UPDATE: 12/15: Many things in the next few chapters seemed pointless and dragging to me. Back then, I was hugely involved with a few weddings IRL, and that sort of took over my writing process and I put in too much unnecessary wedding prep into the story. Now, unfortunately, I do not have the time to rewrite the chapters, but I've decided to delete, combine and edit the next few chapters... and omitting a lot of preparation nonsense. Don't worry - the story still remains the same. But hopefully, it will fit better with the setting now.

Disclaimer: Narnia does not belong to me; it belongs to the person who wrote it!

.

'FATE OR DESTINY?'

A BLUNT CONVERSATION

.

Morning came sooner than Peter had wanted. He lay on his bed, awake, going over the conversation he had had with Aslan last night.

"I don't love her. I barely even looked at her. Don't you think she deserves someone better than me?"

"There is no one better than you for her, and she for you. Give it some time, my child, I know the two of you will fall in love with each other."

"More like learn to love… and that would only be because we wouldn't have any other choice, not because we wanted to."

"I will say no further, I will just ask you this question some time later."

"How will I say those oaths of marriage when I won't even mean them?"

"Well then, you will have to mean them."

"You are forcing me to live a lie, Aslan; one that will stretch till the end of my life"

"No, Peter, I am merely telling you to accept the truth."

"Whatever I say, you just remain resolute that I am supposed to marry her. You won't even listen to me, so why have this 'meeting'?"

"She will be your wife. You will have to treat her right... It will take some time, accepting her as your wife, and perhaps some more time in loving her entirely, but you must remember all the vows you will make to her and you must live up to them."

A pregnant pause, "I know"

"You are a strong man, Peter, and you have a family that loves you, and friends who care for you. They will be with you. I am sure that with their support and with your own strength, you will go through all this easily."

"I hope so." Peter had said. He doubted it, though.

[][][][][][][]

I have to talk to Peter before breakfast. I don't want his rude behavior at the dining table again.

With this thought in her mind, Queen Susan exited her chambers and ran down the hallway, hoping to catch her older brother before he reached the dining hall. As she rounded a corner, she saw Caspian's surprised face before she crashed into him. The two of them toppled over to the ground, their fall made worse by Susan's speed.

"Oof!" Caspian grunted as he landed on his back, and Susan landed on top of him. For a second he could not breathe and for a millisecond he thought he would die. Before he could even berate himself for that silly thought, the air filled his lungs again. On the top of him, Susan was panting slightly, due to her running. He felt his face heat up for reasons unknown to him.

Slowly, Susan raised her head, only to look at Caspian's face only inches from hers. His mouth was slightly open as he breathed through it and his black eyes reflecting a little embarrassment and a lot of confusion were looking at her. Susan couldn't help but think that the king was indeed good-looking. A moment later, she placed her hands on his chest and propped herself up.

His hands quickly made their way to her waist as he helped her sit, and then got up too. "A-Are you alright, my queen?"

"Yes" Susan mumbled, "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

Susan looked at him, only to find concern etched on his striking face, "Yes, Caspian. I was just in a hurry. I am sorry; I did not mean to bump into you."

"Crash, you mean?" Caspian laughed, "It's alright. No one got hurt. Now, I hope you wouldn't mind telling me the reason of your hurry. I would love to help you."

Up till now, the reason for entirely forgotten by the queen, however, as Caspian mentioned it she remembered it and quickly stood up. "Oh, I almost forgot! I wanted to meet Peter."

"You will, in the dining room."

"No, I have to meet him before that." Upon seeing the perplexed look on the king's face she added quickly, "No time to explain. But I have to talk to him."

A few minutes later, Susan reached the High-King's chambers and to her utter dismay, no one was inside. Without thinking, she dashed out and ran towards the dining room. Her heart gave a sigh of relief when she saw Peter, a few feet from the entrance, walking towards it. She called out to him. He stopped and turned around to face her, his gaze questioning.

