Wow. Massive apologies guys. I was entirely unaware that it had been over a year since I've updated this story. I haven't lost faith in it…just misplaced the notebook and the actual book. But I've got the notebook, have yet to find the actual book, but do have up to chapter eleven finished so far.

I promise I'll post chapter ten before a year has gone by.

Also, vague reference to The Horse and His Boy that you may or may not pick up if you've read the book.

Chapter Nine:

The feast that night was very lavish. All of the staff of the castle – for the most part – was thrilled that slavery was done away with and the less than scrupulous guards were leaving.

Susan was still perturbed at Caspian and spent the entire dinner pointedly avoiding his numerous stares. She was, however, grateful that he had managed to procure a dress for her that was much more suitable than the one she was wearing before.

By the time dinner was completed their rooms had been made ready. Through some twist of fate, Rachel was the one who took Susan to her room.

Rachel was silent the entire way, having only bobbed a quick curtsey at the start of the trip. Needless to say, it was awkward.

"Here are your rooms, Your Highness," Rachel finally said, her eyes trained on the ground.

"Rachel," Susan said. "Thank you."

Rachel's eyes darted to Susan, clearly startled. "I beg your pardon, Your Highness?"

"Thank you for bringing me here," Susan said. She paused and then said, "Would you like to come in?"

"I could never! It isn't proper, Your Highness!" Rachel protested.

"Will you please call me Susan?"

"It isn't proper!"

"You were calling me Susan this morning," she pointed out.

"But that was before … That was before your identity was revealed," Rachel said.

"Susan!" a voice called from down the hall.

"Yes Peter? And Edmund?" Susan asked, seeing her brothers striding down the hall.

"We need to speak to you about this morning," Peter said.

"No," Susan told them firmly. "The discussion is over."

"We are talking about it," Peter said just as firmly.

"The man did try to attack you," Edmund said. Rachel gave a horrified gasp.

"Queen Susan!" came Caspian's call from the other end of the hallway.

"Oh for the love of Aslan, not him too," Susan muttered. Both of her exits were now blocked, leaving only her rooms behind her.

She made a quick decision, grabbing Rachel's wrist and dragging her into the rooms. She heard Caspian call, "Queen Susan?" in surprise as she slammed the door closed and locked it.

"Your Highness?" Rachel asked timidly from behind her.

"I am sorry about that," Susan said. She was about to continue, but there was a flurry of bangs against her door, causing both girls to jump.

"Susan! Susan!" Peter yelled. "Open this door!"

"Queen Susan! You must let us talk to you!" Caspian yelled.

"Susan! Open this door now!"

"As King of Narnia I command you to open this door!"

"As High King of Narnia I command you to open this door1'

"Oh, that's brilliant," Susan heard Edmund say. "Order her to open the door. That'll definitely get her to do it."

"Well," Susan said, "as High Queen of Narnia I'm not opening this door!"

"You're not the High Queen!" Peter sputtered. "I'm the only High anything!"

"You don't sound very 'High' right now," Edmund said.

"Susan, we really must talk about the incident this morning," Caspian said.

"No. The discussion is over," Susan said.

"Su, they won't leave you alone until we talk with you more," Edmund said.

"Stop that," Susan said to whichever King was jiggling the door handle. "Fine, I'll speak to Edmund – tomorrow."

"Come along boys," Edmund said. "Why don't we have a conference in your rooms, Caspian?" There were footsteps and then a faint, "You really need to start treating her as the warrior she is or you'll never woo her. You do recall the battle with your uncle, right?"

Susan scowled at the door. "Ed needs to stop putting those ideas into Caspian's mind."

When she glanced at Rachel she saw the woman had her hands over her mouth.

"Rachel?" she asked.

"You, you defied them," she said.

"Yes, well two of them are my brothers," Susan said.

"But, they are Kings," Rachel said. She frowned, puzzled. "How are there three Kings of Narnia at once? And you're Queen? Are you married to the third?"

Susan sighed. "It's a bit of a long story. Would you like a seat?"

"I – I couldn't," Rachel said. "And it was too presumptuous of me to ask. I must go." The woman dipped into a curtsey and fled the room.

"Oh dear," Susan sighed.

The next day dawned bright and early for Susan. Edmund appeared in her rooms with two breakfast trays far too early for her liking.

"You are a pest," she said as she sat down at the small table.

"I thought you might want to get our discussion out of the way first," Edmund said. "And I brought your favorite jam."

"Fine. You're not a pest," Susan said, reaching for the jam that could only be found in Narnia. The closest she'd come to replicating it in England was to mix blackberry, peach, and strawberry.

"So. Why don't you tell the story from the beginning," Edmund said.

One of the many things that Susan loved about Edmund was that he didn't interrupt. As she told Edmund all that had happened, she was glad of it. Peter would have jumped up and began a tirade, but Edmund sat quietly and ate until she finished.

"You punched him?" he finally asked. She nodded and he said, "You are aware that you could have been in real danger if Caspian hadn't come, right?"

"Yes. I do. But I was going to get him off of me," she said.

"You also know that you haven't got the same abilities now. We haven't practiced a lot of what we once were able to do," Edmund continued.

"Then we should practice," Susan said. "We don't, after all, know what we'll find on this journey."

"That might even appease Peter and Caspian," Edmund said.

"And speaking of Caspian, do stop putting ideas of romance into his head."

"Su, he does love you. He told Peter and I last night."

"No, he doesn't," Susan said pointedly.

