"Edmund! Stop hogging the marmalade, you pig!"
Not for the first time this week, Lucy glared at her brother who continued to spoon the orange preserve onto his bread (to Lydia's dismay, Narnia hadn't got round to toasting bread yet), the only sign that he'd even heard his sister being the small smirk creeping up his face.
Lydia watched the two siblings bicker but couldn't find it in herself to laugh. It had been a couple of days since Susan had told her they didn't know how to send her home and while she'd been told that time worked differently and no one from home would realise she was missing; she was still getting used to the idea of being stuck here in the castle.
The Pevensies seemed genuinely upset for her but they didn't understand her desire to go back, didn't understand how she hadn't fallen in love with Narnia yet. She was trying her hardest not to be angry at them; it wasn't their fault that the painting hadn't left a gateway of some sort for her to get back.
She sighed and looked at her own breakfast. Yes, this would take some getting used to.
Peter noticed her forlorn expression. "I thought maybe we could all go riding today. We probably won't have time to go together when the party from the Seven Isles come next week."
At this, Lydia noticed that Susan began to blush furiously.
"You could choose one of the horses in our stable Lydia, if you've had the chance to ride before." Peter continued and Lydia smiled weakly in an attempt to seem polite "I'm not a very strong rider but I've had a little bit of practice."
Peter looked away, disappointed and Lydia knew he wanted more details on her life in England, he'd been trying to tease the information out of her for days.
She sighed, "Riding was more accessible where I was from," she said, "It was June 1960 when I left."
Peter beamed. "Lydia, you're from a different time, we came in 1940!" He turned to the others. "Gracious, that is news."
"Yes," Lucy said "Narnia must run on different time to Earth."
Lydia was trying and failing to hide her surprise. She was 20 years ahead of the others; she supposed that explained the look on Susan's face when she'd asked for a pair of trousers instead of a dress yesterday. Fashions had definitely changed
"Oh but you'll be able to tell what happened after we left." Peter said "With the war. Oh, who was it we were fighting again?" He closed his eyes in concentration.
Lydia raised her eyebrows. "The Nazis?"
Peter clicked his fingers, "Yes of course, how did I forget that?" He chuckled and Lydia filed away the fact that a boy from the 1940's couldn't remember the war for later.
"We were sent to live in the country." Susan said "That's how we came to Narnia in the first place. But it would be interested to hear how the war played out."
Hearing her speak with such casual indifference towards the whole thing had Lydia's heart racing but she managed to get out "Well we won…in the end."
"Oh that is good to hear. Our father was a soldier, you know." Susan said with an almost wistful expression on her face
"Mine was too." Lydia said quietly. She hastily finished her coffee and jumped up. "I think I'll go and get a head start on choosing a horse to ride. I'll see you all in a bit."
She could see that Lucy was about to argue so quickly left the room before anyone had the chance to stop her.
Once at the stables, Lydia realised that perhaps it was a mistake not waiting for one of the Pevensies to show her round. She stared down the rows of horses and ten pairs of eyes blinked back at her in the gloom.
"Do you need some help?" a voice said from behind her and Lydia looked round to see a faun carrying a saddle.
"Hello" she said weakly; this wasn't the first faun she'd encountered but they, like all the other mythical creatures here, still unnerved her a bit.
"You're the new Daughter of Eve aren't you?" he said and she nodded. "Welcome, I'm Boreas." He went to shake her hand and nearly dropped the saddle in his attempt so opted to bow his head instead.
Lydia couldn't stop herself from smiling.
"I was told to choose a horse but I'd hate to choose the wrong one." she said and Boreas nodded.
"I'm happy to help. Are you a seasoned horsewoman?" he asked and when she shook her head he chuckled and said "Not to worry, we'll find someone for you. It's a process of elimination really."
He led her inside and turned to face her "Only six of the horses here are personal steeds of the Kings and Queens." Boreas said placing the saddle down on a nearby rack. "But Cair Pavarel hosts four other horses here as well."
