OH. JIMMINEY CRAP i am sooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry! An entire MONTH without an update, i feel so terrible. You all have been so lovely, leaving reviews and favoriting my story and i repay you with leaving you for a couple of cliff hangers! So sorry:(:(:(::((:(:(:( I hope this makes up for it a bit and I promise i will work really extra super hard to update more regularly. Thanks so much for all ye faithful viewers who have stood by me and been oh so patient lately. I truly would never have pressed on without you.

The cordial was just as beautiful as he remembered. So…pure and innocent, sweet, even. The red liquid sloshed against the crystal vial, and Edmund could feel his heart lurching as Bumblehoof clumsily lifted the vial to his eye. In that vial, that one little vial that had meant the difference between living and dying for so many souls.

Lucy was so innocent. So meek. She did not carry a sword on her hip like him and his brother, or even a bow like his sister. Her greatest weapon was her ability to save lives. Her greatest weapon brought air back into the lungs of the wounded and started the blood pumping through veins once again. His sister, his baby sister had saved lives with nothing but those precious drops of life.

Those few precious drops of the fire-flower that grows in the mountains of the sun…were going to save his brother's life. Because of the precious drops within the beautiful little cordial- so delicate and small- his brother was going to heal and be good and strong and healthy again. Edmund was going to get that cordial and it was going to heal his brother- his own sister's love-and save him.

Edmund knew that he would not be riding home on his white horse, cordial in hand, and he would not come galavanting through the gates to a crowd erupting in cheers. Caspian would not be laying in bed sick as dog and then jump out singing after the drop of cordial touched his lips. He would be coming home to war. A bloody, hateful, horrible, HORRIBLE war. Against horrible horrible people.

And it wasn't going to be easy. It was going to be really hard, but he and his family would get through it together. It was something they would have to fight for every day with everything. But that was ok. As long as he and his family were together, as long as they were safe, it would all be alright.

There was no shadow of doubt in Edmund's mind that Narnia would come throught the clutches of evil once more. Narnia was not a quarter of the size of Telmar and their army outnumbered that of the Narnians eight to one. And the Telmarines were ruthless, ruthless people. These Telmarines made Miraz and the nine other Caspian's look like kittens. And even though every odd was against them, they had something that the Telmarines did not. They had something worth fighting for. And no matter how long it took, or how hard it was, Edmund was going to get that cordial.

Good things come in small packages, and you can't get much smaller than Lucy's cordial.

Lucy had always felt so safe in Cair Paravel. When she was in that castle, it was like nothing could hurt her. Even in the midst of war, she was never concerned for one moment that the enemy would get any closer than outside the city. As long as she was within those stone walls; she was safe.

For fifteen long years, she and her family had lived there within those very walls and never, ever once been threatened by an attack. Never before had the enemy been so close. Men intent on kidnapping Susan and killing them all in their sleep if necessary had walked these very halls. Twenty plus Telmarine soldiers had been in her home just moments ago. And the part that scared Lucy the most? Someone would have had to let them in.

It was without a doubt the most uncomfortable silence any of them had endured.

All the Narnian royals-including Caspian who had refused to be tended to before he spoke to Mariella- weresitting, trembling, around the dining room table across from the daughter of their enemy who was dressed as a Telmarine general.

The daughter who had risked everything to warn the royal family of her wicked father's evil plot. The daughter who was commiting perhaps the largest case of treason in history and could very well be murdered in her country, even though her father was the king. She who had risked life and limb on her perilous journey two long days racing across the hottest of desert on her horse, not daring to stop for more than seconds at a time. She who had spent her entire eighteen years trying to play mother to her three younger sister. She who was the model of strength, forever turning the other cheek at her father's verbal abuse and bearing all his vile treatment so to spare her sisters.

She who was staring blankly at the dining room table before her, taking long shaking breaths and trying not to fall apart. Her long black curls were tossled this way and that, her slender hands absently running through them and catching in its tangled masses. The long, heavy Telmarine sword that had been glued to her hip for two whole days now was cast away to her left, laying on the table as a constant reminder to the other royals of what could have been driven through their bodies in the middle of the night. It had only been moments since twenty or so of the fiercest of Telmarines had stood trembling before this beautiful creature and fled without question.

