Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia or any characters you may recognize from the books or the movies, I wish I did but I don't... I also don't own the Narnian Calendar. It belongs to Elecktrum who was kind enough to let me borrow it for my story. Her own stories are awesome and you should go read them too.
Summary: After being knighted, all Katerina Alambiel has to do is discover her past. But, as her quest leads to some unexpected answers, her simple task takes a dangerous turn as enemies who will use any means necessary to force her to reveal the secrets of her past conspire to place her in an impossible situation: Her secrets or Edmund's life...
A/N: Thanks to Jake/Aragorn of Redwall for your review. Glad you liked the last chapter. Hope you enjoy the next (last) chapter.
Chapter Twenty-Four: With Time, All Things...
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It is my feeling that Time ripens all things; with Time all things are revealed; Time is the father of truth. ~ Francois Rabelais
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25 Greenroof 1004
Edmund spread more butter across his toast as he tried to ignore Susan and Lucy's chattering about their new dresses for an upcoming party. It was Seventhday and he really didn't want to think about clothes...or hairstyles. Sometimes his sisters could over-think their wardrobes...of course, they thought (and said) that he didn't give his wardrobe enough consideration most days, so he supposed everything evened out in the end. Still, he didn't quite understand the necessity of another party when the girls were already planning the party to celebrate Peter's seventeenth birthday in Sunbend. Of course, they had been using the excuse of celebrating his and Kat's safe return to explain the necessity of the last eight or ten parties. Although, Kat had been able to escape every single party due to her being on bed rest orders.
He bit into his toast with relish as he decided it was still too early to think about parties or even avoiding them. Thank Aslan, the girls had finally started talking about something else. A glance at Peter revealed his brother was somehow still fully listening to the girls' conversation. Prat. Lucy looked at him as he added some more toast to his plate, "Narnia's going to run out of toast, Ed, if you keep eating it at the rate of ten slices every ten minutes."
He smirked around his mouthful of toast, and then swallowed so he could answer. "I haven't even had my tenth slice yet, Lu. This is slice number nine."
Lucy laughed in delight. He smirked a little wider as he poured himself another cup of coffee. After all, he was under strict orders from Alithia and Oreius to put back on the fourteen pounds he had lost. Thankfully, after a month he was nearly back where he needed to be so he could return to training. In fact, Alithia had informed him...and his siblings and Oreius...that he could start back to training on Firstday. Kat, on the other hand, was not so lucky. Speaking of Kat...he raised his coffee mug in silent greeting as she wandered over to join them.
She was still moving slowly and rather stiffly compared to how she usually moved, but he was glad to see she looked better overall. She flashed all four of them a smile before she started serving herself. "Trying to eat all the toast in Narnia again, Edmund?"
Mouth full with his tenth slice, Edmund just rolled his eyes. Lucy giggled then she latched on to Kat's left hand and Edmund knew she was going to bring one of two things up. "Oh, Kat, are you still arguing with Oreius?"
Kat smirked, "We're not arguing. We're discussing why Oreius is wrong to go so overboard on the restrictions he's trying to apply to me...it just happens to occasionally take place at a louder volume."
Edmund and Peter exchanged incredulous looks. Honestly, Kat's definition of what was and was not an argument didn't match any definition of argument that anyone else in the world used. Edmund looked back at Kat and couldn't quite keep the skepticism out of his voice. "You mean like yesterday when Oreius found out what you did to his study?"
Kat looked completely unrepentant, if anything, her smile grew a little wider. "I was making a point. Oreius understood that, in fact, we've nearly reached an agreement concerning the matter. So, yesterday was a success as far as I'm concerned."
Edmund snorted. He had heard Oreius bellow for Sepphora not long after he had dismissed Peter from training the day before. He and Peter had waited until Oreius left the barracks in search of Kat before they had peeked into the General's study to see what she had done this time. Every time he had been in Oreius' study there had been an overwhelming sense of organization...except yesterday because Kat had apparently gone in there and "reorganized" everything. He was a little surprised that Oreius hadn't just strangled her by now.
