Quiron's Message

Editing is happening, albeit slowly, but I'd rather get chapters out before I start going over everything...

REVIEW, please! Make me feel wanted! As usual, may be slow at updating, all belongs to C.S. Lewis (the majority of the dialogue, characters, plot and I'll give you a shout out if you can spot what else!) 'cept Lizzy. Now, I also "own" the regal Quiron, mysterious Cheiron, cheeky Prometeo, thoughtful Castor, not-so-thoughtful Pollux, wonderful Migwin, marvellous Arion, proper Lattiar and Bowing Panther, Nigel.

Again, all comments, reviews, flames and compliments are welcomed! PS, Code word for chapter ten is " ", if you want to be mentioned in a shout out for next chapter OR CAN'T BE BOTHERER REVIEWING. But I digress, onwards, dear reader, if you have survived thus far!

Thanks for all the reviews for far, guys! Please keep it up, as it supports both my muse and my ego.

Elizabeth rubbed her eyes as she was suddenly thrown into blackness. She had remained behind in her parlour after her meeting with the Pevensies to sort through both meetings' paperwork. It had taken a while to order the finances for the first meeting, and even longer for the second one, seeing as there was so much more money involved. The second meeting was far more smooth than the first as a grumpy Elizabeth had taken control at the start and made it very clear what points were to be addressed and how. The people there included the elite group downstairs that consisted of old blue-blooded parliament members and the finance department as well as King Peter and King Edmund's ten new advisors and, once again, the heads of each area of work. Elizabeth recognised the faces of the head gardener, the head carpenter, the head builder, the head cleaner and two or three other faces that had been in attendance for the first meeting as well. She was very proud to say that they had informed the Pevensies that over the next few months they would be happily working and would be receiving a substantial income, though they may need to review their predicament in the upcoming winter. Elizabeth felt happy for both herself and Peter as it was six months away and would give them a lot of time to relax before they needed to do any thinking on the issue. Elizabeth kept her doubts quiet, as she wasn't planning to be here in the upcoming winter months and felt a little woozy about how Peter would deal with the poor Narnians. After the complaints were heard from the others and were recorded onto pieces of parchment to be filed away, Peter sent those no longer needed away from the parlour and changed the direction of talk onto the next item on the agenda. Elizabeth felt very relieved as Peter had coped well with the entire meeting and if he couldn't deal with one particular point, one of his siblings would chime in and help him. Together, Elizabeth noticed, they ruled perfectly. Only a few times Elizabeth or Nigel would need to chime in to correct or describe a thought of the royals' but the mistake would be very minor. Elizabeth was relieved that she wasn't really needed to be around for these meetings.

Elizabeth had been given time to think during one of the more lengthy discussions with one of the financial gurus, and had thought slowly through her predicament. She wasn't really needed, she had pondered. While she was happy that the Pevensies had taken to ruling over Narnia like a moth had taken to a flame (she was only a tiny bit of jealous) and she really was happy that when she left they wouldn't miss her, she couldn't help but feel very disappointed and sad about this. It only furthered her thought of how she wasn't required here and that she had to find a place where she fit in perfectly. She had also had a long chance to glance up at the map hanging on one of the walls. Around the edges were descriptions of what each city or village was famous for, and she made a short list in her head of place which she would love to visit. It was getting longer, she noted with a smile. She could only hope that some of those places were on Prometeo's itinerary for her.

With a sigh, Elizabeth stood up from off of the floor and felt her way around the furniture and out of the room. There was no use continuing her work while she couldn't see what she was doing. Quietly she made her way out of the room and into the hallway, and started to make the short walk to her room. The halls were lit with hanging candles every so often, many of them in their last few minutes. Elizabeth grabbed one of the bigger ones and entered her room. Elizabeth shut the door quietly behind her, trying not to wake Nadine who had found residence directly below her room in a pond which the dumb horses used as a drinking supply. She held the candle up high, spilling a bit of wax onto her hand in the process and went to set it down on her bedside table. As she went to turn down her bed, she was met with a surprise. A head of dark hair was spread across her pillow, sleeping gently. Elizabeth tried not to disturb Lucy's deep sleep and decided to just get changed and instead lay on top of the covers. Elizabeth grabbed her nightdress and nightgown and went behind her curtain to change. It was very dark behind the screen, darker than the room itself, and so Elizabeth had a lot of trouble changing. She carefully crept across the room, though, once fully dressed with her nightgown wrapped tightly around her, and positioned herself on the opposite side of the bed from Lucy. She blew out the candle and fell asleep soon after.

