Cassia sat in her private study going over the Professor's materials about Narnian history. If the Kings and Queens of Old along with the rest of the Narnians had indeed captured her brother, she wanted to be prepared for anything else they might do and know how she could fight them if it came to that. She had studied all of this secretly alongside Caspian when they were both young children, but she hadn't realized just how much she had forgotten about Old Narnia. The more she read, the more frustrated she became. These stories were supposed to be fairy tales and nothing more. Learning that they were actually true changed everything. Things that used to make perfect sense had now tangled themselves into a disastrous web.

Cassia slammed the book on her desk closed. Deciding that a break would do her some good, she exited the study and began making her way to the nursery to spend time with her baby cousin. Playing with the adorable infant always lifted her spirits, and her aunt was always grateful for the extra help.

"Pardon me, sir," she called to a guard walking down the hallway.

The guard turned and bowed. "Yes, my princess?"

"Do you perhaps know where my uncle is?"

"Lord Miraz left the castle a few hours ago with the generals to go to Beruna and check on the army's progress."

"Any word on my brother?"

"I'm afraid not, princess. Prince Caspian still remains missing."

"I see. Thank you."

"Of course, my lady."

The guard bowed and started to walk away, but Cassia called, "I'm sorry, but what is your name, sir?"

The guard turned again. "Drystan, Your Highness."

"How long have you been a guard?"

"Five years now, princess."

"How is it I have not seen you before?"

"I usually patrol the outer grounds. However, several of our guards and soldiers have gone to Beruna to oversee the construction of the bridge which means some of us have moved inside the castle."

"Do you plan on fighting the Narnians in the coming battle once the bridge is finished?"

Drystan faltered for the tiniest moment which did not escape Cassia's notice. "I will do my duty as a Telmarine soldier, princess."

"Good to hear. I expect to be informed the moment there is news regarding my brother and when my uncle returns."

Drystan bowed again. "Of course, Your Highness."

Cassia watched him leave and then continued to the nursery. She would have to make sure she kept on eye on this guard, Drystan. She wasn't so confident that his loyalties completely lay with the Telmarines. If she wanted to see her brother again so she could convince him that their uncle only wanted to keep him safe, then they would need only the most devoted guards and soldiers fighting the Narnians.

Trumpkin and Peter led the rest of the group through the Shuddering Woods until they came to the ford of Beruna. Unfortunately, it became very apparent that they would not be able to cross like they had planned. The Telmarine army had taken complete control of the ford and now built huge weapons, catapults, and a bridge they could use to cross into Narnian territory.

Everyone quickly ducked behind a large pile of logs as someone approached the ford atop a horse.

"Is that Miraz?" Eva asked quietly.

Trumpkin bitterly nodded.

Looking at the man, Eva noticed that he carried himself as if he were already king of the land even though he had not yet been crowned. He had a very arrogant air about him that immediately made her dislike him.

"Perhaps this wasn't the best way to come after all," Susan whispered.

Elaine looked at Peter hardly. If Lucy had really seen Aslan, and she believed that the girl had, then this had been why he'd wanted them to follow him rather than go to the ford. He knew they wouldn't be able to go any further.

Peter clenched his jaw and quickly returned to the surrounding forest. The group walked back to the cliff at the river Rush in silence. No one wanted to admit they'd done the wrong thing even if they were all perfectly aware that they had.

"So where exactly do you think you saw Aslan?" Peter asked Lucy.

Lucy looked at them all pointedly. "I wish you'd all stop trying to sound like grown-ups. I don't think I saw him, I did see him."

Elaine felt guilty that she hadn't pushed harder before. Lucy had always stayed strong in her beliefs, and she was never wrong about them either. It was one of the things Elaine had always admired about her sister-in-law.

"I am a grown-up," Trumpkin muttered.

Lucy slowly walked along the ridge. "It was right over…" She screamed as the ground gave way, and she fell right through.

"Lucy!" Susan screamed.

Everyone ran over to the hole in the ground, but to their relief, Lucy hadn't plummeted fifty feet into the water below. Instead, she had landed on a narrow path directly beneath the ridge.

She looked up at them and smiled. "Here."

