The young Monarchs had given into temptation again. Little Queen Lucy was on High King Peter's back, positively shivering. All of them were completely drenched, of course. Queen Susan seemed to have gotten the least of it; her hair wasn't plastered to her like Queen Lucy's was, but it was starting to curl in different places, reacting to the damp.
Queen Susan, who had, after what would come to be known as the 'Battle of Beruna,' publicly and politely declined what Aslan was asking of them. She had firmly inferred that, now that the battle was over and done, the four of them really needed to be heading home; they were only children, after all.
Not many had heard Aslan's loving rebuke, but one clear part of it seemed to pierce the assemblage to the quick. Narnia yet has need of you, dearheart, and you will make a wonderful Queen.
It had been scant weeks since putting the battle behind them, and the four of them had been finding their feet gamely enough. It helped that the previous Monarch, usurper though she was, had set the bar so low, King Peter joked.
Aslan's Spring was fully entrenched, as though no Winter had ever halted it. The trees were lovely, but the Trees were trying their best to out-do each other with Spring foliage, and every day the walks around the Cair seemed to grow lovelier and lovelier.
King Edmund, it had to be said, had taken to learning swordplay like a fish takes to water, despite having no human teachers to help him learn. The young Kings practiced swordplay every day but Restday, from before dawn until breakfast, which they ate ravenously with the Queens, after they finished their own early morning toilette.
Evenings free of Royal business often found the Sovereigns at the surf, like tonight, shoes discarded, toes in the waves, giggling and splashing…like the children they were.
They worked well together and were developing into graceful and kind Rulers. Their subjects respected Aslan's choice, and Adam's race, and subsequently thought of them as just what they were: Their Kings and Queens.
But they were children. How easy to forget that they were children.
It was usually Queen Lucy who began the tease, skirts held high as she pranced deeper into the surf, kicking water at the Kings.
King Peter was usually the first to go under, and he took revenge on whoever was foolish enough to be caught.
Queen Susan was always the one to alert their Guard; distant, but present, to afford much longed-for privacy to the four. She asked for towels and blankets to be fetched, and something hot to be put on to warm them when they returned.
When new hires came to ask employment at the Cair, it was Queen Susan they passed through first, after being vetted by the Chamberlain. She was by far the easiest to guard, as compared to the Kings of Narnia, who were forever looking for trouble and climbing things they oughtn't and fretting their valets to tears.
Queen Susan; gracious, graceful, and already very beautiful, with her long, dark hair and gentle smile.
Queen Susan, whom Aslan said would make a wonderful Queen.
Queen Susan, who, throughout the Cair and beyond was already beginning to be called 'The Gentle.'
AUTHORS NOTE
Done for a group on tumblr. I've wanted to flesh out my own headcanons for this series, and I liked the idea of a fourshot, so look forward to the rest!
I love Susan. Wholeheartedly. Fight me.
~Angeladex