Hello again! I had extra time tonight, so I decided that I'd grace you with another chapter. I doubt I'll be able to upload chapters back-to-back like this very often, but tonight, you got lucky. You might even get a third chapter...who knows?

Disclaimer: see chapter 1

After a moment, the Lion exited his tent, and everyone knelt. I understood why. One look at the majestic golden Lion, and I was on my knees. Even if I'd wanted to, I couldn't have done anything else in that moment. Aslan was more amazing and magnificent and splendid and glorious than I ever could have dreamed. He greeted us each by name, and then asked where Edmund was. Peter bravely answered, but I could tell that it was hard for him to speak. Lucy's plea for the Lion to help her brother nearly broke my heart. Beaver loudly announced that he had gone to the Witch, which caused everyone listening to roar in outrage.

I rolled my eyes. I wished they wouldn't judge him so quickly. Edmund was simply a boy who'd made a very big mistake. I had no doubt that he was learning the error of his ways. The Lion roared for quiet, and promised to help find Edmund. He called a Nymph and a Faun forward to guide us humans to our tents.

The tent the Nymph led us to was large enough for Susan, Lucy, and I. It was comfortable looking, with rugs on the ground and sleeping hammocks covered in blankets and pillows. There were clothes in trunks on the ground, which the Nymph assured us were made to fit us. Susan and Lucy changed into dresses, but I chose to keep my outfit on, as it was quite comfortable.

The three of us decided to wander around for a bit. It didn't take us very long to find a nearby creek, where we decided to stay for a while. Susan and Lucy talked a bit and splashed each other in the creek, while I stayed back a bit and examined my new book. Of course, I was still paying attention to my surroundings, mainly because I knew Maugrim was going to show up sooner or later. My attentiveness paid off. I managed to catch a glimpse of fur out of the corner of my eye. Acting as normal as I could, I carefully put my book away and stood, heading over to the small table a Nymph had set out for us with some refreshments, and where Susan had hung her horn. I'd just reached it when I heard Susan scream as she reached for a towel and found Maugrim waiting behind it. Quickly, I grabbed the horn and tossed it to Susan as she flung the towel in Maugrim's face. She grabbed the horn and started climbing one of the trees while I helped Lucy climb another one. I kicked a wolf in the snout, and then turned and slashed at the other wolf, making him back up just enough for Susan to pull me up to where I was safe. As soon as I was settled, she blew the horn twice. A couple minutes later, Peter rushed into the clearing, with Aslan and some of the soldiers right behind him. Aslan held the others back as Peter successfully killed Maugrim, the wolf I'd slashed at with my knife. Aslan had the other one trapped under his massive paw, and once Maugrim was dead, the Lion let the trapped wolf go, with orders to the soldiers to follow him. They raced off as Aslan admonished Peter for not cleaning his sword. Once the blade was wiped clean on the grass, Aslan had Peter kneel, and the Lion knighted the boy. Peter was now Sir Peter Wolfsbane, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Lion. After, Peter came over to make sure we were all right. I guessed that he wanted a private word with his sisters, so I excused myself and started walking in the direction of the camp. I ambled along slowly, relishing the peace and quiet. For the first time in a couple of days, I could actually think without there being something urgent to distract me. I looked around for a spot to just sit and contemplate everything that had happened in the past few days. Finding one, I sat down and closed my eyes, only to open them a few minutes later when I heard heavy footsteps coming toward me. I expected to see someone coming to find me and escort me back to camp, but instead I saw the golden Lion heading towards me. I got up as he approached and bowed.

"Aslan," I greeted him.

"Alexa," He replied. "How are you, child?"

I sighed. "As well as can be expected, I suppose, considering I'm now part of a world that I previously believed was completely fiction."

He chuckled. "Come here, Daughter of Eve."

I obeyed, going up to the Great Cat and burying my hands in his gloriously soft mane. Being near him gave me peace, and within minutes I was feeling so much better. Aslan and I talked for quite a while. I found it so easy to pour out all my troubles on him, and he gave me some advice, and encouraged me. Somehow, we ended up back at camp, which surprised me, because I didn't remember moving. Finally, Aslan shooed me away, saying that he had other business to attend to. I nodded and gave him one last hug before heading off to find the others. It was easy to find them, as they were all by the girl's tent. I greeted them, and then ducked inside to change, since my outfit was ripped and dirtied. It was quite sad. I liked that outfit. I found some black leggings and boots on my hammock, with a pretty short-sleeved, dark purple tunic with silver embroidery and a black belt. I changed into that, hung my daggers from the belt, and put on my gloves. Just as I finished, Susan and Lucy came in for something. I carefully put my other clothes away in the trunk, and then went outside, where I found Peter waiting for us. Once the girls came out, we went to eat some supper. It was late when we finally got up from the table, and so the four of us decided to go to bed.

I woke up early the next morning to the sounds of Susan trying to get Lucy to be a bit quieter as the two of them got ready for the day. I decided that going back to sleep would be useless, so I got up and got dressed in the same outfit as the night before, only this time, I included my sunglasses. I stepped out of the tent, and the first thing I saw (other than a gorgeous sunrise) was Peter, looking at something in the distance. I followed his gaze and saw Aslan talking to Edmund. I didn't say anything, instead choosing to simply watch and wait. A few moments later, Susan and Lucy came out, and Lucy's excited cry broke the silence of the morning.

"Edmund!"

I held her back, shaking my head. "Give them a few moments."

