The white horse elegantly strode towards the quiet woods.
Edmund was busy looking at the way and would once in awhile look at glimpses of Lisa who was in front of him. She was strangely quiet and didn't seem to ask where they were going or some sort. Her long brown hair flicked on Edmund's face and he could smell its sweet lavender scent. After a few more striding of the white horse, Edmund pulled it to a halt. Slowly, the white horse began to stop and stood in one place. Edmund jumped down of the horse and looked at Lisa. She was still sitting so still, with her hands trembling.
She never liked horseback riding ever and it might be the only thing that frightened her.
"C-could you p-p-p-please put me d-down now" she stuttered.
Edmund smirked and gave her a hand down. Lisa took both of his hand as she went down and she slipped closer to Edmund's chest.
"You all right?" Edmund asked concerned.
Lisa looked up and their faces were so close to each other to the point that they were seeing each other's reflection in one another's eyes.
"Next time, warn me if you're taking me horseback riding" Lisa instructed and moved away from him.
As soon as she turned around, Lisa was struck by shock again. Edmund took her to the ruins of Cair Paravel, which Lisa seemed to show a lot of interest on. She looked at the old ruins, touching its remains and feeling its sandy texture.
"Has this place been catapulted?" she asked, observing the remains.
Edmund looked shocked to hear that, "How'd you come up with that idea?"
"Well, based from its markings"
"We don't really know but, I also thought that catapults must've ruined Cair Paravel"
"This place is amazing" Lisa muttered, looking at every remains.
Edmund overheard her and snorted, "You should've seen it when it was still standing"
Lisa looked at him, "You've been here before?"
"This is where we lived before"
"You lived here?"
"Well, it's a long story"
"I have all the time to listen to your story, king. This place intrigues me a lot"
"I'll tell you on the way, come on" Edmund said, opening a door that led to the treasure room with a flashlight in hand.
Lisa quickly went in, having a good mood for adventure and forgetting her anger towards the obnoxious guy. Edmund quickly followed behind because he didn't want to be the reason why Lisa would stumble down in the dark whilst he has the flashlight. When they reached the ground, Lisa was completely in awe with the statues and treasure chests. It felt like going inside a pyramid and seeing treasures for the first time.
"What is this place?" Lisa asked in amazement.
Edmund was looking through Susan's chest when he answered, "This is the treasure room"
"There are four chests, each one for you and your siblings?"
"Yeah"
"May I see yours then?"
Edmund looked confused, "Why mine? There are other three here"
"It would be rude of me to rummage on things while the owners aren't here" Lisa remarked, trying to talk some sense out of Edmund who was ransacking someone else's chest.
Edmund sighed and pointed at the chest at the far left. Lisa quickly went towards it and opened its heavy top. There weren't much special things to see but, everything looked amazing for Lisa— clothes, a gold crown, and a chess set made out of gold. Edmund finally found a decent dress from Susan's chest that would fit Lisa and approached her, who was staring at a gold piece from his chess set.
"My father loves chess a lot" she shared, looking at every detail of the chess piece.
"You can have it, if you like" Edmund said, not really caring if it missed one piece.
Lisa smiled, "Are you sure? I mean, it would miss one piece and you can't play it anymore"
"I'm pretty sure the other pieces are missing so you don't have to worry. You can keep that one as a souvenir"
"Thank you, Edmund" Lisa said then kept the gold chess piece inside of her pocket, "I really don't know how to play chess and I think it's a really boring game"
Edmund looked slightly offended with what she said.
He loves chess a lot.
"Hey, chess isn't boring" he defended, "If you want, I could teach you sometime and let you feel that it's fun and not boring"
"Really? I can't wait anymore" Lisa's eyes started to sparkle.
Edmund noticed how Lisa's eyes twinkled like stars. He suddenly looked away and tossed her the green velvet dress he took from his sister's chest.
"Here, you can use this" he said while he closed Susan's chest.
Lisa took it from him and looked at it. "It's beautiful. Are you sure I can use this?"
"Of course"
They went back up and headed to the seaside where Lisa could have a bath. Edmund didn't have a chance to turn around when Lisa suddenly took off her clothes. His cheeks reddened when he saw her in her ruffled floral underwear and he tried to look away nervously. Lisa, who didn't seem to mind that a guy was with her, sighed. For her, Edmund was a trustworthy guy so it was okay for her to see him in her underwear.
"Oh come on, think of it as a swimsuit" Lisa shared, taking off her shoes and feeling the sand between her toes.
Edmund gulped while still looking away, "S-sure"
Lisa stood in front of Edmund, who in return, gave her a confused look.
"You don't expect me to swim on my own, don't you?" she asked.
Edmund turned redder and annoyed, "Well why do I have to join you?"
"Please?" Lisa pleaded with a grin, "I don't know these waters as much as you do"
Edmund still felt nervous but, there was nothing wrong with swimming. After he sighed, he started to take off his blue tunic and brown pants leaving him with only a pair of white boxers. Lisa ran towards the water and squealed because it was really cold. Edmund shivered as he walked towards the wavy clear blue water. He wiped off the water on his face and saw Lisa being surrounded by water fairies.
