-Chapter 10-
A/N: A lot of you are upset over Edmund and Avaline's little fight... or maybe not so little. But still, it'll get better! And actually, I didn't write a single bit of that chapter. My friend came up with the plot for the last chapter and I simply typed what she told me to. When she sent it to me, all I did was write the author's note and post it. So when I reread it, I was as shocked as you all were! But thanks to my friend (who will go unnamed) for the great idea, and I think I know exactly where I'm going to go with this now! And I just thought I'd say this: I'm working on another Narnia fanfic called "Paravel's Prophecies" for any of you that want to check it out. It's just a little something that I work on to take my mind off this story. I have no idea where it's going, so don't take it too seriously. Disclaimer: I do not own Narnia.
"Analiese," Lucy whispered, shaking her friend's shoulder gently. The Valiant Queen had been sent upstairs to wake the blonde-haired girl, who had been taking a nap for the past three hours.
"Mmm," was the muffled answer as Analiese sat up, stretched, and rubbed her eyes tiredly. She blinked a few times before she looked at Lucy. "Is it time?" she asked.
"Yes," Lucy replied. "I'll help you into your dress and do your hair and makeup, and then we'll head to the Great Hall."
"Okay."
The strawberry-blonde queen stood up (she had been sitting on the corner of thee guest room bed to wake Analiese) and made her way over to the wardrobe.
"Susan told me to find something blue and made of silk, because it will resemble the beginning of winter, but there's just so many!"
Lucy searched through the wardrobe. Susan had had a full collection of dresses made for Analiese and had them stored in the wardrobe in the guest room for the nights when she slept at the palace rather than going home. She had sworn to the queen-to-be that these clothes would be given away or put in the attic somewhere when Analiese got married; her pre-marriage dresses would be replaced with new ones. And though she thought this ridiculous and wasteful, she had no choice but to agree with Susan.
Finally, the Valiant Queen selected a dress the color of metallic silver with ice blue stitching creating designs all over the heavy silk material. "How about this one?" she asked, holding it up for her friend to see.
"I love it," Analiese said, smiling. She stood and walked to the dress, holding it up against her. "It's very pretty."
"It was one of Avaline's," Lucy explained. "She brought it from the Telmarine palace the night of the surprise attack. I don't think she ever wore it, though. Susan had it lengthened to fit you, since Avaline is an inch or two shorter."
Analiese nodded.
"You can wear these shoes," she held out a pair of silver ballet flats, "and we can clip these," she picked up two glittery silver hair clips, "in your hair."
Analiese nodded again, picked up the dress, and went into the bathroom to change. When she was done, she stepped back into the bedroom and slid on the shoes.
"Sit down," Lucy ordered, pointing to the chair she was standing behind. The chair was placed before a nice vanity with a mirror and three little drawers that contained makeup and hair things.
Analiese sat down in the chair, and Lucy immediately began styling her hair. She picked up a long strand of Analiese's blonde, grown out bangs and began brushing through it gently. Dividing the strand into three equal parts, she pulled it to the left side of her head, and began to French braid it. She continued to braid, going farther and farther down until she stopped and clipped it back behind her head with one of the silver clips. The rest of her hair was curled slightly so that it hung, long and wavy, down her back.
Then the makeup began. Analiese lost herself in her thoughts as Lucy brushed powders across her face and tried out various different lipsticks on her friend.
The nineteen-year-old's thoughts were first on the wedding. It was going to be beautiful, she could tell. Though she wasn't allowed to see the decorations until she was walking down the aisle, she was allowed to help choose. It was only by Susan's decision that she wasn't supposed to see.
Then she thought of her dress. Oh, it was so beautiful, the most beautiful thing Analiese had ever seen. It had a deep U-neckline, but was partially covered by the pink satin fabric that made the under dress. The white material of her wedding dress then began and opened up to reveal the pink satin again down the middle of the dress, which was outlined by pure gold on either side and divided between the pink and white fabrics. At the sleeves, there was the same white fabric of the rest of the dress, only it stopped at the elbows and puffed out into lace until her wrists, where the front of the sleeve stopped but the back of the sleeve continued to ruffle behind her arm. At the very bottom hem of the gown and all around the train was the same white lace as the sleeves, which ruffled slightly to look fuller. The veil was all lace and the shoes were white ballet flats.
