Disclaimer: Edmund Pevensie and all the characters and situations in The Chronicles of Narnia belong to C. S. Lewis and not to me. Romulus and Remus appear by the kind permission of Lady Alambiel.
Chapter Ten
When lunch was over and the Kittens had gone back to their mother for their afternoon naps, Edmund escorted Elain down to the beach. The water was cold and winter gray, but there was still a lovely view, the miles of sea out to the clear blue horizon, and the shining walls of the Cair above them.
"It's so beautiful," Elain said, her dark eyes shining. "Not that the desert doesn't have a loveliness of its own, but it's so bleak and hot. Narnia– It's just full of beauty and wonder wherever one looks. If the winter is this gorgeous, what must it be in spring and summer and fall?"
"Just as lovely," Edmund said, and hearing the delight and awe in her words, he felt his own love for his kingdom swell in his chest and make his heart beat harder. "It has a different sort of beauty every day, and no two exactly alike."
He sprang back, trying to shield himself with both hands from the sudden spray of water from Romulus's sodden fur.
"Hey!"
Elain giggled and ducked behind him as Remus came trotting up the beach from the water equally sodden.
"Stop it right there," Edmund ordered as he wiped his face with both hands, and the Wolves looked startled.
"What?" Remus said.
Romulus blinked, looking as if he were about to shake himself again. "Are you mad because we didn't catch any fish? We tried. We almost caught about a hundred."
Edmund steeled himself against their identical puzzled-but-eager-to-please expressions and pointed sternly. "Go over to the grass and dry yourselves off, and don't get more sand on you than you have to."
Heads low, the Wolves did as they were told.
Elain's expression held equal parts pity and amusement. "They try so hard."
Edmund bit his lip, trying not to smile, at least not enough for the Wolves to see him from the grass. "I know. Did they get you very wet?"
"Not at all." She offered him the dainty handkerchief from the sleeve of her dress. "But you need this."
"Thank you, but I won't spoil yours." He pulled out his own handkerchief, a much more capacious and useful one, and blotted his face and tunic. "Now, shall we go down to the docks? Or am I too terrible a sight to be seen in public."
She pushed back a wet lock of his hair and then blushed faintly. "I think you'll do."
She looked rather fetching when she blushed.
Edmund cleared his throat, realizing he was staring. "I, uh, that's the nice thing about the clothes here in Narnia. They look beautiful, but they're quite comfortable, too. And they aren't generally spoilt by everyday work and play. It doesn't hurt them in the least to run into a rainstorm."
"Or a wet Wolf," Elain said.
"Even that," Edmund agreed, smiling, "though, because of Romulus and Remus, some of the Hedgehogs who do our laundry are said to have been brought to tears."
"The poor things."
Edmund took her arm and they walked up to the grass at the edge of the beach. The Wolves had obviously forgotten they were out of favor with their boy and were evidently trying to see which of them could bite the other's tail first.
Edmund put his free hand on his hip. "Ahem."
Romulus looked up with a doggy grin, and Remus took advantage of his inattention by nipping the end of his tail. Romulus yipped and scowled at him.
"All right," Edmund said, feeling Elain's silent giggles beside him, "that's enough. If the two of you can behave for more than five minutes at a time, you may come along with us to ask about Lady Elain's ship."
"Do you have a ship?" Romulus asked, falling into step beside Elain.
"It really belonged to my father, but I . . . suppose it is mine now."
"I didn't know ladies had ships," Remus said, his shaggy head tilted to one side.
"Ladies can have ships if they want," Romulus told him. "Queen Lucy had a ship. The High King gave it to her."
"And it sank, didn't it?" Remus replied. "See?"
Edmund sighed. "I have tried, Lady Elain. Even Orieus can't make them remember to behave."
"I like them just as they are," she said, and the Wolves looked up at her in adoration.
"I think," Edmund said, "that you seem meant to be a Narnian."
At that she merely smiled, but her smile told him nothing.
Somehow they got back on the subject of Narnian clothing, and much to Edmund's surprise, he found himself telling her about the stifling, scratchy, uncomfortable clothing from the Other Place. He had always felt strange talking about his early life to anyone but his brother and sisters, not wanting the Narnians to think he was so very different than they were. Somehow, though, it felt quite natural to tell Elain some of what he remembered still. Not the bad things, of course, not the war and leaving his mother and wondering if his father had ever come home. Just the little things, things like elastic and tooth powder and the wireless. She seemed fascinated by all of it, and it seemed a very short walk indeed to get to the docks.
As usual, a number of ships had put in at Cair Paravel. Edmund dismissed the Calormene ones out of hand. They might be headed toward the islands, but it was more likely they went no farther than where they were right now. There was a little Terebinthian cruiser further on, but the crew there told him they had just come up to the Cair to take on some freight before heading down to Tashbaan. Finally Edmund spotted a Red Dwarf he recognized from a trip he'd taken to the Lone Islands the past summer. He and a crew of Dwarfs, Minotaurs, Satyrs and some rather sturdy-looking Fauns were loading several heavy boxes onto a platform to be lifted by a winch up to the deck.
