A/N: Thank you to all the readers, lurkers, and reviewers! We're approaching another ending (In a few chapters' time) and I am, as ever, eager to hear your thoughts. There's been a request for me to post my original characters, which I'll do on my bio. It's a long list, but don't be scared. I'll try to be diligent in my descriptions in the future :*

Oh shit! Fun tid-bit that would'a been REALLY helpful had you recieved it earlier: BUT there are a lotta reasons why this story is set in the year 1003, but a consequence is that the whole Rabadash-debacle hasn't happened yet :P Pay special mind to Peter's comment later on. Meheee...Well okay so maybe it's not really that funny.

...but still X'D

Chapter 20: On Foreign Ground

The Halcyon set shore against the king's landing at Eion's waterfront and Oreius was the first one off ship. Queen Lucy's vessel, the Ouranios, had been quick to follow, joining the Galmian Dæios. Helios' ship.

Word had spread throughout the city of the tragedies that had befallen the royal family, as well as the families of the miners, and the city had been left vacant for it.

"All have departed east by a common trade route," Helios announced regretfully as he stood to receive the lord-protector of Dawn and the general of the Narnian Royal Army. "Lord Ayel Maeon-Tal," He bowed, "General Oreius," and bowed again.

Both nodded to him and cast searching eyes on the city they had so far only observed at a distance. It smelled of the ocean and of salted fish, as well as a distinct odor of laboring beasts and humans. But it was silent. Cries of persistent seagulls and low mutters of men disembarking the three ships were the only sounds to fill the port that day.

"The castle lays silent," Oreius commented with his eyes turned to the Storm.

"My second and third mate should be there," Binya, captain of the Ouranios, said.

"So should the King," Oreius joined with a grim frown. He wondered if the High King had kept his present and patient mind. The general knew his young sovereigns' tendency to forge ahead, but was leery of enquiring about it in the presence of the Galmian duke.

"Do you wish to see it, General?" Helios asked.

Oreius glanced at him and back at the duke. "My men have been tasked with restocking the Halcyon, Your Lordship,"

"Mine as well," Binya said. "Assuming there's anyone left to buy from," he added with a surly, pointed look around the city.

None of the others commented and so Helios cleared his throat. "Allow me," he said to Oreius, Ayel, and Binya before preceding them up the road to the castle. A small gathering of Narnian and Galmian soldiers following in their wake.

Susan watched in terror as a deep shuddering began within the mountain. Flocks of birds lifted from their nests along the cliffs as the ground began to tremble. "No," she breathed and took a step closer. What had she done? She looked up as the mountain quivered and a cloud of brown dust billowed out through the opening. Voices exclaiming in shock.

Agitated murmurs began among the crowds as they withdrew and only Celer's hands on her shoulders made Susan retreat as well, for she would not have otherwise. "Celer," she whispered with her eyes fixed upon the opening that still remained open despite the quake. "It was me-"

"Peace, Queen Susan," he muttered. Unbeknownst to her he was casting watchful eyes at all who had gathered, though most seemed to be watching the cave for signs of life. "We are all still hopeful."

"But it's my fault-" she stuttered through tears that began to gather in her eyes. "Oh Aslan, what have I done-" Her hand came to cover her mouth.

"Shh, My Queen," he urged in a low voice, eyes still shifting to those around them. He caught Costar's eyes and gave a subtle nod. The Tiger joined him in observing the gathered crowds as the murmurs became more tense and fearful. "It's still settling and the entrance is still open."

"If they're inside-"

"They are. I promise they are," he said in a determined voice. "Alive."

Edmund coughed a bit at the pervasive tickle in the back if this throat. His eyes were watering in the darkness. He kept wiping them but had a sneaking suspicion that his attempts only rubbed more dirt on his face. He heard Gedeminas sneeze away from them.

"Should we attempt to stand, Your Majesties?" Typhos asked.

They were all huddled on the floor in a heap, so far removed from proper etiquette. Edmund nodded before he remembered not all would feel it. "Yes," he whispered. "Lucy?"

