Disclaimer: I own nothing in this marvelous universe; it all belongs to C.S. Lewis and Walden Media.

Reviewers: Thank you, all of you, for your wonderful reviews and for being so patient!

Author's Note: Equalis fratres (which is explained in the chapter below) has replaced fratrum aequalis—thanks, Gemina! Please enjoy this long-awaited chapter—it's gone through so many revisions I've lost count! :sheepish smile:

Rating: T

Summary: What if Lucy had decided to go across the gorge when she saw Aslan, regardless of whether her siblings came with her? At least she won't be alone…and it is not just Aslan who joins her…(AU, Book and Moviebased)

"Speech"

/Personal Thoughts/

Memories/Excerpts/Quotes (Italics)

(8) Prince Caspian pgs. 385-386 in The Complete Chronicles of Narnia (Paperback)

Keeping the Faith

By Sentimental Star

Chapter Eight: The Reconciling of Swords


"Lucy," said Susan in a very small voice.

"Yes?" said Lucy.

"I see him now. I'm sorry."

"That's all right."

"But I've been far worse than you know. I really believed it was him—he, I mean—yesterday. When he warned us not to go down to the fir wood. And I really believed it was him tonight, when you woke us up. I mean, deep down inside. Or I could have, if I'd let myself. But I just wanted to get out of the woods and—and—oh, I don't know. And whatever am I to say to him?"

"Perhaps you needn't say much," suggested Lucy. (8)


Early the next morning, Lucy crept through the silent halls and corridors of Aslan's How in pursuit of her wayward brothers. She had left Susan to find Caspian, telling her sister only, when she had asked, that she wanted to find Peter and Edmund for breakfast. But Susan had smiled, not fooled in the least, and waved her ahead.

Susan knew, as Lucy did, that their brothers were still trying to heal the rift that had grown between them in England. They had found the boys curled together, fast asleep, last night when they returned to the room previously only occupied by Lucy and Edmund, and it had sent hope wildly pounding through the younger girl's heart. It had also made her all the more determined to mend her own friendship with Susan which, although not quite so badly fractured as the one between Peter and Edmund, had nonetheless suffered for being in England.

But first, she had to make sure Edmund was okay. She did not doubt Susan would soon follow, likely with Caspian in tow, in order to assure herself of the same with Peter. It was something the two sisters had begun long ago in Narnia—their brothers were strong, fine kings (great kings if you asked Lucy), but the instant one of them fell, the other became a liability unto himself. Lucy and Susan stepped in then, Oreius or one of their other friends if neither of the queens were there, and that was why their reign in Narnia was called the Golden Age.

Somewhere over the years it had become second nature, and often, Lucy was the one to fill that role with Edmund while Susan had taken on the daunting task of doing the same for Peter. Of course, Edmund was slightly more receptive to it than Peter, who disliked any of his younger siblings taking on the role of his protector.

That had been the basis of most of his rows with Edmund, actually, and Lucy had had her work cut out for her whenever such a situation arose. She (and Susan) had even resorted to drugging their brothers on occasion when they became particularly unreasonable, and she was absurdly grateful she'd not had to use such tactics on this adventure.

/Although/ she reflected wryly, heading for an upper level of Aslan's How, /now that Peter's more himself, I shouldn't get my hopes up./

Whatever Miraz's plans were, and however they panned out, Lucy did not doubt that her brothers would be right in the thick of it.

"Lucy, wait up."

Susan's voice rang out in the corridor and she heard her older sister's footsteps pattering up behind her.

With a smile, Lucy stopped, turning towards the sound, and watched as the older girl joined her. "Where's Caspian, Su?"

Susan gave a slightly breathless laugh. "That boy, I swear…he has to be the politest man I've ever met!"

"Even more than Rabadash?" Lucy teased warmly, unable to help herself.

Susan pulled herself up primly as they began walking, but the laughter sparkling in her eyes belied it. "Rabadash wasn't polite. He was simpering."

Lucy grinned. "Or perhaps it's just you," she suggested playfully. "You are considered the most beautiful woman since Queen Swanwhite, after all."

