Duty Bound
Editing is happening, albeit slowly, but I'd rather get chapters out before I start going over everything...
Thanks for all of you who reviewed, too.
REVIEW, please! Make me feel wanted! As usual, may be slow at updating, all belongs to C.S. Lewis (the majority of the dialogue, characters, plot and I'll give you a shout out if you can spot what else!) 'cept my cry-baby of a ten-year-old, Lizzy, who I have big plans for. Now, I also "own" the regal Quiron, mysterious Cheiron, cheeky Prometeo, thoughtful Castor, not-so-thoughtful Pollux and bold Hilaria, wonderful Migwin, marvellous Arion, proper Lattiar and Bowing Panther, Nigel as well as Rover, Rozinante and Dapple. I'm creating quite a cast here, aren't it?
Elizabeth woke up early the next morning and stretched out along the silk bed sheets. She slowly stumbled out of her bed and, as she was sleepily taking in her surrounding, Nadine came rushing in with scented oils for her bath. Elizabeth quickly readied herself for the day and put on a red riding dress with billowing sleeves that came in tight at her elbows and fastened down her forearms with shiny buttons with the Narnian crest brightly shining and a giant hood that, when worn, covered her face in a deep shadow. She felt rather patriotic, but the brand new riding boots she put on her feet ruined her superior feeling, reminding her that she wasn't quite a proud Narnian noble yet.
"Milady," Nadine began, "Nigel, the royals' official planner, is waiting in your parlour. He wishes to speak to you and have some morning tea." Elizabeth nodded, her feeling of dislike for the panther gone after last night's dinner. Elizabeth fumbled with her sleeves, trying to do up one side at a time.
"Well, if you could go ahead and tell him I'll be along shortly, Nadine, I'm sure one of the others will be perfectly capable of taking over your minor duties for the time you're away." Nadine gave a quick nod and pushed a nymph in Elizabeth's direction. The creature of nature was quick, precise and very gifted at hair styling. Within ten minutes Elizabeth's hair was half pinned up with plain pins while the rest tumbled down in bouncy curls that even Lucy would be envious of. Elizabeth then dismissed the other maids out of her room and made her way to her parlour.
"Hello, Nigel," She greeted dryly opening the doors with a cheerful attitude.
"Hello milady," He responded, gesturing with a heavy head for her to join him on a green loveseat close to the door with a coffee table set out with tea. Elizabeth had slowly developed a taste for herbal teas with a dominant flavour (mainly, ones that didn't taste of tea) while staying with the beavers, and so happily accepted the lemon, pineapple and peach tea served to her by Nadine. Elizabeth smiled graciously at the panther and took a hesitant sip to test how hot it was. Nigel gave her an appraising look before starting conversation.
"I just came by to congratulate you for the success of last night's dinner," He purred, sipping his own beverage.
"Success I owe mostly to you, if I have to admit it," Elizabeth retorted, nibbling on some of her favourite Narnian berries that had been set out for her in a crystal dish and covered in sugar. "Thank you, for that, by the way. I wasn't expecting to..." Elizabeth wasn't sure what to say to finish that sentence. Last night hadn't been within her comforts and she thought that she would have been charming and would have enjoyed her time with friends. She wasn't expecting to have spoken to the other two Pevensies, or to have the higher diners eavesdrop on her conversations with them, or to have completely mangled the entire event, or to have been completely at a loss for words. "I wasn't sure what I was expecting to happen, but it wasn't that," Elizabeth sufficed.
"Well, you started to act as a woman of your status by the end of the night. I might have been providing your words, but you managed to say them magnificently. Even royalty learns the proper conversational skills through books and tutors," Nigel smiled understatedly at the young girl. It appeared to be the right thing to say as a bright smile covered her face.
"But still." The two enjoyed their tea in silence, mulling over their days and, it appeared, temporary truce. Elizabeth had finished two cups of tea, had started a third and had finished her breakfast when Nigel spoke again.
