"My kingdom towers above it all

While I sleep safe and sound in my cardboard walls"

-East by Sleeping at Last

—-

Peter frowned as he scratched out several words with his quill. His brother's soft snoring echoed through their shared tent as he surveyed his message through tired eyes.

To the Allied Powers and anyone else who reads this message,

Years ago, far more than I care to count, my three siblings and myself were evacuated from London. During our stay in the countryside, we stumbled into another world, very different from our own, called Narnia.

We vanquished the White Witch Jadis, who had held Narnia in winter for 100 years. We thought her gone forever, and ruled Narnia for fifteen years. To our dismay, in the fifteenth year of our reign, we were quite suddenly swept back into this world, into England.

We found that no time had passed here at all, and we remained the children we were when we left. Though we have returned to Narnia for brief periods since then, it has been nine years since anyone from this world has ventured into Narnia.

Less than two weeks ago, through reasons unknown to us, the White Witch Jadis returned, and made her way into this world. She brought her armies and spies with her.

Jadis captured my brother, King Edmund the Just, and my sister, Queen Susan the Gentle. I discovered that many Narnians from our fifteen years of rule had also stumbled into this world. I have gathered an army with which to defeat Jadis.

This army also helped myself to recover my captured siblings, with the help of my youngest sister, Queen Lucy the Valiant.

I would like to stress that Narnia has no intention of conquering London or any other place in this world. We have been in negotiations with the English Army, and have come to an agreement;

Narnia will drive out and defeat Jadis, as we know of her ways and how to stop her. The English Army will focus its efforts on the citizens of London that have managed to escape and on keeping further people out of London for their own safety.

Though I have no control over such things, I hope that once Jadis is vanquished, we Narnians will return to our world and leave yours in peace.

Signed,

High King Peter the Magnificent of Narnia, Lord of Cair Paravel, Emperor of the Lone Islands, Knight of the most noble Order of the Lion, etc.

Peter nodded, satisfied with his message. He was sure that Susan and Edmund would probably make edits when they read it, but he'd deal with that later. He capped his inkwell and sighed.

"Pete?"

Peter looked over his shoulder, not having realized that Edmund's snoring had stopped. His brother was buried under several layers of blankets in a hammock, his mop of dark hair barely visible from where Peter was sitting at a writing desk.

"What're you doing…?" his brother asked, still sounding exhausted despite the fact that he'd slept all day after they'd reached the Narnian camp.

Peter stood, setting his crown on the desk. "Working. Go back to sleep Ed."

"What time is it?"

Peter paused, thinking. "Past midnight. You slept all day."

"Don't you think you should go to sleep?"

"There's work to be done. Some of us didn't sleep all day."

That earned him a pillow flung at his face. Peter caught it, pleased that Edmund at least had the energy to be his usual self. He hadn't seen his brother or sisters in months, and he'd missed it far more than he'd realized.

"Well I'm freezing," Edmund countered, plunging the arm that had flung the pillow back under the layers of blankets.

Peter sighed, mind going back to the years they'd spent sharing a room in Cair Paravel. It had started because Peter hadn't been able to sleep without knowing Edmund was safe, but they'd stuck with the arrangement because of Edmund's tendency to constantly be cold at night. His little brother had taken to crawling into Peter's bed and using him as a heater.

And with the days Edmund had just spent in proximity to the Witch, Peter wasn't surprised he was cold.

"Oh alright," Peter muttered. "You'd think you were twelve, not twenty-one."

Edmund didn't respond as Peter shucked off the heavy embroidered tunic he'd worn for negotiations earlier that day and hadn't bothered to change out of. He exchanged it for a nightshirt and crawled into the hammock beside his brother.

Edmund immediately curled closer and Peter smiled, putting an arm around his brother.

"Better?" he asked.

"Much better," Edmund murmured.

Peter gazed up at the ceiling of the tent, watching the lantern light flicker there. After a moment, he said, "I had the healers take measurements of your leg earlier. For a brace. I've been saving for one, but they're expensive here. In this world I mean."

He felt Edmund stiffen beside him.

Peter frowned. "What?"