When Elizabeth woke the next morning, Lucy had gone. She glanced at the bed covers where her friend had previously been and couldn't help but feel remorse. She hadn't spoken to the younger girl properly since they had journeyed to Mr Tumnus' house what felt like a lifetime ago. The sound of water splashing into her marble bathtub snapped Elizabeth out of her reveries. Elizabeth looked around the room to see Nadine filling the bath with fresh water. With a smile, Elizabeth gently pushed herself out of her bed and made her way over to the handmaiden.

"Good morning, Nadine," She sung at the kind naiad.

"Good morning, milady. I was drawing up a bath for you. Is there anything else you require?"

"Actually," Elizabeth bit her lip and glanced back at the bed once more. "I was wondering if you had seen Lucy in here at some point?"

"Lucy, milady?" Nadine paused and slowly looked at where Elizabeth was glancing. She had remembered her lady lying next to the younger valiant Queen earlier this morning, but had watched Queen Lucy leave after the older Queen had come found her. "You mean the younger Queen, milady?" Elizabeth felt a stab through her chest. She had momentarily forgotten that the girl younger than herself was a Queen, and no longer had time for her. She had been at the meeting last night, but she hadn't had a chance to speak with her thoroughly. Actually, now that she recalled, she had truly spoken to any one of the Pevensies properly in a long time.

"Yes," Elizabeth tried to hide the waver in her voice and turned away from her handmaiden. "That's exactly what I meant." Elizabeth made her way around the privacy curtain and towards her wardrobe, unaware of the sympathetic look coming from her naiad servant. She tried to shake the feeling of hurt and focused on picking out what to wear for the day. She still had to finalise some of the points from her first meeting, and continue sorting through the records in her parlour. She had learnt that wearing her most comfortable clothes in future meetings would be beneficial to her.

"Her royal sister came in here earlier this morning, looking for her Majesty and then they left together, milady. Should I have stopped her?"

"No, of course you shouldn't have." As much as Elizabeth missed her friend, she knew that Lucy had things to attend to. It made her wonder how she would manage leaving Lucy and Edmund if she missed them deeply and yet they still lived in the same castle as her. It was a thought that she pushed to the back of her mind before she could think on it. "Now, help me decide what I should wear for the day," Elizabeth ordered Nadine. Nadine quickly made her way over to the couch and picked up a rusty orange dress and Elizabeth's brown boots.

"I had already taken the liberty of choosing an outfit, milady," Nadine spoke softly, gaining the attention of her mistress.

"Always one step ahead of me, you are," Elizabeth hummed to herself, before quickly rushing behind the screen and striping in order to bathe. Nadine collected the other servants and warned them quietly that Elizabeth was feeling badly this morning and not to disrupt her on fear of encouraging the lady's mood. They carefully tended to their lady for the morning, and then left hurriedly. Nadine, still feeling horrible for Elizabeth, had ordered the centaur she had seen Elizabeth talk to on more than one occasion push all of her meetings back and had allowed Elizabeth eat breakfast on her balcony while she pulled her hair up into a beautiful, fancy twist.

"Thank you, Nadine," Elizabeth had said as a form of apology to her servant. She was currently looking at her reflection in the looking glass, and could see Nadine fret over her in the reflection, too. "You really are a good friend."

"It is my pleasure, milady," The naiad curtsied and went about cleaning the mess of Elizabeth. Elizabeth decided that it was time to go have a talk with the carpenters and builders about the stable before talking to the cleaners about beginning the clean-up tomorrow. Then, she decided, she would have lunch and order papers for the rest of the day. Elizabeth huffed and stalked out of the room. She wished to Aslan with all of the faith she had that she would not run into Nigel today, for she was already furious about how her next couple of days would be filled with work.

It had been a long walk down to the stables for Elizabeth. She had started fretting over the workload she had accepted and if she was doing it right when Castor had caught up with her and given her yet another thing to worry over.

