A/N: I'm serious, I am so excited to get so many wonderful reviews! Yall are so awesome!

Chapter 5

The first few days in Narnia were nothing short of paradise for Jennifer. She received extensive sword training from the most noble Reepicheep, and actually began to show some signs of improvement. Her friends the kings and queens spent every spare minute teaching her the ways of Narnia and all its creatures, giving her detailed accounts of everything they could think of. She also met all sorts of talking beasts and strange creatures. Susan lost no time in arranging a banquet in her honor, inviting the inhabitants of all the surrounding regions, which was to take place in two weeks' time. (Of course, Narnians need no reason to make merry, and this was just the sort of thing Susan loved.)

Every day they and Jen went for walks in the garden and the occasional picnic in the woods. One warm, fine day, about a week after her arrival, Edmund had ridden to an encampment of a neighboring realm just outside the border for some negotiations or other, and Lucy had gone with him. Susan was in the palace doing...well, whatever it was that Susan did on days like that. Peter and Jennifer had gone for a walk in the woods, and were now sitting lazily under trees, talking as old friends do.

"You know, some people just have all the luck," Jennifer remarked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you and your brother and sisters were ordinary people, and one day you just become kings and queens. You don't call that luck?" She grinned.

"Well, what can I say? We were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and naturally we became heroes."

Jen laughed. "True enough, true enough. But still...it would be a lovely thing to have happen."

"Oh, don't tell me you've succumbed to the universal lust for power and are jealous of us now," Peter teased.

"Well, what if I had?" she said sarcastically. "Seriously though, I'm here, and that's quite enough for me. But..."

"But...?"

"You must admit, it is quite an astonishing chance. Peter Pevensie, a king? Who back home would believe it?"

"Good point, I suppose." His eyes twinkled. "Well...if you so have the treacherous hunger for power that comes from the desire to be queen..."

"Yes?"

"There is one thing you could do."

"Go on."

He grinned. "Kill me."

She laughed. "Oh, no. I could never do that"

"Oh, so you like me that much, do you?"

"Not exactly," she teased. "But I have nothing against Ed and Lucy and Susan, and to kill you would dethrone them." She smiled innocently. "Even I'm not that evil."

"Oh really?" Peter asked, one eyebrow raised. This warranted a punch in the arm, which led to an all-out tussle.

Later that day, she was talking with Susan about it. Susan seemed to understand her struggle to understand the meaning of it all.

"We all had our purpose here. We were called through the wardrobe because we needed to save Narnia. That's the reason we had our stroke of luck."

Jen nodded. "That part is clear..."

"What you want to know is why you're here, am I right?"

Again, Jen nodded.

Susan took her hand and began pulling her towards the door. "I have an idea. Come with me."

She led her to the stables, where they mounted their horses. Jen had no idea where they were going, but Susan knew exactly what she was doing. She led Jen deep into the forest, quite a ways from the castle, to a strange-looking home.

"Glenstorm? Glenstorm, are you home?" she called out.

Suddenly, out came the strangest-looking creature Jen had ever seen. When she first looked, all she saw was a strong, noble man with a broad chest and a golden beard. Then she looked again. From reading her beloved books, she recognized the half-man, half-horse creature as a centaur.

"Jennifer, allow me to introduce to you Glenstorm, a most gifted seer," Susan began politely.

"Seer? Like a prophet?" Jen asked.

Glenstorm laughed, a rich, deep sound. "Honored to make your acquaintance, my lady." He bowed. "Won't you come in? It seems the two of you would seek my counsel, for her Majesty does not often wander so far from the castle just to get some fresh air."

Once they were in and seated, Susan began telling the seer Jennifer's story. The stately creature only listened, nodding every now and then.

When Susan was finished, the centaur leaned back. "The stars have said very little of the lady, little directly, mind you. However, I have seen something else, something that you should know about. It may or may not concern this newcomer."

"Go on," Susan said eagerly.

He became serious. "The end of the time of the Four Thrones is near at hand," he said deeply. "A new order will be set up at Cair Paravel."

"But we already knew this," Susan said in a puzzled tone. "We're to oversee the rebuilding of the ruins, and then Caspian will reign. Aslan Himself said so."

"Sooner than that, I'm afraid," Glenstorm said. "However, Caspian's time to rule has not yet come."

"But whatever do you mean? Are we to be sent home soon?"

"The stars only reveal so much, your Majesty. I do not know the answer to all things."

"Then what are we to do?" Susan asked. "I mean, should Aslan request it of us, we would step down in a moment, if He willed it."

