Disclaimer: I am not C.S. Lewis and nothing in the Narnian world belongs to me.

The coronation ceremony for Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy was underway. Watching her friends getting crowned as kings and queens of Narnia brought Airies to tears. She was overwhelmed with happiness that this day had actually come. She truly believed that she would never return to Narnia. Her hope had been completely lost. But these four amazing people came into her life and changed everything, not just for her, but for all of Narnia as well. They all deserved their crowns.

Airies wiped away her tears with her thumb and cheered loudly as Aslan declared, "I give you your Kings and Queens of Narnia!" The four Pevensies took their thrones, all looking very nervous, but also very pleased. Cries of, "Long live King Peter! Long live Queen Susan! Long live King Edmund! Long live Queen Lucy!" rang throughout the hall, but not a single soul cheered louder than Airies.

Shortly after their crowning, the coronation ball began, and Peter was asking Airies to dance.

"I'm not very good at this," he told her as he spun her around and stumbled over her feet.

"As it happens, neither am I," she admitted with a laugh.

They danced in silence for a while, save for a few laughs on Peter's part as Airies tripped over her own feet. For the most part they were just enjoying this time together.

"So, High King Peter, how do you feel?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"I'll let you know when my head stops spinning," was his reply as he spun her around again.

"You're going to be a great king, Peter. You already are at that. You have nothing to worry about."

"How do you know?" he asked. "How are you always so certain?"

"Woman's intuition," she said with a laugh, and Peter laughed too. It seemed like years ago that she had made that very same comment for the first time in the professor's back yard in England.

"I mean, really," he prompted her.

"I trust my judgement. I trust you," she told him with a smile.

Peter slowed down their dance and dipped her back. "Airies?"

"Yes, my king?" she asked with a smile as he pulled her back up, their foreheads resting against one another.

"I meant it, what I said during the battle. It wasn't just a burst of adrenaline, or me not thinking clearly because I was scared I wasn't going to see you again. I mean, I was. But that wasn't why. I love you," he said quietly while leaning his forehead against hers. "I'm sixteen, and I know most would say that I should not know what love is. But when I look at you I know it, I see it, and I feel it. I look at you, and no matter where I am, or what's going on around me, I am home."

Airies sighed. "I love you too, Peter, truly. You are my home now. I think I've known it all along since you first trespassed into my hall of the house," she said with a laugh, and Peter laughed too.

Their dance ended and Peter swiftly kissed her hand before going to dance with Susan. Edmund came over to Airies and bowed, silently asking her to dance. She curtsied, accepting, and then took his hand.

"Edmund Pevensie, the bravest king I know," she praised him, and he blushed.

"I was stupid. I jeopardized everything by going after her. But… I couldn't let her get away with what she did… to you," he said, clearly embarrassed.

"Edmund what you did… it wasn't stupid," she told him before kissing his cheek. As she did so, she heard what sounded like a heartbeat speed up. It was not her own heart beating and she quickly realized that it was Edmund's. As she pulled away from him, the heartbeat slowed down. "Huh," she said under her breath. She did not have any explanation why she could hear his heart, but it did not bother her in the slightest, not now at least. She would figure that puzzle out later.

The song ended and Edmund bowed and kissed her hand. Aslan chose that moment to ask Airies to accompany him on a walk on the beach. They walked in silence for some time. Airies could tell that something was deeply troubling him, and she thought she knew what it was, so she spared him the trouble and said, "Must you leave already?"

Aslan sighed heavily before answering. "Yes, my dearest one, you know that I must. It is part of the Deep Magic that I cannot stay in Narnia too long at one time. You understand, of course?"

"Yes but it's just… I've only just returned. I was gone three years. It was one hundred here. Am I to have no time with you at all?" They both had tears in their eyes now.

"The time will come. And I was always with you there, and I will always be with you here. Even if you cannot see me, you will feel me. And we will see each other again. You are my daughter, my very dearest one."

Airies could not control herself. She hugged the great lion with all of her might, and Aslan hugged her back, wrapping a paw around her back. "I love you, Aslan," she whispered into his mane. "I love you too, Dearest One," he said. "Do not forget that you have some of my magic inside you as well. You'll learn to control that too." The lion then kissed her face before turning away and disappearing into the horizon.

Airies felt very sad, but she also knew that this was not the last time that she would see him. Aslan was not a tame lion, but he always kept his promises. Soon, Peter joined her. He said nothing except, "We will see him again," and wrapped her into his arms. They rested against each other. As they watched the sun drift down below the water, they knew that even though the moon was coming out to say goodnight, they still had tomorrow and many more tomorrow's to look forward to.

Ten years later

High King Peter was making his way to Lady Airies' chambers. He had been working up the courage for this moment for ten years. He knew now that there would never be a perfect time to do this, so what was he waiting for? The ring in his pocket felt very heavy.

He knocked on her door and entered when she gave permission. "Airies, my love, would you- you look absolutely horrid. I thought you were getting better?"

She was wrapped in her royal blue silk robe. Her hair was wet and hanging over her left shoulder. She was standing next to her bathtub, holding onto the sides of it for dear life. Her face was pale, and there were dark circles under her eyes. "I thought I was, but it hit even worse when I awoke this morning." Her voice was hoarse and just that one sentence made her break out into a fit of coughs. "I'll kill Prince Cor for passing on his illness to me. I can't breathe Peter. I don't know how much more of this I can take."