"You have great potential, milady, I fear I might have treated you wrongly. However, I must be off. The royal family should be at breakfast and they all have big days planned out. And not a minute can be spared. Good day." With those lines, the panther lazily loped out of the room.
"Nigel," Elizabeth made sure to respond before he left. "You don't have anything to apologise for. I didn't see anything wrong with your behaviour nor did it offend anyone." Nigel smiled humbly at her and she dismissed him royally, mocking his earlier comment, and snootily farewelled him, "Good day." He let out a chuckle before officially leaving the room. Elizabeth sighed contently before snuggling into the couch a little more, her feet suspended in the air without the soles of her boots touching the upholstery. "Nadine, this is a wonderful, wonderful drink."
"I'm glad you like it, milady."
Elizabeth found herself outside in the sunshine naught but an hour later with an oversized floppy straw hat on and a few witnesses standing around the outskirts of the field. Honestly, Elizabeth was a little fearful at getting on a horse again, but she was excited to learn the new skill, one that seemed especially necessary in Narnia.
"Now, your Grace," Arion stated, a midnight horse following behind him. "This is Dapple, and he is honoured to make you're acquaintance as well as to teach you how to ride."
"Pleasure," Elizabeth muttered, managing to sink into a curtsy.
"It brings me great bliss to be in your presence, your Grace," Dapple replied in a deep baritone. Elizabeth gave him a happy smile, before taking a step towards him. Standing side by side, her head only came up to his flank. He was a giant, muscular horse that looked as if he could ride for days on end dragging bags of wheat and not tire. She was very lucky as to have him to practise on.
"Now, milady, please, mount Dapple." Elizabeth was bright pink when she sat on top of Dapple. It had taken three Narnians plus two crates for her to mount the beast. Dapple was amused and didn't let her forget it. He was a very gentle horse, surprisingly, even though he looked as if he could take on an army, and Elizabeth was surprised at how quickly she learnt how to ride. It took years to be able to complete some of the jumps successfully without being thrown off or injured like she was doing, But, Elizabeth mused, I suppose it's easier to learn when it comes straight from the horse's mouth. Elizabeth supposed that the Pevensies would have been taught in the same amount of time, shortly before the battle and felt better knowing that she was partially skilled at horse riding as well. By lunch time the small crowd had gone inside and Elizabeth was jumping over medium logs with ease. Dapple, being the character that he was, quickly changed directions and leaped over the fence surrounding the paddock. Elizabeth had let out a shriek and had almost fallen off much to her horror, but Dapple assured her that she was quite the natural. He quickly made his way up the path and towards the castle. With a smile, Elizabeth quickly dismounted and made her way inside, promising to visit him the next day or so and made her way inside for lunch.
The next week went by much in the same way as the last few days. Quiron had ordered for a new wardrobe for Elizabeth to be tailor-made for her trip that was soon approaching (only two and a half months now) that consisted of rich, beautiful dresses with some sort of focus or delicate design or embellishment that truly made Elizabeth feel beautiful, and she had also taken up classes in the morning on the insistence from Queen Susan and some of the other castle residents, which she secretly preferred to meetings. Thankfully, it wasn't anything like school back home. She was dragged to dancing classes, she was taught embroidery, and she learnt polo (both on and off horses) which she played against Susan and Lucy sometimes, she was taught the lute as well as singing at Nigel and Castor's requests and even picked up calligraphy and hawking. Elizabeth wasn't apt at for all of these activities and didn't excel in any one in particular (in fact, the only times she really looked like a noblewoman was when she was playing horse polo or chess against Edmund and reading in Queen Swanwhite's garden) and besides the never ending lessons, her improvement was slow and they only took up her mornings. During lunch she would sit by Edmund and Lucy at the royal table and sometimes the three were joined by Peter, who had also gradually found a friendship with the younger girl.
