*DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN CoN ONLY MY OWN CHARACTERS!

So here's chapter 10! yay it's the longest chapter I've written so far! I wish I could so more but there's really nothing left to say so...ENJOY! :D

"It's only a matter of time until Miraz's men and war machines come this way. That means those same men, aren't protecting his castle." The blonde boy proudly projected his voice to fill the entire stone room populated with eager Narnians, listening intently to the boy's every word. Upon hearing a report that a faun named Nausus had seen a Telmarine soldier on the edge of the meadow, Peter decided it was a good time to get battle strategies ready.

"What do you suppose we do your majesty?" Peter turned to see the furry face of Reepicheep upon his hind legs, his face fraught with wonder.

"We have to start planning for-" was all that could really be understood, as Peter and Caspian spoke simultaneously. Peter turned to Caspian and gave him a look, clearly telling the tan man to respect his superiors. Caspian unwillingly looked away, signaling the young king to resume what he was going to say.

"We need to strike them, before they strike us."

"But that's crazy no one has ever taken that castle!" Caspian interrupted, looking at the blonde boy like he was mad.

Peter shrugged his shoulders, "There's always a first time."

"We'll have the element of surprise." Trumpkin added, stepping behind Peter.

"You know, I've always found it very weird that they call surprise an 'element.' It is definitely not a mineral of this earth."

Serena rolled her eyes at Louis' inquiry, which he had whispered to only her. The two of them were standing by a large column, the two arguing boys about 5 feet away.

"But we have the advantage here." Caspian resumed, pleading with Peter.

"If we dig in we could probably hold them off indefinitely." Susan added, hoping to strengthen Caspian's idea. The boy gave her a look of gratitude, whilst Peter gave her a glare.

"I do believe they may like each other." Louis said under his breath, motioning towards Susan and Caspian.

"Only you could find love in wartime." Serena answered, a gleam passing through Louis eyes.

"I, for one, feel safer underground." The large badger inserted, though his comment seemed to go largely ignored.

"I agree with you good badger."

"No you don't." Serena answered flatly, though the corners of her mouth were beginning to curve up.

"Look, I appreciate what you've done here," Peter began to Caspian, his sugared voice aggravating the Prince, "But this isn't a fortress, It's a tomb."

"Yes, and if we stay here the Telmarines will just wait and starve us out." Edmund added, agreeing with his brother. Next to Edmund, sat Lily, her eyes attached the conversation at hand.

"We can always collect nuts!" Suggested a chestnut colored squirrel, his cheery disposition crumbling when Reepicheep responded sarcastically, "Yes, and throw them at the Temarines! Shut up!" The mouse then turned to Peter, proud stance in toe, "You know where I stand sire."

"Yes, upon that rock bench, with that poor squirrel whose idea I believe to be amazing."

"What did you say!" Louis blinked as the mouse addressed him, taken off guard by the animal's acute sense of hearing.

Louis composed himself quickly, and chuckled. "All I am saying is that nuts are an incredibly good source of food good mouse, and that I too would aptly stand by the side of High King Peter, whatever his decision be." He added a slight bow of his head, his eyes brighter than ever.

Peter gave him a nod before turning to Glenstorm, his now appointed right-hand man.

"I'm amazed at you." Serena told Louis as he returned to her side. Louis smiled, "What, you don't want to help too?" There was a shimmer in his iris as her slight smile shrank.

"If I get your troops in, can you handle the guards?"

Everyone now solemnly looked at Peter and the Centaur, both excited for and dreading his answer.

Glenstorm looked to be feeling slightly doubtful of his king's idea, but his honorable character came before anything. "Or die trying, my liege."

"That's what I'm worried about." A small, yet uncharacteristically solemn voice emerged behind Peter.

The boy turned around to see Lucy sitting of the stone table, her normal cheery expression gone from sight.

"Sorry?"

"Well your all acting like there's only two options. Dying here. Or dying there."

"I'm not sure you've really been listening Lu-"

"No you're not listening," Lucy raised her voice, "or have you forgotten who really defeated the White Witch Peter?"

The boy's mouth frowned so hard at this that it looked like he was in pain. "I think we've waited for Aslan long enough."

He then turned and walked out of the fire-lit room, leaving everyone inside immensely confused and unsure about what exactly was going on.

