Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia nor any of the characters and places associated with it.
Chapter 11: Moving
"Ouch!" I yelp as I sit up a bit too quickly the next morning. My back is killing me, probably from sleeping on the floor all night long. I re-position myself so that I'm in a more comfortable position. I wonder what time it is. I glance up at the sundial curiously. Eleven am; are you serious! I jump up quickly, not caring about the jabbing pain that shoots like a fox through my entire body. I rush to my bedroom and quickly throw on a yellow dress with a white waistband before I hurriedly put on my white shoes and rush upstairs to Bella. "Good morning, sweetie," I greet as I bash through the doorway and grab the bags that she has prepared. I look around the room, checking every nook and cranny. Everything is gone. Good. I quickly rush down stairs, trying to be gentle with the bags in case there are breakables. I hear the sound of someone talking outside and guess instantly that it must be one of the guards outside already. I tear the front door open and see that there are two centaur guards. Both of them have saddles slung across their backs with ropes hanging off. I guess that it's for them to hang bags off. "Good morning, Edmauel," I address. He nods in response. I hand him Bella's bags and quickly run inside to get my ones. Once I come back out, I hand them over to Yerialds. He smiles at me and ties them up to the saddle.
"Is there anything else, Ashley?" Edmauel asks. I walk inside curiously. Everything is gone already. I guess that Peter must've used the key from the mat again to come in and get everything this morning before his school visit. I walk back outside and shake my head.
"Nope, you two can go now," I tell them. They nod and run off into the beautiful, sunshine-filled forest. I look around aimlessly, enjoying the view for the last time. The Great River is a sparkling blue. The water must be freezing. Even though it's eleven am, there's still a smoky mist that hovers over the grassy floor. I walk inside slowly, drinking in the old cottage.
"Ashy, are we going?" Bella asks urgently. I look around the empty, wooden, living space and then back to her.
"Yes, I'll meet you out at the stable, okay?" She nods her head and runs out the front door. I walk into the lounge room slowly and look at the old fireplace, my eyes clouding over with tears. This cottage has a lot of sentimental value to me. It's been in my family for generations so to see it without all my little knick-knacks everywhere is a shock. I walk leisurely into the kitchen and let the tears fall down my face in rapid gushes. It's sad to leave this place. I walk back to the front door and take one last glance before closing the front door. I walk slowly towards the stable while drinking in my mother's favourite garden. It seems sad to just leave it here. I stroll over to Crystal and lift Bella up so that she can get onto her back. I wrap my arms around Bella in a protective posture before I take a deep breath in.
"Come on, Crystal. We're moving into Cair Paravel today," I tell her flatly. I'm having a difficult time deciding whether I should be sad or extremely excited for this move. Her ears suddenly perk up like mountains, causing Bella to giggle.
"I'm going to be living in the same stable as Midnight!" Crystal exclaims excitedly.
"Yes, you are," I promise her softly. She trots out of the stable at once. We stop just outside the front of the cottage for one last glance. The sunlight's hitting the old stones in just the right way causing the cottage to take on a reddish-brown colour. The bright-green, rose vines that climb up along the walls and surround the windows are all in full bloom. The red roses stand out brightly against the dark stone. I feel tears running down my cheekbones again.
"Ashy, why are you crying?" the inquisitive child in front of me questions. I look down at her.
"This house is really special to me. Our Great Grandfather built it from scratch, so there are a lot of memories in there," I explain, choking on tears. Bella looks down at Crystal.
"Oh, okay then," she says.
"Alright, Crystal, time to go," I tell her. She doesn't hold back; as soon as the words are out of my mouth we shoot off into the forest. We reach the gates a lot faster than I thought possible and instantly go to the staff line. I get my identification card out of my bag and hold it up to the guard.
"Sorry, Ashley, but no can do. We cannot let you in by the pass anymore," Samberg says shaking his head. I frown.
"Why not? And it better be a good explanation!" I whine upset. The two guards at the gate look at each other and then back to me.
