Chapter Five ~ A Royal Wedding
Ten months had passed since Danika had left Narnia. Now, at fifteen, she had decided that it was time for her to grow up so she had become decidedly more mature. Over the past few months she had thrown herself into her studies and the politics of her country. She realised that she was the only heir to the throne of Archenland and if she were to one day be crowned then she wanted to be prepared.
Danika had missed Narnia but had tried not to think about it too much, and she had especially tried not to think about a certain Just King after the way he had acted towards her during her last stay. She had been in contact with all the other monarchs of Narnia since her departure, except him. Lucy had kept her informed of all the castle antics and she had received some particularly exciting news from Susan. Caspian had proposed to her and they were to be married on the 26th of July. Danika had been overjoyed and even more overjoyed when Susan had asked her to be a bridesmaid. She had accepted immediately of course and she knew that it would be a celebration to remember.
Eventually summer had arrived and Danika and her father found themselves fulfilling their promise to King Peter, they were traveling to spend another summer with the Kings and Queens in Narnia. Danika had put up a fight about not wanting to go but eventually her fondness for the country and most of the monarchs won and she had found herself being bundled into a carriage and leaving the country with her father silently cursing her stubbornness all the way.
A few days later, they arrived in Narnia once again and Danika found herself staring at Cair Paravel, the beautiful home of the Narnian Kings and Queens. As they entered the castle courtyard, they could see the procession of people that had gathered to greet them and right at the front stood the Kings and Queens, all with big welcoming smiles on heir faces, well all except one, but then Danika had expected no less of him.
As the carriage door was opened and she was helped out by one of the guards, something hurtled towards her and collided with her chest knocking the wind out of her. She looked down to see that it was none other than the youngest Queen of Narnia and her best friend, Lucy.
"Danika! I've missed you so much! It hasn't been the same around here since you left! Susan has been so busy planning the wedding and I've had no one to keep me company but now I do!" Lucy rambled. Danika laughed at her friend's enthusiasm.
"I missed you too Lucy," Danika gave her a hug and Lucy released her and lead her over to the others where she was practically lifted off her feet by Caspian. The people around them seemed amused by the high Kings antics, but Danika and Caspian had grown close last summer and she had come to think of his as the older brother she never had.
"You've grown!" He said mockingly as he set her back on her feet, "You are almost up to my shoulders now!" He said with a laugh. Her height had been the source of much teasing from him.
"Yeah, yeah," Danika waved it off with a laugh as she went to hug Peter who had just finished greeting her father.
"It's good to see you, Danika," Peter said as they broke apart, "Caspian is actually right you know. You have grown." She gave him a small laugh.
"Thanks Peter. It's good to see you too." Danika turned to look at Susan who enveloped her in a motherly hug which she gladly returned.
"I'm so glad you're here! There is so much to do for the wedding! We have to get you measured for your dress as soon as possible and I'm going to need your help with-" Danika decided it was time to stop her before she began hyperventilating, Danika loved Susan but she had a tendency to worry about things a little too much.
"Susan, don't worry. I'm here to help you with anything you need, everything will be fine, alright?" Susan seemed to calm down but she still looked agitated
"Alright then. But I do want to do your dress fitting today if that's possible." Susan gave her a weak smile and Danika couldn't help but laugh. Caspian came to her rescue and put his arm around his fiancée.
"Calm down my love. Danika only just got here and there is plenty of time" Susan blushed and looked visibly calmer as Caspian kissed the side of her head. Danika decided it was time to leave them alone. She looked around, Lucy was now greeting her father and Peter had gone over to the guards to arrange their belongings being taken to their rooms. That left only one person.
Danika slowly turned around to look at him. He had definitely changed over the past year. He looked much more grown up and Danika could tell that he was starting to fill out, he wasn't as gangly as she remembered. She put on her most sickly sweet smile, just like when she first met him, and walked up to him with her head held high.
"Hello Edmund" she said with as much courtesy as she could muster. He studied her for a moment with an expression that she couldn't read on his face, and then he extended a hand to her.
"Hello Danika" Edmund replied in exactly the same tone. A handshake! That's worse than when we first met! Danika thought angrily to herself. She distinctly remembered him kissing her hand, albeit reluctantly, but it was still a kiss. She quickly shook the memory from her mind.
Edmund didn't really know what to do. This was so strange, never before had he been at such a loss. He couldn't believe that he had just offered her a handshake. He mentally slapped himself. Where had that come from? Why didn't he hug her like everyone else? Then perhaps they could have forgotten about what happened last summer and moved on. Unfortunately, it seemed that fate had other plans for them. Danika was now being lead into the castle by the girls and he followed them walking beside Caspian.