"Pete!" Susan panted, as skidded to a halt before her brother, "I was looking for you."

"And congratulations, you found me," Peter replied.

"We have to talk." Susan took Peter's hand and pulled him. Reluctantly, the latter obliged and followed his sister. Susan led him onto a terrace overlooking the entire city. "I wanted to talk to you about Isabel."

"What about her?"

"She seems a fine girl to me, Peter." Peter exhaled in frustation but otherwise remained quiet. The Gentle Queen continued, "She is going through the same things time as you. She was called away from the life she was living only to be told that she will have to marry someone she does not know. You, of all people, should know the feeling."

"Yes, I do. So?"

"So treat her well, Pete."

"Well?" Peter asked, looking at his sister incredulously, "It's not like I ordered her to be hanged."

"Honestly, Peter," Susan crossed her arms, "You didn't even talk to her. Leave that, you did not even look at her, for goodness sake!"

"I'm sure I will have plenty of time to look at her once we're married."

"You have to accept the fact that you have to marry her and you have to accept the fact that you will have to talk to her and show her some politeness."

"What did I do so wrong that I'm getting this lecture from you?" He snapped.

"'Getting help is one thing, but I will not let you hand it over to someone entirely'" Susan quoted Peter's words from last night, "Did you notice your tone, Peter Pevensie, when you said these words? And did you even think what you were saying? ... Lovely way of welcoming someone – let alone your wife-to-be – by telling them that you do not trust them and that you will be better off without them."

"I did not mean these words like that. I was just trying to tell Ed that he has to do his work by himself."

"Really?" Susan asked. "You knew Ed was joking, don't you? You know as well as I do that Edmund is much focused when it comes to his work."

"Yes, but I was just –"

"I know, Peter, I know." A pause, "All I am saying is that it will not kill you to acknowledge Isabel. And if you cannot be nice to her, at least don't be rude to her. You are the magnificent High-King, Peter, and I have seen you live up to your title. Don't let one unexpected patch in life change your true being. You are much too strong and smart to let that happen. Hmm?" She placed her hand on his arm and squeezed it affectionately before heading towards the heading towards the dining room.

[][][][][][][]

"Thank you for the clothes you sent, Queen Susan" Isabel said during breakfast.

"Didn't I tell you not to thank me?" Susan asked, and then laughed, "Isabel is just like Caspian! No matter how much you stop him, he will still address you with your titles and all that."

Caspian just smiled sheepishly.

Breakfast was better than the dinner last night. Even though Isabel was still a little reserved – which was natural – and Peter was a little quiet – which was expected – still there was less tension in the air. Everyone had talked for at least three to four times, something that Susan considered a good sign. Also, no one had said something awkward or wrong. It was just a healthy meal with small, healthy conversation.

"So, Peter," Edmund said through mouthfuls of toast, "How did the meeting with Aslan go last night?"

Susan felt like slapping herself on the forehead. Even though no one knew what the meeting was about, they had guessed that it had something to do with Peter's marriage. She aimed a kick at Edmund from under the table and gave a satisfied smirk when the heels she was wearing made their mark.

"Ouch, Susan! What was that for?"

The satisfied smirk quickly vanished as she heard Peter say these words. The High King was wincing as a result of Susan's bad aim - there was irony in there somewhere, but she had no time to think about it. Susan began, slightly embarrassed and slightly guilty, "I – err – mistake? Oops my bad!"

"How can she be the best archer in the whole of Narnia," Peter muttered, glaring at Susan, "when she can't even aim a kick properly?"

"Hey," Edmund said, "Su was aiming a kick at someone? Who?" He then shrunk as his older siblings glared at him. Taking four bites one after the other he stuttered, "Me? What did I do?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full." With that Peter returned to his meal. A couple of minutes of silence passed, and he spoke again, "The meeting with Aslan was long. Why did you ask, Ed?"

