Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia or anything! Obviously.
"Dad come on, let me go!"
Peter turned startled as a young, female voice sounded behind him. He looked around to see who the voice belonged to and gaped at the young woman he saw. She was tall, muscular and stunning, with a mane of long curly brown/blonde hair (the exact shade of Aslan's mane) that fell loose past her waist. She wore only armor covering her chest, leaving her toned stomach on show, a pair of leather trousers and long leather boots.
Peter must have been staring for quite a bit as a pair of bright yellow eyes looked down to stare back at him, he quickly looked away and grunted awkwardly. The eyes moved on and once again Peter found himself staring at her, taking in her soft yet sharp features, the straight nose, slim lips and high cheekbones all set in a pixie-like face that was also strong and animalistic. He finally came to himself as the silence in the planning tent somehow became deafening. Quickly he glanced around to see if anyone had noticed his blatant staring, thankfully they hadn't so he sighed and waited for someone to answer to 'Dad'.
"Dad!" the girl dragged out the word into a whine as she stared beyond Peter "You know I can fight, I've even beaten Marcus."
"No, Alwen." Aslan boomed and made Peter jump as he clicked together the pieces, the girl - Alwen- was Aslan's daughter, somehow...
"But Dad I want to fight by your side, I can't just stay behind! Please-"
"You can Alwen and you will, I will not lose you to battle my girl." Alwen sighed and shrugged, she'd heard the argument so many times, she wasn't sure if she could fight it again. Though she understood her father's reasons, it didn't mean she had to like them. Alwen didn't want to stay at home and cook and clean like some damsel while the men -and her father- fought and brought home the meat like a bunch of prehistoric cavemen. She wanted to be out fighting and helping, making her father proud. Though most of all she wanted to protect him, it was irrational -what could she do, and her dad was a lion after all- but she couldn't lose him, he was the only family she had left especially after her mother...
"Alwen!" Alwen turned sharply towards the voice of one of her best friends, Maria and smiled. The over-excited, child-like centaur never failed to make her feel better, she was infectious in her happyness, she could even make Marcus smile (and that was as rare as Christmas). "Come quick, Phillip wants to train you more in shifting!"
"Finally!" she squealed as she spun around to head out to the training ground, though her father's voice stopped her.
"Alwen, have you forgotten your manners?" Aslan smiled fondly at his little girl (who sadly wasn't as little anymore) and nodded his head towards a confused Peter.
"Oh sorry," she said as she skipped back over to Aslan and gave him a hug "bye father." she then walked over to Peter and curtsied deeply before him "It was a pleasure King Peter."
Peter sat stunned as she curtsied and called him a king, it was weird being called a king and he was pretty sure he'd never get used to it.
"The pleasure was all..." he trailed off as he realised that the mysterious Alwen was no longer in the tent, though the flap quivered where she'd brushed through it, Peter sighed.
"Yes sorry about that Peter, she takes after her mother." Aslan said fondly, though even Peter wasn't dense enough to miss the note of longing and sadness in Aslan's voice.
Alwen ran alongside Maria as best as she could, but Maria was a centaur, and even though she was half lion and half wood nymph (don't ask, to this day she never understood how her parents had worked out) she was nowhere near as fast as a hyper centaur. So she decided that she'd need some four legged help of her own and took a detour to pick up her horse and companion Meeko.
"Meeko!" She shouted as she neared her other best friend, and she couldn't help but laugh at him, he was knee deep in the water trough and neighing and grunting as some fauns washed and scrubbed him. He looked up excitedly at Alwen as she raced towards him, though he soon forgot about her as a faun found an itchy spot on his withers and he curled his lip in satisfaction.
"Meeko come on, we need to beat Maria!"
"Sorry darling, not right now, Meeko is in the middle of his well deserved bath."
"Well-"
"Darling a horse deserves his bath, oh right there! That's the spot!" Alwen watched a little grossed out as her horse shivered and grunted as a faun scratched between his ears "And anyway I can't leave the bath I'm still covered in soap." The horse grunted in pleasure once more, and his eyes rolled back into his head.
"Oh for Aslan's sake!" Alwen sighed and grabbed a nearby trough of water and dumped its contents all over the horse's head and back, leaving him gasping for breath and shivering from the cold of the water.
"ALWEN YOU EVIL BIT-"
"Well your bath is finished now." Alwen smirked at the dripping wet and pissed off Meeko, and looked even more smug when the fauns (who'd managed to dive out of the way) started laughing at him.
"Oh yeah like I'm gonna move after that!" Meeko grumbled then grunted as Alwen launched herself onto his back.
"Did I mention that Phillip's training me and that's why we're racing, you wouldn't want to be beaten by a centaur and look bad infront of him would you?"
She laughed as Meeko took off at top speed towards the training grounds, his bath completely forgotten.
