Once again I am at home sick. Blah. However, this does give me a whole day to write uninterrupted and I am glad of that. Hopefully my sickness (fever and a dreadful cold) will not impair my writing. Oh, there are a few curse words in this chapter (Kelta has a painful experience) so if that offends anyone I apologize.

'This is not going to be pleasant.' Kelta thought as she watched Edmund talking to a fruit vendor on the roadside from Lindy's back. Standing there in the afternoon sun, haggling over prices with the faun and grinning crookedly Edmund looked dreadfully appealing to her. She felt the knot in her stomach and flutter in her heart that Gavin formerly produced. The mix of joy and dread, coupled with anxiety over her letter to Gavin made her feel a little nauseous. Though she and Gavin were no longer intimate she still felt a small sense of loyalty to him and her new-found feelings for Edmund grated against every moral fiber in her soul. 'You're absolutely determined to make this as difficult as possible for me aren't you?' She wondered, looking up at the sky.

"Say what now?" Edmund asked, handing her a scrumptious looking orange.

"Oh, I was-" She broke off with a huff of frustration; certain he would not understand, distracted by the hand resting very close to her knee on Lindy's side, and embarrassed that she had spoken aloud. "I was talking to myself." She finished lamely, picking at the orange peel.

"To your Sky-God you mean?" he asked, almost nonchalantly, as he bit into a plum.

A bit surprised at his reaction to her talking aloud to what was, as far as he knew, a nonexistent being, Kelta squeezed the orange harder that she realized and shot a sprinkle of juice into her eye. She yelped and clapped a hand, which was covered in even more juice, over her eye. She felt Edmund pulling her off of Lindy but could not see because her eyes were watering so badly. She slid in very unladylike fashion to the ground and clipped her chin on what she thought might have been Edmund's collarbone. He had to pry her hand away from her face to see her eye which was tightly shut and leaking tears at an alarming rate.

"You have to open you eye so I can see it Kel!"

"No, no it hurts!" she shrieked, pressing her hand back to her eye.

"Kel let me see!"

"No, damn it, I said it hurts you ignorant ass! Shit!"

"Did you just swear at me?"

"Yes I bloody swore at you!" she said knocking his hand aside and turning away from him. To her astonishment he laughed at her. She looked over her shoulder with her good eye to glare to him and he only laughed harder.

"You-" laughter "-are so-" even more laughter "-strange!"

"I'm so very glad I can provide you with such amusement." She said dryly, rubbing her smarting eye. Still chuckling to himself Edmund raised his hand once more to try and help her. He paused when she gave him a murderous one eyed look, laughed again, and took her face between his hands.

"You've got to let me help you or you'll be hurting for a while. Just let me look." He tugged gently at her wrist and frowned when she resisted.

"Kel…Look, you've gotten orange juice all over your hands and by rubbing them on your face you made it worse. It burns, doesn't it?" she nodded and with a sigh let him remove her hand. He wiped the area around her eye with the end of his sleeve and slowly pried her eye open. She hissed in pain and her eyes watered uncontrollably when the air hit the offending eye. She tried to pull away and close her eyes again but Edmund held fast. She cursed loudly when he blew on her eye, making it water even worse than before.

"I know, I know, it hurts, but your eyes have to water to get all the juice out. Why did you squeeze your orange in the first place?"

"Because you surprised me." Her eye was starting to clear and the stinging was defiantly going away.

"I surprised you? What did I do?"

"Most people have a different reaction to my tendency to talk aloud to no one. You seemed so okay with it, it surprised me and I squeezed the orange. I clench my fists a lot."

He let go of her face and she blinked rapidly, the burning sensation almost completely gone. Finally able to concentrate on something other than her eye Kelta realized how close she and Edmund were standing. Her back was against Lindy's side and he was so close to her front that the hem of her skirts brushed his boots. She cleared her throat softly and he stepped away, a light blush coloring his face. She could feel her own face growing hot and was terribly glad that the fruit vendor had taken his cart and continued down the road so no one had witnessed her little scene.

"You bashed my chin on your shoulder as well!" she grumbled rubbing at the offending spot. Edmund gave her an incredulous and awfully adorable look, forcing her to cover a smile with a scowl.

"Honestly? Honestly Kel, you are without a doubt one of the most hardheaded people I've ever met. Only Peter is worse in my opinion!"

"Ah, but that's why you like me Ed my old friend. I keep you on your toes, and there's rarely a dull moment when I'm around." She said, flouncing back to Lindy and grinning over her shoulder at him. He shook his head but smiled back and she knew her sharp words were forgiven.

'He's quite handsome when her smiles like that.' Kelta caught herself before that thought turned more serious. 'What am I thinking; he can't possibly get involved with a person like me. I'm only seventeen, unmarried and pregnant. It's daft of me to even be feeling this way. Come on now Kelta, get yourself together!'

… … …

'Aslan she's stubborn!' Edmund thought as he swung back into Phillips saddle. 'She doesn't expect anyone to understand her or help her, and when someone does, she panics.' He shook his head and smiled. 'She looked so shocked for that second before the juice started to burn. Her eye must have been stinging awfully, and it's still rather red. They were the most unusual shade of blue when she yelled at me…'

… … …

'Oh my, what a touchingly strange scene!' Thought Cannor the fruit seller as he watched King Edmund and the young lady arguing. He prided himself on being one of the first to find all the really good gossip and this was the best bit since Queen Susan's first marriage proposal from Prince Raman six months ago. 'Prinny's going to love this!' he thought as he tottered off down the road to the village.