Early the next morning, Elaine exited her tent feeling more refreshed and at ease than she'd felt in a long time. She noticed Peter standing at the entrance to his own tent looking at something in the distance, and when she followed his gaze, she saw Aslan up on the nearby hill speaking with Edmund who had his head down in shame.

Elaine breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Edmund was alive.

Susan and Lucy exited their tent and looked towards the same hill.

Lucy's face brightened. "Edmund!" she exclaimed as she started to run to him.

Peter quickly put his arm in front of her to stop her. Aslan and Edmund turned at the sound of her voice.

Elaine was sure that that hadn't been a particularly fun conversation, and Edmund was probably grateful for Lucy's unintentional interruption.

Aslan looked back at Edmund and gave him a very small nod. The boy timidly walked down the hill with his hands in his pockets.

The short walk seemed to last hours for all of them, but it was longest for Edmund. He didn't know how he was going to face his siblings and Elaine. Each step brought him closer to their anger and pain towards him. He had initially been excited to see them again, but now he only felt scared, anxious, and ashamed.

Finally, he stopped in front of them, unable to look any of them in the eye.

Elaine observed the boy in front of her. He looked so much different than the last time she'd seen him. A yellowing bruise rested on his cheek, there were cuts near his eye and on his lip, and he was appeared very disheveled and exhausted. She could only imagine what he'd been through to render him so…broken.

Aslan slowly walked up beside him. "What's done is done," he said firmly. "There is no need to speak to Edmund about what is past."

As he walked away, the tense silence between the children nearly suffocated them.

Elaine didn't know who should speak first or what any of them could say.

Edmund finally looked up and met Peter's eyes, but then he quickly put his head down again. "Hello," he said quietly.

Lucy smiled and tightly hugged her brother.

Edmund was stunned. He thought for sure Lucy would hate him the most for everything he'd done to her.

When the shock of his sister's loving action wore off, Edmund gratefully hugged her back. Lucy held a warm and kind innocence that Edmund hoped would never leave her. As he held her in his arms, her easily given forgiveness melted into him making him feel warmer than he'd felt in months.

Susan put her hand on his arm, and once Lucy released him, she tightly hugged him as well.

Elaine smiled as she put her hand on his shoulder. "Are you all right?"

Edmund looked at her shyly. "I'm a little tired."

"Get some sleep," Peter said, motioning to the tent behind him with his head.

Edmund looked at his brother, the shortness in his words piercing through to his heart.

It was too much to hope that all of his siblings would forgive him so easily. He was fortunate that Lucy, Susan, and Elaine had even forgiven him at all.

He slowly began to make his way to the tent.

Elaine gave Peter a pointed look at his callousness to his brother's return. After spending so much time worrying about him, he should've been the first to welcome him back. As Aslan had told them, there was no further need to discuss his previous actions.

Peter quickly called, "And Edmund?"

Edmund turned around.

His older brother smiled. "Try not to wander off."

Edmund laughed lightly, his heart lightening. Peter wasn't mad at him. Everyone had forgiven him.

With a warm heart, he headed to the tent to rest.

"Elaine," Killian said.

Elaine turned to face her trainer. "Sir?"

Killian stopped and observed her. "Something has changed in you."

The girl smiled. "I faced my fears last night, like you told me. It wasn't easy and it was very painful, but I feel much better now that I have."

Killian returned her smile. "Well done, my lady. Now come. Let me take you to meet your mount."

"My…what?"

The faun led her towards the back of the camp where a beautiful brown and white mare waited for them.

"Elaine, this is Meera. She has agreed to be your mount for the battle."

The mare bowed her head. "An honor to meet you, Daughter of Eve, and an even greater honor to be the one who leads you into battle. I shall do my very best to protect you in all of your days ahead."

Elaine knew that a talking horse shouldn't be anything new, but it still stunned her into silence. "Um…"

"Talking Horses usually do not allow anyone to ride them except in dire need, so understand how important it is that Meera has offered to not only allow you to ride her for the battle but also for all your days after as well," Killian explained. "I recall you mentioning you had a fear of heights. Meera is an excellent horse for such fears. And I shall be a little more patient when it comes to teaching you to ride."

Meera slowly sauntered up to her. "Please do not fear me, Daughter."

"It's not you I'm afraid of," Elaine assured the mare. "It's the falling part that concerns me."

"What is lesson number seven?" Killian asked.

Elaine sighed. "No matter how many times you fall, you always get back up."

"Good. We'll practice more this morning and then begin lessons with Meera in the afternoon. Meera, see Oreius about finding you a proper saddle. Elaine, please meet me in the field in one hour."

"Yes, sir."