Elaine sighed heavily and gave Peter another hard look. If he had just listened to his sister before, they could've saved a lot of time. She didn't know why Peter suddenly seemed incapable of accepting help or advice from anyone. He had always been one to desire to handle everything himself, but unlike before where he was doing that to try to protect everyone, now he seemed to be doing it to show everyone that he was in charge.

Everyone in the group made their way down the hidden path and carefully walked across the river using several stones. At one point, one of the stones loosened and Lucy almost fell into the water, but Trumpkin caught her by the waist before she lost her footing.

Elaine smiled a little from behind them. Trumpkin may dislike them (and to be honest, she couldn't say she blamed him), but he still attempted to keep them out of harm's way as best he could.

After walking for another couple hours, Trumpkin said, "It's getting dark. Let's stop here for the night. We should reach Trufflehunter's place by tomorrow afternoon at the latest."

"Oh, thank goodness," Eva sighed as she collapsed onto the grass.

Edmund chuckled. As much as Eva had adapted to being transported to a beautiful magical world, walking such long distances could be grueling for someone who wasn't used to it. He lightly took her arm and hefted her back up. "Come on, let's go collect some wood so we can make a fire."

Eva groaned. "But I'm exhausted. Can't you get wood on your own?"

"Everyone has to help make camp."

"Fine, fine."

"Peter and I will try to find some food," Elaine offered.

"We'll help you," Lucy added as she and Susan wandered into the forest after them.

Eva walked around the wooded area and picked up several thick sticks that would easily keep a fire going. All of her muscles ached from walking for such a long time, and her feet angrily begged her to stop using them. "Is it always like this?" she asked Edmund.

"Walking around a lot? Yes."

"How do you stand it?"

"It gets easier the more often you do it."

"If you say so."

"At least you're not trudging through snow."

"That's what Elaine said. Does it snow a lot here?"

"Not any more than back home. But when we first got here the last time, the entire land was covered in feet of snow and we all had to walk in it for hours to reach Aslan."

Once again, Edmund found himself unable to admit that he hadn't been with his siblings and Elaine when they'd met Aslan.

"I guess I'm glad you got called back in the summertime then. Walking forever is bad enough, I couldn't even imagine having to do this in the snow." She added another stick to her pile, and then asked, "What was it like the first time you ever saw Aslan?"

Edmund felt like this mouth was full of cotton. Of all the questions for her to ask…

The first time he'd only just heard the Lion's name had sent an awful feeling through him since by that point, he'd been under the Witch's control. His first actual encounter with the Great Lion had been very awkward as it had been right after he'd been rescued from the White Witch's camp. He always felt so ashamed when he recalled the terrible things he'd said and done that had led up to that meeting, but he also remembered Aslan's firm words to all of them right after it: "What's done is done. There is no need to speak to Edmund about what is past."

He tried to choose his words carefully. "Beautiful…and terrifying all at once."

"Well, Aslan is a lion, right? It only makes sense you'd be afraid of him."

"No, not terrifying like that. Well…a little like that, but it's more like…being near him makes you more aware of the things you've done wrong. But at the same time, you feel more…complete than you ever have been."

Eva felt like there was more to the story that he wasn't telling her, but she thought it'd be in poor taste to press him about it. If he didn't want to talk about it, she supposed that was up to him even if she didn't understand why.

The two of them headed back to where they'd left their belongings to begin making a fire. The others had collected berries and nuts to serve as their dinner, and Trumpkin prepared to cook some meat from the bear he had slayed earlier.

After the fire had been started and the meat had been cooked and handed out to everyone, Eva tried not to think about how she'd seen the bear alive only a few hours ago. She could now understand why some people didn't want to eat meat.

Elaine sat next to the girl, noticing her rather distraught look. "The trick is to eat slowly. It lasts longer and fills you up more."

Eva ate one of the berries. "When I found out you were kings and queens, I have to admit, this isn't what I had in mind."

"To be fair, this isn't what we had in mind either. We thought that when we returned, only a year or two would've passed. Not…however many it's been."

"1300," Trumpkin interjected.

Elaine faltered. "It's really been that long?"

The dwarf nodded.

Eva tried to change the subject. "Why did you come to Narnia if you weren't in the prophecy?"

Elaine looked at her and smiled. "I spent a lot of time wondering the exact same thing. I learned that a prophecy did not determine my purpose for coming to this world. I made my own purpose."