"Lady Lizzy!" A voice had called from behind her. Elizabeth had just stepped out of the castle entry and into the very impressive courtyard. She loved it on days like this. It smelled of roses, apples and a Narnian spring and the day was bathed in a light butterscotch sun. The sight of her friend approaching her only made her suddenly relaxing walk all the better.

"Castor!" She cried back to the deer and stopped to allow him to catch up and walk with her. "What are you doing outside, not that you need an excuse to go out and enjoy a morning like this?"

"Ah, I see you're feeling better. The maids of the fourth floor were gossiping about how you were feeling very sad this morning." Elizabeth stiffened. Stupid gossiping maids, She cursed in her mind. She didn't really want anyone to know about that; she found it very embarrassing.

"Yes, well, you know better than anyone about how people gossip," She replied, thinking of his lovely brother. Pollux also popped into Castor's mind and immediately his faced turned into an expression of disapproval. Elizabeth sighed. She didn't want to lie to her friend, any of them, in fact. She didn't want to admit it, but keeping the secret of travelling from Edmund and Lucy, or, as she liked to think of it otherwise 'not having found the time to tell them quite yet' was making her feel very guilty and very horrible. She didn't want to worsen her despair by lying to someone who was known to be a part of her 'inner circle'. Elizabeth thought about this fact, and realised that out of the many friends she held close in Narnia, she really only trusted three of them enough to share her thoughts with. She decided that she would slowly expand that circle. But carefully, she amended. She was still very hurt by Pollux going around telling the castle staff about her renouncement. Actually, Elizabeth realised quite suddenly, why hadn't the Edmund or Lucy heard about it yet? Unless they already know, and that was why she was in my room last night. Elizabeth felt her stomach dip down to the tips of her toes for the second time that morning. Oh, please Aslan, let that not be the case... Elizabeth was drawn from her thoughts by Castor once more.

"Yes, well, thankfully gossiping isn't a family trait," He told her proudly.

"I'm sorry for saying that, Castor," Elizabeth told him. The choking and very familiar emotion of tears swarming into her eyes suffocated her. She rubbed at them angrily, stopping in the middle of their nice walk. "I didn't mean to say that, and it was very rude of me. I suppose I really am having a bad day today." She concluded.

"And the day hasn't even officially begun, yet," Castor chuckled awkwardly after a pause. Elizabeth managed a watery giggle but still shook her head. She was starting to get very annoyed at herself. Every time she felt angry or sad or insulted she would just start crying. She shut her eyes and promised herself to find a way to stop it happening so often. "I have some news that might just cheer you up, though." The deer drew Elizabeth's attention back to himself. "We had another meeting last night about your future plans—" (Elizabeth was very relieved that he didn't announce them outdoors, in a very public cobblestone square) "—and we have not only finished you itinerary for," Castor quickly glanced around once and lowered his voice, leaning into Elizabeth a bit, "the journey. But, we have also announced a date for your departure."

"Oh, Castor, that's wonderful news!" Elizabeth cried out happily, and clapped her hands together. The deer smiled happily. He had managed to brighten his friend up, a fact he was very grateful for.

"So, when is it?" Elizabeth hissed, remembering to lower her voice also. "And where am I going?"

"Ah!" A voice interrupted the conversation between the good friends. "I see that you two are already conspiring over something. Might I be privy to the knowledge?" It was Arion, the horse who had brought the attention of the unkempt stables at the meeting, approaching them with a smile stretched across his snout and a joking tone.

"Arion," Elizabeth hastened to change the subject, "It's lovely to see you again."

"And fate has treated me well by making it so soon, too," He said, coming to a halt in front of them. "I don't believe I have yet the pleasure of meeting your comrade."

"Oh, of course. Arion, this is one of my closest friends Castor," She gestured to the deer, who regally bowed his head to the horse.

"A pleasure, Master Horse," Castor greeted him.

"The pleasure is mine, as is it to anyone who meets the friends of the Gracious Lady."

"And Castor, this charming and very kind equine is Arion. Arion was at my meeting yesterday and had the courage to interrupt me and tell us all about how derelict the stables are. I was actually making my way down to meet you when I bumped into Castor here," Elizabeth smiled elegantly at the horse. Arion nodded his head and then turned back to Castor.

