The Wedding of the Millennium

"Now, my friend, you can finally tell me what's been going on with you and Peridan," Saedra declared.

She and Susan had finally found a moment where they could talk, and were entering the garden walking arm in arm. It was late morning, a time at which they had planned ahead to meet, because they wanted to have a moment together before Saedra married Peter the next day.

The past week had been a blur of activity as the whole palace finished last-minute preparations. The court room had been turned into a wedding chapel, but Saedra hadn't been allowed to go in there (Susan was in charge of the decorations and wanted it to be a surprise for her). The rest of the palace continued to be packed with well-wishers, so Saedra hardly saw Susan or Lucy unless it was for a few minutes to talk about wedding details.

Edmund had been out of Saedra's sight for most of the week unless she happened to pass him in the hallway near their bedrooms; this Saedra was grateful for, for she found she was getting flustered around him more and more-and with the embarrassment came guilt, for in the back of the mind she knew that such feelings were inappropriate.

While Peter was very often by her side, he avoided talking to her ever since their argument the night she arrived. It was rather awkward sharing a bathroom with him, because she was afraid that if she took a bath that he might just walk in, so she contented herself with sponge baths in her new bedroom.

Susan smiled gleefully, but shrugged casually as they headed to the east side of the garden. "There isn't much to tell. We're in love."

"Oh, do come on! There must be a story behind this," Saedra pressed, squeezing her friend's arm.

Susan tried to pretend to be annoyed and sighed, but it was clear that she had been aching to tell Saedra all. "Fine, fine. What would you like to know?"

"When did you start to care for him?"

Susan smiled and looked off into the distance, over the wall of the garden that was the same exact spot where Saedra had first started to be attracted to Peter a year before.

"I would say that it started in Tashbaan. I'd always thought of Peridan as just another courtier, as more of a father figure than anything else because he's twelve years older than you and I. That didn't change much during most of our stay in Tashbaan, but it started shifting as I began to sense that he cared for me as more than just his Queen. At first I ignored his feeble attempts to show his affection because I was enamored with Rabadash. But when I was broken-hearted and embarrassed about Rabadash's true character, Peridan was there to comfort me. I guess that's where it started."

"But Peridan is so different from Rabadash!" Saedra exclaimed. "I thought you'd always end up with someone with Rabadash's personality and good looks-not that Peridan is hard on the eyes, but he isn't the kind of man that women swoon over, at least not so much anymore."

"I think being with Rabadash taught me a good lesson: that I need a man who doesn't compete with me for attention," Susan said with a half-smile. "I need someone who doesn't spend as much time as I do in front of the mirror every day. I don't want someone who's a male version of me. I want someone who will complement my personality, not compete with it. Do you know what I'm saying?"

"I do," Saedra nodded. "You sound so mature! You've surely grown up in the months since Tashbaan."

"Getting your heart torn into two tends to do that to people," Susan observed. "I grew up against my will. I look back on the way I was and grimace at how naïve I was."

"How naïve we both were," Saedra corrected. "I was just as ignorant as you were back then, just in different ways."

"I don't think you could be classified as ignorant back then."

"Well, in comparison to what I've learned since then, I was ignorant. But that's all a part of life: learning from your mistakes."

"By the Lion, we're sounding like old women!" Susan laughed.

"Well, I am going to be married tomorrow and you surely within the next few months, so I don't think that assessment is far off," Saedra smirked. "But do continue telling me about Peridan!"

"There's not much more to tell! We came back to Narnia, and after the whole thing with Rabadash in Anvard, I was more mortified than ever that I had ever loved the Calormene Prince. Peridan helped me retain my dignity by making me feel special and loved, but in subtle ways. And now I'm convinced that I love him. All that is left to happen is for him to ask for my hand in marriage."

"And of course you'll say yes." Saedra concluded, suddenly jealous of Susan. The season of falling in love and waiting for a lover's proposal was something Saedra would never experience again. Her one time had been with Peter, but that had gone very sour.

