Thanks to Benbulben95 and Lehalia for reviewing, and another sorry for failing utterly at updating.

DISCLAIMED

"Why can't you come up here Edmund? Why do we have to go down there?"

"I told you, Lu, Aunt Mary and I have got a rather…surprising guest I want you to meet."

"Is it a girl?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"What?! No! Look, Lu, just…calm down…no, stop giggling! Oh shut up you insufferable girl!"

"Sorry, Edmund. It's just quite funny."

"Only to you! Now listen, come down as soon as you can alright? I'm getting Peter and Susan down as well, so it won't just be you. Can you manage that?"

"Of course I can. Term ends for me tomorrow, so I'll telephone mother to tell her where I'm going and then catch the train down. Will you meet me at the station?"

"What time will you be coming?"

"If I leave on the eleven-fifteen…I should arrive by about two. Is that alright?"

"Wonderful. I can't wait to see you again."

"Oh me too, Ed! I love you."

"Love you too. Goodbye."

"Bye!"

Jarqual smiled in wonder at the telephone as Edmund hung up on his younger sister. "How far away is she?"

"Erm…" Edmund screwed up his face. "A long way."

"How far? From the lamppost to the great lake? From the lamppost to the fords of Beruna? Or from the lamppost to Cair Paravel?"

"Er…the fords? I'm not really sure. I've never been very good with distances. Anyway, be quiet – I have to call Peter."

"High King Peter?"

"Do you know any other Peters?"

"…no."

"Well then." Edmund rolled his eyes as he dialed the number for Peter's university and asked for Peter Pevensie. There was a wait of about a minute, and then the telephone on the other end and Peter's familiar voice floated down to Edmund's eager ears.

"Ed? Is that you? Why are you calling? Is anything wrong? Is it the girls?"

Edmund rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, there's been a change of plan, no and no. Do you want to sit down?"

"I'll be fine, thanks, Ed. A change of plan?"

"Yes. Instead of us all meeting at mother's, we need to meet down here at Aunt Mary's instead."

"Why? Have you broken your leg or something?"

"No, Peter. I've met someone…unexpected. You have to come down and see for yourself."

"Unexpected? What do you mean?"

"I'm not telling you anything more, Pete. You'll just have to wait and see. Lucy's coming down tomorrow by the eleven-fifteen, and I'm calling Susan next."

"Will we be staying long?"

"Erm…we might be. Best pack with a long stay in mind, just in case."

"Alright…why won't you tell me about this guest? Who is it?"

"Someone unexpected."

"Is it a girl?"

"Yes."

"Is she your…"

"No! For goodness sakes, Peter! Shut up! It's….shut up! It's not funny! Urgh. I despair of you."

"Sorry, Ed. Alright, I'll see if I can't meet Lu on the train – she's never liked travelling on her own."

"Great. I'll see you when you get here then."

"Right. I'll call mother."

"Lucy's already doing that."

"Of course. I hope she won't be too upset."

"If she is we can just bring my guest to meet her. Simple."

"In your world it always is. I'll see you tomorrow, Ed. Love you."

"You too. Bye."

"Goodbye."

Jarqual was shaking with suppressed laughter as Edmund hung up, looking rather disgruntled. "What're you laughing at?" He grunted.

"They both asked the same question and laughed and you went all sulky!" Jarqual grinned. "I've never witnessed human sibling relations. It's fascinating."

"It would be." Edmund muttered, rolling his eyes and picking up the telephone again. "And now for the really tough one."

"Won't Queen Susan want to come?" Jarqual asked.

"It's…" Edmund hesitated, pondering over his words. "Susan's complicated. Unpredictable. Hopefully she'll be reassured by Lucy and Peter coming and come along to keep us out of trouble." He smiled. "Quiet now."

Susan was an assistant teacher at a girl's collage and by luck she had just gotten off work. "Hello? Susan Pevensie speaking."

"Su! It's me, Edmund."

"Edmund? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Su. I just called to tell you of a change in plan. We're not going to mother's – you three are meeting me down here at Aunt Mary's."

"What? Why? Has something happened?"

"I just said nothing's wrong didn't I? Calm down. Pete and Lu are coming down on the train tomorrow, so how soon can you come down?"

"I can leave today if you like, but why?"

"There's someone here with me at Aunt Mary's and I can't leave her alone."

"Her? Edmund are you…"

"No! For goodness sakes!"

"What?"

"Oh it's nothing, just that both Lucy and Peter have asked me that. It's getting quite annoying."

"I can imagine. Well, I did finish today and I could catch the train down in an hour…"

"You're already packed ready to go I suppose? And have been for a week?"

"It's good to be prepared."

"I never said it wasn't."

"Hmph. Your…friend, then. Who is she?"

"You'll have to come and see for yourself, Su. Don't be offended – I refused to answer Peter or Lucy's questions either."

"Well…alright then. But I'd better telephone mother to let her know."

"Lucy's already got that covered. See you soon, Su. You'll be at the station in about two hours right?"

"I'm looking forward to it, though I wish you'd tell me what's going on."

"That would ruin the surprise! Goodbye, Su. Love you."

"I love you too. See you soon."

"Bye."

"Goodbye."

"She didn't sound as difficult as you made her out to be." Jarqual said easily, yawning like a cat.

"I think I've caught her on a good day." Edmund said, pleased with his success. "Now, she said she would leave in –"

"An hour." Jarqual finished. At Edmund's look she smirked and swiveled her ears in different directions. "My senses are much better than yours, it would seem, Sire."

"Don't call me that." Edmund said automatically. "Just call me Edmund. Ri– I mean, your sister did."

"My sister loved you." Jarqual said flippantly, and abruptly noticed the look in his eyes she had seen by the stream before she had pulled him in. "You look troubled, Sire. As you did in the woods by the stream."

"Human thing." He muttered.

"Hmm." Jarqual narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. "If you say so, Sire. Your great-aunt is in the kitchen. I think she's going to try and make me eat again."

"Well you can eat, can't you?"

"Yes…" Jarqual shifted and made a face. "But it's uncomfortable. I don't like it, having all that heavy food in my stomach."

"If you don't eat, why do you even have a stomach?" Edmund asked.

"I don't know." Jarqual shrugged. "It makes no difference to my life as I live it. Why should I care?"

"Aren't you curious?"

"Can't you just let things be?" Jarqual fixed him with a penetrating stare. "Humans are like this, aren't they? They always want to know whywhywhywhywhy. What is the point of asking so many questions? Will it make your life any different?"

"Well, it could." Edmund argued. "If you discovered by asking questions that eating normal food was bad for you, that would be a good thing, wouldn't it?"

"Bad for me how? All it does is make me feel heavy. It there was something wrong, my body would let me know by being ill. Harpies are immortal. We rarely fall prey to illness or disease. We don't die of old age – my body will never fail me or deteriorate like your great-aunt's. I will never be old and frail. What do I have to fear?"

Edmund sighed. "Never mind."

Jarqual smiled, a tad smugly and flounced into Edmund's bedroom to ask him about the things he kept in there. One of the more interesting things was what Edmund called an encyclopedia, and it had lots of words in it and explained things about each word. Both King and Queen saw immediately how useful it would be, and Jarqual sunk down on Edmund's bed, absorbed in subjects she had not known even existed.

Edmund sat next to her, answering questions she directed at him as well as he could, and they got up to the K's before it was time to meet Susan.