"Hm?"

"Are you ready to leave?"

"Yes," she replied in a small, exhausted voice.

"Alright," Gedeminas announced and dislodged himself from the hug. "We should keep close together and try to find the exit. Excavate it. I think that's our safest bet."

Edmund agreed with another unseen nod.

"Alright," Typhos said out loud.

They formed a line, each holding another's hand, and made their way towards the glimpse of sunlight Lucy had seen. "What if the entrance is collapsed?" she asked as they walked carefully over fallen debris.

"We'll have to dig our way out, Queen Lucy," Typhos answered.

Edmund nodded to himself at the reply, thankful that they still had their miner to guide them. The task of relocating bedrock was made to seem as just another chore as opposed to an immovable obstacle. It made their condition less bleak and spawned a warmth near his heart. "Did you really smell the ocean?" he asked in a lighter voice than he really had the energy for. Attempting to lessen whatever burden his sister was carrying.

"I thought I did," she said forlornly.

"I think you did," he promised. "Even if we didn't."

He could almost sense as her attention was placed on him. "Really?" she asked with such aching hope that his heart swelled.

"Really, Lucy. I've believed you since the day I stepped through Wardrobe," It no longer triggered distinct memories of the British countryside, but rather a sensed difference of being. "Even if I didn't want to admit it," he added with a small grin.

The four of them had been less back in England. Smaller and more vulnerable. Narnia had made them bigger somehow. Stronger and more capable, but also more accountable.

"Are you sure?" she asked, as though searching for an untruth. As though afraid of letting that little hope in her heart flap its wings and take flight.

"Positive, Lu," he promised, not determinedly or brashly, but in a soft, steady voice. "I believe in you."

A little sniffle sounded through the darkness and her hand clenched his briefly. It heated up as well. He pulled it, and her, closer to him. Mindful of keeping them both balanced, but needed to feel her there. Needed to know she was still with him.

"And you did so well with the vines," he added in a tearful voice.

She sniffed wetly through a little, bubbling laugh. He knew she was crying now fully. She attempted to be brave, as was her nature, but a sob forced its way out of her and shook her little body to the core. "Aw, Lucy," he whispered and dislodged gently from Typhos' grip to fold his arms around her. He held her as her shoulder shook a few times and didn't let go until she raised her head. Even then he only leaned back far enough to place a kiss on her forehead and when he next took her to guide them forward his fingers wrapped themselves around her wrist. Holding and being held in return.

"Are you ready, King Edmund?" Typhos whispered and found his hand in the darkness.

Edmund whispered out a hoarse 'yes' and was led forward, cautiously through the dark. Toward a former light that was now nothing but hope.

"Your Majesty!" Donn cried as he circled above, shocking every creature present out of their daze. "Your Majesty, you must continue," he shouted from above. "Tyr and Jyr see no dust on the horizon. No other collapse within the mountains. You must continue," he repeated as he cried down from his hectic circling.

Susan looked at the gathered masses and back at the cave. The very end of it was still open, but farther in a wave had fallen and sealed the tunnel they had spent hours digging. All their work, their hope, seemed gone in an instant.

To her shock it was not her men, nor was it the royal prince, who lit hope once more. "What are you waiting for?" a weathered man in the crowds shouted. "Onward!" He stormed forward along with those closest to him, all gathering up picks or shovels to reopen what had been lost in an almost frenzied manner. Susan watched them as tears rolled down her cheeks. Her chest swelled with an indefinable feeling, but one so strong her breathing sped up because of it. She watched as lines formed to clear out the debris and repair what had been taken from them. She watched every single beind there, help.

By her side, prince Hilio and he Narnians came to stand. Watching the repeated progress of a dozen men and women working at a nearly maddened pace to force their way into the darkness. Looking for something, all of them, just as she was. Looking with nothing but hope to bolster their efforts.

"King Edmund," Gedeminas whispered suddenly.

Edmund was about to reply when suddenly a blinding flash of light lit up the end of the tunnel. It blinked out only to reappear brighter than before. "Lucy," he breathed as the four of them stopped and watched the strange spectacle.