"Of course!" Susan smiled, and looked down to her right, something catching her eye. "There's another ship coming in, I see. Must be the hundredth we've had. Calormene by the looks of it."

Saedra looked down casually, and then a moment later gasped: "It's my family!"

Ten minutes later, Saedra had run down the hill to greet her Calormene relatives who were just coming down the plank (Susan could be seen a ways back with her skirts hitched up, trying to catch up to Saedra).

"Rahai! Lasaraleen!" Saedra exclaimed, gasping to catch her breath after hugging them. "I was so worried that you wouldn't make it in time. But here you are!"

"Yes, yes here we are," Sadris said crankily as Cradish helped her down to the dock.

Saedra was surprised at how weak her grandmother looked, for her face was pale and she looked thinner than ever. She glanced at Rahai, hoping she would explain their grandmother's condition.

Rahai leaned in and said in a low voice, "Grandmother caught a bad case of the flu just before we left. That's why we're so late getting here. She wasn't really well enough to travel but insisted that she was, and the trip has been hard on her."

"I have been tending to her most of the trip," Lasaraleen added. "I have always been a good nurse."

Saedra was touched that Sadris cared that much to be at her wedding, but knew all the same that her grandmother had probably come out of curiosity. She wanted to see Narnia and its High King more than she wanted to see her granddaughter.

"I'm glad that the Tisroc didn't stop you from coming," Saedra said. "In your last letter, Cradish was trying to decide how to keep the Tisroc from hindering your journey."

"It was simple, really," Cradish said, leading Sadris up to them. "I told the Tisroc (may he live forever) that it would help mend relations between Calormen and Narnia, and of course he couldn't deny that logic. And so we are here."

Saedra wasn't sure whether she should hug her uncle and grandmother, so she just curtsied to them. Just then, Susan finally reached them.

"Sae, Peter and Talia will be here in a moment. I sent word to them before I came down," Susan gasped.

"The High King is coming down here, oh Queen?" Sadris asked disbelievingly.

"Yes," Susan smiled.

"Who's Talia?" Sadris asked bluntly.

"She's my daughter," Saedra said, anticipating the responses to her seemingly strange announcement.

"Your…daughter?" Cradish questioned cautiously.

"Yes, I adopted her when I arrived home from Tashbaan," Saedra explained, not wanting to give out too much information. She was sure that Cradish and Sadris would disapprove of her freeing Talia from slavery. Even Rahai had cautioned me not to get involved, she remembered, strengthening her resolve not to divulge where Talia had come from.

"Ah, here they are!"

Cradish squinted his eyes. "That…that isn't Aravis Tarkheena, is it? The one who has been missing? The one who Ahoshta was going to marry before she disappeared?"

They all turned to see Peter and Edmund followed by Talia, Aravis, Cor, and Corin.

"It is," Saedra said, not volunteering any more information. If Aravis wanted to tell them her story, that was her place-not Saedra's.

When they reached them, Peter smiled and bowed to Rahai, saying, "What a pleasure to have you here once again, Lady Tarkheena!"

Rahai curtsied and smiled back, "It is a joy to be back, your Majesty." She then curtsied to Edmund, who bowed back. "It is good to see you again, King Edmund."

"It's wonderful to see you again, Lady Rahai. Even though it has been mere months, it seems much longer," Edmund said amiably.

Saedra felt the familiar pangs of jealousy at the attention the two Kings gave to Rahai and quickly said, "Your Majesties, may I introduce our grandmother, Sadris Tarkheena," (here Sadris curtsied with an overly-reverent expression on her face), "and my uncle and Rahai's father, Cradish Tarkaan." (Cradish bowed.) She gestured to Talia to come to her, and Saedra put her arms around her and said, "And this is my daughter Talia."

"Whatever do you need a daughter for?" Sadris interjected before Saedra could introduce them to Talia.

"The same reason anyone needs a daughter, I suppose," Saedra said vaguely.