Susan rolled her eyes tenderly. "Don't remind me, Lu. Ed's already teased me incessantly about having beauty that's 'naturally daunting.' Apparently, Caspian's utterly terrified of me and we're both gorgeous, so he's fairly confident he won't hear anything to the contrary."

Lucy giggled. "Gorgeous, huh? That's a high compliment, coming from Ed."

Susan sighed, suddenly serious, and rubbed the back of her neck. "Yes, I know. And I'm a little worried about what he's going to say to Peter, Lu. You know how he is. He never says anything unless he means it and frankly, after the way they've been this past year…I'm just afraid that he'll be a little too harsh."

It was Lucy's turn to sigh. "And doubtless regret it later. But you know," muttered, as she crossed her arms over her chest and faced front, "he has every right to be harsh." She turned to Susan with a slight frown as they walked, her own eyes very serious, "I forgave Peter the moment we were left alone in the Table Chamber, Susan, but with Edmund…Ed will never admit it, Su, but Peter hurt him. Badly. And he never even noticed! He was too wrapped up in his own worries and too concerned about starting the next fight to even stop a minute and show Edmund that he still cared!"

Susan was quiet, and glanced sidelong at Lucy. "Almost like I was too worried about adjusting back to life in England to notice how much you missed me?" asked softly.

Lucy clamped down on her bottom lip and willed herself not to cry. Adept at reading people though Edmund was, this was one thing only Susan would have been able to see.

She gave a single nod.

Susan looped her arm through Lucy's and clasped it to her tightly. "I'm really sorry, Lucy," she whispered. "I did believe you, you know. When you said you saw Aslan across the gorge—I really did believe you. But I didn't want to say anything because I wasn't sure and—and—oh, I don't know. You've always been right about things like that and I can't think why I didn't remember it before. I know you'll probably say not to worry about it and that it's all right—you were crying so hard last night and hugging me so much that it sort of said it all by itself. But it does matter, Lu, and I wanted to make sure you knew that."

Lucy bowed her head and rested it against Susan's shoulder, gripping her older sister's arm tightly back. "I won't say it didn't hurt, Su," she replied lowly. She took in a long, deep breath and held her sister's arm a little tighter, "but then…I wasn't much better, you know. I didn't even try to understand where you were coming from, just got angry at you for treating me like a little girl and forgetting that we used to be more than sisters."

Susan winced slightly. "I know. I'm sorry." She hesitated and almost didn't ask, "Can we go back to that, Lu? Go back to being friends again? I-I missed you, you know. Not just my little sister." She fell quiet a minute. "My best friend," she finally added softly.

Lucy gave a wet laugh and pulled away as they continued their walk (having stopped when Susan started in on her apology). "Now that you didn't even need to ask."

Susan gave a shaky grin and gently twirled her sister around. "Then I won't."

"Susan?" Lucy asked when she stopped twirling.

"Yes?"

"You still haven't told me where Caspian is."

IOIOIOIOIOI

It turned out Caspian was in the armory. He had parted from Susan almost as soon as she had found him, insisting that he did not wish to intrude. Lucy called him out on it soundly when they joined him half an hour later.

"Goodness, Caspian," she teased warmly, "you'd think you were unimportant, nothing like a king, certainly. If you were any more humble we'd simply sweep you beneath a door mat and be done with it."

The prince shrugged shyly. "This is the first all four of you have been together in a number of days, Queen Lucy. I did not want to take you away from your siblings."

"Caspian," Lucy responded patiently, "what did we tell you last night?"

The prince rolled his eyes good-naturedly, but did not try to conceal their warmth. "That no matter the difference in time or place, all sovereigns of Narnia are family," repeated dutifully, with a small grin.

"Good!" the younger girl retorted with a bright laugh, dropping a kiss on his cheek and gently swatting his arm. "Don't forget it."

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Susan hiding a smile. She turned to her older sister with a faint pout. "What?"

