Her brown hair was sticking to her face as she skillfully maneuvered her way around the massive crowd on the platform. This was the most stressful part of the day. She always found herself rushing to get on the train when ending a session. Not that there wasn't going to be another train soon after, it was just the faster she got home, the better on her head.

She was able to make her way through the sliding doors with one person entering right in front of her. She had to duck under this person's arm before she got in, causing them to give her a ghastly look. She mouthed an apology and made her way to the middle of the train cart and held on to the top railing.

Once the train began to move, she slowly unhinged her book bag and scrummaged through her supplies. Once she found what she was looking for, she took it out of her bag and waited for the next stop. In less than a minute, she was able to quickly closed her book bag, move to fit the incoming passengers on the train, hold on to the railing once more and began to read.

The novel in the girl's hand was entitled, The Sword and the Stone, a tale of the young King Arthur who had a taste for royalty, magic, and power. This wouldn't be the girl's first read through of the book. It had been her favorite since page one. A longtime wish to have a life like the soon to be King, yet she found herself relating to the Wizard Merlyn more than anyone. A mentor to others as well as a shapeshifter in the face of those he must learn to trust first. The fact that this girl cannot physically turn into someone else is obvious. The fact that she changes internally for others, to see if she could befriend them as who they are as an individual, which usually results in humiliation. And while Merlyn succeeds in any version, she finds herself being left alone once again with only a mask in her hand.

"Kathleen?"

The voice that interrupted the girl's reading had caused her to look up. A woman in a blue coat was holding a piece of paper with purple gloves that happened to matched her burette. The woman looked at her kindly.

"Yes?" the girl asked while holding her place in her book.

"I believe this fell out of your bag," the woman smiled at her. This woman couldn't have been more than three years older than Kathleen herself. Four at the most.

"Oh?" Kathleen paused and noticed her bag had not closed fully from the last stop. "Oh! Thank you. I hadn't realized it." She let go of the railing, but just as she was about to grab the paper, the train reduced its speed suddenly, preparing for its next stop. This caused herself to slightly lose balance and bump into the person behind her. The person used their own body weight to help the younger girl regain her stance and stand upright once more. She turned to apologize to the person behind her but stopped when she saw the uniform.

A soldier.

"Are you all right?" the young man asked. Her voice was caught in her throat that didn't make her answer at first. For a second, she had thought the soldier in front of her was one she knew. As she got a better look at his face, she realized she was sadly mistaken.

She only nodded at the man and swiftly turned her back to the soldier, and used her arm to once again hold onto the railing. She could almost hear the man smile at the mistake of flattery for the embarrassment.

There was a slight chuckle coming from in front of her, "Um," said the woman from before. Kathleen noticed the tint of blush that wasn't there before, coming from behind the blonde strand of the woman's hair. "Your paper," she said with a smile not pointed to Kathleen.

The train began to move again. Kathleen nodded once again and used her free hand to put away her book and reached for the paper. With no disturbance this time, she began to scan her eyes over the paper, not really reading it. It was an assignment for her mathematics class from the previous term. She used her previous works to help tutor the kids who need help in certain school subjects. Today she helped a boy by the name of Toby with homework given to him over the summer holiday. She enjoys helping students learn something new. Her favorite part of the job is when she gets to see the student's face when they finally understood what she was explaining to them. Most don't understand the topic on the first try, but she helps them every way she can.

At the next stop, she moved slightly and noticed the young woman having glanced at the soldier behind her. As passengers entered and exited the train, Kathleen moved once more so that the young woman and herself had switched places. She could see the young lady blush as she realized what Kathleen had done. The lady sent her a small smile and turned to face the young soldier. Kathleen shared the smile in response, then turned back to stare at her paper.

In all honesty, Kathleen had been antsy to move since she realized the man wasn't whom she thought he was. In the current time, England was in the war against the Nazis who invaded Germany. Men, starting at the age of eighteen, were allowed to enlist in His Majesty's Armed Forces to join the war. While it was voluntarily, it was also highly encouraged. Very few people disliked Britain's involvement in the war, and Kathleen was one of those few. Her father and brother had both taken their names to an enlistment center, and once they passed the medical examination and were deemed in "good health", they were thrown in the war. At first, she and her mother would get a letter from her father and brother every fortnight, but now they're lucky to receive one letter every other month. Naturally, her mother and herself would write more than the men in their family had, but there has yet to be a reply from any of them.

