Author's Note: Hello everyone. I am terribly sorry for failing to update this work, and must convey that semester finals require far more effort to prepare for than I remember from last year. Oh well. I suppose that is life. Anyway, fear not, here you are! Chapter 24 of After All.

Chapter 24

Peter couldn't help it. Lucy's cheerfulness had always been infectious. He couldn't resist her smile, and the joy spread from there. So he led the applause for the new King Caspian even as the villagers were streaming from the field to line the Royal Road back to Castle Graystone. And he knew his own joy was fueling Evelyn's, whose smile reached deeper into her eyes than he'd seen since returning to her.

A gentle breeze sprang up from the sea and caught her hair, fanning it out in a golden pennant that drew the eyes of many of the villagers. She titled her head back as she swung into the saddle of her dark buckskin mare, and he reached up and caught a strand of her hair. She grinned at him as he tugged it gently, and she leaned down to kiss him. "Are we still married, or are we reverting back to friends?" she whispered against his lips, meeting his sky blue eyes.

"We're in love and that's all we need to be right now," he murmured, letting her go with another kiss. Then he swung onto his white stallion and moved ahead of her to his place in the parade line. Susan rode beside him on a dappled gray mare, laughing at something Caspian had said. The King mounted Destrier, and Aslan padded over to stand beside the horse. Lucy, on a dark bay mare, and Edmund, on a chestnut stallion, took their places behind him and Susan.

Evelyn and Lynn, who rode a small palomino mare with a snow white mane, tail, and socks, left a horse length in front of them as the line moved out. Evelyn rode beside Glenstorm, smiling and waving. Peter could hear her laughing and when he turned once to look at her, he saw her catch a flower thrown by a young girl. The Princess lifted the flower and handed it back to the girl, who smiled shyly. At one point, Evelyn acquired a red flag, and she held it one hand as she rode. He couldn't help but be proud of her for everything she did all those years and for how she welcomed Caspian with an open mind. He knew she had welcomed the Prince more easily than he had, and he wondered if it had anything to do with how she'd met Caspian the Ninth.

Then he shook that thought off. He realized she had accepted Caspian because she'd seen who he really was, something Peter hadn't been able to see. Pride swelled in his heart for her, and he remembered how so many foreign nobles in the Golden Age had scoffed at her for being his Guardian. That was who she was. And she'd been the Guardian of Narnia throughout the Golden Age and the Telmarine Age.

He smiled as he recalled the name he'd heard several times over the previous six days. The Narnians had dubbed the past thirteen hundred years the Telmarine Age, and they were determined to call Caspian's reign the New Age.

'He'd as Narnian as I am,' Peter realized suddenly. Indeed, Caspian was. And that pride inside him grew bigger as he watched the King in front of him. 'He's not the Telmarine who saved Narnia. At least not to me he's not,' he added to himself, and he knew he had to tell Caspian that he was truly proud of him. He needed to leave Narnia at peace with the one who watched over his beloved land.

So that night, watching the fireworks with Evelyn, his siblings, Caspian, and Lynn, he told him. He leaned over, catching Caspian's shoulder in his hand, and pulled him closer so no one over heard him. "I'm proud of you, Caspian. You'll do great things for Narnia, though I don't think any of them will ever be as great as what you've already done," he told the new King quietly. Evelyn looked up at him curiously, though she understood, from where her head rested on his thigh.

They were sitting out on a balcony, looking towards the exploding lights, and they were all seated on a mass of pillows and blankets. Evelyn had stretched out on her back, groaning as her cracked rib flared. She'd cracked it when he'd been slammed against the fallen pillar, right before he'd stabbed Miraz. Caspian was sitting beside them, Edmund on his other side. Susan lay with her head on Edmund's knee, and Lucy was using Evelyn's hip as a pillow. Lynn was curled between Lucy, Evelyn, and Peter, a little afraid of the loud explosions above them.

"You are?" Caspian asked softly, turning to meet his eyes.

Peter could read the surprise on the King's face, and he nodded. "Do you think I would have crowned you if I wasn't?" he replied gently, offering a smile.

"No, I don't think you would have," the dark haired teen sighed after a moment searching Peter's face. Peter shifted and held out his hand. Caspian recognized the peace offer and clasped hands with the High King, grateful for the silent blessing.

"You'll make a great King," Peter told him in a low voice once they'd released their handshake.

"Not one as great as you," Caspian protested.

"You can't be me. You are the King of a different time, of a different age. Never try to be someone you're not, Caspian. You will never be me, because you can only be you. And you are going to great in your own way," the High King assured him.

"That was…wise," the King replied.

Peter laughed and Evelyn spoke up softly. "You're welcome," she said to Peter.

"Yes, yes, thank you," he laughed, bending down to kiss her forehead.

"What?" Caspian asked, careful not to pry.

"I wanted to tell you that I was proud of you, but I didn't know how to say it. So Evelyn made me admit how I felt you would do, how I thought about you being King, and you just heard the result," Peter admitted, grinning.

"Well, then, thank you, Princess," the King laughed.

"You're most welcome, Your Highness," she replied, tilting her head carefully to smile at him.

Peter saw the friendship between Caspian and Evelyn, and he was glad that she'd accepted him to replace her as the Guardian of Narnia. He had a sudden urge, but he waited until Caspian had looked back to the sky before he leaned down and captured Evelyn's lips with his own. He felt her smile before she kissed him back, and he slipped one hand under her head to lift her closer. "You know I love you, right?" he asked when he let her go.

"And you know there was never anyone but you, right?" she replied softly, her eyes reflecting the fireworks above them.