They neared the training grounds, neck and neck with Maria who was still laughing at Meeko's state as she ran. Alwen could feel the hard muscles of Meeko's body moving quicker and quicker beneath her, as he made even more of an effort to pass Maria. She held loosely onto a clump of Meeko's long black mane in her right hand and moved effortlessly with the galloping horse beneath her, she didn't need the aid of a saddle or bridle, they moved together as one.
"Come on Meeko, think of Phillip." she said as she lent down, as close to him as she could get, doing her best to help Meeko run faster.
Meeko neighed excitedly and from somewhere found the speed to fly past Maria, and he rounded the corner at an angle, his hooves skidding on the grass, sending clumps of earth and stone flying. He careened around the corner, revealing the lush green pastures and the shiny blue of the lake, as well as Phillip stood right in their path.
"Oh shit." Meeko and Alwen said together as they noticed the other horse a little too late, and both sets of eyes bugged out as Meeko slammed on the brakes. Meeko lent back on his hocks and screeched worridly, as they neared Phillip, who was still oblivious. Meeko dug his hooves into the ground, leaving skid marks in the earth and plastering both himself and Alwen in mud. He screamed a belated warning as they crashed into Phillip, who grunted under the force of them both. Then they were falling and suddenly they landed in the lake with an allmighty splash.
Alwen rose from the water and gasped for air as she floundered around and tried to pry her hair from her face, she'd never liked being in water or getting soaked, what with being half cat and all.
"Well hello darling." She looked around to see Phillip and Meeko tangled together from the fall, and Meeko was wriggling his eyebrows and winking suggestively while Phillip looked more than a little uncomfortable beneath Meeko.
"Mee-" Phillip started but was interrupted by hysterical laughter, they all looked over to see Maria collapse on the floor in fits of laughter, her whole body shaking as she took in the sight before her. Alwen crawling and clambering out of the water coughing and gagging, her hair clinging to her skin and water falling in cascades from her making a puddle beneath her feet.
She shook her hair like a dog and glared at Maria who was still spasaming on the floor, though she to had to laugh when both Meeko and Phillip came from the water all soggy and bedraggled.
"Well, that was interesting." Meeko murmered as he walked slowly towards Alwen, his black fur shining in the sun and his black mane and tail leaving a trail of water behind him, he stood before Alwen and shook like a dog, soaking her again.
"MEEKO!"
"Right, let's get to work Alwen, you have another form to unlock." said the chestnut stallion with as much dignity as he could muster.
Alwen flopped angrily onto her bed with a huff, she'd had hours of lessons with Phillip yet she'd had no success in changing to her other form, the one that her mother and father's union gave her. She knew she had it, she just didn't know how to get to it!
The evening sun finally faded into night and her tent lost the warm red glow it had, had. She looked around at the comfortable bed, wardrobe, chair and then at her armor and clothes strewn over the furniture, she really needed to tidy up. Not that she could be bothered.
She struggled up from her bed and undressed, throwing the armor over the chair and the trousers and boots to. Walking to her wardrobe Alwen tripped over a pair of boots and crash landed on the ground, she groaned, decided that the ground was nice and didn't bother to get up.
"Tripped did you allmighty princess?"
"Piss off Maria." Alwen groaned and continued to stay on the ground "The floor was lonely so I gave it a hug, that's all."
"Pah, hug my ass, you fell over! You know maybe you should tidy your room, it'll save your face a beating every time you fall over."
"Yeah," she said as she rolled over onto her back, and looked idly around the room "Maybe I should."
"And put some clothes on while you're at it." Maria said and gagged at Alwen who just rolled her eyes and got up to change.
"It's not like you haven't seen me in my underwear before, Pony girl." Alwen carefully navigated her tent and pulled out a nightdress which she calmly put on.
"Well little miss Kitty, just because I've seen you like it before doesn't mean I want to see it again."
"Whatever. Why are you here anyway?" Alwen watched Maria curiously, and then worridly since she started shaking with excitment.
"SLEEPOVER!" Maria yelled, as she tried to prance around the tent and ended up tripping over and landing with a thump on the floor.
"Look I'm not sleeping outside it's too cold, it's not like I have fur you know." She replied though Maria hadn't stopped bouncing even as she was a tangled mess on the floor "And, your horse-ass won't fit in my bed, I'm still amazed you fit it through the door!"
The two continued arguing. Maria ended up winning and Alwen was pushed onto the floor in the middle of the night by a dreaming centaur. She decided to stay there, she'd already have a giant hoof-print on her thigh where Maria had kicked her out of bed, she didn't want any more.
So hi! New story here, yes I'm still writing my other two, it's just taking a bit-ok a lot , longer than planned because my brain hates me. This story has actually been completed, and at some point there will be a sequel. Anyway I hope you enjoy guys, and I'm really sorry about the spelling and grammar mistakes that are bound to be here. Thanks for reading! :D