Chapter Three: Court and a Turtle

Disclaimer: To be just and fair, I must admit no ownership of Narnia.

A/N: This has a little less of Purpoise in it than I'd like, but it's because I'm setting up the situation, and that got out of hand. Sorry!

Lucy did not make it down to the seashore the following morning. She meant to, she truly did, but Susan and Edmund agreed the four needed to go over King Lune's letter one more time – Peter had written to him with questions about how a court of justice was held in Archenland and the kind king had responded at length. The four discussed how to alter it so that there were four rulers instead of two, but Lucy started to lose interest. This was taking so long.

Long enough she hadn't time to make it down to the shore; the four went straight to the Hall of Thrones. But she stopped in the library on the way and sent fussy Mr. Gilser and his assistant beaver with pen and parchment to take notes on shipbuilding, and she asked them to tell Purpoise she was sorry. She hoped that was enough to stop her from being rude.

Court was a mess, Lucy decided. King Lune's letter gave examples of cases where his subjects had a dispute about where a border between homes was; Narnia had people who had no idea where the actual home was, having deserted it for better hiding places years ago. And while the four had explore the Western Woods quite a bit, there were large parts of Narnia they knew nothing about, and they gravely asked those people to come back in a week. After some long…boring…drawn-out…tedious—that was a word, wasn't it?...discussion that left the eight-year-old yawning, a solution was proposed. Susan and Lucy were to find representatives from different parts of Narnia to tell them about the land, and Peter and Edmund were going to get feathered scouts to map it – particularly since all the snow-melt had created some rather dangerous rivers. Lucy kind of wanted to go see them.

But after that came the fun part of court. A good deal of Narnians had come out of hiding because they wanted to see their new kings and queens, to thank them, and Lucy found herself bouncing down from her throne and sitting on the floor, talking to a group of them that chirped, chattered, bellowed, and barked all around her in a glorious cacophony of noise. This wasn't boring. She liked this, with people all around. Her group got larger and larger, and eventually she felt a gentle hand – a human hand – on her shoulder, and Susan bent down to her ear.

"Could you please take your group over to the side of the hall? It's large enough it's hard for supplicants to get through to the thrones," Susan said with a gesture behind her. Lucy immediately got up, and was going to apologize, but Susan was smiling, so Lucy just waived her hands at the – wow, yes, this was a very large group – of Narnians and led them over to the side, where she sat down again, a panther sitting respectfully on one side, three rabbits on another, and gaggle of creatures in front. Trying to do what Susan would do, Lucy organized them with the smallest in front, gradually getting larger, till the two bears and three centaurs were at the very back, and asked one of the birds to go to the kitchen and see if there were any snacks. The bird came chirping back in a few minutes with news that the kitchens were bringing tea, and Lucy happily drank it while finding out which Narnians were from where, and asking a few of them to promise to come back the next day to help map out Narnia. Susan, Peter, and Edmund would be so pleased. And she didn't have to do the boring part of court.

Court was closed at dinner time, and the supplicants – including Lucy's group, which had changed members gradually over the afternoon – all filed out. Peter, Susan, and Edmund came down from their thrones as Lucy stood up.

"After the first bit, that wasn't quite as hard as I thought it would be," Peter said, taking his crown off his head.

"At least half of the Narnians have more common sense than most humans," Susan agreed.

"And the half that have no common sense are looked after by the species that do. I wouldn't really want too many rabbits for neighbors," Edmund put in wryly. He sighed. "And they respect the authority Aslan gave us. How did things go over here, Lu?"

Lucy told them all about the people she had met, names that she tried to tag to personalities when she saw their faces glaze over at the list of names, and where they'd been from, and good it had been to talk to them all. She stopped only when they'd left the hallways and reached Susan's chambers, where they normally ate. The discussion changed after that, the other three discussing news of the fell creatures they'd learned from complaints; there appeared to be three large groups moving through Narnia, and the others were wondering if they should wait till Narnia was mapped ("It's only a week, and it would make things much safer if you knew the area," "A week where they keep killing people, Su,"). Lucy kept quiet; she hadn't heard any of this.

"And there's the Absence complaint; what on earth are we to do about that?" Edmund added, swishing his silver spoon in his soup.

Peter and Susan both paused, and Lucy looked from one to the other. "The absence complaint? What's that?"

Peter answered. "Narnians who had lords who organized their portion of Narnia, a place to go with complaints that was less than a day's travel away. The trouble is, most of them were humans, descendents of younger sons and daughters of Narnia's old royal family. And most of them had to flee or be killed. The Narnians want them back. Or want new ones appointed."

"But we can't do that until we've settled there's no one with a right to the lordship, or we'd be taking it away from them," Edmund added.

"So we have to find them. Lucy, didn't you hear any of this?" Lucy shook her head at Susan's question, and Susan frowned, setting down her teacup. "Lucy – I think…" she trailed off. Lucy looked at her expectantly. "I think you need to stay on your throne during court," Susan said finally. Peter looked up in surprise.

"She cleared out half the line just by talking to them, Su. It went twice as fast with her handling them separately."

