The banquet was a disaster, Peter wished he'd cancelled it. No one there could have failed to sense the atmosphere in the castle that night. Susan, to her credit, attempted to carry the show; Peter had once thought his sister was far too keen on these social events and approached them with far more enthusiasm than anything else, but tonight she'd done what no one else could. She'd managed to act like there was nothing wrong. Lucy was struggling against falling asleep; even if she was fifteen, she needed to sleep at some point.
Finally the last guest retired to their chamber in the castle, and the castle gates were locked.
"And bolt them," Peter ordered the guards, two particularly strong centaurs. They looked alarmed; the castle gates were never bolted. Peter didn't care, he wasn't going to make any more mistakes.
Susan joined her older brother downstairs. "Peter, you've done everything you can," she said softly. "Go to bed."
Peter ignored her last comment. "Where's Lucy?"
"Gone to bed," Susan replied. "Leave her alone, Peter, if you go in, she'll wake up. She's safe."
"And Edmund?" Peter asked.
"He's with Emma," Susan informed him. "There's no point going and dragging him out, Peter, he's determined to stay in there."
"But she'll wake up soon, she'll…"
"I don't think she will." Susan shook her head. "She doesn't look at all well, Peter, I think there's something really wrong with her."
"What can we do?" Peter asked helplessly. If only Aslan would help, if only he'd come and get them out of this hole. They hadn't seen him for seven years, there'd been rumours of sightings in the Lone Islands, but nothing confirmed. Peter had never asked for his help since they'd defeated the White Witch together. Was once in seven years too much to ask?
"If Aslan thought we needed his help, he'd be here," Susan said suddenly, as if she could read his thoughts. She put an arm around her brother's shoulders. "Come on, you need to go to bed."
"But…"
"Peter!" Susan warned him. "You're not in charge tonight. Go to bed." She pushed him towards the stairs. "I'll make sure Edmund goes to bed."
Edmund awoke with a start and lifted his head up off his arms. Emma was fitting, or she seemed to be. She was twitching like a dog he'd once seen back home in our world, a dog his mother had hurried him away from. Her face was contorted in agony and she was tossing and turning. She looked in real pain.
She was mumbling too, random sounds that made no sense. Fresh sweat had broken out across her forehead and her blonde hair was sticking to it. Edmund was at a loss over what to do. Never had he seen someone in such an awful state. He'd never nursed anyone, Susan was the best at that kind of thing. Could he really go and wake her up?
"Ed?" The door opened and a bleary-eyed Susan stumbled in. Compared to how she'd looked that night at the banquet, she looked years younger, almost like the old Susan. Since being in Narnia she'd managed to shake off some of her old anxious nature, but it had come back over the last day. The only difference now was that Edmund was looking down on her instead of up.
"I couldn't sleep," she said in explanation. She looked at the restless Emma. "How long has she been like this?"
"A few minutes." Edmund shook his head. "What is it?"
"I don't know," Susan replied. "Maybe the dosage in that potion was too much. Maybe she's…"
"This is my fault!" Edmund exclaimed.
"Oh Ed, no!" Susan wrapped her arms around her taller younger brother. "Ed, please listen, you did what you could. You tried to protect us, you tried to protect Narnia. You didn't know what else to do. For goodness sake, Edmund, you're only seventeen!"
"Maybe we should kill her now," Edmund suggested miserably. "Put her out of this torture."
"You don't mean that." Susan wiped the tears off his face. "This could be anything, maybe it's how the potion works. Of course, you didn't hang around long enough for Mr Tumnus to tell you did you?" she teased. "What is it about you and Peter, you both need to stop blaming yourselves so much! What's done is done."
"I wish Aslan would come," Edmund said after a long period of silence.
"I know," Susan agreed. "Me too." She brushed another tear off his cheek. "Please go to bed, you need to sleep."
"But I want to stay here," Edmund protested.
"I'm pulling rank," Susan said firmly. "I'm older and therefore wiser. You're going to bed."
Edmund knew when his sister meant it. He looked at Emma wistfully.
"I'll sit with her," Susan insisted. "Go."
He left reluctantly. Susan sighed and sat down in the chair by the bed. This was unfair, they couldn't deal with something like this. Peter, only just twenty, had played at being king since he was thirteen but now he was in over his head. Edmund, still trying to impress his big brother and prove he was good enough to be king, was going to kill himself with guilt one day. Lucy, only fifteen, had spent nearly as long as queen of Narnia as she had as Lucy Pevensie in England. And Susan herself; she was tiring of being mother to them all. She wanted her own mother back. It was only occasionally that she even allowed herself to remember their past life because it hurt so much. Seven years had passed; seven years since she'd seen her mother. They must have noticed they were gone by now. What must they think had happened that day in the Professor's house for them all to disappear? How would they ever explain if they ever got back?
Emma made another noise, but this time Susan could distinguish the sounds. "I'm…. sorry!" Emma almost sobbed in her fitful slumber.
"Aren't we all?" Susan said softly, as tears silently ran down her face.