A/N - Hey guys sorry it's been so long. The exciting news is that I have a beta reader now so hopefully my writing will start to improve more! I'll try not to leave it too long between posting chapters.

Chapter Seven - Acceptance

Peter had tried to clear his mind but had not yet had much luck. He found himself once again in the apple orchard trying to calm himself down, his efforts clearly ineffective due to the force of the wind whipping around him.
'Peter.' Susan's gentle voice somehow carried through the wind and he turned to find her behind him. 'You need to calm down and you need to have more faith in Lucy.' At that, for the second time that day, Peter snapped. 'SHE IS MY LITTLE SISTER AND SHE IS PUTTING HER LIFE IN DANGER! SHE COULD GET HERSELF KILLED SHE'S JUST A CHILD… SHE'S MY RESPONSIBILITY!' during his rant he had turned his back on Susan, he spun round expecting to see her disapproving look she used whenever she went into her mothering mode. Instead what he was greeted with was eyes flashing and fire growing from Susan's palms. The queen, whilst gentle was also fierce when she wanted to be. Peter, slightly taken aback by his sister's violent look stopped mid-rant. Susan took the opportunity to begin her own. 'A – Lucy is far from little and has been taught by one of the best fighters in the kingdom!' Susan threw a fireball at Peter, which he just managed to deflect with a gust of air, when it looked like he was going to interrupt her. 'B – You know how much she's been through, how much we've all been through these past 10 years and Lucy is the bravest of us all. C – She is 19, an ADULT and can be responsible for her own choices. Finally, she isn't a little girl anymore and you need to stop treating her like one, she is amazing and valiant and doesn't deserve to be shunned by her over-protective older brother for wanting to learn to protect herself!' With each point she made Susan had taken a step towards her brother a fireball thrown with each one. Peter was shocked. He had never seen his sister so angry and it started to make him re-evaluate his point of view. He thought about he would have felt in Lucy's shoes, the only one of four that didn't know how to fight. Suddenly the gale around them stopped and with that the fire in Susan's hands diminished. 'I know you love her' she said quietly, 'but you've got to understand her reasons.' and with that his wise sister turned on her heels and left the orchard.

As Susan left the orchard a wave of stress came over her and she looked down at her hands to see sparks of fire dancing across her palms. When she was out of Peter's sight, she stopped, closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. She wasn't one to give in to large displays of emotion and it was a sign of how furious she was that she had actually fought with Peter. However, she wasn't just cross with him, she was cross with herself as well. Lucy shouldn't have had to train in secret, she should have spoken up when Peter refused to let her learn to fight. When they had first come to Narnia, Susan had fallen into the roll of mother to her siblings, even Peter. She kept a clear head and tried to protect them from danger. It was that mothering personality that had caused her to agree with Peter that Lucy should not train. She couldn't bear to see her little sister hurt. She frowned to herself. What a hypocrite she was. Ever since she had entered Narnia she had been on the battlefield with her bow and arrow putting her life in danger alongside Peter and Edmund. To Lucy it must have seemed that she was the odd one out. And what if Susan had died on the field. Then her siblings would have no mothering voice to take care of them. She had the sudden realisation that her fight with Peter had not just been about the way he treated Lucy, but the way she had treated her sister as well. Her younger sister was no longer a child. Susan had had to grow up fast when they arrived in Narnia and she hadn't wanted the same for her sister. It turned out that her sister had to teach herself how to grow up instead. Susan sighed, ashamed of her actions. She conjured a fireball and stared at the dancing flames in her hand for a few seconds as she thought. She then curled her hand up into a fist, extinguishing the fireball, she had an apology to make.

