Here's the next chapter.
Unlike Peter, when Lucy, Edmund and Reepicheep stepped out of the gate, their feet hit a mossy ground and all around them danced the sounds of Narnia. They could help dancing around a bit and Lucy made a point to hug every tree and Talking Beast they passed on the short walk to Caspian's castle. Both siblings felt bad about their brother, they each knew how much he wanted to be there with them, with Caspian, but between the fresh air and the general ambience of Narnia they found themselves unable to dwell on it. Within fifteen minutes the castle came into view and five minutes after that they were being greeted by one of the guards.
As eager as they were to see their old friend again, neither child was too displeased when they were led to their quarters to change and freshen up. English school clothes weren't exactly appropriate attire for the Kings and Queens of old. Edmund was ready, his favourite sword back by his side, in a matter of minutes and Lucy not long after that. They knew their way to the throne room, and would have much preferred to just run down there themselves, they knew they must wait for Reepicheep to escort them. On the way down to the throne room, Reepicheep told them all about how he had convinced Aslan to let him go fetch them and how amazing their world was and how small all the mice are (and dreadful conversationalists too!) The children didn't mind hearing the story at all, they had missed their little mouse friend.
The walk took longer than necessary due to the many stops they had to make to greet old friends. They ran into Trufflehunter the badger, Haine the child centaur, and their DLF. Lucy didn't particularly want to leave the dwarf's company, having been much closer to him than to the Prince (now the King), but after a few minutes Edmund reminded her that their presence was needed elsewhere and they departed.
Caspian, Edmund and Lucy all knew they were supposed to maintain a courtly greeting, but as soon as the two siblings entered the room, Caspian strode over to them and there was much embracement. Once the initial greetings were put aside, they each regained their composure and acted much like the royalty they were.
"King Caspian, you requested our counsel?" Edmund asked, already regaining his Narnian way of speaking.
"Ah yes, King Edmund, a very important matter indeed, but that can and shall wait until after supper. Are you two hungry?"
Despite having eaten only forty-five minutes before, the mere thought of a Narnian banquet made the two children positively ravenous. When they approached the table, the Pevensies were started to find four place settings.
"Where is the rest of the court? And who is the fourth plate for?" Lucy inquired.
"I thought we could have a meal with just the tree of us in order to forgo proper etiquette and other tiresome traditions. As for the fourth set, I wasn't sure how many of you would be able to get here. I rather figured Susan wouldn't be coming back, but I had hoped that maybe Peter..." he trailed off. He quickly shook his head and regained his kingly composure, but no amount of poise could hide the sadness in his eyes. Edmund was somewhat relieved to see that Caspian hadn't moved on from Peter, because he knew Peter wouldn't be able to take that.
"He said to say 'hi', Peter did I mean," Edmund stated as they were sitting down, Edmund and Lucy on one side and Caspian across from them on the other, "I'm sure he would have said more, but he didn't have time seeing as I had to follow Lu and Reepicheep."
"Yes of course. Thank you for bearing the message, King Edmund."
"Can we please just go by our names?" Lucy butted in, "Formalities waste time and make situations a whole lot more forced and awkward." The other two laughed and had to agree.
"How much time has past in Narnia since our departure?" Lucy asked curiously. She knew it couldn't have been much time for everyone looked the same as they had before, but it still could have, potentially, been a few years.
"One month and twelve days" Caspian replied, adding hurriedly "not that I've been counting" after seeing the look Edmund and Lucy had just given each other. The shared look was not, however, due to Caspian's blatant obsession with their brother, but instead to the amount of time he had stated. Lucy spent a minute counting on her fingers just to make sure, nodded to her brother and they both turned to face Caspian.
"Same with England." They stated in almost perfect unison.
"What?"
"It has been one month and twelve days by our calendar as well."
"That is most confusing, how long did you say it was between your first and second visit?"
"Well I'm assuming by first you mean the time we were crowned and reigned. About 1300 years." Edmund said.
"What a difference. That means that this time, time must be passing in England while you are here, no?" Caspian asked.
"Time between worlds is bizarre. I do not hope to ever understand it." Lucy said before taking a bite of the most delicious berry pie she had ever tasted. Edmund and Lucy told Caspian all about England, school, and everything new in their lives. Caspian did the same and they quickly fell into pleasant conversation.