Kat laughed softly and Edmund flushed as he realized he had spoken his last thought aloud. "He hasn't strangled me for a couple of reasons. Besides, it's not as though I actually did anything damaging. Something that annoys him a great deal, yes. Damaging, no. Not to mention, it's not going to hurt the Kentauri to learn to be a little less structured in his organization...and he's been complaining about my desk for years, he deserves to see why I keep my desk in a state of organized chaos."
Peter sounded as skeptical as he looked as he questioned, "By spreading your organized chaos to his desk?"
Her smile somehow managed to widen even further as she nodded, "Mmm-hmm."
Edmund shook his head as he reached for some more toast, "You do realize you're insane, Kat, right?"
She laughed then raised her hand and held her thumb and forefinger about a hairsbreadth apart. "Little bit, yeah."
Edmund raised his right hand as Peter raised his left hand, creating a gap about six feet in width, and chorused, "Not a little, a lot."
Kat rolled her eyes at them, but didn't argue as Lucy nearly bounced out of her chair asking, "Kat, what about your family? Did you find them? Did the picture I showed you help? Are you really related to the Royal family?"
Kat swallowed the bite she had taken, and then smiled at Lucy. Edmund leaned forward slightly as they all waited to hear her answer. Kat delayed a moment by taking a drink of her coffee and then she finally answered. "Yes, Lucy, I did find out who my family was and the picture did help. Of course, what I found out was I am the last of my family line in Narnia, so no reunions."
Lucy's face fell and Edmund knew his little sister had been secretly hoping that Kat would be reunited with her flesh-and-blood kin, although he hadn't believed that would be possible given the gap of at least over a hundred years, if not more, since Kat had last been in Narnia with her family. He suspected she was at the very least a cousin of the original Royal family, which would make a family reunion even more unlikely given that Jadis had gone a campaign to wipe out the entire Royal bloodline so it wasn't like there were any close relatives or descendents of the Royal line of Frank in Narnia anymore. But, Kat started talking again before he could ask her about his theory. "I know you are all curious about my past, but for right now, I have decided it would be best for me to focus on my present and possibly future as well. I know where I came from, now it's time to concentrate on where I'm heading in this life. I promise when the time is right, I shall happily go over every detail of my early life with you to your hearts' content. Besides, I'm still remembering key details and such, so I'm not comfortable discussing it until I know everything there is to remember."
Edmund exchanged looks with his brother and sisters before they all nodded. Lucy smiled brightly then hopped up from her chair to wrap her arms around Kat's neck in a tight hug. "I'm glad you know where you came from, Kat. And, I promise not to ask anything else until you say it's all right, but can you give at least one little hint about what you found out?"
Susan quietly scolded, "Lucy!"
But, Kat just laughed as she eased Lucy's arms off her neck, "One hint I can share, but no more after this, deal? Good. I found out...that I'm older than Oreius."
Edmund shook his head, "You sound far too happy about that fact, Kat. Have you informed Oreius of this little tidbit already?"
She grinned mischievously, "Not yet. But, it gives me an additional advantage I didn't have before, which I shall very much enjoy using during discussions with the Kentauri." Edmund exchanged another look with Peter and he knew his brother was thinking the same thing he was: the next time Kat and Oreius argued was going to be even more impressive and secretly entertaining than usual. He shook his head again and added another slice of toast to his plate as Lucy and Susan tried to coax Kat into agreeing to come to the next party.
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32 Greenroof 1004
"That is not a valid move, Katerina Alambiel."
Oreius carefully hid his amusement as she stuck her tongue out at him then reluctantly replaced his bishop as she moved her pawn back to its appropriate square. She looked him in the eye and he knew she was going to present the familiar argument to excuse her bad habit of cheating when she played chess with him. "You know considering the fact that you have taught lessons about the value of changing the rules in order to give oneself a more favorable scenario, you're being a bit of a hypocrite."
He raised an eyebrow as she moved her pawn up a single square instead of trying to move it diagonally again. "Oh, really?"
Considering the board, he glanced up in time to see the flash of mischievous laughter in her blue eyes as she watched him. "Oh, yes. It's simply terrible that you adhere to one set of rules for training, yet you do not apply the same principles to a game that you insist is one of the crucial keys to understanding military strategy."
