AN and disclaimer (Skip to begin reading): Standard disclaimers apply. I'm playing with other peoples' characters, including those created by C.S. Lewis, Anderson, and elecktrum. Marvellous writers and directors and I'm blessed to have their sturdy shoulders to stand on. Any suggestions, criticism, and praise are welcome in any form you so choose. I'm sorry to have kept you guys waiting and I apologize in advance - this story is still incomplete, but as usual I have a back-log of chapters.

And as usual I hope everyone enjoys.

The City of Nowhere

Chapter 1: The Eastern Sea

"Quae peperit filium quem vocavit Gersam dicens advena fui in terra aliena." – Exodus 2:22 –"And she bore him a son and he called his name Gershom for he said 'I have been a stranger in a strange land'."

Two, yellow lovebirds twittered in their cage as fresh breezes ruffled their feathers. The sky above was the clearest blue. It had been for the entirety of their journey. The birds enjoyed the fresh air and the smell of salt in the wind. The rocking movements of their vessel. One bird was singing as the other watched the young girl in front of it. She was not a normal girl, this child. Nor was she really a child, because true to her heart she still did childish things, but always did so without undue childishness.

The wind picked up and ripped at everything that wasn't tied down. Dresses. Banners. Hair. Sails. A gull's cry was their first welcome. The sun was brilliant that day. It reflected off the turquoise sea, occasionally blinding with white flashes. The proud vessel that traveled the seas bore the name of Ouranios. Bright, green sails were held taut in the strong winds and showed, by their color, whom she carried within. She had been crafted from finicky, black walnut trees and carved to make her even more stunning. Intricate designs ran with the ores of her wood, transforming her to an ethereal being, born of mist and earth, carrying with her into the world a little bit of the sovereign kingdom where all life began.

In her she carried a dozen or so crewmembers and every soul onboard was important in the sense that each one served a purpose; simply by skill and by virtue of their most beautiful ideas. Everyone from the proud Dwarf that manned her rudder to the lovebirds in their cage. Every soul was special. Perhaps two in particular. A young boy and a young girl.

The ship was new, on her maiden voyage in fact. It was a birthday present to the girl; a way for her to travel the oceans she commanded.

The boy was her older brother. The two were not the closest of siblings. Nor were they estranged, but they had a lot of lost love to retrieve. This was the very reason the boy had lobbied so hard to join his sister on this, her first diplomatic voyage. The two children were king and queen of a country which has long since perished. They were in their third year of rule as we join them.

The girl in her eleventh year and the boy in his thirteenth.

Each had they been trained by the very best of tutors prior to undertaking the journey. Each had they been thoroughly prepared for the voyage they now embarked upon. But alas, all they had was training. Neither had been on this kind of journey before. The boy had seen war; many battles already, in fact. The girl had seen more death than women thrice her age. But neither had ever set out with the specific task of befriending strangers like this.

"Edmund, you shouldn't get in their way," she commented primly.

He rolled his eyes and narrowly avoided being stepped on by an eager colobus Monkey. "I just wanted to help."

"Well come here and help me. My braid has come undone," True enough, her hair was whipping around her heart-shaped face in a light brown cloud, strings snapping at her rosy cheeks.

"Lucy. . ." he groaned. "Kings don't braid hair."

"Brothers do," she persisted. She grabbed as much of her unruly mane as she could in one hand, and sent him a pointed look. He groaned again. She smiled when he came over and gently grabbed the few strands she had missed. She was aware of manipulating him, but had only opted to do so as a last resort. Ever since the Witch, he felt so guilty. She knew this. She had tried walking on eggshells like their older siblings still adhered to. It didn't seem to work, so she had resorted to using his guilt for favors. She knew it helped. It made him feel like he was contributing in some strange way. Lightened his shoulders from their morose posture, as odd as that sounded.

"I don't know how to braid hair."

She knew he did. It wasn't a difficult skill to learn and he had seen both his sisters do it enough to remember. "Oreius never taught you?" She just wanted him to trust her again.

It took him a second to understand the joke. "Oh ha, ha." He cautiously began the delicate task, afraid of pulling her hair. "Oreius would likely sit on me if I tried anything like that on him."

She giggled. She knew he liked it when she laughed, so she did it a lot more when he was around. "You should join me and Susan more often then. Might learn something other than sword fighting."

They had come a long way, the young kings and queens. "My training is what's kept me and Peter alive so far," But they were still young.

She huffed dramatically, though both knew he was right. She turned to look over the ocean. "Did I thank you for this?"

The ship had been a present from him. His siblings too, but it was Edmund who'd had the idea and begun the work with shipbuilders from Tashbaan and Galma. "You tackled me when we showed you, remember?" He smirked, secretly enjoying the task she had set upon him. "I'd call that a 'thanks'."

She laughed. She remembered. That had been a good day, her eleventh birthday. It was not something she was likely to forget. Her siblings had smiled and laughed a lot that day. It was not a day which would be easily outdone. The party had been spectacular. "I remember you sneaking drinks during the feast when Susan wasn't looking."

"Ha," Edmund laughed. "Peter gave me those drinks."

She hummed in contentment. "I suppose he's looking forward to having you join him in his alcoholism when you're older."

Edmund scoffed. "He's not an alcoholic-"

"I know," she interrupted. It was a conversation their eldest siblings had had far too often since being crowned. Lucy was a little worried, not doing much drinking yet. The boisterous behavior it brought forth was foreign to her. Peter only did it at parties. He only overdid it because it was still new, Edmund claimed. Said it was part of being king. Their parents had never let them taste drinks in England although it grew increasingly hard to remember why. Peter had always been curious. Lucy too in those days. Though not anymore.