"And what was that?"

"To fight alongside the Pevensies. To protect them and this world in any way I could." She looked over at the eldest Pevensie lovingly. "To love and marry Peter."

"So why do you think I'm here?"

"I don't know, but I trust Aslan has a good reason for calling you here with us."

"But Aslan didn't call us. Caspian did when he blew the horn."

"Maybe so, but Aslan created the horn, so in a way, he was the one to call us."

"Why did Father Christmas give you a staff to fight with instead of a sword?"

"Perhaps he knew that I would be better adept at handling it. I much prefer it over a sword anyway."

"Can I…try to use it? Or is that breaking some kind of rule?"

Elaine laughed. "Not at all." She stood up and pulled her staff out of the satchel. "Here."

Eva examined the golden etchings on the wood. "How do you use this?"

"Put your hands here and here to keep a grip on it."

"How did you make that blade appear before?"

"I'll refrain from telling you that until you have a little more experience."

"I suppose that's fair."

Elaine looked at Edmund. "Edmund, why don't you help me show her what to do?"

Edmund smiled a little and unsheathed his sword. He planted his feet apart in front of Eva and held the sword out in front of him.

Elaine stepped behind Eva and put her hands on the girl's arms. "Okay, so when he makes a move like this…"

Edmund slowly moved his sword in for an attack to give Elaine plenty of time to move Eva's arms accordingly.

"You bring the staff up like this to block it," she continued as she helped Eva move the staff. "And then you can move like this to take him off-guard. But of course, Edmund won't ever let himself be thrown off-guard, right?"

Edmund chuckled. "Of course not."

This continued for several more minutes before Eva handed the staff back to Elaine.

"Then pretty soon, your fights will look like this," Elaine said.

She threw her staff towards Edmund who quickly blocked the attack. Eva watched with fascination as the sword and wood clashed against one another and the two of them moved faster than she thought humanly possible. She wasn't sure how either of them had this much energy after the very long and exhausting day they'd had.

Elaine finally stepped back and returned her staff to her satchel as she sat on the ground next to Eva. "It's so good to have this back in my possession. It feels like the longer we stay here, we recall more and more of who we used to be."

Eva awkwardly fiddled with the bottom of her dress when she was once again reminded of just how big the gap between them was. She didn't know if she was ever truly going to fit in with the Pevensies after learning this side of them.

"Come on then," Trumpkin said firmly. "Best be getting to sleep so we can be up bright and early."

Eva groaned again. She had never been a morning person nor was she looking forward to sleeping on the ground. But she was so exhausted that it didn't take long for her to fall asleep regardless.

Elaine lay down next to Peter, and he wrapped an arm around her waist. "Are you okay?" she asked softly.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"You don't need to lie to me."

Peter sighed heavily as he ran a hand through her hair. "It's just…hard not knowing right from left in a land I used to know like the back of my hand."

"I know. Today has been really hard on me too. I was so looking forward to seeing Killian and Alaesa again, and now…Just be patient like everyone was patient with us the first time we came and didn't even know how important we were to Narnia's survival. And remember that it's okay to ask for help. Even kings need help sometimes."

Peter softly kissed his wife. "Good night, Elaine."

"Good night, dear."

Elaine gently ran her hands through Peter's hair and watched his breathing even out as he fell asleep. She would be lying if she said she wasn't worried about him. After seeing how he had acted today, she wasn't sure how he was going to handle anything else they faced or if he would be able to accept that they may not be needed here as much as they had been last time.

"Lucy, are you awake?" she heard Susan ask. "Why do you think I didn't see Aslan?"

"You believe me?" Lucy said in surprise.

"Well, we got across the gorge."

"I don't know. Maybe you didn't really want to."

"You always knew we'd be coming back here, didn't you?"

"I hoped so."

Susan sighed. "I finally just got used to the idea of being in England."

"But you're happy to be here, aren't you?"

"While it lasts."

Elaine sighed a little. It seemed that Peter wasn't the only one struggling with being thrown back into Narnia, especially with so much having changed. Their very selves were torn into two pieces and it was extremely difficult to reconcile them both. And even worse, there was no telling when they would go back to London or when they would come to Narnia again if there even was a next time after this.

She fell asleep still wondering why she hadn't seen Aslan either.