-Chapter 1-
A/N: Welcome back to "Mostly the Magnificent," everyone! Haha, I was writing this the entire time I was writing the rest of "Just the Justice." I couldn't bear to stop writing it, because I knew what would happen in the latter, but I wasn't sure where my fingers would take me when I was writing this story. I mean, I have the plotline figured out, but that's for the big events. I usually just do whatever I want to in the dialogue and small events and stuff. So… yeah. Don't forget to review!
Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia.
The quill flew back and forth, back and forth across the page. It formed words that Peter didn't want to read. And so he didn't. But that did not mean that he wouldn't have to hear.
"King Peter?" Caspian asked.
Peter looked up at his former arch-enemy. Back during the war between the Telmarines and the Narnians, they had been under so much stress; there wasn't a moment in each day that they weren't fighting. But ever since the Pevensies had returned to Narnia in early summer, the two kings had become great friends.
It had only been a year since they left Narnia, both in their time and Narnian time. They were still yet to figure out why they had returned, as it seemed Narnia was perfectly peaceful. But the four teenage children knew that they had better enjoy their stay for as long as they could; Aslan had a mysterious way of letting them go to and from the magical country.
"Yes?" Peter asked, looking down at where Caspian was sitting in a wooden chair before a desk, also of wood, formerly writing a letter.
"It is done." There was a pause. "Would you like to see?"
Peter stared blankly at his friend. "Do I have a choice?"
"No," Caspian smirked in humor.
"Oh, you little-!" Peter said before mock punching the Telmarine king.
"Hey, go hit your sister if you are so angry about it!" Caspian laughed, sitting back in his chair and rocking on its two back legs.
Of course, Caspian was referring to the ball that Susan was planning. He had been watching his friend write the invitations all day long. They had been lying to Susan for far too long; tonight was the evening of the ball and they simply couldn't put off the preparations any longer.
Just then, King Edmund entered Caspian's bedroom. He strode over to his brother and friend and grabbed the letter from Caspian's hand.
"Get these sent. Now," Edmund said seriously. He opened the folded invitation card and read, nodding in approval when he finished. Edmund placed it back inside the envelope before handing it back to Caspian. Frowning, he looked around the room.
"What's wrong, King Edmund?" Caspian asked.
"The invitations..." he muttered, still searching. He looked back to the two men next to him. They both gave the eighteen-year-old king a strange look. "Where are they?"
The older kings exchanged glances and gulped. They knew what was going on now. Peter reached his arm behind his head and scratched his neck nervously. Caspian fidgeted with his hands. Each was waiting for the other to respond.
"Pete, Caspian... where are the rest of the invitations?" Edmund asked hesitantly.
"Err..." Peter said. "That may be the only one we've done yet..."
Edmund raised both of his eyebrows in disbelief. Both of the twenty-one-year-old kings nodded to confirm what the blonde one had said.
"Pete, how could you? And here everybody always thought you the orderly one. Who's orderly now?!" Edmund burst out. He began pacing around his friend's room. "Su is down in the ballroom getting ready and about to have a heart attack while you two goofs are up here doing Aslan-knows-what!"
At the end of his last sentence, he turned on his heel to face Caspian and Peter, fuming. Edmund's face was boiling red as he glared between his brother and his other brother (for all intents and purposes).
Peter had never seen his brother this mad. Not in a long time, at least. But Caspian never had, at least not since he witnessed the fight...
Then, she heard it. "You haven't left yet?"
Even though she didn't have to; Avaline could recognize his voice anywhere, she turned to see Edmund slowly strolling toward her.
They locked eyes and Avaline somehow found it impossible to look away. The depth of his dark brown eyes made it out of the question to so; she was drowning. When he was close enough for her to touch him, he stopped and stood before her. She studied his eyes, to know what he was thinking, but his face was blank and expression unreadable.
"No," Avaline replied, never breaking their gaze. "I wanted to talk to you."
"Why?" he asked. That's when her train of thought suddenly changed because, if the truth be told, she honestly didn't know why. She simply felt this urge to talk to him one last time before this whole thing began.