Aravis, Cor, and Corin, who had been watching the proceedings with interest, were then included in the conversation. After all of the greetings were over-with, they started up to the palace. Some Talking Horses had come down for the guests to ride, and Saedra felt a spark of jealousy when Peter helped Rahai up onto the horse. They were laughing happily about something, and even though she had no right to feel left out, she did. She was the bride; she was supposed to be care-free, not Rahai.

"Shall I help you onto a horse, Sister?" Edmund said in Saedra's ear, making her jump.

She turned and said light-heartedly, "Ed, I'm not your sister yet!"

"In a day you will be."

"Don't remind me." Saedra rolled her eyes, forgetting herself for a moment. She wasn't used to having to keep up pretenses around Edmund.

Edmund looked at her strangely. "You sound as if you dread it."

She'd slipped up. Her heart felt like it was being squeezed as she tried to backtrack. "Oh, you know. Everyone gets nervous before their wedding."

"I thought most people get excited."

"Well, I guess I'm not like most people," she shrugged, gripping the saddle to pull herself up.

"No, you certainly are not," Edmund agreed in a quieter voice.

She turned back around and looked at him curiously, but he looked away.

"Are you getting on, Duchess?" the Horse said a tad bit impatiently.

Saedra looked up the hill to where her family and the others were riding. They seemed happy and didn't seem to need her, so she said, "No, thank you. I think I'll stay down here for a while. Perhaps King Edmund would like a ride."

She had the idea that she could stay away for an hour or so and not be missed, so that she might enjoy some last moments as a single woman.

"No, thank you," Edmund said. "I think I'll stay down here with Saedra, if she doesn't mind."

If anyone else had asked, she would have, but Edmund was always welcome company. Even if she was having personal issues around him. "Thank you for your services, noble Horse. I apologize that we've tarried so long."

The Horse grunted, and as he walked away they could hear him mutter, "Humans!"

Saedra and Edmund looked at each other and grinned. Their smiles melted away as they continued looking at each other, and suddenly Saedra felt uncomfortable. She looked away and walked towards the end of the dock, and Edmund followed her. When she reached the end, she plopped down and hung her legs over the side; Edmund followed suit.

The sat in silence for a while, listening to the lapping of the waves and feeling the heat of the midday sun beat down on them. The business of the palace behind them seemed miles away.

"I don't want it to change," she murmured.

"Don't want what to change?"

"Everything. Just…everything. I don't want to be married, I don't want to have to leave my province for months at a time…"

He studied her, surprised, but she refused to look at him, afraid that she might betray how much she was dreading marriage to Peter. All of a sudden, she realized what she had said.

"Wait, I take that back. I'm just jittery. I do want to get married."

"You do?" he asked.

"Yes, I do."

Still she didn't look at him. If she had, everything might have changed, for he had the look of a man who was willing to risk it all and spill his heart to her if she gave him any indication that she returned his feelings. But she didn't turn and show him just how receptive she would have been to what he had to say.

"Sae, I have to ask you something."

She nodded, looking out over the water.

"If I had volunteered to marry you instead of Peter, would you have said yes?"

Surprised, she turned and looked at him with her mouth slightly ajar. Her heart was beating wildly, and she realized how close Edmund was sitting.

He didn't sit this close on purpose. Or if he did, he's doing it to comfort me, nothing more.

Edmund tilted his chin down and raised his eyebrows, still waiting for her answer.

She couldn't stand to be around him anymore. She had been able to bear the last week because he had largely been out of sight, and therefore more out of mind, but having him sitting inches from her and asking a question that she now saw she truly wished had been the case instead…she knew she had to leave before she did something she regretted.

She whispered, "Yes," then stood and fled up to the castle.

The next morning, her wedding day, Saedra was in a study near the throne room that had been turned into her dressing room. She stood in front of a large mirror with her eyes closed, waiting for the order to open her eyes. Lasaraleen had had the bright idea that they (meaning Susan, Rahai, Lucy, Sadris, Aravis, and herself) would dress Saedra without her knowing what she looked like until the end.

