A/N

So...it's been a month. I'm really sorry that it took so long to get this chapter out. I spent a week on vacation and for the rest of the weeks...I was being lazy and had no motivation. I really hope you guys like this chapter even.

I do not own the Chronicles of Narnia nor do I own the characters that are introduced in the Chronicles of Narnia series. I only own my OC Mari and any other characters that sound unfamiliar in the story.

I whined softly as golden sunlight streamed though my closed eyelids. I finally willed my eyes to open as the sunlight became bothersome. Sitting up, I ran a hand through my hair, wincing at the knots that my fingers met and how dry, my hair had become. I swung my feet off the bed and stood from my comfy bed to make my way to one of the many windows in my suite. The sun was out yet I had no idea of the time of day. Birds sang joyful tunes and the trees seemed to dance at the sounds. This made me smile. Yesterday, Narnia seemed so scary but now, I felt so at peace. I finally broke my gaze from the landscape as I heard the door open. Blossom soon appeared from behind the door and smiled. "Good morning Miss Mari! Did you sleep well?" the faun greeted.

I nodded, "Good morning, yeah I slept well. Yesterday was tiring."

The faun hustled around the room, gathering my garments for the day. "I can imagine," Blossom started, "I heard you were feeling unwell…Queen Lucy said that she wanted to let you sleep instead of waking you up for dinner. You're probably hungry right now."

I opened my mouth to respond but my stomach beat me to it as it growled loudly. The two of us giggled and began the process of getting ready for the day. As Blossom began tying the ribbons of my lilac dress, someone knocked on the door. Blossom came to the door and spoke to the person briefly before she returned to me. "The royals are inviting you to breakfast…you're going right?" Blossom asked.

I sighed and bit the fingernail on my index finger, "Of course. Although I have a feeling that only three out of the four monarchs really want me there."

"King Edmund is…difficult to deal with at first but after a while, he will warm up to you," she explained.

"Yeah I guess…wait…How did you know I was talking about King Edmund?" I turned my head to try and look at the faun.

She poked me in the back playfully, "News travels fast in Cair Paravel. Everyone knew about your fight at lunch."

I groaned. This was just great…everyone knew about my blunder from yesterday. My cheeks warmed in embarrassment as I hung my head in shame. "Hey," Blossom shook my shoulder slightly, "You were in the right in my opinion though…you shouldn't yell at royalty like that. You should be lucky that the kings and queens are so nice. If it was anyone else, you would have been banished or worse."

I pouted as Blossom made that point. I really was lucky. Blossom finished up with tying my dress and sat me down to do my hair. She put a sweet-smelling cream in my hair that she explained would add some moisture to my hair. The faun then French braided my hair and I was ready to head down to the hall. Blossom escorted me and made sure to point out landmarks so that I wouldn't get lost again. We entered the brightly light banquet hall and noticed that three out of the four royals were present. "Good morning King Peter, Queen Susan and Lucy," I greeted, taking a seat next to Lucy.

The monarchs returned my greeting as we waited for King Edmund to enter for us to start eating. Lucy touched my shoulder gently, "Do you feel better Mari?"

I nodded and smiled at everyone at the table, "I feel so much better. Thank you for taking care of me."

The queen beamed at me and we launched ourselves into conversation. Queen Susan was in the process of retelling a story that left Lucy and King Peter in stitches when a certain brown haired king stumbled sleepily into the dinning hall. King Edmund's silver crown was slightly askew on his chocolate locks as he sat next his older sister. "Good morning to you too, Ed," Peter greeted in slight amusement as he took in the sight before him.

The man grumbled sleepily in response and we all tried to suppress our giggles. With the arrival of the king, breakfast began, and I indulged in the various pastries, jams and breakfast foods such as the scrambled eggs and sausages. As we ate, Lucy and I discussed the lovely meal that we were having. I suddenly remembered something that I had to do and quietly asked Lucy to get the attention of her siblings. "What is it Lu?" Peter asked.

"Mari has something that she wants to say," the girl explained, drawing attention to me.

I sat up a little straighter, "Well, I would like to apologise to everyone about my behavior yesterday. It was rude of me and I hope that everyone can forgive me…especially you, King Edmund."

"Well, I accept your apology Mari and I'm sure Lucy and Peter forgive you too," Queen Susan replied, looking at her brother with mild annoyance, "If only some of us would apologise regardless of if they were wrong or not."

