"Leon, a word."
Leon looked up from his place. No matter how comfortable the wooden table of the council room may be, he had never fallen asleep in his seat once.
At least .... not that the king knew of. Today however, the council had been extremely boring.
Even Leon, who usually had his ears perked, even when the discussion at hand was about the height of the taxes on pigs, had felt drowsy and unfocused all day.
Naturally, he hadn't even noticed the council session was over, up until the king himself addressed him.

What had the session been about again? Right... some visiting nobles from a neighboring kingdom.

However, trying to seem as though he hadn't just slept for like three hours, Leon stood up regally, nodded and followed Uther Pendragon out of the council room.
He felt guilty of course – but another part of him was still half asleep.

Half a step behind Uther, because this was an important formality, Leon followed the king into the throne room.

"Sir Leon, you are my most trusted -", Uther paused for consideration, "and skilled knight. Next to my son, of course."
Leon blinked in surprise. "Thank you, your majesty.", he bowed lightly, trying not to show how this compliment filled him with pride.
The jab with Arthur wasn't even an actual jab. Arthur was the prince of Camelot. He HAD to be the best knight. He trained more than any other knight. And Leon had trained him himself. Which gave him pride as a tutor as well.
Also, Arthur was Uther's son. It would be terrible, if he couldn't acknowledge at least some of his many good qualities.

Leon waited for a brief moment, before Uther finally continued.

"To my shame, I must admit that I have made a small -", Uther took a deep breath. "-miscalculation."
The king sat upon his throne, leaving Leon standing at his feet.

"My lord?", Leon asked, nudging the king to continue, without making any kind of insolent comment.

"As you know, the kingdom of Meredia has send a few royals as representatives of their king.
We are supposed to form an alliance.
The thing is – they want to meet my son as well. They want to be assured that the alliance will be a strong one. One that outlives my reign as king of Camelot.
They have INSISTED, on meeting him this week."

Leon nodded slowly. Until he halted in his movement. "Pardon – your majesty... But Arthur is out on a hunting trip, is he not?"

Uther nodded painfully. "Yes, he is, I am afraid. I understand it, you see my situation?"

Leon nodded in understanding. Actually, he knew Arthur wasn't on a hunting trip. Him and Merlin were on a mission to save Gwen from some bounty hunters who believed to have Morgana in their grasp.
Morgana was currently getting mad with worry for her best friend.

"What do you suggest we do about it, Sire?"

"I suggest that these noblemen will meet my son, as it was promised. They will see him fight, see how well trained he is and we will form the alliance."

"My lord?"

King Uther looked a bit pained at this.
"Sir Leon, I am not proud of this. And I will take full responsibility for anything that is going to happen from here on.
But I need to ask a favor of you."

"Pardon, my lord. I'm afraid I'm not following.", Sir Leon asked, tilting his head in utter confusion.

King Uther sighed.
"I need you to pretend to be my son, Sir Leon."

Leon's lips parted slightly. Confusion drawn to irritation.

"You, Sir Leon, may not have such a striking resemblance to my son. But your description matches. You are trained since you where a child. You are blond, like Arthur is. You are only slightly taller than him. And you hold yourself with pride. Not to mention, you are only a few years older than him.
You know my son better than any other knight and you are familiar with his schedule and duties on top of his behavior. You trained him, you know how he fights.
If anyone could pull this off, I believe it is you."

Leon blinked a little overwhelmed. "My lord, are you suggesting that I impersonate your son?"
Uther gave him a stern expression.
If Uther was anyone to joke about anything .... like ever.... which he never did.... then this would NOT be such a moment.

"Your majesty, as your first knight I must voice my concerns about this.
If I or any of the Castle stuff makes a single mistake and this ruse is discovered, you may cause a war between the two kingdoms.
I cannot take responsibility for this."

Uther sighed. "I was afraid that you would say that. That is why I said I will take all the responsibility from now on.
The problem is that should they NOT meet Arthur, then war is imminent. I'm afraid we don't have a choice in this matter.
I wouldn't ask this of you, if the situation wasn't dire.", the king was begging. Begging.... to Leon.

Leon never thought he would see the day when this man would crumble like this.
Then again, Meredia would be one of the strongest allies Camelot would ever have. Their weapons are legendary. Their reputation reached far beyond the kingdom of Camelot. Far enough that kings hid behind Uther for protection of their legendary army.
But there are wars that aren't worth the fight.
Meredia was far more worth as an ally than an enemy. Their borders were too close to Camelot's center. Their attack – if sudden – would cause havoc beyond compare.
Uther knew this. And Uther was afraid.

"I trust you will inform the servants of this?"

"Of course my lord.", Leon bowed.

