Chapter 1: I think I´ll stay with the Apple

The tea cups rattled along with the walls of the castle, interrupting the breakfast of the Kings and Queens.

Neither of them seem fazed by the small explosion, they had gotten used to them over the years.

"What do you reckon she is doing this time?" asked King Peter as he reached for another scone.

"No idea, she never confides the object of her studies with me," Queen Lucy said, taking a quick look at the door hoping not to see smoke entering from the corridor or one of the guards announcing that one of the wings of the castle was on fire.

"Does she ever tell someone?" Peter asked raising his eyebrows.

As soon as the words left Peter´s lips both Queens turned too looked at their second brother knowingly.

A look that Edmund decided to ignore.

"This is starting to become a vexation, For aught I know, she is going to blow the castle one of this days," Queen Sussan said with annoyance.

"Don't be so peevish," Edmund said calmly as he took a sip from his cup "If she actually wanted to blow the castle, she would already have done so."

Peter and Lucy chuckled at their brother´s statement, just reaffirming the hard lines on Susan´s face as she offered a hard look to her siblings.

It was no secret that Susan didn't approve of Isabel´s ways, as most, if not all of the council members did.

"When a mishap comes to pass, remember that I warned you," she said with a grim face.

" Oh Pish, pash Sussan, lets enjoy our breakfast, this morning we have a council meeting with the elders," said Peter with a small smile.

Susan resumed her eating quietly, making Edmund grin as he took an apple, he gave it a bite, letting the sweet juice dance in his mouth for a while before swallowing.

"I should get going, there are some…matters that need my attention before the meeting," Edmund said rising from the table, he playfully threw the apple up in the air and cached it with his right hand before giving it another bite and exiting the room.

"I bet he is going downstairs, " said Peter once he was sure his brother was out of hearing distance

"There´s no need for that Peter," said Lucy with a knowing smile "I warrant it."

The echoes of his steps resonated through the corridors, usually this wing of the castle was always deserted, the servants had learned to not wander around it and leave the unconventional Queen to her doings, the maids were especially wary of the place after some of them had come across some frozen eye balls and a severed hand that had been part of a study she had been making at the time, that particular experiment was still a mystery to him, contrary to his sister´s belief, she didn´t told him absolutely everything.

He didn´t bother knocking for she never heard when he did so, and if she happened to hear she would simply ignore it.

The Queen´s laboratory was one of Edmund´s favorite rooms of the whole castle, whenever he was sure that he was not going to be roughly kicked out, he would visit the place.

He opened the door slightly, making sure to not make that much noise.

The vast room was divided in different sections. there were rows after rows filled with bookcases that ranged of different topics most of them being on biology, physics, astronomy and mathematics. There were two large desks filled with her personal manuscripts, some filled with notes of her latest studies and others with precise and complicated designs of her last inventions, there was a third and smaller desk where she kept the work related to her monarch duties.

There was a vast amount of work tables filled with her ongoing projects, while her finished ones were stored in an adjacent room.

She was hunched over one of the working tables a dense cloud of smoke looming over her head, her wavy dark chocolate hair was let down for a change.

"Out," she said not taking her eyes of her work, her voice was soft yet commanding.

"Hallo, to you as well Isabel," Edmund said in a lively tone, quite used to her temperament.

"Out Edmund," she said once more, this time leaving the smoking vessel to one side to stare at him with her vivid brown eyes.

"That was a good and nice explosion, it made our tea cups rattle," he said with an amused grin.

"You are not leaving, are you?"

"No."

"Then… I´m glad that it made your morning less mundane," she said while giving him her back once more as she got back to her work.

Edmund smiled "So, what are you working on?"

"Something that could make the worst nightmares come to life," she told him making some notes in the parchment that was next to her vessel.

"Why would you do something like that?" Edmund inquired, now certainly interested in the strange concoction that was producing so much steam and making Isabel´s hair hazy.

She let out a small sigh "I´m bored, and got nothing else to do," besides the idea of testing this in our High Monarch is viciously tempting…" she said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Is that a formal declaration of treachery against the High King?" he asked with an amused raised eyebrow.

"No, it´s a formal declaration for you to refrain from his majesty´s personal tea pot for the next few days," she paused for a moment "May I see your apple for a moment?"

Edmund eyed his already bitten apple and handed it to her silently, he had learned to not question her much.

Isabel took the red apple and turned it between her white, silky fingers, for a moment Edmund thought she was going to give it a bite, but then she threw it directly towards his head, it was a good thing that he was an apt swordsman for he had fast reflexes and easily ducked the flying apple.

"What was that for? You could have hit me!" he exclaimed a little outraged.

She smiled "Get out, now! Next time I´ll throw you something that will be harder to elude and probably more dangerous than an apple."

Edmund gulped "I think I´ll stay with the apple…" he said below his breath looking at the different objects that where in the Queen´s working table that she could easily throw at his head and that would certainly be more dangerous than an apple (all the prospects where quite scary).

"We have court meeting in ten minutes, try not to miss this one, Susan will be on a rampage if you skip another meeting," he said starting to make his way towards the door.

"hmmmm," she said slowly, telling him she was no longer paying attention to his words

"And, Isabel," he said pausing at the door.

"hmmmm," she muttered once more.

"Don't give Peter anything…anything dangerous, please."

He could see her cheeks rising a bit from the smile she was probably wearing at the moment.

"We´ll see about that…now, get out!"

Edmund had not to be told twice as he saw her reach for another thing to throw at him, he closed the door behind him and walked down the hall once more, he would come down later to inspect that strange substance she was working on more closely.

-0-0-0-

A/N: Well there you have it, chapter 1.

This is my first Narnia fic after reading tons of it :) I hope you enjoyed it, as much as I did writing it. Let me know what you think of it and if you would like to see some more, as well if there is something you consider I could improve on.

Thanks for reading!

-CW