This statement made King Edmund scowl at his older sister as he stabbed his sausages violently. It would appear that two may have been arguing about the incident since yesterday. King Peter, sensing the tension in the air, piped up, "Susan, why don't you tell Mari about the ball?"

The queen's mood immediately changed, "Well…the ball is two months away but it's our coronation anniversary ball. I really want you to attend Mari and maybe we can introduce you to the Narnia people on that night too," Susan rambled.

Lucy whispered in my ear, "Susan is the best at planning balls so she always gets excited when balls come up."

I giggled and my attention turned back to the older queen. "Which reminds me," Queen Susan said turning towards me, "Because I want to introduce you to the kingdom at the ball, I asked our best teachers to teach you everything about Narnia….its history, the stories, the people, the geography everything. I also asked for you to be in etiquette classes."

King Edmund was sipping tea when the last sentence was uttered and he snorted into the drink in amusement. I chose to ignore the King and smiled at the beautiful queen. "Thank you so much for the lessons, Queen Susan. I am very excited to learn as much as I can about Narnia," I responded truthfully.

The queen beamed at me before turning to her brother, "Mari won't be alone in the etiquette classes as I also want you to go do the etiquette classes too, Edmund."

This time, the king choked on his tea and looked at the queen in disbelief. "Why am I doing etiquette classes again?" He exclaimed, coughing.

King Peter glared at his brother, "Do we really need to explain?"

"But I'm a king! I learned more than enough etiquette," King Edmund whined.

"You're a king but you're not acting like one lately," King Peter argued, "The incident with Mari yesterday was proof enough."

The brown haired king sat back in his chair and crossed his arms, "So everyone thinks that what I did was wrong then? I am still of the belief that I am right so if any of you expect me to apologise then you are mistaken."

King Edmund then stood up from his seat and walked out of the dining hall. Queen Lucy frowned and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Ignore him…even if he doesn't want to go through with the classes, Susan and Peter will force him to," she whispered.

I smiled at the queen next to me and asked Queen Susan when my lessons were supposed to start. "Well, I wanted to give you a tour of Cair Paravel today as it wouldn't do to have you wandering over the castle all lost and confused. Your lessons will start tomorrow from 8 am sharp, we usually have breakfast early so you'll eat breakfast with us before going to your lessons," the queen explained.

I nodded my head in agreement and the four of us finished the last of our breakfast before going our separate ways. Queen Susan immediately linked her arm with mine. "Let's get this tour started, shall we?" the queen announced, smiling gently at me.

Cair Paravel was a beautiful castle and if it wasn't for the fact that Queen Susan was giving me a tour, I would have purposefully gotten lost and explore the vast palace. Susan took me all over Cair Paravel and pointed out all the rooms and their uses. We visited the kitchens, the throne room, the ball room, the various bedrooms, sitting rooms and studys. We then went outside to tour the gardens, stables and training area. I marveled at the well kept grounds as I finally got to see them in the sunlight and wasn't the least bit surprised when we went to the stables and the horses talked back to us. We spent a few more moments outside, taking in the sun's warm rays before heading back inside to look at the final few rooms. Queen Susan stopped in front of two large oak doors. "This will be where your lessons will take place…This…" the queen started while pushing the doors open, "Is the library."

My mouth fell open as I took in the sight before me. All four walls contained built in bookshelves that housed far more books than I could count. The room was illuminated by a large chandelier that cast a warm glow around the spacious room and caused certain books that contained golden writing on their spines to glitter delicately. The room also contained a few couches for just lounging and reading and tables with chairs for when one wanted to sit down and seriously study or work. I stepped more into the room and noticed breaks in the bookshelf and book pattern on the wall opposite to me that held windows that let in cool sea breeze into the otherwise stuffy library. "Do you like it?" the queen questioned, noting my amazed expression.

"I think," I gulped, "I will never leave this room…I'm too in love with it."

We both laughed at my statement and finished up the tour of the castle.

I awoke the next day feeling refreshed and excited for the new day ahead. When my tour of the castle ended, Queen Susan and I went to the dining hall as it was lunchtime (Funny how time flies when something interesting is happening). We had a delicious meal with Lucy and King Peter and King Edmund was surprisingly absent. "He's probably still mad at us," Lucy had sighed as we ate.

