I Will Believe
By: NarnianAslan
Chapter One
.: Author's .:. Note :. Okay well I was bored and decided to write this story… its not a one-shot… but it's only for when I'm bored, so I may not update regularly. Not that I really do any other time. K well… the girl named Pippa is not me. You will see why very clearly later in the story. Okay well to Elizabeth, Allison, and Imogen, here it is…. and as you asked, your names are in it. That's it I think, anything else I'll tell you at the end.
Pip Johansen
It was a beautiful summer morning in the Eastern Narnian Woods and a young Daughter of Eve sat at a window in Queen Helen's Tower and Academy for Maidens on the top floorlooking at beautiful Cair Paravel in the distance, with the sun rising, making it sparkle.
I wish I could live there instead of here. Nevertheless, what chance have I? I probably never will. She thought sulkily to herself.
"Looking at Cair Paravel again Pippa?" a Daughter of Eve by the name of Bess Rivers asked the girl.
"Yes, it's just, look at it, Bess!" young Pippa Woods sighed.
"It is beautiful, but we belong here. You forget that we are in training to learn how to be proper ladies so we can marry Archenland lords, not to dream of Narnian kings," Bess said surely. She was one of Pippa's dearest friends, but she was a bit annoying at times.
"Yes but…" Pippa started.
She didn't finish because, at that moment, two more Daughters of Eve came in.
"Pippa, Bess, you shall never guess what has happened!" Allie Glasswater exclaimed.
"Aye, 'tis amazing, truly it is!" Gennie Marsh continued.
"What is it then?" Bess asked excitedly.
"We're to be sent to Cair Paravel!" Allie told her.
Pippa gasped.
"What? Why?" she asked.
"Some Archenland lords are considering marrying us! Do you remember those portraits we had done of us?" Gennie asked.
"How could I forget? We had to sit still for so many hours by window. Why?" Pippa asked curiously.
"They had been sent to the Archenland Royal Court, and several lords had been considering us! I even heard from a dryad named Lilly that Prince Corin was considering me!" Allie said. Pippa could see why. She had silky, thick, dark brown hair in ringlets and beautiful blue eyes so dark of a blue that they looked almost violet (AN She is not a Mary-Sue… I found this description of the eyes in A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray), and porcelain skin with no freckles or blemishes.
"I heard that Prince Cor was considering me," Gennie said. Pippa doubted that. It was widely known that the fourteen-year-old prince was courting Lady Aravis, not that Gennie wasn't beautiful. She had long, straight strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes, she might have had a few freckles, but they were light, her skin was creamy beige.
"I'm sure the lord that chooses me will be very kind," Bess said. Pippa smiled at her friend. Bess was pretty, she had thick, wavy, light blonde hair and emerald green eyes, and she had no freckles, and a pale, but not quite porcelain, complexion.
"I suppose I'm just glad I'm going to Cair," Pippa said. She didn't think much of herself. With reddish-blondish-light brown hair that fell into waves, and steel blue eyes, and a pale beige complexion.
"Guinevere said to start packing. We leave today before breakfast," Allie told them, and then she and Gennie left them to pack. Guinevere was the dryad that ran the school.
"Bess, I've no gown fit to wear at Cair Paravel. No lord, prince, or king shall be impressed with me," Pippa sighed.
"You do. We have our portrait gowns, our ballroom gowns, and our new gowns as well."
Bess was right, of course, they had each gotten to choose five new gowns that were top quality. She had chosen sea-turquoise, light pastel blue, rich violet, vibrant sky blue, and bold dark blue. Pippa had chosen rich forest-green, bright ivy green, rich tree-green, bright and bold crimson, and a bright and rich golden one.
Therefore, they started to pack and were done by the time the sun had fully risen. They headed downstairs to meet Gennie and Allie.
Guinevere set them off in a carriage with a Faun named Tumnus, who was a member of the court.
Once inside, the girls began talking.
"I hope the Archenland lords aren't too old," Allie said.
"They shouldn't be older than twenty, Gennie reminded her.
"That would be too old for me," Bess said. She was the youngest, and she was fifteen.
"Not for me, I'm almost seventeen," Allie said.
"Almost, remember, I'm only just turned sixteen," Gennie told her friend.