Edmunds eyes followed her as she walked through the castle. She had definitely grown up over the past year. Her face had lost some of its roundness and she carried herself differently, with more confidence. Edmund found his eyes travelling lower, where he could see the curves of her body beginning to develop under her dress. He quickly shook his head to get rid of those thoughts and Caspian gave him a strange look. It was going to be a very long summer.
As Edmund predicted, the weeks did pass agonisingly slowly. Danika kept her distance from him and if he didn't know better he could have sworn that she was doing it on purpose. Thankfully the castle was thrumming with the atmosphere of the looming wedding so there were plenty of preparations to keep him busy. The entire castle was busy and no one had much free time, especially the Kings and Queens. Edmund found that Danika spent most of her time with Lucy. They had become very close and nowadays one was rarely seen without the other. Once or twice when Edmund wasn't being forced into food sampling or having his wedding suit fitted, he tried to find Danika to see if they could talk but she was always spending time with Lucy or one of his other siblings or busy doing something for the wedding. It bothered him immensely that the only person she hadn't spent time with over the past few weeks was him.
Danika thought her plan was working. She and Lucy had come up with an idea to get her and Edmund talking again. Lucy suggested that if Edmund could realise how much he missed their friendship then maybe he would apoligise and they could put it all behind them. This plan seemed to be working because every time Danika saw Edmund he seemed morose. She couldn't think of anything else that would cause him to look like that, except perhaps all the wedding planning but that was becoming irksome for everyone. If she was honest, Danika hated seeing him like this. She wished they both didn't have to be so stubborn and petty and she also hoped that he wanted to rekindle their friendship as much as she did.
Eventually, after Danika and her father had been in Narnia for a little over three weeks, the day of Caspian and Susan's wedding arrived. The planning process had been long and strenuous, mostly due to Susan being a perfectionist, and even though it was going to be a beautiful wedding and everyone was looking forward to it, they were also glad that it was almost over. Danika had just finished getting ready and she was rather pleased with they way she looked in her beautiful gold bridesmaids dress. She took one last look in the mirror and hurried out the door to Susan's chambers. On the way there she ran into Lucy who was wearing the same bridesmaids dress, but hers was in silver.
"Nice dress!" Lucy complimented Danika with a smile, Danika laughed.
"Right back at you!" the two girls giggled all the way to Susan's chambers which helped to ease their nerves somewhat.
When they opened the door both of them gasped in awe. Susan was stood in the middle of the room in front of a long mirror in the most beautiful dress they had ever seen. It had a lacy bodice and long hanging sleeves and a flowing skirt made of a floaty material that almost looked like liquid. The veil was also made of lace and trailed elegantly on the floor behind Susan. Danika was speechless. She looked over at Lucy who had tears in her eyes.
"Oh, Su! You look beautiful, I'm so happy for you!" Lucy rushed over to hug her sister, being very careful of her lovely dress.
"Thank you Lucy, you look beautiful too. You both do." Susan smiled looking over at Danika. Danika smiled at Susan, still unable to speak, partly because she couldn't find the word to tell Susan how beautiful she looked and partly because the nerves were beginning to kick in. She was going to have to walk into a room full of people on her own with all eyes on her. She may have matured a lot in the last year but she still wasn't comfortable in that situation and she probably never would be. Anyway, that didn't matter because this was Susan and Caspian's day and she would do anything they asked of her, Danika thought as she and Lucy began straightening out the back of Susan's dress as she looked on nervously. It was nearly time.
Meanwhile, in Caspian's chambers the boys weren't faring much better on the nervousness scale. Peter had been walking up and down the room for a while now. Caspian and Edmund had tried to play cards but kept getting distracted by his incessant pacing.
"Peter! Will you please stand still, you're beginning to make me nervous and the last time I checked, I was the one getting married!" Caspian practically yelled at Peter as Edmund sniggered in the background. Peter ceased his pacing and flopped down into a chair next to Edmund whilst glaring at him.
"I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm so nervous, I guess I just want everything to go smoothly, for Susan's sake." Peter ran his fingers through his sandy hair and gave a frustrated sigh. Caspian smiled and clapped Peter on the shoulder reassuringly. Over the past year or so, the two of them had developed an understanding. Their power struggle was over since Caspian was now the High King but that didn't stop the petty arguments that still occurred albeit less and less frequently. Even though they were not yet the best of friends, they now had an unspoken mutual understanding that they were a team.