All in all, her wedding gown was absolutely gorgeous.
Then her thoughts turned to Peter. It was strange to think that this man would be her husband in less than a day. Yes, in just one day, Analiese would no longer be Lady Analiese Welch. She would be renamed and would begin her new life as High Queen Analiese Pevensie of Narnia.
Butterflies suddenly appeared in her stomach at the thought of being a queen. What if she didn't attend to her duties right? What if she said or did something wrong, and instead of creating peace, she created war.
What if?
"You're done!" Lucy announced, snapping Analiese out of her thoughts.
"I am?" she asked.
"Of course! Look in the mirror. I braided back that one strand of hair that I've noticed always gets in your way, and I put some light pink lip gloss on your lips, and then there was the neutral-colored eye shadow and blush, along with the volumizing mascara (I ordered it specially from Tashbaan, and I must say, it looks stunning on you!), and then there was-"
Analiese cut her off with a hug. "Thank you so much. It looks wonderful."
Lucy hugged her back and smiled. This was all she needed to hear. So she straightened her dark grey dress with the black stitching and hemline, braided her strawberry-blonde hair down her back, applied one single stroke of dark brown mascara, and they left the room.
Now, you may be wondering where they were headed, as I have not told you yet. In answer, Lucy and Analiese were getting ready for the latter girl's bridal shower. It was an exciting night for both of them, as well as every other invited girl or woman in Narnia, and they wanted to look perfect for the occasion.
Susan met them in the Great Hall the moment they walked through the large double doors.
"Wow," Analiese said, taking in the scents of vanilla and peppermints around the room. As Christmas was soon approaching, Susan had set up red and white table cloths and things to make the room look more "wintery," as she called it. There were vases of pretty snow-white flowers on each table. It looked amazing.
"Susan, this looks incredible. Thank you so much!" Analiese threw her arms around her friend's shoulders. They embraced for a few moments before Lucy joined in, and then they let go, for it was time to begin Analiese's bridal shower.
Guests began to arrive and each one greeted the queens and the queen-to-be with great respect and admiration. Each wanted to introduce themselves to the three women personally, which overwhelmed Analiese at first. Having been given only small amounts of attention her entire life, this new thing, this mob of women surrounding her, was terribly frightening.
Analiese was comforted, however, by the fact that her new sisters were there at the party to help her around and make her feel comfortable around the people that would be her subjects in less than a day. But there was one thing that was missing...
Avaline.
00000000
The party had been going on for nearly two hours now and there was still no sign of Avaline. No one knew where she was, and the last time anyone saw her, she had been marching out of Edmund's room angrily. But that was at dawn that morning, nearly fifteen hours ago, and no one had seen the Passionate Queen since.
Analiese searched around the room as an Archenlander woman spoke to her. She didn't want to seem rude, though, so after a minute or so of looking, she turned her attention back to her guest. The woman, Lady Kaynin, was only in her early twenties and was a quite interesting person to talk to. She had pretty golden blonde hair and wore a pink dress.
"Well, I'd better be going," Lady Kaynin said. "Queen Susan and I are good friends and we haven't spoken all night. Excuse me." And she left.
Good, Analiese thought, now I can look for Avaline.
And coincidentally, that was the moment she found her. Just then, the doors to the Great Hall opened and in stepped the Passionate Queen of Narnia. Everyone in the room, aside from Susan and Lucy, curtsied politely to their queen. Usually, Avaline's smile to her people was true and gentle, but today, Analiese noticed it was forced.
"Avaline, where have you been?" Lucy asked as herself, Analiese, and Susan approached her. "The bridal shower started two hours ago!"
"Oh, I was just, uh, finishing some work. You know how it is to be a queen. Your duties never really end." Avaline scanned each of the three girls' faces. She could tell they didn't believe her.