"Pippa, it must be glorious being eighteen. Just think of it! Being an adult," Bess sighed.
"Not really. I don't fancy the idea of being shipped away to be married like this either."
"Cair Paravel, Pippa! Cair! You might even get a chance to stare at the kings," Bess said to her friend, in an effort to cheer her up.
Pippa smiled.
"I will not stare at either king. Why, they're- they're just that! Kings!"
"True, but King Edmund is nineteen, and the High King Peter is only twenty-one!"
"But they're kings, Bess, it's best not to stare at them. I'm sure they wouldn't like it," Pippa told her.
"I suppose you're right," Bess concluded.
They rode in silence for the rest of the journey. When Tumnus had said they arrived, they got out, and followed Tumnus (as several dryads were bringing their things up into their rooms) into the large Throne Room. It was nearing sunset.
There sat the High King Peter, Queen Susan, King Edmund, and Queen Lucy (who was looking bored).
Pippa was the first to curtsey, Bess following. Allie and Gennie were so awe-struck that they forgot until Bess cleared her throat in a very unladylike way. Then they quickly curtsied and looked very embarrassed.
"Welcome to Cair Paravel. I am King Peter. You look weary from your travels. Please allow Mrs. Beaver to show you to your rooms."
A rather large beaver came into the room. She led the girls up the stairs to a corridor, talking all the time.
"You know, I believe King Peter finds it very odd that you're Narnian girls, not Archenland. Even Queen Lucy finds it strange that you were found in Narnia with no recollections of who you are or where you were from," Mrs. Beaver told them.
"How'd they know that?" Bess asked.
"Lady Guinevere told them the day all of you had been found."
"I remember her going somewhere, but I was so tired," Pippa said.
Mrs. Beaver didn't reply because they had reached a chamber door.
"Ah. This is your chamber, Miss Glasswater, Miss Marsh. I'll be here at sunrise to help you get ready."
"Thank you Mrs. Beaver," Allie and Gennie said in unison.
"Don't mention it, dearies. If you'll just follow me, Miss Rivers and Miss Woods, I'll see you to your chamber."
"Alright," Pippa said.
"So what of King Edmund and Queen Susan, do they think it odd?" Bess asked curiously.
"I really don't know dearies, I don't. They're the more quiet ones, they are."
"I see," Pippa said quietly.
They had reached another door.
"Here we are dearies, your chamber. I'll be here at sunrise to help you get ready."
"Thank you Mrs. Beaver. I shall see you then," Bess said.
"Thank you," Pippa said graciously, and then she opened the door.
In the room were two rather large four poster beds and two large wardrobes.
"I want this one," Bess said, sitting on the bed that was made of pale oak, and was accented in aquamarine. Next to it was a pale oak wardrobe
"I didn't fancy that one anyway. I liked this one." Pippa sat down on the bed that was constructed of dark cherry wood and was furnished in emerald green. With it was a matching wardrobe.
Pippa and Bess changed into their nightclothes and went to sleep almost immediately.
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
"Come on, Elizabeth, Allison, and Imogen!" a young girl called back to her friend,
"Hold up, Philippa!" A younger girl called from the back.
"Oh hurry up, Elizabeth!" a girl, not much younger than the first yelled.
The four girls kept running, as if from someone, until finally, they heard harsh words behind them.
"I will get you. You can run. But I will succeed."
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
Pippa woke up in a second. It was morning. Mrs. Beaver had come in.
"Wake up dearies!"
"I'll get Bess up. She can be a handful," Pippa said. She walked over to the other side of the room and shook her friend.
"What?" Bess asked groggily.
"It's morning," Mrs. Beaver told her. "I've picked out a few gowns for you. You are to meet your suitors today."
Pippa looked at the gown that had been lain out for her. It was an emerald green with gold embroidery. She loved it.
She put it on; with much help from Bess and Mrs. Beaver (she had never been made to wear a corset before).
Bess had one of aquamarine and silver.
Mrs. Beaver handed them fans matching their embroidery to use if they felt as if they were going to faint.
She then led them down to the chamber in which Allie and Gennie were waiting. Then, she took all four of them down to the chamber where they were to receive their suitors.
But a shock was in store for them when they got there.