Disclaimer: see chapter 1

I woke to the sounds of laughter, children running, and waves crashing on the beach. I grinned as the voices of the children awoke memories. Carefully, I stood and swung my backpack onto my back before grabbing my other bag and racing towards the voices. The smile on my face spread into a grin that threatened to split my face in half, but I didn't care.

"Peter! Susan! Edmund! Lucy!" I yelled as soon as I saw them. They were playing in the surf of the ocean, but as soon as they heard me, they looked in my direction. Lucy realized who I was first. Her grin became almost as wide as mine as she raced toward me with her siblings close behind. I grabbed my littlest royal sister and spun her around, laughing in joy. I had just set her down when the rest of them reached me. Hugs were exchanged all around, amid laughter and brilliant smiles. Eventually, we calmed down enough to start asking each other about our lives since the last time we'd seen each other. They told me about their year, and boarding school, and dealing with losing Narnia. I told them about college and life on my own. Once we'd caught up, we just sat and chatted for a while, talking about random things until Edmund made a remark about being thirsty. I grinned and opened one of my bags. I pulled out a water bottle and handed it to him. He drank as I passed out a water bottle to each of my other siblings. I'd just opened mine and was about to take a drink when Edmund, who was looking up, at some nearby cliffs spoke.

"Do any of you remember ruins in Narnia?"

We all shook our heads, and he pointed up at the nearest cliff. "Then what's that?"

We looked up to see what he was talking about. Sure enough, there were ruins on the cliff. I smiled at my family.

"Anyone want to explore?" I asked.

I got smiles and nods in response, and so we all stood and started walking in the direction of the cliff. It was easy to get up to the ruins, as there was a very clear, wide path, like an old road, leading up to the top. When we got to the top, the first thing we noticed were the trees. It looked like it used to be an orchard, but eventually, it grew wild. The majority of the trees had different kinds of apples hanging in the branches, but I noticed a few other kinds of fruits in a few spots. We wandered through the orchard. On the other side of the trees, we found a gate that was crumbling, but open. We went through it carefully, avoiding the debris. Once through, we split up to go exploring. I had no need to explore, due to the fact that I knew exactly what these ruins used to be, but I did need to go check something, and so I made my way over to the well that still stood by the ruins of the stables. Susan ambled after me, while Lucy headed in the direction of where our rooms used to be. Peter wandered toward the training yard and armory, and Edmund wandered the courtyard, examining different things.

I reached the well rather quickly and immediately started to look for the loose stone in the wall of the well. Bran had found it about a year after we'd gotten married, and together the two of us had made a decent hiding spot behind it. Only the two of us knew about it, and I suspected that he would have put something there for me. I was right. Inside the secret space was a small box. I pulled it out and put the loose stone back into its spot just as Susan arrived. As she started wandering around, I opened the box. Inside was an old, rusted key that I recognized immediately as the key to the Royal Vault. I grinned and slipped the key into my pocket just as Susan picked up something small and golden. I stood and walked over to her, and she showed me the golden chess piece that she'd found. It was shaped line a centaur, and was missing one ruby eye. Neither of us really knew what to do with it, and so we headed towards the courtyard, hoping that the others would eventually head there as well. We found Edmund already there, examining a huge boulder that was sitting in the grass. Lucy entered the courtyard seconds after Susan and me. I wandered over to talk to her, and Susan went to show Edmund the chess piece. Lucy and I talked about what the ruins could have been as we wandered into the remains of the throne room. Lucy recognized something about the place, as she only barely managed to finish her sentence to me before cutting off the conversation entirely. I looked on in part amusement and part nostalgia as she went over to the exact spot where her throne used to sit. I walked over to the spot where my own chair used to sit and simply stood there, waiting for her to connect the dots. A moment later, she gasped and raced out of the ruined room, presumably to get her siblings. Within the next five minutes, Lucy had managed to get all of her siblings to stand on the spots where their thrones had once stood, and was trying to get them to realize where they were. I watched their faces, looking for the moment when they realized that we were in the ruins of our beloved Cair Paravel. It was easy to spot. Peter and Susan both looked shocked and confused. Edmund, on the other hand, looked mad. The moment he realized that this was our home, he raced toward the courtyard. The rest of us followed him, and found him examining the boulder. As we approached, he looked up with an expression of pure anger.

"Catapults," he announced.

There was silence for a moment.

"What?" Lucy finally asked.

"Cair Paravel wouldn't have just crumbled like this." Edmund pointed to the boulder. "It was attacked."

I dug into my pocket as the others digested this new piece of information. "If this is Cair Paravel," I said, bringing out the key, "Then I think I know what this will open."

Peter, Edmund, and Lucy grinned, while Susan nodded. I felt a smile forming on my own face as I turned and walked toward the hidden door to the vault.

