- Chapter 3 -

It was eight o'clock in the evening when Avaline snuck into Adela's room to kiss her goodnight. She tiptoed toward the crib, careful not to trip on something in the dark room.

She kissed the child's forehead gently. "Goodnight, sweetie," she whispered.

Avaline was just leaving the room when a light suddenly lit the room. She jumped, placing her hand over her heart. Sitting in a rocking chair in the corner of the room was Edmund. He held a book, which he placed on the side table next to him as he rose.

"I was waiting for you," he said. "I didn't know your meeting would be so long."

"Yes, well, you know how royal meetings can be."

He nodded, taking a moment to absorb Avaline's appearance and behavior. She still wore the same clothes she wore earlier that day, but her hair was tied in a quick and careless bun behind her head. She looked shaken, but Edmund gave her a generous pass on this given he had scared her.

"Who was at this meeting?" he asked. He moved to stand by the door.

"Oh, just the usuals. It was nothing, really."

They examined each other for a minute, each wondering why the other was acting so strange.

"Well, it's getting late. I'm heading to bed."

Avaline tried to slip past him to the door. When she was standing in the doorway, her shoulder brushed past him. His hand came up to touch her arm. She paused, looking at him. He looked back at her and tried to find a sign that he should be suspicious of her, but there were none. Just her wide eyes staring back at him.

"Goodnight, Avaline."

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Analiese and Peter sat silently in their room. Analiese was lying in the bed, propped up by two pillows. She was reading one of the books Susan had recommended to her (it was a love story about a minotuar falling in love with a centaur even though it was forbidden). Peter sat in his armchair reading a letter from a friend of his in Archenland.

Analiese suddenly put down her book and sat up.

"Peter, can we talk?" she asked.

He looked up in surprise. "Sure."

Peter came over to sit on the bed with her. "What is it?"

"Our anniversary was today."

His eyebrows rose and an apologetic look replaced the confused one.

"By the Mane, it was! I'm so sorry, Ann, I-"

"You don't have to be sorry. It really isn't even that big of a deal. I just had a question for you."

"Ask me anything," he replied.

"Peter, are we in love?"

"I-"

His voice trailed off because, as it turns out, he wasn't sure. Peter had never been in love. He knew he loved his family, and Analiese was part of his family, but was he in love with her?

She looked down. "I get it. It's fine."

"No, Ana, I didn't-"

"I'm tired. Goodnight."

She reached over to blow out the light. She was asleep soon after.

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The next morning, Lucy woke with a goal: to find the very best dress and hairstyle to wear for the twins' birthday party. Halfway through her shopping trip in the market area, she realized that her hopes were much harder to achieve than she had originally thought. She had sought out four different seamstresses. They had looked at Lucy's sketch of the dress she wanted, and all of them had turned her down.

She was almost ready to give up and simply wear one of her old dresses. Then, she saw a sign propped up against a wooden cart on the side of the street. The sign read, "I Can Make Any Piece of Clothing You Wish. 200 Coins."

As Lucy eagerly approached the cart, she noticed an elderly woman sitting in a beat-up chair beside it.

"Good morning," Lucy greeted the woman. "I was wondering if you could make a dress for me? Everyone else has turned me down, and I saw your sign. It would mean a great deal."

The woman narrowed her eyes and looked at Lucy up and down. "We're closed," she said gruffly.

"But it's not even noon yet," Lucy objected.

"We're closed."

"Please, I need this dress badly."

"I said I'm closed, young lady. Now I suggest you go run on your way."

Lucy turned her head to the side in deep thought. She wondered how she could convince the woman to at least look at her sketch. A thought struck her suddenly.

"Would you make this dress if I was the Queen of Narnia?"

The woman looked her over again, then seemed to finally recognize her. She struggled to stand and when she did, she bowed and kissed Lucy's hands.

"Forgive me, your majesty! I didn't recognize you!"

"It really is okay."

"How can I repay you? I feel bad for being so disrespectful to my queen."

"All I need is to have this dress made by the end of the week."

The woman took the sketch from Lucy's hand and looked it over. "Your majesty, I would be flattered to make this dress for you, but my supplies are few and I don't have such expensive materials."

"Well, the girls who usually are in charge of our wardrobe are out of town, which is why I sought out for someone else. Their materials are still in their workroom. You're welcome to use those."

"Oh, I couldn't!" the woman exclaimed.

"No, I insist," Lucy said with her signature warm smile.

A smile even greater than Lucy's swept the elderly woman's face.

"I've never been more excited then to be working on a dress for my favorite queen!"

Lucy put her arm around the woman. She carried the woman's basket of sewing tools as they began walking down the street toward Cair Paravel. She stopped suddenly and turned to the woman.

"I almost forgot to ask... What should I call you?" Lucy asked.

The woman said, "I am Mrs. Hilbert, your majesty."

"Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Hilbert!"

