Susan did not leave her room until the next morning. She spent much of the night in thought. This was Narnia; that was established. And her own adventures here had definitely occurred, unless her memory was playing tricks on her. But that was just the problem.

Was it possible she was wrong? Maybe she was dreaming… or mad. But she had pinched herself repeatedly, to no avail. So either this was all real, or she had finally cracked. She didn't want to think about the later option, so she concentrated on the former.

So Narnia was real, she had been here twice before, and now she had come again. She now remembered everything about her many years spent here, every bit of it. A few questions remained in her mind. Namely: How was it no one knew her? and, Why had she been allowed to return? Aslan had told her and Peter quite clearly, that last time after the whole issue with Prince Caspian, that they were getting too old to return to Narnia, and that they wouldn't be allowed to return. She remembered also that there were things he had said quite solemnly to them, some warnings, some reassurances... But she didn't want to think about Aslan. The very thought of him gave her the shivers, now. She didn't know why. She had always loved meeting with Aslan when she had been in Narnia before, but now the idea of meeting him face to face gave her a horrible feeling of dread.

So, ignoring that question, that left her with something she felt much more comfortable thinking about. How was it, if she and her siblings had been rulers of Narnia, that no one here recognized her name? If someone claiming to be Queen Guinevere returned to England, there would be consternation. But she had gotten no reaction at all, from anyone. Queen Silvana, at the least, should have been educated enough to know her name.

And who was this Queen Silvana, anyway? Susan had listened avidly to Eustace's retelling of his latest adventure in Narnia with his friend Jill, and he said that when he left, Caspian's son Rilian was ascending the throne. But that had been seven years ago—knowing how times seemed to run in Narnia, many hundreds of years could have passed here between now and then. Perhaps they were living in a time that was so far in the future that no one remembered her and her siblings any longer?

The last time she had seen Cair Paravel, it had been an old ruin. Eustace had told her that it had been rebuilt—he and Jill had even spent a night there (and been told the story of Prince Cor and the horse Bree, Susan recalled). But surely, if it had been centuries later, she would have seen more difference in the building and its surroundings?

She remembered staring at a place on the wall last night, which was almost directly across from her seat at the great table. There was a strangely shaped stain there on the wood paneling. It looked vaguely like a horse. She could remember, now, staring at that shape years before. It had been on the wall when she was queen. That paneling could have remained in some form in Narnia for a few hundred years, but certainly not through the long centuries of decay between their reign and Caspian's. When she and her siblings had come to Narnia the second time, they had seen that the wood paneling of the Great Hall had all rotted away. It must have been replaced during Caspian's reign, so how could that stain still be there?

Poor Susan's head was reeling by this time, and the sun had long since shown his yellow face over the horizon and the sea, so she got up and put on some clothes (how beautiful and comfortable Narnian clothes had always been!) and with a friendly pat on the jar of peaches, went down to the great hall, where the inhabitants of the castle and their guests were, as they put it, breaking their fast. She tried to sneak over to the table without being seen, but it didn't work. All the men at the table half-rose in a courteous gesture as she took her seat, and she could feel herself blushing.

"Good morning, Lady Susan," the Queen was saying kindly. "I trust you slept well?"

"Yes, thank you, Your Majesty," Susan answered briefly. She started a bit as the badger sitting next to her handed her a basket of muffins, but managed to smile and say thank you as she took one.

The people sitting around her tried to include her in their small talk, but she answered in monosyllables, and they soon gave up.

As breakfast was ending, Queen Silvana stood. The entire table followed suit. "Gentle guests, I have asked that the court minstrels serenade you in the gardens. Unfortunately, must beg your pardon, for I have some matters to attend to. His Royal Highness, Prince Belarion, will guide you."

The party all moved to depart, and Susan followed them, until Silvana's voice made her halt in her tracks.

"Lady Susan. Would you come with me, please?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Susan said. But her mouth had gone dry. The Queen led her out of the hall and down a corridor.

The Queen got right to the point. "Lady Susan, I am worried about you. You seem to be confused, or frightened perhaps?" Susan dropped her eyes to her feet. The Queen's tone was very kind. "I do not know why that should be. I want to help you.

