Uther found Gaius sitting in the council chambers pouring over books and scrolls.
“Have you found anything?” he asked.
“Not yet Sire,” Gaius replied, “But I will keep looking until I do.”
“Alright,” Uther said, “I’ve got patrol out looking for the sorcerer. If we can find him then we can get him to turn Arthur back to normal.”
“Speaking of Arthur…” Gaius said slowly, “How did everything go today?”
“It was…” Uther said, “Interesting. I took him around, showed him different things, talked to him. He was so happy the whole time, I never realized…”
“Never realized what, sire?” Gaius asked.
“I never realized what it mean to him, and to me, to just spend the day together, away from Camelot. It was like I was seeing him for the first time. Not Prince Arthur who follows his duties as knight and prince, but Arthur, my son, Arthur.”
“It’s an amazing thing Sire,” Gaius said with a smile, “Even though he is only a boy right now, he still has such an affect on everyone. As a young man people listen to him because they respect him. Now, they will still listen to what he says because he does not think the way the rest of us do.”
“It was amazing,” Uther agreed, “I’m so used to him agreeing with me, or offering options that seem realistic, but make everyone appear to be evil or to blame, but now…”
“Now, he is looking at it from a child’s perspective,” Gaius finished, “Someone who does not yet understand what true evil is.”
“Yes,” Uther said quietly, looking thoughtful, “You were right Gaius.”
“About what Sire?” Gaius asked.
“About looking at this as a second chance. I won’t ever be able to make up for all the years lost, spent teaching him how to be King instead of spending time with my son. But hopefully he will remember today, and all the days like it before he is back to normal. Then, when he is, I’ll do my best to treat him like my son, and not just the Prince of Camelot.”
“I think he will like that Sire,” Gaius said, “Though Arthur is actually a young man, he still looks for your approval and wants nothing more than to know you’re proud of him everyday.” Uther nodded, deep in his thoughts of how to make the future brighter for his son.
YOU ARE READING
Doing it Over
FanfictionAfter an encounter with magic Arthur is turned back into a 5 year old boy. Now Uther has a decision to make: Does he wait until his son's back to normal and allow everyone else to deal with it? Or does he fix all the mistakes he made when Arthur was...