"As you have heard the circumstances, I assume you would not be too insulted if I stole your female companion away?" He neighed towards Castor. Castor smiled back politely at his new acquaintance, and shook his head slowly.

"I would not have any qualms against it, if only I might have just a few more moments alone with her?" He asked, already heading off the path and towards a shaded tree off to one side. It was a fair distance away from Arion, but still close enough that the two had to whisper for fear of being over heard.

"I'm sorry about the interruption," Elizabeth hissed quietly to her friend. She couldn't help but notice that he looked slightly put off.

"Don't be. Now, we have little time so I must deliver Quiron's message quickly and, excuse me, bluntly."

"Of course. Please, go ahead," Elizabeth motioned with her hands for him to continue quickly.

"Quiron is holding a meeting shortly after dinner in order to speak with you, myself and Prometeo about a few smaller issues. It will be held in the lounge room directly above the great hall—"

"Where's the great hall?" Elizabeth asked quickly, having a rough map of the castle appear in her mind.

"It's a few rooms down from the throne room. But never mind that, it's easy enough to find. What must be mentioned is that yesterday Pollux had mentioned to a few of his fawn friends that he was invited to a secret meeting being held. Nigel, the panther who organises the royal's schedules, sorted out the mess but it was an inconvenience to him and it would be very embarrassing to ask for him to cover for us again."

"So you want me to keep it very silent and not even mention any meeting at all?" Elizabeth asked, eyebrows furrowed. She didn't understand as to why it was such a big fuss to have a meeting with a few of her friends.

"Precisely," Castor replied.

"This meeting is being held for me and my wants," Elizabeth muttered to herself and the deer, "Of course I won't tell anyone about it."

"Good. Well, I suppose that's all—"

"Wait! What's the meeting about?"

"You'll find you when you arrive," The deer huffed, walking away.

"Even Nigel gives me a heads up," Elizabeth muttered sourly to herself, walking back over to the horse. "I'm horribly sorry about that, Arion. We needed to finalise a few points within the conversation."

"No, no. I understand completely. Now, to coin a phrase from the most efficient business woman I have ever had to pleasure to meet, "To business"." Arion started to lead Elizabeth down several paths to the right. At first Elizabeth thought it was a lovely walk until steadily the cream cobblestones became more and more displaced until Elizabeth could feel the stones digging into her feet when she took a step. The trees also grew in patches along the left side. The right side was the wall to the palace and the only thing that didn't look dead or unkempt. Elizabeth started to feel very sorry for the horses that lived here. She looked along the wall towering over her head.

"Do you think that we could install some lanterns into the wall overhead?" She asked the horse, taking care not to trip over the floor as it was getting worse. Elizabeth had never seen anything quite like it before, and what pleased her most about it was the fact that she was going to fix it for the poor Narnians. Before she went away, she decided, so that she could see it through. "So that during the night you wouldn't need to fear where you're stepping."

"It is a noble thought, milady, but it had not been allowed in the budget," The horse murmured. As the conversation began, and progressed, the horse changed from the happy and joking creature this morning to the serious and solemn animal at the meeting. Elizabeth could see that Arion really did care about the horses that stayed in the facility.

"No, maybe it isn't. But we did plan for lanterns, and I can easily do some negotiations with Lattiar about pricing," She murmured. Arion smiled happily while they reached a wide curve in the path. Turning the corner Elizabeth gasped to see what the path opened up to. It was very big and spacious, but that was the only positive thing to say about it. One of the walls had gone completely while the other three had been shoddily put together. There were new wooden troughs, filled with new grains and fresh water. There were a few fawns and many other Narnian species attending to the horses, both speaking and dumb alike, while others hung riding material over also newly built wooden squares which were all off to the far side of the ring. Elizabeth could see holes in the roof from far off and a huge tree branch through one of the windows. Elizabeth watched as a badger walked over to the cupboard haphazardly built on one side of the stable, the side with the missing wall, to put away a feed bag. As he opened it, the entire building collapsed around him.

