*Chapter 11-The King and Queen of New*

Heyyyyyy everyone! Once again, another chapter in my story! In this chapter, you find out where my story gets its title! Huzzah!

Sadly, I do not own the Chronicles of Narnia or any of the characters.

HOWEVER, I have amazing news! I talked to my dad about it, and he said he's gonna look in to letting me try out for the roll of Jill Poll in The Silver Chair!!!!!!!!!! I started CRYING I was so happy! :DDDDDDD

So yeah, that's my big news. ISN'T IT AWESOME?! Ok I'm done. xD

Thanks to all who reviewed my last chapter!

NOW ENJOY

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The Narnians reached the How just as the sun was beginning to set. Penelope, Caspian, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy came to the end of the forest and found themselves standing on a great sloping hill overlooking what had to be Aslan's How. The four Pevensies, who had not yet seen the How, found themselves gasping in wonder.

The How was a massive stone tomb built into a hill that went far underground. The front of the How was mainly a large entranceway with a huge ledge over it that you could reach from a pathway inside the How. Infront of the How was a strange construction of fallen stone towers. Only two columns that lead to the path into the How were still standing.

The army progressed onward to the How, and not long after they were at the entrance. They were greeted by the rest of the army that had stayed behind from the raid for weapons and supplies from Miraz's traveling army. A precision of centaurs stood on the walls of the pathway into the How. As the army, headed by the royals, reached them, the centaurs each drew their giant swords and held them at the ready. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, who had somehow taken the lead, all started walking first into the How, their heads held high and their expressions regal. The centaurs held their swords out overhead as they began walking. As they started down the path, Caspian froze and let out a saddened sigh. Penelope looked up to see him watching the four with a wistful expression.

"Caspian?" she asked. He didn't look at her, his eyes staying trained on the four, and only let out an 'mmm?' as his reply.

"What's wrong?" she asked, earning another sigh from him.

"Nothing is wrong, it is just.. look at how the people love them.. and they are such great rulers.. I am never going to be like them.."

"No, you won't," Penelope said. He turned to her with a despairing look, and she continued calmly. "That's because you're not them. There's four of them, and only one of you, and they lived in a completely different Narnia then the one you're trying to heal."

For about the twentieth time that conversation, Caspian sighed. "I knew I was not good enough. I never will be either. I will never live up to them."

"I never said that," Penelope said rather sharply, drawing his attention. "You are too good enough. In fact, you're better than good enough. I can see it in you that all you want to do is help these people. You also want desperately to prove yourself to them. And so far, you're doing very well at both," she paused to take both his hands in her own. "Really. They believe in you, Caspian. And so do I,"

Caspian looked down at her with shining eyes, pleasantly aware of their entwined hands. His heart felt swollen with the strength she had given him, and was racing with the intensity with which she spoke. She gave his hands a squeeze and offered him a warm smile, which he could not help but return. Then he looked back at the fours' retreating forms, and it faded.

"Well, it is just… I will always just be Caspian, never a legendary King of Old," he said. Little did he know how terribly wrong he was.

"Oh, come off it," Penelope said. Caspian looked back down at her to see her blue eyes dancing merrily. "Come on, you have a prophecy! And so do I, so that means that we must be destined to be great rulers of Narnia. Let's start our own legend. We can be the King and Queen of New," she said. Caspian's heart swelled to the point of bursting at the possibilities she offered him; the happy hope her words filled him with nearly suffocating him.

And so, he slid his hand out of hers so that it was his hand encasing hers, and exchanged a smile with her. Then, hand in hand, the King and Queen of New started down the path as the centaurs bowed deeply. Following the centaurs lead, all the other creatures bowed to them, as they had not done to the Kings and Queens of Old.

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Caspian was showing Peter around the How, and he did so with a strange sense of superiority and drive, his competitiveness and longing to impress the fair-haired king giving him an odd manner. Peter, on the other hand, was anything but impressed. If anything, he was growing extremely annoyed by the prince, and his already bad impression of him just grew stronger. As he and his three siblings had reached the main chamber of the How, he had turned to see his twin entering the How after them, but not alone. Peter's eyes had narrowed and his expression, and mood, turned poisonous as he took in the elated expression on Caspian's face, and then saw their linked hands. His face had turned purple with rage and Edmund, noticing the two and immediately checking for his brother's reaction, worried if his head was going to explode.