Peter continued to watch as Caspian and Edmund finished their card game and occasionally joined in with their harmless banter. As time ticked on, Caspian found himself becoming nervous, his leg would involuntarily twitch every now and then. He was excited of course, he loved Susan more than he had ever loved anyone and he couldn't wait to spend the rest of his life with her, but it was an important day, not just for them, but for the whole of Narnia and he, like Peter, wanted everything to go perfectly. Eventually, there was a knock at the door and Trufflehunter entered.
"It's time to go your majesties." He announced with a smile. The three kings put on their wedding jackets and wished each other good luck as they made their way down to the Castle ground where the ceremony would be held. Once they arrived, all the guests were already seated so Edmund made his way down the aisle, since he was the best man, followed by Caspian and the two of them stood side by side in front of Aslan who was stood proudly at the alter waiting to marry the two monarchs.
Peter waited dutifully in the courtyard since he was to walk Susan down the aisle. Eventually the three girls arrived and Peter was momentarily stunned by how beautiful his little sister was. It was an emotional moment but Trufflehunter hurried them outside before any tears could be shed, there would be plenty of time for that later.
The grounds were decorated with many white rose bushes and right in the middle hundreds of chairs were lined up around the white aisle which lead to a carved wooden altar which was draped in gold silk and adorned with more white roses. It was beautiful but the best part of all was Aslan sat serenely upon the altar waiting to perform the ceremony.
Lucy was the first since she was the youngest. She practically danced down the aisle much to the endearment of the assembled guests, the youngest Queen always loved being the centre of attention. Danika was next. She tried to focus on her destination rather than on the hundreds of eyes on her, but that wasn't much help either. Edmund was staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face. Danika couldn't miss the fact that he looked quite nice in his wedding suit. She held his gaze for a few seconds and then lowered her eyes until she reached the altar and took her place beside Lucy.
Edmund was hit with a wave of emotions when he saw Danika walking down the aisle. She looked very beautiful and it reminded him of the night their friendship was ruined. He was frustrated with his own stubbornness and hers and he had been very irritable over the past few weeks. True they still didn't know each other all that well but he had missed her company over the past year, and having her here again but not being able to spend time with her or even talk to her, upset him more than he would even admit to anyone.
Edmunds thoughts were cut short when Susan and Peter began their decent down the aisle. A second happier wave of emotions washed over him when he watched his big sister as she and Caspian locked eyes. Her face was glowing and her eyes were sparkling with happiness as she looked at her soon to be husband. Edmund glanced up at Caspian only to see him beaming with joy at his bride. Edmund would never say this aloud to anyone but he secretly hoped to find someone to love that much one day.
When they approached the altar Peter gave Susan's hand to Caspian, swiftly kissed Susan on the cheek and moved to stand beside Edmund as the guests sat back in their seats. When the Great Hall was silent again Aslan stepped forward to stand before the bride and the groom.
"Welcome to all," the great lion began in his booming yet calming voice, "we are gathered here to celebrate this most joyous day, the union of High King Caspian the tenth and Queen Susan the gentle. Aslan smiled down upon the couple and they stepped forwards and knelt before him.
"Marriage is not a ritual, a beginning or an end. It is a long, intricate, intimate dance together in which nothing matters more than your choice of partner and how you work together. You have decided to spend your lives together bonded in matrimony. To seal this bond you must now recite your vows." The couple stood and turned to face each other. Caspian took Susan's hands in his and began to speak.
"I High King Caspian the Tenth of Narnia, take you Queen Susan the Gentle of Narnia, to be my constant, my friend and my love from this day forward, for as long as we both shall live." Danika had to pass a tissue to Lucy who was weeping with happiness. Susan's eyes were filled with tears of joy as she began to recite her vows.
"I Queen Susan the Gentle of Narnia, take you High King Caspian the Tenth of Narnia, to be my constant, my friend and my love from this day forward, for as long as we both shall live." Now it was Caspian's turn to be tearful but the whole procession turned to look at Peter who let out an involuntary but fairly loud sob at his sisters vows. Edmund shook his head in embarrassment even though he was looking slightly misty eyed himself. Danika couldn't help but giggle slightly at his reaction.
Aslan swiftly moved the ceremony along, kindly ignoring Peter's slight emotional outburst. The rings were brought forward by Edmund and Lucy, and Caspian and Susan placed them on each others fingers with Aslan's approval.