Come afternoon time, however, Elizabeth was wandering around the palace dealing with issues and complaints from tenants and other Narnians or alternatively locked up in her parlour having meetings or sorting through parchments and parchments of business, getting them all in order. She was lucky if she was able to wash up before dinner with the amount of time she spent in that room after eating lunch. She knew every little piece of furniture in the room, down to the smallest spoon on her tea table, and could now walk over to a particular bookshelf and pick up a book instead of spending hours pulling out books on every shelf trying to find one in particular. Occasionally, Edmund would go out of his way and join her, and they would spend the afternoon sorting through files and discussing problems of the kingdom while obnoxiously whining about the job. It was really the only time alone which they managed to spend together, and their friendship really endured on Edmund doing this.
Elizabeth's routine became more solid as each day went by, as did her growing friendships and (she couldn't help but notice) her "class". She was alone in the structure, not at the very top with the royals, but above the blue-blooded Narnians whose family names had been forgotten during the witch's reign. Sometimes she wished that another had come with her so she didn't feel quite so isolated from the rest, but then Nigel, or Castor, or Prometeo, or Quiron would come along and eventually she would forget about her thoughts of loneliness and continue on with the day.
One particular day, Elizabeth was out on horseback, riding along happily with Dapple (he seemed to be her assigned horse, she noticed happily) when Edmund and Philip rode up to greet them. It was a welcomed surprise, but a surprise nonetheless.
"Hello, Liz!" Edmund greeted happily.
"Ed, hi!" Elizabeth fumbled, jumping in her saddle a bit. "What are you doing out here? Not that, y'know, you're not allowed to ride, and it is your kingdom and such, but, normally you're eating breakfast at this time." Elizabeth blushed a little bit, the pink matching her dress. Edmund grinned at his friend. The more he got to know her, the more she would blabber on about nothing in particular. She was getting quite good at small talk, though, and easily convened with the castle guards who seemed to spare no lack of love for her. He summed it up to an increased time around Nigel that Elizabeth could now confidently converse with Peter and Susan about the most trivial things. And, he thought, she seemed to enjoy it. Edmund had settled into life as a King rather well, though he still had a fair way to go, but his original betrayal had somewhat haunted him and he found it hard to easily accept his peoples' immediate love for him. He didn't doubt it at all, he had experienced a few moments when it was clearly evident, just he didn't feel as comfortable with it as his siblings, and as such he would spend more of his time playing chess or "playing" diplomat instead of conversing happily like his sisters, and acting carefree like his brother. He hadn't told anybody about this reluctance but he knew that Aslan, wherever he was knew about it, and he had a small feeling that Elizabeth knew all about it as well, though she never mentioned anything and when he did act a little odd around her, she simply brushed it off or ignored it and changed the current conversation to a lighter one which he would easily join in on. He definitely appreciated her friendship, and was pleased with his best friend's constant presence in his life.
"As you said, I am the king," Edmund teased her, trotting to catch up with her. She had slowed her stallion down to talk to him.
"Oh, Philip, as you might already know, this is Dapple," Elizabeth addressed Edmund's horse. "And Edmund, I've certainly told you enough about him. Dapple, King Edmund; Dapple, Philip."
"Nice to meet you, your highness, your highness' charger," Dapple's warm baritone stretched around them.
"Very nice to meet you as well, your Grace's steed," Philip responded nobly. Elizabeth felt somewhat confused by the horses' exchange, as she wouldn't really refer to the horses belonging to them. They were Narnia mounts, and had won their independence in the war.
"Come now," She joked lightly, "You're your own horse, the both of you." Dapple tensed up underneath her.
"It is an privilege for a horse to be owned by a noble in Narnia, especially if they are a Daughter of Eve," Dapple muttered, "Any other horse would be happy to serve you, your Grace, if you don't find me a satisfying enough equine."
"No!" Elizabeth blanched, horrified at how her comment was taken. "No, I love riding you, and I'd be overjoyed if I had ownership of you, I just thought that you'd fought for your freedom in the battle and all."
"Milady, we fought for our country, our monarchy and our families. We are happy to serve so long as any ruler matches the royal family's ruling abilities," Philip explained.