"Yes, but she misses a lot of the really important things. And it makes it look like she doesn't have the same authority we do. She's already so much younger, Peter. I was thinking maybe a separate court, one for welcoming those just coming to see us…"

"And then we could all meet more of the Narnians as well. Su's right. The way court happened today will end up unbalancing Narnia, Pete. We're supposed to rule together, and if we handle all the justice and leave Lucy on her own to handle the welcomes, it'll set a bad example."

"Lucy is right here," Lucy pushed in. "I liked the way court was run today. I liked meeting all the people."

"But you missed out on most of the problems," Susan said gently. "And we want your thoughts on those, Lucy."

"Then can't I just give them later, over supper?" Lucy heard the whine coming in her voice again, and bit her lip. But she didn't want to sit on a throne for hours listening to problems and not doing something about them. She liked her version of court better.

"I don't think-"

"It's not a good idea, Lucy," Peter broke in, and the others went quiet. "They're right, you need to learn how to handle all parts of being queen, including court. And we need to mingle with the Narnians as well. We'll set up a separate time to welcome those who want to meet us." Lucy clenched her hand around her fork. She couldn't argue; Peter followed and they led, the other three had agreed on that. But she didn't like it.

"I think it's time we all went to bed." Susan broke the awkward pause.

Edmund grinned, a memory coming up, and said in a teasing tone, "Go to bed yourself, mother!" Lucy smiled with the others, and went to her own room to try to sleep. But it was a long time, and several one-sided conversations with Aslan, before she drifted off.

She went directly to the seashore the next morning, heading straight for where Purpoise was sunning himself on the sandy shore. "Good morning," she said, remembering to be polite and not jump headfirst into what she wanted to talk about. He blinked his long, slow blink, and she felt a bit of the tension easing off her shoulders. There was something about talking to him that was good. Maybe the way he listened. He had so many good things he had to say. But just talking to him made her feel better.

"Good…morning." He paused, and she waited to be sure he was finished talking. He spoke more slowly when waking up. "Your…majesty."

"I'm sorry about yesterday," she said, remembering. "I wanted to come, but we had our first court yesterday." She made a face, a little of the tension coming back.

"I have not been…to a human court," Purpoise said, seeming to wake up a little. "What is it like?"

"Boring," Lucy said, kicking at the sand. "Lots and lots of talking about lots of problems. And all I can do is sit. I don't know enough yet. Not like Peter and Susan and Edmund." Her voice got a little higher. "And I thought I found something good to do, something I could do, talking to people, but the others think I should pay attention to what's going on. And they're probably right, Purpoise, but it's boring and I don't know what to do during it!" She sniffed and rubbed a hand over her nose. She would not cry. Valiant queens didn't cry.

Purpoise didn't seem to notice. He was swinging his head slowly back and forth, scanning the beach. "Do you know why we picked this beach, little queen?" Lucy looked around with him, noticing the even sand, the clear water, the swimming merpeople.

"It's beautiful?" Just looking brought back a large measure of her joy. This, this, this beautiful land, is what she had been given to reign in.

"It is safe, little queen. A turtle is born with a shell and four legs and a deep, deep, deep need for the water." He paused to view the sea stretching to the horizon before them. "But they are not born with speed. And you were not born with wisdom." He nudged her shoulder with his head. "They have to learn to walk, from the ruins of their first shell on the beach into the water. They must crawl, a long, hot, boring crawl. I still remember mine. The water looked so far away, and I wondered why the nest had to be placed so far from it. I did not know about the tides yet. But I made it, finally, and found that the crawl had strengthened my four legs enough I could swim, I could live in the water I was born for." He paused again. "You were born to be a queen. But you are a girl yet. Be glad those around you are making your journey to your birthright safe while you learn to be strong." Lucy leaned against his shell, resting her head on it, and gazed at the blue sky. They sat that way, sunning, quiet, and a gradual contentment stole over her. Perhaps she could remember this feeling next week in court.

The shell under her moved slightly, and she sat up. Susan was coming down from Cair Paravel to the beach.

"That is also a queen." Lucy looked at her, suddenly glad that yes, this was her sister. From the way Susan moved, graceful, purposeful stride, walking with a gentle authority, head up and eyes watching, a small smile on her lips – Lucy's sister was a queen.

Also a queen, Purpoise had said. She smiled again, her wide smile, and bounced to her feet to greet her sister with a hug, holding tightly. Susan held her a moment longer than usual, and Lucy knew she'd been worried, so she looked up and laughed. "Come meet Purpoise!" she said, her enthusiasm making her tug her sister's hand. Susan sank down with a laugh of her own.

"I have come for no other purpose." She regarded the turtle gravely. "Well met, good cousin."

"Well met, Aslan's queen," Purpoise returned. Lucy bounced again as she saw Susan's shoulders relax a bit at the slow, even tone. There was something good about Purpoise, she thought again.

"I have heard my sister speak much of you, including the story of your friendship with King Dwarfsteel." Lucy tilted her head to one side; Susan was speaking more formally than usual? Why? "Good cousin, may I ask how long you plan to reside in Narnia?"

"I have promised your sister shipbuilding help."

Susan glanced at Lucy, then back. "We would be glad of your input, Master Purpoise, for we must confess our ignorance in these matters. But my brothers and I have realized we need your help with yet more. Good cousin, you swim the seas?" Purpoise nodded, the funny nod with his entire head and neck dipping into the sand. "Would you in your kindness undertake a trip for us?"