A/N: Hi everyone. I will let you know now, that anything you recognize from Narnia or other copyrighted material is not mine, nor do I claim it as my own. However, if any of you do recognize the anime reference made in this chapter, I would love to know if I got the spelling on the name right. Other than that, please Review! I love it and might update faster if you review.

Chapter 14

Molly spent the remainder of the trip living in her cabin, refusing to leave for anything except meals when the crew was awake. At night when the majority of the crew was asleep Molly would emerge from her state room in a black gown and stare off into the distance wishing she had never left Narnia. She passed her days in her cabin writing. She wrote anything and everything: drama, prose, poetry. If it was a form of literature Molly tried it.

She was working on the final scene of a play she'd started when she heard a sailor call "Land Ho!" It startled her, causing her to drop her ink filled pen letting the ink leak on the parchment. Molly panicked looking down at herself dressed in only her nightgown. She ran to the cupboard and grabbed a simple navy and ecru dress with a squared neckline. It was easy enough to slip on since the dress didn't have a corset.

As she finished the simple ties, Calum stepped into the room . "Lady Knight, the ship will be docking soon. Lord Caleb will be there waiting to greet you," Calum said looking over the dress as if assessing its appropriateness. He was dressed differently than Molly was used to, in a pair of simple brown trousers and a deep green tunic with the symbol of a wolf on it. "Is the dress to your liking?" Molly asked twirling. Calum looked more closely at the dress, "The color is not perfect, but it will do until a more suitable dress can be produced." Molly rolled her eyes, "The color is fine Calum. I do realize that a dress of scarlet and gold would be more appropriate, however, I find myself more in touch with the younger monarchs King Edmund and Queen Lucy. Their colors are blue and silver, making this perfectly fine." Molly then brushed past Calum walking out onto the deck.

Molly stood by the railing looking out onto the shore she'd be spending the next six months. In the distance she could make out the colorful banners waving with the light breeze. Molly remained standing at the railing as sailors rushed about doing their usual duties.

The land slowly grew in size as the boat drew nearer, and Molly felt a twinge of dread grow with it, as if each foot the boot moved forward was another toward servitude.

The ship landed to the cheer of hundreds. Molly looked toward the masses. They resembled exactly what she thought a group of medieval serfs might look like. However, as the ship drew closer still, she noticed a group of strangely shaped hats in purple, red, and green.

A sailor rushing past stopped to look out at the people before continuing on his way. "Wow, looks like everybody's come out to see the Narnian,"he said. Molly reached out and touched the man's arm. "Sailor," she said in her most commanding voice, "Who are the people in the colored hats?" The sailor turned and smiled at her, "they are officials from the church, ma'am."

Molly thought about the implications, "crap," she thought. The last thing she needed in her situation was a land that did not recognize Aslan as the supreme authority. She returned quickly to her cabin to pen the last a series of letters she'd written to the Pevensies.

As she flourished her signature along the bottom of the letter Molly found herself thrown forward smudging some of the writing in the process. "Bugger," Molly said looking at the writing. It wasn't horribly messy, still readable at least. Molly quickly folded the paper up and produced from her bosom the small plastic butane lighter she'd saved for emergencies. Pulling a small piece of wax from the desk Molly melted the wax and pressed her signet ring into the liquid wax. The ring had been Peter's going away present and unique enough Molly was certain that he would have no problem recognizing her letters.

Molly addressed the letter before returning to the deck just as the gang way was lowered into place. As Molly made her way toward the plank the roar of the crowd defend her. Closing her eyes, and whispering a prayer to Aslan Molly stepped out on to gang way walking carefully down to the docks. There three men in green tunics and chainmail greeted her. The men said nothing, simply motioned for her to follow them through the crowd to a platform that had been erected.

On the platform Molly could make out the forms of at least three men. Two of them were obviously much older than the third. One of the men was wearing a large hat in purple and gold that reminded Molly of something the Catholic Pope might wear.