She nodded, but by then it didn't matter, as Edmund was already headed toward us, with Aslan right behind him. The Lion reminded us that the past was over and done with, and then left us alone. Lucy enthusiastically hugged her brother, and then Susan did the same, albeit with less energy.

Stepping forward, I gave him a smile. "It's good to see you, Edmund." I gave him a hug, and then stepped back.

Peter stared at his brother for a moment, and then ordered him to go rest. I glared at the blond. Peter saw my expression and scowled at me, but he did call his brother's name. Edmund looked back like he was afraid Peter was going to start yelling at him, but all the older boy did was smile wryly and tell him not to wander off. Edmund smiled and went off in the direction of the boy's tent.

Once Edmund was out of sight, Peter went off by himself to a cliff with a great view of what I assumed was Cair Paravel. I guessed he wanted to think for a while. Susan and Lucy headed back into our tent, to rest or talk or something. I decided to go see if I could find the training grounds and practice some. I somehow managed to find them without getting lost, although I had to ask directions from several people.

There were a few people there when I arrived, but none of them were at the archery range, so I decided to start there first. I really didn't want to embarrass myself in front of these soldiers. I started out small, just throwing one of my knives (very, very carefully) at a target from a few yards away. After a while, I started to get the hang of it, and I began to move farther away from the target. Eventually, I realized what time it was. Crud. I was supposed to meet the Pevensies for lunch. I sheathed my daggers and started running.

I arrived at the lunch table out of breath. Lucy saw me first and waved.

"Come sit next to me, Alexa!" I smiled and obeyed as I caught my breath. I grabbed a plate and started loading it. After a few minutes, Lucy looked at me curiously.

"Why were you so out of breath?"

"I was over at the training grounds, practicing with my new knives," I replied. "I was nearly late for lunch, so I ran all the way here."

Lucy grinned.

"They've got a nice archery range, and it was empty. It was good to practice on," I said.

"Hmmm…" mused Susan, "Maybe I should go check it out."

Peter finally spoke from his spot leaning against a nearby boulder. "Why bother? It's not like you'll have your bow in England."

Susan, Edmund, Lucy and I looked at each other in confusion.

"No, but we're not in England, Peter, so that doesn't matter." Susan said.

"Not yet, you aren't. But you four are going home," Peter said simply. The rest of us were too shocked to protest, so he went on. "I promised Mum and Dad that I'd protect you," he told his siblings, "We left a war back in England, and now you want to join another one? It's too dangerous." He turned to me. "Alexa, it's too dangerous for you as well. I don't want you getting hurt. I plan to stay and help, but I'm sending you four home, where it's safe."

I glared at him. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Lucy, who looked like she was about to cry. Slowly, I stood and faced Peter, who was already standing. When I spoke, my voice was calm, but I'm pretty sure it was evident that I was trying not to yell.

"What gives you the authority to make that decision for me, Peter? We've only known each other for three days!" I sighed and tried to calm myself down. "Look, I think it's sweet that you want to protect me, but you have no right to send me home. I'm four years older than you, and perfectly capable of making my own decisions. This particular choice is mine to make. It's not something that I can allow others to make for me. I know how serious it is. I know that I'll have to fight a war if I stay. I'm well aware of those facts." I paused for a moment, gathering my thoughts. "Thank you for looking out for me, Peter. I truly appreciate that. However, regardless of what you've decided for me, I'm making my own choice. And I choose to stay."

And with that, I turned and walked away, headed toward the training fields again. I needed to work out some irritation, and training was a good way to do that without harming anyone. I arrived to find that the archery range was still empty. I threw my knives for a few minutes, but then Susan and Lucy arrived, and we all decided to try archery. I was horrible, but Susan and Lucy were decent at it. They helped me, and after an hour, I was able to hit the target every time, although it was always in the outer two rings. Lucy tried her hand at throwing her dagger after a while, and she was surprisingly good. Finally, I had to stop because my arms were incredibly sore. I decided I'd go take a nap, so I headed back to the tent I shared with Susan and Lucy. I got intercepted on the way there by the centaur General, Oreius, who decided that since I wasn't doing anything of importance, I should join him for a lesson. I grumpily followed him back to the training fields, where he found me a sword, and started teaching me stuff. After a while, he set me against Edmund and had us spar. Edmund managed to knock my sword out of my hands within the first five minutes, but I simply drew my knives and kept going. Somehow, I knew exactly what to do with them, and within ten minutes of the fight starting, I beat Edmund. After that, Oreius taught me more about my knives and what I could do with them rather than teaching me more about the art of the sword.

Finally, four hours later, Oreius let us go for supper. Peter, Edmund, and I were incredibly sore, and we had numerous bruises, so before we headed to the supper table where Susan and Lucy were no doubt waiting for us, we stopped by the healer's tent to see if they could help us. When we left a couple minutes later, we were thanking the healer profusely for the jars of cream she'd given us. We didn't even have to explain how sore we were. We simply walked in and told her that we'd been training with Oreius. She gave us a sympathetic smile and handed us clay jars before explaining what we needed to do with them. I knew that if I sat down, I wasn't going to get up again, so I ducked into my tent to rub the cream on myself before supper. Peter and Edmund followed my example.

Once we finally arrived at dinner, we found Susan and Lucy already there, waiting for us. They laughed when we told them why we were late. Edmund started to complain about the lack of sympathy that we were receiving, but that only caused Susan and Lucy to tease him more, so he stopped.

Right after supper, Peter, Edmund and I went to bed. Oreius wanted us up and ready to go by seven am the next morning, and I knew that if I didn't go to bed right away, I wasn't going to get up before noon the next day.