It was as though peering through water, light and sound distorting now and again. "What is that?" Typhos whispered with his wide eyes fixed on the strange sight.

"It must be the exit," Gedeminas muttered. "It must be."

Edmund glanced at Lucy who was breathing heavily through re-appearing tears. "Edmund," she said. "Edmund, it's home."

A deep ache opened up in his chest, so fierce that its loss would cripple him. Thus, watching as the light became clearer and brighter, as the cavity grew wider in their near distance, he denied it. It couldn't be, he told himself as he began walking forwards. Lucy and the two men followed close behind. It can't be, he soothed his own unraveling mind.

"Edmund," Lucy said again, she grabbed is hand and spurred them on. Skipping over stones and nearly stumbling every other step in her vigor. "Edmund, it's home," she shrieked.

And yet he refused it with every ounce of will. It couldn't be, he thought simply. His sister laughed, a wild and unfettered sound as she rushed through the brightening darkness to where the black gave way to gray. Even as they approached and voices began to fill the dark tunnel, he repeated it to himself. It can't be, his mind promised even as tears gathered in his eyes. It can't be, it can't be, he muttered as he rushed in his sister's footsteps. Closer and closer.

The men at work called out and stopped, some jolting violently, when the four stumbled closer. Blind and deaf to the human voices.

It can't be, it promised. Soothing his fragile heart for when it was all inevitably taken away.

"Oh Aslan," Lucy sobbed and laughed all at once. She was running, Edmund dragged right along with her as they stepped into a brighter world. First pale, as the walls of their tomb expanded and men and women stood out in the dazzling glow of a pale sun.

Not yellow.

"It's home!" Lucy cried, nearly breathless with relief. They ran through the tunnel, among the stunned men and women watching. Mouths falling open and eyes tearing up, voices carrying. The grey world exploded into color and the most magnificent senses. Wind blew through their hair and brought with it a new smell. One not dusty or stale. One not soured by rot. But a fresh wind, a wild wind.

And just as the pale pre-noon sun beamed down upon the four, weary travelers, did Edmund pause. He blinked through the abrupt blindness and stared at the milling faces around them. Those who had been inside came out, and those outside stopped to stare. "It can't be," he whispered even as he breathed deeply and took in the smells and sights and sounds! Seagulls were screaming not far away. Sounds of metal tools being dropped echoed through mighty, grey cliffs. Green lichen dappled the rock face and brown soil was smeared at the bottom of the ravine.

Soft and malleable as their sore feet sank into it.

Shoulders dropped and tears began to fall as he watched the abject shock on the faces of the men and women. A wild feeling burst out of him and with it an unstoppable laugh. Delirious and wild.

He stood, openmouthed and full of wonder, as people began to realize what they were seeing. And suddenly a frightened voice cut clean through all that windsightsound! silencing it all.

"Edmund?" So small and yet so clear that it quieted the very nature around its source.

Lucy was the first to react – of course she was – with a frenzied cry. Fear and relief mixed into one. "Susan!" she cried and jolted across the ground on swift, little feet to launch herself into the waiting arms of her sister. "Susan!" she cried again even as she was lifted off the ground by her sister's stronger arms. "Susansusansusan!" Her last yell bore the sound of tears and prompted Edmund back into action.

He stumbled weakly closer, at first, but then jolted forward in a near leap. He fell into his older sister's arms just as she reached out for him, holding Lucy as well. He knocked into them and almost bowled them over, but was saved by Susan as she braced a leg to balance them. Her arms wrapped around the back of his head and eager fingers ran across his scalp. Stirring the limp, dust-mottled hair as she began weeping. Long, painful sobs that shook all three siblings. All three were crying, but in his life Edmund didn't think he'd ever been happier.

At the first sight of her siblings Susan didn't know quite what to believe. So ragged were they, their two companions too, so foreign in appearance that she hardly recognized either of them until Lucy stopped and looked her straight in the eye. Her little sister was caked in dirt and grime. So desolate an expression and her hands clenching at nothing. Such wide eyes.