"There is only one great happiness in life, and that is to love and to be loved in return. Now that you have taken each other, it gives me great pleasure to pronounce you husband and wife. Caspian, you may kiss your bride." Caspian smiled sheepishly at Aslan the moved forwards to take Susan into his arms and place a tender kiss on her lips. The guests were on their feet again, but this time they were applauding. Danika, Lucy and Peter were stood around the newlyweds, who were still lost in each other, trying to applaud whilst wiping tears from their eyes. Edmund was shaking his head disapprovingly at his family but he was secretly thrilled for Susan and Caspian.
Eventually the wedding procession moved into the great hall which was decorated to match the ceremony. A feast was being held for lunch so the bride and groom, the Pevensie's, Danika and Hashim took their places on the top table and the rest of the guests filled in behind them and took their seats. After the main course, speeches were given by Peter, then a shorter one by Edmund and then a much longer one by Caspian. After the meal was finished the guests retired to freshen up for the evenings activities when a grand ball was to be held to continue the celebrations.
Danika returned with Lucy to her chambers where the two young royals spent a couple of hours re-doing each others hair and gossiping about the ceremony and the wedding guests. Danika didn't have any real female friends in Archenland so it was nice to come to Narnia and have Lucy, and of course Susan, to do girly things with. People came and went from Lucy's room, including Susan who stopped by to give them both a hug and show them her ring whilst Caspian was busy with some important guests. Peter and Hashim came by to check up on them and even Edmund stopped by to visit Lucy, but his visit was cut short when he realised Danika was with her. Danika decided she wouldn't let Edmunds childish behaviour get to her, not today.
When it was time, Lucy and Danika made their way down to the great hall where the celebrations were already in full swing. After Caspian and Susan's grand entrance they were bombarded with guests and presents and any free time they had was spent slow dancing with each other, even if it was a fast song. Peter and her father were of course busy conversing with other monarchs, Lucy had already abandoned her for her faun friends and Edmund was nowhere to be seen, not that she would have willingly chosen to spend time with him anyway.
Danika was unpleasantly reminded of her last Narnian ball when she was asked to dance several times in a row. She regretted her earlier decision of not going to find Edmund since she whished he was here now to save her as he had done last time. Danika mentally shook herself, she shouldn't be thinking about Edmund like that. Later in the evening she managed to escape so she hid out in the grounds for a while to give herself chance to recover and get her head together again.
As the evening went on the merriment increased. There was a spectacular firework display in the grounds and the guests were becoming more and more intoxicated as the evening went on and of course the people setting the standard for the guests in this department were none other than the three kings themselves. They had drank an impressive amount between them and were currently standing around the drinks table singing an old Narnian folk song, albeit rather badly, whilst trying to hold each other up, much to the amusement of the guests around them.
Susan and Lucy decided they had had enough to drink so they went over to stop them. Peter was beyond help at this point so the Queens left him in his current position which was lead on the floor halfway under the drinks table so all that was visible were his legs sticking out from under the tablecloth. Caspian and Edmund were too preoccupied pouring each other more drinks to notice where Peter had gotten to. Susan took Caspian by the hand and tried to distract him by dancing with him again. Currently she had to hold him up slightly but she was confident he would be fine in a couple of hours and she was glad he was bonding with her brothers even if it wasn't in the healthiest of ways.
Meanwhile Lucy had led Edmund out onto the balcony where she sat him down and forced him to drink some water. After a while he seemed to calm down, or he had stopped singing at least.
"Thanks, Lu. I feel a bit better now." Edmund sighed as he leant back into the bench they were sat on.
"Anytime." Lucy responded. There was a short comfortable silence between the two but Lucy felt the uncontrollable urge to talk to her brother about something that had been weighing on her mind a lot recently. "Ed, why don't you like Danika anymore? You two got along splendidly last summer." Edmund was shocked to say the least at her question but the answer immediately came to his mind.
"It's not that I don't like her, Lu. It's just that we had a fight." It never even occurred to him to lie to his little sister, she was difficult to say no to. Besides he was sure Danika had told her everything anyway.
"About what?" Perhaps Danika hadn't told Lucy everything. It comforted Edmund to know this.
"I…I don't remember." Edmund was momentarily stumped as he tried to remember their argument.
"But if you don't even remember what you fought about then surely…" Lucy was cut off by Edmund.