"Don't worry, they're actually friendly" Edmund said as soon as he saw Lisa's worried face.
Lisa giggled as the fairies played with her hair and stuff.
Edmund was also actually having a good time also. It's been awhile since he swam and he forgot how good it felt to be in the water. He let himself float as he stared at the pink sky. The sun was almost rising and he suddenly got startled when Lisa's face appeared in front of him. Edmund stopped floating and stood with both feet, in front of Lisa.
"This place is really amazing, Edmund" Lisa said with a smile.
Edmund agreed, "Yes, this is the best place in the world"
"Don't you wish you could just stay here?"
"I do sometimes but then I remember my parents. I just wish they could come with us here"
"Well, maybe you can bring them here next time"
"Yeah, I guess so" he said.
"I wish I could stay here forever where I can leave all my problems behind" she said softly.
Edmund raised an eyebrow, "You, out of all people, have problems?"
"What's so surprising about that?"
"Well, Lucy used to tell us that you were like the perfect girl. You live in a mansion; you can have whatever you want. You don't look like the type of person who can ever have a problem"
"There's no person that is perfect, Edmund. She might see me that way but, that's all a lie. It's called pretending"
Edmund looked at her and noticed how sad she looked. She might not be frowning but, there was a hint of sadness underneath her small smile. And one thing that Edmund hated was being with sad people. To ease the awkward silence, Edmund suddenly splashed a lot of water onto Lisa.
Lisa gasped and splashed water back to him. They were actually having a wonderful time laughing, forgetting that they were annoyed at each other earlier.
"I think we better go back now or else the others might be worried" Lisa said, giggling.
Edmund smirked, "Oh, yeah"
The two of them swam back to shore with the feeling of being refreshed. Lisa squeezed her hair to get the excess water off. Lisa used her old blouse to dry herself and lent it to Edmund.
"You can use it as a towel" Lisa said with a grin.
Edmund looked at the blouse weirdly thinking it was inappropriate to use a woman's blouse as a towel. But there was no malice; he didn't even like her so it was okay. He dried his face with the blouse and he couldn't help but to think how sweet it smelled. Lisa has finally put on the green dress and felt comfortable wearing it. It felt so light and airy.
"What do you think?" she asked.
Edmund cleared his throat when he saw her, "It's all right"
She actually looked like a princess.
"Tsk, that's all you can say?" Lisa asked.
"Well, what do you want me to say?"
Lisa pouted her lips and looked away, "Nothing, let's just go"
Edmund rode the horse first and this time, Lisa was the one behind. She gently wrapped her arms around Edmund's waist as the horse walked towards the woods. The morning was quiet and the sun was finally rising. Lisa looked up at the beautiful sky and sighed.
"Say Edmund, where were you and your siblings headed when we went to the train? I mean, you're from London, aren't you?" she asked softly.
"We're staying at a family friend in Cambridge" Edmund said.
"Have you heard anything about your parents?"
"Well, mum said that she's all right and dad…well, he's fine. Before leaving for the train station this vacation, Peter and I actually saw him. I was very glad to see him. Lucy and Susan are actually mad that we just told them that by the time we're already here in Narnia" this time, Edmund's voice sounded very cheery.
Lisa smirked and leaned her head on Edmund's back, "Lucky you"
"Don't worry— I'm pretty sure you'll hear from your parents too"
Lisa deeply sighed, "With my mum, yes. But my dad…that's not going to happen"
"Why not?"
"Because he's dead"
Edmund suddenly halted the horse that Lisa almost fell backwards. He went down of the horse and faced Lisa with a confused look.
"But you told us he's with your mum in America" he argued.
Lisa shook her head, "See, I told you. I'm pretending. There are things that people don't know about me"
Edmund decided to walk and led the horse back to the how whilst listening to Lisa's untold story.
"It happened just months ago" Lisa started, playing with the horse's white hair. "It was during the summer vacation when a soldier came to our house. I was sitting by the stairs when mum excitedly answered the door, thinking that it was daddy, finished with his military service. Unfortunately, it was some other soldier. They talked for awhile and after that, mum broke to tears. The soldier tried comforting mum and that soldier looked at me with a devastated sorry look. I already knew for some reason that I'll never see daddy again go in to that door. That's also the reason why mum likes to spend some more time abroad, so she could forget about the death of my dad. This is actually my supposedly first time celebrating Christmas without him"
Edmund stopped and looked at her, unsure about what to say, "Look, I'm really sorry to hear that"
"It's okay" Lisa said with a grin. "I've already accepted the fact that life here on earth is temporary and that this life is only borrowed"
Edmund looked up to Lisa's bravery. Her father just dad a few months ago and yet, she did her best not to look affected by it. She wanted to be brave not only for her mum but, also for herself.
