wSo, I don't check my e-mail often, and I knew that fanfiction sends me notifications, so I figured hey, whatever, I'll check it out. I was astonished and happily surprised to find out that 70 people favorited Dear One. Thank you so much to everyone who did. I would love to put all your names down and give you credit, but unfortunately I can't. But maybe when the series is over, I'll add an author's note at the end thanking all those who added my story to their favorites. I'm sorry I can't add the names of those who simply read it, I wish I could, but I have no way of knowing. Again, thank you so much. It means a lot to me. Enjoy chapter 29.

LUCY'S POV

As the days wore on, it started to become more obvious of Peter's fancy for Julia, and vice versa. They both knew I knew about them spending time with each other, but when I confronted either one about their reasons for doing so, they both said they were just friends. I expressed my frustration to Caspian one morning as we continued with the wedding preparations.

"Neither one of them will express their feelings about the other, not even to me," I ranted as I arranged a bouquet of red, pink, and white roses in a vase—I'd chosen red and pink as accent colors.

"Well, maybe you should let them figure it out on their own," Caspian suggested.

"Maybe…" I said, smiling. "Or maybe they need some…persuasion."

"I don't like that tone." I looked over to see him giving me a suspicious look. "What are you planning?"

"Come on!" I grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the ballroom, telling Trumpkin we'd be back later. I almost ran into Edmund before stopping abruptly and asking him if he'd seen either Peter or Julia.

"Um, Pete was in the library last time I saw him," Edmund answered, almost hesitantly. "Why, what's wrong?"

"I'll explain later," I told him before hurrying off to my room. I stopped in front of the door and Caspian finally freed his hand. "You go see if Peter's still in library, and keep him there if he is. I'll get Julia."

"Wh—"

"Just go!" I pushed him off in the direction of the library, and he went, laughing. I walked into my room to see Julia and some of the other maids cleaning up.

"Hello, Your Highness," one of the maids said, curtsying. I nodded at her and hurried over to where Julia was standing, making the bed—probably for the fifth time that morning. She was kind of a perfectionist that way. I always insisted that I make my own bed, but she says she likes to do it. Not important, Lucy!

"Julia, I'm headed over to the library," I said. "Would you like to come?" She looked up at me with a curious look on her face.

"Um, of course, but…I was just finishing making the bed."

"Oh, I don't mind waiting," I told her, smiling.

"I don't want to make you wait."

"It's fine, really."

"If you say so, Lucy." Julia was the only maid to call me Lucy, even though I insisted that the other maids do so—they always said it was improper and disrespectful, despite my objections. I sat on my window-seat, staring out over the courtyard. We were given a rest from the rain today, but it was still cloudy. Julia finally said she was done and we could go, and I jumped up from the window-seat before remembering I needed to keep calm.

"All right, let's go." We walked down the hall to the library, talking calmly and nodding at all who passed us. Some people gave us odd looks, and Julia would always seem uncomfortable, not that she'd say anything about it. I finally told her to not worry and that they wouldn't dare say anything, nor do they need to know if they were being that disrespectful. When we walked into the library, I was happy to see Caspian and Peter there, talking and laughing lightly.

"Oh, hello, Caspian, Peter," I said to both of them, smiling and nodding. Julia seemed surprised, but she curtsied and smiled slightly at them.

"Hello King Caspian, King Peter," she greeted, a little more formally. We joined them across the room, me sitting with Caspian, and Julia standing near Peter. After a few minutes of talking, I decided it was time to take my leave. The library was immensely large, and very complicated if you didn't know your way around.

"I'm going to go look around for some books." I looked at Caspian. "Will you come with me?"

"Sure," he answered, standing.

"We'll see you guys later," I told them as I stood before taking Caspian's hand and walking through aisles to get to the second door.

"So that's what you were planning," Caspian said, raising an eyebrow and smiling at me.

"Of course," I answered, smiling back and stopping to find a couple books before we left. "I need to have something to read when Julia comes to talk to me later. And besides, I need some new books." I grabbed a few that looked interesting before we left the room.

Later, I was sitting on the window-seat reading a book of fairytales I'd found when Julia came in, seeming ecstatic. I looked up and asked her what was going on. The other maids that were still in the room looked up in curiosity as well, then looked at me, wondering if they should leave.

"Julia, what happened?" I asked, watching her bounce up and down excitedly. She looked around at the other maids, and I nodded at them. They left, closing the door quietly behind them.

"Peter and I are courting!" Julia answered, her smile growing impossibly wider.

"Oh, Jul, that's wonderful!" I squealed, jumping up from the window-seat and hugging her.

"I know, I'm so happy!" She stopped for a second, her smile disappearing as she remembered something. "I have nothing to wear for a horse-back ride."

"Oh!" I pulled her to my wardrobe and rifled through. Finally I pulled out a tunic and a pair of hunting pants and handed them to her. "Here," I told her. "Take these. I had them fit for me, so they should fit you." She took them gratefully.

"Thank you so much, Lucy!" she enthused, hugging me before rushing into the bathroom to change. I smiled. I was happy Julia was happy. I was happy my plan worked. But most of all, I was happy my brother wasn't alone anymore.