At this five pairs of eyes looked up at him surprised – though one of them which belonged to a new face quickly lowered again. No one expected Peter to talk about his talk with the Lion.

"No special reason," Edmund gulped down his food and wondered how much he could push Peter, "So, what did you talk about? I mean, I just wanted to know if it was something that needed our attention, you know, if you needed help or something."

"As a matter of fact there is. There is an event coming up," Peter replied indifferently, "Aslan wants me to get married seven days from today."

"What?" Four voices rose simultaneously.

Surprise and shock dripped from them. Across from Peter, Isabel looked up abruptly in astonishment. Her eyes locked for a second with Peter's as they quietly stared at each other. Peter then broke the gaze as he turned to look at the others who were bombarding him with questions.

"You agreed?" Edmund was the first.

"Well, yes." Peter replied. Better get it over with, he thought to himself. "What is wrong with having a wedding after a week?"

"Everything!" Susan replied. "You should have asked us." She seemed to be in deep thought. "Finish your breakfast. And then I want to see all of you in the library after exactly two hours. All of you – no exceptions, and be there on time." With that, she got up and left.

[][][][][][][]

Peter walked into the library. He checked the time – there was still ten minutes till everybody came and listened to whatever Susan had to say. Knowing her, it would probably be something bossy and controlling. Peter was dreading this 'meeting' already.

Edmund was probably thinking along the similar lines. "I want to run away." He said.

"Why would you want to run away?" Peter asked.

"I don't know. Susan seemed serious when she left… and she frightens me when she is serious."

"Don't you want to know what she has to say?"

"I'm sure you would inform me if it was important."

"You sure are wrong, because I won't"

"But, what if she will lecture us about something?"

"What did you do this time, young man?"

"Me? Nothing… yet! In any case her lectures are torture, and you know that."

"In that case, we all should be there. We will suffer together."

"I'm your little brother. I know you will never let me suffer. Being the nice brother you are, you will listen to all Su has to say… and let me go. Right?"

"Wrong. Just shut up and stay here."

"Fine." Edmund stomped his foot and went away to sit on a couch.

Amused, Peter sank into an armchair. It wasn't long before the others came in as well, seating themselves in a circle.

Susan was last to come, papers in her hands. "I will be direct and to the point." She said, "I talked to Aslan about Peter's and Isabel's marriage being next week. Aslan, as always, has his reasons. I begged him to postpone it, not because I have some problems with Isabel but because I think we will not have enough time to arrange it. But since Isabel had told Aslan that she would be ready to marry whenever he said and" A pause as she frowned at Peter, "because a certain someone did not bother to ask us before agreeing to his wedding date, Aslan said it would be better if the wedding took place next week." Another pause, "So people, it is time to take some action."

"I'll get my sword right away!" Edmund said, standing up, but he sat down again as the Gentle Queen looked at him not-so-gently.

"As I was saying," Susan continued, "We have a wedding to plan. There is so much to do. And we have little – wait, almost no time. So we have to start immediately. That is why I called you here."

"Wedding planning?" Peter said in disbelief, "That is the reason why you called me here?"

"Yes."

"What a waste of time."

Susan glared at her brother. "You may think that, if you want, but you are the High King of Narnia, and there are certain expectations from you and your wedding. We must live up to them." She paused for a second. "Now, let us begin."

The next couple of hours were probably the longest of Peter's life. And judging by the depth of Susan's planning, the next few days would not be getting better either. Peter wondered if he could just... 'accidentally' hurt himself so he could be confined to his chambers as he recuperated. Tempting as it was, the idea was not a good one, so he grudgingly discarded it.

By the end of the meeting, several things had been decided: Both Edmund and Caspian would be Peter's best-men; he didn't want to choose one. Susan and Lucy would serve as Isabel's bridesmaids; she knew no one else. And Susan had a long list of things that needed deciding, half of which made no sense to Peter - so he decided to call them: 'clothes, decorations and food'. Not that it mattered. He just wanted to be done with this wedding, he didn't care what it looked like.