"First, of course, we must find your party. They must be worried sick about you by now. Tell me, who are they, and where did you last see them?"

"I…" Susan didn't know how to answer her. "I didn't have a party, Madam. I traveled alone."

"What?—alone! all the way from our southern border?" The Queen sounded incredulous.

Susan shut her mouth. She really did not know how to explain to the Queen that she had lied to her brother. Maybe I could explain it all to her, she thought. Maybe she would understand why I lied. I could tell her I'm from another world. But then she imagined Silvana's reaction. She and the others had always come to Narnia in times of trouble, and this didn't seem to be one of those times. Would Silvana think she was lying? But then, Silvana hadn't seemed to recognize her name, so how could Susan explain that she had been to Narnia before? Susan's head reeled.

Silvana frowned at her companion's silence. It was deeply disrespectful of this Lady Susan not to answer her, but then, the poor child looked troubled and frightened. She must go about this questioning carefully, it seemed. Try and make her more at ease before she pressed her for details.

They paced side by side in silence. Then Silvana turned into a long gallery. One side was full of tall windows that let in the morning light. The other wall was lined in portraits. "My forefathers," she said, gesturing to the paintings. Susan stepped up to get a closer look.

The first had a little golden plaque below it which read, "King Frank and Queen Helen" and gave their years of rule. Susan remembered vaguely that Professor Kirke had told them that Frank had been a London cabby before being sent to Narnia. He certainly didn't look like a cabby in the painting! He had a rich, golden-brown beard and kind and courageous eyes, and Helen's long, brown hair was loose, and she looked a little shy, but tremendously sweet. They wore gold and silver circlets set with emeralds and rubies, and behind them was visible a lovely tree with brilliant red apples.

On the next few portraits, the kings were all named Frank. Some of the portraits showed them with their wives, who for the first couple of generations, appeared to be nymphs of some kind. Then after Frank V, there was a portrait of two handsome young men, named Frank VI and Col I, first King of Archenland.

"The younger son moved south and formed his own kingdom," Silvana was explaining, "which means that the kings of Archenland are my distant cousins. There has always been much goodwill between our peoples. But I am sure you know that, living as you do along the border."

Oh yes, Susan knew—or rather, she remembered. As she and her siblings were not descended from King Frank and Queen Helen, they hadn't been cousins with the royalty of Archenland, but they had been close allies and friends. When the Calormenes had invaded Archenland during their rule, Edmund and Lucy had led the forces of Narnia to help defend the castle of Anvard. She had forgotten the history of their alliance, however.

Susan moved on to the next portraits. The royal line appeared to have dropped the name Frank after about seven generations, and moved on to more of what Susan thought of as Narnian names. There were a few ruling queens of Narnia in the portraits, and there was not a cruel face among any of them.

Finally, they came to the last two portraits. Silvana indicated the first. "My father, King Gale, first Emperor of the Lone Islands. They sent him word that they were being attacked by a dragon, and he and his forces sailed to Felimath, Doorn and Avra, and delivered them from the monster. In gratitude, the inhabitants pledged their allegiance to his crown." She gestured to the last portrait, which was of herself. "I am the second in my line to have been responsible for their happiness and welfare." She paused, and looked at the girl beside her. "Lady Susan?" she asked in some concern.

Susan's mind was reeling. Silvana was the daughter of King Gale? She was of the line of King Frank? Yes, of course! She called the King of Archenland "Cousin". Susan turned white, then red, then white again, and put her hands up to her cheeks. Of course Tevran had never heard of Aslan's Howe! Aslan had not yet died on the Stone Table! If she had called it "The Stone Table", he would most certainly have recognized the name. And it was equally unsurprising that no one had heard of her—she and her siblings had not yet come to Narnia! King Gale had been made Emperor in the year 302, and her own coronation had been in 1000.

The last vestige of doubt fell from her mind. It all made sense. All of it. Her knees shook.

Silvana put a gentle hand on her arm. "Lady Susan?" she asked.

Susan did not collapse, she did not faint, she did not scream. In later years she was very proud of the fact.

Instead, she burst into tears.