"Oh!" Elizabeth screeched and ran over to the dust cloud. Many other Narnians joined her and tried to find the lost badger. "Oh, Mr Badger, are you alright?" Elizabeth coughed through the dirt. She felt along the ground, her eyes shut tightly against the dust, her hand skimming over wood and food sacks before feeling soft fur graze her fingertips. Her hand felt around the area more thoroughly as she crawled closer. On her knees, a piece of wood digging into her thigh, she grasped a splintering piece of heavy wood which was lying across the badger. She pushed it with all her might and as the dust cleared few more creatures came in to help Elizabeth save the poor creature. After a few minutes, they could slide the badger out from underneath the debris and Elizabeth carefully picked up the animal and crawled on her knees to where there was no dirt clouding her vision. Rubbing at her eyes vainly, she tried to clear her eyes to see the badger.

"Someone needs to take him to the physician," Elizabeth cried out after a minute. She gave in to her blindness and let others do the work for her. "And nobody go near the stable for now. Arion!" She called out. The sound of hooves echoed through her ears and she felt a hand wrap itself around her arm.

"Micshines is supporting you," The familiar voice of Arion told her. "Here, place her on me and I'll carry her back to the castle."

"Yes, Arion." Elizabeth felt herself being lifted up onto the horse and felt her hands being directed towards Arion's mane. She grasped it tightly. A bubble of fear grew in her stomach. Elizabeth had never ridden a horse before, and before she had been to Narnia, she hadn't even seen one up close. She felt very nervous and pulled herself closer to the beast, her limbs automatically tightening themselves around her. She could feel Arion turn around sharply and canter in the direction that the castle must have been in.

"Argh!" Elizabeth cried out, feeling her tailbone slam into Arion's back.

"Milady, relax. It will be more comfortable if you allow your body to move against my back," Arion cried back to her. Elizabeth grimaced and felt dread come over her body as she gripped her hands around his mane tighter and forced her body to relax. Eventually, she settled down into a rhythm. Her body moved with Arion's and she didn't feel any more pain. If only I could see myself, Elizabeth thought to herself. If only I could see. She had quickly revised her thoughts when she heard the sound of Arion's horseshoes on the ground change. They were more timed and she felt the change in the feel of Arion's body beneath hers. She assumed that they had made it a fair way up the path—quite quickly as well—and not even a minute after she thought that, she heard the sound of the castle doormen enquire as to what was the problem with the Gracious Lady. Arion stopped abruptly, causing Elizabeth to fly forwards into his neck and elbow herself in the ribs, to explain what had happened down at the stables. The two guardsmen helped Elizabeth off the horse and told her that they had seen an unconscious badger carried past only moments before.

"Milady!" A voice cried out to Elizabeth, rushing forwards to see what had happened herself. Elizabeth felt the watery form of Nadine grip her arms and she hastened to assure her maid that she was alright, and that she only had dust in her eyes so she couldn't see. "Milady, you cannot see!" She cried. Elizabeth felt Nadine pull her along the ground and quickly into the castle. After being guided up stairs carefully and down long hallways, Elizabeth felt a cool rag being pressed to her eyes. She reached up to grab it gently out of Nadine's hand and wiped it across her eyes and then the rest of her face. Elizabeth opened her eyes to see that she was in her plum and ivory room once more.

"Thank you, Nadine," Elizabeth said softly to her maid.

"Do not think it was any trouble to act the way I did, milady," Nadine said crossly to her mistress. "Now, this is the second time you've had to change your dress mid-morning because you are covered in dust. Would you care to explain?" Elizabeth blushed and looked down at her feet. Nadine was acting how a mother would when their daughter went to play in the garden and came back in covered in mud.

"I'm sorry," Elizabeth muttered. She walked over to her wardrobe and pulled out a soft grey dress. She quickly stripped and with Nadine's help tied up the glittering strings that went all down her back. Nadine led her over to the dresser and started to brush her hair once more. "I was down at the stables, and a part of it collapsed on top of a badger." Nadine gasped and tugged a little too hard of Elizabeth's hair.

"Is the badger okay?" She asked, oblivious to Elizabeth's wince.

"I don't know," She admitted, "I hope he is. I went to pull him out from under some wood and got dust in my eyes. I rode back on Arion bareback, and blindly, you know." She was rather proud of her riding achievement she had accomplished today, but still felt bad about the badger being hurt. "I was going to go and check on him in the healing quarters after I got changed." She turned around to face Nadine, "Would you like to join me?" Nadine felt happy to be asked along to something by her lady. She blushed a naiad's blush and nodded happily.

