DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything related to The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S Lewis.

Author's Note: Hi everyone, thanks so much for the favourites and follows, I really hope you guys will enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 4

As the crowd dispersed after King Peter's well- received speech, no one could stop smiling. It seemed nobody could stop talking about how great the humans were. To us they were faultless. Because everyone was in such a good mood, many of us decided to have celebrations. Everyone was informally invited.

We all met in a large clearing in the woods on the inland side of the palace. We gathered that evening and celebrated as only centaurs, satyrs, fauns, talking animals, dryads, water nymphs, dwarves and any other creatures imaginable could, even a minotaur arrived. The fauns played the music that they were so famous for. We danced, holding hands, in large circles where everyone was welcome. There were no differences between us. We were all Narnians. The smaller animals; badgers, rabbits, beavers; brought food and laid it all out for us. There was never too little food or too little laughter and merriment. We danced and celebrated for hours and hours. It was only when the sun began to rise the following morning that everyone finally realised how tired they were. In groups or one by one, everyone left the clearing and wandered sleepily back to their homes to get some rest. My family and I returned to the river and fell asleep as soon as we fell onto our beds.

It was noon when I finally woke. The sun was high and bright as it streamed in through my window. After a large breakfast I decided to go for a walk to try to shake off the sleepiness. None of my sisters wanted to come and neither did my mother. My father was up at the palace and so I strolled along the river towards the ocean by myself. There weren't any other creatures and so there was a great peace and quietness around me. I followed the river as it bended to the left and walked to the riverbank where I sat with my feet in the water. There were daisies growing in the grass and I picked them and made a daisy chain, singing softly to myself one of the songs a faun had sang the previous night.

"That's a beautiful song." a young girl stepped out from the group of trees nearby. I got a fright as I was startled out of my thoughts. I gasped, stopped singing, quickly stood up and turned to face the little girl. When I saw who it was though, I stood for a moment frozen with surprise before quickly sinking into an awkward half curtsey.

"Queen Lucy." my voice was shaky and all I wanted to do was to run away.

She looked at me with concerned eyes and her voice was warm and happy though filled with a slight mix of what I guessed she wanted to be reassurance, "Please, call me Lucy. I still find it odd that people call me 'Queen'." She smiled but I was still too dazed to do anything but stare at her. Her smile waned a little as the silence became slightly awkward. She tried to ease the silence with some conversation, "That is a beautiful daisy chain." She pointed to the daisy chain in my hands that I had just finished before she had appeared.

"Thank you." I tried to add a smile with my words. She seemed to appreciate it and walked closer as she carried on saying, "I wish I could make daisy chains, but each time I try they fall apart and so I've given up." She stopped in front of the water and looked out across it.

"If you would like, you may have this one." I held out the daisy chain to her. As she looked down at my outstretched hand, her ever present smile brightened.

"Oh, thank you very much!" she took it in her hands and examined it with great care. She looked back up at me with a slightly shy expression, "Do you think you could put it in my hair?"

I smiled with genuine warmth and replied, "Of course." She smiled, handed me back the daisy chain and sat down on the grass. I sat behind her and gently plaited the daisy chain into her golden brown, short hair. While I did this she spoke with much more openness. It seemed we both felt the awkwardness had disappeared completely.

"I noticed how beautifully your hair has been done."

I was flattered by the compliment and smiled, "Thank you, my sister did it for me but I asked her to show me how to do it as well." A few days ago I had asked Liliana- who always did my hair in a particularly beautiful way- to show me how to arrange the hair like she did. She showed me on my sister Ilisa's hair. She had explained exactly what to do and I had practised on Ilisa's hair. I wasn't good enough to do it on my own hair and so earlier, before I set out on my walk, I had asked Liliana to arrange my hair in the special way. She had used white and red ribbons in my hair as well.

There was a pause and I finished putting the daisies in her hair before I said, hesitantly but rather spontaneously, "I can show you if you would like."

She turned and smiled at me, "That would be lovely! But I don't have any ribbons for you to use and they would look beautiful." she looked pensive for a moment before answering, "Why don't you come up to the palace? Susan has lots of ribbons that we could use, she wouldn't mind at all. And there would be a mirror." she smiled at me but I suddenly didn't think it would be a good idea anymore.

"Oh, I couldn't..." I tried to think of an excuse, I was too scared and nervous to go to the palace.

She looked disappointed, "Please? It wouldn't be for very long," she paused for a moment, "unless, you really can't come." The disappointed expression on her face looked so genuine that I reluctantly found myself agreeing to go with her. The disappointed look disappeared and was replaced with another of her dazzling smiles as she exclaimed, "Marvellous!"

I smiled but said nothing. She turned to walk and together we began our way up the hill to Cair Paravel. As we walked we talked about the river, the beach, the palace. She asked me where I lived, how many siblings I had and what their names were. She suddenly blushed and turned to me, "I'm so sorry, I haven't thought to ask! What is your name?"

