･ﾟ 𝔱𝔯𝔠𝔨𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔢𝔯 — 𝔩𝔢𝔬𝔫 𝔣𝔣𝔶𝔯𝔫𝔦𝔤,
!! ‘ i am not sure you do! ’ Leon yelled. There were people in town who talked of magic in soft whispers, excited giggles like children who were up late and sleeping side by side on the floor of a drawing rooms fire; they believed it was an opportunity to be entertained. They wanted magicians and jugglers, as though it was a circus and not their own livelihoods. The red hair about his face flopped as he stepped back, his hand running through it in a stressed motion. Arthur was a good king, and more importantly a good man, but he was more than a little intimidating to some of the newer guardsmen of Camelot; they were scared. His leader was not his father. As much as it made him cringe away to think it, Uther was a hard man and cruel in some of his endeavours.
‘ there is a way to do this without losing half of your banner men!’ the knight threw his hands up and pressed gloved fingers to his forehead in frustration. Words weren’t his forte- leave that to the poets and maesters. Hadn’t Arthur been the one walking the walls to practice poetry with his manservant? Or had that been just another lie to protect him? He sniffed and squinted upwards at the ceiling, great and painted high above them. Arthur was making sense but it was too scary to consider the battle the decision might cause, ‘ of course they don’t deserve to live in fear, but neither do your own subjects! ’
his voice was small when he spoke again, the realisation that his argument made him sound like a monster looming over his head. Blue eyes found Arthur’s, ‘ I was there for near every raid on druid camps- do you not think I am haunted by what we did as well? ’
❛ they have lived in fear long enough leon! i understand the penalties and the dangers to my decision. but it is in the end — my decision and mine alone. one i have thought very deeply about. i’m not just deciding this on a whim! ❜ it had been a long ongoing battle since his days as prince. magic has never been a clear thing in arthur’s life. he was raised to hate it, but he seen the good in it too. ❛ magic may be seen as vile and evil to some! but so can the average man! we cannot hide away from something just because we fear it. ❜
now the king has gotten to his feet, by pushing his chair back with the horrid sound of wood quickly scrapping against wood. ❛ i will not rule in fear like my father did, i will not let that or hatred rule for me. ❜ hands come to harshly land on the surface in front of him, his eyes do not pull away from his knight.
but slowly, they both begin to calm and when leon next speaks, arthur picks up on how much his volume has come down. arthur takes a deep breath. ❛ i know you are haunted by those days, because i am too, we all are. but we can amend for those horrors we committed. we can right now, make certain, that such a thing will never happen again. ❜ his tone matches leon’s, small and quiet. ❛ the druid people won’t have to continue to live in fear. my father’s ban can not continue. ❜