"Well that wasn't very climactic."

Peter didn't like leaving meeting's that abruptly, but he feared his anger would take over. The dimly lit hall he trudged down was not nearly dark enough to hide the pain in his face. The meeting had been dismissed and he could hear people coming down the hallway behind him. The great wish to be alone began seeping through his body, but since he was, in fact, the King, that was not likely to happen. His hopes were crushed quicker then he thought they would be, when he felt a small tap on his back.

"I'm going with you." Peter turned around slowly to acknowledge the girl behind him.

"What?"

"I want to join you on your raid. I'll be able to help," She added, as the tall man walked up beside her. After Peter had stormed out Louis had convinced her to offer him her military assistance. Of course, it was not completely undesired by her as well.

Peter smiled, though it was not in the least bit warm. "Look, I get that you want to help out, but I don't think that watching clothing is a particularily good resume-"

"That's not what I meant." Serena stated coldly, his stupid sarcasm getting to her.

"It doesn't matter what you meant, I don't want to be responsible for your death."

Serena's eyes narrowed to slits. "I'm perfectly capable of keeping myself alive."

"It's true," Louis jumped in, "I have taught her some of the many fighting techniques that I have picked up over my travels, which is also why, you can trust me 100 percent as a worthy soldier." His random burst of pride did not stop Serena from giving him a horrified look, as Peter replied,

"Oh that's good to know about you, but have you really taught her all you know?" His intonation was a mix of doubt and interest.

Louis coughed slightly, "yes, but I have to tell you I don't think she's practiced lately, she could probably use some lessons. You know, just to refresh her memory." He put an encouraging hand on Serena's shoulder, her eyes staring up to him in disbelief.

"What are you suggesting?" Peter asked slowly.

A sparkly entered Louis' eye. "Well do you think you could teach her? I'm sure a powerful King such as yourself would really be the best fit."

Serena giving Louis angrily wide eyes, as Peter thought about this for a few moments. Finally replying,

"Fine. At dawn. In the field. I'll bring the swords." His voice was incredibly flat but there were a few icy cuts dancing in it. "This doesn't mean you'll be joining us though." He added, looking at Serena for a split second before walking quickly down the hallway, most likely to find his siblings, his dream of having a moment alone fleeing from his brain.

Once he was out of earshot, Serena turned to Louis, fury stuck on her face.

"Why in the world would you say that?" She said in an angry whisper. "You gave me one sword fighting lesson. And that was 2 years ago. And we used poles!" Her eyes went large as he chuckled.

"Well then I guess you really do need the lessons. I mean, did you really expect to be able to show up at the raid and just be able to fight? Even you aren't that amazing." He pet her blonde head and she was silenced, realizing that he was right.

"But still, he's gonna expect me to be at least somewhat good. I also have to be somewhat good." She added, fearing what would happen if she showed up and was a complete failure, as she removed his hand from her scalp.

"Well then, you might want to read up then." He stuck his hand inside his loose vest and pulled out a small old book. He handed the tattered leather to her, her eyes looking at it with skepticism.

"A book?"

"Not just any book, I bought this book from a merchant who taught soldiers in his younger days. He said that reading it will, and I quote, 'fill you with an incredible knowledge of the fighting arts.'" She continued to look at him like he was fanatical.

"Why, on Earth, do you have this Louis? How do you have enough money to buy all this stuff?" It was plain as day that she was aggravated with this man, but at the same time an odd surge of relief passed through her body.

He chuckled again, "Well, one, I have it because you never know when it might be needed, and two, I have my ways of obtaining currency." A shimmer passed through his eyes as he continued, "But anyways read up, you won't want to disappoint a king now would you?"

He smiled brightly as he walked by her, probably off to share his witty wisdom with someone else.

Serena stared at the book in her hand. "Louis you are unbelievable," she whispered to herself. She flipped through the old pages nimbly until she found a chapter she liked, earmarking it for later reading.

The rooms, bedrooms actually, that the children (plus Louis) were to be sleeping in were relatively well put together. Originally 5 rooms had been created, (upon hearing the arrival of their kings and queens the Narnians converted 5 rooms into sleeping quarters) one for each Pevensie and one for Caspian, but given the 3 additional people that had unexpectedly joined the group, Caspian insisted that they share. So, the only couplings that made sense, were Susan and Lucy, Peter and Edmund, and Serena and Lily; leaving Caspian and Louis to have a room to themselves. No one argued this, since it would have been awkward any other way, being that each room only contained one king sized bed.