Now, she looked anything but fearsome. She still wore the attire of a high ranking general of Telmar, but looked just as sweet and beautiful as she had at the grand wedding of King Caspian X and Queen Susan the Gentle.

She was the most beautiful thing Peter had ever seen in his life, especially now.

Ever since she had peeled off that helmet and shook out her long dark curls, smiling bravely at the royals, Peter had not been able to look away.

This girl, this woman, this princesss had endured blistering sun and scortching winds for miles and miles and miles on end to save his family. She had thrown caution to the wind and finally stood up for herself. What her father was doing to this poor family was wrong and she refused to sit idly by and watch as their lives were torn apart by her the hatred of her father and the lust of her brother.

She was amazing.

And she was sitting right across from him.

And slowly, painfully, as if each word was being torn from her lips, she began to speak. Her voice was soft and gentle as Peter remembered it, but it did not hold the same tone of endless kindness as it had on their first meeting. It was now scared, cold, and unhappy. As if she had watched everything she loved die right before her eyes. In several ways, she had.

'' Sixteen years ago," she began in a whisper, "a heartless man named Kasim entered the palace of Miraz of Narnia. The wife of King Kasim often complained of the lack of time the small family spend together, and so Queen Daria, prince Tristan, and Princess Mariella who was no more than two, travelled to Narnia for the first time." she said in a soft, pained voice.

The Pevensies and Caspian remained silent, although Susan could not stop herself from fussing over Caspian though he declared he was feeling nearly normal again.

"The children were awed at the magical land and most impressed the castle and the kings," she shot a glance at Caspian, looking horribly guilty, "but the Queen of this magnificent country was very sick, and her son was very young."

All looked at Caspian who looked long and hard at the princess before pointing a shaky finger at her.

"I remember you. You-you and I played in the garden...I was four and my mother, she-she died a week later," he said slowly.

Mariella closed her eyes and nodded, a single tear slipping out of her eyes. Peter wanted more than anything to wipe it away.

"Yes, yes. You, you and me and Tristan...we were friends. Tristan used to be so good..." she said shakily. Caspian had the same faraway look in his eyes.

Bravely, she continued her story. "The last night we spent in that castle,I-I was scared and I was looking for my father-just once I hoped he would just hold me and tell me everything would be okay-and I-I did find him," she paused and looked at Caspian with eyes like they were pleading him to forgive her for something,"he and Miraz were sitting in the queerest study and...Miraz was consulting with my father about..."she sighed again," about the best way to get rid of your father..."

Caspian slowly looked up at her. "What?"

"Caspian-Caspian I am so sorry. I was-I was only two and I did not understand , I thought it was just a game they were playing...I didn't know Miraz meant... killing him," she whispered the last part to herself, feeling an overwhelming guilt wash over her.

Caspian said nothing and Mariella got up and walked around to the other side of the table, grabbing Caspian's hand.

"I am so sorry. Please, please forgive me. I should have told you, I should have told at the wedding...I only just remembered it the other night when Arianna overheard them talking-just like that night-and oh, I am so sorry for everything."

Caspian still said nothing for a long while, thinking back to the day he found out his father had died, and how sympathetic Miraz pretended to be.

"Tell me about what Arianna heard," he said not angrily, but coldly, as if he was the same man he had been three years ago.

Mariella sighed shamefully and looked down, nervously twirling her hair.

"He was apart of the plan to kill your father...hasn't he done enought to you already?" she wondered to herself before looking into the eyes of the royals and somehow finding courage to continue.

"A few nights ago, Arianna heard my father talking to my brother...about you two." she said, gesturing to Caspian and Susan.

No one was surprised, but Lucy still looked apalled.

Mariella sighed. "He wants to hurt you, Caspian. He wants to make you suffer more than is fair for any other human being." She turned to Susan and reached across Caspian's lap to take Susan's hand.

"My father wants to kill you to spite him. Either that or he is just planning to kill Caspian and let Tristan have his way with you," she explained gently.