After a rigorous morning of Killian training her to use her staff, the faun allowed Elaine an hour-long break to rest and eat. She was on her way to find Alaesa when she passed by Edmund and Peter's tent and heard small whimpers coming from within.

She slowly walked inside and saw Edmund tossing and turning in his hammock, his face contorted into one of pain and fear.

Elaine gently touched his shoulder. "Edmund, Edmund, wake up."

Edmund's eyes shot open as he took a few quick breaths.

"It's okay," she said quickly. "You're in Aslan's camp, remember? You were rescued last night. You're safe now."

Edmund got up from the hammock and crashed onto the small red chaise lounge as he tried to catch his breath.

Elaine tried to think of something she could say to him. The last real conversation she'd had with Edmund had not been a pleasant one, so she wasn't exactly sure where they now stood.

The boy looked up at her. "You're different than you were before," he noticed.

Elaine smiled a little. "You are too."

Edmund ran a hand over his face, wincing when he hit the bruise. "I…shouldn't have gone to her. I don't know what I was thinking."

Elaine sighed and sat on the chaise lounge next to him. "Honestly, it could have happened to any one of us. If I was in your position, I probably would've done the same thing. But I might not have survived as long as you did."

"I only survived because I kept telling her things she wasn't supposed to know."

"Then that's what you had to do."

"She…almost killed me."

Elaine bit her bottom lip. It was going to take a very long time for him to heal from the trauma of whatever the Witch had done to him. Knowing that she was still out there preparing for a war certainly did not help his justifiable fear of her.

"I don't know how I'm supposed to face the rest of the Narnians after what I've done. How could they ever forgive me for this?"

"Aslan has forgiven you. That is all that matters."

Edmund paused for a moment before he said quietly, "I'm sorry I was so horrible to you back at the Professor's house."

"I could've been a lot nicer as well. I'm sorry too."

Elaine could see his lip quivering as he struggled to hold back tears.

"Edmund…if there's one thing I've learned here…it's all right to admit that you're scared."

A sob ripped its way out of his throat.

Elaine quickly put her arms around him, much like Peter had done for her the night before, and Edmund broke down in her embrace.

For the first time, Elaine understood how Peter felt when it came to protecting his siblings. As the oldest female among them, she wanted to hold them and care for them and make sure that none of them came to any harm. But she was also only fifteen years old, and she knew that she wasn't emotionally ready to be perfect at protecting them or guiding them. What she could do until she was ready was comfort them when they needed comfort and hold them when they needed someone to hold them. She didn't have to be their mother. She needed to be their friend.

"Come on," she said gently as she helped him stand. "Let's get you some new clothes and a good meal."

The two of them exited the tent and walked further inside the camp.

"Oreius," Elaine called.

The centaur general turned around at the sound of his name.

"Can you get Edmund into some new clothing?"

Oreius nodded. "Come with me, Your Majesty."

Edmund nervously went inside another tent with Oreius and a couple of fauns. Elaine waited by the tent for them to finish.

When he exited again, she smiled at him. "How does it feel?"

Edmund rubbed his hands over the brown vest. "Much better."

"Come on, lunch is ready for us."

They both joined the other Pevensie children at a small table where some of the dryads and fauns had prepared a meal for them consisting of grapes, eggs, meat, and toast with jam, butter, and honey.

The second Edmund sat down, he hungrily gulped down everything on his plate, seeing as he hadn't had anything real to eat in days.

Lucy watched her brother wolf down his bread and honey and said jokingly, "Narnia's not going to run out of toast, Ed."

Edmund smiled a little. It felt so good to eat with his siblings again. Amongst all of the abnormal things he had encountered in the last several days, this was a much needed piece of his normal life.

"I'm sure they'll pack something up for the journey back," Peter said, leaning against a boulder with a chalice in his hand.

"We're going home?" Susan asked.

"You are." He slowly sat back down at the table. "I promised Mum I'd keep you three safe. And that goes for Elaine as well. But it doesn't mean I can't stay behind and help."

"I am not one of your siblings," Elaine said. "So whatever I do or don't do is going to be my decision."

"None of us can go," Lucy told her brother. "They need us. All five of us."

"Lucy, it's too dangerous," Peter said firmly. "You almost drowned! Edmund was almost killed!"

"Which is why we have to stay," Edmund interrupted quietly.

Everyone looked at him in surprise.

"I've seen what the White Witch can do…and I've helped her do it. And we can't leave these people behind to suffer for it."

Elaine smiled a little at his change in character and his newfound maturity, and she could tell that Peter was pleased too. She wished that he hadn't had to be abducted by the White Witch for it to happen, but at least one good thing came out of something so harrowing.