The rooms were made to look as nice as humanly, or technically narnianly, possible. The beds were covered in beautifully intricate stitching, most likely crafted by the centaur women residing in the How. However, besides the bed's there was really nothing more than a medium sized bureau, a broom, and a bed stand, complete with wax candle stick on top.

After completing their dinner, which was pretty much exactly the same as their lunch had been, everyone retired to bed, though just because they went to their bedrooms, did not mean they went to sleep.

Chapter 3 Sword Fighting Serena ran her fingers over the chapter name, shaping the windy letters that made each word. The book was clearly older then Louis had made it out to be, for the pages were slightly yellowing and the binding was close to falling apart. Nonetheless, Serena sat in her bed, reading under the glow of the candle.

The book was really like none she had ever read. The descriptions of each fighting pose were detailed with such lengthy amounts of description that it was incredible to think it could all fit within the small book.

The first section told of the proper positioning of your hands on your weapon, down to the exact location of your pinky finger. She used the small broom in the corner as her makeshift sword. The second told of stances, even listing the precise angles in which your body should be placed. The third and fourth told of offensive and defensive moves. She acted out each pose quietly with her broom sword in hand, careful not to hurt herself in the process.

The last, and the longest section, told of mentalities one should have when sword fighting. The author spoke so passionately about how one should feel and think during a fight that Serena couldn't help but believe every word he had written. As she continued to read the instructive book, her legs crossed neatly upon the bed, Lily walked in, an unreadable expression on her face, and puffed a sigh of exhaustion.

"You ok?" Serena asked, closing her book over her hand.

Lily looked up, startled a bit by her sister's presence, forgetting she was in there. "Oh, yeah I'm fine." She proceeded to remove all her jewelry, save for one necklace, bracelet and ring, and placed them neatly by her sister's on the dresser.

Serena watched her with knowing eyes. "Where were you?"

"With Edmund, he was telling me about his battle against the white witch." She ran her fingers through her hair, feeling in desperate need of a hairbrush.

Serena narrowed her eyes slightly, though not angrily. "Why was that?"

"I wanted to know," she paused taking her doll of the bureau and proceeding to sit on the bed next to her sister. "I wanted to know if we could really beat the Telmarines."

Serena's eyes softened, the worried look in her sister's eyes pulling at her heart. Lily had always been a massive pacifist; even the idea of killing an ant would send her into hysterics when she was younger. And although she can now deal with the death of a small insect, the same feelings remained.

Serena folded over the top right hand corner of her page and closed her book, setting it down gently on the bedside table. She placed a soft hand on the side of her sister's head.

"We'll be fine, I promise."

Lily's eyes widened as she pulled her head away. "We? You mean you're going to?"

Serena dropped her hand and nodded, her eyes off Lily's face.

"Serena, since when are you capable of fighting in a battle?" Horror, confusion, and a bit of humor were entwined in her words as she stared intensely at her sister, waiting anxiously for a reply.

"Well, Peter's going to give me lesson's tomorrow and Louis," she reached over to the bed stand, picking up the leather bound object laying there, "gave me this book about fighting. It really is amazingly detailed and I think it might actually-"

"The raid is tomorrow! Do you really think you will be ready after one day of lesson's and reading a book?" Lily flicked the book so hard that fell out of Serena's hands. "Why do you think you can do all this?" Her eyes were beginning to redden as anger protruded her features.

Serena sighed and stood up to retrieve the book, which had landed, pages open, on the floor.

"I want to help, and I know I can."

"Why do you think you can? We're faeries for Aslan's sake! The only reason I'm not terrified about Louis going is because-"

"Lily!" Serena screamed in a voice that made the smaller girl stop in her tracks. "I never want to hear you say that again! Listen, we are barely even considered faeries, you know that. And even if we were, I don't want you ever thinking that it's something that holds us back." She managed to calm herself as she returned to her spot on the bed.

Lily quietly shook her head, a small water droplet welling up in the corner of her eye, "be that as it may, proving that your worth something does not do anyone any good if you're dead." Her words were hate filled but her eyes showed the true sadness inside of her. "I could still die without you." She choked on her words, the beginnings of tears streaming down her pale face.

