Disclaimer: Once more for the cheap seats: I don't own Narnia. I tried bying it once, but hadn't the money so I settled on a small island in the South Pacific.

AN: Here we go. The very last chapter for some time. I'll try to get in some more work on my other stories so you won't have to wait too long. A lot of questions are left unanswered, but that's the intent. If you have anything you want/need to know, feel free to PM me or leave a review. I'll try to answer. Thanks for reading, reviewing and enjoying. Have I mentioned you rock? :*

Chapter 25: Recovery

Slowly realizing his own arrogance, and general mishandling of the situation, Peter saddened. Edmund had gone ahead of them to the Cair. Peter found the girls looking at embroidered shawls from a young girl's carriage. He approached them and bought each of them a shawl. He pulled them along without dropping his smile even once.

It wasn't until they were all safely within the walls of Cair Paravel that his sisters noticed a change.

"Peter, what's wrong?" Lucy asked. Her brother just shook his head and led them to his and Edmund's room.

They found Ed there, folded into an old lounge chair. His head was bowed and was picking at a loose thread. Peter crossed his arms and took a relaxed stance by the door. "Ed has something to tell you."

"Now?" Susan asked and looked at her younger brother. "We were right in the middle of something."

Edmund nodded and tried to dislodge the lump in his throat. "Did you tell them anything?" He asked his brother.

Peter glanced at the girls and back at Ed. "No." He turned and closed the door.

The guards outside the room glanced at their king as the door shut, but didn't speak. All Narnians knew not to make light of the situation in the castle. Lately the queens hadn't smiled as much. The kings hadn't fought as much. Silence was the predominant state around the Cair. It had been so for almost a year. But things seemed like they would change after today. The two guards felt it, one being a sensitive Wolf of Edmund's personal security detail. The other, an empathetic faun.

Edmund gestured for his siblings to sit. "Please," Only the girls complied. Lucy instantly crawled onto his bed while her big sister perched precariously on the edge. Peter stayed by the door, arms crossed. Oh yes, this is going well already, a voice in Ed's mind mocked. He sighed and rubbed his face, snuggling deeper into the lounge chair. "I know there's a lot I've not told you yet." Their attention perked. "The reason for that was that I wasn't sure if it was my story to tell."

"Is this about what happened last year?" Peter asked. His sharp eyes were trained on every move his little brother made. He had never seen him this fumbling.

Edmund nodded. His brother had wanted to launch a full scale search for the assassins who killed the Tisroc's soldiers, but Edmund had stopped it. He had pulled the plug before the plans were made. While it was still just an idea. "Yes," He took a deep breath.

His younger sister frowned in sympathy. "Don't be scared, Ed."

His lips ticked up in a quick smile and he actually felt a bit calmer. A bit. "I've told you about the memory loss, but that's only half of it."

Peter's expression darkened. Susan's as well.

Edmund felt the guilt return and looked down. This had been months in the making. "Romel- was his name. . . the man who took me in-" He didn't dare look up and so took a deep breath. "Do you remember the story about the first Irin?" Only now did he look up.

Lucy nodded and Susan frowned. Peter lowered his arms and looked more intently at his brother.

Ed drew a deep breath. "I met him. All of them," he reiterated. "The Irins, Master Tibburn told us about in history class once," His hands were shaking and his knee bouncing up and down. He decided to get up and lean against Peter's desk. Put more distance between himself and his siblings. "I didn't remember who they were before. Not until the end, right around when you found me."

Peter huffed and cut his brother off. "Wait-" He stepped further into the room. "You're saying that you've seen a group of mythical humans? The Lost Guardians."

"The Last Guardians. They're not lost anymore-" Ed quietly inserted. Peter's face darkened at the correction. "But yes." He nodded and waited.

"The guardians that would supposedly only return once Narnia was in Her greatest hour of need." He was approaching and becoming almost a little aggressive.

Edmund shrunk in on himself and folded his shoulders. "Peter, Aslan asked me to stay."

"What?" Lucy perked up noticeably. They hadn't seen or heard from him for years.

"I didn't recognize His voice then, but He asked me to stay. Asked me to build bridges."

"And why would he do that?" Peter asked.

Lucy was just smiling. "Well isn't it obvious?" she glanced at Peter before she turned back to Edmund. She held the attention of the three others. "He wanted you to make friends with them."

"Why?" Ed asked. He was ready to accept her explanation, but had to know the deeper meaning behind it.

"Perhaps we'll need their help someday?" she suggested.

Edmund frowned. "Or perhaps it was to help them," He stared into nothing. He noticed Peter frowned incomprehensively. "They were cursed. They had been exiled from Narnia by a witch and cursed with life so they could never really die."

His siblings frowned. "We already know that." Peter spoke.

Edmund nodded, but knew there was a part of the story no one knew. "Right. Only once they retook the oath they violated, could they come home – could they rest."

