin gathered their dirty clothing to wash. No one appeared to notice Arthur’s down mood. Guinevere had also gone over to look out the window and clapped in delight. She loved the snow—she thought it made the world seem cleaner. Arthur didn’t want to argue with her, so he said nothing.
After Merlin helped him dress, Arthur kissed Guinevere goodbye and went off to training. Gwen turned to Merlin and said, “He’s doing it again.”
“I noticed. He can’t stand being cooped up here in the castle. He needs to be outside, doing something,” Merlin replied.
“We need a plan. A frustrated king is not a good king.”
“No, I agree.” He thought for a moment. “There is something Will and I did with the other village children that I’ve not seen done here. And it would provide exertion and maybe a little training.”
Gwen nodded. “If we can provide both, that would be good for him. What is it?”
“Well, we’d gather in a field and draw a line in the snow. Each child would take a side then settle down to make balls of snow.”
“How do you do that?”
Merlin showed her. He made a scooping motion with his hands. “You scoop the snow into your hands, then use your hands to shape it into a ball.” He demonstrated. “Once we hand enough balls, we’d form lines on each side, then we’d throw the balls at each other. If you got hit by one, you had to bow out. The last person standing won the game.”
“That does sound like a lot of fun. When can we organize it?”
“That depends on if we want it to be a surprise or not. If we do, I’ll have to talk to the knights and explain what we want to do, without Arthur being present.”
“I think I can arrange that.” Gwen smirked.
“I don’t even want to know.”
“So I’ll go down and draw Arthur away from the knights while you explain the game to them. Do you think we can do it later today?”
“Sure. After lunch would probably be the best.”
“Sounds good to me. All right, let’s do this.” Gwen stood up and left the room, Merlin following behind, laundry forgotten.
oooOooo
Gwen swept through the doors of the great hall. She spotted Arthur near the middle and walked toward him. Merlin loitered near the doors. Some of the knights paused in their exertions at seeing the queen, some did not. But Gwen’s focus was Arthur. He paused when he saw her, his brows scrunching together. “Guinevere, what can I do for you?”
“Arthur, I need to speak to you, alone,” she replied.
“All right. Shall we talk in the hall?”
“Yes.”
“Leon.” The knight hurried over. “Have them continue. I’ll be back in a few moments.”
“Of course, sire,” Leon replied.
Arthur and Gwen turn and left the room. Merlin didn’t know what Gwen planned to talk to him about, but knew he had to get Leon’s attention. He walked toward the head knight. “Sir Leon.”
“Merlin. What do you need?”
“The queen distracting Arthur was our idea. You’ve probably noticed he’s been rather morose lately, being trapped in the castle.”
“I have noticed.” A number of knights near them nodded as well.
“We have a plan to get him outside for a bit of, ah, fun and training.”
Leon’s eyebrow quirked up. “What do you have in mind?”
“Would you gather the knights together if so I can explain it to all of them at once?”
“Indeed.” He raised his voice. “If you would all gather over here please. The queen has something rather unusual in mind for today’s training.”
The knights stopped their training and gathered to where Leon and Merlin waited. Once they were all clustered around them in a semi-circle, Leon said, “All right. Merlin’s going to explain what’s happening.”
Merlin began explaining what he had explained to Gwen. Some of the knights smiled and nodded at the thought of such an unusual contest. Once he had finished talking, he turned to Leon and said, “What do you think?”
Leon posed the question to the knights. Some had comments and some had questions, which Merlin answered to their satisfaction. “We’ll do it,” Leon said. “The question is when?”
“The queen and I thought that right after lunch would be a good idea.”
Leon smiled. “That does sound like a good idea.” He directed his next words to the knights. “All right, men. After we break for lunch, report to the training yard. Remember to dress for the weather.” A few knights cheered. “Now let’s get back to work before the king sees us slacking off.” A few groans arose, but the men began preparing to get back to work.
Leon turned to Merlin and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Merlin. I think this will be good for the king.”
“So do I.”
At that moment, Arthur re-entered the room. Leon’s hand slid off Merlin’s shoulder and Merlin stepped back a little. The king made his way over to Leon. On his way, he stopped in front of Merlin. “Don’t you have chores to be doing?”
“Yes, sire,” Merlin said with a grin.
“Go on then.” Arthur smiled back.
