Wow. Just wow. I never expected so many reviews, I honestly jumped up and danced around my computer screaming about how much I love my reviewers! (True story, just ask my parents:D)

Vanillastar - She's a-trying. ;) I'm glad you liked it. I know, poor Caspian! He has it so rough in PC...

eowyninlove - Haha well there were 7 people who got mad at me for you, so rest assured I was chastised. ;) Thanks, I thought it'd be a good idea to add that in.

laurencita12 - Muchas gracias, I enjoy writing character's feelings, as I'm sure you can guess. ;) Oh dear, I guess I can't get away from cliffys...but at least that one was smaller. :P

Lady Firewing - I'm still figuring out how to put it in there, but it shall appear in due time. ;) Haha actually it will be something like that.
Oh, and actually there were sprites, they were in LWW. They weren't good though, they were with the White Witch.

Daddyscowgirl94 - Ah, thank you for the suggestion. I did put a little thing about it in there, good idea. Thank you for the constructive criticism. :D

Aims5 - Aw, thank you. :D Yep, it will be interesting.

RedRose252 AKA Mello the 2nd - Haha me too, it's one of my favs as well! Edmund is so funny. Did you think I'd kill her off so soon? ;)

SitarLover - Haha awwwww, that just made my day! I did my own little happy dance! ;) I'm not so mean as to kill Laurah off. ;P Hm, yes that scene will be...interesting;)

lolls4 - Here it is! ;D I try to update every other day during the week, if homework and play practice allows. Aw, I sowwie...I'll have to bring you back to life, huh?;)

MisguidedGhost21 - Ah yes, no killing me please :} And well, um, about that...all good things take time, yes? ;)

Evy201 - I wouldn't do that...I think. ;)
Aww, thank you. :) I know, poor Caspian! And yes, good observation. Well, they will be interesting.
Oh yes, she shall. Heehee I'll try!

Again, thank you a million bajillion times over to everyone who's reviewed! You guys are why I get chapters done in two days. ;) And I'm still hemming and hawing over a sequel, but I do have an idea I rather like, so at the end of this story I'll have a poll for you guys to tell me if you want me to write it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia. (Honestly, I'm getting annoyed with these disclaimers.)

Oh, and there's a VERY important poll about this story (go to my profile), so I need you guys to vote on it! I can't decide whether to have Laurah in the battle or to have her go with Lucy and Susan into the forest, so if you want the next chapter soon, please vote or tell me in a review! Thanks. :)

Chapter 13

Asha burst out of the trees and into the field. I'd been riding for so long I'd lost track of time. Maybe it'd been hours, maybe days, maybe years. The only thing I knew was that I was beyond exhausted. And Asha? Bless her, she was just as tired as me, but she never stopped. She would sometimes slow down to a walk, but she never stopped moving.

I could see a faun standing watch, but he disappeared into the How after a moment. Hopefully he didn't think I was a Telmarine scout or something; one arrow was enough for me, thank you very much. I slowed Asha down to a canter, and then a slow trot. As I approached the How, I saw a crowd gathering outside.

Caspian slowly walked along the hallway. It was the same hallway he and Laurah had walked the day before the raid on the way to the training grounds. It had been the night before that she'd had the dream, that he'd held her in his arms as she cried. He could still remember exactly how she'd rested her head over his heart, how her hair had smelled like the sun when he'd kissed her head. He remembered how soft the skin of her cheek had been as he'd wiped away her tears, how beautiful and angelic she'd looked in sleep, how much he'd never wanted to let her go. They'd fallen asleep like that, her tiny form wrapped in his arms. It was almost ironic how he'd been thinking about how he couldn't lose her that night, and yet here he stood, missing the girl he'd seen die before his eyes in the courtyard of the Telmarine castle.

The pain of losing her had been heightened even more after his brush with the White Witch. She'd been right in front of him, only steps away; but it had only been a mirage conjured up by the Witch. But it still haunted him endlessly, almost as much as...the raid.

He was interrupted in his memories when the faun who was supposed to be standing watch tore past him, yelling...something. It took him a second to figure out what, but he did understand he froze in shock. That was impossible.

Everyone was rushing outside and finally Caspian snapped out of his trance and took off down the hallway at a full-out run. He ran so fast he thought his lungs would burst, but he had to know. He had to know if it was true. Hope began to bubble inside of him as he sprinted into the sunlight, only to freeze in his tracks once more as he stared in disbelief at the lone figure standing outside the How.

Wow. Had the entire How been emptied just to see who was riding up? I felt uneasy with everyone staring at me, especially with the totally gobsmacked expressions on their faces. I wondered for a second if I was actually a ghost, or if I'd grown wings, or something like that. They all just stood there like that as I slid off Asha. I could see she wouldn't mind going back to the sprites, so I nodded to her, giving her permission.

