"How long have we been back? Does anyone know? Kayla?"
"This is our seventh day back home."
"But what day is it here?"
"I'm clueless on that, Susan."
"Wall calendars would be nice in this world."
"And cameras. Cameras would be so nice. I know how to develop film, and I swear it can be done in this world."
"Good morning, your majesties."
"Caspian! You scared us!"
"Not me, Susan. And Caspian, I have not been crowned yet."
"I'm sorry, Queen Susan. So just Lady Kayla for you then?"
"Just Kayla. I don't need a title. I know who I am."
Kayla decided to leave Caspian and Susan to talk by themselves.
"I'm coming, Momma!"
"But your mother didn't call for you."
"Yes, she did. Catch y'alls later!"
"Kayla-."
"I didn't hear anyone call for her."
"Me neither. So, what is on your mind?"
"Mainly the rebuilding of Cair Paravel. The others have written down and drew their details on it, but they said the details of the southern wing should be left to you."
"How long do you expect the rebuilding to take?"
"As soon as all the details are in place."
"Silly me, of course we have to wait for that."
"Shall I walk with you, your majesty?"
"Of course."
Susan could tell Caspian was flustered around her, but she was starting to get that way as well.
"So, what was your childhood here like, your majesty?"
"Caspian, you don't have to address me by my titles. Lucy and Kayla feel the same way."
"I'm sorry. With your brothers, it's easy to, as you say, drop the formalities. But with our gracious ladies, the three of you deserve the utmost respect. For far too long, women in the Telmarine society were not shown that. I don't even know if my mother was."
"I am sorry about that, Caspian. But of my childhood here, we all vaguely remember it. I mean, our memories have come back to us over time, but not in full. In terms of a claim to the old Narnian throne, I was ninth in line. Kayla was sixteenth. I don't know if Ivar had a claim to it or not."
"Did you all grow up together in this world?"
"No. In this world, Kayla is the youngest of us. While eleven years had passed here when the six of us were sent away, we all ended up in the other world at the same time. Strangely enough, our birthdays stayed the same."
They walked all the way to the gardens of the castle, and Peter could see them walking together. His protective brother sense kicked in, and he almost walked over to them and punched Caspian in the face. Until Ivar and Edmund came to hold him back.
"Let me go, Ivar! Let me go!"
"Peter, he's not going to do anything to her and you know it!"
"Caspian is more respectful to her than suitor she ever had. And they're not even courting!"
"What are you boys screaming about now?"
Ivar noticed something oddly familiar about Kayla's dress.
"Kayla, isn't that the same dress that-."
"The same dress that I wore when Rabadash captured me? Yes. He had it removed from me and put me in rags."
"Did that bastard see you in a way no man should?!"
"Easy, Ivar. No, he didn't. I was in the tisroc's harem when the dress was taken off. Aravis brought the dress back to me and I had it repaired."
"Why are you wearing it today?"
"I heard the new Calormene ambassador is arriving today."
"Oh, no."
"I hear horses coming through the city."
"I'll go get Caspian and Susan. You boys go find Lucy and greet the ambassadors."
"Will do."
Kayla walked into the gardens slowly, trying not to disrupt the moments between Susan and Caspian.
"So, your bow and arrows once belonged to your mother?"
"Yes. They were made in Rivendell as a wedding gift for my mother. When it comes to archery, the elves certainly know what they're doing."
"Susan. Caspian. I think the Calormene ambassador has arrived."
"I thought that dress looked familiar, Kayla."
"Do you want to go greet them, Susan?"
"It seems like we must."
"From what you both have told me about the Rabadash incident, you don't have to greet the ambassador if you don't want to."
"It's fine for right now, as long as the ambassador does not bring up the incident. Course, he just might just because women will be in the room!"
The three of them headed to the council room, where the Calormene ambassador was waiting with his family. Peter, Edmund, Ivar, and Lucy were already there.
"We were told the king of Narnia would greet us."
"My lord, you are in the presence of two of the three kings of Narnia."
"But who is this other boy?"
"This Ivar, Lord Protector of Narnia, Baron of the Marshlands, and Guardian of the Marsh-Wiggles."
"And please, my lord, don't call me a boy."
"Who's calling you a boy, Ivar?"
Instead of Caspian leading the way into the council room, it was Kayla. Caspian chose to comfort Susan in the wake of the ambassador's arrival, just in case something like the Rabadash incident should occur again.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, ambassador. I am Caspian."
"Ambassador, welcome to Narnia."
"I don't shake the hands of a girl."
"Number one, if you're going to be here, just because you're from Calormen, that does not mean the laws of Calormen apply here. You respect the laws of Narnia, or you will be subject to very severe punishment, understood?"
"Who are you to threaten me? King Caspian, you let the women here threaten the men?"
"It is a new age in Narnia, ambassador. Women have a right to stand up for themselves."
"But who is she to threaten me?"
"My name is Kayla, Baroness of Dancing Lawn, Guardian of the Dancing Trees and the Dryads. But I am also Caoilfhionn, Queen of Terebinthia and Empress of the Lasair, though my brother is the dictator of Terebinthia right now."
"We did not catch your name, ambassador."
"My name is Hashim bin Jahan. This is my wife Darya, my son Jalil, and my daughter Adila."
The ambassador looked to his son and daughter and then to Caspian and Kayla, hoping for a match between the four. He desperately wanted his daughter to be the queen consort of Narnia, and for his son to be the king consort of Terebinthia, now that he knew who Kayla was.
"Well, I imagine you and your family would like to settle down for the night, and then we can meet again tomorrow."
"Of course, your majesties."
Two lady dwarves showed the ambassador and his family to their chambers in the castle, leaving the family in the council room.
"Did y'alls see the way the ambassador looked at me and then at his son? He is no doubt hoping for a match between the two of us. I will not, and I repeat, I WILL NOT marry a man from Calormen! The man just wants my throne!"
"He looked to his daughter and then to me the same way! She looks to be about your age, Lucy!"
"She also looked scared of her father, and so did her mother. But her brother looked like an arrogant fool."
"Like Rabadash."
Everyone looked to Susan, and Susan grabbed Kayla's hand and held it tight, and Kayla squeezed back. They were both hoping that they would not have to go through what they went through once before.