"You didn't have to waste your money for a brace…"

"Waste?" Peter exclaimed. "Why on Earth would it be a waste?"

"You've already spent so much money on my schooling… and you had to move away," Edmund said. "And don't say that you don't mind; I know how much you hate being away from us."

Peter stared down at his little brother.

"Law school was the closest you could get to being king in this world," he softly said. "I want you to be able to do that. And you're right, I hated moving away. But it's worth it if you can go through school."

Edmund shrugged.

Peter wrapped his brother in a hug. "I'd do anything for you and the girls. And once you're through school, I'll move back, or you can move out to Cambridge."

After a moment, Edmund sighed, and leaned into the hug.

"If we go back to our normal lives after this." Edmund's tone was lighter. "And I know you'd do anything, you idiot. But it's just like in Narnia, there are some things I'd rather you didn't do for us."

"Like go on months long journeys and come back half starved?" Peter teased.

Edmund snorted, "Exactly. Or spend so much time in the outdoor market looking for presents for the girls that you catch pneumonia."

"Oh come on, that was one time."

"One time too many."

Peter rolled his eyes, smiling.

Edmund yawned, murmuring, "We should get a bigger hammock…"

"What, you think this one isn't big enough for two grown kings?"

"Mmhmm.."

Peter smiled, planting a kiss on the top of his brother's head.

"Go to sleep Ed."

There was light filtering through the tent flaps when Edmund woke again. He laid in the hammock for a long while, just listening to Peter breath.

His older brother was half draped over Edmund, as if it was his duty to be a blanket. He made a good blanket, Edmund mused. He'd certainly kept him warm.

Aslan only knew how much Edmund had missed his brother… and how good it felt to be able to just lay there and listen to him breath. To know Peter was safe and whole and didn't resent him.

Eventually, Edmund extracted himself from the hammock, careful not to wake his brother.

He found Shafelm leaning on a large trunk, in which he found a collection of Peter's clothes. When he didn't find any of his own, Edmund simply stole a tunic, pants and a cloak.

He strapped his sword on and shoved his feet into a spare pair of Peter's boots.

Edmund ducked out of the tent in search of coffee and some breakfast. He found both in a long tent that housed the field cook, who was more than happy to part with a buttered roll and a cup of coffee.

Edmund thanked the cook profusely, and left.

He took a bite out of the roll and nodded to several Narnians that stopped to greet him. It was warmer here than in London, but still very cold for the middle of July. Edmund drew Peter's cloak tighter about him, shivering. At least there was only a layer of frost on the ground.

He continued to wander through the camp with no real destination in mind until someone called his name.

Edmund turned, looking first at eye level, then down, then finally up. Where he spotted the jewel of a hummingbird that was hovering in front of him. He smiled, greeting his older sister's preferred messenger.

"Good morn cousin."

"Good morn, your majesty," the hummingbird chirped back, zipping quickly to his ear to deliver her message. "The Queens request your presence for breakfast in their majesty's tent."

"Thank you, I will join them shortly."

The hummingbird zipped away and Edmund started in the direction of his sisters' tent, sipping his coffee. It didn't take him long to reach the tent, and he ducked inside.

Lucy and Susan were seated at a low table, though it was set with four plates. Edmund dropped down between his sisters, pushing the goblet set at his plate aside to make room for his mug of coffee.

"I see you finally got up," Lucy teased.

Edmund snatched a piece of toast off her plate, snatching his hand away before she could land the light slap she aimed at him. He shrugged, "I hadn't slept properly in a while."

Susan heaped eggs and some fruit onto his plate, gently saying, "Then I'm glad you got the sleep, Ed. Where's Peter?"

"Thanks Su," Edmund said. "He was still sleeping when I got up. I caught him working past midnight last night, so I left him to sleep."

"We'll let him sleep then. There's nothing too pressing at the moment."

Edmund shoved a forkful of fruit into his mouth, saying around it, "Fill me in."

Susan opened her mouth, probably to tell him not to talk with his mouth full, but Lucy smoothly jumped in, saying, "We've just finished taking a tally of the Witch's forces and where she's keeping them. Captain Liln is drawing up a report for us."

Edmund nodded, swallowing. "Anything else?" he asked.