Lucy put a comforting hand on her brother's.

Susan stood up from the table. "I suppose that's it then."

"Where are you going?" Peter asked.

She smiled as she picked up her bow and arrows. "To get in some practice."

The next several days passed by in a blur. Elaine trained with Killian for hours every day, and some days were more brutal than others. He had warned her that he would be tough on her, but she hadn't realized just how tough.

"Lesson seventeen: tap on your staff right here, and a small blade will pop up on the top. You can use that to easily deliver a killing blow. Press there again to retract it."

"Lesson twenty-four: use your wrists like this to spin the staff around without hurting yourself."

"Lesson thirty-six: your footwork is just as important as what your hands are doing."

"Lesson forty-five: learn to read your opponent's moves right down to the tiniest twitch."

Elaine listened to each and every lesson and took all of them to heart. Her muscles ached and she was covered in bruises and scratches, but she always worked as hard as she could no matter how much it hurt.

Seeing as most of Elaine's enemies weren't going to have staffs, Killian also trained her to use her staff to defend herself against other weapons such as swords and axes. Fighting against a sword was even harder than fighting someone with a staff, but she continued to train hard and her staff never once showed any signs of breaking.

In between training with her staff, Elaine and Killian took Meera into the fields and helped Elaine learn how to ride her. Meera was very gentle, which Elaine appreciated, and she found that it was much easier to ride a horse than she had believed it was. Though she did fall from Meera's back several times, Meera was always there to give her encouragement and help her back up.

After she'd achieved riding Meera, Oreius and Killian helped her learn how to use her staff while on horseback.

The harder Elaine trained, the more confident she became and the more her fears of heights and falling began to wane.

In the middle of one of her training sessions with Meera, Elaine looked across the field to see Peter and Edmund practicing with their swords on horseback. Peter, ever the lucky one, was riding a unicorn.

"Come on, Ed!" Peter called. "Sword point up, like Oreius showed us!"

"En garde!"

"Now block!"

Elaine hadn't had any time to see the two of them practice since she'd begun her own training, but they seemed to handle their swords very well after only a few days.

"Come on, Meera," she smiled. "Let's see if they've learned how to keep their focus."

Elaine and Meera galloped over to the two boys and tried to throw them off their fight by circling around them.

"Hey!" Edmund exclaimed, his focus broken.

"Come, now," Elaine playfully chided. "Oreius didn't tell you anything about keeping your eyes on the fight in front of you?"

"He told us to be mindful of what's around us," Peter said.

"Well, if that's the case, it took you both far too long to notice us coming."

Mr. Beaver came running over to the three of them. "Peter! Edmund! Elaine!"

Edmund's horse reared up in surprise at the small creature approaching them. "Whoa, horsey!" he exclaimed as he tried to stay atop the saddle.

The horse came back down and said sharply, "My name is Philip."

"Oh. Sorry."

Elaine and Peter couldn't help laughing.

Mr. Beaver looked up at them urgently. "The Witch has demanded a meeting with Aslan!"

Elaine lost her smile and exchanged worried looks with the two boys.

"She's on her way here!"

Why was the White Witch coming to Aslan's camp and what did she want from Aslan? Her presence here could only mean bad news.

"Come on, Meera," Elaine said.

She and her horse galloped back to the camp where all of the other Narnians had gathered upon hearing of the White Witch's planned arrival.

Aslan stood at the front of the camp where he had first greeted the humans. The five children quickly joined together near the front just as four cyclopes carried the White Witch into the camp on a litter with several members of her army trailing behind her.

"Jadis, the queen of Narnia!" the Witch's personal dwarf announced. "Empress of the Lone Islands!"

All of the Narnians around her jeered and shouted that she didn't belong here.

Contrary to how Elaine felt around Aslan, when her eyes fell upon the White Witch, her insides went cold as if the very life inside her had been turned to ice and sucked right out of her.

She had to admit that the Witch looked different than she had initially pictured. She had expected a big cloak, unruly hair, long nails, worn skin, and ugly clothing.

But the Witch didn't look anything like that. There was no cloak, her hair was long and tightly pulled back into a high bun with several ice crystals strewn onto the top of her head, her hands were normal, her skin was as smooth as porcelain, and her dress was a beautiful snowy-white that framed her small body. If it wasn't for the cold feeling Elaine had when she looked at her, she might've thought the Witch was a friend instead of an enemy. It was understandable that Edmund had fallen prey to her charms, and seeing her like this made it a lot easier to forgive him for going after her.

The White Witch confidently stood up from her throne and walked towards Aslan. She glanced over at Edmund who looked back at her fearfully.

