"Lucy!" Susan's patience was running thin. "How many times, Lucy? How many times have you been told NOT to play with my bow and arrow?"
Edmund was sat alone at his chess board, bored, when he heard the commotion. He wondered what was going on and as his curiosity got the better of him, he snuck to the door of the library. He opened it slightly and listened to the conversation between his two sisters going on in the hall.
"A lot...but, I'm bigger now! It's not fair." Lucy sulked. "I want to fight like you." She shifted uncomfortably as her sister towered over her, her chin forcibly lifted up so she couldn't help but look into the High Queen's face.
Edmund wondered if the day had finally come. If, maybe...Lucy was getting into trouble. The type of trouble he usually gets into, and excitedly, he drew in a deep breath.
Susan sighed and relaxed her shoulders, bending down slightly and releasing Lucy from her grasp. "I know you do, my darling. But you're only ten years old. Remember what Father Christmas told us about our weapons?" The High Queen's anger dissolved, she couldn't stay angry at Lucy.
Damn, she's going to let her off. Edmund rolled his eyes. Perfect little Lucy can never do any wrong.
"That they're tools...not toys." Lucy pulled away and looked down at her feet. "But I wasn't playing! I promise I was...just..."
"You were, Lucy! I saw you doing it!" Susan straightened up and crossed her arms across her chest. "I can't have you doing that again, darling."
"Yes, darling. No, darling." Edmund mocked, muttering almost silently under his breath.
Lucy let out a deep sigh. Of course, she was glad it was Susan who had caught her in her transgression and not Peter, but she had to at least seem nervous about whatever punishment the Gentle Queen was going to dish out. "What are you going to do?" Lucy assumed Susan would ground for a few days, but she didn't mind that. She knew that the grounding would never last as long as her older brother and sister told her it would last, it had happened once or twice before.
"I'll have to talk to Peter about it." Susan bent down and kissed her sister's forehead. "You can go sweetheart, but I'll be speaking with you again later."
And with that, Lucy skipped away.
Edmund rolled his eyes so hard he wondered if they might just stay fixed like that. He was fed up of being the only one who got into any trouble and decided to follow Susan upstairs, and try to listen to what they planned for his precious little sister.
Susan knocked twice on Peter's door, hoping he wasn't too busy.
"Yes?" Peter called from inside his office.
Pushing the door open slightly, Susan poked her head around. "Hey, sorry, can I speak to you? It'll only take a minute."
"Of course, come in." Peter smiled and dropped his pen down on the desk. "What's the matter?"
Susan walked in, pushing the door behind her and stopping dead a few metres in front of the desk.
"It's Lucy-" Susan started.
"What happened to her?" Peter shot up, startled.
"No, no, it's nothing like that. She's fine, thank Aslan." Susan sighed. Peter slowly lowered himself back down into his seat. "I, um...I caught her playing with my bow and arrow, Peter. She could have hurt herself, or someone else."
"Are you serious?" Peter enquired.
"Yes. She went right down to the training house and she had already fired three arrows by the time I stopped her. Peter, she wasn't even being cautious, she was acting as though it were a toy."
"Oh Aslan. Did she at least have the sense to take someone with her? Tumnus, a servant, anyone?"
"No, she went all alone. I was already down in the western field, I was by the stables and about to go on riding when I saw her, but she didn't know that." Susan glanced at the clock, it was getting to be late afternoon and she needed to finish a few things before supper.
"Hmm." Peter frowned at Susan in disbelief. "Are you certain?"
Susan stuck her lips out slightly, crossed her arms and sighed. "Yes, Peter." She annunciated slowly, as if speaking to a small child. "I wasn't hallucinating, I saw it."
Peter could tell that she was agitated. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to suggest-" Peter stopped. "I just...it's Lucy. She doesn't do things like this."
"I know, I couldn't believe it either. But, anyway, it's happened and that's that so what are we going to do about it?" Susan wanted the issue dealt with quickly.
Edmund had been hovering outside the ajar door, waiting for the punishment to be decided, he focused intently on the words coming from the office.
"Um, well, it's the first time she's done it. So, we could just ground her? A week, maybe? Just to really reinforce it, yeah?" Peter seemed unsure of himself, but Edmund knew it was simply that his older brother didn't want to discipline Lucy. The servants always sided with the youngest Queen and pulled sad faces when they learned she had been disciplined. Edmund was sure that Peter just wanted to keep the peace. He wanted to stamp his foot and scream. He was more than done with how unjust his siblings were and the way Lucy was pandered to.
"Yes, okay, I'll go tell-" Susan smiled and began her reply but was suddenly interrupted.
