Who Follow the Gleam: Chapter 1

[lily_handmaiden]

Major, major thanks to Bethany for being my beta reader and primary audience for this.

I've been working on this fic for a while, and I hope to keep working on it for quite a while, because it makes me happy. Don't judge me. I've always wanted to try an AU in which nobody goes horribly out of character (hopefully). This is my first earnest attempt.

Comments

[meridian_rose]

Things could indeed have been so different if things had gone as you posit here. You had this unfold so believably.

[lily_handmaiden]

Thank you so much! I'm glad you thought so. :)

[anonymous]

I'm glad you posted this for everyone to enjoy. I loved rereading it here as much as I did the first time! I look forward to reading more. - Bethany

[lily_handmaiden]

Yaaay! I'm in the club of "fanfics Bethany's read more than once!" :) I still want to finish RBS before I get back to this, but I'm going to try to really step on it with that one. Chapter 3 by the end of the weekend, baby!

[monicaop]

I like it!!! Is early enough so Morgause doesn't come into the play so Morgana can still be herself, and even if I'm a huge Merlin/Arthur fan this also feels totally right :D.

I hope you keep writing this!! Be well :)

[lily_handmaiden]

Thank you! I definitely plan to keep writing this! :)

I know I'm going to have to bring in Morgause eventually, and I'm not sure quite how I'm going to deal with that yet. We'll see.

[monicaop]

I guess that Morgause will try to create problems with Morgana, as she did in the series, but this time Morgana has Merlin, she can talk to him, tell him what she thinks, and get another perspective and well, we know that Merlin will always support Arthur, even if he dislikes Uther himself.

Hugs!! :)

[lily_handmaiden]

Yes, I think that Merlin has the potential to make all the difference there. :)

[inafadinglight]

Oh, goodness, this is lovely! I feel like the show really wasted an opportunity to put these two in a similar situation. Merlin's such an empathetic character that I don't believe for a second he would leave his friend hanging when he knows exactly what she's going through. So I like this version MUCH better. :)

[lily_handmaiden]

Thank you! Yes, while I can see why Merlin didn't confide in Morgana, I (clearly) really wish he had. I don't think it would have been out of character for him to do it. And it could have done so much for Morgana, for a while at least.

[arysani]

Love this. Lovelove. While I understand why they didn't do it this way (well, mostly...sort of...IN PRINCIPAL AT LEAST), I really wish they had. It broke my heart every single time they had one of those moments when he had the chance and didn't tell her, and she was just HANGING on his every word, WAITING for him to tell her even though she didn't know WHAT he would be telling her...

Looking forward to the next part!

[lily_handmaiden]

Thank you! Yes, I understand why the didn't do it, too, but you've got it exactly right-- it was heartbreaking. Thanks for reading!