Elaine quickly put her arms around his shoulders protectively and glared at the woman, silently telling the Witch that she'd have to go through her if she tried anything again.

The Witch calmly faced the Great Lion. "You have a traitor in your midst, Aslan."

Everyone's eyes nervously shot to Edmund.

Aslan glared at the Witch. "His offense was not against you."

"Have you forgotten the laws upon which Narnia was built?"

"Do not cite the Deep Magic to me, Witch!" Aslan growled fiercely. "I was there when it was written."

"Then you'll remember well that every traitor belongs to me. His blood is my property."

Peter unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the Witch. "Try and take him then!"

The Witch just looked at Peter and smiled. "Do you really think that mere force will deny me my right…little king?"

Peter put his sword down in defeat.

The Witch turned to face all the gathered Narnians. "Aslan knows that unless I have blood as the law demands, all of Narnia will be overturned and perish in fire and water!" She pointed an accusing finger at Edmund. "That boy will die on the Stone Table…as is tradition."

Elaine exchanged a fearful look with all of the equally horrified Pevensies as her hold on Edmund tightened. Surely Aslan wouldn't help save the boy and then allow him to be killed. But if traitors really were the Witch's property as told per the powerful Deep Magic, what could be done?

"You dare not refuse me," the Witch demanded of Aslan.

"Enough," Aslan said firmly. "I shall talk with you alone."

Aslan retreated into his tent, and the Witch held her head high as she followed him.

Each second that passed by was agony. They had no idea how long the two of them stayed inside the tent, but the tension outside grew thicker and thicker as more time passed.

Elaine placed all of her trust in Aslan and she didn't doubt that he had the power to save Edmund. But he had said himself that the Deep Magic was very powerful. How could they go against it? Would Narnia really perish if Edmund was not given over to the White Witch? What about the prophecy?

Finally, the White Witch exited the tent, and they all quickly stood up. Edmund's breathing quickened, and Elaine once again placed her arm around him to protect him. She knew she was no match for the Witch should she try anything, but Elaine planned on going down fighting if she had to.

The Witch smirked at Edmund and returned to her throne as Aslan exited the tent. Everyone looked to him for the answer to Edmund's fate.

"She has renounced her claim on the Son of Adam's blood."

The entire camp sighed with relief and cheered. Susan and Elaine happily hugged Edmund while Peter clapped his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"How do I know your promise will be kept?" the Witch asked Aslan.

In response, Aslan fiercely roared at her which caused her to quickly sit down on her throne. The Narnians laughed at her reaction and cheered even louder at the momentary defeat.

Lucy tightly hugged Edmund, and he eagerly hugged her back.

Everything was going to be okay.

Once the Witch and her army had left their grounds, Elaine approached Peter. "How about we see how we've fared in our training?"

Peter smiled. "Are you sure?"

"Oh, are you afraid you'll lose?"

"No, I just want to make sure that you aren't afraid to lose."

"Let's find out."

Peter and Elaine went out to the training field. Killian and Oreius decided to follow them, curious to see their students demonstrate what they had learned.

Elaine and Peter watched each other carefully as they moved around in a circle, each daring the other to make the first move.

Peter went in for the attack, and their spar began. Attacks were thrown and blocks were made as each tried to defeat the opponent. Though Peter had not trained against a staff, he managed to successfully block or dodge each of Elaine's attacks. Elaine could feel sweat begin to roll down her temple, but she ignored it and continued to fight Peter with all of her strength.

As their spar went on for much longer than anticipated, more and more Narnians joined to watch when it wasn't obvious who was going to come out victorious.

With one last attack, Peter swept Elaine's feet out from under her which caused her to lose her grip on her staff and fall to the ground. Peter kicked the staff away from her and pointed his sword at her throat, but he unintentionally left enough space for Elaine to roll out of the sword's path and retrieve her staff. When she picked it up and turned to aim the small blade in the tip at Peter, the point of his sword touched her neck.

Neither of them could move without the other slicing something open, thus ending their spar in a draw.

Both of them breathed heavily from the sheer exertion of their fight, and then started laughing when they realized just how long they'd been able to go.

The Narnians began cheering despite there not being a victor. The spar had proven to them all that the future King and the additional female both had the will, strength, and stamina to go into battle with them.

Peter sheathed his sword and held out his hand to help Elaine off the ground. "Good fight."

"Same to you."

Killian came over to Elaine with an approving smile. "Well done, Elaine. I'm very impressed."

"Thank you."

"Now if you'll excuse us, Your Majesty, Elaine and I are going to go over all the things she just did wrong."

Oreius sauntered next to Peter. "Yes, as are we."

Elaine and Peter shared a chagrined smile as they left with their separate trainers.