The eternal suffering

That's not Emrys part 2

Imagine what the apocalypse may look like. And no, I do not mean that almost idyllic ending that would be one swift explosion and bam, everything ends.
No... this was something entirely differen't.
This was dystopia. A chaos that would have caused many servants and handmaidens to commit suicide, if they didn't know it was a temporary solution.

Still.
Leon groaned into his paperwork. He had always had an immense amount of respect for Arthur. He was always grateful and eager to thank him for all the hard work he put into the kingdom.
And still kept trying to improve everything according to his morale.
Right now, Leon would trade his soul for a proper writing feather and a new bottle of ink.
Or the ability to feel his right arm again.
He had been doing paperwork almost all morning, but in his head all the words and numbers had already begun to swim, before he got his breakfast.
Of course, Leon had to do princely paperwork in addition to his usual knight work.
Of course, nobody was allowed to help him. And of course, king Uther didn't care to install another temporary first knight. Who could overtake Leon's usual duties instead.

Of course Leon did the same stunt that Arthur would have done. After all, he was supposed to give an accurate impersonation of Arthur. So he decided to ask his servant for help.
George didn't have it any easier. If anything – he got it worse.
And Leon was both glad and disappointed that they couldn't share much of their work.
Leon would do anything to muck out the stables in George's stead. And he knew George would be glad to have at least an hour to sit down.

George had to deal with Merlin's duties in addition to his own. Which made his situation very similar to Leon's.
He was already an overworked, highly efficient servant. He practically organized the entire servant system of the castle on his own. He made sure nobody was harassed and that everybody did their work.

As Uther Pendragon's personal manservant, he had direct access to the king and Uther trusted him to a certain extend. Barely a fracture of the trust that Arthur had in Merlin, but it was still the closest relationship Uther had to anyone, really.
At the very least, George was allowed to bring forth a few complains every month and Uther would THINK about improving those conditions.

Once or twice, he even did something about the mentioned problems!
Anyway... now George had to assist Leon on a daily basis as well. Wake him, help him get dressed (they skipped that part to save time, actually. Also Leon was very capable of dressing himself, as long as it wasn't armor. That stuff had too many belts and constrictions to be put on by one person alone. Everyone needed help with that.), bring him his breakfast...
George had to personally take care of Leon's armor, which normally wasn't too much. But considering that Leon was supposed to fight in a tournament at the end of the festivities, and had to train every day until that point ... it added a lot of work to his list or daily chores.

George was fast and efficient, as it has been said many times before, but when Merlin was overwhelmed by his work – he just used magic so he could sleep for a couple of hours at least.
George didn't have that luxury. And especially around this time, the other servants needed his help more than ever.
In the kitchens, in the stables, everywhere. George was used to help out everywhere. But without Merlin, who did a lot more than he ever let on, they were short 12 servants, rather than one.
How did they manage hunting trips before?
Oh right.... they didn't have to play ACTORS during that time, usually.

They were both completely exhausted and neither got much sleep. If it wasn't for their bet – Leon was sure they would have given up immediately.
But well – they needed to impersonate Merlin and Arthur. Of course that was no easy feat to accomplish.

Uther was of no help at all. If anything, he just added to their list of chores.
So much, that they were both so done with work, that they had shadows under the shadows of the shadows of their eyes.