This is a one-shot related to Only the Beginning, but can be read completely alone.

Disclaimer: Do I really sound like C. S. Lewis? Didn't think so. I own nothing.

Medical Overload

I smiled at my brother and brought him in for a hug as the news came that his life would be spared. There was so much joy throughout the camp and the realization that the fulfillment of the prophesies was finally here swept through the crowd. But since this was a military camp the celebrating did not last near as long. Oreius, the centaur general, quickly came and grabbed both of my brothers in order to further train them in swordsmanship. I smiled slightly at the groans that escaped both of their lips and knew that they had a hard day's work ahead of them still.

At first I stood a little awkwardly next to Lucy as the soldiers one by one came by to offer congratulations and praise that our brother was now fully returned to us. The last of our visitors was a Nymph and a female Centaur who had both been among the group that had tended to both of us yesterday.

"Princess Susan, it is our wish to help you to prepare for the battle and I wish to help you further work with your bow and arrow." The Nymph said with a gracious little curtsy of sorts. Her watery skirts flowed gracefully away from her as she moved.

"And I wish to take you, Princess Lucy and teach you a few medicinal tips and tricks that may greatly help our troops during the battle." Lucy looked at me in excitement and I merely nodded knowing that a hurricane probably could not stop Lucy at the moment. The Naiad who I learned was named Ama led me back to the archery and I learned that she was supposed to be one of the best archers the army had.

We spent a good amount of time working on my stance and I found that I was soon able to hit the middle three rings about eight out of ten times. Before long she handed me a short knife and was teaching me basic moves with it in order to be sure I would be safe if I was somehow left on the field alone. We worked for a long time and before I knew it Ama said that we had been there three hours. She walked with me back to camp and I went to go find Lucy.

It was not hard she was standing in an open-aired tent with the Centaur teaching her the right amount of powder to apply to some odd whitish cream she was making. I walked up curiously behind them. "And how much of this do you really think they'll need?" Lucy asked, her bubbly voice showing her enjoyment of this lesson.

"Well based on how long Oreius has had his hands on them I will say at least two batches each." My interest spiked when I realized they were talking about our brothers.

"What is that?" I asked and Lucy jumped a little.

"Oh, we were just making some liniment for Peter and Edmund." Lucy said happily.

"Liniment? Are they really being trained that hard that they need all of it?" I asked nervously. I was familiar with the ointment and it concerned me that this healer apparently thought my brothers would need such a large dose.

"Well I'm not really sure they would need all of it but I made extra so that they would be guaranteed to be able to move tomorrow." The Centaur explained.

"Alithia is really intelligent when it comes to healing." Lucy explained.

"Is it safe to push them that hard?" My voice rose higher and I could have smacked myself for the break in it. Surely it would be all right… I hoped.

"Well they are new to the sword and the battle could be any day now so I just want to be sure." Alithia said as if it were the most normal thing. I was more than a bit concerned about this and walked toward the training field where my brothers had been taken earlier that morning.

"Susan, don't worry about it so much." Lucy called after me. Still I made quick work of going back to the field where I watched as Peter and Edmund jabbed and blocked with those terrible swords they had been given.

I found the General standing off to one side of them and watched as Peter was unceremoniously dumped from off the Unicorn he was riding. "Peter I told you to lean forward." Oreius called out.

"Excuse me sir." I said walking up to him after he had finished correcting my brother.

"Princess Susan," he began, clearly taken aback by my appearance out of nowhere, "what brings you here?"

"I saw Alithia making liniment for my brothers and I don't think it is nearly necessary to push them to need near that amount of it." I explained rather hotly.

"Your Majesty must forgive me but your brothers have much to learn in a short amount of time and I'm quite certain that Alithia was not completely sure about the correct amount of human dosage." He explained calmly.

"This is quite ridiculous pushing them beyond their limits so quickly."

"I am merely giving them the basics that will keep them alive out there." He stamped his hoof a bit impatiently.

"Susan, what are you doing?" Edmund asked riding his horse over with a semblance of skill.

"Your sister and I were just discussing the necessity of extra training." Oreius said with a slightly irritated tone.

"Susan he knows what he's doing." Peter walked up to them. More like limped over.

"Peter look at you! You fell off a unicorn and now you're limping!" I fought the urge to push him for how stupid he was being.

"Susan, they know what they're doing here." Edmund insisted, now becoming mortified by his big sister's continued outburst.

"That's not the point. The point is I don't want you getting hurt."

"That, your Majesty, is exactly why they must continue this intense training." Oreius said a bit more under control. "I only want what's best for them."

"As do I." I said softly.

"Boys, your sister is right. We have enough of the basics for today; we shall meet again bright and early in the morning, for now go take advantage of the liniment while you can." He said with a slight chuckle.

They both groaned again slightly and followed Susan back the medicinal tent. "Thanks a lot Susan." Edmund muttered, but he was smiling so she knew he wasn't really mad.

"Oh good you're here." Lucy said excitedly. "I made this to help you not get sore." And with that she helped Alithia give our brothers a liniment bath (not literally of course) and they found they felt better already.

"So are you going to trust them in the future?" Peter asked cheekily.

"Where you are concerned I'm sure you'll find a way to make it trouble." I replied. With that we all wandered back to the pavilion side by side.

Fin

Thank you for reading. This is a lot fluffier then most of my work so I hope you enjoyed it. Please review.