14) Home Sweet Fight?

"I can't believe I'm going home," Liz marveled, riding along the countryside.

"I can't believe it either," Peter smiled. They were expected back at Cair Paravel in two days, but at the pace that Liz insisted, they would probably be there in a week. Liz said that she wanted to "absorb" Archenland in the last few moments she was there, and "replenish" the feeling that she had lost from being away from Narnia that long. This was a guaranteed long week…

But when they did finally arrive at Cair Paravel, it looked like the whole Kingdom was there to greet them, and welcome Liz back. And take three guesses to what kind of food filled the table.

"CHICKEN!" Liz squealed in delight, hugging the head chef. "I love you. Is it just me, or does Narnian chicken always taste better than any other?" Everyone laughed, and Peter was eating a lemon. This new habit of his was really starting to annoy Liz, "Peter, put down that lemon right now." She snapped. He just smirked at her, and continued eating. Liz growled, and hit him upside the head.

To some people, this might be surprising, what with the Princess hitting the High King, but the people of Narnia were used to it. Peter just pouted, and Liz rolled her eyes. It was home…

"How can you want to fight when there's snow on the ground?" Peter asked, hugging his cloak around him tighter.

"I want to fight in any weather," Liz answered. "I love sword fighting, and it also keeps me in shape." Peter scoffed, he wasn't very happy that Liz had demanded that they duel, the wind was crazy, and snow was mixed into it. "And you can't get out of practice. You never know when you're going to have to fight."

"I don't need practice," Peter protested.

Liz snorted, "That's why you've never been able to beat me." She shook her head. "I'm the one who could go without practice, I'm doing you a favor."

"Some favor," Peter grumbled as they took their starting positions. As usual, Liz won.

"See what I mean? I've only been sword fighting for eight months, and I beat you. And you've been fighting for more than ten years!" Liz pointed out.

"Maybe you're just naturally better than me!" Peter yelled, exasperated at this conversation. Liz looked shocked, Peter didn't usually yell at her. Sure, when they had mock fights, over tiny stupid petty things. But he never seriously yelled at her. Her eyes widened, her breathing quickened. She dropped her sword and shield, and ran away. Peter watched her go, knowing that it was his fault.

He sighed, running his hand shakily through his hair. He picked up her dropped things, and went to find Susan. When he found her, she took all of five seconds to ask, "What did you do now?"

Peter sighed, and explained what had happened. "How do I fix it?"

Susan looked up and smiled, "Number one; you need a gift. Number two; grovel and beg." She put down the book she had been reading, and stood up. "Time to shop."

They rode to the nearest village, and Susan quickly found the perfect thing. "This is perfect. You go get dinner for you two ready, I'll get Liz." Great, Peter thought, this better work.

Liz was upset, to say the least. Peter didn't yell at her. It simply was not done. She ran to the stable, straight for Anna. She threw her arms around the horse's neck, sobbing.

"What's wrong Little One?" Anna asked quietly. Little One was the nickname that Anna had given her.

Liz shook her head, "Peter yelled at me."

"It was bound to happen sometime," Anna said matter-of-factly. Liz pulled back, and walked away, throwing a glare at Anna. Liz ran towards the beach, holding her dress up daintily. She surged into the water, and it was coming in gentle waves up to her waist. It was soaking her blue dress, but she didn't care. The thing that she did care about was it was thirty degrees outside, and the water was only about fifteen degrees warmer. But then again… The weather never stopped her from doing anything else.

Liz closed her eyes, lifting her head towards the sky, where the sun should be. She didn't know how long she stood in the soothing water, before she heard Susan's distinctive yell. "LIZ! What are you doing?" She heard Susan splash into the water, pulling her back to the shore. "You're turning blue!"

Susan watched as Liz started shivering. Then she started to pass in and out of consciousness. The next thing Liz remembered was someone strong, and warm, carrying her towards the castle and mumbling, "I hope she's ok. If she's not, I'll never forgive myself." Peter, Liz realized. She wanted to say something, anything, to comfort him, but couldn't force out the words.

"I'll go get Lucy," She heard Susan say. Liz was on a bed, and she could feel Peter's presence next to her.

The next thing Liz heard was, "Why in the world would she be in the water with this weather?" It was Lucy. "This isn't a true injury, so I can't heal her with the cordial. She needs lots of heat, body heat is best."

Liz blanked out for a few moments, the next time she woke up; Peter was lying next to her, his arms around her.

"Peter," She groaned.

"Liz!" Peter exclaimed in relief.

Liz saw bright white circles swirling in front of her eyes; she realized she was going to lose consciousness again. "It's not your fault Peter." Then she passed out again.

She didn't wake up for a week, and Peter never left her side. He was the first thing she saw when she woke up. And all she could think was, what a cliché.

"Thank Aslan you're awake," He said, gently kissing her forehead.

"What happened?" Liz asked him.

"Well, I yelled at you, but I'm really, really sorry for that, then you ran to the shore, and into the freezing water," Peter explained. "And by the time Susan had found you, you were blue." He thought for a moment then asked, "By the way, why were you in the water?"

Liz shrugged, "It was comforting. The gentle waves, the smell, the wind." She closed her eyes, looking at peace just at the thought of it.

"Try to stay away when it's twenty degrees outside," Peter advised.

"Nobody tells me what to do!" Liz retorted.

Peter rolled his eyes, "So I've heard." Liz stuck her tongue out at him, and went back to sleep. Peter knew she wouldn't wake for hours, so he took a long box out of his pocket, set it in her hand, and wrapped her fingers around it tightly.