As she trotted off into the forest, the four Pevensies burst out of the crowd. Lucy wasted no time in ambushing me with a bone-crushing hug, and was soon followed by Susan and Edmund. Peter, however, wore an expression much like that of the Narnians: pure shock and disbelief. He slowly walked over, stopping hesitantly in front of me.

"How..."

"Apparently sprites don't die before their time, or so I've been told."

He pulled me into a fierce hug, one almost tighter than Lucy's bear hug.

"Wait, what?" Edmund spoke for all his siblings, or the ones that weren't busy squeezing the rest of the life out of me. As soon as I could breath again, I replied.

"Yeah, turns out I'm not human, by the way."

The Pevensies suddenly seemed to take in my appearance. I'm guessing by the looks on their faces they weren't used to seeing pale green hair.

"Well, that would explain the sword fighting," muttered Ed.

"WHERE IS SHE? I'M GONNA KILL HER!" roared a very familiar voice from the crowd, which parted immediately to allow my favorite centaur through. My grin grew when I saw him, looking completely stupefied yet ecstatic.

"Hey Jaystorm."

He ran up to me and hugged me so hard I could have sworn my bones were turned into powder. It felt so good to see everyone again.

"You're an idiot Laurah, you know that? You scared me real good, little chosen one!" He was practically hollering but it was out of joy, if the way he was beaming at me was any indication.

"You know you sound just like a big brother?" I managed to gasp out, silently laughing. I was giddy from happiness and probably a little slap happy from exhaustion and adrenaline.

He finally released me from his vise-like grip and I could see that my joy was shared by everyone, especially my adopted brother of a centaur. And suddenly, my eyes caught sight of another very familiar, very dear figure standing in front of the crowd.

He stood there staring at me, so many emotions flying across his face that I couldn't decipher them all. My eyes began to blur as we just stood there looking at each other. Time either froze or raced past too quickly to measure. I slowly stepped toward him and he did the same. I could feel something inside me, something I let myself identify.

We were mere steps apart when he spoke, or rather whispered.

"You're dead..."

"Obviously not, my dear prince." Both our voices were hoarse, though I didn't think to wonder why.

"But...you...the arrow..."

I flinched, sorry that he'd seen that. "Aslan healed me, but my sister told me sprites don't die before their time, so I don't know if I really died or not."

Caspian took a moment to take the sight of me in, eyes widening as he did. "Your hair's changed."

Hair? Of all things, we're talking about my hair? "Yeah..."

Before I could even blink, I was crushed a sixth bear hug, though this one was was tinged with something more than just friendship. I relaxed into him, loving the way my head fit into the crook of his neck and how he kissed the top of my head. We stood there for what felt like an eternity, and everything seemed to be perfect. But then he suddenly pulled back, hurt and anger taking the place of relief in his eyes.

"Why didn't you stay here?"

"I - "

"I told you to stay, Peter told you to stay, and yet you went. WHY?" His face was distorted with...anger, pain, anguish, so many things that I didn't want to see there.

I blinked, taken completely off guard from this sudden change in attitude. He was raising his voice at me minutes after he found out I was alive?

"I had to change it. I found my real mom, and a sister too. They helped me realize that I was the only one who could change the dream..."

"AND IT COST YOU YOUR LIFE!"

"Then how am I standing here, hm?" What was wrong with him?

Well hello Caspian. It's nice to see you too, Caspian.

He paused for a second, seeming to have trouble articulating. I saved him the trouble, however.

"You know, maybe next time I'll just stay dead and save you the trouble of all this stress, since you're so obviously overjoyed to see me." I made sure my voice didn't carry over to the crowd, but it took a lot of self-control. Deciding I needed to get away before I did something I'd regret, I brushed past him into the How, trying to pretend I didn't see the look of pure torment that passed over his face.

I brushed those pesky tears away. Why couldn't he just be happy I was back instead of yelling at me for disobeying him. I was not his pet!

I went straight to my ledge, smiling at my little white flowers. I'd just wait here until we both cooled down. He was probably just a little...emotionally unstable I guess. I mean, he'd seen me 'die,' then here I was, alive and well, completely healed. While I still didn't find that ample excuse for yelling at me (again), I could understand a little where he was coming from. But he should have known better than to try and keep me here. At least Peter had been nothing but welcoming.