Lucy opened her mouth to speak. "Avaline, you-"
Avaline cut her off. "Excuse me," she said with another forced smile as she squeezed her way between Lucy and Susan's shoulders.
"What was that all about?" Analiese asked, staring after her friend as she went to greet the guests.
"I have no idea," Susan said, dumbfounded. "I've never seen her act like that before. Her smile-"
"You noticed that too?" Analiese and Lucy asked simultaneously.
"Yes," Susan replied slowly, watching her friend hug and shake hands with her people. "As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone in the room noticed. Avaline is known around Narnia and the surrounding countries, as well, for her passionate smiles. Something is definitely wrong."
"Oh well," Lucy said, straightening up. "Let's go have some fun. We can worry about Avaline later."
And so they went their separate ways. Analiese was just walking over to the refreshments table to grab something to drink when a pretty woman with wavy, chocolate brown hair and beautiful brown eyes appeared next to her.
"Hello," Analiese greeted her, curtsying.
"Oh, my Queen," the girl replied, curtsying back. "It is a wonderful party."
"That it is," Analiese agreed. Then she laughed. "And I'm not a queen yet."
"But tomorrow you will be, Lady Analiese. I must say congratulations. Not everyone can score such a handsome man."
"Thank you, Lady-"
"Morgana. And we all know who you are," the girl, Morgana, said with a smile.
"One more thing to be nervous about," Analiese chuckled. They sipped their punch absentmindedly for a few moments. "Tell me about yourself, Lady Morgana."
"Well, I am from Calormen. My brother is Lord John. He was planning on asking Queen Avaline's hand in marriage at the ball several weeks ago, but unfortunately, that was the night King Edmund and the Passionate Queen announced their courtship."
"Oh, that's too bad. I hope he wasn't too disappointed," Analiese responded, shocked by Lady Morgana's words. This was usually not something that someone would confess.
"Oh, he was quite unhappy. But I guess we all have our disappointments in life, don't we?"
"Yes, of course." There was a pause. "So how old are you?"
"I'm a few years younger than you, Lady Analiese. I am nineteen years old."
"Oh, that's King Edmund's age. I think you both would get along nicely," Analiese said, and she truly meant it. Edmund would get along great with a woman like Morgana. She was nice, polite, respectful, but Analiese could also see that she was funny and very friendly. Just like Edmund, though he had a prankster side of him that Analiese doubted Morgana had.
"Do you really think so?" Morgana asked. Her face brightened noticeably, and Analiese detected that she seemed a bit hopeful.
"Of course!" the blonde-haired girl replied. She leaned in to whisper something in Morgana's ear. "And it's okay. All of us have had crushes on the kings at one time."
Morgana laughed as Analiese stood back to speak normally again. "Is it that obvious?" Analiese nodded and smiled. "Well, you're one of the lucky ones that actually get one of the kings' love in return. Not only that, but you're going to marry one tomorrow morning!" Morgana continued gushing to Analiese until she held up her hands in surrender.
"Okay, okay, you do have a point!"
Both girls laughed at each other.
"Well, I'd better be heading off. I would certainly love to meet Queen Susan and Queen Lucy before the ending of the party. But it was nice meeting you, Lady Analiese, and congratulations!"
"Thank you," Analiese said graciously, and Morgana curtsied before walking away to find the other two queens of Narnia.
She was nice, Analiese thought, and smiled to herself. It seemed as if she had made a new friend, and she wasn't even the queen yet.
A/N: How did you like it? It was just a filler chapter to tell a little bit of what went on the day before the wedding at Analiese's bridal shower, which means… the wedding is the next chapter! I'm going to try to make it super duper long so that you all get the awesome experience of the High King's wedding! Also, Analiese's coronation will happen in the same chapter, so I hope you're excited about that. It's going to be AWESOME! So yeah… I'd like to thank all of my reviewers that I haven't had the chance to thank over PM. I've been incredibly busy lately, since it's getting toward the end of the school year and all. I can't wait until summer break though, because I can promise you that you will be getting lots and lots of updates then!
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