"You got fired, Ashley. That pass does not count for you anymore," he explains. I groan loudly and we join the back of the public line. Goodness, how long is this line going to take? I eventually make it back up to the golden gates again.
"Hi, let me in," I demand immediately as soon as Sellinea is in view. The faun looks at me and then back to her notepad.
"Sure, how long are you going to be visiting for?" she asks with a friendly smile. I thought Peter was going to tell everyone about my arrival?
"We're moving in to the castle. I don't seriously have to –"
"How long are you planning on staying?" she asks again, cutting me off mid-sentence. I sigh.
"Forever." She just stares blankly at me with her smile and blinks a few times. I sigh. "All day," I answer her rather unenthusiastically. She smiles kindly at me and looks down again.
"That will be two silver crescents please," she says, holding out her hand. Since when do we need to pay to enter the town? I pull out my bag again and open it up. Great, I have no money.
"Ugh...never mind," I say while backing Crystal up and making her walk away. Great! What do I do now? We ride away from the queue of creatures and along the outskirts of the castle to another entry. That's weird, I don't remember this entrance.
"Ashley! Bella!" I smile wickedly. My rescue has finally arrived out of the darkest place. I look to my left and sure enough little, tiny Lucy comes running up to Crystal. I grin down at her and jump off my white horses back.
"Ouch! Gentle, Ashley! You just kicked me in the stomach!" Crystal whines. I ignore her.
"Good morning, Queen Lucy," I say while curtseying before giving her a little hug. She giggles her little high pitched sound.
"Are you really moving into the castle today? I mean I did see the guards with boxes and stuff, but I wasn't sure if it was yours or not," she asks enthusiastically. I chuckle. Oh my goodness she is so adorable!
"Yes, we are moving in today," I start. Her eyes widen and a huge, happy smile stretches from ear to ear on her tiny face. I grin down at her.
"We? What do you mean? Who else is moving in?" she inquires excitedly. I furrow my eyebrows.
"Haven't you met my little sister?" Lucy shakes her head. Oh!
"I thought you had. Well in that case, Lucy this is Bella, my little sister. Bella, this is Queen Lucy, Peter's little sister," I say as I gesture between the two of them.
"It's nice to meet you, Queen Lucy," Bella says as I help her off the horse. She then curtseys, rather clumsily I must say, before smiling happily.
"It's nice to meet you too, Bella. Does this mean I have someone to play with now?" Lucy asks excitedly. I smile in response.
"It sure does!" She jumps up and down as she claps her hands and squeals excitedly.
"This is going to be great! You're going to be like a big sister and I'll also have a little sister and, even better, you will be my big sister when you marry Peter in a few years. Oh, this is going to be so much fun," she yells excitedly. I raise an eyebrow at the last bit. They think Peter and I are going to get married in a few years? Right, they've lost it! I hear another deeper voice join in on the squealing. I turn around only to notice Edmund jumping up and down like a little girl. He runs over to Lucy and they start chatting away excitedly like two teenage girls. I stifle a giggle. This is so funny! Well, I guess I will have something to talk to Peter about later. I suddenly remember why I need Lucy and put on my sweetest face.
"Queen Lucy, do you think you can get me inside the castle? You see I don't have any money and the guards aren't letting me in by the front gate," I ask her. She smiles at me brightly.
"Sure, Ashley, come on, Ed," she agrees. Bella latches onto my leg nervously then and I stroke some of her hair back.
"Can you please pick me up?" she asks as she begins to suck on her thumb. I smile down at her and gently lift her up under her armpits until she's sitting on my waist. She then nestles her face into my neck and hair in shyness before little, impatient Lucy grabs my hand and drags me along, with Edmund not far behind. She will do anything for anyone if you ask her nicely which pretty much just makes her that much more adorable. "Hi, Oreius, aren't you supposed to be with Peter?" Lucy asks, tilting her head. He bows to her then smiles.
"The High King is right over there. He told me to watch the gate for when Ashley arrives," he explains while pointing over to the gorgeous King who's talking to a dwarf.