He smirked as she grumbled about the unfairness of it all as he captured her last bishop with his knight, effectively placing both her queen and her king in danger. "Check. What you mean, Katerina Alambiel, is you don't get to cheat."
She held up a single finger as she countered, "I don't cheat. I improvise...a lot." She looked back down at the board as she muttered, "Besides, improvising means I actually win."
He shook his head, "By cheating."
"Still winning." She hesitated then moved her king out of check. "Unlike now."
He laughed as he captured her queen, removing her last powerful piece on the board. With only three pawns and her king left, she was in trouble. "You are simply a sore loser. Although, one would think that with the complex battle strategies you easily comprehend and the fact that you are able to beat the others you play chess with frequently, you should be able to win against me more often. And- That is still not a valid move, Katerina Alambiel."
She grumbled and redid the move with her pawn, this time making it valid. Oreius captured the pawn with his bishop, checking her king, and forcing her into a corner in a last attempt to escape the trap he had set. He moved his knight once more and Katerina Alambiel sighed as she tipped her king over. "Don't say it, Oreius, or I shall have to throw something at you."
He chuckled as he watched her scoop her chess pieces into the wooden storage box. She was apparently not going to agree to play a sixth game. He began to return his own pieces to their storage box. "If you dislike losing so much, you shouldn't let yourself get so distracted by our conversation when playing."
She rolled her eyes as she slid the lid of the storage box in place and set it next to the chessboard. "Does that mean I'm not supposed to notice that you intentionally use our conversations during these games to distract me?"
He didn't even attempt to hide his grin as he set the storage box with his pieces in its appropriate place, "It works, doesn't it?"
"Oh shut up."
Walking with Katerina Alambiel out of the gardens and toward the beach, Oreius was glad to see she was no longer moving as stiffly as she had been a week ago. Tuulea and Alithia had also been pleased with her progress since she had been allowed to get back on her feet, although she was still a bit thin and not quite up to where she needed to be weight-wise in order for her train safely without risking her ribs breaking again. He was just glad she hadn't decided to play another prank in his study that week, if only because he had bribed her by agreeing to compromise on most of the restrictions he had originally created for her. He wasn't sure if she had been as much trouble when they knew each other as children. "You look a lot like him."
He glanced down at her and raised an eyebrow in silent question. She smiled slightly, "Your father, Cadfael, you look a lot like him you know. Although, I don't remember him having a beard."
Oreius ran his hand over his beard as he recalled growing it out as soon as he was able just so people would stop mixing him up with his father. It didn't work completely, but it was enough to halt most of the awkward moments where someone tried to talk to Cadfael about Oreius only to realize he was Oreius. "Exactly how much do you remember now?"
She shrugged, "Enough, I suppose, though I'm still running into blank spots. But, it's all slowly falling into place." She grinned suddenly and Oreius immediately wondered what prank she had come up with. "However, I have remembered something rather important."
"What is it?"
"I'm older than you."
Oreius snorted as they walked further down the beach. He should have known she would fixate on that small detail. "By five years, that is all. You're the same age as Alithia and four years younger than Ardon. Why do you think this is important?"
She laughed and he almost regretted asking as she stopped and bounced on her toes a little. He clamped a hand on her shoulder and pressed just hard enough to keep her from doing something that would injure herself and keep him from being blamed by Alithia and Tuulea since somehow it was always his fault when Katerina Alambiel managed to injure herself if he was in the vicinity...and sometimes when he wasn't. She still sounded far too gleeful as he finally got her to continue walking as he allowed his hand to slip from her shoulder. "It is important, Oreius, because this explains why I have never been able to listen to you except in certain situations."
He shook his head, "That is not why you don't listen, Katerina Alambiel."
"No?"
"No. You don't listen because you only deign to listen to any of us when you think you should and when you don't think you have a better plan for any given situation."
She laughed again as she moved in front of him and started walking backwards so she could still face him. He supposed he would just have to catch her if she tripped over anything. She gave him one of her more brilliant smiles, "You know, Oreius, I do listen to your plans but sometimes my plans are simply better. But, that aside, I suppose my habit of not listening is due more to my stubborn personality and the fact that I have issues with authority. Still, it's not going to kill you to lighten up a bit, Kentauri."
