Chapter Eleven

Lucy looked up from the letter she was writing to the matron of the new hospital as Mrs. Crabapple came in.

"Yes, Mrs. Crabapple?" she said.

"Pardon me, highness," the old hedgehog said. "But your guest is weeping her eyes out, and I'm that distressed I don't know what to do. She won't tell me anything, just keeps on saying, 'He's supposed to fall in love with me!' Please come quickly."

Lucy got up and followed Mrs. Crabapple down the hall to Kylee's room. She pushed the door open quietly and looked in. Kylee lay on the bed, sobbing and pounding the pillows.

"You may go," Lucy said in a whisper. Mrs. Crabapple bowed and departed, and Lucy went to the bedside.

"Kylee, my dear, what is wrong?" she asked.

"He doesn't love me!" the girl shrieked. "He never thought about me like that, he … he's too taken up with ruling a kingdom! And now he's going to hunt the White Stag and leave me, and he doesn't even care!"

"Calm yourself," Lucy said, her tone grimmer than she had intended to make it. "Sit up and look at me, child."

"I'm not a child!" Kylee buried her face in the pillow and burst into a fresh round of sobs. "That's what he called me, too! It's not like you're all that much older than me, and … and … this isn't how it's supposed to happen! There was supposed to be … it was supposed to … he has to love me!"

Lucy rose. "Once you have stopped this ridiculous noise, I will talk to you. Until then, I have things I must attend to."

"No, wait," Kylee said in a piteous voice. She sat up and looked at Lucy. Her face was red and tear stained, and strands of hair were matted to her face.

Lucy sighed and came back to the bedside. "I am sorry that I have been unable to speak with you much, in the time you have been here. The duties of the kingdom lie rather heavily upon me at times, and I cannot set them aside whenever I wish. Yet I think you and I should talk now. Tell me what happened."

Kylee heaved a deep breath that was half sob, half hiccup, and said, "I asked Edmund if he loved me and …"

Lucy choked back a laugh, and Kylee glared at her. "He said that we … we had only just met. But that's stupid. People fall in love at first sight all the time! And I told him so, and he said … he said … that he hadn't." Tears slipped down her cheeks. "But he was supposed to, don't you see? That's why I came! It was going to be just like in one of my stories. And he's ruined everything!" She pulled up the sheet and pressed her face into it. "And he called me his child, like he's my father or something. And he said something about … I don't know, maturity or something. I guess. I can't understand half of what he says, he talks like a dictionary."

"Let me ask you one question, Kylee," said Lucy. "Do you love him?"

"Of course I do!"

"Then why do you speak of him so disdainfully?"

The girl looked confused.

"There have been a score of other girls like yourself, who threw themselves at him expecting him to lose his wits over their charm, or beauty, or for no reason at all. I have seen him in love only once, though, and it was not with a princess, or a duke's daughter, or even a peasant girl from the islands."

Kylee looked up at her and hiccuped. "Who was it?" she asked.

"The dryad of an apple tree. Some three years ago. She did not return his affection, and so he gave her up with as good a grace as I have ever seen; though it was with great sorrow. My brother is not as you seem to believe him, one who gives his heart to a pretty face alone. Yet he knows the pain of unrequited love, and I am sure that he said nothing to you but in a gentle manner."

Lucy saw thoughts racing across Kylee's face, questions one after the other, but the poor girl no doubt had no way of forming these new ideas into words. She seemed to have a very shallow mind. Lucy pitied her.

"But that's why I came, isn't it?" she said at last in a quivering voice.

"I do not know why you came. Perhaps it was not to warn us at all, but to teach you something. I happen to believe that that is why anyone comes to Narnia, at least in part. Before we came, Edmund was awful. To tell you the truth, I had grown afraid of him, and I disliked him; I was only a very small girl at the time, and he was so cruel to me. But in Narnia, by Aslan's good will, he changed. He has fought in battle, yes, and I am sure that that is romantic to your mind. But he has also held a dying Robin in his hands and wept over it. And his first concern is his people; I think if there were a strict contest, he and Susan would come neck-and-neck, for they are much alike in spirit. If you came to him, professing your love, while he was in the midst of a struggle in his mind over which path he ought to choose, it was most certainly not the proper time. Even if you truly loved him, which, forgive me, I do not see."

Kylee had fallen silent. Lucy reached out and pressed her hand. "Now, I must go back. I hope you will think on what I have said."

The girl nodded and Lucy left the room, with one last look back. Kylee was watching her with troubled eyes.