The two of them linked arms and returned to their travels back to the palace.

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"Lucy, how in the world did you find such a wonderful seamstress?" Susan asked.

The whole family was sitting around the dinner table in the dining hall. All of them were seated in their usual places. Adela, Cathalina, and Kingston sat at the "kids' table" in the corner. Since the twins were too young to sit in a regular chair, they sat in chairs with a wooden bar in front so they wouldn't fall forward.

"She just happened to have her sign out and I saw it. I can't believe I hadn't heard of her before!" Lucy said.

Analiese cut in. "You're actually trying to say that this was just a stroke of luck? The woman's amazing! I've never seen such a diligent worker in my life!"

"I think you should ask her to work here," Susan suggested. "It would be a shame to lose someone with such talent."

"I agree," Analiese said.

"Okay, after dinner!" said Lucy.

They continued eating. After a moment of silence, Susan spoke again.

"I just noticed Avaline is missing. Does anyone know where she is?"

"Told me she's going to some meeting again," Edmund answered. "Said she'd be back by the time Adela was put to bed."

"Isn't this the second meeting she's attended today?" Susan asked.

"Yeah."

"The second?" Lucy questioned. "This is the first I've heard of."

Susan began to explain. "Well, you missed lunch when you went to town today. She wasn't here for lunch. She came back to hang in the library for about an hour and then left again. I figured she was going to take a nap or play with Adela, but apparently not."

"Did we ever find out what the meeting last night was about?" Analiese asked.

Edmund and Susan shook their heads.

"That's strange. I'm sure it's important, though. She wouldn't miss family meals for nothing."

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A month passed and the nights continued with less and less appearances from Avaline.

One night, she was absent from dinner and returned to her room at eight o'clock.

The night after that, she was missing from lunch and on till dinner. No one saw her until half past seven.

The next day, yet another absence. Only this time, she missed all three meals. She didn't get back to her room until ten o'clock.

The day after this was Friday. Avaline didn't make an appearance until late that night.

The lights in her private bedroom were off when she snuck in. She had suspected this, considering no one had been in the room since that morning, so she carried a small candle with her as a guide. She saw that the clock on the north wall read 12:04 AM. Everyone was usually asleep by this time. There was an even bigger chance that they were all sleeping tonight, since the next day would be a long day of last-minute planning for the twins' party on Sunday.

The past month had gone by with little sleep and much to do. The daily meetings that were held at varying hours of the night had her exhausted by the time she got to her room. She hadn't said more than two words to Edmund that week. It wasn't because she was mad at him, she was just busy.

She knew they'd been talking about her. It was obvious. The palace employees had started gossiping, as well. She had heard a few of the stories they'd made up regarding her absence.

One of the stories doubted her faithfulness to Edmund. Another questioned whether she was hiding a pregnancy. Yet another thought that she was having problems with Edmund and was avoiding him.

All of these were problems that normal people had, not Avaline. Her problems were much bigger than that.

Avaline snapped out of her thoughts when something tapped against her window three times. It was a loud tapping that couldn't be made by anything other than a living creature. She cautiously walked to the window and opened it, looking out. She was startled by the dwarf hanging on to a vine that was attached to the outside wall of the palace.

"Nikabrik, goodness, what are you doing here?" Avaline asked.

"Shhh!" he hushed her. "Well, are you going to invite me in? I can't hang here forever, and we have a lot to discuss."

She moved out of the way of the window so that he could climb inside the room. Once the dwarf was safely inside, she shut the window and made sure the bedroom door was locked.

"Where were you tonight?" she asked. "You know how important this meeting was."

"I had other business to take care of," he replied.

"I can't imagine what could've been more important than this!"

"I wouldn't ditch if it wasn't important. My apologies, my Queen," he said her name with a sarcastic snarl. "Not that you deserve that title."

She rolled her eyes. "Get to the point, alright? It's late."

"We've arranged a royal tour of sorts. You'll be gone for a while, but we have to choose the perfect time for you to leave."

"Wait... how long will I be gone?"

"We have a while to think through details like that. It depends on how things go here."

Avaline sighed. "I need to know the details a month in advance, Nikabrik."

Nikabrik narrowed his eyes. "Don't start being demanding now, queeny. Wouldn't want the truth to accidentally be leaked to the kingdom."

Her face expressed confusion.

"Don't play dumb. You know what I'm talking about."

The dwarf began to go back toward the window. When he was sitting in the window with one leg in the room and the other outside, he turned back to her.

"Don't forget that you owe me."

Then he left, leaving only the open window and its hauntingly warm breeze behind.

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A/N: Sorry this was on the shorter side, but hopefully this was exciting enough! I'm wondering if you guys will be able to figure out Avaline's secret before I tell you! Tell me your theories below, I love reading them! The next few chapters will revolve around Lucy quite a bit since good ole Camden's coming back for a visit. I really love writing things about them. I love you guys; don't forget to review please!