A/N: This one started with the phrase "Penny for your thoughts" - as is quite obvious from the title. I used it as an opportunity to work on telling a story through dialogue rather than narrative.
"A penny for your thoughts, Lu."
Her hair was tangled and matted, her riding leathers covered in mud. A bruise was blossoming on her cheek. And yet, Lucy looked content, her gaze dreamy as she stared up at the branches of the tree above her.
A smile tugged her mouth, but she did not turn her head to where she knew her brother stood. "I don't believe Narnia has any pennies, Peter."
She heard him coming closer, and then felt his warm presence as he sat beside her. "I suppose you're right."
"I don't even remember what a penny is," Lucy commented. "Is it some sort of sweet?"
Turning for the first time to her brother, she caught the brief frown that crossed his face. "I don't remember. I think – I think it was something shiny."
"Shiny?"
"Yes." Too late, he noticed her crooked smile. "What?"
"I do believe, my dear brother, that I have discovered the cause of your love for all things that sparkle."
He did not reply, but she didn't care, turning her gaze up to the branches of the tree again. "Do you still wish to know what I was thinking before you came?"
"Always."
"You won't like it."
He did not answer, so she continued. "I was thinking that this tree would be quite splendid to climb."
The moment she said that, she could feel his disproval, although he knew her well enough to try to hide it. "The tree has no dryad to assist you," he said mildly.
"Not that I need assistance," she countered, then said softer, "I suppose you are right, though."
She turned her head back to him, and he saw again the bruise on her cheek. "What happened here?"
"It's nothing." She pushed his hand away before he could touch it. "I got it during my training practice this morning."
"I should never have knighted you," he grumbled.
Lucy stuck her tongue out at him playfully. "You know that would not have stopped me."
He sighed dramatically and she laughed before laying her head on his shoulder. "I missed you. You have to stop going off to battles without me."
"At least you did not try to tag along this time."
When she did not answer he stiffened. "Lucy! I thought we decided-"
"I know!" she interrupted. "And hush. We aren't talking about that today."
"And why not?"
She lifted her head to glare at him. "Because you just got back, silly."
Peter said nothing in reply, and she did not either. Instead, Lucy listened to the wind stirring through the leaves and watched the tall blades shake as the breeze blew past. A hawk wheeled in the sky overhead, and she watched it circle down to the earth. One lone cloud was drifting closer, and she almost asked Peter if he saw the rabbit shape, but she was comfortable in the silence between them. The cloud slowly changed from a rabbit to a mouse to a long, wispy snake, and just as Lucy felt her eyelids begin to droop, she heard Peter sigh at her side.
"Penny for your thoughts," she murmured.
"Only a penny?" he teased. "My thoughts are worth more than a shiny trinket."
"Are they?" she asked with a half smile. "Give me a sampling and I'll judge."
He breathed in slowly as though savouring the scent of the summer air. "I was thinking Susan will want us for dinner soon."
Her answering snort got her a mock glare in response, but Lucy ignored it. "That thought is not worth so much as a crumb!"
"That terrible, is it?"
"Yes," she answered shortly.
"Because you cannot bear the thought of responsibility?"
She took a moment to answer him. "Because if we go in, it means the afternoon is over, and that means the day is almost over." She lowered her voice and added slyly, "And that would mean it was almost time to listen to Edmund's dreary report on tax tariffs."
She knew he was smiling, even without lifting her eyes to check. "You had better not let Edmund hear you say that," Peter warned her, his face serious except for the upper corner of his mouth. "You know there is absolutely nothing dreary about tax tariffs."
She could not help the giggle that escaped her, for only the night before their brother had been complaining over the preparation of that report. "Nothing at all dreary about it," she agreed with a grin.
There was a pause, before Lucy said ponderously, "I still think "penny" sounds like the name of a sweet." She paused, then added as an afterthought, "Or a dessert."
"Penny pie," Peter said, and snickered.
"Penny loaf," Lucy suggested, and her forehead creased as she tried to remember why the phrase sounded familiar.
"Penny cake. Penny pudding. Penny delight. Penny surprise," Peter brainstormed.
"Penny cake," Lucy repeated. "That sounds delicious. But what is penny?"
Peter raised an eyebrow. "Something shiny. Something sweet."
"Something good for you to eat," Lucy added, giggling at the rhyme.
She barely noticed as Peter's face lit up, and he stood to reach for something on the branch above them, before bowing to present it for his sister.
"An apple!" she exclaimed.
"A penny," he corrected. "Something shiny, something sweet, something good for you to eat."
She laughed with delight and took the apple in her hands. The sun glinted off the smooth peel. "It does shine!" she exclaimed. Carefully, she took a bite and felt the juice run down her chin. "And it is sweet."
"Just like you."
She rolled her eyes at that and took another bite. "Something shiny, something sweet, something good for us to eat."
"We'll have to ask cook for penny pie this evening," Peter mused.
"Too late for tonight," Lucy replied. 'It's nearly time to eat now. We'll have it tomorrow."
A sparrow alighted in the tree overhead, knocking another apple to the ground. "Your majesties," the bird chirped with a bow, "The Queen Susan requests your presence for dinner."
"Of course she does," Peter sighed, but he rose to his feet and pulled Lucy up. "Thank you, my friend," he said to the sparrow.
As they began walking towards Cair Paravel, Peter paused to look back at the apple tree.
"Penny for your thoughts," Lucy said gently, holding the half eaten apple out to him.
He flashed a grin and lifted his hand, revealing his own apple. "I was thinking that it is too bad the afternoon is over."
"Yes," Lucy agreed immediately. "All too soon we shall be listening to Edmund's dreary report."
The sound of their laughter hung in the air as they clasped hands and turned back to the castle.
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