Peter chuckled and took her by the elbow to help steady her. Whenever she got even the tiniest of colds, Airies always acted like the apocalypse was landing upon Narnia. It always seemed to be for her at least. Peter thought it was hysterical, though he would never tell her that. "You need to rest," he advised while grabbing a towel and drying her hair before leading her back to bed.

"I can't. I have council today," she whined.

"Skip it," he said with a nonchalant shrug.

"Peter, I can't skip it!" Even in her current state she sounded horrified at his suggestion.

"You're queen of Narnia, you can do whatever you want."

Airies rolled her eyes at him. "I am not queen of Narnia."

"You could be, officially I mean, if we got married."

Airies stopped trying to fight him from getting her into bed and stood up. She swayed on the spot but then steadied herself and said, "What?"

Peter had looked away from her after he said what he did, feeling nervous, but he looked at her again, reminding himself that there was nothing to be afraid of. Of course his proposal would end up being as simple as just asking her. It perfectly symbolized them. He did not need to do anything grand for her because he loved her and she loved him and that was all he needed. It was now or never. "Airies, will you-?"

But that was as far as he got. Susan, Lucy and Edmund came bursting into the room, claiming that the White Stag had been sighted and that they needed to move now if they had any hope of catching it. Peter looked at Airies apologetically.

"You go. You know what this means, and how much luck the stag will bring. Go. No, don't kiss me, I'm-!" but she was interrupted by Peter crushing his lips upon hers. "-sick," she finished once he pulled away.

"Then I shall be sick with you. I love you!" he called as he ran after his brother and sisters. "Good luck!" She shouted after them. "And Ed, tomorrow we pick up with your training! You've had a vacation from me long enough!" She heard his laugh echo from down the hall and she smiled despite how absolutely awful she felt.

Airies had gotten back into bed and done as Peter advised. She sent Tumnus in her place for the council meeting and spent the rest of the day napping. When she awoke, it was dusk and it was eerily quiet. She could make out the waves crashing against the beach below, and she managed to get out of bed and left her room to find the usual bustle of the castle going on around her, but it still seemed far too quiet.

She found Tumnus in the great hall and asked if he had heard from their majesties. "I have not, m'lady. I have been starting to get a little worried myself," he admitted. She was about to tell him not to say that when a dwarf came running through the doors. "My lady! Sir Tumnus! Your highnesses horses have returned alone, without the kings and queens."

Airies did not wait to hear any more. She took off for the stables, with Mr. Tumnus hot on her heels. She found Edmund's horse first, for he was the only talking beast among the four. He was whining and pawing at the ground. "Whoa Philip! What happened?" she stroked his mane and got him to calm down.

"The kings and queens have disappeared," he explained. Airies felt faint, and not because she was ill.

"What do you mean?" Tumnus asked.

"We stopped for a rest, and Queen Lucy found a lamppost. They all examined it for a moment before Queen Lucy took off into the brush, as if she was searching for something. They all followed, but none came back," Philip told them.

"Lamppost?" Airies questioned, but then all at once a memory came back to her of a time long ago where she and the other four came through a wardrobe in Professor Digory Kirke's home and landed into Lantern Waste of Narnia. And she realized what had caused the quietness around her.

She could no longer hear Edmund's heartbeat, because he was no longer in this world.

When she sent her fire coursing through him that day when he was turned to stone, she had unknowingly connected the two of them together. She had been hearing his heartbeat ever since. She had grown so accustomed to it that she often forgot she could even hear it, she was that used to it. But she definitely noticed its absence now.

"So, they're gone? They've returned to England," Airies stated, trying to keep her tone neutral.

"Not by choice, Lady Airies, purely by coincidence. Queen Lucy did not know where that path would take her," Philip reassured her.

"What should we tell Narnia?" Tumnus asked.

"The truth. We shall tell them the truth. Call the council back, Mr. Tumnus please. I will speak to them."

With that, Airies escaped to her room. She ran out to her balcony and looked across the water. "Come back to me, Peter. Come back," she whispered, and then she blew a breath out into the night. All around her a faint breeze picked up. It traveled along the beach and out over the water, carrying her words with it.

Peter was toppling out of the wardrobe in the spare room with his siblings right behind him. They were just children once again, dressed in their old clothes, no longer kings and queens. A sinking feeling dropped into his stomach as he realized where he was. Was any of that real, or had they been playing a game this whole time? As he thought this, he felt something hard drop into the pocket of his trousers, and pulled out the ring he had planned to give to Airies earlier that very same day. He promised himself that he would keep it safe for her until he saw her again. For just as Aslan had said, once a king of Narnia, always a king of Narnia.

The professor found them all like this and asked what they were doing in the wardrobe. With a twinkle in his eye, he told them to follow him and tell him their story. Peter brought up the rear of their group, and just as he was about to cross the threshold, he felt a breeze come at him from out of the wardrobe, and a voice only he could hear said, "Come back to me, Peter. Come back." Peter closed his eyes, savoring the sound. "I will, Airies," he vowed. "I will."

Author's Note: Thank you so much for those of you that have made it to the end of this story. This adventure really was purely for myself. I would not have felt better if I had left the story the way that it had been before. But now that I've finished this first installment, I do feel much better. Again, thank you so much to those that have taken the time to read this! Aslan knows I appreciate it! :)