Peter glanced over to his sister. She was not even paying attention to the furious melee in front of them. She had curled into the outdoor throne, tucking her head into its corner and curling her legs up.
"L-Lu…" Susan said hesitantly, torn between wanting to only comfort her and feeling the need to reminding her of deportment.
"What?" Lucy said in almost a snarl.
"I…nevermind," Susan sighed, dropping her forehead into her hand.
"Eleven," Peter suddenly said. "There's eleven of them."
"Eleven what?" Susan frowned.
"In the fight. While, ten now that he's out, but where did the extra person come from?" he demanded. "We…I should go down there –"
"No, Peter. Edmund's down there. He would have vetted anyone out there in the melee," Susan countered. "Probably just another Galman Lord or such interested."
"Who's the extra though? Those two have to be the Princes. That's the obnoxious one," Peter started figuring out.
"Nice, Pete," Susan scoffed. "Also, Galmans would never wear the color red; they associate it with being a peasant color. So that's the extra person."
They both carefully watched the fight in front of them, staring particularly at the red knight. Slowly, knights had to cede, giving way to the red knight.
"Lu, you should probably pay attention," Peter reminded. Lucy gave a noncommittal grunt in response, but begrudgingly sat more properly and faked interest as the red knight and white knight faced off, all other contestants already out of the melee.
When the red knight disarmed him with a trick twist to the wrist, the white knight conceded and Edmund declared the red knight the victor. Lucy reluctantly got up and glided towards the field. The red knight strode towards her, falling to his knee in front of her gallantly.
"I suppose we are to wed then, fair knight," she said emotionlessly.
"I would have thought you'd be a bit happier to see me," the knight said in a light voice, removing his helmet. Lucy's eyes widened in recognition, seeing the face she had long hoped to see again.
"P- Peridan?" she gasped. He stood and reached to her, taking her hands into his and holding them. "H-How?"
"You gave up on me," he accused, although his voice was warm and eyes were loving. In the background, they could just barely hear the excited chattering of the crowd as people started recognizing the Narnian Lord.
"The candles would no longer light," she defended in a small voice.
"I...think Aslan used them. To lead me home. I was in a Calormene prison for…I have no idea how long. I kept my identity secret so they wouldn't use me against you. Then some other Narnians were thrown in jail too, so they helped me escape, but we quickly got lost. Your candles led me home."
"That's impossible."
"You always tell me nothing is impossible," Peridan smiled, curling his fingers around her as she leaned in to kiss him.
That night, they tried to light the candles together. The candles burned brightly, their flames roaming higher, until the lights left the candles.
"Look, up there. Look, love," Peridan said, gently redirecting Lucy's gaze from him to the sky. "Those stars."
"Wait, those are new," she frowned.
"Aye. I…followed them home. Those are our candles," he said, kissing her cheek.
"I…I should have believed a miracle would happen," Lucy said, turning to him with a soft smile. "Happy Valentine's Day."