"Hang on, so you're telling me that I just went through all that trouble for nothing?" I ask through gritted teeth. Oreius smiles.
"Pretty much, but don't you want to go and see the High King?" he asks, effectively distracting me from my sudden irritation towards him. I smile and push my way around Lucy and through the huge golden gate. This must be a King and Queen entry. The street is so quiet compared to the main entrance. I hand Bella over to Oreius and run silently up to Peter and throw my arms around his neck.
"Good Morning, handsome," I say. He unwraps my arms from his neck instantaneously. Okay then. I stand next to him instead.
"So let me get this straight, you want a set of silver armour, a shield, a sword, and a war horse. Is that right, Your Majesty?" I hear the dwarf ask. Why would Peter need armour when he's already got a perfectly good set?
"Yes, that's right. Thank you, Woggle," Peter says whilst giving the ugly and short dwarf a breath-taking smile. I sigh as soon as he does, which awards me with comical stares from both Woggle and Peter. Goodness, can't a girl sigh over her boyfriend any more without people looking. I mean seriously.
"Pleasure doing business with you, King Peter," Woggle says, bringing me out of my daydream, before bowing to Peter and walking away. Peter faces me then, smiling.
"Good morning, beautiful," he greets slowly whilst giving me a quick peck on the lips. I'm in heaven again. "I'm glad to see that you're able to walk around again instead of lying down on a couch trying to feel your legs," he says before giving a small chuckle. I narrow my eyes at him, which just simply makes him laugh even harder. "You are not threatening in any way, shape, or form," he states in between laughs. I sigh.
"Do you realize how many times I have been told that?" I ask, raising my left eyebrow. He chuckles again.
"No, but I honestly don't want to know. Why don't I show you where your new bedroom is instead?" He grabs my hand and pulls me through the empty street then.
"I guess I don't really have a choice, do I?" I ask as I get pulled up to the back entrance of the castle. He smiles at me right before Bella gets put back in my arms. I send a smile to Oreius and then turn my attention back to Peter.
"No, not really." He leads me through the throne room and then up the main, marble staircase until we reach the same hallway that his sleeping chamber is on. Somehow, I never noticed that there's a door opposite his bedroom. He opens a piece of wall that has a handle on it and leads me inside to an enormous bedroom. I gasp. It's huge! It has an old, stone fireplace on the south wall with a huge, king-sized bed on the west side. The east wall has huge sparkling windows in it with a balcony overlooking the ocean and tiny bit of the forest. There's a giant painting of Aslan above the fireplace and a door next to the huge bed. It obviously leads to the closet. "So do you like it?" he asks, scratching his head. Do I like it? What type of question is that? Who wouldn't like it? I look up at his face and giggle. He has worry lines planted firmly on his forehead.
"Peter, it's gorgeous. I absolutely love it," I assure him. He smiles down at me.
"Well, I'm glad you like it. It took the servants quite a long time to set up, but they've been practically squealing non-stop for five days now, so I don't think they minded," he admits shyly. I grab his hand and pull him over to the balcony.
"Tell me honestly; which girl would not like this?" I exclaim while letting go of his hand and spreading my arm out towards the beautiful view. He grins.
"You're right. Every girl would die to be you right now, beautiful," he says as he leans casually on the railing and looks at me.
"Thanks, but I don't deserve your flattery," I say while walking back out into the main hallway.
"Where's my bedroom?" Bella suddenly demands as she tugs on a strand of my brown hair. I blush at the thought of almost forgetting about Bella. Whoops!
"Peter," I start to say.
"Right this way," he cuts me off. He leads us to the end of the hallway and opens another hidden door. Inside is the most girly room in the world. Everything in the room is either bright pink, bright purple, or yellow. The bed is a queen-sized bed and has a very girly doona on it. The shelves are covered in toys and dolls and have pretty, pink lace hanging off them. It's perfect for Bella.
"Awesome!" Bella exclaims. I put her down quickly absolutely intrigued at how quickly she starts to play. I watch for a few minutes as Bella grabs some dolls and starts playing tea parties with them. She looks up at us then and smacks her forehead. "Goodness, where are my manners? Do you two want to play too?" she asks. I have to laugh. Bella's always been very precise about manners.
