Lucy was crying.

She had been doing a lot of that lately. Ever since Edmund left actually, though Lucy was no fool and knew better than to let her family see. Despite what they thought, she was no little girl and she knew better than to burden them with her worries. Peter had almost killed just outside his own bedroom, Caspian had been poisoned at least twice by the looks of him, and Susan, well Susan was watching everything she loved and trusted fall down around her. Lucy had not place to be troubled any of them with her woes. Instead, she had always resolved to try to listen to theirs. But losing a brother and not knowing where he was or if he was alright or when he was coming home, or even if he was alive was too much.

Sometimes, even queens cry.

And it was one of those sometimes.

There she was, sitting on Caspian and Susan's bed, having unconsciously grabbed one of Caspian's good shirts—the one he wore to his wedding in fact—and was currently sniffling into it and dabbing at her puffy eyes with the sleeves. It was turning into a soggy, snotty, and sopping mess. It was a very good thing Caspian was so nice.

"Lu? Is that you? Are-are you crying?"

Caspian, upon hearing some odd moans and very sad noises, instantly rushed into his bedroom, throwing himself onto the side of the bed and looking at his new little sister with bewilderment and worried eyes.

"Lucy!''

The little queen looked up and almost squealed a bit in fright.

"Oh Caspian! Oh, oh I'm so sorry! I know I shouldn't be in here, I'll be leaving now." She said, trying to keep her voice steady. Caspian sort of snorted when she stood up, whipping at her eyes angrily. He caught her wrist and pulled her into a hug, quite worried but knowing exactly what was bugging her so much.

"Don't be silly, Lu. You are always welcome. Don't cry little Lu. I miss him too. I miss him so much. But you know, I have a feeling we are going to be seeing him soon," he said in a soothing voice, rubbing soft circles on his sister's back. She sniffled again into his shirt.

"You think so?" she asked in a tiny voice.

"I know so," he said confidently. Lucy sniffled one more time and then took her head of her brother -in -law's shoulder.

"Look at me, snotting all over your shirt," she loosened her grip on her 'hankerchief' and then her eyes widened as she uncrumpled it and realized it was Caspian's wedding shirt.

Caspian had a similar revelation at the same time and his jaw dropped slightly. "Oh, Oh! Caspian, oh—oh I am so, so sorry, I had no idea this was your best shirt. Oh, oh!" the young queen shrieked in dismay.

Caspian was slightly stunned and did not say anything for a while as the little queen fretted over his shirt, getting herself all worked up again.

Just as Caspian was beginning to tell her not to worry about it, one of the few trusted palace guards left rushed into the room, nearly knocking over a nightstand in the process.

Caspian instinctively felt around the floor for his sword. "What has happened now?" he asked the guard exasperatedly, readjusting his grip on Lucy who had looked up from his shoulder at the sound of the loud crash.

The guard merely stood in the doorway panting, with a look of utter awe and what can only be described as complete shock. Caspian narrowed his eyes in disbelief, silently asking the guard if he was true in his assumptions. The guard nodded and Caspian's sword clattered to the ground. The castle seemed to grow silent and before Lucy was even sure of what was going on, she was being dragged very quickly through the corridors of the Cair by a very, very excited Caspian. The hallways were a blur as Caspian's long legs pounded against the marbel, never seeming to go fast enough to please their owner as they carried the King of Narnia through their hallowed halls.

Lucy's arm was almost wrenched off as she and Caspian whirled around the corner at breakneck speeds before the young queen could even inquire as to what on Earth her oldest brother was so excited about.

"Cas…pian…what….is..it, where….are we…going…" she huffed, her much shorter legs struggling to keep up with his much longer ones.

Caspian ignored her utterly, as he was only focused on one thing as he charged through the halls like thunder, insane and utter joy bursting through every cell in his body. The closer they got to the palace gates, the farther the great iron bars seemed away. He ran and ran and ran but no matter how hard he pushed his good strong legs, it seemed to his distraught brain that he was going slower and slower as time passed.

What seemed to be decades later, the gates were in sight and the Telmarine could make out the beautiful figure of his wife and King Peter quite literally beside themselves with elation, crying and dancing and laughing and sobbing and hugging a very familiar dark head.