As she ascended the stairs the crowd grew louder. Once on the stage Molly watched as the youngest of the men quieted them. "My dear subects, today is a special day in Avalon. Today we have a visitor from Narnia, the beautiful, talented Sir Molly Fitzroy," he said encouraging the crowd to cheer. "I hope that during her stay, that you all treat her as if she is one of us," he continued.

The crowd roared again, only to be quieted again by a lone voice screaming above all others. "whore," the voice screamed. The crowd silently moved to expose the shouter. An old woman in tattered clothing a walking stick in her hand lifted the stick toward the stage continuing her rant, "Go back to Narnia whore. You, who do not know the great Leto, shall not spoil our fertile land." Molly winched at the woman's words wordlessly imploring Aslan for strength.

While Molly was in her own little world, armed soldiers converged on the old woman removing her from the crowd as she continued screaming. The young man waited a few beats before addressing the crowd, "Now citizens of Avalon, we celebrate the arrival of our honored guest." The crowd cheered, and the three men made their way off the stage to an open carriage. Molly walked a few steps behind them taking the seat next to the young man.

"Sir Fitzroy," the young man started as the carriage moved, " it is an honor to finally have you here. My name is Lord Caleb." Molly nodded hiding her fury, "Lord Caleb, it is a pleasure to meet you at last. But I must ask who our companions are."

Lord Caleb looked across the carriage at the older men, "The man across from you is my father Sir Alistair. He passed the lordship to me when I came of age." Sir Alistair nodded at Molly ,a grimace on his face. "The other is our Holy Father, Frances XI," Caleb continued. The ancient man smiled at Molly. "It is a pleasure to have someone of such different beliefs in our land. I am certain that we shall have quite spirited discussions," he said. Molly smiled back, "I would like that very much Holy Father."

The celebration was nothing Molly every wanted to remember. It was bawdy, drunken, and mostly in poor taste. It made her long for Susan's extravagant parties. Molly found it hard to find a glass of water for herself. When she asked the servants looked at her like she had asked for a baby dragon. Molly tried her best to hide, but the men at the table, Caleb included, kept making toasts in her honor. Every toast Molly would pretend to take a sip from her wine glass, thankfully the glass wasn't clear so no one could tell that the wine level never decreased.

When the night ended Molly retired to the rooms set aside for her. Upon entering two maids rushed her eager to help her prepare for bed. "Miss, please let us help," one of the maids implored as Molly pulled the navy dress over her head. "It's alright, I'll be fine," Molly insisted. The maids were surprised to see the lack of corset under her clothing. "Miss, do Narnians not wear corsets?" the second maid asked. "Oh, they do, but I have a condition that prohibits me from wearing the restricting garment," Molly explained. It wasn't really lying, she had just omitted what the condition was. "Please, go home to your families. I'll see you in the morning," Molly continued shooing the maids towards the door.

Once alone, Molly pulled out her stack of letters placing them on a small table near the door of her room. She'd sneak out early the following morning to mail the letters home. With that taken care of, Molly lay down in the unfamiliar bed thoughts of black hair and chocolate eyes filling her head.

Cair Paravel

Everyone at Cair noticed the change in Edmund's behavior after Molly left. The Just King seem to spiral down from occasionally moody to always moody. Every day when a steward brought the mail in Edmund was waiting from them hope in his eyes for a letter from Molly.

Edmund's siblings also took notice that Ed took to spend a large amount of time sequestered in his room reading the novel Molly had given him for Christmas, and could often be found sitting at her desk looking over the ledgers of the national treasury.

Nearly three weeks to the day after Molly's departure, the first batch of letters arrived at Cair Paravel. Edmund was waiting as usual when a steward appeared the usual letters in hand. He waited for a moment before the pile revealed a stack of five letters held together by a blue ribbon and red wax. Edmund took the bundle before the steward could touch it examining the seal. It appeared that a ring had been pressed into the wax as a signature. The seal itself bore a stylized M and a small line running through it that resembled a sword.

