"Lucy!" Caspian greeted, helping her onto the ship once she had been pulled up. Once she stepped onto the deck they lowered the board by rope so that the others could be pulled up next. "Now where did you come from?" he asked laughing, pulling her into a brief hug.

"It's hard to explain, and I'm not quite sure you'd believe me."

"I think I've learned better than not to believe you. Anyway, I'm just glad you're here! I wasn't sure if I'd ever see you again."

"Oh, Caspian, how long has-"

"Caspian!" Edmund was brought on board and ran to Caspian smiling, grabbing his hand and pulling him into a hug. Lucy didn't mind the interruption, for it was the happiest she had seen her brother in quite some time.

"Edmund!" Caspian pulled away smiling, his eyes looking over to the young boy that had been found with him. He was looking around him in panic, shooing away any help that was offered. "And who is this you've brought with you?"

"I wouldn't say we brought him, but somehow he managed to come along. He's our cousin, but I wouldn't pay him much attention if I were you. I try not to, anyway." Caspian nodded and redirected his attention back to the Pevensies, patting each on the shoulder and beaming.

"It's just so good to see you two."

"I don't think you know how good it is to see you. And surprising. It's been a year since we were here last, so I thought it would be like last time. I thought you would all be gone."

"I see."

"Speaking of time, Caspian, how long has it been?"

"It's been three years since you left. Not nearly as much time as when you left the first time I see."

"So then, Mary?" Edmund asked, watching Caspian's face. He raised his eyebrows in understanding, as if he had just remembered her.

"Right, of course."

"Is she well?"

"She's okay, Ed."

"Well where is she? I'm not sure where we are necessarily, but is she back at the castle? Is she queen now?" Edmund couldn't read Caspian's face, but it was clear something wasn't being said, and it made him nervous.

"Let's talk, shall we? There's a lot to be said, I feel. But first, I'm curious to see how you've fared over time." Caspian called one of his men over to bring a sword, which he then handed to Edmund. "Care for a fight?"

"I've never fought you before," Edmund said, twirling the sword in his hand then gripping it tightly, excited by the challenge. Caspian could see his excitement and shook his head as he proceeded to clarify.

"Well, not me, although we will have to see about that soon. Follow me." Caspian began walking to where a group of his men stood in a circle, and as they came closer Edmund could hear the familiar sound of swords clashing. As they made their way closer to the middle, they had to dodge out of the way as a man was pushed into the crowd, his sword falling to the ground. "You're up!" Caspian yelled, pushing Edmund into the middle and immediately into the fight.

His opponent did not hesitate, but met him immediately. He quickly brought his sword up to block the attack, and figured this was how the arrangement worked. To test someone's ability it's important to test his speed and reaction, so there was no time given between one opponent and the next. It was complete chaos, and it set Edmund's heart beating at a speed it hadn't reached since his last time in Narnia. It was exhilarating, and welcomed.

Edmund smiled as he narrowly dodged the next attack, admiring his attacker's speed. He was quickly reminded how exciting a duel was, and though it felt strange, at first, fighting with a sword, he was surprised by how quickly it all came back. He dodged a few more blows before he felt ready to be on the offensive, but he was ready. His mind cleared instantly of all the troubles he had been carrying, and his focus set in as he slowly backed his way to one of the wooden poles on the ship and dodged the attack, the sword hitting the wood where his head had been moments before. He brought his sword underneath the other and pushed it up above their heads, knocking his opponent to the side, instantly gaining the upper hand as their swords clashed unevenly and he began forcing the fighter backwards. He could tell he was stronger, but he would not allow himself to underestimate an opponent's ability, as he had seen happen to others. As he had seen happen in his last duel, he remembered.

"Caspian?" Lucy whispered, touching his arm lightly as she squinted, leaning forward and around the body in front of her in an attempt to see the face of who Edmund was fighting. "It's a girl?" Lucy questioned, Edmund soon standing in her way of seeing the woman's face.