"Can I open my eyes yet?" Saedra asked, trying to sound like she cared. All morning she had been jittery-not with excitement, but with the urge to get the unpleasant ceremony over with. The other women took her nerves to be happy, and so their mood had not been dampened in the least.

"Not yet, not yet!" Rahai giggled. "I still need to secure your veil."

"Do hurry up," Saedra whined. "My legs are already aching, and I haven't even said my vows!"

A minute more of hands arranging things on her head while the other females murmured gleefully in the background, and Susan said, "All done!"

The women stepped back from her as Saedra opened her eyes slowly. When she saw her face, she had to grimace. There were bags under her eyes that, against all efforts from the other women, would not go away. Saedra had had nightmares all night about having to pick between Peter and Edmund, and each time she made a decision she regretted it; then she dreamed that she and Edmund ran away together and Peter killed himself…not the kind of things that would make for a restful night.

"I look tired," she stated.

"By Tash, Saedra!" Lasaraleen said, exasperated. "Is that all you have to say after all of our work?"

Saedra allowed her eyes to wander down her body. She had tried on the white and gold-trimmed dress multiple times already during the fittings back in Archenland, because she had designed the dress herself, mixing the styles of the North and South.

The top half of the dress was the typical Northern style, with exposed shoulders and a nice deal of cleavage showing. The bottom half, however, was inspired by her visit to Tashbaan. The dress continued to hug her hips all the way down to her upper thighs were it suddenly winged out in soft, layered, semi-transparent fabric that was longer in the back and formed her train. Atop her head was a simple veil that was made out of the same fabric as the bottom of her dress. It was held into place by a thin gold crown that circled her head. She had already taken the oaths required to make her an official Narnian and Princess Consort, and so the ceremony was strictly about the wedding celebration itself.

Saedra sighed and half-smiled. "Shall I compliment myself and say that I look very regal indeed?"

"Pish posh! You look just like your mother, that's what you look like," Sadris said in a rare compliment.

Saedra appreciated the compliment deeply because she had heard about how pretty her mother Lalevis had been.

"If I wasn't afraid of getting you wrinkled, I would hug you right now!" Lucy said. "You look radiant."

The door opened, and some of the women shrieked.

"It's only me!" Talia said, then stopped abruptly. "Mother! You look as pretty as Queen Swanwhite herself!"

"Now, I wouldn't go that far, dear," Saedra laughed.

"What news do you bring?" Aravis asked Talia. "You were supposed to keep an eye out for what's going on out there."

"Oh, that's what I came back to tell you all," Talia said, suddenly remembering. "The throne room is very crowded and Father-King Peter is out there waiting, so we'd better go!"

There was a lot of hustle and bustle as the women grabbed their things, kissed Saedra's cheek, and rushed out.

When all of them had left except Saedra and Talia, Talia said, "You really do look wonderful, Mother."

Saedra walked over to her and put her hand on her head. "Thank you, Talia. I love you, you know that?"

Talia grinned. "I know. And I love you too."

They smiled at each other for a moment, and then Saedra said, "We'd better get out there. I think the music's starting."

Talia checked to see that the coast was clear, and then they left the room. They hurried down the hall to the door to the throne room.

When the music shifted from the light-hearted to slow, Talia understood that as her cue to go in. She gripped her handful of flowers and went around the doorway into the throne room. Saedra slowly counted in her head to five and then went around the corner into the entranceway to the hall.

The sight that met her nearly made her mouth drop open in shock. On either side of the aisle down the center of the room stood hundreds upon hundreds of Narnians and Archenlanders, looking at her with happy faces. Not only were there innumerable amounts of people, the room was simply covered in white and yellow flowers. Every couple of meters there would be an arched trellis overflowing with blossoms that she would walk through. On the ground were petals that Talia had scattered. Susan had truly out-done herself in her planning.