"I don't think so. Oh! The healers finished making a brace for you, Ed. Peter had it–"

"He told me last night," Edmund cut in.

"Good," Lucy said. "You should try it on now, so we can make sure it fits you before you go marching off to war. And Oreius wants to see you fight in it first too."

Edmund quickly finished his stolen toast and stood. "I'll go get changed and meet you at the healer's tent."

Lucy nodded, standing. Susan called after them as they exited the tent, "Wake Peter up!"

"I will," Edmund called back.

He hurried back to his tent, snatching a pillow off the ground as he entered. He lobbed it at Peter's mop of blonde hair. The tasseled pillow hit his brother square in the head, earning some sort of sleepy groan.

Edmund tugged off his boots and retrieved the pillow. He threw it again, saying as he did, "Susan says get up!"

Peter caught the pillow this time, glaring through bleary eyes at Edmund.

Edmund just exchanged his tunic for one of the quilted ones they wore under their armor, smiling at his older brother. "You're lucky I didn't upend the hammock, Pete."

"You'd better not…" Peter muttered, getting out of said hammock and shuffling toward his trunk of clothes. "What're you doing up?"

"It's past breakfast; the girls and I already ate."

"It's that late?!" Peter exclaimed. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You needed the sleep," Edmund supplied, putting his boots back on. "Lu said the healers finished my brace, and Oreius wants to see me fight in it."

"I was going to suggest that anyway before we march on London. I'll join you in a bit."

Edmund nodded, ducking out of the tent and hurrying across camp to the healer's tent.

Lucy was waiting in the healer's tent, her hair pulled back. Edmund set Shafelm on a low table and sat in the chair his sister pulled up for him. She helped a dryad healer strap the brace to his leg.

Peter ducked in after a moment, inspecting their work. Edmund watched as he tightened the brace in a couple spots, then nodded in satisfaction.

"Give it a try," Peter said.

Carefully, Edmund stood, putting weight first on his good leg, then slowly transferring it to his left. He hadn't noticed just how much he'd avoided putting weight on the leg even when it wasn't bothering him. But the brace definitely helped.

"I can put weight on the leg now."

Peter nodded. "I can tell. Walk around a bit."

Edmund did so, and was pleased to find that he hardly had to limp at all.

Peter smiled, putting a hand on Edmund's shoulder. "I'm sure we'll have to make some adjustments after Oreius is through with you, but you should have much better mobility."

"Thanks–"

Captain Celer burst through the entrance of the tent, cutting Edmund off as he gasped, "Your majesties will want to see this."

Edmund exchanged a glance with Peter. Lucy dashed out of the tent after Celer.

Edmund snatched his sword off the table and ran after his siblings. They followed Celer to the southern edge of camp.

Susan was standing on a low, Oreius and Sir Peridan beside her. Edmund followed Peter and Lucy through the crowd of Narnians that was forming.

Susan turned as they arrived, murmuring in a low voice, "The guards here spotted it first."

"Spotted what…" Peter trailed off.

Above London, inky black storm clouds were forming rapidly. Edmund could see snow swirling underneath them as the storm piled higher and higher.

"Good God…" Eustace murmured as he came up beside Edmund, Professor Kirke behind him.

Edmund gripped Shafelm tightly, murmuring, "We made her mad."

"You don't say…" Peter muttered.

Susan shot them both a glare.

"The wind is picking up," Peter continued.

Sure enough, the wind did pick up, and it was freezing.

Edmund shivered, wishing he hadn't left his cloak in the tent.

Suddenly, without warning, the ever growing spire of storm clouds shot outward. The wind shrieked, whipping snow past them. Peter pulled Edmund closer.

Somewhere in the distance, wolves began to howl.

Edmund shivered, drawing closer to Peter.

The temperature began to plummet and the snow fell thickly.

Peter, still with his arm around Edmund, said, "Oreius."

"Your majesty?"

"Call a war meeting in ten minutes. We have an assault to plan."

Honestly, I don't have too much to say after this one. It's mostly just fluff; I'm a sucker for sibling relationships and this is the first time these four have all been together.

Leave a review if you liked it!