"I—I don't know," she answered.
"Well then maybe I should leave," he replied coolly, turning on his heels quickly.
"No, Edmund, wait!" she cried. He paused but remained where he was, his back to the brown-haired princess. "What is up with you?"
"Nothing is wrong, okay?" he shouted, facing her again. "Why won't you just mind your own business?"
"Because obviously something is wrong. I was just trying to help-"
"Well you know what? I don't need your help. So just do me a favor and butt out."
She gasped at his words; she had never been spoken to by him like this before. "Ed, please… you can't go out there like this. Just talk to me," Avaline pleaded with him.
He shook his head stubbornly. "Edmund, please—it pains me to see you like this!" Avaline begged.
He was silent for a moment. "You know what?" he said, his voice a bit softer now. He took a step toward the Telmarine girl. "I'm sorry I yelled at you like that. It was wrong of me. But I will say one other thing, too. When you are confused about your feelings for someone, it takes a lot to un-confuse yourself, right?" she nodded in response. "Well I'm trying hard to do that, and I'm sorry, but we can't be friends until I do. It just won't be the same between us. I'm sorry." And with that he left.
There was a long silence before Edmund sighed loudly, obviously exasperated by the carelessness of the two other males that made up his family and life.
"Well all I have to say is that you'd better get them done!" he told them angrily before he marched out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
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"Edmund?" a loving voice said. The Just King turned to face Queen Avaline.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Passionate Queen," he joked, grabbing a strand of her medium brown hair and twirling it between his fingers.
Avaline smiled up at the man she loved before saying, "I haven't seen you all day. Where have you been?"
"You don't want to know," he replied, rolling his eyes.
She stroked a fingertip across his cheek. "Are you sure about that?"
Edmund chuckled and leaned in. His lips met hers and they kissed. Avaline smiled into the kiss and her love interest followed suit. He had always had a weakness for her smiles, even if he couldn't see them.
Avaline deepened their kiss by wrapping both arms around Edmund's neck... or at least trying to. The dark-haired king reached behind him, unwound her arms, and locked them together in front of her with his hands.
"It's no wonder they call you the 'Passionate Queen,'" he chuckled. "You're really good at this kissing thing."
The Telmarine queen giggled girlishly at his witty comment and blushed. Edmund noticed this and cupped her left cheek with his hand. "I love how warm your face gets when you blush," he said, placing a kiss on the tip of her nose.
"I know,"Avaline said, giggling again.
He glanced down the hall, hearing footsteps and, being the jokester of a brother Edmund was, he brought his head down to meet Avaline's lips once again. Their mouths were interlocked in a kiss until Edmund felt a tap on his shoulder, but he ignored it and continued kissing her.
"Ahem," someone said, clearing their throat loudly and purposely. This just about scared the stew out of poor Queen Avaline, who nearly jumped a foot in the air in surprise. She realized the unruly situation she was in, and quickly smoothed out the skirt of her forest green skirt of her dress and combed through her hair with her fingers.
When she was done, she looked up to see Susan standing before her and her brother. The Gentle Queen eyed them carefully before saying, "If you two lovebirds are finished over here, I'd love it if you'd go get changed for the ball."
"Ah, do I have to?" Edmund whined, making Avaline giggle. He playfully poked her side and she screeched a loud, high-pitched squeal.
"Yes," Susan said, but she could tell the two weren't listening as Edmund tickled Avaline's stomach and she laughed uncontrollably. "Well, I know they'll be a while," she muttered under her breath, walking away to Peter's room.
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Peter had returned to his room shortly after he and Caspian finished sending the invitations to the guests-to-be. For the past twenty minutes he had been lying on his back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He had his arms crossed behind his neck and his ankles crossed.
He heard voices outside the door, but they were muffled; he couldn't hear anything. He could tell, however, that they were the voices of his two sisters.
Peter heard departing footsteps, heavy ones, walking away from his door. He recognized the heavier footsteps as Susan's since she weighed more than Lucy and a little more than Avaline' therefore making her walking louder.