Susan's heart clenched in her chest when she took in Edmund's appearance and found him equally fragile. "Edmund?" An aborted motion towards her siblings spurred the youngest into action as Lucy propelled herself towards her sister with a desperation Susan could not recall having ever seen before. She launched herself at Susan with a terrified cry of her name and repeated it like a mantra once they latched onto each other. But her fear didn't ease from being in her older sister's arms. If anything it seemed to grow with every utterance of Susan's name as the frightened, little bundle clung to the elder and sobbed her name over and over again.

She didn't sense Edmund until he was within reach, moving as fast as his sister had. With that same desperation. He launched himself at them and Susan opened her arms to welcome him in.

Around them people began talking rapidly amongst themselves.

They are so few. Where are the rest? Lion, what happened?

Were asked again and again until their questions fell together in an indistinguishable din of sound. Susan closed her eyes and breathed to quell the fierce surge of emotions, relief chief among them. She failed to notice the actions of her guards as they crept around the royals in a watchful circle. Wary and anxious as they watched the people of Terebinthia and protected their rulers.

Young Emery Vandrer, the Peregrine Falcon entrusted with the queen's horn, had flown from her perch the instant she saw the royals reunited. Her slender wings pushed her rapidly into the air where powerful thrusts of oceanic wind aided in her return to the Storm.

Almost an hour had passed until she glanced behind her and discovered she had a stalker in her wake. Her shock was so great, in fact, due to the appearance of her companion that she for a second feared for her life. It was the Eagle Tyr, all soft feathers and youth and exuberance, that was soaring behind her. Keen eyes scouting the heavens and below for possible threats against the both of them. As though he knew her reason for leaving.

Emery clacked her beak in a Falcon's laugh. Tyr's mother had most likely told him to follow, sensing Emery's intentions, and the proud Falcon sent a thought of appreciation for the larger Eagle, at her clear-headedness. It was rare to see such initiative in the larger Birds. The smaller hunters, such as herself, were known for their independence and resourcefulness, but it pleased Emery greatly to see some of the same initiative in her larger cousins as well. Never having met one before her Terebinthian adventure.

Her beak clacked a second time as she put on a burst of speed, determined to reach the Storm before nightfall.

Peter had fallen quiet and contemplative after their efforts to quell the crowd outside the castle. It had been partially successful, resulting in a quieted group of civilians that nevertheless refused to leave the grounds. Without a display of force there would be no changing their minds and Queen Hira had in her wisdom decided to let most of them stay. They had been given reprieve and had been invited inside the castle as everyone waited for news.

Peter had no idea if his promises would be fulfilled, having herd no news despite his reassurances to the contrary. The gambit would prove to either be their salvation or their downfall. Now joined by Oreius and a small troop of friendly allies, Peter at least felt assured that the residents within the castle could be subdued or protected should the need arise. He wasn't so sure he wanted to help anyone however, the sense of loss having dimmed his usual compassion.

You're turning into me, Edmund's smililng visage flashed through hid mind. He huffed through a smile, but sobered when someone approached.

General Oreius' hooves clapped against the stone floor as the Centaur made his way over. Peter's hands were in front of his face in prayer-like pose, almost as though waiting for Aslan to speak.

He didn't glance up until the general uncharacteristically lowered his equine half onto the settee Peter also occupied, almost tipping the divan in the process. The young king straightened and looked at his mentor in surprise, hands coming to rest on his thighs. "General?" he asked softly.

Oreius sighed. Narnians had been placed at strategic points throughout the grand hall, now occupied by civilians and soldiers of Terebinthian, Galmian, and Narnian descent. It made for a colorful display of armor, Peter thought. "Luz Tarkaan escaped."

At the distinct note of humor in his general's voice Peter snorted. Escaped, yes. Without looking over Oreius and Peter both smiled. "Has the Tisroc been alerted?"

"A courier was sent this morning. The mighty Tisroc will no doubt have words with his son about all of this."