"Oh," Elizabeth was rather speechless. "Well, it's nice to have that formality out of the way, then. Dapple, I would be honoured if you would be my horse, officially," She muttered a while later. Edmund was besides her, snorting at his friend's embarrassment. Elizabeth glanced over at him and saw this happening. She nimbly thwacked him across the shoulder getting a grunt of pain from him along with the insistence of, "King!" Elizabeth speed up to a trot, pretending to not have heard her friend's protests. Just when I think I could do this 'noble' thing, I go ahead and insult my own horse, Elizabeth huffed. Philip matched Dapple's pace impressively, considering the charger was three or four hands smaller than the stallion. Elizabeth loved the height riding Dapple gave her.
"I'm sorry, I suppose I should have told you," Edmund grinned brightly at her. All four knew that the boy king wasn't sorry in the least and didn't feel the slightest twinge of remorse. Elizabeth let her preface down as they were far away from the imposing structure of Cair Paravel and its city. Elizabeth shivered in the shallow that painted the field a dark navy and quickly turned around to retort smartly to her friend before cantering off along the field.
"No you aren't, you silly little boy. Race you to the River Rush!" Edmund's protests became louder and more violent as she carefully straightened her legs and hovered over Dapple's saddle as they shot towards the wide river three miles away from the palace. Elizabeth's zany laugh floated through the Narnian wind and over Edmund's head. He kicked Philip and they both chased after the slowly shrinking figure in the distance.
By no surprise, Dapple and Elizabeth reached the small embankment of the river long before either Edmund of Philip. Elizabeth happily jumped out of the saddle before Dapple stopped fully and walked across the pebbles to get the river's side, where she plopped down and filled up a water sack with water for her companion.
"We're getting better at that, you know," The young girl giggled, walking back to her towering horse. Philip's hoof beats and whinnies were getting closer and the two chuckled again, Dapple a little out of breath.
"Yes, indeed we are," He replied taking a long drink from the sack. "Soon we'll be able to leave even Quiron behind." The older centaur was the only one who could match pace with the young pair during any race, spontaneous or otherwise. The pair was determined to be able to leave the centaur in their dust, if only for entertainment's sake.
"You two cheated!" Edmund cried dismounting Philip a second later. They had arrived and Philip, though more fit than other horses, was snorting, a sign showing that he wasn't as fit as Dapple. Elizabeth kindly offered him the water sack, which he happily accepted.
"I'm sorry," Elizabeth smiled politely at her friend. She was trying not to laugh at the far from dignified, indignant look on his face, which, appeared to be a sly smile with her eyes shining brightly. "I'll give you some warning next time so you can keep up." Edmund huffed and rolled his eyes, sitting down on the edge of the river. Elizabeth joined him shortly.
"I suppose we have a few minutes before we have to make our way back to the castle," Edmund muttered, dragging his fingers through the chilly stream. Elizabeth sighed and let her head collapse on his shoulder. Neither child noticed the amused glance coming from the horses.
"Don't think about that. We have a few minutes to ourselves and let's just enjoy them before Nigel comes up with another ridiculous duty for one of us." Elizabeth could feel Edmund's grin and let out a sharp gasp as a short spray of water splashed her face. "Edmund!" She cried, causing him to repeat the action. She quickly got up and made her way away from the river, rubbing her eyes that felt as if she had held her eyes open too long underwater. "What was that for?" She cried out. Looking down she could see that her lovely pink and green and white dress, the one that made her feel like Queen of the Spring Fairies, now had darker spots on the top half and she could feel the itchiness of her hair sticking to one side of her face. "I didn't deserve it!" She screeched, stomping a foot and pouting at her friend who was laughing hysterically by the bank. What a little, mean, horrid boy, She scowled at him both openly and in her mind. "Aren't you going to apologise?" She snapped at him after he calmed down somewhat.