At first, Lucy was certain it was a dream and it took her already lightheaded self to gather her thoughts. She even gave herself a little pinch to make sure she was not just having a gloriously wonderful dream. She wasn't.

"Edmund!" she cried at the top of her lungs as she broke away from Caspian, half laughing, half crying and nearly falling over her own feet in her mad rush to her brother who had caught a glimpse of his little sister over Peter's shoulder and whose face had split into a grin only Edmund could conjure up.

The Just King, who despite himself had tears of happiness in his great brown eyes, let out an most un-Edmundly shriek of glee at the sight of that wild auburn hair and beautiful smile. Susan and Peter both looked up from Edmund's shoulder and tried to see through the tears blurring their vision. Like a little boy eager to open his presents on Christmas morning, Edmund squirmed a bit with glowing eyes and though neither sibling was even close to being ready to release their baby brother, they gave him a little push towards Lucy. She was not quite sure what made her stop a few feet from her brother-perhaps she just wanted to take him in all his glory and see his every present mischievous smile, or perhaps she wanted to see if he looked any different or if his adventures had left marks in his face, as most usually do. (It very easy to tell by the look on one's face whether they have endeavored in any grand adventure in his or her lifetime, for they always look as though they know of some splendid secret about life that no one else knows, which they do). Edmund too stopped and the two simple stared at each other for a moment. Finally Edmund grinned and held out his arms.

"I told you I would be back."

Lucy sprinted forward into his waiting arms and gave him such a hug as to knock the much bigger king backwards, straight into the arms of Peter and Susan who embraced their siblings whole heartedly, tears running down all of their cheeks. How wonderful it felt to be a part of a family again! How glorious it was to feel the warmth from Susan's irreplaceable hugs and feel Lucy's heartbeat and Peter rough hands clapping him on the back. And then Edmund smiled because he had done it. He had actually brought back the cordial and it was going to save his brother's life and everything just might be okay again.

Peter had not cried in front of his siblings since the horrible incident with Susan before her and Caspian were married, and before that only when Edmund had very nearly died while fighting the White Witch. But now, tears were streaming down both of his cheeks as he held his baby brother—greatest man he had ever known and stood by him no matter how beastly Peter had been—in his arms and remembered all the times Edmund had been there for him. All the times he had stood by Peter's decision, no matter how wrong he was or how stubborn he was, his brother had always supported him one-hundred and twenty percent. All the pranks Edmund had pulled and all the laughs and memories they had created together. All the times Edmund had simply just been there, they strong and silent brother. He remembered how Edmund was the only person that could every thing inside Peter right again simply not saying anything. How wonderful Edmund was, as a brother, as a king, but most of all a man He remembered how Edmund was the only person that could every thing inside Peter right again simply not saying anything. How wonderful Edmund was, as a brother, as a king, but most of all a man.

But Caspian hung back slightly, somehow knowing it was not his place to intrude on this moment.
"Oh Aslan I missed you all like you would not believe!" he murmured into Susan's hair and patted Lucy, who was hugging his middle tightly. Peter ruffled Edmund's hair. "Welcome back little brother," he said with a warm smile. Edmund caught the slight catch in his brother's voice and briefly unwrapped his arm from around Susan's waist and clasped his brother's forearm in a symbol of everlasting trust and brotherhood. Peter smiled up and Edmund who merely nodded and then grinned broadly, pulling Peter into a strong hug over Lucy's head. Susan smiled softly as she watched her two brothers unite and could only think she did not ever want any of this to end.

It was undoubtedly the happiest moment of Edmund's life. He could see the wind and the trees and the sky and the sun.

"How fast can you prepare six thousand troops, General?"

The General studied the rigid form of his king with guarded eyes. "My lord?"

"How fast can you get six thousand men on the move?"

The General thought for a moment. "Three days, my liege."

The King growled.

"You will do it in one. By sunset tomorrow we will be on the move."

"Sunset? My king, but that is impossible. We must collect troops and gather weapons and distribute armor for six thousand men and—"

"Are you a Telmarine or not, General Sopepsian. " the king stated coldly. The General narrowed his eyes at his king.

"What are you insinuating?"
The king glared at his General. "It is the way of the true Telmarine to conquer, my lord. If you cannot gather a few measly regiments in a matter of a day, you may as well join those ninny Narnian Telmarines."

