He could not quite get used to it. Though some days were better than others, Edmund awoke most mornings to find himself near panicked before he remembered that he was staring up at the ceiling of his childhood bedroom rather than the stone of his chambers in Narnia. He had spoken to his siblings about his issues, with a variety of results. Susan insisted that they needed to think realistically, that the chances of going back to Narnia were slim. Lucy, in contrast to their older sister, reassured him, reminding him that Aslan would not abandon them. Peter could only commiserate, he too struggling with being back in England.

There was no familiarity to help them adjust. Nothing was the same and it was glaringly obvious. The emptiness when they were faced with a conflict and reached for the weapons they no longer carried… it weighed heavy. Oftentimes, he would catch himself worrying about being caught by Adeline when he slouched at the table during meals.

Adeline. Another sharp adjustment he had yet to make. Though he made an effort to play with his father when the opportunity arose, he could hardly look at the chessboard without imagining gold eyes staring down at the pieces in contemplation. Whenever Lucy, the least experienced in the strategies of chess, won a game, she jumped up in excitement, rushing out of the room, only to return with her cheeks tinted red as she had realised that there was no Commander to share her success with.

Conversing with his siblings about their longing to return to their kingdom was as painful as it was relieving. It was certainly nice to know that he was not alone. But reliving the memories, even though they all laughed, caused an ache deep within him. At night, Edmund lay awake for hours, wondering what had become of their people once they had left. Had Adeline finished what she needed to do during her many months of absence? How had the expansion of the Beavers' Dam gone? Who was leading the Narnians?

"Ed?"

Startled, he sat up in bed, breathing heavily. Lucy stood in the doorway, barely illuminated by the candle she carried. Running a hand over his face, he gestured for her to come in. They had grown close during and since their time in Narnia. And though she had never visited him at night, Edmund knew that something must be troubling her, as his sister usually went out of her way to avoid bothering people. Even though they insisted she was not, in fact, a burden. "What's the matter, Lu?"

Tears streaked Lucy's cheeks as she set the candle down on Edmund's chest of drawers. He moved over to make some space for her beside him and she immediately threw her arms around him, sobbing into his shoulder. "I miss them, Edmund," she cried, her voice muffled. "All of them, so much." He rubbed comforting circles over her back, though he did not say anything. She had been aware that he would not be able to. Her brother missed Narnia as much as she did, after all. "I miss Adeline's lessons and tea with Mr. Tumnus and supper with the Beavers and watching Garion and Argus spar with each other and—"

"Breathe, Lucy," Edmund whispered, pulling away to help her wipe the tears away. "You need to calm down, working yourself up like this won't help." It came out harsher than he had intended, though Lucy seemed to appreciate it. He understood her pain. It had been six months since their return and it still was not any easier to get up in the morning. He missed the Beavers and Tumnus and the rest of the Narnians too. "I'm sure we'll see them again someday soon."

"Do you really think so?"

"Of course I do," he promised. "Now come on, let's get you back in bed."

Following his still hiccupping sister back to her own room, he made sure to tuck her in properly. He kissed the top of her head lightly, turning to leave. Before he could get very far, Lucy caught his wrist. "Get some sleep, Lu, you have to get up on time in the morning."

"Tell me a story from Narnia."

Despite the situation, Edmund had to chuckle. "Lucy, you know all the stories from Narnia."

"Tell me one anyway," Lucy pleaded. "The one about when you and Adeline went hunting together."

A fond smile spread on Edmund's lips, both at the request and the memory. Throughout his time in Narnia, Adeline had only been present a handful of times before she disappeared for months at a time to attend to her other 'duties'. One of those times had happened to coincide with his first real hunt. Though it was custom for hunting parties to accompany them, with others handling the actual hunting, Adeline had seemed offended to learn that he had never brought back game on his own. She had harped them about how she 'had not taken the time to teach them how to hunt only for them to forget the intricacies' or some such rot. Unfortunately, for him, as Adeline had gotten quite a laugh out of it, it had not gone exactly according to plan. "We were just north of the Shuddering Woods…"

They snuck up on the deer quietly, the soft soles of their boots barely making a sound against the lush grass beneath their feet. For the better part of a week, Adeline had been instructing him on how to best approach prey without being noticed, which weapons were most effective as opposed to the ones used in battle. And they had found themselves in the perfect circumstances. The wind was blowing in a favourable direction, allowing for a perfect trajectory for the arrow while keeping their scents away from the deer. The deer itself had stopped to eat. All was still. Until…

"Ah!"

The arrow went flying, lodging in a tree leaps and bounds from its actual target. The deer ran off. Adeline cursed, only the tone of her voice indicating that she was actually cursing as she spoke in a tongue that was foreign to him. And Edmund was upside down, caught in a snare. Upon closer inspection, he found that it was one of his own that he had set under Adeline's watchful eye.

