Tranquility

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Chronicles of Narnia related, but I do own Natalie, Orecar, and some other random original characters.


The sun had not yet completely risen over the horizon when Edmund was shaken awake gently. "Wha?" He blinked awake and saw a blurry image of a horse standing in front of him. What? Slipping his arm from Natalie's shoulder very carefully, he rubbed his eyes and looked up again.

"It is good to see you again, my Lord," the centaur smiled.

"Ore-" Edmund frowned, not remembering completely the centaur's name.

"Orecar, Sire," the centaur answered.

"Right, sorry," the young King nodded. "What's going on?"

"It took the night and part of this morning, but the Narnians have answered your call, Lord, your troops are ready to march," Orecar told him.

"Right, thank you," Edmund nodded again and slowly, cautiously, pulled the girls that still slumbered against him off. He stood, making as little noise as he could, and walked over to Marcus' desk, getting a quill and parchment. He left the girls a note and had the centaur lead the way to prepare for battle.

When Natalie woke up, a few hours later, she was disorientated for a moment. Why wasn't she in her room? Then she remembered the threat of another war and the rise of the White Witch, a fiendish, evil woman she had read about and heard talk about so often before. Feat gripped her and she looked around the room, but Edmund, it seemed, had left some time ago. "Where-" she noticed a parchment on the table near the couch and reached over, taking it. She turned to her friend who was still asleep. "Lucy, wake up," Natalie said, shaking her friend's shoulder gently.

"Hm? What?" Lucy blinked awake and looked around. "Edmund?" She questioned.

"He left us a note," Natalie showed her it. "It says he left early to prepare, said we should go down to breakfast and that he'll join us when he can..." she told her.

"Then we should go," Lucy stretched and stood with Natalie. Their pace was a bit hurried as they made it down to breakfast, intending on eating quickly and checking on Caspian before they got any information out of Edmund. Half-way through their breakfast, however, Edmund walked into the room, decked out in partial armor with a strange crown-like helmet on his head. He looked every bit a King going off to war and it only served to solidify the girls' fear that there really was a war and there really was a chance they could lose Edmund this time.

"Good morning," he said, his tone a little bit colder than they were used to hearing, though at a time like this it wasn't so unusual. Edmund sat at his seat and ate as quickly as he could. Natalie frowned slightly, Edmund hadn't once looked at either of them since he walked in.

"Ed? What's wrong?" Lucy asked, also noticing his distance from them.

Edmund set his plate aside and stood, giving them a severe, calculating look. "Lucy, as before, I want you to stay here and look after Narnia. Natalie I want you to help her again, understood?" he demanded, leaving no room for argument. Natalie would have none of it this time, however.

"What?" She said, standing to her feet and ignoring her chair that toppled over behind her with the sudden movement. "I will do no such thing!" She snapped.

"Natalie. There's no time to argue, please just do as I say," Edmund frowned, but Natalie was being especially stubborn that day.

"I've been training for weeks to be a bigger help to my new home. I will not just sit by twiddling my thumbs again while you risk your neck!" She glared at him.

"You would rather you risk your own neck?" Edmund asked incredulously.

"Yes!" Natalie deadpanned.

"Well I would not!" Edmund yelled.

"Too bad! I'm going!" Natalie snapped.

"No you're not!" Edmund's voice steadily began to increase in volume but Natalie would not back down. What was up with this girl? Any other girl would have submitted to him by now, at least, girls he knew of, from Narnia and back in the 40's... but she wasn't like those women, was she?

"Why not! You have to be so stubborn and refuse help even when we, Lucy and I, can be a big help to you! I may not be that great at sword-fighting yet but I can still defend myself!" Natalie argued.

"No!" Edmund shouted, his fists tightening in agitation.

"Why NOT?" Natalie demanded.

"I love you!" he suddenly yelled. The room became still.

