Whoo-wee, it's been a while. Sorry for the delay. I had a big life change-buying my first house! So there was a lot of packing up and moving and settling into the new place. Then there was Christmas, which is always chaotic at work for me. Fortunately, MY new house, has my own personal writing space where I come to you from now. Yay!

Good news and Bad news. I have theoretically mapped out the rest of this story and we are looking at 25-27 chapters. So...yay for an end-in-sight so hopefully the writing will pick up and flow easily, but boo for an end-in-sight because who ever really wants a story to end?

No more delaying this chapter now. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 18

Narnia

The soft snow of Christmas turned to hard ice in a few weeks. While the others suffered cold linens at night, Lena and Edmund found ways to keep her bed warm. There were no secrets kept in Cair Paravel, unless they pertained to matters of security, so everyone knew of Lena and Edmund's new level of intimacy but no one commented on it. Nalsa, however, did have a very smug look about her in the days that followed.

As the weather warmed and the ice thawed, there began to be murmurs drifting about Narnia concerning her newest princesses. More Narnians began making trips to Cair Paravel in hopes of seeing or perhaps even speaking to one of the princesses for themselves. Meri and Sara were more than happy to oblige. Lena thought it all rather strange, after all, they'd been in Narnia for a few months at that point; they were hardly "new" anymore.

"It's because of us, me and you," Edmund tried to explain it to Lena one afternoon in a delicate way.

"What about us?" Lena asked.

"It is because you have been mating for weeks now," Nalsa said in an exasperated manner. "The Narnians have accepted you as King Edmund's mate and your pups have become his pups now."

"They were always his."

"Yes, but the Narnians, like I was at first, were skeptical," Edmund said. "Many of them do not understand the concept of marriage. They mate for a season maybe two. If they mate for consecutive seasons then they're considered a mating pair."

"You and King Edmund have been mating all winter and many Narnians are considering your fall courtship as part of your consecutive seasons," Nalsa continued.

"So now they see us as a pair," Lena said.

"Yes," Edmund confirmed.

"And Narnia has two new Princesses because of it."

"Yes, and about that… My Siblings and I were discussing the matter and…we'd like to make it official."

"Official how?" Lena asked suspiciously. Edmund didn't refer to his siblings as Siblings unless it was royal business, and Lena could tell by the look he was giving her, that she wasn't going to like the idea very much.

XXX

"A coronation?" Meri asked later that day. She was in Peter's study with him and his siblings. Her mother was sitting on the sofa with a glass of something—probably wine—in her hand; she did not look overly thrilled.

"You want to host a coronation and name me as heir?" Meri had to make sure she heard him right.

"Yes," Peter replied.

"You're our niece; the crown is yours by right," Lucy said.

"Yes but…" Meri looked over at her mother. "I…not by blood," she said at last. Lena grunted and took a sip of her drink. Meri knew they'd talk about that later.

"You are my daughter," Edmund said. "The Narnians know that, and they accept that."

"But I… I don't know the first think about ruling a country."

"Neither did we when Aslan chose us," Susan said.

"But unlike then, you will shadow Us. We will instruct you in all you need to know. You will rule, as an equal, alongside Us. And when we leave you will assume command as Queen of Narnia."

"You're basing all of this on the assumption that she stays after you leave. You don't know that she stays," Lena said standing up.

"We don't know that I don't either," Meri said.

"Merina…"

"Babbo wouldn't have known, Mamma," Meri pushed on to explain. "In every story they always returned at the moment they left. We didn't come the same way Babbo came or from the same place. It wasn't even the same year. I was in London, 1958; he was up north in the country 1940. So there's no way he could have known if I left too."

Lena sighed and looked away briefly. "Look, I…I understand the predicament you all are in," she said to the Four before focusing on Meri again. "But as your mother my only concern is for you and your sister. I only want what's best for you and I can't say that this is it."

"I know, Mamma." Meri gently laid her hand on Lena's arm. "But I want what's best for Narnia. And at the present moment, what's best for Narnia is what's best for me. And I… I think this is something Babbo has been preparing me for from the moment he first began telling me of Narnia." Meri looked first to Edmund and smiled, then she turned to Peter. "I accept."

Peter looked at Lena; it was agreed that Lena had to give her consent first. They all understood the reason for her reluctance. Lena nodded grudgingly and Peter smiled.

"I'm not bowing for you, Meri, Crown Princess or not."

"It would be a curtsy actually."

"I'm not doing that either, and I still think this might all be for naught."

"Then it will be for naught, but at least We would have tried," Meri said."

"Not yet crowned and already using the royal 'We'," Edmund joked, trying to ease the tension that had risen.

"As the old adage goes, 'be careful what you wish for," Lena said. Then she picked up her glass and downed the last of her wine before quickly exiting.

XXX

When Edmund said there would be an influx of Narnians, he wasn't lying. They came by the hoards, or perhaps herds, more Narnians than Lena had ever seen. There were Talking Beasts of all varieties, Dryads and Naiads, Gryphons and Mionatuars, and all the near human ones too, Dwarfs and Centaurs, Fauns and Saytrs. Lena found herself a bit over whelmed by it all and tried to keep to her new rooms as much as she could. They all came for the coronation of Narnia's two Princesses.

Coronation.

Lena couldn't believe it. The girls, of course, were ecstatic. They spent the better part of a month reviewing the details of the ceremony, fussing over what to wear and how to style their hair, and the proper way to greet their guests, both Narnian and otherwise as Narnians weren't the only ones invited to the celebration.