When Adeline realised what had happened, she pursed her lips tightly, eyebrows raised. Though she was not making a sound, Edmund knew her well enough to know that, had they not been at risk of scaring the prey further, she would have been laughing at him.

"In a spot of trouble, are we?"

He glared at her. "Get me down." She was infuriating that way. Whenever he wished to be treated like a king, she would ignore all forms of formality and etiquette. Whenever he wished to be treated as just Edmund Pevensie, she would get all formal. He swore she did it just to get on his nerves. Lucy called him ridiculous. Then again, his sister did not see the mischievous twitch at the corner of Adeline's mouth when he brought it up. "That is, in fact, an order, Commander."

"Very well, Your Majesty."

True to character, Adeline was none too gentle with him. Dagger in hand, she cut the rope keeping him aloft, a wide smile spreading on her face as he hit the ground with a thud. Edmund sat up slowly, wincing. "Thank you, Commander."

"Of course, Your Majesty."

"… and every time I saw her after that she made sure to remind me to watch my step." Edmund trailed off, smiling softly at his sleeping sister. Pressing another kiss to the top of her head, he stood and left the room to get back to his bed. For the time being, all was calm.

A bleary-eyed Lucy nearly tripped right into Peter as she attempted to plait her hair while hurrying to get breakfast before they had to catch the train to London for school. She gave him a grateful smile as he sat her down at the table, taking over her plaits as she helped herself to some tea and toast.

"Do you all have what you need for school," Helen Pevensie asked. "Do you have your books?"

"Yes, Mum," Edmund replied, stealing an apple from the bowl on the table to slip into his bag. Every morning, since school began, was the same. Their mother fretted over them, hugging and kissing them several times before she let them out the door. "We always do."

Unable to stop herself, Lucy yawned. Immediately, her mother's eyes went to her, making her wince. In the past six months, she had been subject to the stern gaze of her parents whenever she showed just how tired she was in the mornings. She blamed it on reading past her bedtime, her late-night stories with Edmund a secret between the two of them. Lately, she had found that her memories of Narnia were bleaker and his recounts of adventures with Adeline or Oreius or Garion helped her, if only just for an hour, to remember more clearly. Not that she would ever be able to tell her parents that. They would never believe her.

"We've spoken about this before, Lucy," Helen stated firmly. "No more reading past your bedtime."

Lucy nodded weakly. "Yes, Mum."

Helen looked up at the clock. "Oh goodness, off you go," she ordered. "Hurry now so you'll catch the train."

Now, had Tom or Helen Pevensie known just what would happen at the train station later that day, they would not have found it at all as urgent to send the children off. Alas…

Sometimes Lucy wondered if maybe Peter had let power go to his head. They had all struggled with adjusting to being back in England, of course they had. But it seemed as though the lack of respect they were given in their world bothered Peter just a little bit more than it did the rest of them. Which was why she was only vaguely surprised when he got in a scuffle at the train station. She had done what she always did when Peter fought. She found Susan. But by the time they had come back to their brother, an audience had gathered and he was fighting two other boys rather than just the one he had been arguing with when she left to find Susan.

Which led to Lucy's second observation. Sometimes it was not a good thing that Edmund had learned to fight alongside his family rather than against them. A good example of such a time was when he pushed through the crowd to help Peter, who most likely would not even appreciate it. Lucy watched worriedly, ignoring Susan's exasperated grimace beside her. She wished Adeline was there. Whether to lecture them on their technique or to stop the fight altogether, did not matter. Relief flooded her senses as some soldiers interrupted the brawl, though she wished she had been given time to prepare for the fleeing masses that pushed her around as she tried to leave the scene.

"You're welcome."

"I had it sorted."

Susan rolled her eyes. "What was it this time?" Like Lucy, she was all too aware that Peter had not yet let go of the power he had been given as High King of Narnia. Unlike Lucy, she believed he had better learn to accept that the title was not his anymore, that their adventure to the magical land was a one-time occurrence. "Honestly, what would Mum say if she found out about this?"

"He bumped me."

"So you hit him?" Lucy frowned sadly at her brother. She understood that he missed Narnia, that he wished people treated him with some semblance of respect. But what could they do? They were kings and queens of Narnia, not kings and queens of England.

Peter glared at his sisters. "No, after he bumped me, they tried to make me apologise," he explained bitterly. "That's when I hit him."

"Is it that hard to just walk away?"