"...What?" Natalie said, confused, her argument dying on her lips, a hand over her chest fruitlessly trying to still her racing heart. Why would he tell her this now? 'He loves me...' she had a fairly strong feeling he did anyway, especially considering how they had spent their night the day before yesterday, but to hear it straight from his lips...

"I love you... can you not see it? I can not bear the thought of you getting hurt, or worse, losing you! I-I won't allow it! I won't!" He said firmly.

"Edmund..." Natalie tried, but said raven-haired King cut her off.

"No! You're not going! That's final!" He insisted, turning his back on her and storming out before she could protest further.

Natalie watched him go. She couldn't decide whether to feel dazed and fluttery by his admission, or angered by his bullheaded refusal to let her help in the battle. 'What a stubborn asshole!' Natalie thought in frustration. If he thought she would just sit by like a good little girl and obey his every command, oh-ho-ho he had something else coming! She would not sit by and do nothing!

"Natalie... I understand your feelings, I do, but was it really necessary to argue with him so publicly?" Lucy asked gently.

"Yes," Natalie answered immediately, still glaring at the door Edmund had stormed out of. "That jackass..." Natalie muttered.

"Nat..." Lucy walked over and placed a hand on her friend's arm. "What will you do now?" she asked, seeing the clear determination in her eyes and becoming worried.

"Look, I... I don't exactly know what I feel for your brother... completely yet, but I just feel like I need to be by his side, alright? I'm not sure how I'll do it but... I need to help him," Natalie admitted.

"I think we both know what it is you feel for him, you're just not being honest with yourself," Lucy countered gently.

Natalie frowned to herself. 'She's right... I... I'm in love with him...' she thought. This little bit of knowledge only served to strengthen her desire to be with him, however. "You're right," she admitted. "I wasn't being honest with myself... but now that I am, I have to be by his side, can you understand that?" Natalie turned to her friend, giving her a pleading look.

"I can," Lucy nodded, smiling back when her friend gave her a relieved look.

Natalie nodded and walked out, intending to as secretly as she could suit up for battle and try to sneak into the army before it left. She made it to the barracks just as the men left it, sneaking in and hurriedly pulling her dress off, slipping in one of the padded suits that was left, no doubt too small for any of the men, probably fit for a child. 'Convenient...' Natalie thought in amusement and strapped it on.

"Nat?" Natalie jumped and sighed in relief when the voice belonged to Lucy.

"Lu? What are you doing here?" Natalie gawked, seeing her young friend walk in, carrying a leather bag, a bow and a thick quiver of arrows.

"Helping you, of course. You'll never sneak in there without me, I know where they are anyway," Lucy smiled, walking over to help her older friend with the many fastenings in the armor she was trying to pull on. Natalie smiled at her friend, happy that Lucy was going to join her, but also a bit worried how much Edmund would blow up if or when he discovered them.

After Lucy helped her pull on the chainmail armor, the girls looked around the barracks for more armor. They did not find any more chainmail, but they did find an old leather armor that could work. The needed to sneak into the army looking like boys, so they needed armor to hide their womanly curves, as well as helmets. That brought another issue to mind and Natalie frowned. "Okay, so I just thought of a problem..." she trailed off as she finished helping secure her friend's armor.

"What is it?"

"Well, we're both women... how will we deal with and hide our, err..."

"I know what you're talking about," Lucy butted in before Natalie could finish, blushing in embarrassment. "I thought of that, actually. Before coming here to join you, I paid a visit to the infirmary and got this," Lucy took out from the bag she had been carrying around certain items that could really help.

"That will do," Natalie smiled, thankful that even though this was a medieval world, there were still ways of handling womanly 'problems' when they arose. Another important thing in the bag was hair-ties. The girls tied their hair up and put their helmets on. "Hmm..." Natalie frowned.

"Another problem?" Lucy questioned.

"Yeah... besides us looking ridiculous, we're kind of short..." Natalie smirked, placing her hand on Lucy's helmet and turning it, watching in amusment as it spun around on her head.