"No, because I'm not sorry at all!" He choked through laughter, "You should have seen your reaction! The surprise on your face, especially the second time!" Elizabeth choked on the air and let out a noise that sounded between an exasperated scream and an embarrassed grunt. She spun around on her dress and clumsily pulled herself up onto Dapple, which sent Edmund unto peals of laughter again. "You can't even get on your horse!" He cried. Tears ran down his face from laughing so hard. Thoroughly embarrassed and feeling an emotion very similar to hate but was just very intense, raging anger, Elizabeth shouted at him before turning her horse around and galloping back to Cair Paravel, regretting what she said only when she dismounted at the stables (which now had been cleared away and had a smooth floor now).
"I'm going to be so happy when I'm away from this place and I no longer have to put up with you, you immature, little pig!" Edmund's laugh quietened down shortly after she was out of his eyesight but was still sporting a very big smile while mounting Philip. Edmund nudged Philip to slowly walk back to the castle so as to spread out the day and to soak what little joy the day would provide him before he returned to his duties. It was only after he had walked Philip to a red tent and had given him fresh water and oats before it finally sunk in, what Elizabeth had revealed.
"I wonder where The Gracious Lady is going," Philip hummed, crunching on a carrot. Edmund's mind went back to the riverside and he couldn't remember what she had said exactly, but he remembered her saying something about looking forward to getting away from him. Edmund shook it off as a fit of anger and made his way back towards the castle, happily.
Edmund's day seemed to go by in the same fashion as all the others before it. He had woken up earlier than expected, and a fox had brought him an early breakfast of toast with honey and warm milk and apples and cheese, before he decided that it would be a lovely day to go riding. He hadn't seen Philip in a while, his siblings were probably still sleeping and Nigel wouldn't be bothering them before nine at the earliest and so he decided that it would be a very good time to go, better than any other. He had embarrassingly mounted Philip with a little trouble, as he hadn't rode in a long time and was making small talk with his friend when he had seen the familiar head of hair that he knew to be his best friend's. Happily, he had called out to her and had caught up to her, feeling a little miffed that she was seated higher than he was. They rode out to the river, and Edmund had come back just in time for some morning tea with his siblings and for Nigel to tell them the day's plans (and scolding Edmund in that polite 'You're Nobility, But You Shouldn't Have Done That' tone that he often used on Elizabeth, for the rest had also gotten up earlier and so he had hindered the plans slightly). After that, his day continued normally.
Immediately after tea the four monarchs had sauntered down to the throne room for an abrupt meeting with dignitaries and also a hearing in which some of the Narnians conveyed their problems publically. After that, Susan and Lucy went apple picking with a few friends and Peter and Edmund had gone out to the courtyard for some sword practise. They were both excelling at the activity and more and more Narnians came to watch their leaders battle every day. Then, the brothers raced inside to get cleaned up. Wearing a new, cleaner tunic Edmund made his way downstairs to eat lunch with Lucy and Elizabeth, but was stopped short at the commotion coming from Elizabeth's floor, on her side of the wing. He peered around the area before climbing down the stairs to get a better view. There were two big minotaurs and three centaurs hovering around the area, another three minotaurs carrying heavy looking trunks in and out of Elizabeth's room. Edmund recognised Quiron, a centaur that Elizabeth was very fond of, and Migwin, a minotaur that she also liked and respected, conversing outside the door. He couldn't quite hear the conversation but a fancy travelling cloak was brought out of the room by a nymph and the two men nodded and it was packed into a trunk which was then piled onto two already stacked directly opposite her door, next to the bed.