The General pondered the king carefully. "We will be ready by sunset. "

The king smiled. "Good. By day after next, the King of the Animals and the husband of whores will see how a real Telmarine conquers. "

The King grabbed a glass of wine and poured a generous amount for himself and his general and handed it to the other man who eyed the dark fluid suspiciously, as if afraid of its contents.

"Cheers."

"To what?"

"A job well done."

"But…it is not over.''

"It will be."

"….and then that is when you showed up."

Edmund stared at Caspian with wide eyes and then ran a hand roughly over his face.

"Wow. I suppose I sort of missed a lot, huh." Edmund said in an attempt at a joke. His family nodded and Lucy snuggled up closer to Edmund's side.

The royal family of Narnian—after much crying and hugging and reuniting and laughing—had retreated into Susan and Caspian's room after Caspian had taken the cordial and were all currently settled comfortable on the big soft bed, although Caspian could not stop grinning at the slightly green look on Peter's face every time he glanced back down at his sister and her husband's bed; it was a pricelessly uncomfortable expression.

Edmund shook his head. "I'm so sorry I was not there," he whispered in an unusually small voice. Susan—who had been sitting curled up in Caspian's lap—reached over and patted her brother's knee.

"But you have always been here for all the other important things. Plus, you were busy trying to save us," she said warmly and Edmund grabbed her hand. He could always leave it to his sister saying just what he needed to hear just when he needed to hear it. And he had missed that.

He had missed all of it, so much. He had missed teasing Peter and gagging over Susan and Caspian's sweetness and Lucy's sun shiny goodness. He missed his family. He just missed being with them and fighting with them and seeing them every single day. He needed them, more than anything else in the world. They WERE his world.

But they had needed him as well. His family had been through hell and back while he had been in that horrible cave. Cair Parvel had actually been invaded in his absence , a war had been started, even. He had not been there when perhaps they needed him to be more than ever. But he was here now, and they were all there in Susan and Caspian's room, and he was never going away ever, ever again. Because there is no place like home, and home is where your family is.

It was comfortably silent for a moment before Lucy piped up. "So Ed, what have you and Trumpkin been up to?"

Edmund snorted.

"Well…"

Edmund and Trumpkin spent most of the next day asleep, Trumpkin in his cozy little dwarf-sized bed and Edmund, to his family's amusement, in Susan and Caspian's. The royals had stayed up so very late the previous night discussing the situation with the Telmarines and all of Edmund's adventures that when the servants had entered the chamber in the morning, they had found all four of the royals and tucked in and snug and cuddled up together on the large bed. King Caspian and Susan of course were tucked up snugly in each other's arms, with Peter and Edmund sprawled horizontally over their legs and Lucy snuggled into Susan's neck.

Edmund had looked so sweet and peaceful the next morning that no one dared wake him up and Susan just tucked him in, kissed her baby brother's forehead, shut off the light and left him to sleep.

And this is what Trumpkin found the morning after his eleven hour nap when he had looked out of his bedroom window to watch the breaking dawn and spotted a massive sworm of Telmarine's on the distant horizon. As any loyal soldier would, he had rushed to the King's chamber as fast as he was able to find a very sleepy, slightly drooling Edmund still dozing under the covers of King Caspian and Queen Susan's bedroom.

"Oi! Wake up boy, where's the king and the missus?"

Edmund jolted awake and clattered onto the cold stone floor in a mass of blankets, flailing and very womanly squeals. Trumpkin rolled his eyes.

"Blood hell," he mumbeled "hey, boy! ya bett'r pull yerself together damn fast and get some armor on!" he exclaimed as Edmund continued flailing on the floor, feeling around for some sort of weapon and trying to wipe the drool off his face.

"What, why?"
"Well, because the Telmarine are a'coming and they're practically at our gates!"

sorry for the wait guys, a bit at my wits end with this story but don't worry, the next chapter will have more action.

Oh, and another thing i have noticed, my number of reviews seem to be decreasing per chapter and i am just wondering if you all are getting bored or if my writing is unsatisfactory or you are not liking the plot. So if you are feeling any of the above, please press the little purple button below and let me know so i can fix it! Reviews keep me motivated, and i might update faster if i knew anyone was actually reading this thing. But a great big thanks to those of you who have been faithfully reviewing, love you all!