A/N: Wow these are the best reviews I've ever gotten! Thanks to everyone! It really keeps me going. PenPusherM, yes I am a hardcore fan. Some would say to a hopeless extent. lol. The reference to the constellations was intentional, but as for the apple...no, I'm afraid it was just an ordinary apple, to illustrate how easy it was to fall asleep...cause you know how you're always so sleepy when it's warm and you've just eaten something...BUT I wish I'd thought of that because the idea is very interesting...hmm. Something to think about...? ;-) Oh, and thanks for the tips on the MS's...somehow mine always end up that way but I'm seriously avoiding it this time. Ok anyway. Just a quick disclaimer--I have taken a bit of Prince Caspian and put it in to set something up...from the beginning to "Aslan looked to Peter." Yeah. Just wanted to point that out so I won't get sued. ;-) Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 3

Two Narnian years earlier

And Caspian knelt and kissed the Lion's paw.

"Welcome, Prince," said Aslan. "Do you feel yourself sufficient to take up the Kingship of Narnia?"

"I--I don't think I do, Sir," said Caspian. "I'm only a kid."

"Good," said Aslan. "If you had felt yourself sufficient, it would have been a proof that you were not. Therefore, under us and under the High King, you shall be King of Narnia, Lord of Cair Paravel, and Emperor of the Lone Islands. You and your heirs while your race lasts." Aslan looked to Peter. "That is, after the High King and his kin have gone on to their homeland."

"When might that be, Sire?" Peter asked, tossing Aslan an unsure look, as though he were afraid to know the answer.

"Not soon, Son of Adam. For you will oversee the rebuilding of the ruins of Cair Paravel. You will prepare the way for a long line of Caspian's descendants." Then he stood back, positioned in between Peter and Caspian, and held his noble head high. "Rejoice and be glad, O Narnians, for the Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve have returned to rule among us!"

Then rose up a great cheer from all who gathered. And Aslan let out a deafening roar...

Present

"Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty," came Edmund's too-cheerful voice from by the fire. Jennifer stirred.

"It's too early to be cheerful." She blinked and sat up. "Am I where I think I am?"

"Well, you haven't gone anywhere since last night, have you?"

"Considering what happened the last time I went to sleep, there's no telling." She scooted over by the fire and began warming her hands. "Where's Peter?"

"Gone to get breakfast. Thanks to you two pigs, there wasn't enough left over from last night."

"Oh." She ignored his "pig" comment, then for the first time looked closely at him in the daylight. "You're supposed to be just a kid!"

"Well, it has been two years since you last saw me. I'm fifteen now, you know." Nevertheless, he held his shoulders a bit higher.

"Fifteen! It was only three months ago when you were twelve. At least to me. And anyway, you look older than fifteen."

"Well the last time I was here, it was less than a month before my twenty-fifth birthday. I think there's something in the air that does that to me. All of us, really. The moment I set foot on Narnian soil again, I felt not at all like a schoolboy and much like a king again."

"I don't suppose I'd be able to understand, since I've never been here before…but there is something in the air that's rather…different."

"Of course there is," Edmund smiled. "It wouldn't be magic if there wasn't."

Suddenly there was a rustling in the trees ahead. "Breakfast, anyone?" It was Peter.

As they ate, Jennifer noticed that Peter looked older too. He was sixteen when school had let out, so Jennifer figured he'd be eighteen here and now. And tall and strong and handsome he was, too; though with their teasing history, Jen would barely admit it to herself, and never to his face.

"You know, you two (well, all four of you actually) never quite looked at home back in England," Jen mused. "Not after the war, anyway."

"How do you mean?" Peter asked.

"Well, you always looked like your clothes were uncomfortable, and the food was strange, and I'd catch both of you with this look in your eye like you were off in another world."

"Or at least wishing we were," Edmund nodded in agreement.

"It must have felt like coming home again," Jen sighed. "When you came back, I mean."

"Yes," Peter said with a smile of memory. "After we found our bearings and got over the initial shock of it, and especially once we were well into the battle."

"And now that you're back as kings and queens, staying at your old castle?"

"Oh, no," Edmund said. "It wasn't like that. Our old castle, Cair Paravel, was in ruins. We're in Caspian's castle now."

"But it's being rebuilt," Peter said eagerly. "It'll probably be finished within the next couple of years."

"Of course, a fortress like that would normally take ever so much longer if it were being built up from the ground," Edmund put in. "But since the ruins are still there and we have something to go by, it'll be done in a flash."

"And the longer, the better, I say," Peter said sadly. "The way Aslan talked, we'll be going home soon after it's finished. And who knows when we'll come back, if at all."

"Don't talk like that, Pete. We've still got a couple of years left, at the least. And with Jen here now, we've got no one to miss, save Mother and Father."

Peter cheered up. "Right. So let's enjoy it while we can." He looked around and saw that they were all done eating. "And now let's enjoy it by getting a move on."

"What are the plans?" Jen asked.

"Well, we were supposed to be out here for three more days hunting," Edmund said. "But now that you're here I suppose we'll be heading back to the castle."

Peter started putting the fire out. "We're not that far out," he said. "It shouldn't take more than half a day to get back, riding at an easy pace. Then we can get you settled in, with hopes that you'll be staying a while."

When they were all packed up with the horses saddled, Peter helped her up behind him on his horse. They headed toward the castle at an easy pace, joking and laughing and enjoying one another's company. They arrived in what seemed like no time, and burst through the castle doors calling for Susan and Lucy. Jennifer looked around at the castle and could hardly believe she was seeing something like that with her own eyes.

"Oh, you're back already? Whatever are you boys shouting about?" Susan's voice interrupted Jennifer's castle sight-seeing. With her long black hair pulled up beneath a delicate golden crown, and her flowing red dress, not to mention the two or so years added, Jen barely recognized her.

"Jennifer?" Susan asked, then looked to the boys as if for an explanation. "Jennifer Brown?"

The boys grinned. "We found her in the woods," Edmund explained. "Strange, isn't it?"

Susan's queenly face broke into a wide grin as the two girls embraced. "Strange indeed, to have found a friend from a life I barely remember! And no less wonderful, either! Jen, it's so good to see you."

Lucy was right behind her. She looked the part of a childlike princess with her silver tiara, lavender gown, and golden curls flowing free down her back. She looked far older than the ten-year-old Jen had last seen, though she was still the same little girl at heart. Ever full of bubbling energy, she bounced up to Jen and hugged her tightly. "It's been so long! I'd have thought you'd have forgotten us by now!" She peppered Jen and the boys with questions as Susan pulled aside a servant to make ready a room for Jen.

A/N: Just a note real quick...Jennifer isn't the only main character in this story...it's kind of a Peter/Jen/some Edmund-centric story...not in a romance way but as the main characters. Of course, this has mostly been her story up to this point because, of course, we know what happens to the other four up to this point! ;-) Next chapter I plan to do some character-building with her...avoiding of course the dreaded Mary Sue...and then after that I'm gonna try to work in a combination of POV's. Just kinda wanted to give yall an idea of where I was going. Ok anyway, keep reviewing!