"And can they all…" Lydia's voice dropped to a whisper, "you know, talk?" She looked round to see if any of the horses had reacted to that but Boreas just laughed at her.
"No, not all of them can. And there's no need to be quite so serious you know. If the ones that can talk act offended, then its all just posturing; they don't really mean it."
He added, giving her a sympathetic glance that she could know so little of the world she'd been thrust into.
"We have seven talking horses here, each of the Kings'and Queens' personal steeds, two stallions and a young mare."
"And the other three?"
"One is a young foal that was gifted to Queen Lucy from Archenland and High King Peter and Queen Susan both have their own preferred steed for battle. King Edmund and Queen Lucy on the other hand prefer to ride just one horse."
"And so they should!" A voice called from the corner. "I've ridden with King Edmund for eight years and he's a better horseman because of it."
"Yes thank you Philip." Boreas called over his shoulder. "Philip was there at King Edmund's first battle and none of the others can say that so he likes to bring it up as often as possible." Boreas whispered to her, grinning but Lydia stared at him blankly.
"When was this battle? Edmund can't be much older than me and I'm only seventeen." She frowned. "It's a little young to go to war isn't it?"
Boreas' eyes narrowed. "King Edmund is an experienced warrior and an excellent swordsman. His first battle was eight years ago, same as his siblings." It was surprising how quickly his demeanour changed at the insult of his county's monarchy.
Lydia failed to hide her shock. "But they were just children!" she said "That can't be right."
"I'm afraid it is." Boreas said coolly. "Now shall we get on with teaching you to ride?"
#
Riding, as Lydia quickly found out, was considerably more than just sitting on the saddle and letting the horse do the work. Celer, the young brown mare Boreas had left her with had no patience for Lydia's inexperience and proceeded to bark out a series of orders along with the threat of throwing her off should Lydia fail to follow said orders leaving her sat gritting her teeth wondering how she'd ever got to the point where she took orders from a horse.
Still, they worked well enough together and slowly Lydia found herself becoming more and more confident as they trotted around the castle's grounds. In a way, it was quite freeing, just having time to think.
The concept of the Pevensies fighting battles as mere children was deeply unsettling and the whole topic of war, a topic that seemed to be coming up frequently here in Narnia, had Lydia's teeth on edge.
Her own father had died in a war, whilst Lydia's mother was still pregnant. She knew what war did to people.
And yet here she was, trapped in a world where the people viewed war as a good and noble action.
In her experience, the nobility of leaders led to the death of the ordinary people.
She was brought out of her thoughts by a voice calling her name. It was Lucy and Lydia realised, with a pang of guilt that she was supposed to wait for the others to join her before mounting up.
She clambered clumsily off Celer, thanked the horse and started to lead her back to the stables to where Lucy was waiting.
"I'm really sorry Lucy." she began to say but the young queen immediately waved away the apology.
"No, it's our fault entirely." she said. "Just after you left, we were told of a development concerning the prisoners. It appears that one of them is finally ready to talk so of course we all headed down there immediately, the ride out will have to wait."
"Have you found anything useful out?" Lydia asked
"Nothing you hadn't already told us." Lucy said, "The others are still in there now but I remembered that we'd rudely left you out here to wait for us." She signalled to Boreas, who had been pretending not to listen and now rushed forward, bowing.
"Would you be so kind as to lead Celer back to her stall? I'm afraid I need to steal Lydia away." she said sweetly and Lydia looked up in alarm.
"You want me to be at the interrogation?" she asked and Lucy nodded, taking her arm and leading her back up towards the castle.
"I feel if you are there, the Calormen might be more inclined to reveal something in temper, seeing as you were the reason his mission failed." she said causing Lydia to gulp.
"I doubt I'll be very good." she said and Lucy laughed "Don't worry you can't be worse than Peter. There's a reason Edmund handles diplomacy, bless him."
The Calormen spies had all been kept in three separate cell and as they drew nearer, Lydia could hear Peter's raised voice followed by Susan's gentler one, attempting to soothe her brother.
