Disclaimer: Don't own it. This is what happens in canon. I just guessed at it, and C.S. Lewis gets all the credit for the imagining of it.

Chapter Twenty-Five

All the next day people arrived for the wedding. All the nobles in the castle made themselves ready. Nobles that had been seeing to their lands and families away from Anvard came back. Many representatives from villages near and far came. The party from Telmar arrived, and the representatives from Galma, Terebinthia, and the Lone Islands had all arrived on one ship in the port. King Peridan, his family, and a few good knights and creatures of Narnia came late the evening before the wedding. The steward was kept very busy getting rooms and clothes and water for them all, and that night in the Great Hall King Lune beamed at how full his castle was of smiling well-wishers for Cor and I.

The day of the wedding dawned. That morning there was a bit of to-do among the women as to who was going to help me prepare- who was going to help me on with my dress and do my hair and things like that. I could hear the argument outside of my door. Lady Thelma steadfastly maintained that she had gotten me through pimples and helped me make over my wardrobe as I had grown and seen me through the sundry other things that growing girls dealt with. She would not dream of missing this chance to see me safely into the care of the Prince. Lasaraleen stubbornly insisted that she was my oldest friend at Anvard: she knew me- better yet, she knew how to dress, and these Archenlanders didn't at all. She was not to be cheated out of the dear woman friend's part this happy morning. But then my faithful Winifred was fiercely contending against these worthy women's claims to my service. Had she not looked after me loyally every morning and every night since my arrival? Should not she help me, too, on this most important of days?

I opened the door as soon as I heard them come bustling up quarrelling. "Dear ladies," I laughed. "I love you all. Indeed! I couldn't turn any of you away this morning. Come in. I should be glad of all of your help."

Each of the women scowled jealously at the others. They all had different ways of doing things, but eventually they got things settled, and Winifred was fussing over my dress and hair, Las was examining the stitching in my train with her critical eye, and Lady Thelma was arranging the bouquet of flowers I was to carry down. I was glad for their chatter and business. I was happy, but so unaccountably nervous. My heart was fluttering like a butterfly.

Finally all was done and the three women led me to the looking glass. I wore no veil; I had denied one. I felt I needed no disguise, no barrier between Cor and myself. Winifred had pinned my heavy curls up artfully, and the princess' circlet at on my brow. My dress was simply cut- white, but overlaid completely with rich, beautiful lace. A green satin sash symbolised the anticipated fertility of the marriage.

"You look lovely, dear," Thelma said.

"Milady, you are everything you should be," said Winifred proudly.

"Oh, she looks every inch the barbarian princess, to be sure," Lasaraleen told them laughingly. "Not at all how a Calormene bride would dress; the Tarkheenas in Tashbaan would be properly horrified, mind you. But she's the prettiest I've ever seen her. But Aravis, that's not the point. Don't let them tell you it is for one second, darling. The clothes don't make the bride- and that's me talking. You're not just pretty, you're positively radiant. You look happy and gracious and good, dear, darling Aravis."

Thelma looked appraisingly at Lasaraleen. "She does. Lady Aravis- you're fit to marry a Prince because you are gracious and good- and because you love Prince Cor, never mind the pretty clothes. Your friend has the right of it."

Winifred sniffed. "The clothes don't hurt, though," she stressed. "Oh, milady, you're a dear heart, and no mistake- and His Highness loved you long before you got so beautiful- but I daresay he'll just about burst with the pride of marrying you today." She tugged on a sleeve with proprietary pride, and I laughed at her.

After the ladies had given me counsel, according to that most ancient and universal of customs, they left me to join the others on the Great Lawn. I went down alone to the garden. There King Lune, Hashafed, and Hwin were waiting.

Hwin had had herself properly groomed for the occasion, and both King Lune and Hashafed were splendidly dressed.

"Oh!" cried Hwin delightedly. "Aravis! You look splendid!"

"O my sister!" said Hashafed, eyes shining in admiration, "Your beauty shines like—"failing to find a proper simile, he gave it up. "You're so beautiful!"

I laughed and hugged him gently, careful to rumple neither my dress nor his dress clothes. "Thank you, brother mine, Hwin."

Hwin came up and carefully nudged my arm with her nose. "I have been waiting for this day, Aravis," she said quietly. "I can see the happiness on your face. I can hear it in your voice. I can smell it around you. My friend, my friend, if only I could say what it meant to me!" Her voice quivered with joy.

"My dear Hwin!" I said. "I love you dearly."

Hashafed came back, and stood on tip-toe to kiss me on the cheek. He grinned at me. "O mad sister of mine, go marry this former-peasant barbarian prince of a lover of yours. I'll be watching."

He and Hwin left, and I was there with King Lune. I smiled at him. He took my hand in his. "Art thou ready?" he asked quietly.

"To marry Cor? Yes. To go out there and maybe trip in front of all those people? Not at all," I said lightly, but my stomach turned over.