"NO! That's NOT FAIR! Peter!" Edmund stormed into the room, outraged.
"Ed? What on earth-" Susan stared at her younger brother, wondering where this outburst had come from.
"YOU TWO ALWAYS LET HER GET AWAY WITH EVERYTHING! IT'S NOT FAIR!" Edmund was seething. He knew that's if he pulled such a stunt, disobeying a well-established rule which the younger two were reminded of frequently then he would have been in a lot of trouble.
"Ed, I have no idea why you think this has anything to do with you, but I want you to let us finish our conversation in private. I'll deal with you later, now go to your chambers." Peter spoke firmly and calmly, having learnt that anger only fuels anger.
"Wait, Peter, just...hear him out." Susan reasoned. She knew it must have been important to have made Edmund so angry.
Peter sighed and told his brother to continue, calmly.
"ARGH I JUST...I...you...you always let her off!" Edmund stumbled over his words, forgetting what he wanted to say now that he was given the chance.
"I assume you've been listening in, so how is it, that you've concluded that she is being 'let off'?" Peter narrowed his eyes at Edmund.
"You know what I mean. Getting grounded...it's...it's nothing! You wouldn't ground me if I did that!"
"Then tell me, what would I do?" Peter knew what Edmund was getting at, but was curious to see whether he'd admit his usual punishment. He knew how shameful he found it.
Edmund struggled to say the word 'spanking', with both their eyes searing into him. Of course, everyone knew that Edmund got spanked quite regularly, but saying it aloud was a challenge for the young boy. He tried desperately to think of a euphemism which would satisfy Peter.
Losing patience, Peter pushed further, "Come on, what would I do?" Edmund felt patronised and shamed. He could feel fresh anger bubbling through him. "EDMUND! Tell me or you can just lea-"
"You'd...you'd spank me!" Edmund spat the word out like it was a vile, disgusting insect which had crawled into his mouth.
Peter smirked. "There it is!" He grinned ear to ear. He knew what his little brother was trying to say, but was enjoying watching him try to get the words out. He'd been irritating him greatly recently and Peter found it hard to let go of the small grudges he had for each little misbehaviour in the last few days.
Edmund waited for another response, and could feel the tears stinging in his eyes as he saw Peter's amusement at his struggle. Susan wasn't even looking in his direction.
Susan had zoned out. She began thinking about what Edmund had said, and the next few minutes passed in a blur. She didn't hear a word that was passed between the two Kings as she tried to think back to the last time Lucy had been in trouble and how it had been handled.
Breaking the silence, Peter concluded "If that's all you have to say then you can go. I think we both know what you're trying to imply and I will remind you that if I want your opinion on Lucy's discipline I'll ask for it." Peter nodded towards the door and Edmund gave up, he knew they wouldn't listen. He stood up sharply and stomped out, slamming the door behind him.
Peter shook his head, "Anyway, where were we?" He smiled. "Su?...Susan?"
Susan's head jerked up.
"Peter..." She sounded thoughtful. "Maybe, maybe he has a point. We...we couldn't honestly say we've been treating them fairly."
"Oh, come on Su. Edmund is a notorious troublemaker and the only thing that works is spanking. Lucy, on the other hand-"
"Yes, I know, we ground her. But does it work? Really? Think about it. Can you think of a time when she's actually completed her whole grounding? Because I can't. And what if...well, what if really she isn't such an angel? I caught her today and I was lucky to do so but would we have ever known if I hadn't? This may not even be the first time she's done it."
"And what if it was the first time? We can't prove it, Su. Look, we can ground her this time and get more security in, maybe someone to guard the training house altogether. Then the problem is gone, no?"
"No, it's not gone. The problem isn't solely that she went in there. The problem is that she disobeyed us. She knows full well what the rules are, Peter. We need to be fair and we need to make sure she obeys the rules."
Peter sighed, "Yes, yes, I see what you're saying. But...to spank her...I mean, the servants would be giving us dirty looks for weeks. I don't want everyone knowing we've upset the treasure of this kingdom. She would be totally devastated."
"But it's okay to do it to Ed? No, Peter. The more I think about it the more I realise he's right. We make exceptions for her. It needs to stop." Susan insisted.
Peter sighed and rose up hesitantly. "Okay, fine. But...since your so sure, you can to be the one who does it."
Susan wasn't shocked, she knew he wouldn't want to do it. "I'll do it, but you need to come with me to tell her and back me up with this one hundred percent, Peter." She knew she would need his total support in the matter if she was to be successful.
"Okay." He walked towards the door, opening it and holding it there, motioning with his hand for his sister to go ahead. "Let's get this over with then, shall we?"