Merlin left the room, humming to himself. He found Gwen and told her the plan to meet at the training yard. This afternoon promised to be wonderful for all involved.
oooOooo
Merlin’s many chores helped him pass the time until lunch. When the King’s and Queen’s lunches were ready, he took them up to the royal chambers, expecting the couple to be ready to eat. What he found instead was the King pacing around the room and the Queen watching him, hands on hips. “Lunch,” he announced, hoping to break the mood.
Arthur stopped in his tracks and stared at him then walked over to the table where Merlin had deposited the meals. “Finally,” Gwen muttered and followed him to the table.
“Is everything all right?” Merlin asked the room at large.
“She wants to go outside,” Arthur said. “I’ve told her it’s crazy in this weather, but she insists.”
“At least it’s stopped snowing. And I have the proper boots and cloak, you know,” Gwen replied.
“It’s still too cold.”
“My cloak is fur-lined.”
“I—“
“How about we all go outside? It’ll be a nice break from being stuck inside the castle. I’ll bring extra cloaks in case either of you get cold.”
“Fine,” Arthur muttered.
Merlin clapped his hands. “Good. I’ll just gather the necessary items and meet you here after lunch.”
“Mmm,” Arthur said.
Merlin took that as his cue to get going, so he did. He went back to Gaius’s chambers to gather his own things then to clothing stores where he knew extra winter wear was kept.
After that, he returned to the royal chambers to find the couple finished with lunch. He hurried the empty plates back to the kitchen then went back to the royal chambers. Arthur and Gwen looked to be ready to go outside.
He donned his own cloak and gloves then turned to the couple. “Well, shall we go?”
“Let’s get this over with,” Arthur replied.
Gwen frowned but followed Arthur out of the room, with Merlin behind her. Together they trooped to the front entrance then out the doors. Arthur looked around in disgust, but held out his arm to his wife. She took it and together they walked toward the training yard.
Arthur pulled up short when he reached the yard and discovered all his knights waiting for him. “What’s going on here?” he demanded, looking at Leon.
“Sire, we’ve an idea for an outdoor training session. This is how it works.” Leon went on to explain the game the way Merlin explained it to him.
“And you think this will work for training?
“Morale too.” He smiled.
Arthur debated the idea for a moment. “All right.” He turned to Merlin and Gwen, who were grinning behind him. “This was your idea, wasn’t it?”
“It was Merlin’s. He’s worried about you, you know,” Gwen said.
“Fine. Then you’ll participate. Guinevere, you watch. Merlin will be on my team.”
Merlin’s mouth fell open while Gwen protested at being left out. But she finally agreed to oversee the game. Arthur appointed Leon the captain of the other team. They choose various knights for their teams, and soon everyone was making snowballs.
When Arthur decided everyone had enough, he said, “All right. Everyone ready? Set? Go!”
Soon snowballs were flying through the air. Merlin threw a few balls, but mostly he dodged ones being thrown his way. He heard laughing and taunting from the men, all of which was a good sign everyone was having a good time. He also kept an eye on Arthur, who looked like he was enjoying the game as much as everybody else was.
Leon and Arthur were the final ones left. After several misses on both sides, Arthur finally hit Leon. Leon bowed out gracefully, and Arthur stood in the snow and laughed. “We will have to do this again,” he decided, “tomorrow!”
A cheer went up from the surrounding knights, and they all talked amongst themselves, laughing and describing their various victories and inevitable defeat. It was mutually decided to head for the tavern, to partake of their hot cider. The King bowed out, but gave them leave to go for the rest of the day.
Soon it was just Arthur, Gwen and Merlin heading back to the castle together. “I have to admit, this was a pretty good idea, even if it was yours, Merlin.”
“It was something the children in my village did with regularity,” Merlin replied.
Arthur laughed and clapped him on the back. “Well, I’m glad. And you were right about me needing to get out, too. Thank you for your concern.”
Merlin grinned back. “You’re welcome, sire. Now, can we get something hot to drink too?”
Arthur laughed and led the way back to the castle, where they did indeed have something hot to drink.
Author/Artist:
ajsrandomPairing(s): Arthur/Gwen
Prompt: #5
Word Count/Art Medium: 1810
Rating: PG
Contains (Highlight to view): *Please warn for possible triggers and squicks.*
Disclaimer: Merlin characters are the property of Shine and BBC. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: Thanks to the mods for hosting this fest, which is always fun to participate in!
Summary It's been a long winter and Arthur's going stir-crazy in the castle. Merlin and Gwen concoct a plan to get him outside enjoying the snow.