I sighed, trying to rethink things from a more objective point of view. Yes, I had gone to the raid, but not to spite him; I went to save my best friend, who I'd come to think of as my brother, now matter how annoying he might be at times. But, I'd gotten all worked up and had fought with Caspian and Peter both before the raid. I hadn't been thinking clearly because I'd been so focused on my vision. He'd probably been just as upset about it as I had, and it was because of the vision that he'd wanted me to stay. And it probably hadn't helped that I'd been sobbing uncontrollably in my sleep that night when he held me. He'd only wanted to protect me, and I'd only thought of how unfair it was that I couldn't go, no matter why.

And then I show up after the raid, completely alive after he saw an arrow shot into my heart. If I knew him at all, he had probably blamed himself for not seeing me during the battle and thus not protecting me. But I'd purposely avoided his line of vision so he wouldn't get distracted or delayed. So after blaming himself, the next logical thing to do, which he obviously had, was to blame me for going in the first place. I couldn't say I disagreed. I knew going in that there was a fairly plausible chance I wouldn't make it out in time, but I went anyway. Not that I regretted it in the slightest, but that was probably where he was coming from.

But why did that make him so upset? Why did it matter so darn much that I'd almost died if it was to save someone else? I honestly didn't get it. But, on second thought, he is a guy after all, and since when to guys and girls see eye to eye on everything? Something was nagging at the back of my head, telling me that this was not a mere issue of not seeing eye to eye. There was something else, but what? What was I missing?

Before I could confuse myself any further, I was thankfully pulled from my thoughts by the sound of footsteps approaching me. I turned around to see blonde hair, blue eyes, and a very concerned expression.

"Hey Peter."

"Hey. You alright?"

"Just fantastic, couldn't be better. You?" Good old sarcasm, how I love thee!

"Beyond curious, to be honest. I was hoping you could sit down with everyone and enlighten us as to..."

"What I am?"

"Yes, that. When you're ready, that is."

"I'm ready now, if everyone else is. Though I think it only fair to warn you that Public Speaking was the one class I was in danger of failing at school."

He laughed, nodding his head in understanding. "I'm sure you'll be fine, but I'll be right there if you need a little support."

"Thanks Peter, I'd really appreciate that." I smiled gratefully and a tad sheepishly.

He rose and offered me his arm. "Shall we?"

I accepted his arm and nodded nervously. "Better sooner than later, right?"

Peter chuckled and led me toward the Stone Table room, which was where most meetings took place.

"So, what did I miss around here?"

His face darkened a little, which earned him a very curious look from me. "Well, Caspian and I had a little...disagreement and then there was a brush with the White Witch. Nikabrik is dead because he was trying to bring the Witch back, through Caspian. There was a bit of a skirmish and he was about to kill Lucy, so Trumpkin had to kill him."

I gasped, not expecting anything like the news I'd just received. "Is Lucy alright? And the Witch..."

"Yes and Ed took care of it." I missed seeing Peter smile; it suited him better than this grim face I saw so much.

"Thank goodness." Who knew so much could happen in so little time?

By now we'd reached the room and I gulped when I saw the number of people there. I had an irrational fear of speaking to crowds.

Peter gave my arm a reassuring squeeze, a gesture not unnoticed by Caspian. I flinched a little when I saw brief little death glare Peter received. Men...honestly, it wasn't like I was the world's prettiest girl or anything!

I quickly pushed the two out of my mind, focusing instead on the many pairs of eyes looking at me expectantly.

"Alright, um, so as you all can probably tell, my hair's a little different now. Well, that's because I'm not human, or a Daughter of Eve. I'm a sprite, and yes I am the girl from the prophecy. My mother is the Queen of the Wood and I have an older sister who's first-in-line to the throne. Oh, and I sometimes have visions of the future. They're not set in stone, they're what is likely to happen, so they function as a kind of warning."

"Why didn't you look like this before?" asked Lucy, asking the question I was positive everyone else was thinking.

"Well, I'll start from the beginning to answer that. After you all left for the raid, I was sitting outside thinking about everything, when I wished for a little comfort. This little white flower popped up under my hand, the same one that's been showing up ever since I arrived here. When I touched it, a goldish light flashed under my fingers, which was, needless to say, a little freaky. Then I felt...something calling to me - and yeah I know that sounds cheesy, but bear with me - and I could hear a voice on the wind. I heard this song I'd heard in a dream I'd had a little while ago about the sprites, and I felt like I had to go into the forest, so I did. I was walking along, toward my flower that had shown up..." And so I continued, telling them all about how I'd met the sprites and about how the song sort of changed me into...well, this. I told them everything my mom and Ainslie had told me, stopping my little tale after the part where I met Asha.

