Another thing
allothi said I'd never write: "Hardyesque tragic melodrama. Morgana and Merlin fall hopelessly in love but society would never tolerate their class boundary-crossing romance, woez. So they get sekritly married and end up in horrible, angst-ridden situations when, for example, Arthur finds Morgana hiding in Merlin's chambers, jumps to the almost-right conclusions, keeps the secret to preserve Morgana's name but fires Merlin, WOEZ. Merlin leaves to be a starving peasant farmer. They turn out not to be married after all due to a confusing plot twist. Someone (probably Merlin) gets life-threateningly ill after sleeping all night in the open during a Terrible Storm. Morgana goes to nurse him back to health, reputation be damned! If they have had a Tragic Bastard Child at any point, it probably ends up hanging itself. Merlin starts to fall for Gwen at just the moment acceptance for his and Morgana's relationship is beginning to seem like a realistic possibility. Everything Morgana owns is destroyed in an act of god. She agrees to marry Arthur. Merlin goes mad with jealousy. Many people die. Possibly all together, by drowning, in the raging waters of the overflowing river. Survivors are psychologically scarred for life. But the scenery is exceptionally romantic and interesting-looking."
She remains correct. Having never read any Hardy, I wrote this instead.
~*The Ties That Bind*~Merlin. 1476 words. 19th-century star-cross'd lovers AU.
He was a punk, she did ballet. He from the lower class, and she from the upper. MELODRAMA ENSUES. Merlin/Morgana, Arthur/Morgana-ish. PG13.
( One isn't friends with the help. It isn't done. )