"You should call me 'father' from now on. At least then and again.", Uther gnawed on his bottom lip. He seemed to like this entire conversation about as much as Leon did.

"Of... course.", Leon nodded, biting his tongue, unwilling to follow this order.
But he was Sir Leon, so he did it anyway. "Father.", he finished and winced internally, while Uther himself flinched.

This was going to be awkward.

---------------------------------

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Leon was sitting in his chambers and mindlessly writing on some of his work papers for the schedules of the knights.
He had just explained the current situation to George, the servant.

And well.... George wasn't easy to humor.
He REALLY wasn't easy to humor. Honestly, the only thing that ever made him laugh were brass jokes.

(Which, I kid you not, I was trying to find or come up with some. But since English isn't my first language and all the jokes I could find were actually about Tuba's, I am at a total loss here. I LITERALLY don't get it.)

But right now, the always stern, humorless, efficient servant, who Leon mysteriously formed a small behind-the-scenes-Merlin-protection-squad with, was bending over.
He was basically on his knees, rolling around and looking like a completely insolent fool.
Any other royal would have thrown him out.

Unfortunately the man had grown on Leon a bit. He reminded him of a Terrier. Not one with giant big eyes who you couldn't say no to.... No.
More like a small dog who you adopted because he followed you anywhere and brought you your keys, when you lost them somewhere.

"Are you done?", Leon asked, trying not to laugh along.
George was actually wheezing, giving Leon the slight suspicion that the man had asthma or something of sorts.

"Please ....", George kept wheezing on the ground. "...just ..... give me a minute..."

"You've been laughing for half an hour. It's not THAT funny."
George shook his head and doing his very best to stand up again. But the grin and the tear stained face from all the laughter was yet to return to his usually unreadable expression.

Leon only rolled his eyes at him.
"Uther did worse."
"I know. Everybody knows. Which worse thing are you referring to?
The one's where he keeps sending his own son into impossible missions that are literally bound to get him killed?
The times he cursed the kingdom?
The time he married a TROLL?
Take your pick.
I mean... come on. Compared to that – this -", George hiccuped. "This is hilarious."

Leon chuckled. "Yeah, you got a point, actually."

"Oh come on – wanna make a bet?", George asked, grin still wide. It was strange to see him here within Leon's chambers, loosing his professional attire, like it wasn't his trade mark.
Leon still needed to get used to this – other version of the irritatingly small man with the heavy resemblance to Merlin.

How Leon and George started to work together? Oh well... that is a funny story for another time.
Fact is, them working together was probably the only reason why the Castle still stood and Merlin and Arthur were both still alive.

"Depends what we're betting on."

"I bet -", George smirked and walked around the desk Leon was sitting at, to face him head on.
"I bet this kingdom of Meredia is actually plotting something. It makes no sense that they'd come here and DEMAND to see prince Arthur, if they don't want to harm him in any way.
Or marry him off to someone, but there was no bride announcement."

"Thank god. THAT would be really difficult.", Leon laughed uncomfortably. Just imagine how weird that would be. How was Leon supposed to play Arthur for the rest of his life for an alliance?
What would happen to the real Arthur then?
That would be really.... really strange. Not to mention Leon had little to no interest in getting married any time soon.
Worse – if he had to leave Camelot for this alliance. Definitely not.

"Wait – you mean they'll try to kill me?", Leon looked up at George, who just nodded knowingly.
Very reassuring, considering they were just discussing another murder attempt on Leon.
"Ah... well. You're probably right.", Leon sighed and crossed out a wrong word on his scroll.

"That's not how betting works.", George sighed and watched Leon continue writing for a few minutes.
"Well, I suppose we're both too used to this.", George sighed, almost disappointed as he finally – way too late – regained his usual cool composure.

"I think we may have another problem.", Leon said slowly and barely looked up to meet George's eyes. What color were they? Leon couldn't make it out in the dim light of the candle.
Well... it didn't matter. Leon didn't even know the color of his own eyes. Maybe he should take a look in a mirror some time?

"Sire?", how irritating it was that George always switched from individual to professional so easily and quick.

"Well.... I think I am in need of a manservant."

George paled and his straightened composure fell, as his shoulder slumped noticeably.
"Oh please don't.", he said defeated.

"Yes.... And since you resemble Merlin a little and you know his reputation.... I suppose you have to....."

George looked very repulsed by the idea.
"Oh god no.", he closed his eyes.
"It's hard enough taking care of stuff behind Merlin's back. Now BEING him? Are you kidding me."

"I think I have a bet now. Which one of us manages to keep his role the longest and the best?", Leon grinned and that obviously sparked a flash of relief in George's round face.
"What will the winner get?"
"I was thinking more like.... the loser gets a punishment."

They shared another look. "The usual?", George asked.
"The usual.", Leon nodded.