"I would be honoured to, milady," Nadine began to plat Elizabeth's hair into tiny strands and managed to tame it to look like a bouquet of daisies on the end. Elizabeth smiled happily at her maid, unaware of the happy gesture in her hair, and the two made their way to the concrete room of the healers'.

Elizabeth screwed up her nose at the awful mixture of herbs floating around in the air. She wanted to leave the room immediately to get away from the scent but she wanted to see how the badger was more so. Elizabeth breathed in deeply and readied herself to walk further into the room. Nadine by her side, Elizabeth walked over to an old looking centaur sitting behind a simple wooden table, scattered with papers and bags of unknown substances. Elizabeth tried not to be distracted by the seeping objects and so focused her eyes on the lady.

"Excuse me, but might you be able to tell me where the badger is?" Elizabeth asked.

"The one who came in only a couple of minutes ago," Nadine added. Neither girl received a reply, as one of the soldiers had woken from a bad nightmare and the centaur needed to attend to him, but they were pointed towards a bed immediately next to the table. They shared a hesitant look before making their way behind the curtain. The badger was still unconscious but there was a female badger working on him. When Elizabeth enquired for details, both she and Nadine had been shooed out away from the patient's bed and out of the entire infirmary rudely.

"No. No one gets the details until I have them myself," The nurse badger had hissed dangerously at them. "Go now, and come back in a few days!"

"But I was there when he was hurt! I helped rescue him, and I told others to bring him here!" Elizabeth whined to the healer.

"Then Father Nicholas will give you a big present this year, for being such a good girl! Now shoo!" The badger had picked up a thermometer and had chased the girls out of the room with it, lashing at their backs almost as if it were a sword.

"I must say, I am not looking forward to going back there in a hurry," Elizabeth whispered to Nadine, who nodded in agreement but still made plans to come back in four days.

With the excitement of the morning over, and the adrenaline slowly fading from her blood stream, Elizabeth decided to skip lunch and instead go immediately to her parlour. She had managed to sneak away from Nadine and Quiron, as well as Arion who now wanted to give her lesson in horse riding, but was surprised upon seeing a certain King in her parlour, hunched over a chest of papers.

"Edmund," Elizabeth stated, shocked. She could feel a happy smile pulling at her lips upon seeing her friend again, alone and without Nigel pestering either one about more work, and made her way quickly across the room and towards the chests.

"Liz," He greeted her, just as surprised as she was to see him. "I was just sorting through some of the complaints to see what could be done before we had to have another meeting about it," He explained. Edmund's tone was tight when he had mentioned the thought of another meeting. Elizabeth had picked up on it.

"I see you're not a fan of business," She stated, setting herself down in front of the chest filled with the finances and the ideas of the stables.

"No, I'm not. And after how you reacted at the meeting, I think we can both safely assume that you aren't either," He probed his friend hesitantly.

"No," Elizabeth mocked her King, giving him a cheeky smile, "I'm not."

"Yet, here we both are, wasting out lunch hours to sort through papers that we'd rather throw away," Edmund said, frowning down at a piece of parchment in his hands.

"Yet, here we are," Elizabeth agreed. She opened the chest with difficultly but picked up where she had left off. The 'R' section. She was almost done, she thought happily to herself. Roof restorations, Rain-proofing, dealing with roots, a preference of red bricks...No, that should be under 'B', Elizabeth quickly moved the signed documentation of the board agreeing that red bricks back to the 'B' section. She then copied her actions with the finances chest.

"We haven't talked much, lately," Edmund muttered hesitantly.

"Edmund, it's only been a couple of days," Elizabeth was quick to hasten him.

"Yes, but I don't want to have to postpone our friendship for...sorting parchments," He flung a few documents up in the air at the end of his sentence, punctuating his joke.

"I don't think it's all that serious, Ed," Elizabeth stated hesitantly, "We have separate lives." She had planned the sentence to see how he would react about him beginning to think of her going away for a while. It suddenly dawned on Elizabeth that Edmund hadn't been alone in Narnia with her presence, except for the battle and even then they had spent a lot of time talking. Edmund had given her a suspicious glare. He was a very smart boy, in fact, back in England he was the smartest boy in his year, and so he knew that his friend was holding something back from him. "Besides, you're the King of Narnia. You can't postpone a battle in order to speak to your friends."

