Hello everyone! It's been ages, I know, and this is why I wrote this little shot, so I can see just how rusty my writing got... Comments are much loved (positive, constructive criticism, please), so let me know what you thought!

I hope you enjoy!

Cheers!

He was out of his mind. This was supposed to be a break to relax and enjoy, and there he was, wading across a pond, water reaching past his waist, when he could have been laying on the grass, basking in the sun. And why was he, High King Peter The Magnificent, in such a situation? Absolutely no idea, or rather, no logic one.

Everything had gone well until a few moments back. They had all decided to put duties aside for a day and profit from the warm weather, the radiant sun of Narnia inviting them outside, while a pleasant breeze kept the day from being stifling. Lucy had found this fantastic spot, a clearing near a rather large crystalline pond, in one of her excursions, as she liked to call them, and it proved to be a wonderful place just to lay under the shadow of a tree and forget about everything, forget about tax reports, petitions, invitations; in short, to forget about being royalty and everything connected to it.

Earlier on he had separated from the rest to take a small stroll around the woods. He liked such moments of solitude, when he was allowed to just wander around, not only around the wood, but around his thoughts. Sometimes he felt as if the trees and plants breathed peace into him and into his head, helping him clear his mind of troubles or find solutions to his problems.

As he joined the others again, however, the ambiance of relaxed mirth had vanished into tension. "What happened?" he asked to his brother, who inspected a bush rather thoroughly. "Tairin lost her ring" he briefed him, not even bothering to look up. "Nothing the jewellers in town cant replace" he commented. "She lost her engagement ring" Edmund told, this time sending a sharp look at him, his gaze dropping to the Princess an instant later, signalling him to look her way.

He had to admit that she was quite a mess, even if he couldn't see it well. Susan was holding her hand, kneeling in front of her as she sat on a rock. Even if her hair curtained her face from view, he noticed she seemed to be staring somewhere ahead, a sob shaking her form every now and then.

"You lost your ring, i am told" he spoke, approaching the women. Susan sent him a warning look. He had been really tempted to tell her just how silly she had been and how incredibly careless one must be to lose a valuable thing, yet, as much as the words wanted to come out, they were stopped cold when she looked at him, her chocolate eyes brimmed with tears. They were vacant of their usual spark, of the usual flame of annoyance and irritation they hosted whenever she looked at him; they were just so empty.

Her eyes. It must have been the lack of life in them, the emptiness and perhaps the utter sadness that seeped from them, he didn't know, but he felt a tug in his chest. Blame it on having two younger sisters, but he really had a chivalrous issue with weeping women. It was then when, for some reason beyond his understanding, he took off his boots and shirt and marched into the water, remembering she had been splashing with Lucy some time before he had left for his stroll.

And this is how he found himself in his current situation. Before he had time to think of anything else, a glimmer caught his eye and he quickly looked about. There, something was glistening on a rock underwater, not far from him. He took a deep breath and submerged again, reaching the rock without much effort. Indeed, it was the ring, a simple gold band with an equally simple diamond on top, two tiny emeralds on its sides.

He broke the surface of the water, drawing a large breath, ring held securely in his strong grip. Sighing, he swam closer to the shore and dropped himself in the warm sand, deciding he was entitled to a small rest. He opened his hand and saw the golden band resting on his palm. Such a fuss just for a miserable ring... it was no treasure, in all honesty. To think that he held in his hands the one symbol of her engagement to Lord I'm-a-pain-in-the-arse and that until he returned the ring to her, she would be free, unattached... He pierced the ring with his glare, a sudden surge of hate cursing hotly through him, and for a moment, perhaps too long a moment, he wanted nothing but to toss the ring back into the water, make sure it reached the deepest bottom and beyond, impossible to find ever again. Her ties to Zephyr would be broken forever and she would never be attached to him again, she would be free to marry someone else...

He opened his eyes wide and shook his head violently. Where the hell had that come from! And this warmth in his chest...? No, he was definitely losing his mind.

He got up and dusted his breeches lightly, having dried up partially, his fingers closing over the ring again.

And as he marched towards her, he pushed all his previous thoughts aside, far and deep into the darkest corners of his head. Without uttering a single word, he stopped in front of her and took her hand. "There" he said, slipping the ring onto her finger and dropping her hand, walking away and reaching for a towel.

His back turned to everyone else, he smiled, because it had been him who had put the ring on her finger this time.