Edmund was being Edmund at that moment, and Peter was starting to be slightly ticked off by that. His brother had a laid-back personality compared to his own. Well, that is when they were not in the court. If he wasn't defending you, Edmund wasn't the best person to be around at those times. Currently, said younger boy had his feet propped up on Peter's bed, and he was reclining in one of the chairs. The two kings were in their shared dorm room, and it was a few hours after dinner. Technically the lights should have been out by now, but really, who ever pays attention to curfew?
"Ed?" Peter looked at his younger brother, his blonde locks falling into his eyes slightly.
"Yeah Pete?" Edmund's attention was diverted from the ridiculous amounts of thinking that he had been doing.
"What plan do you have for this trial? I mean, you always handled courts in Narnia, but here…"
"Thank you Peter. I am quite aware of the fact that I have been reduced to a thirteen year old again." Edmund said dryly. "I have some rough plans in my head. I'll need to get an official statement from Susan and Lucy tomorrow, probably with their Headmistress in attendance for legality. Then I'm going to find out which hospital those men are located at, and I'll try and get a statement from them, maybe some motives. Why they did what they did, you know? The whole point of this is merely to make sure that those men are locked up. I'll also need to have the girls pretty much reenact the event for me; maybe even draw up some maps as well. Those will be very important to show both the judge and the jury. A statement from both the constable that was on site as well as Ms. Elkhart will be necessary; they'll also need to be called in as my witnesses. I am quite confident that if I am allowed the floor, then I will win this case. However, I could just be laughed out of the courtroom." Peter snorted at that thought.
"I need to get the court date from Headmistress Martin tomorrow, as she will have been notified. I will also need to have an impartial person or two for each of the interrogations that I will be giving. That will be very important. I would use you, but as you are still a minor and closely connected, that will not work. Possibly one of the teachers would be willing to moderate."
"You really have mapped this whole thing out in your head, haven't you?" Peter smirked.
"What on earth do you think I was doing?" Edmund quirked an eyebrow at his older brother.
Peter just huffed, and crossed his arms. It was a typical night with Edmund alright.
The next day, a Sunday as it happened, Edmund decided to start his investigations. First on his agenda was church, and something that happened there would postpone his plans.
Saint Finbar's Chapel opened its doors to the Hendon House boys for Sunday service, and that is where the four siblings congregated that morning. For the first time since the beginning of the term, the small family walked in together. Susan and Lucy arrived moments after the boys, and then were escorted in by their brothers. Making their way to a pew at the front of the church, the four monarchs sat in the order of their thrones; it was the way that they had been accustomed to sit, after all.
The sermon went on, and Edmund soon found himself skimming though his Bible in search for a verse that he had remembered; he thought it might correlate with his sermon notes nicely. Scanning through, a verse caught Edmund's eye. After further inspection though, he realized that it was not one that he had been looking for.
And one of the elders said to me. "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered."~Revelation 5:5
Excitedly, Edmund tapped Peter on the shoulder, and when the older boy turned, Ed shoved his Bible in Peter's lap, pointing to the verse. Peter's eyes widened in recognition, and he quickly passed the Bible to Susan, who had a similar reaction. The line ended with Lucy, who could barely contain a squeal of surprise. She turned to them and started frantically whispering.
"The willow, immediately following. No exceptions."
The other three nodded their consent before turning their attention back to the sermon.
Immediately following the sermon, the four siblings filed out of the church. Gathering at the willow tree, Lucy made to speak, but Edmund cut her off.
"I found the verse, I will lead this meeting." Edmund fixed his most stoic glare on his sister.
"Touchy, touchy." Lucy muttered.
Ignoring her comment, Edmund addressed his three siblings. "I bring this meeting of the Narnian Royals to session. I, Edmund the Just, have come to a realizati-" Susan had raised her hand. "I recognize Susan the Gentle. What Su?"
"Why are we treating this as a full Narnian council?" Susan queried.
"The meeting was called by a Queen of Narnia, therefore we shall treat this as a full Narnian council meeting." Edmund addressed. "Back to what I was saying. You all have read the verse that I discovered within the Holy Book. It speaks of the Lion. What other Lion can there be than Aslan himself? Aslan sent us back to "discover him in this land". But, I think we all already know Him in this land. He is the same person, but He just takes a different form for Narnia than this world." Edmund spoke assuredly. Lucy put up her hand suddenly, her eyes wide. "I recognize Lucy the Valiant."
"Do you think that Aslan/Christ takes the form of a Lion in Narnia because it is easier for the Talking Animals to comprehend? We all know that Christ came as a baby. He looked like us…or rather, we look like him. Aslan comes as a Lion in Narnia, because the Talking Animals connect with him, because they are like him." Lucy spoke excitedly, her hands gesturing as she explained her theory.
"I think you are a genius Lucy!" Peter exclaimed. "I am assured that that is exactly why Aslan takes on a different form in Narnia."
Susan shared her agreement with this, smiling broadly, while Edmund sulked.
"I give up." He muttered under his breath. "There is no way that I shall be able to run a full council like this."
"Oh!" Susan stood up suddenly. "What if the reason that we were sent back is to almost…bring Narnia here? Think of what we could do! Edmund, you can fix any court that you walk into, and you are an astounding judge! Lucy, drop you into any hospital, and they would be fixing everything. Not to mention that you could be an outstanding theologist if you wrote your theories down. Peter, if you were let loose into any room full of politicians, you could reverse the corruptness of the society! Plus your work with the army is brilliant!"
"And you can charm the pants off of anyone Su! Send you into high society, and who knows what could be fixed! Also, you're not a half-bad planner." Edmund popped into the conversation.
"We could change the world." Peter whispered reverently.
"We can. And we will." Edmund stated. "Starting with Susan pressing charges against those villainous fiends. That will be my debut. After that, we will be sure to get some connections of some sort. I will postpone my interrogation plans for tomorrow after classes. This is going to be interesting."
AN: Thanks so much to those who reviewed last chapter. I had horrible writers block, which is why only What Came After has been updated, and this chapter took me so long. The Strange Ones has been giving me a hard time, but I hope to have it up tomorrow. Also, I have posted a new poem called Not Supposed To Happen. It was inspired by recent events. Once you read it, you will probably know what I am referring to. As requested, I created a Peter and Edmund-centric chapter. The next one will probably be Ed-centric as well. Not entirely sure on that though. The theories that are explained here are all my own, and I would be happy to debate/discuss them with anyone. Thanks again to all of my reviewers!