Fanfiction didn't let me know anyone cared about this until I sought it out, so thank you to ahsohail01, and LoveforPink for caring at all about this. I update faster if I'm not just writing into the void. I also don't remember if we're ever told how Caspian's mother died, so I made an educated guess. If you do remember, I can correct it.
Alina was on a boat. This much she was certain of. And it wasn't one of Nikolai's contraptions either. She looked to see two men watching her. As they got closer, the world stopped with the impossibility that presented itself. He had followed her. She didn't know where she was or how she had gotten here, but she was stuck on a ship in the middle of Saints knew where with the Darkling. Again. And this time she was alone. The other man spoke first.
"I'm Edmund and this is Caspian. We aren't going to hurt you, so you can stop whatever magic it is you're doing." She hadn't even realized it, but her power had spiked, and she now held a large ball of light in her hands.
"Why should I trust anything you say when you've allied yourself with the Darkling?" She asked as she looked past the younger man.
"I don't know any Darkling, my lady. I am Caspian X, King of Narnia. My family has ruled here for hundreds of years," he said.
"Your family or you?"
"Do humans have that long of a lifespan where you're from?" He seemed genuinely confused, but she knew better by now than to judge people by her instincts or observances. The best liars always seemed sincere, at first.
"Grisha do," She said as she channeled more of her power.
"Is that what you call your magic?" the other man asked.
"It's not magic. It's science. You've never heard of Grisha?"
"I've seen magic, and I've seen science. That looks as much like magic as anything I've ever seen, but I have a tendency not to do so well around magic, so I'll take your word for it. Whatever it is, we might have a more productive discussion if you stopped wielding it as a weapon."
"Alina ignored him and turned back to the man claiming not to be the Darkling. "Do you have any brothers?" She asked.
"My mother died giving birth to me. My uncle killed my father when I was a child and tried to kill me as soon as he had a son of his own. My uncle was killed by one of his own council members and my aunt and infant cousin are no longer a part of this world. I don't who your demons are, my lady, but they are yours alone."
"I'm no lady."/
The younger man spoke again. He must be some sort of diplomat. "What are you then?"
"A mapmaker." In another life.
"Then you're in luck, since we're in a part of Narnia that's never been charted before. We could use a good mapmaker." He smiled, trying to lighten the mood.
"Is that near Novyi Zem?" She asked.
"Is that where you're from?" he asked.
"I'm Ravkan."
"I don't think you're on your world anymore," seeing her face, he added, "My sister can explain better. I'll go get her if you promise not to burn down the ship."
Before Alina could respond, the not-Darkling said, "Since I'm the one that's frightening her, I'll go. That should turn out better." As soon as he disappeared from eyeline, Alina released the ball in her grip.
"It might be helpful to start with your name. Mine's Edmund."
"Alina."
"She's gone!" For the first time since she appeared on the ship, neither man looked in her direction.
"What do you mean she's gone?"
"She wasn't in her room. Gael's frantic. Noone's seen her. It's like she disappeared into thin air."/
Edmund turned back to her then. "My sister, Lucy, do you have any idea where she might be, or what happened to her?" His tone wasn't as accusatory as it might have been. Alina imagined that kind of concern might be normal for siblings.
"I don't even know how I got here. How could I tell you about the movements of a woman I've never met?"
"I'm sorry. This is exactly the kind of thing she'd get herself into on her own, and it wouldn't be the first time. I'd like to get a full scope of where you're from and how got here later, so we can find her, but for the time being you look tired. You should get some sleep and we'll talk after that."
"Just like that?" Alina was surprised neither of these men were immediately blaming her or tearing the ship apart. Not many people have a separate room on the ship, and she wasn't sure what kind of relationship that implied between her and the not-Darkling. What kind of person did she have to be for this to even have a chance of being normal behavior?
"We're on a boat, in the middle of an ocean, on a world where you don't know a single person. Where exactly are you going to go?"