I hope you all enjoy this chappie. A brother moment. LOL. :) I love those. Anyway, I know, very short again, but don't worry; we'll be getting back to the action next chappie! For now, enjoy the brotherly moment. LOL.

Chapter 14

"Are you feeling all right?" Edmund asked his brother, sitting down beside him on the window seat in their bedroom at the palace – the bedroom he had slept in alone for the last two weeks. Peter had his knees pulled up close to his face, his arms wrapped around them, drawing them close into his chest. He was staring out at the window with a blank expression. As Edmund sat down he looked up slightly then returned to the world outside. "You've been so quiet all evening. Is your head still hurting you?" He shook his head.

"No, not at all," he replied, grinning momentarily. "Ivy and her watermelon cured me."

"Watermelon?" Edmund questioned in disbelief, smirking. Peter nodded, his smile growing wider, as he turned to his younger brother, pulling his eyes away from the window.

"That's Ivy's miracle cure – watermelon, and, you know, the surprising thing is it worked," he chuckled as Edmund joined in.

"Really?" he asked, still not convinced.

"Really," Peter nodded again. "I promise." The two boys laughed for a moment, but then Peter's expression grew melancholy once more and he resumed staring out the window in silence.

"You miss her, don't you?" Edmund asked after a period of silence. Peter thought a moment and then finally nodded slowly.

"Very much," he whispered, more to himself than to Edmund. The young brunette stared at his older blonde brother, trying to read him, but it was impossible. All he knew was that there was an extreme longing within Peter's eyes, one he had never seen before, so he didn't quite know how to handle the situation.

"She was very pretty," he said, looking out the window as well.

"She's beautiful," Peter corrected.

"Are you in love with her, Peter?" Edmund finally asked straight out, looking at his brother again and fixing his eyes on him until Peter could feel his eyes almost glaring at him and was forced to look at him.

"I, I don't know," he said softly. He turned back to the window. "I mean, it's absurd, right? I'm a king, and she-she's a tree spirit. I can't believe she's a tree spirit. I lived with her for two weeks and she never said a word."

"Well, you never told her that you were a king either, Pete," Edmund pointed out.

"Yeah, but at least I wasn't hiding the fact that I was human," Peter argued heatedly, but calmed himself down nearly instantly. "But you're right; we were both hiding our true identities from the other, as if, somehow, we thought the other would reject us if we told them. I know that's what she must have been feeling, why she hides her true identity from nearly everyone she meets. I know that's why I hid mine from her; I wanted to get to know her without the awkwardness of my kingship getting in the way, you know?" Edmund nodded, and even though Peter was still looking out the window he felt it. "She probably feels like I betrayed her; at least, I know those are some of the feelings I'm dealing with, but only some." He paused. "I can't fall in love with her. I'm a king and a human; she's a tree spirit. Besides, I'm sure once this is all over we'll be going back to London again, right, Ed?" He turned to his brother suddenly. "I mean, come on; talk me out of it." Edmund simply looked at him, thinking long and hard about how to respond to this.

"I can't, Peter," he said finally. "You and I both know that I could try but in the end nothing I could say would do any good. No amount of logic can talk you out of such a strong emotion, especially not love. If you're in love with her then there's hardly anything anyone can do. You know that if I could help you I would; I'm your brother. But I can't fight love, you're the only one who can. You know this too, don't you?" Peter sighed in affirmation and turned his head back to the window.

"I miss her, Ed," he said after a long period of silence.