Hi all! I am sooooooo sorry that it has taken me this long to update. Things have been hectic with school and all. Well I would just like to thank you all for the reviews, they have been so encouraging to me and I am so happy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Chronicles of Narnia or any of the characters, they all belong to C.S. Lewis.
Caspian joined the four sovereign's circle in the large room that served as a mess hall. Edmund and Peter had their shields piled with their own food and the girl's. Lucy was sitting next to Peter and was eating off of his shield and Susan was sitting next to Edmund and eating off of his. Caspian sat down on the other side of Peter next to Susan and the older queen smiled at him in greeting. Caspian felt the blood rush to his face and if the light hadn't been so dim he would have seen Susan's cheeks do the same.
"Alright Lucy, you should say something now," Peter said, leaning over towards Lucy. She nodded and stood up slowly.
"Attention everyone!" she said loudly, not yelling, just projecting really well. Caspian looked up in surprise at the power in her voice. Who knew that that small frame could emit something as strong as that voice! The whole room fell quiet and everybody looked over at her with the same looks of surprise that Caspian had. Caspian studied Lucy's face carefully in the poor light, but she looked so frightened that Caspian wanted to jump up and make her speech for her, but he knew the apology must come from her. "I would just like to apologize to anybody who heard my fight with Caspian. I was stupid and wrong and I am genuinely sorry. Caspian and I talked and we worked everything out and there should be no more fights between us. Again, I deeply apologize."
A murmur went through the room as Narnians who hadn't heard the fight asked others what it was about. Lucy sat back down and her face was white. Peter patted her on the back comfortingly.
"You did good Lu," he said quietly. Lucy smiled slightly and looked down at her food. She just continued to stare at it as everybody continued eating. Caspian couldn't help but notice how sick she looked.
"I think I'm going to go lie down," she said as she stood up. The other four looked up at her with curiosity and worry as she walked down one of the tunnels. Caspian stared at his food and looked over at Lucy's, then back at his. He suddenly reached over Peter's shield and took Lucy's food and put it on his shield next to his food. He stood up and carried his shield down the tunnel Lucy had just disappeared down. He followed the tunnel and came upon the drawings of old Narnia. He looked at the picture of Lucy and noticed what she had that first day here. It was so plain, like the artist didn't care about her at all. He felt a pang of pity well up in his heart and began to somewhat understand why she was so upset. He kept walking until he came upon the room with the stone table in it and, sure enough, there was Lucy sitting on the other side facing the carving of Aslan. He could see her dark red head poking up behind the stone.
"Not quite lying down, but I suppose sitting works too," Caspian said, breaking the solemn silence that seemed to fill the room and make it hard to breathe. Lucy looked up at him as he came around the table towards her.
"What do you want?" she said shortly but quiet enough so it wouldn't echo down the tunnel. Caspian held out the shield to her.
"You left your food and you're going to need all the strength you can get," he said with a smile. Lucy looked at him blankly and he took her silence for agreement. He sat down next to her and set the shield in between them. Lucy slowly started eating, but as her appetite obviously grew she began stuffing her mouth with food.
"So what happened back there?" Caspian asked in between bites.
"Isn't it pretty obvious? I apologized to everyone like Peter told me to," Lucy said as she stuffed more food in her mouth.
"No, I mean why didn't you eat all your food? Is something wrong?" Caspian asked, rephrasing his previous question. Lucy looked down at her hands and started twiddling her thumbs.
"That was just really hard for me," Lucy said after awhile.
"How could it be hard? You're a queen after all, I'm sure you've spoken to larger crowds before," Caspian replied.
"It wasn't the crowd," Lucy said while shaking her head. "It was the apologizing part. I've never done something so bad that I had to apologize to my whole kingdom. I know everybody thinks I'm humble and all, but I have a little bit of pride and on this trip all of it is just slipping away." Caspian nodded his head in understanding.
"I don't think we can afford to care about our pride right now," he said, trying to comfort her. Lucy looked up at him and her eyes pierced him through the heart.
"Why don't you try listening to your own advice?" she asked, her words sending a shot of guilt through him. He looked down and was unable to speak.
"Well, anyways. How are you doing?" Lucy asked as she leaned up against the stone table. Caspian looked up at her in confusion at her sudden mood swing. She noticed his confused look and said, "I'm a girl." That was enough for Caspian.
"Oh, well, I um… Can I tell you a secret?" he said suddenly. He knew that Lucy didn't like him, but he knew that she could keep a secret also. She leaned forward and nodded. "Well, I really like your sister a lot, do you know of any ways that I could impress her?"
Caspian saw a look go through Lucy's eyes that he didn't understand, but it soon disappeared and she smiled sweetly.
"She likes poetry, maybe you should write her a poem," Lucy suggested.
"I'm not a good poet," Caspian said skeptically.
"It's easy. Just tell me some of the things you love about her," Lucy said encouragingly. Caspian sat and thought for awhile.
"I love her eyes, they shine brighter than all the stars in the sky," he said after contemplating for a few moments. "Her face is beautiful and she has a great personality. Her smile makes me feel happy the rest of the day and whenever she walks by I just have to stop and look at her."
"Ok," Lucy said absentmindedly as she tried to sort out her thoughts. She took a piece of paper out of the pouch that hung by her belt next to her cordial and a small pen she had taken with her from England. She began writing some stuff down and Caspian just watched her. When she was done she put the pen down and brushed her hair out of her face.
"Your eyes shine brighter than all the stars in the sky. It's true, for I can not tell a lie," she said, reading the piece of paper. "Your face is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen…" she trailed off trying to find the next line.
"And you have a wonderful personality," Caspian said quietly. Lucy beamed at him and picked up the pen and wrote the line down before she forgot it.
"Your smile lights up my whole day," Caspian continued. "And when you pass by… You keep me at bay!" Lucy was scribbling down words as fast as she could. She had a huge smile on her face as she came up with an ending.
"Though I'm one out of many who have fallen for you, I have a small hope…" she looked up at Caspian and their eyes met, "that you love me too." Caspian looked at her shining face and realized that those paintings of her in the tunnel did not do her justice. She was beautiful and anybody who said otherwise would have him to deal with.
"Thank you," Caspian said after a long silence.
"Don't mention it," Lucy replied with a shrug. Caspian smiled and stood up. He grabbed his shield and the piece of paper that Lucy handed to him.
"I'll see you later," he said before he walked down the tunnel out of the table room.
"Though I'm one out of many who have fallen for you," Lucy whispered once he was gone. "I have an extremely small hope that you, Caspian, love me like I love you."
Sorry if the ending seemed a little fluffy, but trust me, this whole poem thing is actually a big part of the plot. Anywho! I hope you like this chapter! As always, constructive criticism is appreciated but don't say mean stuff just to make me feel bad because you don't like the story. Hehe, well anyways, I hope to update soon, I'm pretty much just seeing when I have time and stuff so yeah, it might be soon and it might be another month but I will update, I promise.