Edmund frowned and felt a pit of dread form in his stomach but quickly tired to ignore it. If Elizabeth was going away, someone would have told him by now. He knew that Elizabeth was a loved discussion for Narnians and surely one of them would have known something, or heard something and so the news of her leaving Cair Paravel would have surely gone around all of the castle's ears by now. Glancing around, he noticed everyone was at lunch and the people from the room were dispersing as well. Edmund quickly rushed down the stairs not wanting to be caught. He felt like a naughty boy that shouldn't have been looking through his parents' room looking for Christmas gifts, but hadn't been caught, even though he was the king of this castle and no one could tell him off for enquiring about the business in his friend's room, or even being on that floor in the first place. Still, he bowed his head and tried to make his way to lunch without being noticed by the others. He saw Elizabeth sitting next to her stag friend and another centaur instead of her normal lunch seat, but scolded himself for being so paranoid and made his way to sit next to Lucy as if he hadn't doubted his friend a minute previously.
"Ed, what's wrong?" Lucy asked upon him sitting down. Susan was in Elizabeth's chair, he noticed, and the two younger siblings had also been joined by Peter as well. All of the siblings looked at him worriedly, but he still met their eyes confidently, trying not to glance at Elizabeth.
"Nothing's wrong," He stressed, picking up a roll and some cold meat and attempting to make a sandwich, much to the confusion of the Narnians seated around him.
It was dark outside, with the brightest stars when Edmund made his way to his brother's study. It was just as big as his with the same white and gold interior with a massive, heavy desk in front of a pair of windows. The girls had studies also, but they were quite a bit smaller. Edmund didn't use his as much as his brother, however, and so Peter's was quite a bit messier than his. There was so much parchment scattered around the room everywhere, seemingly sorted in the older boy's mind, which was quite impressive considering the short amount of time that they had resided in Cair Paravel.
Edmund had decided to come to his brother, the very, very head of Narnia, to see whether he had spoken to anyone about Elizabeth lately. He had left a meeting after lunch, pretending to need to use the bathroom, only to go visit Elizabeth in her parlour. However, before the boy could ask her about the strange men around her room earlier today, she turned bright red and started pushing him to get out before she picked up a particularly heavy book and threw it at his head. For such a small girl, she had quite a violent aim. He couldn't help but notice she was now in a purple dress and rolled his eyes. She changed more often than any other person he knew (including Susan, who now had a gigantic wardrobe of dresses) and realised that she was being ridiculously overprotective of her clothes. He, not wanting to push her any further, left quickly and made his way back to the meeting, ignoring the strange looks he received at the red welt on his forehead that was slowly returning back to normal, and had by the time he entered his brother's office. After having a book thrown at him, he decided that Elizabeth could deal with her own problems for all he cared but his curiosity had won out in the end and he had slowly trudged along the corridor to his brother's study.
Peter was busy reading and signing new laws and protests and was joined by six advisors and Nigel as well as one of his menservants. Edmund managed to convince the advisors and helpers to leave the two brothers in privacy for a short minute, but Nigel didn't budge. He was on the receiving end of Edmund's glare but was able to ignore it.
"Peter, there was some sort of commotion around Elizabeth's room during the lunch hour today," Edmund started off, ignoring the panther happily. "Would you be able to know why? Or what it was about?"
"Is that why you looked so peaky at lunch?" Peter asked, looking at his brother closely.
"Don't answer a question with another question," Edmund snapped, quoting Elizabeth. "But, yes."
"Ed," Peter sighed, looking at him brother in detail. "I don't know what's going on with her, or her room. I have other things to worry about," He gestured around the room. "She's your friend, isn't she?"
"Well, yes—"
"Then just ask her about it, and if she doesn't know what's going on, Nigel will look into it. Won't you, Nigel?"
"Of course, your majesty," Nigel replied, duty-bound.
Edmund huffed and stormed out of the room, leaving the door open for the others to return to their meeting at this late hour. He collapsed into bed and violently blew out his candle before slamming his head down onto the pillow. He was no help, Edmund thought sourly.
Neither one of the brothers had noticed a certain panther's turmoil inside while he overheard their conversation. While he might have been better friends with Elizabeth, his loyalty would be to the royal family to the end and if she didn't explain to the Pevensies by the end of tomorrow, he would undoubtedly be put in charge with finding out and he would tell them without hesitation, as his duty commanded him to.
