I know a lot of people took issue with the changes to Susan's personality in the movie Prince Caspian, but to be honest, it made a fair amount of sense to me. This oneshot is basically meant to encapsulate my personal explanation why Susan is so willing to fight in Prince Caspian. Obviously, this is a movie-verse fic. And Reepicheep is present because he is awesome. I hope you like it.

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What happened to you?

That question was asked by Reepicheep the Mouse. Well, not quite in those words. Reepicheep's finely-tuned sense of politeness and decorum was admirable, especially given the circumstances in which he lived. He did not ask this question of Susan where anyone else could hear, and he did not ask the question in nearly so blunt terms as what Susan's mind parsed of it.

"Pardon my impertinence, my Queen, but you seem… different, from what the old tales tell of you."

Studying one of the carvings on the rough-hewn wall, face half-masked by shadow, Susan smiled faintly. The carving was one of herself, sitting enthroned in Cair Paravel while her sister and brothers rode off to war. "These old tales portraying me as not being inclined to ride off to war, am I correct?"

Reepicheep nodded, and Susan sighed. The look in his eyes was one she had seen from many of the Narnians she had encountered since arriving in her erstwhile homeland, one of bemusement. No one was complaining about the fact that she was willing to take an active role in the fight to wrest Narnia away from the Telmarine invaders, but at the same time, she was not what any of them expected of her.

Queen Susan the Gentle. That was what these Narnians knew her to be. They probably knew her best for being the reason Narnia nearly went to war with Calormen during the Golden Age. The Narnians had a very strong concept of what a "gentle" person acted like, and the fact that Susan did not ostensibly fit this concept, she knew, had the potential to harm her and her siblings' credibility among their people. Even though she had not known him long, Susan knew that Reepicheep would never act against his Kings or Queens. But there were others who might.

And just because she was Queen, that did not mean that she didn't owe one of her subjects an explanation when he asked her a question. Quite the opposite.

It was true that Susan rarely went into battle. When the drums of war were sounded, it was Peter's obligation as High King to ride out to meet the enemy and defend his kingdom. Lucy went because there was little that could have stopped her. Edmund went to make sure his neither his brother nor his sister did anything that they or Narnia would regret later.

Susan often stayed behind.

It was vital that all four Kings and Queens never be on the battlefield at the same time. If they were all slain in battle at the same time, what would become of the kingdom. No, better to make sure that at least one of the sibling rulers remained at Cair Paravel, to lead and defend Narnia in the event that the other three were slain. That lot fell to Susan.

Though her siblings were capable of forgetting it if it meant that they could successfully defend Narnia, when Susan killed, she never forgot one vital thing. Every being she had ever killed had someone who loved them, someone who cared for or relied upon the creature dead at her hand. Susan did not like to think that she caused anyone that manner of pain, even if those she killed would have seen her people dead or enslaved.

Susan went into battle only in times of dire extremity, or only in times when she simply could not stand by and let a blow stand. Those who opposed Narnia prayed that they never saw the Gentle Queen on the field of battle, for if she was there, she was enraged indeed.

Queen Susan loved her kingdom, loved her people. Her sense of responsibility to both was such that she never married, for the knowledge that all of her suitors would have expected her to come live in their lands, and leave her own behind. Susan was content with being wife and mother to the land. That was fulfilling enough for her, more than enough to leave her content for the rest of her days.

Then, she was sent back.

Never for a moment did Susan mean to abandon her people. One moment she was in Narnia, and the next she was back in England, reeling from the shock of suddenly again being a child, a powerless girl-child in a society that favored neither of those things. She mourned, she spent the first few weeks in denial, examining the back of the wardrobe, trying desperately to get back, but eventually, she told herself that it was time to move on. She lived in England. She could not live in the past, especially not in a past that she didn't seem likely to ever recover. Such a futile exercise could only ever hurt her. It was time to try to make a life for herself in England.

And then, one year later, Susan found herself back in Narnia.

But it wasn't the Narnia she remembered.

Susan Pevensie, Queen of Narnia, returned to her kingdom to find its land subjugate to invaders. The Trees were silent, the Rivers chained. The Telmarines had only been raiders during her reign, a weak people who struggled to survive, but now they were strong, now they had invaded her land, and they had driven her people back, intent on killing them all, on eradicating all traces of Narnia's existence.

Gentle did not mean weak. An abhorrence of violence did not equate to a fear of it. And even the gentlest of Queens would be made furious to come back to her kingdom and find it as Susan found Narnia.

All this Susan related to Reepicheep, perhaps not in so many words, but communicated so that the spirit of her words was understood by the Mouse.

"Thank you, my Queen." Reepicheep swept a deep bow, his whiskers brushing the earth beneath him. He accepted her explanation without question, accepting the word of the Gentle Queen herself, over all the stories he had ever been told in his life. "I believe I understand now."

"You are most welcome, my friend," Susan answered him quietly.

She was glad that there was someone to understand. No one else ever seemed to.