"I was thinking of a bachelor's party for Pete." Edmund stated somewhere during the discussion.

"NO!" Susan said firmly.

"What, why?"

"You cannot have a bachelor's party. Those things are barbaric!"

"As the 'best man' I have every right to throw the groom a stag night. Just because someone doesn't approve does not mean you cannot have it. There is no law like that, and trust me, I would know if there were."

"I don't need a bachelor's party" Peter interrupted.

"As the groom, you have no right to deny the rights of your groomsmen" he pointed at himself and Caspian, "As long as our intentions are well, we can arrange a party for you."

Peter sunk back in his chair.

Susan glowered as she reluctantly agreed. Lucy then suggested having some sort of bridal shower for Isabel.

"Bridal shower?" Edmund said in a tone that was a perfect mixture of insolence, mockery and haughtiness. He was a brother after all, and he loved teasing his sisters. "What's that? Do you all take a bath that day?"

"Why do you ask?" Lucy replied irritated, "Oh, so you could arrange some binoculars for the event?"

"'Binoculars for the event'" Edmund mimicked Lucy's expression, "NO! I'm just wondering why you are having a stupid girl's party."

"Well, if you can have a stupid bachelor's party then so can we."

Peter tuned the rest of the conversation out. When the stupid meeting finally ended, Peter stormed into his office and shut the door, resisting the urge to punch a wall. As if getting married in a week to a complete stranger wasn't dreadful enough, now I have to plan for it too…

[][][][][][][]

Isabel slipped into her silk nightgown, eager to go to bed. After the 'meeting' in the library, most of her day was spent seeing the Palace grounds and the Palace itself (though she found its ways hard to memorize) and buying clothes for her with Susan and Lucy. She got along well with the two queens, something she was thankful for.

She thought about how much her life had changed and how much it would change. After a week, she would be married to a King. After a week, she would be someone's wife. After a week, Isabel Hunter would cease to live, and Isabel Pevensie would be born... Isabel Pevensie, wife of Peter Pevensie, the High-King of Narnia.

Peter Pevensie...

A small frown formed on her face as she lay down on her bed, deep in thought. The man clearly disliked her. His attitude towards her had been cold, if not rude. He had not spoken a word to her since the 'my lady' when they had first met. It was as if she didn't even exist for him. I don't blame him though, She thought, He does not wish to be married, but he does not have any choice... Neither do I.

She wondered how this marriage would affect her. How the presence of a man who did not even talk to her would change her life, and more importantly, her own self... She fell deep in her thoughts, away from the world around her. Her eyelids began to droop. Her confusions turned into haziness, dark and swirling in her mind, as if hypnotizing her and soon, her thoughts pulled her closer to sleep.

Knock. Knock.

The tapping on the door made Isabel jump, and for a moment, fear took hold of her. Then she realised where she was. Taking a deep breath, she walked towards the door and opened it. She froze.

Before her, in the doorway, stood High-King Peter. He used his hand to comb his hair, unconsciously messing them even more. Then, he abruptly withdrew his hand from his hair and inclined his head respectfully, "My lady."

His voice made Isabel snap out of her shock. "M-My king." That was when she realized that he was still standing patiently at the doorstep. "Oh, I'm sorry, please come in." She opened the door further and stepped aside. Peter entered without a word and moved to sit in one of the armchairs, patiently waiting for her to join him. She walked a few steps forward and then halted. "Would you like to have some water?" She asked good-naturedly. She had nothing else in the room to offer her visitor, but considered it rude not to offer anything at all.

"No thank you," Peter shook his head and pointed at the chair across from him, "Please, my lady, have a seat."

Isabel obeyed, eyeing the man before her - The man who would be her husband a week from now. Strength and spirit seemed to radiate from him, along with nobility. She sat there quietly for a minute hoping he would speak, but when he didn't, she slowly began, "How may I help you, my king?"

