Reality
By HuntressDiana
None of the characters mentioned in this fic belong to me, all are property of C.S. Lewis
The faun Mr Tumnus wondered what the creatures of Narnia would think of the spectacle before him now. It was scarcely a year since the coronations of the Sons of Adam and the Daughters of Eve, including his own dear little friend Lucy. The four had risen to the challenge of bringing Narnia back from the brink of ruin after the tyrannical reign of the White Witch, searching out the remainder of her spies and allies and either allowing them to swear an oath of fealty to the rulers of Narnia, or expelling them to the wild untamed north. Some, regretfully, fought the soldiers, and although King Peter had decreed that, if at all possible, they were not to be killed, some of the Witch's creatures had been, and a few Narnian soldiers in addition. But Narnia was flourishing again, the old rites of Summer were being readied, as they hadn't been for many a year. The dryads were dancing around their trees, accompanied by other fauns and woodland creatures. He had taken Lucy to see the first of these romps, and when her siblings joined them, she had led them all into the dance. Although the elder two had tried to remain dignified, before the night was halfway through they had been red cheeked, broadly grinning as they tried to mimic the graceful movements of the Dryads.
That was the night before they went on their first journey to more distant areas of their realm, Tumnus recalled. They had thought it wise to become acquainted to other regions and some of their subjects who had been unable to visit them in Cair Paravel. It had also been the night before the attack upon their majesties by the remainder of the Witch's wolf pack. They had been set upon in the woods to the north. He still remembered the sounds of trumpets blowing the alarm from their watch posts and hurrying to the window of his study which Lucy had arranged for him, in his new capacity of official records keeper. He'd seen the four of them, on their horses, fleeing across the plain towards their castle, with Oreius and his group of guards flanking them. Susan had twisted suddenly in her saddle, the weeks of exhaustive archery training paying off as she shot the leading wolf in his tracks. The centaurs, taking advantage of the turmoil the wolves were thrown into by the loss of the leader, reared and spun, galloping down on the pack, swords waving. Their majesties continued to the gate, where Peter and Edmund shoved the girls forcibly inside the protective walls, before stripping off their cloaks, drawing their swords and riding back into the fray, white faced, but determined.
Susan and Lucy had both cried out, Lucy meaning to run after her brothers before Susan stopped her. After a moment of swift conferring as the gates were closed, the two ran to the battlements, Lucy taking her own, far smaller, bow from a hawk, but still halting long enough to grace the bid with a radiant smile. The Queens had then taken their places on the battlement, between the other archers and aimed at any wolves on the outskirts of the fight.
It hadn't been a long skirmish, the enemy routed soon enough, those who fled across the plain were soon shot by the archers as the Queens ran down the steps once more, to greet their brothers. That was truly a joyful reunion, the first battle, albeit a small one, that Peter and Edmund returned from, without Aslan's help. Although their majesties would go on many more campaigns, of that Tumnus was sure, none will be as terrifying to them as that one.
Tumnus recalled the embraces that had occurred in the courtyard, and that night how Peter had knighted his younger brother, as Sir Edmund, Duke of Lantern Waste. The serious looks on the children's faces as they realised that they would no longer be children, that they were now the Kings and Queens of Narnia.
A shriek from outside drew his attention once more, and Tumnus turned back to his window, a grin gracing his goatish features as he took in the sight of the High King of Narnia, Sir Peter Wolfsbane, the Magnificent, swing Queen Lucy, the Valiant onto his back and run across the shorefront, away from King Edmund the Just and Queen Susan the Gentle as they splashed the pair, the eldest and the youngest, with seawater.
Maybe they are still children, after all...