Caspian had a grave decision to make; the choice of who to take with him on the Dawn Treader and who to leave behind. No one too powerful could stay in case he tried to take over. No one too weak in case he was needed… so many possibilities… Often, when Caspian needed to think, he would return to the arch where he had last seen them, the Kings and Queens of Old, who had helped him become king nearly five years ago. He still needed them, but they had just stepped through… and disappeared.
Where did they go? He thought. Did they go back to the land of the dead? Was the arch itself what had caused them to return or was it Aslan's power? Caspian frowned as he began circling the arch. Pacing as he thought. He wished they would return to guide him. He frowned as a glint of light caught his eye in the grass on the other side of the arch. Without thinking, he stepped through and disappeared. The arch stood alone on the hill.
Edmund was not having a good day. No 14-year-old boy wants to drag his little sister around shopping for groceries and Edmund was no exception.
"Edmund," Lucy complained, "I can't carry this by myself."
Edmund rolled his eyes and picked up the huge crate of fruit she was carrying. Lucy picked up the remaining boxes and they started walking down the London street to the tube.
What a horrible day, he thought.
"Come on, Lucy!" Edmund waited in front of the bookshop for Lucy to catch up, but he saw no Lucy.
"Lucy!" he called again searching the crowd frantically.
Her blue jumper was just visible approaching some weirdo with bronze hair who looked like he was from a medieval reenactment.
"Lucy," he shouted dashing toward her, "don't-" catching her just as the man turned to look at them, his eyebrows raised in surprise.
His face shocked Edmund. Though it had aged slightly since the last time he had seen it, there was no mistaking his features.
"Caspian?" he questioned as he stood next to Lucy.
"King Edmund," Caspian gasped and did an awkward little bow that was incongruous with the busy, industrial street. "Where are we?"
Edmund didn't process this.
"How are you here?" Edmund didn't know what to do. Peter and Susan were always in charge. They would know what to do in this situation. He on the other hand had no clue.
"I walked through the arch." Caspian said simply.
"What?" Edmund frowned.
"The arch we left through. Don't you remember, Edmund?" Lucy always annoyed him, but this one time he was glad she was here to clarify.
"How is that possible?"
"I have no idea." Caspian looked just as perplexed as Edmund felt.
Edmund felt the pressure on his back as people began to stare at them.
"We have to get you a change of clothes. Come on." Edmund grabbed Lucy's hand and motioned for Caspian to follow.
"Where are we?" Caspian repeated as they walked down the steps of the tube.
"England" Edmund answered as they approached the ticket booth.
He paid their fare and in no time they were on the subway, though Caspian took some convincing to get on and didn't let go of the pole the entire ride.
Caspian caught a pair of Peter's trousers and shirt as Edmund said, "These should fit you."
When he looked questioning, Edmund added, "Look we can't have you going around wearing that can we?"
Edmund shut the door of the room Lucy and he had been sharing while they lived with their aunt and uncle this summer. Luckily, his cousin was at camp this week, his aunt worked late and didn't check on them often, and his uncle was away in the military.
By the time Caspian came down to the kitchen, Edmund had fixed all of them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and had the table set for lunch.
"Where is England?" Caspian asked as he sat down next to Lucy.
Edmund laughed, but Caspian gave him an annoyed look so he explained, "It's um an island in northwestern Europe."
Caspian looked exasperated.
"It's safe to say you won't find it on any Narnian map." Edmund took a bite of his sandwich. Caspian wrinkled his nose as Edmund smacked his tongue on the roof of his mouth as he cleaned off the peanut butter.
"What is that?" Caspian asked disgusted.
"A peanut butter and jelly sandwich" Lucy answered at once, "A standard British lunch."
"British?"
"Britain's part of England," Lucy snapped up the last of her sandwich.
"Are you from England?"
"Yup."
"Where is this place in relation to Narnia?"
"Hard to say," Edmund considered how to explain to Caspian where exactly England was but wasn't sure how.
"How have you not aged in the five years since I last saw you?"
"Five? Really?" Edmund was surprised. Every time that they had gone to Narnia, a different amount of time passed. "Time passes differently here," he breathed in, "Only one year passed for us this time. One year last time took a thousand years Narnian time."
"What? How is it possible for time to be slower here?"
Edmund sighed, "We aren't really in the same world as Narnia."
"What do you mean?"
"Narnia doesn't exist here."
"What do you mean?"
"No one here has heard of Narnia-" Lucy interrupted him.
"That's not true, Ed. Remember the Professor."
Edmund nodded, "Well, most people."
"What do you mean?"
"Narnia " Edmund snapped, " isn't a real place here!"
"I can go back?" Caspian looked fearful.
"I don't know." Edmund whispered.
"What do you mean? If you are from here you must have gone to Narnia from here at least once! Just show me the way!" Caspian was scared.
"Look!" Edmund shouted, standing, "Two years ago, during the Blitz, Lucy discovered a wardrobe, and when she went in, she found Narnia. She was gone for hours, but for us seconds had passed. When she tried to show us, she couldn't. The passage wasn't there. Eventually we got in and fought the white witch, as you know. We lived there for 40 years until we strayed back through the wardrobe we didn't remember being there! I went from being fifty-four to twelve in seconds. No time had passed while we were gone. A year passed, you called us and we returned and met you. A year for us, 1000 years for you."
"That's why you were so young." Caspian connected.
"I'm not that young." Edmund barked.
"Sorry, "Caspian apologized.
"No I'm sorry," Edmund sunk into his chair, "We didn't know it was possible for, you know, Narnians to go from Narnia to here, that's why Lucy and I were so surprised today."
There was an awkward silence.
"So you aren't kings and queens here?"
"No," Edmund said curtly.
"Just Edmund and Lucy Pensive," Lucy said.
"School kids."
"What about Peter and… Susan?" Her name dripped from his tongue.
"There in the United States working."
"Where?" Caspian look of confusion that had fled burrowed deeply into his face.
"It's an ocean away from here." Edmund explained.
"Amazing," Caspian breathed. Edmund didn't think he could've come up with a better word to describe the situation.