They took is surprisingly well; no one freaked out or fainted. It was almost like they'd been expecting something like this. Soon the little meeting was over, now that the mystery of the appearance of the pale green hair had been solved. Caspian, Peter, and Edmund all went with some others to come up with a battle plan, since the Telmarines would likely be here within a week.

Susan and Lucy immediately went over to me, and I welcomed the thought of some girl talk. Things had been so serious lately.

"Hey Susan, hey Lucy."

"Hey," they both responded at the exact same time. "How are you feeling?"

"Alright, I guess."

"Is it about Caspian?"

How did Susan always know when it was about Caspian?

I hesitated before nodding slightly. "I understand where he's coming from, but I'm still a little...hurt."

"He was really upset, you know." I could tell Lucy was telling the truth.

"You know he wouldn't talk to anyone, except for his argument with Peter when we first got back?"

"He was destroyed."

I sighed, feeling rather guilty knowing I had probably been the cause. "I wish there could have been a way to keep him from feeling like that...he probably blamed himself at first, didn't he?"

Susan nodded. "From what I can tell he did."

"But, at least he had an excuse." What did Lucy mean by that?

"Oh? What was it?" I was beyond confused, and chose to ignore the strange little leaps my stomach kept doing. Or I tried to, at least.

Susan and Lucy exchanged a glance, seeming to silently agree on who would tell me...whatever it was they were going to tell me.

Susan was the one who spoke. "He's in love with you. Didn't you know?"

WHAT? Impossible! Utterly and completely and totally impossible! He could NOT be in love with me, it was too...too...not possible.

"Uh...no?" My voice sounded like a mouse, it was so squeaky.

"Really? You didn't?" Lucy sounded positively incredulous, like I was blind or something.

"Are you sure? I mean, like positively and absolutely sure? Because he hasn't been acting like it around me."

"He just wants to protect you."

"Yes, I realize that, but I'm not his pet..."

Susan looked at me understandingly. "Men are like that when they care about someone, especially when that someone is a woman."

This was a lot to process. But I refused to believe it, I just couldn't deal with this at the moment; there was a war to fight. Which, speaking of which...

"I guess I'm not used to being protected. But on a different note, do either of you know where Jaystorm went off to?"

"I think he - "

"Is actually standing right behind you," Lucy said, finishing Susan's sentence.

I spun around to see the very centaur I wanted to see. He grinned and it felt just like old times.

"Did you need to see me, your highness?"

"Really, Jaystorm? Really?" I grumbled, wrinkling my nose at his smirk. He knew how I hated formalities.

"Yes milady, really. Did you need a little practice? I heard my name mentioned." Did that cheeky grin ever leave his face? But I couldn't help smiling in amusement as I nodded.

"Well then let's get a-going! You won't get any better just standing there breathing."

I chuckled, wondering at how Jaystorm could always lighten my mood.

"Well Susan, Lucy, I better be off before this centaur has a hissy fit from being kept waiting. I'll see you girls later, okay?"

They both smiled in amusement and left me with Jaystorm, who had already started down the hallway.

We sparred much like we had all those other times, with him constantly teasing me and me constantly retaliating. He truly was like a big brother, a very annoying big brother. He was impressed with how easily I'd adapted to my new swords and now I beat him almost every time. It was like they were made for me.

"So Laurah, what was it I heard about you and the prince being in l-o-v-e?"

"Oh my gosh, will you never leave that alone?"

"Ah, so it's true then."

"Is not!" I quickly disarmed him, as if to prove my point.

He did nothing but smirk in response, a pretty impressive feat since my swords were crossed in front of his neck.

"Honestly, one could be forgiven for thinking the entire army thinks we're in l-o-v-e for how much you tease me about it!" I slowly lowered my swords, wishing for split second he was right. But then I realized exactly what I'd wished for and mentally slapped myself.

"I wouldn't tease you if it wasn't true."

"Wha-" I was shocked past words, and thus lost the ability to form coherent sentences. But once again, I snapped out of it.

"And how is it that everyone knows this but me if it's true?"

"I never said you were smart enough to see it yourself."

"Oh hey, whoa, whoa! I am not stupid!"

"You sure fooled me then."

"Well the lovely thing about idiots is that it takes one to know one."

"Not true."

"Yes it is."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is!"

"No, it is not!"

"Yes it - " I stopped mid-sentence. I could have sworn I'd heard something.

"No -"

"Shush a sec." I held up a finger and strained my ears, my eyes widening as I identified the strange sound.

Jaystorm instantly grew serious. "What is it, Laurah?"

I turned to him, horror written across my face. "They're here."

"Who?"

"Miraz's army."

Dun dun dun! I love cliffys, don't you? ;) I know, I'm terrible, I really am...
And of course you know what to do now. ;)

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