The Older Brother Dilemma
"The younger (older) brother must help to pay for the pleasures of the elder (younger)."
~Jane Austen
"Corin!" Edmund's lonely voice echoed through the meadow, his cry was a desperate plea more than it was a searching call. The Crown Prince had run off while Edmund had been occupied with a particularly curious dryad. Her delicate features had turned fierce when Edmund insisted he needed to go, to look for the run-away Prince.
"Corin!" He was certain he had shouted the name a hundred times already only to get no reply. Edmund snorted, beginning to wonder if the prince had been smart enough to head back to Cair Paravel when he was too busy blushing at the comments of the dryad.
There was a sudden yelp from the right and Edmund's legs instantly started pacing, taking him to the source of the cry. He arrived at the scene not too later and his mouth was left open when he realized what he was seeing. It was Archenland's Crown Prince, perched atop a very, very high tree's highest branch, swinging his feet back and forth, his face amused and eyes set on a distant, snow-covered crest.
Edmund realized a second later that the strangled cry had come from the very same dryad that had managed to distract him long enough for the prince to climb such a height. The dryad, Althea as Edmund recalled was carefully trying to catch Corin's attention, trying her hardest not to provoke any sudden movements in the Prince that would lead him to his death.
Edmund gulped and gazed up at Corin. His feet were still swaying and Edmund was on the verge of panicking. He was too high above. How had he managed to get there in the first place? But there wasn't time to wonder such things; he needed to get him down now. He faintly cleared his throat and said in a low voice, "Corin? Corin, my Prince, can you look down at me? Don't move though."
Corin obeyed, staggering on the branch, making Edmund stagger with him. When Corin regained his balance, he gave a vague laugh and said,
"Edmund! You should come up here, too. Oh, it's wonderful. I swear I can see Mount Pire from here."
"Of course, you can, Corin. Just stay there, I'll come, fetch you."
He wasn't entirely certain if the Prince had heard him but he started to make his way up the tree regardless. Althea turned out to be sharp enough to hurry to Cair and get some help while Edmund carefully hopped from one branch to another but the distance between the Prince and him never seemed to shorten. The six-year-old Prince laughed again and Edmund quickened his pace.
After what seemed like an eternity, Edmund finally reached the top branch. He carefully balanced himself on the branch and his hands reached out the small figure of the Prince.
"Corin," he breathed out and the golden boy looked at him with mischief in his blue eyes. His irises sparkled with an emotion Edmund wasn't familiar with and he suddenly stood up, his feet were the same length as the branch's width. In that moment, Edmund panicked, and as a result, he froze.
"Corin, come to me. Just come here and we'll both climb down."
Corin only kept staring at the ground that seemed to be an infinity away.
"Corin, come on, dear Prince."
The Prince nodded somewhat reluctantly as if just stepping out of a cloud of thought and took a small step towards Edmund. Edmund breathed a sigh of relief to see Corin make his way towards him evenly, not stumbling in the slightest. He was sure Corin would be safe in his arms in only a moment—
"NO!" Edmund cried as the prince's foot slipped on a damp part of the branch and the earth claimed its prize as Archenland's Crown Prince plummeted to the ground in an instant.
A sickening thud came.
Edmund looked down.
And screamed.
"No!"
The word was all that had come out of his brother's mouth since he entered his chambers'. Sometimes as a broken whisper and sometimes as a horrifying scream. Peter shook him again, urging him to wake up.
"Edmund!"
Finally, the younger King's eyes fluttered open and he stared blankly at his brother. His forehead was dripping with sweat and his hands were trembling badly. Peter helped his hazed brother settle against the head of the bed and said,
"Are you alright?"
Edmund only now seemed to come back to his senses and nodded very slightly. He wiped away the sweat drops from his forehead and took deep breaths.
"You had a nightmare, didn't you?"
Edmund nodded again.
"What about?"
Edmund gulped hard, probably pushing back a haunting image. "Corin," Edmund whispered and Peter was beyond astonished. His brother was having nightmares about Corin? But then the memory of his brother running after the Prince through Cair's hallways, making sure to bump into every passer on the way, came back to him and he realized that the Prince seemed to have taken a place as Edmund's younger brother.
"What happened?"
"He…he fell off a tree," Edmund answered after a moment. "And it was my fault," he continued and Peter could almost not believe how much he could relate to that single sentence. He forced himself not to at least give a smile and instead focused his attention on his brother once more.
"I should have…I should have looked after him. He's my responsibility and I didn't…I never even noticed he was gone," Edmund said, starting to sob a bit. It must have been a horrible dream.
"Well, looks like you're facing the 'older brother dilemma'." Edmund's head suddenly shot up, his brows raised and his lips curled in a frown.
"The what?" he asked curiously.
"The older brother dilemma," Peter repeated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I know that," Edmund said with a scowl, "but what is it?
"Something I've been a victim of my whole life."
"Peter."
Peter laughed at the fierce scowl that Edmund gave but realizing that he needed to make Edmund understand, he said, "Well, you see, Edmund, when you're the older brother, there's a lot of responsibility on you. And under that weight, you sometimes forget that you're only human."
"I don't understand, Peter."
"Okay…um, do you remember the time you caught pneumonia?"
Edmund shook his head. "No."
"Why, you must! You were…" Peter scratched his head awkwardly. "…four years old at the time." Peter laughed when he realized how silly he sounded. Edmund blinked at him curiously and Peter merely waved it away. He continued, "Well, you had caught pneumonia. I don't remember it all that well either but I do remember never leaving your bedside because I thought it was my fault that you were sick."
"That proves it! You did knock your head when you were a baby!" Edmund said, laughing. Peter pouted but said,
"This is serious, Edmund. You must listen. Now, where was I? Oh yes, I felt guilty that you were sick Just like you do for what happened to Corin in your dream. It's a natural feeling, Edmund. You feel guilty even when you know it wasn't your fault."
"But—"
"Hush, Ed. Being an older brother means a lot of things, it means you must always put your siblings first, it means maturing before your age, and it means learning to carry the weight of guilt. There's no cure to the 'older brother dilemma'. You can only learn how to cope with it."
"And how's that?"
Peter smiled and settled beside his brother. He took him into a warming embrace and placed a gentle kiss on his hair. Edmund dissolved in the hug and smiled at his brother, knowing that was answer enough.
Fin
Author's note: Did the first part scare you? I have a feeling the first part scared you. Anyway, this just came out of nowhere, literally out of nowhere. I just sat down and started typing and this little story was born. I feel good about it. It's something light-hearted (the second part at least). Finally, Ed gets a look at the 'older brother dilemma.' Now, he knows how Peter feels every time he does something reckless.
Do leave a review. Please? Okay, pretty please? Why, thank you!