It drives her mother and herself worried. It had been almost three months since their last letter, and it had come to the point where if they do receive a letter back, the contents may be too much to bear.

Her brother had been her best friend. He had appreciated and understood all her quirks. Every Christmas, he would go to the local bookshop and buy her any book of her choosing. Even with a four-year age difference, he didn't tease her as much as other siblings would.

Before he left, he would accompany Kathleen to her ballet classes, and take her to walk around the city. It's been so long since she walked with anyone, or even walk at all for leisure. Now she takes the train alone and barely has time to walk around the town to look at all the decorative windows. Her time is spent usually by tutoring, which she does in order to pay for her ballet classes while the rest of it goes to helping her mother at home. As a skilled baker, her mother makes money off of bread and commission. The war hadn't brought in many customers lately, so money is scarce. Kathleen knows that sooner or later, she would have to make a difficult decision on her part.

A few stops later, she arrived at her destination. Oddly enough, it just happens to be the same as the woman and soldier. She walked quickly passed them and headed toward the place she sadly forced herself to visit often. The Enlistment Area at City Hall. She hated entering that place as much as she hated breaking spot sight for a turn. Walking in there was a constant reminder of not knowing where in the world half of her family was. Yet that is the very reason why she enters there every week. There is a post-service where the letters of the soldiers are sent before they reached the Cambridge postal service. Kathleen goes there because if there ever was bad news, she would rather have herself read it first and break the news to her mother, rather than have a stranger drop by with the same envelope at their doorstep then leave immediately after.

The Enlistment area was walking distance from her station. She stood before the hedges and took a deep breath. Nothing felt different from any other day she stood before the intimidating brick walkway to the Hall, but something about today, in general, felt off to Kathleen. The feeling didn't feel bad in a way, it felt more like something was arriving. She just didn't know what.

"Kathleen!"

A female voice had made the girl jump. Walking towards her was a girl a few ages younger than herself. She had light brown hair tied neatly with a blue ribbon as a headband. She was carrying a bag of fruit on her right forearm while holding a basket of groceries with her two hands. She immediately recognized her from one of her students, but not as one she was tutoring. The young girl was the cousin of one.

"Lucy Pevensie," Kathleen said with a smile, "How are you?"

"I'm great! And yourself?" Lucy asked with a bright smile.

"I'm good. I just ended another session with a student." Kathleen said as she held up her book bag to show Lucy.

Lucy chuckled, "I always found it funny how you refer to them as your 'students' when you're almost the same age. Edmund does it too, but he mainly says 'kids'."

Kathleen's cheeked twitched up slightly, "To be honest, I don't know what else to call them, they're not necessarily children," she raised an eyebrow, "Well, not all of them." She turned back to Lucy to see her fight a smile. She looked at Lucy's groceries than at the emptiness behind her. "Where is Edmund anyway? Doesn't he usually help you with the groceries?"

Lucy pressed her lips together and turned around, as if searching for something, or more likely someone, "Yes," she said exasperated, "but it seemed he's run off somewhere," she had a small smile and looked at the brick walkway, "It wouldn't be the first time."

Kathleen only nodded. It wasn't too long ago when she noticed the Pevensie children in the Scrubb home. At first, she thought they were only visiting relatives, but from the... colorful complaints of her student, Eustace Clarence Scrubb, they were cousins who were staying at the Scrubb house until they receive a letter to return home or until the War was over. Whichever one was first, according to him.

"Well," Kathleen said thoughtfully, "I just have to check in the postal service really quickly," she paused for a second looking towards the building. "How about when I'm done, I can help you search for your brother?" When she turned back to face Lucy, she could see that she was already getting ready to deny the help, but Kathleen spoke again, "It will only take five minutes at the most. Maybe even three. I'll be in and out before you even know it."

Lucy scrunched her eyebrows together, "Are you sure?" She hugged her box of groceries closer to her, "I wouldn't want to worry your mother."

Kathleen looked at her softly. Being in the Scrubb home two times a week had made her speak to the Pevensie children only on a few occasions. Usually, its Lucy offering water or asking if she would like to stay over for dinner. The first time she offered, Kathleen said yes and this ended up with Eustace claiming that if she did stay over for dinner, that his parents would have to pay her by the hour. Kathleen may be a tutor, but as a human being, it was hard for her to deny good food. But her job did come first, so she tried to take back the acceptance, but it was too late, seeing that she had already said yes and Lucy was not taking no for an answer.