"The lead carriage has just rounded the last corner," Nalsa said. "You should make your way to the front steps."

"Are you sure I need to be there, Ed?"

"It would be rude not to greet the guests, and I know your Daughters want you there," Nalsa replied.

"What she said," Edmund added.

"You've become quite the manipulator, Lady Wolf."

"For you, it has been a necessity," Nalsa replied with a hint of bite to her voice. But when Lena looked down at her, she swore she saw a wolfish grin.

"Very well then, lead the way," Lena said as she turned to face Edmund.

"Do you have any questions about what is to happen?" he asked as he offered her his arm. Lena took it without hesitation.

"I have greeted Royal dignitaries before."

"Yes, but I imagine those were under different circumstances."

"And in less clothing," she muttered. "Are you sure you want me here for this? I am not being crowned anything."

"You are their esteemed mother; of course I want you there. Lune is a good man, a bit boisterous and overzealous at times, but a good man and a good King. He and his sons are nothing like the dignitaries you were used to. And not being crowned anything is your choice."

"I am not fit to wear a crown."

"Neither was I once," he replied solemnly. "Fortunately for us both, Aslan is the great forgiver."

"It is done, Edmund. I'll hear no more of it."

He smiled. "You know, for one who does not wish to wear a crown, you sure like to speak with the authority of one who does."

Lena grinned. "And don't you forget it."

"I don't think you'd let me if I tried," Edmund returned as he let go of her arm and they took their place amongst the reception line.

Trumpets heralded the arrival of the Archenland convoy. There were two young boys riding on white stallions—the Princes Lena presumed—a young girl on a chestnut mare—she must be the Lady Aravis, formerly of Calormen, Edmund had mentioned—and one very round, very jolly looking man on a black stallion. Lena hoped, for the horse's sake, that the large man had not ridden all the way from Archenland and had merely come in on horse for show.

The jolly man dismounted and greeted Peter with, as Edmund had described, a very boisterous and zealous hug. This was certainly King Lune, she realized. His greetings progressed similarly down the line, the Princes and the Lady following him, until he reached Edmund.

"Well met, King Edmund, and after so short a time and under much better circumstances."

"Well met indeed," Edmund replied. "And I have the great pleasure of introducing the Very-Soon-To-Be-Crowned Princesses of Narnia, their Royal Highness's Merina and her sister Sarina."

Lena watched with a mixture of trepidation and pride as Meri and Sara both properly greeted King Lune and his sons; Sara, of course, was a little less graceful than Meri. Then the large King turned his attention to Lena.

"And who might this rare beauty be?" he asked.

"This is the Princesses' mother, the Lady Ileana."

Lena curtsied and held out her hand, allowing him to kiss her knuckles.

"Mother? Surely you jest, King Edmund. For this…Goddess cannot be more than twenty and five with the beauty that radiates from her, or my aged eyes do deceive me."

To her own astonishment, Lena laughed. "Your aged eyes do not deceive you, good King. For Goddess of Beauty I am, but I have not been twenty and five for near eight years now."

"Still, very young compared to my years," Lune said.

"Well, the best wines are the aged ones, are they not?"

King Lune laughed. "Indeed they are, my Goddess. Indeed they are."

"Shall we head inside for tea now?" Susan suggested, a smile in her voice.

"A lovely idea, Queen Susan," Lune said, briefly giving Susan his attention only to promptly return it to Lena. "Would the Goddess mind if I escorted her in?"

Lena smiled and took his proffered arm. "Keep calling me Goddess and I don't think there's much I would mind."

They left the steps and led the way as the rest of the party trickled in behind them until only Edmund and Peter remained.

"Wha-what just happened?" Edmund asked, scratching his head.

Peter laughed and clapped him on the back. "I think Lune just poached your mate. You might want to try telling a girl she's pretty once and a while."

"Oh, bugger off, Pete." Edmund shrugged off Peter's arm.

Edmund and Peter hurried to catch up to the rest of the party. They had moved to one of the parlors where an array of warm foods and sweet treats waited them. By the time Edmund arrived, King Lune was already in the midst of preparing Lena's tea.

"How do you prefer your tea, my Goddess?"

"Just a touch of honey, please. I'm not much for sweets."

"Not for sweets? What a pity. If I were a younger King, I would shower you with all the sweets our small country could afford. I might still try it if I'm not careful." King Lune laughed.

"That is very kind of you, your Grace," Lena said as she accepted her cup. "But I'm afraid it would be a waste on me. Sweets were a…rarity for me growing up, so I never developed the taste for them."

"Tastes can be learned, my dear. Surely there must be more."

Lena smiled at the sanguine King as everyone settled into their seats around them. Edmund took up the seat across from her and briefly caught her eye. She looked back at King Lune.

"There is. My heart has already been claimed by another."

"Oh!" Lune placed a hand over his chest in dramatic fashion. "And there it is: the fatal blow. King Edmund is truly a fortunate man to have won you over."

"I consider myself to be the fortunate one to have been found and loved by him."

"Isn't that the way it is with love though? Each party seeking to claim the fortune for finding the other. I cannot compete with love such as that, but may I still call you Goddess?"

Lena laughed. "I might take offense if you don't." She looked across the table at Edmund. "That is one title I think I could adjust to rather easily."

"Duly noted, Lady Ileana. I will see what the laws of Narnia can allow," Edmund said with a smirk. "Goddess might even rank above High King."

"Hmm?" Peter looked up over his tea cup. "What was that?"

He was met only with laughter.