"Hey, stop that!" Lucy grabbed her helmet and straightened it. "We'll just say we're boys?" She shrugged.

"But Lucy, that's lying... you don't lie..." Natalie grinned.

"When it means saving people or if it's for a good cause, which this is, a little 'white lie' doesn't hurt anyone..." Lucy insisted.

"Whatever you say, Lu," Natalie laughed. "Come on, we should hurry!" The girls grabbed their belongings and ran out. They took a few minutes to reach the outskirts of town, ignoring the strange looks they got from the people they ran by, and were relieved when the army had not yet left. As they approached the large army beginning to march out, Natalie tightened her sword on her belt, worried she would lose it. If it was just any other blade, she would just be embarrassed by losing it, but this sword was special to her. This would also be the first time she used it, but now that she thought of it, when she picked it up earlier, it didn't feel any heavier than the wooden ones she was used to!

"What is it?" Lucy asked, seeing the strange look in her friend's face.

"It's nothing, it's just, my sword doesn't feel heavy to me anymore..." Natalie smiled.

"That will work to your advantage then! I hope you're prepared to kill with it, though..." Lucy frowned in both concern and disgust. She didn't like the very idea of killing, but it was something that had to be done.

"I... I think so..." Natalie's face paled. She had not thought of that.

"Look, just don't think about it. When someone is coming at you with the intent on killing you, it's best to just react before you think..." Lucy instructed.

"Have you...?" Natalie trailed off, gripping the handle of her sword.

"I have..." Lucy admitted sadly.

"What is it... like?"

"A day doesn't go by that I don't think about the things I had to do... but it's a necessary evil," Lucy sighed. "Come on, remember, don't think about it, react," she whispered as they reached the men. The girls remained silent as they snuck in as nonchalantly as they could.

"Halt. You two are kind of short to be soldiers, aren't you?" Natalie and Lucy felt their hearts crawl to a stop and turned cautiously at the faun that addressed them.

"We're boys. The King asked for every able-bodied man, did he not?" Lucy answered in a low tone, trying to sound as boy-ish as he could.

"I... suppose..." the soldier frowned but then shrugged. He wasn't about to start questioning his King, and if they said they were who they said they were, who was he to stop them? They didn't look like spies or anything, if anything, they looked a bit feminine... but then, he wasn't sure how young son of Adam looked like, besides the stories he had heard from his brothers who served with King Peter and 'Prince' Caspian some years ago. "Then you better hurry up and catch up," he warned them. Natalie and Lucy nodded and jogged ahead, trying to not run like girls.

The army marched long and hard through the country-side, flanked by horses with Generals that tried to keep the moral of the army as high as possible. At the very front of the army, Edmund sat on his horse, but besides that, the girls could barely see him. It was very late at night when they finally reached a suitable location to make camp, thankfully close enough to the Fords of Beruna, grateful that it was close enough to Castle Caspian that it wouldn't have been two days of nonstop marching back and forth. 'Oh my aching feet...' Natalie thought with an inward sigh. She was suddenly very glad that Edmund had forced her to run and exercise so much. Tomorrow they were to reach the Fords with a good day or two until the enemy arrived, or so they hoped.

As the army set camp on the far side of a wide open field, near some trees and a river, Lucy and Natalie tried to stay as far away from people who might recognize them as they could... but where would they sleep? Suddenly, an incredulous and very angry voice called them, by their names.

"Natalie? Lucy? What the bloody hell?!"

TBC...


End A/N: Lol uh oh! And no, I won't describe what "items" Lucy showed Natalie, not only am I too lazy, but I don't think any of you want to read that.

Shout-Out:

Allie Danger: My "birth" language is Spanish too! But I was raised in USA so I suppose you could call English my "native" language lol.

Guest: Yes they are! Maybe he will, maybe he won't! You'll just have to wait and see! :P