Serena's eyes softened as a pain erupted in the back of her throat, the pain one gets when crying is on its way. In the deep recesses of her heart, the small black area which contains the sins every human possesses, she wished her sister would die if she were to. Well, in all actuality, she did not wish harm upon her sibling, but the lighter area of her heart still scorned this horribly selfish wish of hers.

She reached towards Lily and pulled the small girl into her arms, stroking her blonde head in a soft rhythmic movement.

"I'll be fine, I promise." She swallowed back her impending tears as she comforted her sister, determined to keep her promise as best she could.

"Pete, do you remember our first battle?" Edmund threw a rock to his brother as he awaited his reply.

"Against the white witch?" Peter asked, catching the stone in his hand.

Edmund nodded as the rock was thrown back in his direction.

"Of course I do, why do you ask?"

"Well," Edmund began, tossing the object back to his brother, continuing their lazy game of catch. "I was talking about it with Lily earlier, I'm guessing the whole talk of night raids has got her startled, but it made me realize how vividly I remember it, like it was yesterday actually."

"Yeah I suppose," Peter replied quietly, twirling the rock absentmindedly around in his hand, before throwing it back. "Is Lily insisting on joining us too?"

Edmund couldn't help but laugh, "That's a finny joke Pete. I don't think she's capable of hurting a fly nevertheless a Telmarine." He tossed the stone out of his hand before continuing, "I hear Serena wants to go though."

Peter caught the rock and sighed, "Yes, I mean I'm fine with Louis going, he seems like he can hold his own weight, but her," his voice quieted slightly, "I'm not so sure about her."

Peter clasped his hand around the rock, his voice rising once again. "Did you notice how eerily similar Lily looks to that doll she's been carrying around?"

Edmund furrowed his eyebrows quickly in thought before responding, "yes, yes I did. It's weird isn't it?"

Peter nodded before unclasping his hand and throwing the rock again to Edmund. "Yeah. Ed, do you remember that story Lucy read? Back when we were in Cair?"

Edmund chuckled, "She reads a lot of stories Pete."

"I mean the one that talked about the origins of dolls." He caught the rock as Edmund replied,

"Now that you mention it, I do remember that. Didn't it say that there's some kind half-faerie people that looked like them? To be honest I think that was just some silly fairytale Lucy was reading during her doll phase." He chuckled at his sister's girly nature, as Peter replied, slowly,

"Yes, possibly. But, say it was true, do you think, that maybe they could be, could be… part faerie?" He tossed the rock back to Edmund, who caught it, but did not make any indication that he would be throwing it back.

"Peter, don't you think if they were faeries they would have shown some sign of a connection with nature by now? Isn't that like the key thing they do?"

Peter looked at his brother thoughtfully, "I'm sure they've learned to hide it. But don't you think it's odd how they were just living in the woods?"

"Well I'm sure they were just-"

"And the way their dressed, don't faeries pass down very precious pieces of jewelry to their children?"

"Well now that you mention it I was wondering about that-"

"And didn't you find it weird how they were praying for that dead bear?"

Edmund didn't respond this time, he thought through the past few days carefully. He remembered the odd way Lily had had her hand in the water, looking almost entranced. He didn't quite see why it was such a big deal though. "Well, even if they are part-faerie, why does it matter? It's not like their dangerous." He threw the rock back to Peter, taking the boy slightly off guard.

Peter flinched, but managed to somehow catch the stone. He did not meet his brother's eyes, however, as he replied, "Well, I know but, I…why would they lie to us about that?" He tossed his brother the rock again.

"Maybe they don't want us treating them like faeries. Cause, if you can recall, they weren't exactly known as the most noteworthy creatures in Narnia."

Peter looked at the wall, not staring at anything in particular. "I'm not being judgmental. It just makes me worried."

"Well if you're not judgmental," Edmund started, drawing his brother's face back to his own. "Then why should you be worried?" His face was serious, but defensive. He didn't want his brother to become prejudice. He placed the rock on the ground, signaling to Peter that he was ready for bed.

Peter nodded his head in acknowledgment and pulled the covers off the mattress. Peter was never very fond with sleeping in the same bed as Edmund; the boy had a habit of kicking, but decided that since arguing would not do him any good, placing one of the 3 pillows in between the two of them would fix the problem.