"One of our finest." Caspian watched smiling as Lucy pushed her way closer. "But I wouldn't worry too much, Edmund seems to have retained the majority of his skill." Lucy managed to catch a quick glimpse of the girl before Edmund began forcing her backwards, coming down on her sword harder and harder with each blow as she came closer to being cornered by a wall.

"Caspian!" Lucy exclaimed, squeezing his arm tighter and looking to him. "He doesn't know who he is fighting!"

"I don't suppose he's noticed yet," Caspian replied casually.

"Edmund!" Lucy began to shout, but Caspian pulled her back and hushed her.

"He'll find out soon enough."

Edmund too noticed that his opponent was not a man, but he tried to remain focused. He had seen how the other man had been pushed into the crowd, so he knew she could hold her own, and therefore he knew that he couldn't go easy on her. She wanted to fight, so he would give her a fair fight.

He could tell the girl knew what he was doing for she tried to step to the side and away from the path they were taking to the wall, but he blocked her by swinging his sword from the side and forcing her to continue straight. With no hope left, she decided the only way to win would be to attempt to disarm him, so the next time she hit his sword she didn't pull away, but pressed the two looked up at their swords, she realized she had made a terrible mistake. Instantly her mind reminded her of something she had been told when learning to fight: "never get into a battle of strength. You can't win." The boy she was fighting was obviously stronger than her, as were many of her opponents, and by stopping the momentum of their swords, she had given him full leverage. Realizing she had lost, she wracked her brain for some clever trick she may be able to play out in the next moment that could spare her from her mistake, but as she thought in the few seconds she had, Lucy's voice broke through and the two could hear her yell Edmund's name.

Her arms shook under the weight he was pressing against her sword, and as she stumbled back, she found he had somehow managed to place his foot behind hers and she fell, her back hitting the wall and his sword pushing against hers across her chest so that she was pinned. But she didn't care because suddenly she could see the voice was right. They looked each other in the eye, both breathing heavily.

"Edmund?" she asked, although she knew it was him, but needed confirmation still for she was unaware how he could be there. They dropped their swords and Edmund took a step back, allowing her to push off the wall and stand up straight. Once she stood, she didn't hesitate in approaching him and putting her hands on his face, leaning up and pressing her lips against his, pulling him down with her so she could stand flat on her feet. Their kiss faded into a smile and soon they were laughing, but she didn't want to let him go, so she wrapped her arms around his neck and cried happily into his shoulder.

The sailors that surrounded them began to whisper and ask each other if this were the king that had disappeared and left their queen so heartbroken. Some confidently verified it was he, for they had been in the crowd when he had left with the others. It seemed just to them how Mary had joined them on the voyage in hopes of escaping her sadness of losing him, and it was on the voyage she had found him. It brought them great joy, for each sailor cared about their queen and had seen her suffering and had mourned with her, and they felt privileged to experience the overwhelming reunion.

"And what did he do to deserve such a welcoming?" A faltering voice broke through the loud uproar the crew was making. "There is nothing special about him, I assure you. This must be some kind of mistake. And a king? You wish to tell me this dense fool is a king? This must all be some kind of cruel joke, and when I get back home I can assure you my father will-" Caspian waved over one of the Minotaurs to take Eustace to a bunk below deck where he may sleep off some of his madness. However, as the Minotaur approached the boy and smiled, Eustace stopped speaking, though his mouth kept moving, which soon stopped as well, and he fainted.

"Why don't we give them some room, men? As I spoke earlier, there's a lot to be said." Caspian smiled and waved his men back to their appropriate posts, leading Lucy away to help move Eustace until he regained consciousness.

"Mary-" Edmund began, but Mary shook her head, putting up her finger.

"Follow me," she said, taking his hand.

They each sat on a hammock facing each other, an awkward silence settling in now that they found themselves alone.

"So it's been one year for you, and three for me," she clarified, receiving a short nod as affirmation. She looked down at her hands and began to rock in her hammock.