The door knob turned and in walked Lucy, her hair in curlers and little foam dividers between her fingernails, which were glistening with a new shiny clear coat she must have applied. The Valiant Queen closed the door behind her and came to sit on her big brother's bed.
"Hi," she said. He nodded in response, and they sat in silence for a few minutes. "Susan wanted me to tell you to get ready. She wants you to wear your blue tunic."
"Again?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Susan never allowed him to wear the same ball tunic twice, making this a first time. If Susan were your sister, you'd understand what Peter was feeling.
Lucy nodded and they were again in silence. Peter had sat up on the bed by now and had scooted over to allow Lucy some room to sit also. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, one leg crossed on top of the bedspread and the other hanging off the side of the bed, her toes touching the wooden floor.
"Is everything okay, Peter?" Lucy asked.
"Yes, of course," the High King replied, composing his face. Unfortunately, Lucy knew him far too well for his efforts to be of any use. She raised an eyebrow disbelievingly and he sighed.
"Fine, I'll tell you. I had a dream last night about a girl. I couldn't exactly see her face; she had blonde hair and was pretty, though.
"I dreamt that she was fleeing from something... or someone. I don't know which. I found her in the woods unconscious and when she came to, she told me she was betrothed... to me."
Lucy listened intently to her brother's story until he stopped and she knew the dream must've ended. Peter looked at her expectantly, as if waiting for her to say something in response. She sighed. "Peter, what do you want me to say?"
"I don't know. Anything to take my mind off of it." He shook his head so as to clear his thoughts. "This dream was different. It seemed so real, and it had this magical air to it that made me think it truly was real."
"Maybe," Lucy began, "It was a sign from Aslan. After all, this wouldn't be the first time he's come to one of us in a dream."
"Maybe you're right," Peter said, nodding. They once again sat in silence until Lucy stood, gave her older brother advice from Susan on what to wear and what he still needed to do, and then she left.
So Peter was left to wonder whether he really was betrothed.
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"You should've seen her face when she saw me watching, though, Luc!" Susan laughed with Lucy, retelling how she had caught Edmund and Avaline kissing in the hallway earlier that day.
"Okay, I think we've repeated that story far too many times," Avaline said, placing a tan hand on Susan's shoulder, which was clad in a red-violet color.
Susan's ball gown was definitely fit for a queen. A very rich queen, to say the least. It had long sleeves that were tight around the shoulders until they became embroidered by a gold band, which then allowed the rest of the sleeves to fill out widely around her arms. There was a gold waistline to the gown. All throughout it were medium-sized black swirly designs, and at the hem of the skirt was black embroidery. It was quite attractive attire for the Gentle Queen.
Lucy was changing into a bright orange gown with brown embroidery with it. Her straight strawberry-blonde hair (even with the curlers, her hair had simply refused to curl!) hung straight down her back with one orange clip that matched her dress clipping back a section of her grown-out bangs.
Avaline was wearing a more mature gown that evening. Susan and Lucy, being from the Golden Ages, preferred to wear more olden ball gowns, but Avaline was prone to switching things up once in a while.
Tonight she wore a figure-hugging, long-sleeved black gown that was covered from top to bottom with black glitter. The gown perfectly accented her waist. It had a neckline that began about an inch and a half under the base of her neck. Every time she moved, the gown glittered from the neckline all the way to the hem at the floor. Her hair was done in a loose bun with a few strands hanging loose to frame her face.
When all three girls were ready, they headed to the boys' rooms. Avaline gathered Edmund, Susan got Caspian, and Lucy rounded up Peter. These three pairs escorted each other down the grand staircase leading in Cair Paravel's ballroom, where many Narnians cheered, greeted, and gushed over the kings and queens.
The ball had been planned to celebrate the Pevensies' return to Narnia a few weeks before, and as expected, nearly half the population of Narnia came. Also, a few Calormenes from Calormen came along with a small group from Archenland.
The ball was a hit, but the party had just begun.