As he removed his shirt and climbed into bed, he couldn't help but think about what Edmund had said. He never considered himself a very prejudice man. In fact, he had always been a very fair and gracious king. However, when it came to faeries, he couldn't help but be slightly bigoted against them. It was always said to him, by people and by literature, that faeries were never good to have around, and were weak as sticks when it came to combat. And ever since meeting the sisters, a bad feeling had begun to creep over his body. Nevertheless, upon hearing Edmund's rebuttal, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Edmund was, for the most part, the only one who had really spent a substantial amount of time with one of them, which made his defense that much stronger. Peter only hoped that after his lesson with Serena the next day he would know more about her, so that his opinions, no matter how positive or negative they may be, would be purely based on fact.

He blew out the dimly lit candle, the smoke swirling mystically from the darkened wick, before pulling himself under the covers, plans for his sword fighting lesson weaving around in his brain as he drifted off into a calm sleep.

The dim gray light of dawn filled the room occupied Serena and Lily. Shining beams shone through the square cut out in the wall, a makeshift window of sorts. The light sprawled curiously across the older girl's eyes, causing her to groan and move around in sleepy discomfort. She was rudely awoken by this obnoxious light, her eyes opening slowly as they adjusted.

She sat herself up and rubbed her eyeballs, yawning as she dismissed sleep from her body. A small glance to her left assured her that her sister was still sleeping soundly, her breath soft and regular. She quietly slipped off her bed and stretched, raising her arms to the sky as her muscles lengthened pleasurably.

She walked up to the dresser, the wooden piece of furniture not nearly lovely enough for description, and pulled open one of the 4 drawers. Inside laid 4 pairs of cotton leggings, made, once again, by the wonderful centaur women. She pulled one brown pair out and pulled them over her bare legs, leaving the over sized shirt, also from the dresser, which she had worn to bed, on over body.

In the drawer below there was a pair of dark brown riding boots. She figured the Narnians thought their kings and queen would appreciate them.

Before leaving, she picked up the small ruddy book that was placed on her bed stand the night before. She had successfully finished the section that was needed, and it simply lay there, probably never to be read by her again. Nevertheless, she lifted the small thing in her hands and brought it purposefully to her lips, pressing them lightly to the leather cover. She placed it lovingly back onto the table, and whispered it a soft, "Thank you," before exiting the room.

A cool chill was residing in the morning air. Even under his clothed body Peter could feel the cold creeping up his skin. He sat upon a large gray rock in the middle of the giant field, fearing that she had forgotten, and he was freezing for nothing. He was dressed in relatively the same looking outfit as the day before, save for a slightly thicker shirt and pants. Next to him, on the grassy ground dampened by the morning dew, lay 2 sword-length poles and two actual swords. He had picked up both from the artillery that morning. The expectation of actually using blades was low, but he still brought them for technical reasons.

As he rubbed his hands together, attempting to circulate some warmth to his fingertips, the silhouette of the girl he had been waiting for emerge from the entryway of the How. She walked at a sluggish pace, not at all helping with his patience, or lack thereof.

Once she seemed to catch sight of him, however, her pace quickened. When she reached him, Peter stated, very dryly, "Good of you to show up." Serena rolled her eyes sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, we can't all be as prompt as you."

Peter picked up on the hint of sarcasm in her voice, "no I guess you can't."

She glared at him, it was way too early for this. "Whatever. So are you gonna give me a lesson or not?" Her arms were crossed tightly over her chest, partially due to the cold and partially due to the conversation.

Peter nodded, but put a firm hand on her shoulder as she moved towards the swords. "I'm not going to take the chance. We're starting with poles." He picked up and handed one to a sour faced Serena, her eyes rolling once more as he bent to get his own.

"The first rule of sword fighting," he started, positioning the pole in his hand and holding it above him, looking at it intensely, "Is to always be on your feet." He then, with no forewarning, jolted the pole in her direction, causing the poor unsuspecting girl to shriek and jump hastily out of the way.

"What was that for?" She cried, cheeks reddening with surprise.

"To show you that no opponent will ever go easy on you, not even a teacher." Although he meant to be serious, the astonished look on her face caused a chuckle to slip from his lips.