Caspian jumped up from his seat. "Over my dead body! He doesn't touch her...EVER!" His eyes were ablaze and it almost scared Lucy to see him so angry.

Susan put a gentle hand on his arm and pulled him back into his seat. "Love, you are not well. Please do not fuss so."

Lucy turned back to Mariella with a brave smile. "Please go on."

Now came the hard part, "And the only reason we came to your wedding was to...observe you. My father wanted to see you two together to see if you two were really in love...and a blind man could see that you are.''

She expected the family to be furious. They had taken her into thier home and treated her like family, she who had known all about why they were there in the first place, and she had just stood idly by and gave them no warning at all. But they were not angry. The family did look slightly hurt but none of them said anything.

"Anyways, after the um, 'incident' with my brother, I am sure you were surprised he did not attack sooner. I know why."

Peter grimaced. "Pray tell."

She turned to the newly weds and took a deep breath, her cheeks flushing in embarrassement.

"He's waiting for you two to...uh, to-um-, well, he's been waiting for the two of you to ah, you know...get pregnant."

There was a rather comical gagging, almost choking sound coming from Peter and Lucy had to pat him very hard on the back to instll the breath back in her brother's body.

Caspian too had gained a bit of red color on his cheeks and was putting forth quite a lot of effort to keep himself breathing.

"Its a bit early to be thinking about that isn't it?" Peter nearly yelled almost frantically. Despite herself, Susan smiled.

"I mean-she-she's only eighteen! Barely! And, and there could be complications, and-and feet swelling, and weight gain, and mood swings, and labor pains, and-and food cravings! And all those dirty diapers! And all the crying in the middle of the night, and then it'll turn into a teenager and we all know how that is going to turn out..." Peter paused as if making a decision.

'"No no no no no no NO, absolutely no, there will be no baby anytime soon. I mean, she's just a child herself'

"I am barely a year younger than you!"

"-and her little teenager body couldn't possibly deal with the stress pushing a baby out of her-

"PETER DON'T YOU DARE!"

"-down there."

Mariella, Caspian, and Susan all turned fabulous shades of red, Susan hiding her face in her hands and wishing a large piano would fall out of the sky and drop on her brothers head.

Peter rambled on and on, nearly hyperventilating and all in a fuss, Mariella's cheeks growing redder and redder by the moment. Susan was looking at her brother with an expression that can only be described as utter mortification and absolute humiliation. And Lucy, Lucy was giggling madly. Oh, if Edmund had been there...

Finally, when Peter finished listing in detail all the reasons for his sister and Caspian NOT to have a baby, (most including embarrassing side effects for Susan and all the things that could go wrong with the child birth...in most embarrassing detail) the rest of the royal family was completely silent, alll staring at Peter with a mixture of wonder and humiliatioin.

It was finally Caspian who spoke up. "Ew, please let that be end of your speech. I do not even want to know how you know all of that."

Lucy giggled and Mariella tried very hard not to smile but it crept across her face anyway.

Caspian still seemed to be a bit frozen. Lately, he had been thinking quite a lot about babies but was certainly not planning on discussing that particular topic with this brother-in-law, especially since he was a little bit shy about even discussing the topic with his wife, even though he knew she wanted a baby just as much as he did. More, probably.

By now Peter was blushing furiously, wishing he would sink through the floor. Why oh why had he just shared all of that information with the world? He did not even know where all of that came from...perhaps the semester of medical training he had recieved in school. But why oh why did he blurt all of that out in front of her.!

If he had just been lounging around with the family on a Saturday morning, it would not have been so bad. But he had blurted out all of this in front of the most beautiful creature he had ever seen who was now looking at him like a snake was crawling out of his nose.

Brilliant.

After several silent, very, VERY akward minutes spent staring at random objects in the room, Mariella could not take it any longer and shook her head as if trying to clear all of the scarring images Peter had planted in her mind.

"Lovely weather you all are having..."

Please let me know what you think! I am hoping to get up to 95+ reviews. *hint hint* well, not for this chapter alone but you know what I mean...lol. Not that i would complain though heheheheheh.

Happy Thanksgiving my lovely reviewers!