Susan laughed outright. "Lu, if Caspian's face were any redder, he'd be rushed off to a Healer for fear he had caught a fever."

Of course, her remark did nothing whatsoever to help out Caspian—who indeed was very red.

Lucy turned back to him…and smothered another laugh. "Caspian, honestly…"

The prince shrugged helplessly. "I'm not used to being part of a family, Lucy."

The younger girl's eyes softened as she became serious. "Oh, Caspian…"

The older boy shrugged again, sheepish smile on his face. "So you see where I'm coming from."

Lucy sighed. "Caspian--"

But at that moment Susan suddenly cocked her head towards the entrance of Aslan's How, listening intently, and Lucy trailed off, turning to watch her. "Susan?" she asked, worried.

Seeing the older queen's attention focused intently outside, Caspian tensed, his hand automatically going to the hilt of his sword. "Queen Susan?" he asked lowly.

She didn't even notice he had finally called her by the name she'd been trying to get him to since coming here. "Shh!" she hushed him.

While Caspian and Lucy grew more and more worried, she made her way over to the threshold of Aslan's How. All movement stilled, and Lucy was frightened enough that she hissed, "Susan, what is it?!"

She was utterly startled by the large grin her older sister turned to her. "You had no luck finding Ed and Peter, right?"

Frazzled, Lucy managed, "Yes, but--"

"You just needed to know where to look," softly spoken with a fond grin.

Lucy turned sharply at the loud clang of metal against metal, joining her sister where Susan stood in the threshold of the How, gazing out into the rapidly brightening dawn. Her first instinct when she saw their brothers was to panic, particularly because of what Susan had said only half an hour earlier. Then she remembered that this was Edmund, and while Edmund was sometimes unpredictable, one thing about him always remained constant—his loyalty to Peter (to his siblings in general, actually).

A glance at his face confirmed it. Even while her two brothers sparred, she could see a faint smile forming on Edmund's lips.

She let her breath out heavily and exchanged an elated glance with Susan.

No matter the argument, no matter how estranged the two boys had been over the past year, if they could still spar, then everything would be all right. It always worked this way—if Peter and Edmund couldn't find common ground by talking, they found it by sparring, and sparring always worked.

Really, it was a treat to watch them, and she could tell by the awed and appreciative widening of Caspian's eyes as the three of them crept out and settled themselves at the top of the entry ramp outside, that the prince thought so, too.

"This must be like something out of a fairytale for you," Susan observed softly as they sat watching Edmund and Peter spar.

Caspian nodded his head so vigorously, eyes riveted on the other two boys, that Lucy thought it might very well fall off. She stifled a laugh. "He's not the only one," she murmured, nodding back towards the How where everywhere, everyone from Dwarves and Talking Animals, to Satyrs and Fauns—even Centaurs and Minotaurs—had stopped whatever tasks they were doing and were busily engaged in watching their two legendary kings duel, fascinated. That included Glenstorm who, with Trumpkin, had come up behind them, and now had his unwavering attention focused on the two young men.

"Crockery and crumpets," Lucy heard Trumpkin mutter behind her, as Peter executed a complex combination of duck-spin-dart-roll (with an accompanying series of thrust-parry-parry-swing to augment it), "with a teacher like that, little wonder King Edmund bested me."

"Oh, it wasn't just him," Susan assured the Dwarf absently, "they had the best swordsmaster anyone could ask for." Which, though it went unnoticed by both girls, produced a fiercely proud expression on Glenstorm's face.

"And I'd say Edmund taught Peter equally well," Lucy added, smiling slightly as she watched Edmund duck under an overhand sweep and fluidly slash left and right several times in quick succession, driving Peter back a few paces.

"I wonder if he'd teach me that," Caspian muttered faintly.

"Ask Glenstorm," Lucy responded with a large grin. "Oreius taught him the initial technique and Ed adjusted it to his liking."

"Your royal brother would be a far superior teacher to me, in that case," Glenstorm observed mildly, and Lucy knew he was both pleased and impressed.