When we arrived, we found a wall covered in ivy. Carefully, I pulled some of the vines away to reveal a rotting wooden door. Peter and Edmund pulled pocketknives out of their pockets and opened the blades to begin cutting away the ivy. I opened my backpack and pulled out my pocketknife, the flashlights, and a box of matches. I handed one flashlight to Lucy, and then put the other flashlight and the box of matches in my pocket. Setting my bags on the ground, I opened my small pocketknife and walked over to help the boys. Just as I arrived, Peter's knife broke. Without a word, I handed him mine, and drew one of the knives hanging from my belt. As soon as we were done cutting the ivy, I grabbed the key and put it in the rusted lock, praying it would still work. I turned it, and by some miracle, the lock worked just enough to open the door. I pulled out my flashlight and turned it on just as Edmund and Lucy did the same. I got through the door first and carefully made my way down the stairs. As soon as I was off the stairs, I headed over to where I knew we used to store the lamps. I found the shelf easily, but most of the lamps had fallen and broken or were out of oil. I managed to find four of them that would still work, though, so I carried those over to the nearest flat surface and lit them with the matches in my pocket. By this time, the others were exploring some and reliving memories. When Peter saw the lit lanterns, he came over to grab one, and Susan did the same. I stuck my flashlight in my pocket and grabbed the other two lamps. Since it looked like everyone was headed to the back of the vault, where our personal storage trunks were, I followed them. Carefully, I set the two lamps I was carrying in holders near the trunks, and then I pulled out my flashlight and headed over to my own trunk.

Our personal trunks were all set into niches in the walls. Each trunk had a statue of the owner behind it, which had been made by the local sculptor a few months before we left Narnia. Each statue was wearing the owner's crown and weapons, and for the girls, their favorite jewelry. Each trunk was large and had the owner's name and title carved into the lid. My niche was a little different. There were two trunks, side by side, and behind them stood two statues, holding hands. My statue was wearing my silver circlet, with my bow and quiver hanging over my stone shoulder and the daggers I'd received from Father Christmas hanging from the statue's waist. My favorite charm bracelet was on one stone wrist. It had been a gift from my kids. Every charm stood for a member of my family, including my parents and sister from the other world. On my statue's left stood Bran's statue. The stone figure of my husband wore his wedding ring, and had Bran's two favorite swords sheathed in an x on his back. The sculptor had done a magnificent job with Bran. The statue looked so much like my husband that I would have thought he was real, had he not been completely gray. The statue even sported Bran's smile, and it made me want to cry, because I knew I wouldn't see Bran again until I went to Aslan's Country.

Before I realized what was happening, I'd moved around the trunks until I stood right in front of Bran's statue. I stared at him with tears forming in my eyes as I unconsciously raised one trembling hand to touch his cheek. Before my fingers could make contact with the stone, I stopped myself. As I lowered my hand, I also lowered my gaze. As I did so, I caught sight of Bran's silver wedding ring. Before I could stop myself, I'd taken it off of Bran's stone hand. I held it tightly in my hand as I walked quickly back to the front of my trunk and carefully opened the lid. The first thing I saw was a familiar black bag. That bag had been given to me by Father Christmas right before the Battle of Beruna. It had held my book of pictures, and I'd used it many, many times while I lived in Narnia. I'd always suspected it might have some magical properties, as more than once, I'd used it to hold more than it should have logically been able to hold, but no matter what I put in it, it never felt heavy. I carefully picked it up, halfway expecting it to fall apart in my hands. Logically, it should have, considering that it had been sitting there for a thousand years. Instead, it looked and felt brand new. I set it on the ground and started to carefully pull things out. Once I'd pulled out everything, I began to examine it all, starting with a piece of parchment I'd found near the top of the bag. Everything looked new, although I knew for a fact that it was all over a thousand years old. The parchment was a note from Bran. In it, he told me everything he'd done after my siblings and I left. He'd tried to prepare for us, and help as much as he could, but there wasn't a lot he could do, since there would be a thousand year wait. He'd packed a bag for each of us, with things we might need, and he'd added a few new types of trees to the orchard we'd planted the year before we left, among other things.

Setting the note down, I began to go through everything he'd packed for me. The first thing I picked up was a jewelry box. Opening it, I found a note from Bran, where he explained that the necklace was supposed to be my Christmas present the year I left. I carefully took the necklace out, and examined it. It had a long silver chain, the perfect length to hide under my shirt. Hanging from the chain was a silver cross pendant, and on the place where the two beams of the cross intersected, rested a golden lion's head. It was beautiful. I smiled as I opened the clasp and threaded the chain through Bran's wedding ring before placing the necklace around my neck and tucking it under my shirt.

