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The Valiant and The Just

Part 2. Growing Up

Chapter 2. What About Now


Change the colors of the sky, and open up to
The ways you made me feel alive, the ways I loved you
Through all the things that never die, to make it through the night
Love will find you, what about now?
-'What About Now' by Chris Daughtry


"Good luck." Peter whispered to Susan as he walked past her chair at the table to Edmunds.

"Good luck to you too." she whispered in reply.

He gave her a faint nod before turning back to Edmund. "Ed, we need to talk." he said.

Edmund blinked a few times. "Am I in trouble?"

"No." Peter replied.

"Is someone threatening war?"

"No."

"Then what is it?"

"Can't a king just want to go for a leasury ride with his brother?" Peter said, blinking innocently.

Edmund gave him a dry look before rolling his eyes. "Alright." he said.

Once both boys were out of the room, Susan looked at Lucy. "We need to talk too." she said.

"We do?" Lucy asked.

"Yes. Why don't we go down to the garden while we talk?"

"O....k." Lucy was beginning to wonder what her elder siblings were hiding, and was nervous as to what it was.

Susan and Lucy had barely stepped out of the dinning room when Peter ran into Susan.

"I can't do it!" he exclaimed.

"Peter...."

"I... can't... do it! I can't take the last shreads of innocence he has away from him!"

"Peter! Snap out of it!" Susan exclaimed, slapping him across the face.

"That's the second time you've done that today." he said stepping away from her.

"Then stop going insane!"

"Sorry."

"You can do this, Pete. You can."

"I can?"

"You can."

"I can!"

"Now go!"

"Yes ma'am!"

And then he was gone again.

"Idiot." Susan muttered.

"Susan, what's going on?" Lucy asked.

Susan took a deep breathe. "Well, where to begin? I'll start with the growing up..."


"And you actually think I would want to do that with some girl?!" Edmund exclaimed.

Phillipe snorted and turned his head to nibbled at Edmunds leg jokingly.

"Stop that." Ed said.

"You're 12, Ed. Give it time." Peter replied, pulling his horse closer to Edmund and Phillipe in an effort to keep feuding between human and Horse at bay.

"Never! Girls are gross!" Edmund said.

"So you find Susan and Lucy gross?" Peter smirked.

"No. Other girls. Girls I don't know. The ones that giggle and wear all that goopy stuff on there face with the big poofy dresses." Edmund replied.

Peter snorted and rolled is eyes. "Not all girls are like that." he stated.

"Still. It doesn't matter. I would never want to do that. It sounds gross."

"Like I said. You're 12. It's supposed to be gross. I mean I'm 16 and I don't plan on doing that any time soon."

"You mean you find it gross?"

"No. I find it as natural. Something for a man and wife to share. Hence the reason babys can come from it."

They lapsed into silence.

"I still think it's gross..."


"So if I see blood, I'm not dying?" Lucy asked.

"No." Susan replied.

"And if a boy ever tries to kiss me in my room or any private place I should scream or try and get away?"

"Well... it depends, I guess. If you feel something's wrong scream. And if he pushes himself at you scream as loud as you can."

Both girls fell into silence and Lucy chewed on her lip thoughtfully.

"So I'm just growing up?" she finally asked.

"Of course, Lu. Every girl goes through it." Susan replied.

"And this-" she motioned to her body "- is also apart of growing up?"

"Exactly."

"I always wondered why woman had certain features while men didn't... now I know."

Susan laughed and pulled her arm around Lucys shoulders.

"And you're not through growing yet."

"Oh... fun."


"Now we know why Peter was unsure about our rooms being so close together." Edmund said.

Lucy nodded in reply and continued digging through her closet.

"What are you looking for?" Edmund asked.

"You'll see." Lucy replied. After a few moments she went 'AHA!' and turned back to Edmund, a strange, yet familiar, looking piece of fabric in her hand.

"What is that?" Edmund asked, standing up from where he had been sitting on her bed.

She unfolded it and it unraveled to show the dress she had worn when they had first entered Narnia.

"It's the dress. The one from Spare Oom." Edmund stated.

Lucy nodded. "I wanted to see if it fit." she said walking behind her changing wall.

A faint 'ow' followed soon after.

"What's wrong?" Edmund asked.

"I can't even get it over my head... and I think I'm stuck." she replied.

"Need some help?" he asked.

"If you were Peter I would say no, but you're my twin so yes." she replied.

He rolled his eyes and stepped on the other side to see her with her head covered and her arms sticking over her head. "Pull the sleeves." she said, her voice muffled.

He grabbed the sleeves and started pulling but saw it was stuck quite tight on her head.

"Ok, on the count of three, walk back and I'll pull." he said.

"Ok." she said.

"One, two three."

And then Edmund went tumbling backwards, the dress in his grip. He lost his footing during the staggering and gracefully, or not so, fell, pulling a chair with him, causing quite the blundering sound.

He rubbed his head, the chair over him and looked up to see Peter in the doorway.

"Do you not knock?" Edmund said.

"I'm starting to wish I had. What's going on?" Peter replied.

"Well, the dress didn't quite fit anymore. And it got stuck." Edmund said.

"Trying on dresses again, Edmund dear? What are we going to do with you?" Peter teased.

"Ah shut up, you idiot. She's the one who tried it on." Edmund said dryly.

"Yes, now what did you come for, Peter. You know I hate for people to see my in my nightgown and my robe isn't washed yet." Lucy said.

"And yet he sees you in your nightgown." Peter said pointing at Edmund.

"We were also born together. We've seen everything. Though we do have a very thick line drawn." she replied.

Peter rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll leave. Just came to say goodnight." he said.

"Goodnight." Edmund and Lucy said in unison.

Peter walked back out and Lucy looked over at Edmund. "He's up to something." she said slipping her nightgown on.

"Definitely. What could it be though?" he said.

She shrugged and walked over to help him up. "Maybe they haven't told us everything." she said.

"What else could there possibly be?"

She shrugged again. "How would I know?" she replied.

"Oh! I know! The Archenlanders are visiting. He always comes and checks on us when we have visitors." Edmund stated.

"Safety percautions. You never know." she said laying across her bed.

"And for 'safety percautions' leave the seperating door open." he said.

"Susan said they could be trusted."

"Still, you never know. We usually leave it open anyway."

Lucy nodded in reply. "Well goodnight then. Early day tomorrow." he said giving her a quick hug.

"Night, Ed. Love you."

"Love you too."

Once Edmund had gotten to his room, Lucy blew out her candle and climbed into her bed. Soon she saw the candle in Edmunds room go out and when she knew he was in his bed, she closed her eyes.

'Sleep well.' she thought.

'Sweet dreams.' he replied.

And very soon both were asleep.