Thinking it was Molly, Ed broke the seal looking over the letters. There were two letters for him and one each for his siblings. Just looking at the writing confirmed these were indeed letters from Molly. Ed felt something stir in his chest that he had not felt in weeks, a sense of calm perhaps. With letters in hand, Edmund went off toward the throne room and his siblings.

At Cair Paravel, the time after lunch was designated for the airing of grievances. During which Narians from all corners of the land came to voice their concerns about anything to their sovereigns. So when Ed walked into the great hall, letters in hand, his siblings were assembled in one spot. He quickly handed everyone his or her letters before sitting down on his throne disregarding his crown and tore through the parchment envelope.

Edmund ignored the proceedings for the first time in a while, he didn't care that a clan of red dwarves were feuding with a pack of wolves over territory in the North. Normally the Just King would have welcomed an opportunity to argue with his subjects, but now he was fully focused on the words written by his best friend, and (he gulped at the idea) lover, who he had not seen in three weeks. As he realized how much he truly missed her, Edmund groaned. Three weeks, how the hell was he going to survive six months. Edmund thumbed the parchment in his hand and began to read.

Dear Edmund,

This letter is for you, and you only. Feel free to share the second one with your siblings, for it will contain much of the same information that I've written here, but I did leave details out of everyone else's letters that I've given you. Anyway, HI! I've been working on writing you a letter since my boat left Narnia. I hope this letter find you well, or at the very least surviving. If you aren't I suggest you do see Belinda in the kitchens and she'll fix you right up.

I'm surviving, if you can call it that. It turns out that Lord Caleb is not actually Lord Caleb, but the Lord's servant Calum. Apparently the real Lord Caleb is a highly superstitious person who felt that the omens where not in his favor at the time of his scheduled visit and sent his manservant instead. The elusive lord is not on board the ship either, but his portrait hangs in my stateroom. He appears to be a rather fair man with light blonde hair and bright green eyes. I must confess to you, I am both nervous and furious. I'm nervous about 'courting' a man I've never met. Calum was obnoxious enough, what will the real man be like. And I'm furious Peter agreed to this without knowing what he was getting me in to.

I'm spending my days in my stateroom writing mostly. So was I've managed a short story and a play, but I've got all the time in the world, and nothing to do. At night I go up on desk and look at the stars. There was a falling star the other night. All I wished for was you beside me to help me through the unknown that awaits me in Avalon. Of course we've all been to Archenland before, but I've heard the strangest rumors that this particular section of the country is fairly strange and different as compared to the rest of Archenland. The rumors say is stems from their religions, they don't believe in Aslan.

You know Ed, I'll try to write as often as I can, every day if I can sneak out of the castle well enough. I know it's corny, but I miss you terribly already. Of course I miss all of your Pevensie peoples, but I especially miss you. I have no idea how I'm going to survive the next six months without you living just down the hall so I can vent when people drive me crazy. I guess letters will have to do. Write back, I want to hear all about Susan's 'romance' with Rabadash, and the Giants, and the family.

Hope to hear from you soon

Love

Molly

Edmund read the letter twice through, his hand noticeably clenching the paper when he read about the bait and switch Lord Caleb had pulled. However his hand relaxed slightly when the distinct smell of cherry blossoms wafted from the paper in his hand. Cherry Blossom was Molly's favorite perfume, obviously she read one to many romances before leaving.

By the time Edmund actually turned his attentions to the grievances, the meeting was nearly done for the day. The last citizen was a young Faun, who complained about his neighbors hogging all of the good firewood in his little region of the forest. The matter was settled quickly through Lucy suggesting the Faun go talk to his neighbors, a rather large squirrel clan, about his need for heat as well. The faun left after that thanking Lucy for the advice.

Peter called an end to the session as the faun left, allowing Edmund to rise from his throne and bolt for his study to fashion a reply to Molly, before the others had a chance to read their letters.