A/N: Hey, everyone… Thanks to a reviewer, I just realized that the stories I posted got messed up somehow. I'm sorry about that. I noticed it, but I thought it was just my account. So, yeah, I hope this works better! My apologies in advance if it doesn't!

Peter watched as Susan swept gracefully from the arms of one dancer to the next. He couldn't believe she was already sixteen… already of age to be married, at least in Narnia. He sighed. This was all happening much, much too quickly for his likings. Suitors he thought with disgust. If any one of them dared even to lay a hand on her… he shook his head. Trust Aslan, he reminded himself.

Edmund came over across the dance floor, looking relieved he wasn't still dancing with the hyperactive young dryad, Leiai. She had danced with Peter already, and it had taken all of his kingly grace not to make a face before it was over. Leiai had danced with every dryad, every faun, and any other creature you could possibly think of, but only Edmund did she pick to take for a second dance. She was a loving young dryad, but she lacked the usual grace bestowed to the dryad community, and had stepped on every heel, hoof, and toe.

Peter tried not grin as Edmund limped over. "Why in the world did she choose me, Peter?" he complained quietly.

"Maybe she thinks you're extraordinarily handsome," Peter teased. "Although I don't know how she could have possibly gotten that idea."

Edmund glared and rubbed his shin. "Well, she certainly doesn't think that about you, dear brother."

"For which I am immensely relieved."

Lucy ran across the room toward them, beaming. "Isn't this a lovely party? I'm having a grand time." She paused. "Edmund, why are you standing on one foot?"

"Ask Leiai," he responded.

Lucy giggled. "Oh, I'm sorry, Edmund. Peter, do you want to dance?"

Peter grinned as she grabbed him and pulled him to the center of the ballroom floor.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

That night, after the festivities were over and everyone was in bed, Susan lay awake. She knew she should feel joyful, but instead she felt a kind of misery.

For years this was what she had wanted, to be considered an adult, but now that it had come, she saw her childhood slipping away all too fast.

Susan brushed an unbidden tear from her cheek. Maybe all she had wanted was wrong. Maybe she should have cherished her childhood, instead of looking ahead. Maybe she was wrong about growing up. Maybe it wasn't all she had thought it was. This thought surprised her. Was everything she had hoped and dreamed for to be a disappointment?

She thought of the men who had danced with her that night, each trying to flatter her and win her heart, and shooting daggers with their eyes to the closest opponents while she danced with them. None of them would be her choice at all… they were all acting like such children!

She sighed as she pictured, yet again, the man of her dreams. He would be tall, with dark, mysterious eyes, and exceedingly handsome, with a heart of gold. The girl in her had hoped for that man to show up tonight. The woman in her knew it was unlikely he would ever come, if such a man existed.

She had thought that there would be kind, honest, humble young men asking to court her, but they had all had so much pride, she was surprised they didn't burst! How on earth could they be so conceited? How would they think she could love them if they were so prideful? Princes and lords… what would be so wrong with a man of lower stature? Nothing, except it wouldn't be proper. She was a queen. She had to behave like one.

Susan got up and walked over to her vanity and sat down, looking in the mirror. Her long, dark hair rippled down her back like a waterfall. She wished she could wear it like this all the time, but it wasn't proper. Oh, how she missed England sometimes. She would never be expected to grow up so quickly. Truly, she had had to grow up when they first entered Narnia, when she was only twelve. She had to be the mother to Lucy and Edmund, the parent that they didn't have anymore. Peter had had to, as well, being a leader and a father well before becoming king. She envied Lucy, who, though she was almost thirteen, did not feel the need to act as a queen. She was just sweet Lucy, whom all of Narnia loved as she was.

Susan felt that, in many ways, she was different from her siblings. Peter was a strong leader and a fearless warrior. Edmund was a peacemaker the likes of which she had never seen before. And Lucy… little Lucy filled the room with sunshine every time she entered. But Susan wasn't any of those things. She was afraid to lead, afraid to participate in any kind of battle. She wasn't a peacemaker, able to settle anything with smooth conversation. And she could never be the light that Lucy was. She felt as if she were standing in her siblings' shadows.

Susan walked across the room, thoughts still swirling, and back to her bed. She lay down, and eventually drifted off into a dreamless sleep.