"Yardrick!" Edmund called.
The Dwarf immediately swept the red cap off his head and stepped off the gangway. "Your Majesty. Well met, sir, well met." He bowed to Elain. "And a good day to your lady as well."
"She's not his lady," Remus said virtuously. "She doesn't have puppies or anything."
Romulus glared at him, and Elain gave Edmund a mischievous smile.
"This is Lady Elain from Archenland," Edmund told the Dwarf, refusing to look at either of the Wolves. "She is looking for news of The Arabella. Have you heard any news of her?"
Yardrick gave him a cheeky grin. "Of the lady or the ship?"
"The ship, you dolt. She was supposed to be coming back from the Seven Isles."
The Dwarf shook his head, one hand stroking the beard that was tucked into his wide belt. "I cannot recall having heard the name, Majesty, and begging the lady's pardon, I know of three or four that left port and never came back. This time of the year, the seas are not friendly to those who venture upon them. Even here at Cair Paravel, the Raven who stands my first mate tells me we are due some squalls. The Merfolk have gone to their deepest caves, and that's a sure sign of storms a-brewin'."
Elain gave Edmund a troubled glance, and he squeezed her arm a little more tightly just to reassure her.
"You have business further south?" he asked the Dwarf.
"This is as far as we go. One of our fine lords will have nothing less than Narnian marble for his manor house, and we're charged with getting it to him and not ending it up at the bottom of the sea."
"Oh." Edmund watched another box being loaded onto the ship. "That's you, is it? I knew we had traded some from the quarry near Cauldron Pool for a deal of wheat and barley."
"Aye, so it is. But I can tell you, sir, I'd not have been one of those who hauled this lot all the way from Chippingford, not for a year and a day of your best ale. Centaurs all, I hear, and a good thing. I don't know many others who'd've had the muscle for it."
"True enough. My General talked of many of his kin seeing to it, and none of them seemed to think it much of a load at all."
"I well believe it, sir, that I do."
They stopped talking and watched as, with one of the Minotaurs bellowing orders and the winch groaning under the strain, the platform rose up into the air. Edmund was admiring the smoothness of the operation when suddenly there was chaos. The sailors began to shout all at once.
"Look out there!"
"She's going!"
"Way down below!"
There was the thunder-crack of wood and the snap of ropes, the platform pitched sideways, and the crates tumbled off. Elain shrieked and Edmund grabbed her around the waist and flung her out of the way, shielding her body with his own. An instant later, there was only stunned silence. Just as quickly, there followed a jumbled roar of voices and the sound of running feet.
"Your Majesty!" Yardrick cried. "King Edmund!"
Edmund lifted his head and then looked down. Elain was lying beneath him, her mahogany eyes wide and her breath coming in little gasps.
"It's all right," he told her gently. "Are you all right? You're not hurt, are you? I–"
He broke off, realizing she was still pinned under him, her cheeks flushed, her red lips hardly an inch away from his.
"Is the lady all right?" Remus asked, sticking his nose in between them.
Edmund scrambled to his feet and helped Elain up, the blood burning in his face. "I beg your pardon, Lady. I would never intentionally be rough with you, but those crates–"
"You have nothing to apologize for." She gave him a trembling smile and began brushing dirt off of her dress. "Thank you. Thank you very much."
He took her arm again, very gently now, and looked down into her eyes. "You aren't hurt are you?"
She shook her head, her breathing still unsteady, but she said nothing more.
Yardrick twisted his cap in his hands. "It might be best if you took the lady away, sir. We've a right bit of work cleaning this lot up and getting the cargo aboard before the storm hits."
Edmund nodded. "I think you're right. But if you're headed back, do me the kindness to ask after The Arabella wherever you dock, and send me word if you hear news."
"That I'll do, Your Majesty. You can take that as a promise." He made a graceless bow. "I beg pardon, Lady, for the fright we've given you."
Elain smiled, a little more steady now. "There is no harm done. And thank you for asking after The Arabella."
"You shall have word, Lady, the very moment we have anything to report."
The Dwarf bowed once more and then turned and began bawling orders to his crew.
"Sorry about that," Edmund said as they walked back to the Cair. "Good or bad, Narnia is never dull."
Elain laughed, sounding more like herself now. "I see that. But I have always thought one ought to live one's life rather than just watching it go by."
Edmund tucked her arm into his, thinking she looked all the prettier for her flushed face and rumpled dress and the little wisps of dark hair that had escaped her braid. "I think," he said once more, "that you seem meant to be a Narnian."
Author's Note: Sooo . . . what do you think now? I'd love to know. Reviews make me SO happy!