The eternal suffering

That's not Emrys

"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."