Indignant, he rounded on Susan. "Walk away," he asked acerbically. "You want me to walk away?" She nodded. Heaving a heavy sigh, trying to keep his emotions in check, he shook his head at her. "I wasn't trained to walk away, Susan." In the corner of his eye, he saw Edmund flinch at the indirect mention of his best friend. Peter was not in the mood to feel bad about it. "And I shouldn't have to," he growled. "Don't you ever get tired of being treated like a kid?"

"We are kids," Edmund replied sharply, "we were then too, and she treated us like kids until we proved we weren't anymore." His already foul mood had only gotten worse with the topic of their heated conversation. Because while Peter was sick of being treated like a child, Edmund was sick of listening to Peter talking about himself as though he was still their superior. "Adeline would've had you studying diplomacy till your eyes bled for this and you know it."

Shoulders slumping, Peter could not argue with his brother. He wanted to think that Adeline would have supported him in the fight. But he knew better. She may have been a warrior, but she saw fighting as a last resort. Peter had never been a diplomat though. A strategist and gifted swordsman maybe, but never a diplomat. That was all Edmund. "It's been a year," he said softly. "How much longer are we supposed to wait?"

"I think it's time we accept that we live here," Susan exclaimed. "We can't just cling to the past forever, you know?" She did not like speaking about Narnia. Perhaps because she was starting to realise that her memories of their time there were much paler than those of her siblings. She could no longer remember the feel of Aslan's mane beneath her touch, could not recall how the stone floor of Cair Paravel felt beneath her feet during moonlit strolls with suitors. Looking around, Susan tried to find something to bring up in the conversation. Farther down the platform, heading their way, was a boy who had attempted to speak with her earlier. She turned to her family. "Pretend you're talking to me."

Ever quick-witted, Edmund could not help but retort, "We are talking to you." Susan was given no chance to snap back, as Lucy shot out of her seat with a yelp. Then something weird happened. Well, weirder, he supposed. Peter stood too, accusing him of pulling his arm. Lucy, observant as always, remarked that it felt a lot like magic. And Edmund was inclined to agree. The air around them felt warmer than normal and something about it reminded him of what it felt like to watch Adeline reiterate her promises to the Deep Magic using her beloved silver dagger. He scowled when Peter grabbed his hand at Susan's call. He knew they were less likely to get separated, but still. He was not the type to hold anyone's hand.

Before their eyes, the train station flickered. A cave started to take form, solidifying as the tiled walls of the underground vanished. Suddenly they were stood in a cave, just off a beach. Gentle waves swept up on shore, birds screeched in the sky. Lucy and Susan barely even hesitated before rushing towards the water, slipping off shoes and socks as they went. Edmund and Peter followed shortly after, their earlier bitterness forgotten. It felt like they had come home.

They played in the water for a long time. All the tension and sadness they had carried since leaving Narnia was gone, washed away in the ocean. Edmund paused, looking up at the cliffs above them. For all the familiarity, something was not what it should have been.

"What is it?"

Barely sparing his brother a second glance, Edmund raked his memory. "Where do you think we are?"

"Where do you think?"

"Well, I don't remember any ruins in Narnia." He truly did not. There was always a chance that the Witch's domains had crumbled, but her castle had been east of Tumnus' home in the Lantern Waste, not near the ocean. So where were they?

The climb up to the ruins was tedious but necessary. Only once they gained their bearings could they begin the search for their people. As with the beach, something felt oddly familiar as they walked barefoot across the overgrown stone that had once been the floor. Apples grew in abundance around them, sating their hunger as they explored. Edmund could not shake the feeling that he should know where they were. From a distance, he could hear Susan and Lucy talking and followed their voices. Susan was holding a golden chess piece in her hand and a memory came to life. "Hey, that's mine."

While her siblings squabbled, Lucy finally put the pieces together. They were in Narnia. In what had once been Cair Paravel. She could see… it could not be anything else. She rushed ahead of them to what she could swear was the throne room. It made sense. The four hunks of rock over there had to have been their thrones. And, really, if you just imagined the windows and the walls and—

"Lucy, what are you thinking?"

"Walls and windows and columns and a glass roof."

"What?"

"Just imagine it," she said quietly. She gestured out over the open area before them. "Walls, and columns over there, and a glass roof."

Edmund almost backed away. He did not want to believe it. The implications… his heartbeat quickened. He took an involuntary step back, only to wince when something sharp cut into his heel. Quickly stepping away, Adeline's voice in his head reminding him to watch his step, he kneeled to inspect what had cut him. In the grass, something silver shone up at him. His heart came to an abrupt halt before resuming its furious pace. He reached out, picking the intricate silver dagger up.

"… it can only leave me if it is forced from my hand."

Cair Paravel was in ruins. The silver dagger had left its owner. Where was Adeline? What had happened?