"Please, call me Peter." He waved his hand and then said, "I have come here to apologize for my behavior towards you ever since you came here. I have been awfully discourteous and -"

"You don't have to apologize to me, your majesty." She cut in. "I understand what you are going through. I, of all people, certainly do."

He was slow to respond. "I suppose… Still I express my regret." A pause, "I will also take this opportunity to welcome you, properly."

"Thank you, your highness."

"Just Peter"

"Peter" She said, slowly, uncertainly.

"If you don't mind, may I ask you something?" He asked.

"You may."

"Why are you marrying me?"

That surprised her. "That is a direct question, Peter." He opened his mouth to speak and she shook her head. "No, don't apologize. I merely wish to say that such a blunt question will have a blunt answer as well."

A ghost of a smile appeared on his face. At least, she thought it did; she found his face quite hard to read. "I'm sure I would be able to handle it."

"I am marrying you because I have been told to do so, and there is nothing else I can do but agree to it."

"So, you do not wish to marry me?"

She bit her lip, wondering if this was some sort of test... "Honestly? No."

"Am I that bad?"

"No, of course not." She said quickly, hoping she hadn't offended him. She noticed his eyes twinkle, and realised a moment too late that he was joking. She hesitated, unsure what to make of... all of this. What was she supposed to say, and how much of her could she bare before him? "I don't think I should be wife to the High King. I never wanted this, and I've paid a steep price to be here..." She trailed off, shaking her head lightly. When she spoke again, her voice was firmer. "Besides, someone who has done so much for others deserves to choose his own mate. You deserve better than a bride forced upon you, your majesty. I will be a burden on you."

Peter was silent, and she could tell he was stunned at her words. She hoped that she had voiced what his mind - if not all, then at least a selfish part of it - said to him. It would only be natural if he thought so. Slowly, he shook his head. "My wife will not be a burden on me, whether I choose her myself or whether someone else chooses her for me. Of that you can be sure, my lady."

He was a man of honour, of that she had no doubt, but... could she believe his words? "And you," she asked instead, "Do you wish to marry me?"

His reply came instantly. "Honestly: No." He said, "I don't think I am ready to get married, and obviously I had hoped that I would have a chance at... courtship before I said my vows. It would be an understatement to say that the news of this marriage shocked me, not that it matters any more."

"I'm sorry." She couldn't help but say.

"None of this is your fault, my lady"

"Please, just call me 'Isabel'"

"Isabel." He uttered her name slowly, as if tasting how it rolled off his tongue. A short silence passed and he slowly stood up. "You have been honest with me. Thank you."

"And you." Isabel rose to her feet and followed him to the door.

Once Peter had stepped out, he turned to Isabel. He gave her an awkward smile which she returned in the same manner. "Good night, Isabel."

"Good night, P-Peter."

Isabel waited long enough to see him turning away before she gently shut the door, and leaned against it. She slid to the floor, immersed in her thoughts. She had just seen another side of the High-King in their meeting. Even though reserved, she had seen a noble, confused young man within him. She saw a man who was being forced into living a life he did not wish to live. She saw a man who would live that life nonetheless, because it was his duty to do so. She now knew that he would marry her and respect her, yes, but he would never accept her as a wife from his heart – that much was clear.

She wondered if she should worry about this. She knew this was a fact, but she neither felt happy about it nor sad. She felt blank. Maybe because she did not know what she should be expecting from this marriage. Or maybe because another question nagged her mind: She would too marry him and respect him, but would she ever be able to accept High-King Peter as her husband? Will this marriage truly be the union of two souls or would it end up ruining their lives and happiness?

This chapter ends here – officially!

Next chapter: a long week begins – the wedding plans go on. But will Peter and Isabel fall in love? Will the wedding take place? Will Caspian and Susan realize their feelings for each other? For this and a lot more, stay tuned! :P

Oh and please do review!