Disclaimer: I hope you know that the original cast of the Chronicles of Narnia belong to C S Lewis

Chapter 2

I stood up and faced the group, my chin held high, "I am Queen Sophia. Who are you?"

The entire group stood with dumbstruck expressions on their faces, and neither man nor Narnian answered. Eventually, a dark centaur stepped forward, before bowing to me. I had forgotten the feeling of someone bowing to me, I still hated it apparently. I made to stop the centaur bowing, but then I saw his face. Familiar eyes looked up at me from the ground, a strange blue, and his features reminded me of someone else.

"Rothenhal?" I whispered, hoping beyond hope.

"No my Queen," I felt my hope vanish, "I am however a descendent."

Looking at the centaur now in awe and understanding, I walked closer to him with a smile. "You were the one who had my sword, weren't you?"

"It has been in my family for centuries, passed down to the eldest child. It is our most precious possession, as we knew it was entrusted to us by a monarch of Narnia."

I smiled, not only did he really look like Rothenhal, but he even acted a lot like him too, "Thank you, that means a lot to me." walking to him now, I held the hilt out to him, "But I think that your family deserve to keep this."

His face was amusingly shocked, "But it is your sword my Queen. We have kept it safe for you should you return."

Of course he would refuse, I swear this is a reincarnation of Rothenhal, I still held the sword out to him, "And I thank you for it, but I am no queen of Narnia now. I want you to keep her, in honour of Rothenhal, my dearest friend in Narnia."

He studied me and the sword a little while, before nodding his head and carefully taking the sword from me. "My name is Aspennal, and my loyalty lies with any true Narnian ruler, past or present."

I laughed at him, "That is exactly what Rothenhal said when I was crowned, are you sure you aren't him? You do look a lot like he did..." I was saddened at his death, but happy he had hopefully lived out a full life with a family, of whom I was meeting now. Running to the centaur, I hugged his middle like I always had done with Rothenhal, and smiled when he returned the embrace, "Just call me Sophia though. Your ancestor never got the hang of that, always 'Your Majesty' or 'My Queen' and whatnot, but I'm sure you will."

"Of course my Queen." I laughed into his arm, now I feel like I'm home.

"Sophia." I left the centaur's arms to turn to Aslan, now stood beside the humans. "May I introduce King Peter the Magnificent," the tall blonde boy, looking down at me now, "Queen Lucy the Valiant," the redheaded girl who had hugged Aslan, "King Edmund the Just," the boy, my age perhaps, who I had been fighting not moments ago, "Queen Susan the Gentle," the beautiful dark haired woman, "And High King Caspian X of Narnia."

"A Telmarine?" was Aslan mad? These were the people who had come and conquered Narnia, probably enslaving or killing its people since my absence. I saw the Telmarine flinch at my words, before the Gentle Queen laced a hand soothingly on his arm.

"Sophia," Aslan said, in what was as close to a scolding voice as I had heard from him, "Do not judge him for what his family had done to you. He is the Telmarine who saved Narnia, when you could not."

That was low.

I know he spoke the truth, but how could he think I had not lived a day without the guilt for my people lying heavy on my shoulders? The first few months back to England had me in such a depressed state my doctor put me on anti-depressants. I was still on them now actually, but not as much. You became less depressed when you cut off most emotions I found. Aslan was right of course. I knew he could not be like other Telmarines if he stood as High King among the Old Kings and Queens of Narnia. Yes, I knew who these people were, I had been taught of them by my tutors and Rothenhal in my reign.

I could not apologise though. Aslan's words still stung too fresh in my mind, at my betrayal of Narnia. Why had he saved me only to damn the Narnians? I felt as though a traitor among these people now.

I could not apologise, but I did bow slowly before them, my eyes trained on the grassy floor, "Your Majesties."

I heard footsteps approach me, and saw a man's boot-clad feet before me just before a hand was stuck out in front of me. Looking up, I saw to my surprise that it was the Telmarine. He looked a lot like the last Telmarine I had met, with his wavy dark brown hair and dark eyes, a tan to his skin and the garb of the Telmar, but his face was softer, and looked gently at me now, "Please, call me Caspian. Perhaps we may start over?"

I saw no falsity or prank in his eyes, only sincerity and surprisingly guilt. He must feel guilty for what his people had done, and I had only opened that wound further. Like Aslan had to me. Great, more guilt, I am a horrible, horrible person. Putting my hand in his, I let him pull me up, before smiling at him. "I would like the chance to be friends."

I only saw his smile for a second, before something ran right into me. Looking down to my middle in surprise, I saw it was the Valiant queen, Lucy. She sure liked hugs. Her auburn hair was long and simply tied up, and her face was alight with a giant smile, making her small nose scrunch up and her aqua eyes sparkle. "I'm Lucy! You were a queen too? Did you have a title? Like 'the Valiant'? Did you live in Cair Paravel? What was Narnia like when you were ruling? What happened? When did you leave?"

I could only stare at this little girl. She had asked me so many questions all at once, and to say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement. The blonde man pried the girl off me, "Let her breathe Lu," he told her, before turning to me with a smile. He had quite broad shoulders and was dressed in red, and I saw he had slightly more blue eyes than Lucy, "Call me Peter. Pleasure to meet you, and I hope you can show me that move of yours to get Ed with, I've been trying to best him for years."

I laughed now, "I didn't beat him though."

"No, but that was the closest he's been to losing that I've ever seen."

"Really?"

"And by a girl, who knew?"