TBC


AN: Whew! Finally out with the new chapter! I am so very sorry this is taking so long. The problem is, I came up with a premise, but I really have no plot in mind. And when you have no plot, it makes it a bit harder to write a story… But I'm working on it! Also, I'm on summer break, and I'm bored out of my skull, and lack of stimulation does not always help the writing process…

The peaches haven't shown up as much in the last two chapters because Susan is a bit more interested in the other things going on around her—and besides, she can't haul a jar of peaches around the gardens of Cair Paravel!

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! I'm so amazed at the reception this fic is receiving.

I went to see Star Wars last weekend, and I saw a preview for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe! Eeeeeeee! I'm so excited!

Jaina Kenobi: Isn't that the truth!

WomanWithAQuill: Actually, I don't really like peaches. :)

fledge: Narnian time is a strange thing indeed…

Amme Moto: Thanks! I'll email when I get really stuck…

Tiffy: Old Narnia

sonali: Yeah, sorry about the chapter lengths. If this were a piece I was going to publish, after I got everything written, I would go back and try to expand. But as I'm putting it up chapter by chapter, it's kind of hard to do. I agree, Edmund is great!

SGael: Do you mean to tell me you heard about this fic by word of mouth? Yahooooo! Fame at last! JK

Princess Amoreth: I'm glad you like the style! Narnian fics just lend themselves to pretty language.

yoo-hoo luver… w/legs!: —imagines a yoo-hoo lover without legs— I'm sorry, I'm just stuck on your name. It's so funny!. :)

Kaori Bibishii: —laughs for a very long time— Oh no! I must save my readers from unupdateaphobia! —runs in with the antidote— And if everybody gets fed up enough with my typos and asks me to get a beta, I'll keep you in mind!

Miss Becky Malfoy: Well, you're just as confused as Susan, then. :)

Ravens Destiny: Hello, dear! Yes, brain freezes are very strange. Hope your attention span isn't so short that you won't put up with this poor slow-writing fanfic author! I like to try and imitate C.S. Lewis some, and I don't so much with Something Rotten. Tolkein's style is a bit hard to imitate. Also, I can indulge in a lot more third person narrative here, since the style of the Narnia books permits it. In Something Rotten I've been trying to stay in one particular person's point of view at a time, partially to avoid Mary-Sueness, which is definitely not a problem in a Narnia fic. I wonder why Mary-Sue writers have never invaded Narnia? Probably because there's no movie with a fabulously handsome male lead in it… :)

JM Monet: Thank you very much! There was a fascinating fic I read once, which I'll have to find again and recommend to everyone, which followed Susan a few years after The Last Battle, living in New York. I'll have to hunt it out sometime; it was good. Oh, don't die!

theKRITIC: lol Susan's going to have a peaches-jar-shaped bruise! And you were pretty close about the time period; good job!

Princess Siara: Nopers. Old Narnia.

MissE: —smiles mischievously— We shall see exactly what kind of "Gentle" she grows into…

Thalion: Well, I've been using a book called A Book of Narnians which includes a timeline for Narnia, and all it says for the rulers between the Pevensies' reign and the Telmarine invasion if "About this time lived Queen Swanwhite of Narnia." Only problem is, in The Last Battle it specifically says that Queen Swanwhite lived before the Long Winter. But there were human lords of Narnia during the Pevensies' reign, so maybe some of them took the throne? The islands belonging to Narnia would have been inhabited mostly by humans, if The Voyage of the Dawntreader is any guide; maybe they became Narnian lords. So we really don't know who ruled between the Pevensies (ending in 1015) and the Telmarines (beginning in 1998).

Red Crow: That's one of the things I love about the Narnia books. You get a completely different impression of them reading them as an adult than you do as a child.

Aibari: Wow, threats of suicide, murder… I'm taking this as a compliment!. :)

Autumn Willow and Silverphoenix2: Thank you for a timely reminder!

Thanks also to Gods-girl2004, almostinsane, Kimmy7, ice73, steelelf, JESSEK, Onyx Dawn, HottStuffMelv, silver-star-0, megan, Mary and csi-ds9. Every review reminds me to get my nose to the grindstone!

Please review!