Chapter Five

A week later would find Peter back in the forest at night, practicing staff combat with Haelyn. He had succeeded in swords and wasn't too shabby in archery, so she had deemed him prepared enough to move onto staff training. And he wasn't doing that bad with it…

Finding himself pinning Haelyn up against the 'Dagger Tree', as he had dubbed it, with his staff pressed against her chest confirmed his progress.

"Not too bad Peter," she said, impressed with how much he had improved in the short two weeks since he arrived. "You're getting good…" But then a sly smile crossed her face, just barely visible in the moonlight, "But not good enough…"

Before Peter could ask what she meant, she had pressed her lips against his, pushing him away from the tree. It was the first real kiss Peter had ever received from a girl outside his family, but before he could even respond to it he found his legs being knocked out from under him by the bottom of Haelyn's staff. Once he hit the ground he looked up to see the end of the staff pointed at his face.

"You need to be more prepared for distractions Peter." She said, reaching out a hand and helping him up, readying herself for another round.

Peter shook his head trying to clear his thoughts as he readied himself as well. He went for the offense as he spoke, "Yes, well, I don't expect Jadis to go and kis…do that to me."

Haelyn shook her head as she moved to the defensive. "Well, she probably won't do that, but there will be other distractions to look out for." She dunked as Peter swung for her head.

"Like what?" He asked jumping as she moved to knock his legs out from under him again.

"Well…" she thought for a moment, blocking the blow to her side with ease, not really paying attention, but her body was so used to fighting that it was almost automatic. "What if your family is hurt?"

"What?" he asked, stopping the fight.

Haelyn winced; she shouldn't have brought that up. "What if you're fighting, and one of the creatures fighting for Jadis manages to attack them?"

Peter thought about that for a long while, Haelyn sat down in silence as he did so. She couldn't tell him what to do; it was a decision he'd have to make on his own.

He shook his head; he shouldn't be thinking of that now, right now, he was supposed to be practicing.

He glanced down at Haelyn who was sitting straight up with her eyes closed before moving to sneak up on her with a surprise attack.

Just as he readied himself he felt his feet slide out from under him once again. He groaned as he saw Haelyn's staff in his face once again…

A/N – Sorry this chapter is so short. But I wanted to get in a little scene between Haelyn and Peter. The next one will be longer; it will probably feature Edmund's rescue and a possible conversation between Aslan and Haelyn.