"I thought you were dead," Edmund confessed. "For a long time, I've thought you were dead."

"But I'm not," Mary said quickly, although it sounded almost like a question. Although she was not questioning whether or not she were dead, she was questioning more about what it meant that she was not, something Edmund understood from her tone. The same question was on his mind, but neither quite knew how to proceed. "I was so happy to see you—surprised really, so I'm sorry if I acted too quickly. In all honesty, I'm not really sure who we are to each other right now, if that makes any sense. It's been so long, and so much has happened, I almost feel like we're different people meeting for the first time, and yet everything about you is so familiar. It's like I can't see how you may have changed, but I know you have. Except of course that you have gotten taller, and you cut your hair," she finished smiling, rocking her hammock forward so she could touch the ends of his hair where it fell onto his forehead. She stopped after a moment and drew her hand back, settling back into her hammock and sitting farther away.

"And you've gotten better," Edmund said suddenly, looking at her. "With sword fighting. You must have been practicing."

"Well I've had three years."

"Right." Mary smiled sadly, wondering why after all the dreams of his return, all they could do was sit across from each other and talk about his haircut and her sword fighting. It was all so wrong. They had interacted more closely when fighting, unaware of the other's identity. There was something still separating them that was causing her great frustration, although she knew what it was; it was the time that had passed and everything they weren't saying. She wondered how long it would take them to open up again, and to be able to be close. And then she started to wonder when he would leave again, and if he would. Would it be at the end of the journey?

"I thought you were dead," Edmund said again, disrupting her thoughts, but also giving her some clarity in what wasn't being said. In this case, it had been said, but she simply hadn't listened closely enough. Where she was struggling with the thought of how long he had been gone, as well as the anxiety of when he would leave again, what had disturbed Edmund the most was that he had been dealing with her death for so long and suddenly she was there. She couldn't imagine. For her, she knew Edmund could be alive as long as she lived—every day, although in time they would be separated by age. But for him, he had believed there was a very short window, and that window had passed a long time ago. She sat watching him silently, wondering what to do next. She had been wrong to kiss him right away, before they had figured it all out, but she found herself wanting to do it again. To assure him that she was alive and that he was there with her, and that soon they would find their normalcy again. Soon.

"I've been having nightmares, every night since you left," she spoke openly, deciding to begin the process.

"Are they-"

"About my father? Yes. It's been three years, but I still have them. And it's the same, slightly different each time, but overall the same. Some nights they wake me up, some nights I can't wake up. But it's been strange, in the castle. Lonely. Whenever I wake up, I stay in my room—although it's not my room because I can't go back to my old one. I'm surprised I don't have nightmares about Ana too, but I know sleeping in that room wouldn't help. I haven't talked much to Caspian about this, but really he's the only one I could imagine talking to about it since he was there when it happened. When I used to have nightmares, you know, I would run to my parents' room, go to my mother and shake her gently until she woke up. She would let me sleep between her and my father, and the nightmares would go away. I don't know how, but they would. I can't do that now, so I really don't know what to do." She had thrown the first stone at the wall between them, but she had to stop herself. She wanted to say everything, but she knew it needed to come more gradually.

"I've been having nightmares too. I talked to Lucy about them, some, but it's nothing she really needed to hear. I don't really want to tell you much about them either-"

"Why not? Haven't I just told you about mine?"

"Because they're about you. I see you, and you die in every one of them." Mary pushed herself off of her hammock and came to him, sitting beside him and staring ahead. She was tempted to ask him how she dies in his dreams, but she also wished to respect that he didn't want to tell her, and what they needed to show each other now was patience. So instead of questioning him, she began to laugh, calling Edmund's attention. "What's so funny, then?"

"I'm sorry, but who is that boy who came with you? I don't think I've ever heard such an irritating voice. And he fainted at the sight of a Minotaur? Well I remember the first time I saw one-" Mary stopped, remembering the first one she had seen had been after the siege, and it had not been alive. "Well, anyway, I didn't react so ridiculously."