"If that's the case, why run from us? Why leave you on the road like trash?"

Ed shied back at his brother's tone. He had never considered the situation like that – never considered himself 'trash'.

The hurt expression on his face didn't go unnoticed by his brother. Peter quickly realized what he'd said and became remorseful, but Edmund looked away. He realized his anger towards the men who had left his brother was being transferred onto said brother.

"Probably because they were afraid," he whispered. It was a trait he had picked up since Tashbaan. But only under duress and only in the presence of his siblings. It seemed they were the only ones able to intimidate him.

"Ed, I'm sorry-"

"It's fine." He sighed.

"Peter, honestly." Susan rolled her eyes. She looked back at Edmund. "I thought you said they couldn't enter Narnia?"

"They were in Narnia." he answered.

"It's true," Lucy agreed. "About a mile inside the border."

"Well, the new border." Ed corrected. He shared a concerned expression with his sister. She was looking worriedly at him. Her big eyes were like beacons that made everything around them seem miniscule. He hated himself for making her worry. "I'm sorry it took so long for me to tell you." He didn't dare look at his brother. "It wasn't my secret to tell and I wasn't sure how to tell you." He had found a tear in the leather on the table to pick at. A stud had come out.

"You should've told us when we found you." Susan said patiently.

"We would've followed them. Ensured their return to Narnia." Peter promised.

"I'm not sure that's what they wanted." Edmund confessed. "You have to see it from their point of view. They're not even sure if the spell is broken."

"All the more reason they should've stayed."

"Peter," Lucy calmly reprimanded. A strange mood lingered in the room. Peter still looked angry. Edmund and Susan looked like they'd rather be anywhere else at that moment. Lucy was desperately trying to make sense of it all. Her family had drifted apart this last year. Mostly due to something Edmund wasn't telling them. She knew about his memory loss. So did they all. They couldn't blame him for not coming home sooner. It wouldn't be fair to Edmund.

"This isn't about Romel, is it?" he asked Peter. He looked shyly at him. "It's because I didn't come home." He looked so sad that Lucy saddened as well. All three siblings did. Edmund was shaking, picking at his cuticles. "I'm-m sorry," he whispered. A tear dripped from his eye.

Lucy saw one drip from Susan's as well. Peter too, was crying, but his jaw was clenched so tightly she worried it'd snap. And despite her own willingness to understand, Lucy felt relieved. She had been missing that – the apology – and she hadn't even known it. "Oh, Edmund."

Her sad voice made him giggle through the tears. How had she not seen this? She was supposed to know when her siblings were sad. They all thought she was the baby who needed looking after. None of them realized that she spent a great deal of time making sure they were alright. She rolled out of bed and hugged him like she hadn't done in ages. Her arms around his chest and her head buried in his neck. He leaned into it with the desperation of a thirsting man, greeting a well. He wrapped his arms around her and placed his chin on her head. He sobbed once and she squeezed tighter. she smiled into his shirt. It was so long since either of her siblings had allowed her to hug them. Peter hugged her on occasion, but usually never allowed himself to be hugged.

Suddenly she found herself cocooned in warm bodies. Her sister leaned in and put her arm around her younger brother's shoulders. She demurely kissed his temple and rubbed circles through his thick hair. Ed leaned his temple against hers and leaned into the embrace. Peter came over as well and wrapped his strong arms around all of them. A real bear hug. The ones Lucy loved so much, but hadn't gotten in years. She was supposed to be a grownup. Supposed to cope without constantly hugging her brothers and sister. She smiled into Edmund's shirt again. It smelled like him.

Everything felt so safe. Safer than it had in years. With a stalwhart resolve she vowed she wouldn't let her siblings suffer in silence one second longer. She would stop trying to avoid the situation and remain at home. She only hoped her siblings felt the same way. Perhaps it was alright to need them just a little bit longer? She hoped they needed her as much as she needed them.

On Edmund's back, Peter's hand curled into his shirt. Ed reached out and squeezed his brother's strong arm. Only the two of them knew.

Outside their room, the sun was setting in an array of brilliant colors. The Narnians, who were only now leaving the fair and returning home, looked up with a certainty. "That's Aslan, tha' is." a Hedgehog told his family. The golden rays of the sun warmed every strand of grass they touched. They turned every stone to gold and the ocean to liquid silver.

The walls of Cair Paravel sparkled in the evening glow. Banners snapped in the wind and seagulls sang lullabies for tired sailors.

That night was the first night of the Spring Feast. The celebrations lasted for almost a month.

To Be Concluded... Eventually.

AN: I'll keep my oppinion of the ending here to myself. I want to know what you all feel about it. It's inconclusive, but that's the point. I hope you all enjoyed, and once again, thanks to the readers and reviewers. You all know how much I love you, right? :* Be well till next time.