"Let's hope it doesn't become a habit," Peter muttered, eyes staring vacantly into the hall. Filled up with people of all sorts. Creatures. Most humans were wary about looking too closely at the Narnians, but Peter had the distinct feeling that not many of his subjects cared either way.

"They worry," Oreius said, now looking fully at Peter.

The king looked up at the Centaur, who was still taller than him even seated. "About what?"

"The same thing that worries you, Your Majesty."

Peter smirked and returned his stare to the slowly milling crowds. "How is it you always know what to say?"

To his credit the Centaur didn't reply, merely glancing downward with a quick smile before settling back into silence.

Peter picked up a train of thought. "How was Mallo?"

"Her Eminence seems well," he answered diplomatically.

Peter nodded. "It's been awhile since I've spoken with her."

"She asked about you," he said and looked over.

"And what did you tell her?" he asked openly.

"Nothing she did not already feel herself," he answered with a smile.

Peter gazed at the crowds and watched as the ladies in waiting to queen Hira meandered amongst the civilians. Offering blankets and a meal. "Do you think they'll change after this?" he asked, referring to the king and queen. Heck, the entire island.

Oreius looked out over the crowds as well, with a mild frown. "I think change is inevitable, Sire."

Peter sighed.

"And good," the Centaur concluded with a pointed look at his king.

Peter returned it and allowed his mentor to study him. "All is as it should be then?"

Oreius sighed, seeming to settle something within himself. "It will be."

"King Peter!" a page called anxiously, calling attention to himself from everyone in the room. "Your Majesty!"

Peter stood, alarmed at the man's countenance. "What is it?"

"An Eagle, Sire- A …grand Eagle has landed."

The general and the king shared a look before both hurried outside. Eager to hear whatever news it brought.

The world passed him by in a blur. Vanishing like snowflakes beneath a harrowing wind. He felt much like a snowflake in that storm, he pondered. Whisked about without much control or thought to where he was going. Lucy was beside him. Susan had promised she wouldn't leave either.

That meant land-travel. That meant a longer time getting back, through a range of mountains. Mountains that appeared almost purple at their peaks. It struck him that it was their natural shade. Not yellow or pale like bef- Not pale. But a dusty, violet that kissed the soft, blue sky when he stared up at them. He saw Eagles and Gryphons soaring by so high up, once in a while. They were following the royal cortege back to the Storm.

Guarding.

It was in fact a Falcon who carried a message. One Peter accepted with a great, heaving relief that brought him to his knees in the middle of the courtyard. Tears gathered in his eyes and he felt a heavy hand land on the crown of his head.

He bowed his neck and closed his eyes as fierce gratitude sang through him. When he stood the world was remarkably different. His limbs were lighter and his head swam. A smile kept alighting his face every other second.

The message from Emery said four survivors. Four out of twenty five. A staggering loss, but not a complete one. Not when Edmund and Lucy could still walk away from it. Nothing was lost so long as his family was safe. Hale and healthy. He let out a bubbling laugh that was perhaps a sob. If so none of the gathered commented.

"King Peter?" Queen Hira called for him as he turned. She had overheard the message and at once Peter's relief was tempered.

"I am sorry, Your Majesty," he allowed in a soft voice as he approached her. She had shrunken somehow and now looked smaller than she had when they first met. He hesitated before he reached out and grasped her hands in his. She was shaking.

She opened her mouth as though to speak, but closed it rather quickly. Eyes averted to the ground.

A bit away stood her daughters in law and her three grandchildren. All looked as though their world had been ripped away beneath them. The oldest girl, daughter of Bastian, watched him through eyes that seemed far too wide. Brimming with tears. In lieu of the queen's aborted reply Peter drew a breath to fill the silence. "Do you need my assistance, Queen Hira?" He leaned close and asked it to her in a low voice. "Do you need my help to speak with your husband?"

Her eyes filled with something other than despair and she shook her head. "No," she rasped out and shook the hands that still gripped hers. "No, Your Majesty. Go find the rulers of Narnia."