"Lucy, something's happening," Susan murmured suddenly, nudging her sister hard in the side, eyes still with the two boys in front of them.

Slightly startled, Lucy jerked her attention back to their brothers. Her own eyes widened and even teared, as she watched Peter, who until that point had been gradually pressing Edmund closer to the How, suddenly take a very decisive step back and bring his sword up vertically in front of him, startling Edmund enough that he froze in mid-strike.

"Oh, Susan!" she cried. "It's equalis fratres!"

Caspian blinked rapidly, turning to her, stunned. "Pardon, Queen Lucy, but equaliswhat?"

"Equalis fratres," Susan whispered. Stirring from Glenstorm and Trumpkin behind them as Peter suddenly went into a series of graceful down-arcs and twirls, intricate footwork and steps—spinning to the left, pivoting to the right—indicated that the two Narnians were not unfamiliar with the phrase. Indeed, many of the Narnians around them were murmuring fervently among themselves as the dance (really, there was no other way to describe it) played out before them. "It means, roughly, 'equal as brothers.'"

"Edmund learned a variation of it from Oreius," Lucy whispered, continuing for her older sister as the three of them watched Peter begin to spin his sword in large, elegant circles around him. "And Oreius learned it from his grandsire. It's an old, old tradition handed down from the first monarchs of Archenland. The version Edmund knows is the King's Champion Dance you might have heard of in the Tales. Certainly, it's in our Chronicles. That "dance" declares the swordsman's complete fealty to his king. Edmund made sure to perform it whenever he thought Peter needed to see it." Her voice softened even more, "I didn't realize Peter had learned the original version."

/Probably keeping it for exactly this type of occasion, too/ she thought with a fond snort, tears starting to trickle down her cheeks as she watched him enter the final stage of the dance.

This was the most difficult part: the "dancer" had to remain in place , while moving only their upper body in a fluid, complicated motion without any pause between strokes and then…there! Peter tossed his sword up in the air and it tumbled end over end, flashing in the sunlight. Smoothly, he caught it by the hilt in his opposite hand behind his back, slashing it down and to the left behind him, and then down and to the right in front, concluding the dance by grasping Rhindon's hilt in both hands and gently thrusting it swordpoint down in the ground as he knelt…and bowed his head.

A hush fell over the Narnians.

"What is the difference between the King's Champion Dance and equalis fratres?" Caspian asked, voice barely audible. The scene before them had come to a complete and utter standstill.

Lucy could only shake her head, blinking back more tears. Susan had long ago buried her own in her hands.

"If I may, my King…" Glenstorm spoke up softly. Caspian nodded to him. "In the King's Champion Dance, the "dancer"—the Champion—is usually a lesser lord or king who has vowed to fight for a higher king. Essentially, all honor and strength he possesses—as well as his life; I even venture to say, soul—are the higher king's to command. No such distinction is made in equalis fratres. It is just as it says—equal as brothers. The High King has effectively declared King Edmund as his equal, in all ways that truly matter. It is up to King Edmund now, to respond."

Judging from the shock and emotion apparent on Edmund's face, Lucy rather thought the response was fitting.

Gingerly laying aside his own sword, the younger king knelt in front of his brother, cupping his one hand over Peter's right on Rhindon, and reaching out with his other to gently tilt up Peter's chin.

Lucy was just close enough to see the tears that escaped Peter's eyes sparkling in the dawn and the faint smile that touched Edmund's lips.

"King Edmund is very tender with the High King," Caspian observed softly as the younger of the two kings brushed back Peter's hair and rested his hand against the side of the older boy's face.

Lucy looked delighted. "Yes, he is, isn't he?"

Susan's eyes softened as she lifted her head. Her cheeks were wet. "Of course he is. And if you think this is something, wait until you see how they are when their places switch."

Caspian didn't end up waiting long. Peter smiled, and leaned across the space between the two of them, brushing a kiss against Edmund's cheek.

"You see?" the older girl whispered, as tears unwittingly rose in her eyes.

Lucy cleared her throat and started cheering.


Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh—Matthew 12:34


Tbc.