I felt angry for Lucy's sake. I barely knew the man and it was wrong of me to judge him but King Edmund was incredibly rude and moody. I dreaded when I would have to spend a few hours in class with the king as it was clear that he didn't like me.

I was pulled out of my thoughts as Blossom came in to help me get ready. After two days, we fell into a routine and were able to complete our tasks in record time. Today, I was wearing a light blue dress and my hair was pulled into a low ponytail. "Are you ready for your lessons Mari?" Blossom asked as she put the finishing touches on my dress.

I bit my lip and shrugged, "I'm excited to learn more about Narnia and I am grateful that King Peter and the queens are doing so much for me but I'm not looking forward to etiquette classes with King Edmund. It's like he doesn't want me here and it's starting to feel really uncomfortable for me."

Blossom agreed as we made our way to the dining hall. "I can imagine how you feel…King Edmund can be difficult at times, but he is a good king and he lives up to his title," the faun explained.

"What is his title?" I turned to look at her, my curiosity peaked.

Blossom grinned at my question and replied, "King Edmund the Just."

I almost tripped over my feet and stared at the faun in disbelief. She cackled at my expression and I pushed her shoulder lightly. We quickly made our way to the dining hall and surprisingly breakfast went without a hitch. There were no arguments from King Edmund and I enjoyed a peaceful breakfast before my lessons began.

After breakfast, I walked to the gorgeous library and opened the huge doors. Sitting in one of the plush couches was a badger who perked up when I walked in. "You must be Miss Mari. I am Cressrester and I will be your tutor," the badger introduced, walking up to me.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. Please call me Mari," I smiled.

The next few hours was spent with Cressrester teaching me the history of Narnia. Narnia was a lot older than I expected as we still hadn't completed King Frank and Queen Helen's rule when lunch rolled around. We had a light lunch and after, Cressrester decided to entertain me with some Narnian stories. Unfortunately, my lesson with Cressrester the badger was ending soon after and I would have to endure two hours of etiquette classes with a certain king. My tutor left and I was by myself for a few minutes until the library door opened again. The Just King entered the library whilst talking to a beaver. There was a soft smile on his face as he spoke to the animal and a look in his eyes that I could not decipher. It took the pair a few seconds to notice my presence but when they did, the beaver smiled.

"Hello dear, I am Mrs. Beaver. I'm going to teach you etiquette for the ball," she announced warmly.

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Beaver. I'm Mari," I greeted warmly.

I chanced glancing at the king and wasn't surprised to see that the smile he had on his face a minute ago disappeared and the look in his eyes turned cold. I ignored the man as I turned my attention back to the beaver. "Well, the first thing I will be teaching you is posture," she explained, "Royals and their court do not slouch and as such, when you are in the presence of royalty, your posture must be right. Edmund dear, would you like to demonstrate what I mean?"

The king in question nodded and turned one of the wooden chairs by the tables around to face us. He sat down and I had to admit that the way he sat showed that he was royalty. Mrs. Beaver then beckoned me to come closer. "As you can see, his back is straight but his chest is not pushed out. His head is also centered…with his chin not too high and not too low," she explained, "You can achieve this by practicing with a book on your head. If your posture is incorrect, the book will fall and you will have to try again."

Mrs. Beaver handed both of us a book each and motioned for us to try out the technique. I placed a chair next to King Edmund, sat down and tried to keep the book on my head. The book barely stayed on for a minute. The book slowly slid from my head and fell to the floor with a loud thud. I grinned sheepishly and picked up the book to try again. I didn't even last thirty seconds as the book fell again. A snicker was heard and my head snapped towards the king next to me. His lips were tugged into a smirk as he listened to me struggle. The book was rested on his head perfectly and I scowled at the sight. He was clearly laughing at me and that just made me more determined to get it down right. I narrowed my eyes at the king's smirking face and placed the book on my head again. For what it was worth, the book stayed on my head for five minutes before my neck started to hurt from the position that it was not used to. I tried to move to ease the pressure but that resulted in the book falling once again.

I sighed in frustration and balled my fists up. I tilted my head back to try not to cry from my failed attempt. I could hear King Edmund snickering again and I bit my lip in anger before aggressively snatching the book from the floor and almost knocking myself out with the force I used to place the book on my head.

This was going to be a long lesson.