Read it on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16805398
Arthur eased out of bed, being careful not to wake Guinevere. He padded over to the window to look out and found it snowing again. He stifled a groan—there was already six inches of snow on the ground. Camelot didn’t need any more. Training would, once again, be inside.
This time, he did groan. Training inside was no fun. There really wasn’t an adequate space for it and he longed to be outside where there was space. Being confined to the citadel these last few days wore on him like nothing else could.
Merlin arrived a few minutes later, with breakfast in hand. Guinevere woke up then, and together they ate while Merlin gathered their dirty clothing to wash. No one appeared to notice Arthur’s down mood. Guinevere had also gone over to look out the window and clapped in delight. She loved the snow—she thought it made the world seem cleaner. Arthur didn’t want to argue with her, so he said nothing.
After Merlin helped him dress, Arthur kissed Guinevere goodbye and went off to training. Gwen turned to Merlin and said, “He’s doing it again.”
“I noticed. He can’t stand being cooped up here in the castle. He needs to be outside, doing something,” Merlin replied.
“We need a plan. A frustrated king is not a good king.”
“No, I agree.” He thought for a moment. “There is something Will and I did with the other village children that I’ve not seen done here. And it would provide exertion and maybe a little training.”
Gwen nodded. “If we can provide both, that would be good for him. What is it?”
“Well, we’d gather in a field and draw a line in the snow. Each child would take a side then settle down to make balls of snow.”
“How do you do that?”
Merlin showed her. He made a scooping motion with his hands. “You scoop the snow into your hands, then use your hands to shape it into a ball.” He demonstrated. “Once we hand enough balls, we’d form lines on each side, then we’d throw the balls at each other. If you got hit by one, you had to bow out. The last person standing won the game.”
“That does sound like a lot of fun. When can we organize it?”
“That depends on if we want it to be a surprise or not. If we do, I’ll have to talk to the knights and explain what we want to do, without Arthur being present.”
“I think I can arrange that.” Gwen smirked.
“I don’t even want to know.”
“So I’ll go down and draw Arthur away from the knights while you explain the game to them. Do you think we can do it later today?”
“Sure. After lunch would probably be the best.”
“Sounds good to me. All right, let’s do this.” Gwen stood up and left the room, Merlin following behind, laundry forgotten.
oooOooo
Gwen swept through the doors of the great hall. She spotted Arthur near the middle and walked toward him. Merlin loitered near the doors. Some of the knights paused in their exertions at seeing the queen, some did not. But Gwen’s focus was Arthur. He paused when he saw her, his brows scrunching together. “Guinevere, what can I do for you?”
“Arthur, I need to speak to you, alone,” she replied.
“All right. Shall we talk in the hall?”
“Yes.”
“Leon.” The knight hurried over. “Have them continue. I’ll be back in a few moments.”
“Of course, sire,” Leon replied.
Arthur and Gwen turn and left the room. Merlin didn’t know what Gwen planned to talk to him about, but knew he had to get Leon’s attention. He walked toward the head knight. “Sir Leon.”
“Merlin. What do you need?”
“The queen distracting Arthur was our idea. You’ve probably noticed he’s been rather morose lately, being trapped in the castle.”
“I have noticed.” A number of knights near them nodded as well.
“We have a plan to get him outside for a bit of, ah, fun and training.”
Leon’s eyebrow quirked up. “What do you have in mind?”
“Would you gather the knights together if so I can explain it to all of them at once?”
“Indeed.” He raised his voice. “If you would all gather over here please. The queen has something rather unusual in mind for today’s training.”
The knights stopped their training and gathered to where Leon and Merlin waited. Once they were all clustered around them in a semi-circle, Leon said, “All right. Merlin’s going to explain what’s happening.”
Merlin began explaining what he had explained to Gwen. Some of the knights smiled and nodded at the thought of such an unusual contest. Once he had finished talking, he turned to Leon and said, “What do you think?”
Leon posed the question to the knights. Some had comments and some had questions, which Merlin answered to their satisfaction. “We’ll do it,” Leon said. “The question is when?”
“The queen and I thought that right after lunch would be a good idea.”
Leon smiled. “That does sound like a good idea.” He directed his next words to the knights. “All right, men. After we break for lunch, report to the training yard. Remember to dress for the weather.” A few knights cheered. “Now let’s get back to work before the king sees us slacking off.” A few groans arose, but the men began preparing to get back to work.
Leon turned to Merlin and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Merlin. I think this will be good for the king.”