He rolled his eyes at her, "If you're involved, it just might, Katerina Alambiel." She laughed and he eyed the waves lapping at the sand just beyond her. He glanced down at her and grinned as he decided upon a new course of action. Her smile vanished and her eyes widened as she tried to dart away as he lunged at her.
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Tuulea watched in silent contemplation as Oreius and Alambiel disappeared from view as they walked further down the beach. She glanced at Alithia as the Centauress also watched the two fading figures, "So, you see it?"
On Alithia's other side, Ardon exchanged a look with Stonebrook then grumbled, "I don't."
Alithia rolled her eyes, "Of course, you don't, Ardon." She looked at Tuulea and shrugged, "Well, perhaps I do, but they are both difficult to read and her more so than him."
Tuulea nodded, "It was not always so, especially with Alambiel, but time changed them both. Of course, the thing about time is it changes all things and I think I know how it will change them in the future."
"Tuulea."
She ignored the slight cautioning in Stonebrook's tone as she gestured at where the two had gone, "You have to admit they are good for each other, at the very least."
Alithia nodded, but Ardon still looked skeptical. His gaze moved from her to his wife then back, "You do realize that doesn't mean your theory is going to pan out, don't you?"
Tuulea looked at him and then she met Alithia's gaze with a smile as she waved aside the protest. "Well we won't find out unless we ask. Of course, given how stubborn they both are, we must simply be very careful in how we ask until they realize what's going on."
Ardon opened his mouth, probably to offer another reason why they shouldn't invest their time in the new project, when Stonebrook put a hand on his shoulder and just shook his head, "Give it up, colt, they aren't going to change their minds until they have seen this through to whatever end it might have. You should have learned by now that marrying a healer means you married a female with matchmaking tendencies."
Tuulea raised an eyebrow at her husband as Ardon shrugged, "Well, yes, but I didn't realize she would get this bad."
Alithia immediately elbowed Ardon in the ribs, causing him to grunt as he rubbed his ribs. Stonebrook looked past Ardon to meet Tuulea's gaze and he winked a little at her as he replied, "Just wait until you've been married two hundred years, it gets worse."
Tuulea scowled at her husband in spite of wanting to laugh at his feigned long-suffering tone. A shout in the distance was all that distracted her from retorting as all four of them turned to see Alambiel quickly making her way toward them. She kept stopping to yell something at Oreius who was following at a distance and as she got closer, Tuulea could see why Alambiel appeared to be less than pleased with Oreius...she was completely soaked from head to toe. Oh, for the love of the Lion, what have they done to each other now?
Alambiel wasn't that far from them when she turned around and gestured rather angrily at Oreius as she rattled off something in Irish. "Cad a bhí tú ag smaoineamh? Ní hé seo an greannmhar, Oreius. Tá tú...tú bhagairt. Agus, an bhfuil a fhios agat cén fáth go bhfuil sin? Tá sé riamh toisc go bhfuil tú a thabhairt i ndáiríre aon rabhadh sula ndéanann tú rud éigin mar seo agus ansin ní féidir liom a fháil ar an deis chun iarracht a dhéanamh go fírinneach chun é a sheachaint fiú. Ná gáire, Oreius. Níl mé sásta leis leat." (What were you thinking? This isn't funny, Oreius. You are...you are a menace. And, do you know why that is? It's because you never really give any warning before you do something like this and then I don't even get the chance to truly try to avoid it. Don't laugh, Oreius. I'm not happy with you.)
Whatever she was saying only seemed to amuse Oreius as they neared Tuulea and the others. Alambiel paused for breath and Tuulea took advantage of the opportunity to get in a question, "What happened?"
Alambiel spun to face them then she pointed behind her at Oreius, "He threw me in the ocean!"
Tuulea turned to Oreius, who just shrugged. "She earned it."
Alambiel whirled around, "Earned?" Oreius nodded and Tuulea could see the gleam of satisfaction in his dark eyes, telling her that the colt was simply baiting Alambiel into a temper. And, she was obliging him. "That water was freezing, you boneheaded Stallion!"
Oreius grinned, "You are the one who said I needed to "lighten up," Katerina Alambiel."