"Peter, this is our home, these people cannot hurt me here. Losing tempers will not get us anywhere."
Peter snorted, "I wouldn't put it past these people." he said but his voice trailed off after what Lydia assumed was a stern look from his sister.
Peter, Susan and Edmund were stood inside the first of the three cells holding the Calormen with two dwarves stood on guard outside. On seeing Lucy, they both bowed and stood aside to let the two girls through even if they did cast a dubious glance at Lydia as she stepped into the cell. She instantly recognised the man kneeling on the floor to be the one that had fancied himself the hero. The one, she thought with a pang of guilt, that she had knocked out with a rock.
On seeing her, the man started spitting and muttered something that sounded like "spy".
"She's not a spy" Peter said, "She's only been her a week but that doesn't stop her from telling us if you're lying so you might want to consider being a little bit more truthful now."
The man glared up at his captor but said nothing. Peter eyed him with distaste, "Lets try again," he said "Which Queen of Narnia does Prince Rabadash intend to marry?"
The prisoner scowled but remained silent causing Edmund to let out a sigh. "There's no point not telling us you know, both Queens can easily be protected, and can protect themselves."
The Calormen seemed to contemplate this for a minute then gave a small jerk of the head towards Susan who, to her credit, only paled slightly. "
"Well that's hardly surprising." Lucy said, "She is the eldest out of the two of us. No, what's more important is how you were planning to get into the castle."
Again he said nothing. Lucy looked over to Lydia who shrugged and said, "He seemed the youngest out of the three, maybe he didn't know."
"No if you're only sending three people on a mission, you send your best three." Susan said quietly "And how, may I ask, were you planning on keeping me in Calormen? Did you honestly not think my country would come for me?"
Her calm stare forced the Calormen to shrink back slightly and when Peter started toying with his sword hilt he finally muttered, "War."
From the shocked looks the Pevensies exchanged, Lydia assumed that this hadn't been on the cards. She looked around nervously almost expecting soldiers to come bursting through the walls; the atmosphere had suddenly changed dramatically.
"Your prince was willing to go to war over an unwilling bride?" Susan asked, her voice still surprisingly level.
The prisoner's eyes darted nervously around the room; for the first time Lydia noticed how young he actually was.
"Yes" he said staring down at the floor "The Prince is captivated by your beauty."
Edmund shook his head, "Has he ever even met Susan or is simply using a painting to decide?" he asked, disbelief in his voice. "Still I suppose it hardly matters now that we know what Calormen want." He said, looking at Susan.
"Yes well they're not having her!" Peter said glaring at the prisoner who was slowly trying to shuffle to the corner of the cell now it was clear the interrogation had finished. Lydia tried not to feel too much pity as she watched him, she was supposed to be on the other side. Not that that was going very well; Lucy had said they'd needed her but she failed to see how she'd been useful at any point up to now.
"I suppose this means we are going to have to plan for some unpleasant encounters in the future" Peter said giving one last contemptuous look to the huddled man at his feet.
"Buck up everyone, there's no time to start like the present, we won't get anything else out of these three anyway."
The siblings started to head out the cell, nodding to the dwarves as they went by but Lydia hesitated "Are you alright with me to come with you?" she asked, hovering at the edge of the cell.
There was a moment of silence then Peter said "Of course. I see no reason why you shouldn't." He turned back round as if that settled the matter but was stopped by Edmund "Pete" he said quietly "We can't be entirely sure she's trustworthy, she has no real allegiance to us."
He had carefully avoided looking at Lydia while he said this but the words still stung.
Peter still hadn't replied so Lydia quickly said "I completely understand, I'm happy just to go for a walk, have some time to think."
The apologetic looks tinged with relief that she received were enough to convince her that she was doing the right thing so she stepped out in front of them and was halfway down the corridor when she heard approaching footsteps behind her, "I don't think the others really need me there and I feel like a walk would do me good too" Susan whispered in her ear, taking up Lydia's arm in hers, leading her from the room. "Thank you" Lydia said once they were out of earshot but Susan just smiled, every inch a queen.