"Um, no thanks, Bella. Peter and I are just going to have a look around and talk for a bit, okay," I tell her. She nods her head and continues playing with her dollies. I click my tongue before turning around and exiting her bedroom.
"Where are you going?" Peter asks me curiously as I start to wander by myself down the hallway. I smirk and look over my shoulder.
"To go and find my friends so that I can let them know that I have officially moved into this beautiful castle," I enlighten him before turning back around. I hear a sigh from behind me then footsteps leaving in the opposite direction. As soon as I round the corner I run down stairs to the lounging area. I know all my friends will be in there, most likely waiting for me to arrive so that we can all sit there and chat about random things for hours on end, as usual. I run down the staircase and barge into the door to the lounging area. "Good morning, lovely ladies!" I greet as I walk up to the sofas that they're all sitting on. Well, most of them anyway. "What are you all doing?" I ask while sitting on one of the opposite white sofas.
"We were waiting for you," Malina says simply. I smile. So predictable.
"Well, we've been waiting for you to move in anyway. We weren't sure whether we were going to see you at all today honestly," Kabella says. I grimace.
"Well that was a very silly thought for all of you to have. You know I love you all to bits!" I exclaim. They all nod.
"We know. We're all just so glad that you're alive and walking without wobbling around like a crazy loon," Henrietté tells me. We all laugh in unison.
"Thanks for coming down on Friday. I really appreciated it; especially when I noticed that you brought food also."
"That's alright, Ash. We figured you'd be tired and still trying to get used to being back in Narnia again. As soon as the High King mentioned the fact that you were alive again, we had organised everything," Malina explains.
"Well thank you. You lot are the best friends any girl could ever ask for."
"Aww. Well, can I just say that you have the most adorable boyfriend in the world? He brought us all up drinks while we were setting up your room saying that he appreciated us doing it and that he felt bad that we were spending all our time setting up a bedroom instead of doing what we were supposed to be doing. It was gorgeous of him to do and we could see that he was being genuine too," Emolise tells me. They all smile at the memory.
"Girls, I need you all to –" Starstone starts to say while walking into the room. She stops as soon as she sees me, her eyes wide with fear. "As – Ashl – Ashley," she stutters out in shock.
"Hello, Starstone. Surprised to see me? Well, Aslan let me come back. Sorry to disappoint you and ruin your little scheme." She stands there in shock for a long moment before she narrows her eyes at me.
"Well, I'm sure you've heard then that you're fired, Ashley, which means that you're not allowed in this room, let alone this castle. This is for working staff only. Get out now!" she commands me angrily. Aslan? Could I please give her a good bashing? She's so annoying!
"I'm sorry, Starstone. Didn't you hear though?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. She narrows her eyes at me and taps her fingers on her arms impatiently. She looks frightening!
"Hear what?" she asks angrily. I smirk.
"That I've moved into the castle. My bedroom's opposite Peter's. I thought my hot, drop-dead gorgeous, sexy boyfriend would've told you that last night," I say smugly. I had to push it in. If she wants to be mean to me then fine, I'll just make her regret ever asking me anything. The corner of her mouth twitches the tiniest bit.
"You're moving in," she states simply through clenched teeth. Right, push it in further.
"I have moved in," I correct while smirking. She clenches her teeth together in anger. "I'm sorry to leave, Starstone, but I promised to meet up with King Peter for lunch so I'll see you later," I say while exiting. Good girl, now finish it up! I smirk again. "Oh and, Starstone? Could I please have some spiced wine and fresh fruit brought up to my sleeping quarters in about three hours. Oh, and if you forget, I will tell Peter," I say, smirking, leaving Starstone behind absolutely fuming.
"GET TO WORK, NOW!" she shouts to all my friends. I hear the stampede at once and suddenly see a lot of scared looking girls beside me.