She released him without another word, leaving him a little stunned, and began a somber walk away from them all. Heading back inside as the crowds parted for her.

Silence fell over the gathered as each man or woman reacted to the news from the Falcon and the distraught countenance of their queen, but through it all Peter's heart was pounding. He caught Helios' eyes and smiled very faintly when he received a curt nod. He would take Hira's advice and withdraw from what was surely to be a devastating loss for the island. He would rush and forget his responsibilities. Just until he could see them both again – all three of them – and hold them in his arms. Then he would return. Stronger than before.

He nodded once more to himself and turned back to the Eagle Tyr. He was young, not yet fully grown, but strong. Fit enough to carry a man.

Peter felt certain the Bird would gladly grant him this one favor.

Susan had received a surprising hand from Manon, as the large Gryphon offered his back to the two, youngest sovereigns for the passage between the cave and the closest village. The two could fit snugly in between its large wings, warm and safe as they walked along the eastern mountain range. A small township lay within the range, through a well-traveled path where they could acquire a carriage. The coastal city of Sresh.

Until then Susan had decided to walk next to her siblings by the Gryphon's side. Holding Lucy's small hand in hers as the young girl reached down, almost unconsciously, as Edmund lay against her back. Both of them worn out only minutes after Manon set off in a rocking gait.

The two Terebinthians who had stumbled out of the cave along with her siblings had been offered the mules to ride and had gratefully accepted.

So small her siblings looked, Susan thought, with pain lancing through her chest. Never had they looked so small. She looked at them as they slept to ensure neither one fell off.

The walk along the coastline took them past a steep dive where violent waves frothed at the bottom and seagulls cried their hungry welcome. It was shorter than anticipated, the trip to Sresh, and carriages were eagerly offered upon arrival, as the group was recieved by warm greetings and caring arms. They were fewer than before, their traveling party, since not all who had joined prince Hilio at the mine was retuning with him and the Narnian sovereigns. Those who remained, eager to make certain the cave was indeed empty. To ensure it was indeed sealed.

Lucy had given an inconsistent account through exhausted hiccups and tears gathering in her eyes, until Susan had gently shushed her and stroked her hair. Manon had loosened a rumbling purr, much like that of a Great Cat, as he walked. Working with Susan to lull them to sleep.

In Sresh the two mules were strapped before one carriage and would draw Gedeminas and Typhos. Two more were offered and strapped before the second carriage to draw the three royals. Pillows and blankets were piled into the meagre wagons and Susan wasted no time in bundling her siblings up before she curled up beside them. One in each arm.

As she looked up the strange, little town of Sresh waved them off as they set their western course towards Eion.

It was later the same day, though she knew not how late, when her brother arrived, swooping in on Jyr's twin brother, Tyr. The Eagle deposited him carefully and joined the Gryphons and his kin in the sky above their heads, leaving a wind-blown Peter on the ground. "Susan," he breathed as he strode up to the carriage and saw, for the first time in weeks, his youngest siblings. They were both covered head to toe in grime and bundled in quilts. Though the wounds had received a thorough cleaning they still stood out and vague warnings to watch for a chill on their skin had stayed on Susan's mind.

She knew what worried them all, what fears lurked in the back of her own mind, and had taken care to wash every ounce of dirt around every wound she found. Though the cuts were few in number, their bruises were many. Blue, green and putrid, yellow unfolded under Edmund and Lucy's skin in alarming shades. Down their arms and legs. Her breath had stalled when she first caught glimpse of them, but word from the men to pace her concern made her do just that.

She would wait and observe. Watch for symptoms of anything untoward.

"Oh, Susan," Peter whispered as an errant tear dripped down his cheek.

"It can carry one more," she said in a soft voice, gesturing to the cariage. One hand on each of her siblings' crowns.

Peter leaned in and reached out with aching caution to stroke a strand of hair out of Lucy's face before he oh so lightly ran a finger near the wound on Edmund's brow. "What happened to them?" he whispered as he walked beside them. They must've looked so horrible in his eyes. So worn and frail that he could hardly recognize them anymore than she, and the mere sight of them seemed to break his heart. He looked up at his sister, pleading with her wordlessly.