Her eyes narrowed at his laugh as she bent down to retrieve the pole she had inadvertently dropped on the ground, drying it off on her shirt.

"You really are as immature as they say." She ran her index finger over the pole to make sure it was sufficiently dry, before looking back up at him, his eyes growing increasingly blue in the gray light.

Peter's smile faded into an irritated frown. "Hey I'm the one who woke up at like 6 in the morning-"

"Look I don't need a speech ok? Just please give me the lesson, preferably without life threatening sneak attacks." The corner of her mouth twitched as she reasoned with him. Though he wasn't her favorite person, she really needed the lesson.

Peter laughed softly, "No promises." Serena gave him a sarcastic smile, as he added, "But anyways I'm going to figure you already know how to hold a sword and how to stand right?"

She nodded, thanking Aslan for the book.

"Good. So let's start with the harder stuff shall we?"

The gray light of dawn, for many, signaled the beginnings of a new day. The bright glow of morning illuminating their hearts with hopes of wonderful hours following, these hopes, continually, being the sole reason for dragging their tired bodies out of the warmth of their beds. But for some people, this brilliant shade of dull light only indicated the beginning of another day, a day that was undeserving of any descriptive literary term preceding it, a day that began another stage in the never-ending cycle of hours, minutes, and seconds. However, these people aren't to say unappreciative of the dawn, no in fact they have come to value the absolute beauty of this time of day more than the average person would ever hope to. They find themselves waking up at early hours to watch the slow rise of the sun, embracing the new day, for that is the best they can hope to do. This is exactly what Louis found himself doing every morn, awaking before the sun did to watch its lovely ascent into the sky. He always found it exceptionally hard to believe that people and creatures alike could miss such a sight, enjoying the back of their eyelids more than the natural beauty of the world around them.

He had left his room about 2 hours prior, slinking down the dark corridors to a large ledge that was situated right in eye line of the horizon. The orange bulge of the sun was beginning to emerge from behind the green trees, drawing his careful eye towards it. Even the sight of his "child" having a sword fighting lesson with High King Peter could not detract his eyes from the gorgeous sun. He told himself that he would watch later, but for now, some things took precedence over others.

Peter whacked Serena's hand with his plasticy pole, causing the girl to screech in pain.

"Hey!" She put her injured arm to her mouth and instinctively kissed it, her vain attempt to relieve another pain the king had inflicted on her.

"You have to remain focused constantly! If that had been a real sword you would have one less hand." Peter stated, incredibly aggravated. His cheeks were flushed with frustration and the warmth of exercising, and his eyebrows seemed to be permanently furrowed as he looked at the wincing girl.

"That doesn't mean you have the right to whack me! Besides, the sun was in my eyes. And before you say anything the raid is at night, so I won't have to worry about that!" She retorted, her voice slightly muffled by the hand in front of her mouth.

Peter sighed angrily and placed a hand on his forehead. "There will be torches, but it doesn't matter because you can't hide the fact that you can't fight!" It had only been about an hour into their lesson and Peter was already a sly remark away from storming off.

"Maybe it's because my teacher stinks at teaching and finds some weird sort of joy in harming his students!"

"Well you know who does find joy in hurting you? The Telmarines do!" He screamed, his hair becoming a messy jumble of curling tresses.

"Well then how can I defend myself against people who do want to hurt me if no one will teach me how to defend myself without hurting me?" She yelled back, the areas under her eyes turning a reddish color.

Peter sighed in defeat and ran his hand through his hair, his voice becoming more level. "Tell you what, I promise not to hurt you, if you promise to actually try. Ok?" He added the last part weakly after receiving a particularly unmotivated glare from Serena.

She didn't respond for a few moments, but then stated, "Ok."

Peter nodded and proceeded to reinstate his lesson, this time reminding himself to keep it faerie clean.

*Knock knock*

The loud sound of someone's knuckles repeatedly rapping at the wooden door went unnoticed by Edmund. His eyes still firmly covered by his eyelids.

*Knock knock*

"Edmund! Wake up!"

The laughing female voice went through Edmund's ear and out the other, merging itself into his dreams.

*Knock knock*

"Edmund I'm serious!"

This time the voice and loud noises removed Edmund from his dreamland. He opened his eyes quickly and yelled a muffled, "I'm awake!"