"I know that," Edmund snapped at Elizabeth, taking her once more by surprise. "But it doesn't make me happy." Elizabeth didn't reply. Instead, she turned away and began to think of all of the places that she would visit. Surprisingly, it managed to guard off the tears for a couple of minutes, which was enough time for Elizabeth to settle her emotions. There was a knock on the door and Lucy and Nadine entered the room. Nadine, upon giving Elizabeth a platter of food and spiced wine, quickly left, but Lucy and Susan settled themselves comfortably down on the couch which still hadn't been put back to where it had came from.

"Hello, Lizzy!" Lucy greeted happily.

"Hello, Luce," Elizabeth replied, still sorting through records. Elizabeth had moved on to the next letter of the alphabet while she droned the monarchs out. She was pondering over whether Feeding lanterns went under 'F' or 'L' when a thump came from her dress. "What was that?" She remarked, looking at the three monarchs. Lucy was giggling and Edmund had a mischievous smirk on his face. "Ed, what was that?" Elizabeth picked up the rolled up record at her knees. Upon reading it she noticed that it defiantly did not belong in her pile. She chucked it back at Ed, who had ducked and it landed in the fireplace.

"Oh, no!" He quickly scrambled across to get it. The burnt coals in the fireplace had covered the document in thick ash, making it hard to read. "Why did you do that?" Edmund whined at Elizabeth.

"Why did you throw it at me in the first place?" She asked him, rolling her eyes. Her lips were pulled up in a smile however, showing that she really didn't mind all that much. Edmund then threw the coal-covered record at her, landing right in the middle of her stomach before rolling onto the floor. "Oh, no!" Elizabeth hissed. She quickly jumped up and manoeuvred herself to the looking glass behind several bookshelves upstairs in the alcove. Lucy and Edmund had slowly followed her up.

"Lizzy?" Lucy had cried out.

"Back here!" Elizabeth had called back. The two siblings quickly made their way towards their friend's voice. They saw her standing in front of a wall made entirely of mirrors scrubbing at the new mark in her dress.

"Edmund, was that really necessary?" She growled at her friend. He had only meant it in fun, and so was rather taken aback with her tone.

"It...it was a joke," He told her lamely.

"Yes, a joke," She agreed, "that won't rub off!"

"Maybe if you try dabbing at it," Lucy suggested coming to stand next to her friend. Elizabeth picked up the napkin she had carried upstairs with her and softly dabbed at the material. The coal only went further in.

"Lucy, it's not working," She whined.

"Why does it matter, anyway?" Edmund asked. "You have other dresses that you can change into."

"Yes, but this is the second dress I've worn today! I can't keep ruining dresses this often!" Elizabeth hissed at the boy.

"How on Earth did you ruin your dress this morning?" Edmund asked, his eyes confused.

"There was this thing with a stable and a badger and then I was blind and I rode and then the orange dress was gone," Elizabeth moaned as the stain did nothing.

"I'm sorry," Edmund said after a pause. He hadn't quite followed Elizabeth's explanation but he still felt mildly responsible for her distress now.

"No, don't worry about it, Edmund," Elizabeth sighed eventually. "I suppose I'll just have to go and get dresses again. For the third time today," She muttered under her breath as a side note. She turned around and faced her two friends.

"Will you come back?" Edmund asked, still wanting to spend time with his friend.

"And be in the firing range once more? It's highly unlikely," She informed him, partly joking and partly being serious. She wasn't sure which side was bigger, though.

"Oh," Edmund said. Elizabeth felt sad about disappointing her friend but if he had wanted her to stay he should have been more mature, she told herself.

"Oh!" Lucy's 'Oh' was a different one to Edmunds. "Sit by us at dinner!" She cried out happily.

"Um," Elizabeth thought of it quickly, she would rather enjoy it, and she would be able to have another conversation with them both without the distractions. "Okay then. I'll see you both at dinner, then." With quick smiles, Elizabeth ran down the stairs and quickly out of the doors in order to change before lunch was over.