Peter was sat on the training field cross-legged with the dryad Helena in front of him. Helena could control the air and so took the lead in Peter's training. Peter was still conflicted over Lucy's actions and his fight with Susan and had decided to train to take his mind off it. He was currently focusing on how to control his power with more ease as sometimes it resisted him, which wouldn't be great in battle when he would need to call on it in a split second. 'Close your eyes' Helena commanded, 'and think back to the moment you discovered your power. What did you feel?' Peter cast back his thoughts to the events of the apple orchard and what his mind had been focusing on. Fear. The fear that he could not protect his family. 'Now', Helena continued, 'keep hold of that emotion, but don't let it overcome you. Harness is, use it to your advantage.' Peter's thoughts turned to Lucy. She had always been strong but this new show of strength brought Peter more fear than he had ever felt. She had learnt to protect herself but at what cost? Her thirst for battle put her in more danger he would ever want to experience. The air around him picked up and became stronger as Peter started to panic. 'Careful my King', Helena warned, wary of the increasing strength of the wind, 'do not let the emotion overcome you, do not let it control you.' Gradually the wind became less aggressive and Peter found himself being able to control it at a moment's thought once he realised that, instead of letting fear drive his actions, he must accept it before he could overcome it. Helena smiled 'You are a fast learner Your Majesty.' Peter smiled back at her, 'I am grateful to the help you have given me in controlling my gift. I only hope it is enough to defeat our unknown foe on the battlefield.' Helena looked at him, a wise look on her face,
'Battles are won with more than just strength and power my King.' She stood, curtseyed and disappeared into the woods to leave Peter, once again sitting on his own, his thoughts wondering back to Lucy.

The queen in question was currently lying on her bed, fiddling with the dagger Father Christmas gave her. Her mind was troubled. On the one hand, it was a relief to finally reveal her secret to her family, she hated telling lies. On the other, Peter had clearly not taken the news well. The look of betrayal on her older brother's face had upset her. There was a knock on the door. 'Come in!' she called, sitting up, hoping it was Peter. When Jay poked his head around the door her hopeful look dropped, but she was still happy to see her best friend. Jay could tell immediately Lucy was feeling down and he was determined to change that. Lucy was constantly happy and hated seeing others sad or unhappy. Jay loved that about her and hated it when she was not her usual bubbly self. He sat down on the bed and drew his friend into a hug. Lucy burrowed into him and let loose all her worries, 'The way Peter looked at my Jay! He'll never trust me again! Maybe we shouldn't have kept the training a secret so long but I had to do it Jay. I had to know how to protect myself. And what if he punishes you for it! I can't let that happen! It's not your fault it's mine it's-' She was cut off as Jay pulled her out of the hug, placed his hands on her arms and looked her dead in the eye. 'Lucy Pevensie, you are the valiant queen and Peter needs to learn to see that. Do not blame yourself for this. You had every right to learn how to fight and I only followed my Queen's orders. If Peter can't see how amazing, fierce and talented you are then he doesn't deserve to have you as his sister.' Lucy was shocked at Jay's outburst and stared at his face that was deadly serious. She pulled him into another fierce hug. It was from this hug that they sprang when another knock came at the door. Both, for reasons they couldn't explain, had guilty looks on their faces. 'Come in!' Lucy called, coming to her senses after a brief moments pause. To her surprise it was Peter's head that came round the door. He frowned slightly when he saw Jay but he said nothing, he'd done enough damage for one day. 'Lucy, may I speak to you alone?' Peter asked, unsure if his sister would agree. She and Jay shared a look, she nodded to him and he got up and left the room. Peter walked up to Lucy and sat on the bed beside her. They stared at each other for a moment until both blurted out at the same 'I'm sorry!' then looked at each other with identical looks of surprise. 'Me first.' Peter said. He hated seeing his sister upset and he knew that his words earlier had hurt her. He took a deep breath. 'Lu, I'm so sorry. I should have treated you like an adult earlier and… I should have let you train all those years ago. It was stupid and selfish of me not to. I thought if I didn't let you train I could protect you but I now see that you are incredibly capable of protecting yourself. You are amazingly skilled and talented but most of all you are valiant and you should always embrace that no matter what your stupid over-protective older brother might tell you.' There was a moment's silence as Lucy took in Peter's speech before her face lit up in a huge smile and Peter let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. 'Peter, you had every right to be angry I should have told you sooner, but I'm so glad you know now. It means I can finally have a chance to defeat you on the training field.' She said with a wicked grin. Peter returned the smile, 'You may be good Lu, but you're dealing with the master here.' Lucy arched an eyebrow in response,
'We'll have to test that theory then won't we.' she replied. Both siblings fell into laughter and hugged warmly glad to see the other happy again. 'Come on,' said Peter, 'we may be facing imminent danger, but it has been ten years since our coronation and we've got a ball to plan.'