"Sorry," I apologise sympathetically. They all nod in reply and split off into different directions. I feel so guilty now! I look precariously up to Starstone and quickly go up the stairs to look at my new closet in my new bedroom. There's no way I'm in the mood for a fight with Starstone right now.
I walk up to my original bedroom and pull open the closet door. I'm sort of curious to see the type of clothes I have. As soon as the door is open, I saunter into the humongous walk-in-closet. My jaw drops to the ground instantly. It's full of the most gorgeous dresses in the entire universe. Sky blue, autumn red, spring green, and winter white are just some of the amazing colours that surround me. It's obvious that Dryads made these clothes for me; it would've taken months for anyone else to make dresses like these, not just five days.
I go up to a light yellow and white one that caught my eye the moment I stepped foot into the closet. I feel the material curiously. It's made of real silk and satin. I pull it out and try it on quickly. As soon as I have it on, I look into the large mirror that stands at the end of the closet. It looks beautiful. The dress is really light-weight and stops at my ankles. The yellow is a metallic colour and matches perfectly with the metallic white sleeves. I look at myself one more time before spinning around to look at my other yellow dress. I may as well keep it on for the rest of the day, what's the point in getting dressed again? I grab my flat white shoes and throw them on, before going back downstairs and walking swiftly to the huge kitchen. I enter through the double doors and walk over to a fruit basket.
Just as I'm about to take my first bite of the bright red apple in my hand, I hear the sound of hooves behind me. "GET OUT NOW!" I suddenly hear an angry voice bellow at me. I turn slowly around only to see Starstone towering high above me.
"Why should I?" I ask smugly. She glares widely at me with fire filled eyes. I smirk. How can I make her really angry I wonder?
"Because you are not allowed in the kitchen. It's out of bounds for people like you, Ashley. You don't work here anymore remember?" she exclaims irritably at me. I have to contain laughter. Oh my goodness! Her facial expression is hilarious! I should make her irritable more often! She glowers furiously at me.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I totally forgot that I was fired. That reminds me, did I mention that I'm pregnant," I exclaim holding back threatening laughter. Her eyes grow wide and she looks down at my stomach then back up at my face.
"YOU'RE PREGNANT!" she shouts angrily at my face. The entire kitchen goes silent instantly and I can feel lots of eyes burning into every side of my body. I can't contain the laughter anymore. I fall to the ground and roll on the floor in amusement. That definitely pushed all the buttons. I'm starting to get a huge stitch on my side from laughing so much. She breathes deeply subsequently, trying to hold in the wrath that I can see is starting to form in her entire body. I stop and stand up quickly and put on a straight face.
"Nice chat, Starstone. We should do it again sometime," I say simply before patting her shoulder twice and walking out of the kitchen. I'm followed out with a very loud, "HOW DARE YOU!"
"Nice one!" I hear a voice congratulate me from beside my left shoulder. I swivel my head until I see Edmund. He puts up his hand and I high-five him. "Seriously though, why are you trying to make her angry?" he asks confused. I shake my head. Boys are so slow!
"Because she's being horrible towards me," I explain, shrugging my shoulders. He nods and smiles hesitantly.
"But do you really think that's a good idea? I mean, she's already killed you once. Do you really want to push the boundaries?" he asks. I frown. Why does he have to have some sense today?
"I guess, but she deserves it. Now I'm going to go. See you soon!" I shout out over my shoulder as I leave the room. He looks cautiously at me before he continues to walk down the silver corridor. I smile and look out into the town. I wonder where Peter is. I can't believe Starstone actually thought that I was pregnant. How stupid is she? I mean, seriously, I'm not even married! Why would she believe me? I rapidly feel two arms snake around my waist, pulling me out of my interesting thoughts and bringing me back to the real world. I grin. "Hi, I was just looking for you," I tell Peter as I spin around in his muscular arms. He grins down at me famously. I want to faint, but decide against it, imagining that Peter will probably freak out if I suddenly go limp in his arms.
"Really? Well, I just got word from a reliable source that you told Starstone that you are pregnant so I came to ask you if you would like to come for a walk on the beach with me just so that we can chat for a while," he asks me while playing with my hand. I blush. Wow, word definitely spreads quickly around this place.