As she passed the delighted well-wishers, she looked straight ahead, up the stairs. The four thrones were nearly indistinguishable by the piles of blossoms and by the people standing in front of them. In the center was Oreius, and to his right was Peter in a magnificent outfit of white and gold. Talia was also there, standing behind where Saedra would stand.

Peter was looking at Saedra with tears in his eyes, and Saedra commented to herself, My, isn't he quite the actor? He is really outdoing himself with these antics.

Unable to hold Peter's gaze any longer, she looked at the people on the sides of the aisle as she neared the front. There was Tumnus and Lucy (both wiping their eyes with a hanky that they passed back and forth), Susan and Peridan standing with linked arms, and Edmund looking ill (she averted her gaze quickly). Also, Cradish, Sadris, Rahai, Lasaraleen, Cor, Corin, Talia, Aravis, Stamprin, Moonshackle, Remanda, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, and the Bear family were all looking at her with some amount of happiness. Some were even wiping happy tears away like King Lune was.

I'm such a fake! All of these people are happier than I will ever be, all because of this marriage.

When she reached the stairs, she could no longer continue to avoid looking at Peter, for he was standing right in front of her. He held out his arm for her to take and she accepted it, and then he led her up the stairs and in front of Oreius.

The ceremony was short, sweet, and very awkward for Saedra. Having to pretend she loved Peter during the week hadn't been that hard because her every move wasn't being scrutinized by hundreds of creatures. But now, if she even blinked wrong someone might catch on that she was a liar.

Stop worrying! They're already convinced you love Peter, remember? You have nothing to worry about. They will interpret every expression as one stemming from love.

Peter, for his part, acted beautifully. He seemed genuinely moved by the traditional Narnian vows that they exchanged, and stared at Saedra the whole time. She felt utterly awkward staring up into his eyes, for even though she thought herself impervious to his charms, he was still a devastatingly handsome man. By the time Oreius announced, "I present to you, High King Peter and Princess Consort Saedra," Saedra's cheeks were flushed, because she suddenly remembered a small detail that she had forgotten.

In Narnia it was custom for the groom to kiss the bride at the end of the ceremony after they were presented as husband and wife. And Saedra had completely forgotten about that part.

She swallowed and looked up at Peter as he gently placed his thumb and forefinger on each side of her chin and slowly tilted her face up. He leaned down to her, looking into her eyes as it she was the only person in the room.

Just kiss me and get it over-with! she mentally shouted at him, uncomfortable with his gaze. After what seemed like an eternity, his mouth met hers and she could close her eyes.

If she had expected a quick and chaste kiss, she would have been very wrong. For when she started to pull back a second later so that their lips were separated by a breath, Peter simply shifted his head the other way and kissed her again, this time harder.

She was oblivious to the loud cheering that was going on, for every millisecond longer Peter kissed her, she became inexplicably angrier.

This is ridiculous! He is just doing this to mortify me! Images of them kissing after practicing sword-fighting, after star-gazing, and after the night at the Bears flew through her mind, torturing her. Why couldn't things have stayed simple with them? Why couldn't this be a year ago, before Peter had stomped on her heart, before he'd squashed her pride?

When he finally pulled back, he looked at her with a surprisingly vulnerable expression that almost convinced her that he really was in love with her. It was the same way he used to look at her…

Meanwhile, her cheeks were beet red and her heart was pounding in her chest. Her eyes were glittering angrily, but Peter turned away from her too fast to catch her mood. He held up her hand in his, and the crowd doubled its volume.

She turned her plastered grin towards the crowd. Her eyes roved over her friends, acquaintances, family, and new subjects, and came to rest on a pair of dark, brooding, hard eyes: Eyes that mirrored her elusive inner turmoil, and eyes belonging to a person that she now knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she loved.

She adored him for the way she could confide in him like no other, the way she could be a fool in front of him and get drunk around him and it didn't matter, and the way he could make her feel like a careless adolescent.

But by the will of Aslan or some other dark force, the knowledge had come to her too late. From this moment forward, she was bound to his older brother in matrimony.

Forever.