"I'm going to ignore that this time."

Chuckling a little, Peter walked back to Aslan while his other sister came to greet me. She was very beautiful, and her dark hair curled down her back from an elegant up do, contrasting with her pale skin and grey-blue eyes, "I'm Susan, you have no idea how good it feels to have another girl with us. It was getting a little too male dominated. Now we stand a chance."

I grinned at the taller girl, we were going to get on well, "Glad I could help."

She grinned at me, before returning to stand with Aslan again, quite close I noticed to Caspian. Finally, the last Pevensie walked towards me. He was quite tall, but then again I was quite short, so most people were taller than me. I studied his face, seeing his strong jaw and straight nose, his dark hair just brushing his eyes and noticed that unlike his siblings he had brown eyes, which were studying me as much as I was studying him. I almost blushed under his intent stare, but instead held my head higher. He held out his hand eventually.

"I'm Edmund, as you know."

Reaching out with my own hand, I shook his larger hand, "Nice to formally meet you, you need to work on your footwork though, you need to be faster."

He gave me a smirk, his left eyebrow raising slightly. "Well I expect a rematch then, after you work on your parrying. If I wanted to I could have passed through your weak defence."

Now was my turn to smirk, "I look forward to it."

"Sophia," Aslan said, grabbing my attention again, "Come walk with me, we have much to speak of."

"Yes Aslan."

Aslan told me all that had happened since I had left Narnia. One year for me, one thousand years for Narnia. He told me of the Telmarines slaughtering the helpless Narnians, their subsequent retreat into the deep forests, and their 'dying out' to the Telmarines. He also told me of Caspian, the Telmarine prince who saved Narnia and her people, along with the help with the return of the Pevensies. He told me of the great battle at Aslan's How, Jadis' almost return to Narnia, and the beautiful coronation. He also told me of his decision to let the Pevensies stay in Narnia.

"They were like you in England. Outwardly they appeared fine, as though they had moved on. Yet I saw the real truth inside, felt their longing to return. But unlike you, they had each other, and were able to remain strong. Strong enough to return to Narnia."

Unlike me? I'm not strong?... of course I'm not strong, I couldn't even save my people, I kept my eyes on the ground in shame. They were worthy of the titles they held, especially Caspian now that I knew what he had done for Narnia, what he had gone through. I was ashamed to have thought myself a queen.

"Do not let the past overshadow your future Sophia, I see great things to come for you. The others have been here for six years now and are still happy. They no longer feel guilty of leaving Narnia, as they know that they were meant to return. As you have." I can still help Narnia? "Stay strong, keep alert, and be happy Sophia. You are home."

Smiling a smile I was surprised didn't split my face in half, I nodded my head at Aslan.

I was home.

Cair Paravel.

I never thought I'd see this beautiful building again. Of course, it was a little different, having been destroyed at one point by the Telmarines. But through the Pevensie's memory, Caspian's architects and lots of work, it was almost exactly as it had been. I just stood staring at the castle for a while, basking in its glory. Hearing someone clear their throat behind me, I turned to see who it was. I found a nervous looking Caspian.

"Is it how you remembered it?" he asked tentatively.

Had I really made him feel this bad? God I hate myself sometimes, taking his arm and dragging him to the entrance where the others were, "It's better than it was before Caspian. You did a great job."

I smiled back at him when I saw his small smile. 'Accidently' pushing him into a surprised Susan, before whispering to Lucy to help drag the boys away. I may have known these people not even a day, but I had seen and heard enough from my friends to know a certain High King and a certain Gentle Queen had crushes on one another. At nineteen, the High King would be expected to be finding a bride soon, and who else better than an eighteen year old Queen who just happened to have feelings for him.

I saw Lucy dragging a much taller Peter away, babbling on about seeing a badger or something, leaving just me and Edmund with the 'lovebirds'. I don't know what I could do to distract Edmund, who I noticed was watching with narrowed eyes his sister and her crush. I needed to do something fast, before he interrupted. God, when did I become a match-maker? Let's just say this is my apology to Caspian, a long-term apology.

Grabbing Edmund's hand and trying to ignore the light blush that caused me, I ran inside, past the oblivious couple, and into the main hall. "So, Edmund, mind giving me a tour of the place?"

"Why?" he said, staring behind us down the corridor we had just come from, "You lived here right?"

"Yes."

"Then explore by yourself, I have to check on Su. She was looking a little red, maybe she isn't well."

I forced myself not to roll my eyes at this ignorant boy. Honestly, he was a year older than me, he should know by now what Susan was doing, right? "Well, erm, Caspian's with her. I'm sure if she's not feeling well, Caspian will take care of her. Besides, there may be some changes since I've lived here, I don't like getting lost... "

Edmund was looking at me weirdly now. His left eyebrow lifted again and narrowed his eyes at me now, a confused expression on his face. "You're rambling. What are you hiding?"

Oh, now he was observant. "Nothing, I'm just really excited to be back?"

We had a mini staring contest, before he nodded. "Can I have my hand back now?"

I dropped his hand quickly, I can't believe I forgot I was still holding his hand, and smiled up at him. Gesturing to the door on his right, my tour of Cair Paravel began. I had been back in Narnia two days, and in that time I had been reunited with my sword, reacquainted with a good Telmarine, acquainted myself with the Kings and Queens of Old, turned into a matchmaker, spoken to Aslan... was there anything else?

Oh! That's right... I think I may have a crush on a certain Just King of Narnia.

I always did love my simple life.