"Um, okay," I reply, unsure. He grabs me by my hand and leads me towards the beach. I smile when I notice that we're the only people here. Peter brings me over to the water's edge and we dip our feet into the breaking waves. The water's freezing, but I don't really mind.
"So what's this about being pregnant?" he asks curiously. I smile. How do I explain this gently?
"Starstone's being a complete and utter so and so to me, so I decided just to push in a lot of random stuff just to get back at her, so I told her I was pregnant, just to get her angry and irritated," I clarify while swinging our arms between us. Peter lets out a long sigh of relief as I tell him this. I grin.
"Thank Aslan! I thought you were pregnant with someone else's child," he says. I widen my eyes and let go of his hand, before taking a few steps back. He thought I made out with someone else. Right, he's lost it!
"You thought...oh no, Peter. I would never even dream of doing something like that until I'm at least married. I can't believe that you thought I was really pregnant. Honestly, when will you learn to understand my type of humour? It was just to annoy Starstone, I promise," I tell him while I give him a reassuring hug. He smiles down at me and quickly kisses my forehead.
"Thanks. That is pretty reassuring I have to admit, but I don't know if it's a good idea to do annoy her like that. I think she has some psychological problems and I would hate for her to suddenly snap at you again," he tells me cautiously.
"But what am I supposed to do then? She's being so rude to me. In fact why is she even still in the castle? Why haven't you gotten rid of her yet? She's going to keep trying to kill me until she actually succeeds," I say with furrowed eyebrows.
"I have tried everything in my power to try and get rid of her, but apparently the only way to get rid of the head servant is if she quits, she dies, or Aslan tells her to go. I'm not sure why Aslan hasn't come to restore order here yet, but I guess there's a reason for it. As for what to do, just ignore her." I frown, but nod all the same. I suppose I can give him the benefit of the doubt – this time. "Now, down to business. I had to talk to you about something; and no, it is not about pregnancy so don't even think about that," he starts to say but then stops and looks down at the gleaming, white sand.
"What is it?" I ask curiously. He blushes scarlet. That's strange! It must be really embarrassing for him to ask, considering Peter doesn't usually blush. He looks up at me, his blue eyes boring into my brown ones.
"Now I know this is sudden, so just bear with me, okay?" he advises me. I nod my head in agreement. Sudden? What is he talking about? I notice now that he's wearing very fancy clothes and that his hair is nicely combed and his crown's planted dead flat in the middle of his head instead of being crooked like it usually is. He shyly gets down on one knee and pulls out a little box. I smile slowly. He isn't!
"Ashley Masen, you are the most amazing, beautiful, confident girl I have ever known. I feel blessed each and every day you are with me. You are so beautiful inside and out. The way you care for your little sister and support her day in and day out by yourself is incredible, which is how I know that one day you will make the most amazing mother known to man. I can't even to begin to describe how much I love you. I know in my heart that I want to spend my whole life with you, so will you marry me?" he asks confidently, but, in a weird way, also shyly. He flips open the little, black box and I gasp. The ring! Oh my goodness! It's gorgeous!
It's white gold and it has one huge diamond planted smack bang in the middle of it with a two rows of smaller diamonds surrounding the big one. It also has diamonds circling the band of the ring that split off at the sides to meet up with the top and bottom row of diamonds. It sparkles under the light of the bright sun. It must have cost a fortune; you can't buy these types of rings in the shop, so he must have gotten it specially made. I close my mouth and bite on my bottom lip.
"So?" he asks expectantly. I don't know what to say so I do the first thing that comes to mind…I burst out laughing. There's no way to hide the emotion that's welling up in me. He's not serious about wanting to marry me! There's no way! I come down from my giggle high after about five minutes. Peter's still down on one knee looking very awkward.
"Peter, you are not serious, are you?" I ask him, raising an eyebrow while looking down at him. He looks quite upset.
"Actually, I am," he replies softly with a tear rolling down his cheek.
Oh crap!