While preparing for dinner, Kathleen could see how mature the Pevensie children were for their age. Well, more so Lucy than Edmund. He seemed to enjoy giving faces when he thought no one was looking. He would do it to everyone besides Lucy and herself. Although, it is absolutely possible that he continued to make faces to her while she wasn't looking.

The dinner that Mrs. Scrubb and Lucy had prepared was a broth of vegetables and sausage. The vegetables were hand grown from their garden which was done by the green thumb of Mrs. Scrubb. The talk started off small, beginning with interests and hobbies, Of course, this was all directed to the new dinner guest of the home.

Very rarely had Kathleen been the focus of attention. She didn't know how to react. She began by answering the questions rather simply.

"So, Kathleen, besides tutoring young children, is there anything that you do?" Mr. Scrubb asked, not looking up from his newspaper. Before she could answer, Eustace threw a small fit thinking that he was the only student she tutored. His mother would scold him and Kathleen would calmly sit in her seat and waited for the scolding to finish. Then Edmund would make a face at Eustace.

She allowed them to finish before answering, "Ballet and reading, sir."

"Reading? How lovely!" Lucy said happily. "Edmund and I love to read stories. Do you have a favorite genre?"

Kathleen looked to Lucy, "Yes. It's fiction, mostly."

Again, Eustace made a complaint about her choice of words, his mother would scold him, Edmund made a face, then Lucy would ask Kathleen another question. It was like this for most of the night until Lucy asked about her father. She let it slip how she hadn't heard from her father or brother as often as her mother and herself would like. She even told them the amount of weariness and pressure that had begun to weigh on her mother. The face she must have shown off her own worry began to show, because they were mirrored her look; except for Eustace and his father, whom Kathleen couldn't see his face anyway, even if she tried.

But she knew that he was paying attention, because a voice rose from behind the paper, "That is the price of war, my darling," Mr. Scrubb said, "One day it's bright," he turned the page of his paper," and the next is dark."

She didn't know what to say or how to respond. The look that everyone had said that he or she knew it was the sad truth. She, of course, knew it too, but that didn't mean she would have to be happy about it.

She used the napkin on her lap to clean her mouth and said, "Yes, well," she began to stand, "I think my mother is getting worried as we speak so, I'll be about to make my way home." She grabbed her bowl and made her way to the sink. Behind her, she could hear a chair screech slightly.

"Let us walk you to the station. It's already late as it is." She was pretty sure that voice belonged to Edmund.

She smiled towards the sink. She was taken back by the gesture, solely on the fact that no one has offered to walk her before, besides her brother. Even so, her home was walking distance from the Scrubb's. At that time, she didn't think that Edmund knew that her house was a few minutes away.

She turned around but realized that she must have been quiet for too long because Edmund was directly behind her. She was so startled that the bowl she was still holding crashed into his chest, spilling the left-over broth all over his shirt.

That was the first and only time she stayed over for dinner.

Kathleen smiled at Lucy with the groceries and brought herself back from the memory. "Don't worry, it won't take long."

Lucy seemed reluctant at first but then nodded. "All right. It'd it be faster anyway." Kathleen smiled and nodded before going inside the building. She had been into this building so many times, it is as if her legs moved before her brain could tell her to.

She quickly made her way to the back, passing the young men of age. The ones who wanted to Enlist. Walking past them always made her have a pang in her chest. Those men will either see their family once again or never again. That's the price of war.

She held her book bag strap with sweaty hands as she made her way to the postal section of the Hall. It had come to the point where the man behind the counter had recognized her. She stood dead still when they had made eye contact. She felt her breath get stuck in her throat but found a way to release it when the man shook his head and raised both his hands.

No mail.

A bittersweet feeling had come over her. She simply gave the man a small smile, nodded and turned away. She wiped her hands on her coat but stopped once again. She crossed her arms and took a few steps forward, not knowing if what she was seeing was true.

It was Edmund Pevensie, in City Hall. But he isn't checking for mail or even looking for Lucy. Yet, it seemed as if he found where he needed to be.

And that was in the line of the Enlistment for the War.