"Look Lucy, I don't know what you want me to do but this doesn't really have anything to do with you so just stay out of it! Yes we had a fight and yes we are no longer friends and I don't know why so yes I miss her, ok?" Lucy was somewhat shocked by his outburst but a smile spread over her face when she realised what he had said. Realisation dawned on Edmunds face when he also realised what he had said. There was no tasking it back now, and besides, it was the truth.
"If you ever tell anyone I said that…" this time Edmund was cut off by Lucy.
"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." Lucy gave him a wide smile and then she jumped off the bench and ran back into the hall leaving Edmund bemused and heavily regretting what he had told her. He was sure that was going to come back to haunt him.
Meanwhile, Lucy had been running around to try to find Danika. When she couldn't see her in the hall she ran out to the grounds and began shouting her name. Danika was sat on a bench that was well hidden by a couple of rose bushes when she heard Lucy urgently calling her. She jumped up and ran towards her voice.
"Lucy? What is it? What's wrong?" she panicked as she reached her friend.
"Nothing's wrong, everything is wonderful! I've just been talking to Edmund and he told me he misses you!" Lucy decided there was no point prolonging this any longer so she got straight to the point. She felt a bit bad betraying her brothers trust but it was for his own good. Danika stood there with wide eyes looking at Lucy thinking she may have misheard her.
"Excuse me?"
"Edmund misses you and I know you miss him so will you please just go in there and sort this out?" Lucy didn't wait for a response before she started pulling her back towards the great hall. Danika didn't put up any resistance, she was too busy trying to control all the thoughts that were flying around in her head. Edmund didn't hate her? He missed her? Then what had they been doing all summer? Before she could think anymore they were back in the great hall and Lucy pushed her in the direction of her brother. She thought she heard her friend say good luck as her feet began to subconsciously carry her towards Edmund, but she was too distracted to hear her properly. What should she say? How would he react?
Meanwhile, Edmund was blissfully unaware that Danika was walking towards him. They had just cut the cake and he had received a rather large slice which he was quite happy about. Peter made a comment about his eyes being too big for his belly and Edmund was so busy trying to think of a good comeback that he didn't notice the large puddle of wine that had been left by the kings during their earlier antics at the drinks table. Edmund slipped on the puddle, his feet flew out from underneath him and his cake flew up into the air. Edmund managed to stand back up quick enough to hear the gasps of the crowd and when he turned around to see what had happened to his cake he felt like his heart was about to jump out of his throat. Standing before him with her hair, face and most of her dress covered in double chocolate cake with an extra helping of cream, was Danika.
This is not happening. This is like those dreams where you go out in public and then you realise you're in nothing but your underwear. I'll wake up in a minute, Danika thought to herself, but unfortunately for her, it was happening. How could he do that to me? Tears began to spring to her eyes as she realised the whole room was looking at her. She had never been so embarrassed in her whole life.
Edmund didn't know what to say. He was mortified. It had been a complete accident obviously and she had to realise that. He knew how much she hated situations like this and she must be feeling horrible. Edmund felt his stomach lurch with uncontrollable guilt when he saw tears in her eyes as the crowd started whispering.
"Danika…I…I…" but he was speechless and before he could get anything out she turned on her heel and she was gone. He considered running after her but he was fairly sure that he was the last person she wanted to see right now. How did he manage to do this? He had just made everything ten times worse than it already was. He could only think of one other time in his life when he had felt lower than this.
Tears were streaming down Danika's face as she ran to her chambers as fast as her legs would carry her. When she got there she quickly stripped of her dress and began to wash the offending cake off her face and hair. When she was clean the tears were still falling. She quickly put on a nightdress, climbed into bed and hid under the covers. She had never been so embarrassed and angry before. Why did he do that to her? Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Danika?" It was her father. "Are you alright? Can I come in?" Danika didn't trust herself to speak so she kept quiet. Eventually her father went away. Danika felt guilty but she decided she would apoligise to him in the morning. Right now all she wanted was to hide in her bed and pretend that the last hour hadn't happened and that she was anywhere but here.
I apoligise for the appalling wait. I have no excuses except exams and life in general. However, my exams have finished now so I have lots more free time to dedicate to this story. I will try to post a chapter a week, hopefully more but don't quote me on that cos my plans for the summer aren't set in stone yet. I give you my solemn vow that I will however, finish this story because I have it all planned out and I am really enjoying writing it and hopefully you are too
On a brighter note… how about that Dawn Treader trailer? I am very excited! It inspired me to finish this chapter. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, do you think it looks good?
Reviews make me very happy Next chapter up very soon xxx