"Lean on me, dear daughter," he said. "And then, lean on Cor. The crowd is naught. There is only thou, and him. Come. Cor is waiting."

I nodded once, gave him my arm, and we strode out onto the lawn. The musicians were playing. There were near two hundred very important people assembled on the lawn- nobles and diplomats from Archenland and from abroad. I saw King Peridan and his family with the dwarves of Narnia. I noticed with pleasure that Little Fwirra, now a young woman of a dryad, had made the long journey from her tree at Cair Paravel to come. Little Gia waved at me, beaming from ear to ear. Towards the front, there were the Horses, and the old teachers and dear friends of Anvard, and Las, and Hashafed, and Corin. And there standing at the western end of the Great Lawn by the brook was Cor, dressed in white and green as I was, and looking at me.

As King Lune had said, all else disappeared. There was only him and me. And he looked at me with such wonder, admiration, and love that I could have sworn my very soul leaped out of my body and all but flew over to his. I felt that I glided over the green summer grass, and then he was extending his hand to meet mine just a bit too quickly, and King Lune was handing me over, and he went around to stand before us and begin.

The ceremony was simple, very different from what a Calormene wedding would be. The words were ancient; some of them made absolutely no sense. It was a very old text, preserved through a millennium in Archenland, King Lune had told me, from the wedding ceremony the first king of Narnia, King Frank I, had written down for his second son, King Lucian. He was Archenland's very first King. And the wedding ceremony had been handed down, more or less intact, from that day onward, from Father to son, or Father to daughter, the few times the succession had passed from a sonless King. I had looked over the vows with great interest when he had shown them to Cor and I- they reminded me vaguely of those old stories from the other world the Queen Lucy had told me so long ago. I had talked to Lord Darrin about it- he said that there were half-remembered legends that the King Frank and his wife Queen Helen had come into the world at the beginning from another place, the same place the Lord Digory and the Lady Polly had come from, the day the Tree of Protection was planted in Narnia. He had said that when the Four came into Narnia from another world, certain of the old scholars speculated that they had come, once, from the very same world as all men had come from in our world.

Now, as Cor and I recited the strange words, wedding hearts, hands, and lives before the earth, before those present, and by Aslan, I wondered how many people before had recited them- not just here in Archenland, not just in Narnia in the centuries before the Witch, but perhaps…perhaps in that Other Place. Was I descended from the same race that brought forth the mysterious Four? Was Cor? I did not know, but thinking of it, I felt close to them, and to those generations that had wedded here at Anvard before me. The countless princesses, princes, kings, and queens that had made these promises of love and faithfulness, promises to cherish and protect and obey.

Cor's eyes caressed my face as he made his vows to me- I had to stop myself from dancing for joy. When the time came I wanted to shout mine out, but all I could manage was a low, ardent murmur. But I pressed his hands with my own fervently, feeling in my very soul the birth of this new creature our union. Maybe that was what King Lune meant by "one flesh", and by "let it not be torn asunder". And then, before I knew it, we were wed.

"My son, my son," King Lune said, smiling so that his face almost disappeared in the smile. "Go on then. Kiss thy bride."

And Cor was almost as radiant as I imagined I was. His hand came up to cup my face, and my eyes fluttered shut, and his lips were on mine, and the sound ringing in my ears was people cheering. It was a little bit awkward- my very first kiss, but so infinitely sweet that all the awkwardness was more than made up for. And it was Cor. He left my lips reluctantly, and I smiled up at him. We turned to face the witnesses, and Hashafed was grinning. Las was smiling through tears. Little Hrinoo was prancing about the other Horses, whose ears were held and whose eyes were sparkling in just the way that I knew they were very pleased and not a little bit moved. Corin's smile was fit to rival his father's. Overhead, the sun shone down on my face, beautifully, dazzlingly bright in my eyes. And on the eastern ridge, brighter still, at the back of this story just as He had always been, I saw the Lion, Aslan, a beacon of shining gold on the green hills and against the clear blue sky. Cor grew still beside me, and I knew he saw Him, too. A quieter, deeper joy took root in my spirit. For now I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, our marriage was blessed. We would be healthy, and happy, and good. It might not always be easy. In fact, it would be folly to assume that it would be. But Aslan before us, Cor and I would go on. Together. Always.

A/N: Thanks for all the support through this story. I hope you enjoyed reading it half as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Thanks to my reviewers: almostinsane; LyraMeadows43; rthstewart; divergary; Define_X; lirikiril; Laura_Andrews; Calyn; Rose_and_Psyche; penspot; keywizard2; Khione'sKid.306; Queen_Emily_The_Diligent; and We_Stand_Victorious.

You guys made me smile, kept me motivated, and helped me make this much better than it would have been without your help. Your time and comments have been appreciated far more than you know.

God Bless you All!

LMSharp