With the smallest unknown item taken care of, I turned to the next one. This one was about the size of a shoebox, and when I opened it, I found neatly stacked scrolls and parchments. Curious, I opened one of the top ones and started reading. I only got a few sentences in before I had to put it down. It was a letter from Bran to me, written on Christmas the year I left. I didn't dare to read it all, because I knew if I did, I was going to start weeping, and then I'd be useless for hours. I set the box aside and picked up the next item, which happened to be my book from Father Christmas. I set it aside almost immediately, not wanting to get into it right now. I'd look at it later.

Next, I turned to see what clothes my husband had packed for me. I laid it all out and found two black pairs of breeches, a pair of black lace-up boots, a gold belt, a silver belt, a black belt, a plain green tunic, a navy blue tunic with silver embroidery on the hems and collar, and a Narnia red tunic with golden embroidery all over the front. I also found a purple dress with silver embroidery. I was happy to see that the dress was one of the ones I'd designed for fighting.

Back when I'd first arrived in Narnia, General Oreius had ordered me to begin learning how to fight while I was wearing a dress, so that I'd be prepared if I ever needed to fight while wearing one. I learned very quickly that dresses were NOT good for fighting in, and so I'd gone to the seamstresses and had them help me design a dress that I could fight in. Basically, all of my dresses (even the fancy ones) were made so that the skirt was detachable. I simply wore breeches or capris (which I had to teach the seamstresses how to make) and boots or flats underneath my dress, and that way, I could fight when I had to. It worked rather well.

I picked up the green tunic, a pair of breeches, the black belt, and the boots and stepped inside my niche to change where the boys couldn't see me. Once I was done, I went to see what weapons my husband had left for me. I grinned as I realized he'd packed all of the knives I'd accumulated while in Narnia. I quickly picked out my favorites and put them in their proper places. I took the daggers I'd gotten from the other world and placed them in my backpack, before turning back to the few things I still needed to go through. There weren't very many. He'd put a bedroll, a small pillow, and a couple of blankets in the bag for me, as well as my favorite cloak, and some armor.

I packed everything back in the bag, making sure to keep the bedroll, pillow, blankets, box of letters, and my book on top so that I could get to them easily. That done, I went over to my statue and carefully took the bracelet off the statue and fastened it around my wrist. Then, I carefully lifted my circlet off the statue and placed it on my own head before grabbing my daggers from where they hung and placing them on my belt. I grabbed my bow and quiver as well. The string had long since disintegrated, but the bow and arrows were surprisingly still in good shape, and I was pretty sure I could find a new string if I needed it.

I glanced over to see how my siblings were doing, and realized they were all still going through stuff. I decided that I could be more useful in setting up camp instead of helping them go through stuff, and so I grabbed my bag and headed up to the ruins of the courtyard. I started by choosing a nice, flat place without too many rocks and laid out the picnic blankets I'd brought. I laid out my bedroll, pillow, and blankets, and then started gathering rocks to make a ring for the campfire. I was just about to go find some firewood when Edmund came up with Lucy right behind him. I helped them set out their own bedrolls, and by the time that was done, Peter and Susan could be heard coming toward us. I sent Lucy and Edmund for firewood, and then helped Susan and Peter set out their things. By the time that was done, Edmund and Lucy had collected a nice sized pile of wood.

"Alright," I said, getting the others' attention, "We need to talk." Peter and Susan nodded, and I continued. "But first, I think we should go see if there's any good fruit in the orchard."

The others agreed, and so, after I grabbed the plastic bags I'd brought, we all trooped out to the old orchard. Once there, we spread out to go see what we could find. I headed straight for the place where I thought I'd seen energy fruit trees. Peter and Edmund raced each other to the other end of the orchard, and the girls headed for the apple trees.

We spent a couple hours in the orchard, picking fruit. I gathered a full bag of energy fruit, and filled another bag with more energy fruit, and some oranges. Once I finished, I wandered through the orchard toward the gate. I found Lucy along the way, and we ambled on together. Susan was already there when we got to the crumbling stone structure, and the boys could be heard laughing and headed toward us. We waited for them, and once they arrived (breathless from running, and laughing uncontrollably), we headed back to the courtyard. I headed for my backpack and started pulling out water and snacks while the others sat down. We passed around different fruit and snacks, and then started talking while we ate. We talked about what Bran had left for each of us in our trunks, and why Cair Paravel would be attacked, and why we would be called back a thousand years after we left. The conversation lasted for a few hours, and by the time we'd finished, it was getting dark. Edmund lit the fire, and then we all retreated to our own thoughts. I pulled out the box of letters and my book and sat down next to the fire to read. About an hour after the others had fallen asleep, I finally put everything down and curled up on my bedroll. I still had half of the letters to go through, but I knew that if I didn't stop now, I wouldn't stop at all.