And her siblings thought she needed looking after.

"Careful you don't lean too far," Edmund gently pulled her back from the rail. He was still braiding.

She sighed. "I'm not a child."

"No, by all means. You're an old woman. Can't believe old age hasn't caught up with you yet."

"Edmund." She tried to slap his shoulder without looking. He chuckled. She liked his chuckle. "I could make a habit of this."

"I'm not braiding your hair every morning."

"Not that," She reached back to slap him again, but he moved too fast. "This," She gestured to the ocean. "Traveling together."

He hummed as she just had. "It is nice."

She smiled.

Neither knew they would go on many such journeys together in the years to come. That was perhaps what made the present trip so exciting. Not knowing.

She could easily hear the contentment in his voice. He liked this more than he was admitting, true to style. "We should make more of an effort to reconnect with the Island-Narnians," It wasn't a very polite term and seemed to suggest islanders weren't really Narnians. Lucy didn't care. It made it easier for her to distinguish between them. And besides, she felt that calling them the 'human-Narnians' was worse. Susan insisted she just call them Narnians.

"We are," Edmund absently reminded.

The isles in the Eastern Sea were many and often small. Several had been mapped by King Frank's long lineage and Tashbaan traders, but many still remained to be discovered. Lucy already had the tingling sensation that this would be her task and it filled her with such vigor and excitement that she could hardly stand still.

She could tell he was almost finished with the braid. "Not fast enough."

"Everything is too slow for you." He finished and tied it at the bottom with a leather strap.

She turned with a wide smile. "That's why old age hasn't caught me yet. Because I run too fast." She studied the braid and noticed that several strands stuck out here and there. She smiled when she realized it was her brother's unique handiwork. "How do I look?" She stood a bit taller and raised her chin.

"Fabulous, old girl," Edmund held out his arm and guided her off deck.

Since the ship was hers, it had been designed for her. The royal quarters were one, big room, but a curtain had been hung as a divider since Edmund was sleeping there as well. A hammock had been mounted on the other side. She loved this ship. It still smelled like the forest. She loved her siblings for gifting it to her.

"How about a game of chess?" Edmund had already pulled out the board and was setting the pieces. Since the victory of Beruna he and Peter had taken a liking to the game. Their mother had been in the process of teaching it to the two eldest siblings before they left. Though neither of the children could quite recall her face, they remembered the game well enough. Peter played a lot. Susan not so much.

Lucy sighed. There wasn't much else to do when the crewmembers were working. She and Edmund – well mostly she – were too young to properly help with anything. It was only in the evenings, after casting the anchor, when the real merriment began. Lucy couldn't wait till she was older and could be of some service around her ship. She knew Edmund felt the same.

"White or black?"

"White," She was taking lessons from her brother while he was taking lessons from Peter, Cheroom and Irel. Together they evolved their game, one step at the time. "Do you think King Baskar plays chess?" She opened with a knight.

"Possibly. It seems like the game has been around since before we came," Edmund looked up after moving a pawn. He was always a bit threatened by her very bold strategies. "It's strange how some things remind me of England."

"Things like chess," Lucy agreed and moved a second piece. "And toast," It wasn't so much a memory any longer. More precisely it was a certain taste or color in the air. Something that breezed by whenever she was reminded of it.

"The dances," Edmund moved another. "Or some of the food they eat. Things I wouldn't imagine Pigs or Cheetahs eating."

"Do you think King Baskar is like us?" She looked up, seeking council only he, in his brotherly wisdom, could impart.

He met her eyes. "Possibly," Edmund knew she was excited to meet the king. He had four sons, the youngest Susan's age. "He'll love you, Lucy. Don't worry so much."

"He'll love you too, Ed," She smiled at him when he looked up after moving a bishop. He smirked, but didn't seem to really hear the reassurance. He was like that a lot. He didn't like praises or anything that came near to sounding like one. He got very embarrassed and tended to look down. Shrink.

Lucy didn't particularly like them either, but she didn't hate them like her brother seemed to. She just smiled furiously, like Susan, whenever someone complimented something she said or did. Mostly, though, they commented her pretty dresses or vivid watercolors. Perhaps she should take up fencing? Or archery like Susan?

"Do you ever get afraid with all these new people we have to meet?" he asked in a sullen voice. He hid it well, but Lucy knew when he brother was worried.

She watched him ponder a move. She knew their first meeting with King Lune had surprised her siblings. She hadn't realized how much it had affected Edmund. One of the very last things she saw her brother as was timid. "Not especially," He had fought battles and faced beasts that made grown men cry. "Do you?"

"Never before this," He sighed and rubbed his eye. "It feels like there's so much pressure for us to make friends with this king, but what if he's not interested in anything we have to say?"

"He will be," She looked curiously at him. It was a side of him she rarely saw. Never before, in fact. In slighter doses since coming to Narnia, but never this prominent. "People tend to underestimate us, you know."

He smiled quickly and took her knight. "I know."

"Me and Susan most often," She took his pawn in a rash counter. "They think we're just pretty girls who care about nothing but dresses and parties."

Edmund smiled. "You'll do very well, Lucy. I never doubt that."

"Then stop doubting yourself."

He looked at her through dark eyes.

"If you're so sure about my abilities," Lucy added, "try being a little surer of your own. I did learn them all from you, you know," She took his pawn. "And move your bishop."

He did as told. They played for another hour before Lucy lost by a few moves.

The next day the Ouranios and her crew set shore in Terebinthia's largest port. The gemstone seat of King Baskar and Queen Hira.

TBC...right now.