“So do I.”
At that moment, Arthur re-entered the room. Leon’s hand slid off Merlin’s shoulder and Merlin stepped back a little. The king made his way over to Leon. On his way, he stopped in front of Merlin. “Don’t you have chores to be doing?”
“Yes, sire,” Merlin said with a grin.
“Go on then.” Arthur smiled back.
Merlin left the room, humming to himself. He found Gwen and told her the plan to meet at the training yard. This afternoon promised to be wonderful for all involved.
oooOooo
Merlin’s many chores helped him pass the time until lunch. When the King’s and Queen’s lunches were ready, he took them up to the royal chambers, expecting the couple to be ready to eat. What he found instead was the King pacing around the room and the Queen watching him, hands on hips. “Lunch,” he announced, hoping to break the mood.
Arthur stopped in his tracks and stared at him then walked over to the table where Merlin had deposited the meals. “Finally,” Gwen muttered and followed him to the table.
“Is everything all right?” Merlin asked the room at large.
“She wants to go outside,” Arthur said. “I’ve told her it’s crazy in this weather, but she insists.”
“At least it’s stopped snowing. And I have the proper boots and cloak, you know,” Gwen replied.
“It’s still too cold.”
“My cloak is fur-lined.”
“I—“
“How about we all go outside? It’ll be a nice break from being stuck inside the castle. I’ll bring extra cloaks in case either of you get cold.”
“Fine,” Arthur muttered.
Merlin clapped his hands. “Good. I’ll just gather the necessary items and meet you here after lunch.”
“Mmm,” Arthur said.
Merlin took that as his cue to get going, so he did. He went back to Gaius’s chambers to gather his own things then to clothing stores where he knew extra winter wear was kept.
After that, he returned to the royal chambers to find the couple finished with lunch. He hurried the empty plates back to the kitchen then went back to the royal chambers. Arthur and Gwen looked to be ready to go outside.
He donned his own cloak and gloves then turned to the couple. “Well, shall we go?”
“Let’s get this over with,” Arthur replied.
Gwen frowned but followed Arthur out of the room, with Merlin behind her. Together they trooped to the front entrance then out the doors. Arthur looked around in disgust, but held out his arm to his wife. She took it and together they walked toward the training yard.
Arthur pulled up short when he reached the yard and discovered all his knights waiting for him. “What’s going on here?” he demanded, looking at Leon.
“Sire, we’ve an idea for an outdoor training session. This is how it works.” Leon went on to explain the game the way Merlin explained it to him.
“And you think this will work for training?
“Morale too.” He smiled.
Arthur debated the idea for a moment. “All right.” He turned to Merlin and Gwen, who were grinning behind him. “This was your idea, wasn’t it?”
“It was Merlin’s. He’s worried about you, you know,” Gwen said.
“Fine. Then you’ll participate. Guinevere, you watch. Merlin will be on my team.”
Merlin’s mouth fell open while Gwen protested at being left out. But she finally agreed to oversee the game. Arthur appointed Leon the captain of the other team. They choose various knights for their teams, and soon everyone was making snowballs.
When Arthur decided everyone had enough, he said, “All right. Everyone ready? Set? Go!”
Soon snowballs were flying through the air. Merlin threw a few balls, but mostly he dodged ones being thrown his way. He heard laughing and taunting from the men, all of which was a good sign everyone was having a good time. He also kept an eye on Arthur, who looked like he was enjoying the game as much as everybody else was.
Leon and Arthur were the final ones left. After several misses on both sides, Arthur finally hit Leon. Leon bowed out gracefully, and Arthur stood in the snow and laughed. “We will have to do this again,” he decided, “tomorrow!”
A cheer went up from the surrounding knights, and they all talked amongst themselves, laughing and describing their various victories and inevitable defeat. It was mutually decided to head for the tavern, to partake of their hot cider. The King bowed out, but gave them leave to go for the rest of the day.
Soon it was just Arthur, Gwen and Merlin heading back to the castle together. “I have to admit, this was a pretty good idea, even if it was yours, Merlin.”
“It was something the children in my village did with regularity,” Merlin replied.
Arthur laughed and clapped him on the back. “Well, I’m glad. And you were right about me needing to get out, too. Thank you for your concern.”
Merlin grinned back. “You’re welcome, sire. Now, can we get something hot to drink too?”
Arthur laughed and led the way back to the castle, where they did indeed have something hot to drink.
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