They walked in relative silence until they were well out the castle and heading towards the whispering trees.
"Let's sit here for a bit" Lydia said indicating to a nearby bench, the reappearance of the irritating whispering having unsettled her. Thankfully Susan complied and they sat admiring the pathway surrounded by flowers leading back up to the castle.
"I'm sorry about Edmund." Susan said after a while, "He has a couple of trust issues, doesn't want to endanger those close to him."
Lydia waved away the apology, it wasn't Susan's fault, there was clearly no point causing a fuss. "I would've felt out of place anyway" she said "I've never been much of a leader."
"Still…" Susan said, "How will you ever feel at home if we don't accept you? It was much easier when the four of us came here."
Lydia shrugged, "Well its not like you need me is it? I'm just a deadweight really."
She didn't say to try and gain sympathy but Susan frowned and shook her head,
"No of course you're not Lydia. You've already become a dear friend to me and the others." She smiled, "I'll expect I will be relying on your help when the party from the Seven Isles arrives next week."
Not for the first time, Lydia noticed that Susan blushed slightly at the mention of the Seven Isles so asked,
"So, apart from the whole kidnapping issue, would you actually marry Prince Rabadash?"
Susan frowned, "He's a little too loud for my liking. Extremely arrogant as well."
"But surely there can't be many humans in this world? You seem to be the only ones in Narnia."
Susan laughed, "We're not the only ones but there are many more animals than humans here. But there's Archenland, the country next to ours and Calormen and our Narnian islands which are mainly human populated."
"So why don't you just marry someone else?" Lydia asked, allowing herself a brief smile when Susan took a sharp intake of breath.
"No one has ever said that to me before." she said quietly. "Everyone just assumes I'm not interested in ever marrying, not even the others now that we're in Narnia."
"And are you interested in marrying someone?" Lydia pressed.
Susan frowned for a moment then smiled, "You're quite good at that aren't you?"
"Just didn't want to ask you outright."
Susan sighed, "Well I might as well tell you. The protector of the Seven Isles, Lord Glendan, has shown an interest in asking for my hand in marriage. We keep in touch regularly ever since Peter asked him to go and look after the islands for us."
Lydia smiled and nudged Susan playfully, "Do you want to marry him?"
"I'm not against the idea." Susan said very stiffly but the blush creeping up her face was the real answer to Lydia's question.
"So do it."
"Yes but what if Narnia needs a marriage for a future alliance. I'm helping no one by marrying Lord Glendan and living in Redhaven with him."
"Couldn't one of the others maybe have a marriage for an alliance?" Lydia asked, cringing away slightly at Susan's raising eyebrows. The elder girl had already made it clear that, like Peter, she felt responsible for the others.
"I couldn't ask that of them." she said in a tone that implied the topic wasn't up for debate.
"Well at least you'll get a chance to see him again next week." Lydia said, eager to avoid a confrontation and she was relieved to see Susan's features light up once more at the mention of the visit.
"It will be nice to see him again, it s been too long." she said, "I wonder what he will make of this situation with Calormen. And then of course, we need to work out what to do with the three prisoners we caught."
Lydia frowned, "Won't you just send them back?"
Susan shook her head, "Sadly no, they broke Narnian law. They've admitted to trying to storm the castle and they attacked you. They have to face the consequences whatever they will be." She trailed off causing an uncomfortable feeling to settle over Lydia, she had a feeling these "consequences" were going to be quite severe.
They sat there, each lost in their own thoughts until Susan sighed and then stood up, "We probably need to be heading back, see what plans my siblings have managed to come up with in my absence." She extended an arm out to Lydia,
"Coming?"
Lydia nodded, and the two of them wandered up the path back towards the castle, this time the whispers of the trees lingering in Lydia's mind long after they were back inside the castle.