He immediately had to duck and then dodge to the side as Alambiel threw two rocks at him in quick succession. "I wasn't saying that as some sort of code for "Oreius, why don't you throw me in the ocean," you boneheaded, arrogant, egotistical Stallion!"
Tuulea shook her head as she admitted there were drawbacks to Alambiel inheriting Hadassah's temper, especially since she would simply not bother to control it where Oreius was concerned at times...such as that moment. The two young ones quickly moved back down the beach as Oreius continued to dodge everything Alambiel threw at him while she shouted at him further in Irish. Watching them retreat closer to where the ocean met the shore, Ardon laughed. "So, is your grand plan going to work before or after they kill each other?"
Alithia rolled her eyes as they watched Alambiel narrowly avoid Oreius' lunge as he tried to throw her back in the ocean, then dragged Ardon with her as she went to make sure the two didn't actually kill each other during the course of their antics. Tuulea sighed, and then she perked up as she recalled who they reminded her of...well, it wasn't the most ideal situation, but it had worked then, it should work now. She glanced up at Stonebrook and smiled, "Who do they remind you of, love?"
He looked from her to them and then he sighed, "Dione and Argeius." She nodded and he stared down at her, "Tuulea, you are going to give them time to recover from everything that has happened. They do not need outside interference for some time." He paused as Oreius finally caught Alambiel and tossed her back into the ocean, which did nothing to improve her temper. "Except when they are trying to kill each other."
Tuulea leaned against his arm as they finally left the young ones on the beach. Alithia would guilt them both into behaving if things got too out of hand...although she was confident that Oreius was still too protective and cautious of Alambiel's health to allow it to get out of hand. "I'm not going to press them for some time, Stonebrook, and when I start to press it shall be very subtle."
Stonebrook laughed as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "Oh I can't wait to see this. And, by some time, I hope you mean past Yule."
Tuulea nodded, "I promise I won't press until oh, Snowbrice. Besides, I still need to figure out what Silverstone is up to."
Stonebrook laughed, "You mean our son is still managing to keep the name of the Nymph he's interested in from you?"
Tuulea stepped out of Stonebrook's embrace and scowled at him, "Yes, he is like his father."
He chuckled, humor lighting his grey eyes, as he echoed, "Like me, dear?"
Tuulea waved her hand, "Yes, like you, the one person in Narnia who I nearly despaired of ever being able to read. But, that aside, I am still quite confident of my plan."
She accepted Stonebrook's hand again and chose not to comment as he steered her away from the barracks, "You are always confident, my dear."
She smiled up at him. "That is because you and I both know that with time all things are revealed to the light as they reach maturity and nothing can be concealed forever."
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A/N: Please Read and Review! Okay, so here is the final chapter of Revealed, I hope you enjoyed it. While fall term for Grad school has started, I shall still be writing and posting new stories, including several one-shots. The next story in the main arc is Concealed and it shall be...interesting, the only hints I'm giving right now are winter, mountains, Susan, Kat, Oreius, secrets, and Brutus. ;) However, there shall be a short story posted before I start posting Concealed because it introduces a new key seconday character (who's actually canon), so bear with me until I can get these things done and posted for your viewing pleasure. Speaking of canon, I have gone through and revised certain portions of Awakening, Shadowed, Shields, and Revealed so the Pevensies are now at the ages given on the canon timeline.
A/N2: Thank you to everyone who has favorited/alerted/reviewed this story and encouraged me to keep working at it (or to get my things in order so something new would actually be posted lol): Lady Firewing, Dreaminsapphire, Hunted Daughter of a Ranger, AragornofRedwall, captindonavin, Markus, KyoKati, GirlSwagg21, Follower of Aslan, MCH, Mama Alyss, LesleyAnn87, masqueraderose9, NarniaNut, mattnoti, ZabuzasGirl, dares to dream, ElemenTalia, hpe2nt, KyriaEternal, WhiteCrown, sandluvr1213, and spirit-rider125.
This is officially my longest story, and the most reviewed (as I type Revealed is sitting at 99 reviews), favorited, and alerted story I've written thus far. Thanks to all my readers (named and anonymous) for supporting this story...in spite of all the delays due to writer's block.