Peter, seeing as he was the oldest of four (now five) children, was very protective of each of his siblings, and his new sister was no exception. Not only was he getting protective, but he felt his competitive side slightly getting a hold of him also. He felt threatened by the Telmarine, and suddenly felt as if he needed to compete with him for his own sister's affection. He felt, being perfectly honest with himself, a little jealous of Caspian because he and Penelope were so close already, when he, Peter, had barely met her.

As the pair had reached the group, they dropped hands, but before Peter could feel smug relief, Caspian turned and pulled Penelope in for a hug. Peter felt Susan, who was next to him, tense up, and looked down to see her glaring at the two with her jaw held taught. Feeling her brother's gaze on her, she looked up at him, and in that look they silently agreed on one thing-something had to be done about them. Fast.

Edmund cleared his throat. Caspian and Penelope pulled apart quickly and looked apologetically at the four. One look at Peter and Susan, and they knew they had crossed a line they were unaware was written.

"Um, I'm sorry," Penelope stammered, stepping away from Caspian with a bright red face. All the response her twin could manage was a short, sharp nod.

"So this is it, huh?" Peter said, rounding on Caspian and shooting a skeptical look around the How. Susan, Edmund, and Lucy wondered off together to explore the How on their own. Caspian, picking up on his tone and manner, became defensive.

"It may not be what you were expecting, but it is defensible." he replied. Peter shot him a look that was less than friendly.

"It'll work.. I suppose." he said, beginning to walk off. Caspian and Penelope exchanged looks, Caspian seething and Penelope taken aback.

"Peter!" Susan called from a corridor across the chamber. All three looked up at her. "You may want to come and see this,"

Peter jogged up and followed her into the corridor, and Penelope and Caspian followed him to see what she meant. When they arrived to where Susan and the others had disappeared they found themselves in a corridor that had the story of the Kings and Queens of Old painted on the walls. The particular painting Susan was in front of was of the four at their coronation. Peter's eyes were widened and glazed as he took in the painting. The siblings all silently stood, reveling in the old times. It was Susan who broke the silence.

"It's us," she whispered.

"What is this place?" Lucy asked.

"You don't know?" Caspian asked, sounding generally surprised. Penelope noticed how his eyes became glued to Susan and felt the beginnings of jealousy stir in the pit of her stomach. Before anyone could say anything else, Pattertwig the squirrel came scampering down the corridor and scrambled up onto his favorite perch; Penelope's left shoulder.

"Hello, little fuzz ball," she greeted him warmly. He bit her ear in response.

"Hello, big bald one," he said, earning a snicker from Edmund. "Trumpkin told me that Trufflehunter told him that Glenstorm told him that his wife, Wanefeather, needs you for your fitting."

"Wow, could anyone else possibly have been involved in the passing of that message?" Penelope asked jokingly. Then she looked confused. "What fitting?"

"For your armor," cheeped the squirrel excitedly. "You're going to be a warrior!"

Penelope laughed. "Alright, could you go tell her I'll be there in a moment?"

The little squirrel bowed his head and leapt from his perch, and in a moment was gone. Penelope turned to the group.

"I suppose I'll meet up with you all later. If you will excuse me." she said. Caspian stepped up next to her.

"You will have to come and show me your armor," he said, "I am sure you will look absolutely lovely in it."

Something in Peter snapped at that moment. His face was burning with rage, and his eye gave an involuntary twitch. He couldn't believe the audacity of this young man, who would have the nerve to make a move on his sister! Even worse, Penelope didn't seem to mind it! Peter's blood was boiling.

"Perhaps you could accompany me to the fitting?" Penelope suggested, but Peter in his rage heard 'perhaps you could accompany me into the fitting,' so it was understandable that he lost all sense of self control when Caspian said,

"I would like nothing else as much as I would this,"

Peter shot forward and shoved himself in between the two, unintentionally shoving Penelope into the wall, and rounded on Caspian.

