Written by the Tarpon half
Disclaimer: I don't own anything
Sitting on the stone table, Lucy can only think of the night when she had watched Aslan save her brother, not by fighting but submitting, and can't help but frown at Peter and Caspian arguing back and forth about the best military strategy. Her dream stirs in the back of her head,and listening to the warrior pledge victory or death, she finally has had enough.
"That's what I'm worried about"
Every one turns as if they have forgotten her presence, perhaps they have, she isn't a warrior, she has no great battles to her name, only her heart.
Peter is particularly confused as he tries to wrap his head around the fact that she just interrupted his assertion of authority. Squinting at her, his disbelief is palpable in the single word he says.
"Sorry?"
She sighs as she points out the obvious. "Well you're all acting as if there's only two options. Dying here, or dying there."
He tilts his head and sighs, trying to treat her like the little girl she was when she first found Narnia. She grits her teeth and scowls as he shakes his head and begins to turn away from her even as he chides her.
"I'm not sure you've really be listening, Lu"
And that's the moment when she has had enough of his posturing, his 'kingly air'. She leans forward, grasping the table underneath her and looks directly at him, trying to remind him of the one who granted them their crowns, who is the first and last defense of Narnia. "No, you're not listening," she shoots back, "Or have you forgotten who really defeated the White Witch, Peter?"
He sets his jaw and faces her fully, trying to cow her with his stare. "I think we've waited for Aslan long enough." He starts to walk out, before her call freezes him mid stride.
"Maybe you're right".
Things never happen the same way twice, Dear One.
She slides off the table, clenching her fists at her sides and raises her chin as she walks past him, past all the frozen, wide eyed faces. Her dream fills her vision again, the laughing nymph, the cracking trees, Aslan's voice ringing in her head. "I'm done waiting. Waiting for war, waiting for rescue, waiting for you to stop acting as if you are the only one who knows anything because you have a sword. I'll meet him myself."
He grabs her arm as she walks past, biting out "No, Lucy. You are staying here where…"
She whirls to face him, fire sparking in her eyes as she bares her teeth and interrupts his tirade before he can start again. "No? I am a Queen of Narnia, Peter; you can't keep me here while you decide the everyone's fate. You refuse to listen to me, so I'll find him myself. I know where to look, unlike you I've been paying attention to more than potential enemies in the trees." Ripping her arm free, she strides out of the chamber, already planning the route in her head. She would not let him keep her from protecting their people. She couldn't live with herself otherwise.
For everyone else is the room watching her go in silent awe, it was a reminder that she was Narnia's Queen Valiant.