I smiled and said, "It is no problem, my name is Mitha, your majesty." I bowed my head and once more she told me to please call her 'plain old Lucy'.

When we got to the large door into the inner courtyard, Lucy told me to follow her and instead of going through the large and imposing front doors, we walked around the outer courtyard until we finally came to a small door, used by the servants, she told me. She pulled out a key and unlocked the door. The door led into a small, dark corridor that opened into a small passage which led to another door which opened into a larger, more grand and beautiful hallway. There were a few creatures walking and going about doing whatever it was they were doing. As we passed they all bowed and curtsied and said, "Good Afternoon, your Majesty." before carrying on. Lucy bowed her head to them all and said, "Good Afternoon!" back.

We walked up a beautiful set of stairs, down various corridors and turned many corners before we came to a wonderfully carved door. She knocked once and opened the door when a beautiful voice came from inside saying, "Come in." I followed Lucy into the room and couldn't help but gasp at the expensive interior. The floor was carpeted with a rich royal blue thick carpet, the walls were also covered in blue. There were two large sofas where a young woman with dark, flowing hair, a golden crown and a royal purple dress sat, reading a book. There was a large desk made of a dark wood that looked out of one of the large windows. A glass door opened out onto a balcony with an awe-inspiring view looking out over the ocean. A separate door led from the room into what I guessed must be the bedroom.

"Lu, what is it? Who's this?" the young woman asked. It was Queen Susan and I noticed how much older she looked now compared to when I first saw her on horseback, before she was queen.

"This is Mitha, the water nymph I spoke to on the side of the road when we first arrived here with the army. You remember?" Susan looked at me with her blue eyes and I felt like I was being scrutinised under a magnifying glass. Soon though, she smiled at me and said, "Of course," she stood up from the sofa, came up to me and bowed her head, "It's wonderful to meet you, Mitha, I'm Queen Susan."

I curtsied and said, "And you, your Majesty."

Lucy drew her sister's attention away from me as she said, "Mitha's going to show me how her sister did her hair. I was wondering whether I could borrow one or two of your ribbons." Susan smiled again, agreed and showed Lucy and I into her bedroom, where she walked over to her dressing table, which was large and grand, found the box she was looking for and handed it to Lucy. I was standing by the doorway to the bedroom, too shy to go any further, until Lucy called me over to help her choose. Inside the box were ribbons of every colour and type. I chose a gold ribbon that I knew would look perfect in her golden brown hair. Lucy asked whether one would be sufficient but I assured her it would be. When Lucy had thanked Susan for the ribbon, we left and Lucy took the lead as she showed me to her room. It wasn't a far walk, only down the hall. Her room was very similar to Queen Susan's, except perhaps less grand and more modest. It was also homier. She led me into her bedroom which again was similar to Susan's. She sat down at her much smaller dressing table and I began to work. I removed the daisy chain, brushed her hair through and then tried to remember the steps Liliana had told me. As I worked, we talked and laughed and I found myself loving Lucy's company more and more. When I had finished, I handed her a handheld mirror which she used with the mirror in front of her dressing table to look at the back of her head with. She gasped and congratulated me, saying, "Thank you, Mitha, it is beautiful!" She stood up, turned around and hugged me. It took me by surprise but I didn't have any problem with hugging her back. She then pulled away and said, "I wish you could come here and do my hair for me every day!" She grinned and I laughed, "Me too!"

She stopped smiling and looked at me with thoughtful eyes. "Well, why don't you?" suddenly she became excited and was grinning again. "Mitha, I have a request." I wondered what she was going to say.

"Anything, your Majesty."

"Would you consider," she hesitated and stuttered slightly, "being my lady-in-waiting?" She smiled. I hesitated before answering, "Lady-in-waiting?" my voice was slightly confused. She said quickly, "Yes, well, that's just what it's called, you would live in the palace and help me to dress and do my hair and go on walks with me. You could come with me and my siblings when we travelled and see amazing places all over Narnia! And I would get to spend all my time with you, my friend." her smile was warm as she called me her friend. I knew she was sincere and for a moment couldn't believe it. I could be the Queen's lady-in-waiting! It seemed like a fairy-tale. I was always craving adventure, not satisfied with doing nothing all day. Queen Lucy was the kindest person I had ever met and she had been very friendly to me, even if I hardly knew her.

"Queen Lucy, of course I would love to be." I grinned at her and she grinned back and laughed, "Oh, Mitha, thank you! We shall have so much fun!" She hugged me again, "I will go right away and ask my brother, Peter, if it will be alright. Will you go and ask your parents? I will come back to where we met today by the river and if Peter gives his consent; which I'm sure he will; then I will come and talk to your parents and arrange the whole thing myself."

A/N: Next chapter next week:) Leave a review to let me know what you think. -Cloey