"Try sharing a room with him for almost a year. He's my cousin, but I've never had to associate myself with him before. I was definitely not counting on him coming with us, but somehow he managed to be pulled in as well."

"Then Aslan must have some kind of purpose for him here."

"You think he can fix him?" Mary laughed and shrugged her shoulders.

"Crazier things have happened, have they not?" She smiled and stood up, Edmund standing as well. She turned back around and faced him, not stepping back although she noticed they were too close.

"I want a rematch," Mary stated directly. "I think I could have taken you, but I got distracted when I heard your name-"

"I think the point of a fight is to not get distracted-"

"You know this was a special circumstance. And you also know that I had you worried, while we were fighting. Why else would you have settled with tripping me as a last effort?"

"It wasn't a last effort, it was strategic."

"Ah, of course." Mary turned and stepped onto the first step, suddenly turning back again. Edmund quickly stopped from stepping up and looked at her in confusion until she spoke. "I knew you were coming back, you know. I didn't know when, and I didn't know how, but I knew you would be back. Even if it were too late, I knew you would." Edmund furrowed his eyebrows and opened his mouth to question her, but she knew what he was going to ask. "I knew because you left this." She reached into a small pocket on her belt and pulled out a battered ribbon, bringing it to her lips as she had always done and smiling at him. "After you change into more Narnian clothes maybe you can tie this on your hilt, if you'd like. But for now this should do." She pulled him forward and tied the ribbon onto one of his belt loops. "When I found it after you left, Aslan told me to hold onto it. It was the greatest promise he had given me. I may have started to doubt it more recently, but I;d always remind myself that I was saving this for a reason." Edmund looked down to where her fingers remained on the ribbon, and he took her hand, bringing it to his lips as she had done with the ribbon and kissing her hand.

"I wish I had been given a similar promise," he said, remembering how within the first few moments of his return to England he realized it was gone, and to him it spoke loudly to the unlikelihood that he would ever see her again.

"Maybe you had, but it was harder for you to see in whatever world you returned to. It's of little importance now, anyway, because you have returned. So shall we go fight, because we have a long journey ahead of us and we have to make sure we have the best swordsman of Narnia at his finest? I'm afraid you may have become the second, in your absence." Edmund laughed and followed Mary quickly up the stairs, retrieving his sword from the deck and preparing to fight.

"You think quite highly of yourself, don't you?" Mary lifted her sword and placed one arm behind her back, showing that she had gotten stronger and no longer needed to wield her sword with two hands.
As she prepared to fight, she thought back over the last few years and the training she had put herself through. Before Edmund fought her father, Peter had told her how Edmund had become such a great swordsman. He told her about how he spent so much time alone, looking for a purpose-somewhere he could succeed. He had admitted to her that one day when watching Edmund train, he could see that Edmund was fighting something much greater than the air in front of him. She had found herself fall into this same kind of training, using it as a way to fight away the demons that invaded her dreams. She began to understand what Edmund went through, although she had not experienced it nearly as long as he had. But they fought the same opponent-the image of a traitor. Themselves as a traitor. It was something they now shared, and yet in a way it was pulling them apart.

"I've been training, you know," she informed him as they began to circle each other.

"Don't forget who trained you first."

"I wouldn't dare."

Reunited! :) Anyway, it was slightly awkward, yes, but that was intentional. Remember when they were separated neither really "loved" the other, so it's hard to see exactly where they are emotionally right now. Things will start to settle into place next chapter when Mary talks to Lucy some about what she's feeling and things start to be revealed about what happened during their time apart. Also, these nightmares both are having will come up again, as I will start to introduce what is them since neither has quite revealed that. I guess what I'm saying is there is a lot coming up, and connections will soon be made. I hope you enjoyed their reunion though, and I hope you're ready for the next chapter!

I'd also like to thank everyone for reviewing! I was worried that I would lose a lot of followers, and although the number of views has gone down, the response is even greater! Thanks for the encouragement!