Emotion clogged Susan's throat as she answered. "Lucy said they'd been somewhere...else," She swallowed and attempted to make sense of what she had been told. "Another world."

Peter's head shot up and he looked at her though wide eyes. "What?" he whimpered.

A tear ripped free and rolled insolently down Susan's face. "I don't know where," she said with sadness beginning to make its presence known. "The Terebinthians who survived corroborated their story."

"Another world?" Flashes of a cold and grey shadow-world sped across Peter's eyes. Someplace so loud. Once home, but now so foreign and almost forgotten.

"Yes. I don't think it's Spare Oom," she added.

The name stuck a chord and more memories flashed by. It had not been a safe place, Spare Oom. It had been haunted by nightly terrors that lit up the skies in pale yellows and ghostly cries in the night, like wailing beasts. Nothing like his fair Narnia at all.

"But wh-where?" he asked with a distinct feeling of unease. He didn't like that they had been away to begin with. He furthermore didn't like that their circumstance had been outside his control. That he hadn't been there to protect them.

Another tear rolled down her cheek as she answered. "I don't know," It wounded her greatly that she couldn't understand fully. That she could not make sense of the account they had given. That it sounded more like a nightmare than a real place.

"But they were trapped in the caves. The mines," he said, almost pleadingly. The carriage was stopped so he could climb on and he did so with a thankful glance at the men who reigned the mules. He settled at their feet.

"She said the caves led to someplace elsewhere," Susan looked back down and stroked the girl's hair lovingly. Almost protectively. "Do you think Aslan can open doors to other worlds, Peter?" she whispered.

Peter paled though his face remained neutral. "He wouldn't do such a thing."

She looked pleadingly at him. "He rules over all of Narnia, Pete-"

"He wouldn't."

She swallowed and looked back down and nodded. Deciding then and there that she would henceforth carry her concerns alone. That her brother wouldn't see them. That no one ever would. It will be our secret, Dearheart. "They said to keep an eye out for infection," Her voice hardened. She felt it happen. "That the illness of Blue Mine could be in them as well."

Though she hadn't thought it possible, Peter paled further.

She looked up through her lashes and wondered if his thoughts drifted in the same direction as hers. She decided to ask. To better get it out in the open as soon as possible. "I'm sorry," she whispered. His eyes flashed confusion, but she continued before he could speak. "For destroying the Blue Mine," Still uttered in a mere whisper. It had been Celer to carry out the command, she knew. She had figured as much. Hilio who had let him. But the dark thought had been spun in her own mind. The order had come from her and she was now more than ever terrified of the repercussions.

"I know," Peter whispered, blue eyes only resting briefly on hers.

She breathed shakily and looked over the landscape, more tears dripping down her cheeks before she could wipe them away. Several of their Narnian companions were within hearing range, but wandering ears had never bothered her. Her trust in them absolute and unconditional.

"I wouldn't have done the same thing," he said and it tore at her heart just as fast as his next words mended it. "I'm glad it was you and not me who was there."

She looked at him in surprise and paralyzed wonder. Her hands stilled and she watched his face.

His eyes never wavered from hers and this was why– she realized- this was why he made for such a great king. "You chose with your mind, considering more lives than just theirs- ours," He looked as though he wanted to reach out, but the distance was too great.

She wasn't sure she agreed with him, but felt too stunned in the face of his forgiveness to put words to it.

"I trust you, Susan," he said in a low voice, now staring deeply into her eyes. Daring her to look closer and see the truth.

She exhaled then, releasing some previously undetected tension, and decided it wouldn't matter whether or not he fully understood her reasoning. Shifting in her seat she released Edmund's head and reached out a hand that he gladly took. Stretching over their siblings' bodies to grasp it.

They sat as such for a little bit, following the rocking motions of the carriage.

As their siblings slept.

TBC

Thank you for your patience :*