AN: All right, so I was procrastinating on my NaNoWriMo (10000 words behind and slowly falling ever further), and decided, maybe writing something else (which isn't an essay for uni – those keep building) would help. It is poor logic, I know, but it means that you all get a chapter, even if it is only a short one. So after numerous doughnuts (on sale) I got to writing, and hopefully you all will enjoy it.

AN2: Also, really annoyingly, I went to upload this chapter and I lost internet all throughout the block for 40 minutes...

Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia. I am just a poor student. This means that I could never have enough money to buy the rights to it, even if I thought I was deserving of C.S. Lewis's wonderful world.


It wasn't hard to find the class, even in such an unfamiliar place. All I had to do was follow the noise. Teenagers, as you must surely know, are notoriously noisy, and even more so, if they have something exciting to talk about.

I'm pretty sure that meeting a bunch of mythical creatures and finding out your classmate is a King, qualifies as exciting.

For a few seconds I stood outside the door (guarded by the presence of some armed security, which were absolutely everywhere in the building – a stark reminder that the war was only just over), wondering if facing my class so soon was such a good idea. Then I shook myself, reminded myself that I was not a coward and would not hide, squared my shoulders and walked in.

I wasn't quite expecting the scene which hit me when I entered the room. They were in what passed as the living room, with a handful of sofas, a little table (pushed to the side), a few bookshelves, and the rest of the usual things that one would find in a normal house. My class were sprawled all over the floor, happily munching on sandwiches and slurping on juice, whilst shouting over each other in order to make themselves heard. My teacher was sitting calmly on the couch, with the parent chaperones that had volunteered to come on the trip. This was expected.

What was not expected was the sight of the Prime Minister sitting with them.

My eyes narrowed. I could only think of one reason that the Prime Minister would be sitting on the sofa, when I expected him to be working. He clearly wanted to find out information. Specifically he wanted to find out information about me.

Really, I couldn't blame him. I would want to find out information about me if I was in his position, but it did rankle to be so blatantly spied on. I may be used to it, and even done it myself on occasions, but it didn't mean I liked it.

It also didn't help, that I was pretty sure that my teachers were not exactly saying good things about me. They likely enough, were saying all about the time that I was most assuredly the beastliest boy that had ever graced their hallways.

Still, as the class became aware of my presence and quietened down, I hid my annoyance with long standing practice and pasted a warm smile on my face. The Prime Minister quickly got up off his seat, excusing himself from the conversation and hurried over to me.

"Ah, Your Majesty. I see you have finished your meeting then?"

I thought for a second. Did I know everything I needed to know? No, I did not, and likely I wouldn't until I had been into Narnia itself, but did I know enough to proceed? I thought I did, and said as much to the Prime Minister.

He clasped his hands in front of him, "Excellent, excellent. Would you be opposed to continuing discussions now?"

I opened my mouth just as my stomach growled, and the Prime Minister tilted back his head and laughed. I couldn't stop the flush of embarrassment. Kanell put a hand on my shoulder in support.

"I suppose we can wait until you have eaten something. I know boys your age are perpetually hungry and I don't think being a King makes one bit of difference to that."

"I think you might be right?" I said with a wry grin.

"Why don't we continue in half an hour instead? I can get some paperwork done in the mean time."

I quickly agreed and with a nod of the head, the Prime Minister bustled out of the room, presumably to do that paperwork.

I was left standing at the centre of attention of an eagerly watching class.

Well, I was used to been the centre of attention, and just because these boys were my peers did not mean that I couldn't hold myself to the same standards that I always did. There was absolutely no reason at all to be nervous.

Plus, there was a reason I decided to bring Kanell along. I only hoped that he hadn't guessed my reasons. I rather suspected that he had not, but you can never tell with him.

I took a deep breath and made my way over to the sofas where the teachers were sitting. I didn't want to set myself a part from the class, but the fact remained that I was a King, and had to remind them of that, and whether or not it is true, King's in their minds, do not sit on floors.

Why had I thought this would be fun? It was much more like meeting the dwarves for the first time. It felt rather like I had to prove myself to them and I did not like that feeling.

But, if I were being judged, then it stood that I could not allow them to think little of me. With that thought in mind, I centred myself, just the way I had been taught and calmed the twisting in my guts. I leaned back in my chair, smiled languidly, like a great cat, and waited for the interrogation to begin.


Peter was not happy. Scratch that, he was miserable. It was bad enough that he had to be so far away from Edmund, (and that was bad because Peter knew, just knew that Edmund wasn't coping well), that he could manage because he was perfectly aware that he would be with Lucy within a few days and Lucy always was able to cheer him up. No, what made him miserable was quite simply that it was raining.

It had been raining non-stop since he had arrived in Wales and Peter was heartily sick of it. It wasn't a heavy down pore, more like a constant drizzle, but that didn't matter, because after several days of it all of his things, despite being waterproof were thoroughly soaked.

It didn't help, that they had passed several places which would have served as a shelter. Peter had pointed them out, but the other boys had decided that they wanted to press on as far as they could, despite the rain, so that they could spend a few days in a hotel before going home.

Peter didn't like to think badly of other people, but he couldn't help but bitterly think that the other boys were to put it frankly, idiots.

He smiled slightly at that thought. Edmund would be calling Peter an idiot for not ordering them to stop if they were in Narnia.

That was just it though. They weren't in Narnia, and Peter couldn't order them to do anything. He had tried pointing out to them that it was no use anyone getting sick (and if the rain kept up, Peter was pretty sure that the anyone was likely enough to be him – he already had the beginnings of a sniffle), but the other boys wouldn't listen and had just called him a sissy. Peter didn't really care what they called him, but he couldn't force them to follow his lead.

Peter was also quite certain that they were going the wrong way. That he wouldn't point out though, unless he thought they wouldn't be able to figure it out in time to finish by the deadline, since he didn't want to give away that he had superior skills that he, as a city boy, just shouldn't have.

It was a hard thing to do though, because every time one of the boys suggested doing something monumentally stupid, he would think that if Oreius knew what he was doing, he would send Peter on laps round the castle until his legs fell off. Peter did his best to dissuade them from the worst ideas, and in that he was somewhat successful, but still Peter knew that if Oreius knew how long he had been in the rain for (especially since he knew how easily sick Peter got), he would be furious.

Edmund would be even angrier.

Peter smiled at the thought of his brother, and his mood was temporarily improved.

That is until they yet again passed another shelter.


AN: Right, so that is another chapter. Relatively short, but like I said, out earlier than planned.

I'd just at this point like to say, that at the moment the Narnian Revolution Forum is hosting its annual Revolution Awards, and they are still accepting nominations. There are some wonderful stories which need some support to get on the list, and I strongly entreat you all to go on and nominate (and then vote in a few days time). A link can be found on my profile. Even if you don't wish to nominate, it is a fabulous website to find out where some truly quality fics are.