"Now, look here," he barked. "I have stood by and watched you paw all over Penelope since we've arrived to the How, but that was just too far! Have you no sense of decency?! You're a prince, for Alsan's sake, and yet you're behaving like some Calormene beggar, throwing yourself upon her as you are! You have no reason, business, or right to behave as you are and fling your affections where they are not wanted! Now then, she will go on to her fitting on her own, and as she leaves I expect your messed up ideas of being with her to leave with her, and you to realize your place and keep away from her."

The corridor was deathly silent. Caspian glared viciously, hatred burning in him. Lucy looked frightened, and was cowering behind Edmund, who looked angry; but it was directed at Caspian, not his brother. Susan looked slightly smug, and slightly cross. She was happy Caspian had been put in his place, but frustrated by the thought Peter might react the same way if the prince turned his affections to her as she hoped he would.

Peter turned to Penelope, sharp words on his tongue for her just waiting to be spat out, but stopped short. She was looking up at him with angry tears brimming in her eyes, and her brows were furrowed deeply over the swimming blue pools. Her cheeks were flushed a furious shade of red. Her jaw was set and her lips, which were white with anger, were pulled together tightly. Her small, thin form was slightly trembling, and her hands were balled into fists.

After a long, deathly silent pause, Penelope lashed out. "Who do you think you are?" she thundered. Her voice only grew with her anger. "So I suppose you think just because you're my brother you get to prance into my life and take control of it, eh? Well, you can take those thoughts and shove them right back into your thick head! I am 16 years old, and I hardly need anyone bossing me around! I am not a child!" and with that, she stormed off through the tunnel, leaving the others in a stunned silence.

It was Susan who broke the silence, repeating the words she had said to him at a similar time. "Well, that was handled nicely." she said to the back of Peter's head. He remained frozen, staring after Penelope, feeling sickened with himself.

Lucy walked up to Peter and soothingly rubbed his arm. "She didn't mean it, Pete," she said consolingly. Peter didn't acknowledge her.

"She hates me.." he whispered, sounding as if he'd just been slugged in the stomach.

"Now, you don't know that." Edmund said. "She's probably just having a womanly moment. You know how girls are." This earned him nasty looks from Susan and Lucy.

Peter quickly and furiously shook his head, recovering himself, and turned to the others. They were all watching him with uncertain expressions.

"Well, I believe you were about to give us a tour?" he said to Caspian, as if nothing had happened. Caspian, whose ego was furiously wounded and was extremely angry at Peter, gave him a short nod and grabbed a torch from the holder in the wall, taking off down the tunnel. The four followed, Peter and Edmund also grabbing torches, until they came down into a new, pitch dark chamber.

Right in front of them was a huge stone slab that was cracked right down the middle. Carvings in another language ran along the edges. As they studied the slab, Caspian went up to a stone troth filled with a flammable substance and dipped his torch into it. Immediately, his flame shot through the troth, which turned out to run along the walls of the entire chamber, which was much bigger than any of them expected.. The walls became illuminated, and they saw that they were covered in magnificently detailed, life sized carvings of Narnian creatures. Centaurs, fauns, gryphons, and much more stood, proudly looking down at the slab. They all held weapons and similar expressions, yet none of them looked alike.

In the very center of the room, in between two grand pillars, was a somber looking carving of a lion; The Lion. His head was slightly bowed, one of his huge extended forward. He, too, had his eyes on the slab.

Lucy, realizing what this room was and becoming overcome with emotions, stepped toward the Stone Table, her eyes glazed and far away. She laid a trembling hand on the ancient stone that held so many memories, good and bad, and looked up at the stone Aslan. She turned back to Susan, who was a step behind her.

"He must know what he's doing," she murmured. Susan smiled sadly, her eyes fixed on Aslan.

"I think it's up to us now," Peter said, watching his siblings for their reactions. They all made eye contact before turning back to the table.

This time, as she gazed up at him, Lucy noticed Aslan's down turned gaze was sorrowful.

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Bum bum bum! Drama! Twin fights! Aslan! Oh my! :O

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