"Like as not He knows this, Daughter of Eve. However, I do not think it would be wise to take any action at this prophecy for the time. Continue as you have been, and when the time to take action is right, you will know it."

Susan nodded. Then she stopped. "You said the stars revealed little about Jennifer. What little did they reveal?"

"Only that a newcomer would arrive, and that she would become a great warrior." He paused. "Now, all that I know, I have told you."

Susan stood up. "Thank you, my friend. You've been ever so helpful."

The next evening, the four monarchs and Jennifer were sitting in the castle. Susan and Jennifer had just finished telling Peter, Edmund, and Lucy what the centaur had said, and the five of them were discussing the puzzling prophecy.

"Aslan said we would reign until Cair Paravel was rebuilt," Lucy said. "I don't think He'd change His mind."

"And He said we wouldn't be going back soon," Edmund added.

"But two years isn't that short of a time," Susan said reasonably. "When you think about it, we've been here a while."

"So will we be dethroned here, or do you think we'll be sent home?" Edmund asked.

"There's no way of knowing, Ed," Susan said sadly. "Glenstorm said we'd know what to do when the time is right."

Lucy turned to her oldest brother. "Peter? What do you think?"

The High King thought a moment. Then his eyes grew wide as a realization dawned on him. "She's going to kill me."

"Who, Peter? Who's going to kill you?" the others asked frantically.

He looked alarmed. "She's going to kill me," he said again, his eyes full of fear.

"Who?" Lucy demanded.

"She is," Peter said slowly, fearfully, then pointed to Jennifer.

Jen looked confused for a moment, then suddenly she remembered their conversation the previous day and burst out laughing.

"You turkey!" She hit him in the arm, then let the others in on the joke, which brought on a big round of laughter at Peter's goofing off.

Finally Edmund wiped his eyes. "Come on, Peter," he said between laughs. "We're being serious!"

"So was I," Peter laughed, gasping for breath.

"It wasn't that funny," Susan said, though she herself wasn't very successful at hiding a snicker. She finally saw that there was no use in trying to discuss the prophesy seriously anymore, and promptly gave up.

Later that night found Peter in his room. He was gazing out the window, deep in thought. He may have maintained his usual joking demeanor on the outside during their earlier conversation, but a place deep in his mind was disturbed by the prophesy.

The High King had faced numerous battles and horrible enemies, but there was something he feared even more than the worst of these.

Don't make me go home, he pleaded in a silent prayer.

He knew if Aslan called him back to England, he would go. But it was the last thing in the world he wanted.

His reign had been fourteen years in length the first time. That was just one year less than the fifteen years he had grown up in England. Narnia was more his home than England had ever been, and thus it remained. And it probably always would. His kingdom was his first and only love. His heart was in this land, hopelessly entangled so as to never be extricated. He would never be able to feel at home in England.

He felt old, so much older than his peers. He mostly kept to himself at school, he and Edmund both. For the mellow, thoughtful Edmund, it was all very well, but to Peter it was strange, to keep his joking, teasing personality to himself. But his schoolmates were all interested in things that he cared nothing for, and he felt he had little in common with them. And as the years went by, he would feel older still.

And now he had passed his eighteenth birthday, for the second time. Is this what immortality feels like? To be trapped in the years, with the mind growing old and the body staying young? Of course, while he remained in Narnia, he didn't mind. It was the advantageous coupling of wisdom and youth. But at home, it just made him weary.

He worried for himself, surely. He longed to stay here forever, to never go back. And he wanted the same for Lucy and Edmund, for he knew their hearts lie here as well. But it was really for Susan that he feared. For when they had gone back the first time, she had forgotten the easiest.

"Edmund, what's that song you're humming?"

"Don't you remember, Susan? It's the ballad they used to sing in Narnia about the dryads..."

"Oh yes. I thought it sounded familiar."

Or,

"Look at that little grove of trees! Doesn't it remind you of something?"

"Lu, what are you talking about?"

"Remember? The place in the castle garden with the little table where we'd always play chess!"

"Oh, right. Yes, it looks quite like it..."

As their time away from Narnia wore on, she never quite forgot altogether, though she talked about it less and less. Finally it got to where she just went on with her life, acting as if their time in Narnia had been little more than a dream, if even that. And his heart ached for her, knowing that she didn't remember because it hurt too much. It was too painful to be suddenly whisked away from the land they all called home.

And now they were back, completely at peace.

Don't make us go home...

A/N: Ok long chapter I know. And I've actually got the first part of Chapter 6 written... so hopefully it'll be done by tomorrow. Reviews are so so so extremely appreciated, and suggestions are welcomed!