"Fine. He doesn't love you," Edmund said. "He treats you just like a sister. Only he likes kissing you. That makes you feel better?"

Caspian was in meetings with the castle's staff and with enraged slavers all day, leaving no time for Susan to have to avoid him. She and her family – including a very upset Eustace – spent most of the day in the practice court honing their skills. Returning to Narnia did seem to give them their skills back, but not their muscles and definitely not their calluses.

Edmund offered to teach Eustace some basic sword forms but the boy balked at the idea and settled to complain about the castle. Edmund shrugged and began to mock duel with Peter.

Susan and Lucy practiced their archery skills, building back the calluses they had lost. While Susan was the most skilled of the siblings, none of them were a bad shot.

Reepicheep wandered in at one point as did Drinian and other members of the crew. A few even went up against Peter and Edmund. Susan herself had a few competitions against the crew.

When the day was finished the siblings and cousin arranged to meet for breakfast in Peter's room the following morning.

Susan awoke the next morning with quite a number of pains in her shoulders and fingers. Her brothers looked decidedly more in pain, wincing nearly every time they moved.

Breakfast had barely started when the door opened and Caspian came in. "Sorry. That blasted Danvers woman cornered me," he said, sitting down in the only vacant seat, conveniently located next to Susan. She glared at Edmund who merely looked innocently back at her.

"What do you think of the woman, Susan?" Caspian asked as he reached for the teapot sitting next to her.

"She's a witch," She replied, reaching for the jam and liberally applying it to her toast.

"I must agree with you," Caspian said. "She told me that outlawing slavery was a ridiculous idea and how were the girls supposed to be expected to work without threats on their person?"

"You should do something about the idea that the only way for the women to be safe is to be claimed by a guard. And that when a guard buys them it accounts to marriage," Susan said, disgust lacing her tone.

"That was you being 'safe?'" Caspian asked, his voice going a little dark.

"No one had claimed me," Susan said. "And if a girl gets pregnant then she's sold with no thought for the father."

Peter sighed. "I'm going to guess that we'll be here for quite some time."

"I do want to get a strong foundation for getting all of the former slaves freed and settled. Those that wish to return to their homes must also be provided for. There is the question of what lies beyond the Lone Islands that we must also consider."

"We should also restock as much as we can," Edmund said.

"What has Eustace been up to?" Susan asked.

"Moping," Lucy said. "He hasn't left his rooms yet."

"He's also complaining about the food," Edmund said.

"What is on the schedule for today?" Peter asked.

"While Bern and I continue to rework how this castle and the islands are run, Drinian is overseeing The Dawn Treader's repairs," Caspian said.

"Repairs?" Lucy asked. "I wasn't aware anything was wrong with it."

"Well, as far as we know nothing is wrong. But the ship must be brought on land and inspected none the less," Caspian said.

"Don't you recall that we did the same with The Splendor Hayline?" Edmund asked.

"I miss that ship," Susan said morosely. Her siblings looked at her in surprise. "What? Am I not allowed to miss a ship?"

"But that was the ship—"

"I am well of aware of that fact, Peter," Susan said.

"What are you all talking about?" Caspian asked, his gaze darting between Susan and Peter.

"Later," Peter said.

Edmund and Peter decided to help Drinian oversee The Dawn Treader's removal from the ocean while Lucy tried to get Eustace to leave his room. Susan decided that she should return to the practice courts.

Her muscles screamed in protest the first time she drew her bowstring back but after a few shots the pain began to fade away.

"You're quite good at that, Your Highness," a voice said from behind her some time after she had begun.

Susan turned to see a guard standing in the doorway. He straightened slightly and bowed. "I am Francis, Rachel's protector. His Majesty the King informed me that I should seek you out."

"Did he? For what reason?" Susan asked.

"I wish to speak with someone in regards to the situation with the guards and their conduct with the women who work here in the castle," Francis said.

"Ah, of course," Susan said. "Would you mind coming to my rooms?"

"That's hardly proper," Francis said, turning a bit red.

"You'll find that I'm hardly proper these days," Susan said. "And I imagine what you wish to speak of is of a sensitive nature."

"That it is, Your Highness," Francis said. "But might there be somewhere a bit more proper?"

"I imagine that Caspian and the Duke will be using the solar all day today," Susan said. "Will you have time to speak with me tomorrow?"

"I can make time if needed," Francis said.

"I don't want to get you in trouble with your superiors," Susan said immediately.

Francis frowned. "I imagine that Robard won't mind if I tell him that I'm needed by the Queen of Narnia. Though he might…" He looked at her hesitantly. "He, ah, doesn't think too highly of women."

"I'm finding many men don't in these days," Susan sighed. "Caspian once said that it was partly the Telmarine influence over the land." She straightened and said, "If it would be all right I will come to get you once the Duke's solar is free tomorrow."

Francis smiled slowly. "Yes, that would be more than all right, Your Highness."

"I'll need the solar tomorrow," Susan said at the private dinner the Royals were having later that night. Eustace still refused to leave his room.

"The Duke and I are done using it for the moment," Caspian said. "You should be able to use it whenever you want."

"What will you be doing tomorrow, Caspian?" Lucy asked.

"I plan on asking every seaman I can find about what lies beyond the Lone Islands."

"I wish you the best of luck with that," Peter said with a wry smile.

"How fares The Dawn Treader?" Caspian asked Peter and Edmund.

As Edmund and Peter began to explain their day. Susan could almost imagine that this was normal.

She had to remind herself that it wasn't, that it never could be. They would be returning to England no matter how much they didn't want to.