He began to scramble out of bed and throw clean clothes on as he heard Lily's voice saying,

"Hurry It's time for breakfast!"

Edmund quickly got himself relatively put together in the time he was allotted to do so. He emerged from his room to see Lily, dressed in a large shirt that reached her knees, trying to surpress a giggle.

"What?"

She pointed to his chest. He followed her finger with his eyes to see that he had put his shirt on backwards. He groaned. "I'll be right back."

He returned to his room and twisted his gray shirt around. The similarly colored light of dawn was regrettably never enough to wake this boy up.

"Up, down, around, good!" Peter exclaimed, Serena successfully negating his frontal attack, the girl's face lighting up more then he had ever seen before.

"You're better at this then I thought you'd be." He said this more to himself, but it didn't stop her smile from faltering a bit.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," he muttered, dusting off his pants with his hands, his pole temporarily on the ground. He paused, however, to say, "Hey can I ask you a question." His voice was quiet, like he both wanted and did not want to mention this inquiry.

Serena gave him a look, reminding him of their deal. It may have seemed stupid, but she didn't want him thinking he could get everything he wanted for nothing

Peter, upon seeing her face, let out an irritated burst of air, and threw his hands up into the air. "I'm giving you free sword lessons!"

She pondered this for a second, and nodded her head in agreement. "Ok, fine. What would you like to know?" She then copied him, and began patting the bits of dirt of her shirt and leggings.

"What are you?" His voice was slightly meek, the awkwardness of such a question penetrating the tone in which he asked it. Consequently for him, her reaction was of the same emotion.

She stopped her movements abruptly and looked up to him, an obviously forced nonchalant expression gracing her features. "I'm a person. What are you?"

He rolled eyes and slowly increased the volume of his voice. "No that's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"Don't play stupid." Peter spat, not meaning to sound as mean as he did. "Do you really expect me to believe that two human girls were just living in the forest?"

Serena narrowed her eyes, and replied sarcastically, "You're right. I'm a centaur. There's no hiding my horse legs from you genius king." She shook her right leg out for emphasis.

Peter wasn't amused. "I know you and your sister are faeries." He stated, his voice as flat as his throat would allow it to be.

Serena's eyes widened slightly, but besides that her relatively blank expression remained intact. "That's a big assumption-"

"I want to know why you kept it a secret."

"Do you wanna ask me nicely?" Serena suggested, sick of his lack of common courtesy.

"So you're admitting it?"

"I'm not confirming or denying anything." She replied, almost sadly as she picked her pole off the ground. "But faerie or not, I would like to continue my lesson now."

Peter opened his mouth to speak when he heard a familiar girly voice, "Do you guys want some breakfast!" It was not until those words escaped his baby sister's mouth that he realized the extent of hunger his stomach was going through.

He looked to Serena, her hand, complete with pole, hanging limply by her side. He figured she must have been starving as well.

"We'll continue this after breakfast."

Serena nodded quietly as he picked up the weapons, including the pole in her hand, and headed inside, following his sister's bobbing light brown head.

Serena stood alone in the cool air of morning for a few moments, pondering what had just gone on. In the back of her mind, the far distant crevices of her psyche, she found herself wondering the same question. Why had she been so keen on keeping her genetic history a secret?

Of course, the second this question entered her mind it was overwhelmed by all the answers it had taken her a lifetime to form. And at the end of her thoughts, the only words she could come up with as a plausible answer she spoke aloud, as if hoping someone could possibly hear. "I just did."

Before long, a few seconds at the most, Serena began to realize the haunting silence around her, and the loud grumbling sound coming from her abdomen. She turned towards the How and began to walk inside; hoping the pleasurable feeling of food and the friendly face of her sister would calm her slightly, though curiously, loud beating heart.

As she started towards the entryway, she paused as her eyes caught sight of a familiar man, standing atop the ledge she herself had sat upon the afternoon before. Although his face was too far way to get a clear expression from, she knew the man well enough to know what he was doing. She knew very well that Louis was standing a top that ledge, chuckling at her. A toothy smile most likely plastered upon his thin face as he disappeared into the rocky How.

A/N Told you it would be long :D But I hope everyone enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

I'm asking you, to review, cause that is what, you should do! (you're jealous of my rhyming skills, just admit it :P)