At times Caspian would glance sadly at the empty place next to him and each time this happened Edmund wanted nothing more than to somehow run back to Narnia and drag Peter back, defying all magic and rules. It would have been epic, if it were possible. Which it wasn't. So he didn't. Instead he and Lucy exchanged awkward glances until Caspian shook his head, blonde hair falling over his eyes and clearing his brain of whatever memory it had been rehashing.
After dinner, the three of them retired to one of the general rooms nearby to get down to business. It turned out that quite a few Telmarine were not as happy about living in peace with the Narnians as they had seemed in the presence of Aslan. There had been quite a few riots and a week earlier a group of about fifteen had tried to break into the castle, slaying three guards and one friend of the court who happened to be passing by.
"I have most of the men from the mini surge locked away awaiting trial, but I know not what to do with them. Aslan told me I could call you here to get your help in restoring order to the country. I am new to this, please help me.
"Of course. We are happy to stay and help." Lucy said, still unable to believe she was back in Narnia so soon. Edmund nodded in agreement and Caspian didn't try to hide his smile of relief.
"Then we shall make plans tomorrow. Rest tonight."
The next day planning didn't get started until late in the day, of course, no one had expected it to. Aside from the three creatures they had run into, they had seen none of their new Narnian friends in a month and a half and they hadn't had enough time with the few they had seen. The morning and part of the afternoon was spent calling on friends, entertaining in the castle (Caspian insisted that the castle belonged to all the Kings and Queens of Narnia, not just the current sovereign and therefore they had as much right to entertain there as he did) and getting reacquainted.
After a late dinner, Caspian, Edmund and Lucy sat down in the main planning room and got down to business. Caspian filled them in on the details of everything that had happened since they had left. A whole lot of specifics later, the King and Queen of old had a pretty good idea of how everything had happened.
"Well," Edmund began in a voice that meant business, he had become King Edmund again almost over night, "you ought to try the thirteen rebels you currently have in custody at a public hearing so the general public can see you mean business. Be fair, but strict. Do you have an idea of who played what role? Who actually killed, who only helped draw the gate etc?" Caspian nodded and Edmund looked pleased. "Good. Make sure to make their sentences proportionate to the roles they played. As for the rebel groups still at large, we should wait a while to see if the trials of their peers quiets them. If not, we shall deal with it then."
They continued to plan out the trials, trying to figure out a general sentence for each person so as not to have Caspian make a total judgment error he couldn't revoke. Lucy, who didn't like to see anyone hurt, was pushing for a lighter sentence, while Caspian was for 'death for most'. Edmund, who had been known during their reign as King Edmund the Just, proposed the most reasonable sentences that met somewhere in the middle for most of the individuals. By the time they were all happy about all of the sentences, it was supper time and they hurried off to eat their meal, this time dining like true royalty with their court. Nobody had as much fun.
After dinner, the three of them split up. Lucy decided to take a walk around the surrounding woods, accompanied by one of the Talking Mice she had grown fond of during their wait at the Stone Table last month. Caspian retreated to his study and Edmund ran back to his room to put on his favourite armour in order to practice swordplay with one of the dwarfs who took up residence in the castle.
Edmund found his armour hanging on a hanger right beside his school bag. When he tried to get the armour off the hanger, he found it was caught on the strap of his book bag. In order to detangle the two, Edmund opened the bag and wove it back through the hanger. As he opened it, he noticed the old book, something he had forgotten about in all the excitement of being back in Narnia. Suddenly, he had a thought. He quickly rummaged around in his bag until he found the pen. Opening to a blank page he scribbled 'Hey Peter. Any chance this works?' He stared at the page for a good long time before deciding it had probably not worked and even if it had, Peter was not looking at the book at the moment. Giving up for the moment, he shut it and hurried off to meet Gerguisd the dwarf in the courtyard.
Hours later and covered in sweat and a few bruises, Edmund trudged through the castle towards his quarters. Walking down the hall, Edmund saw light coming from Caspian's study. Confused as to why the King would still be awake, Edmund poked his head inside and saw Caspian sitting on a bay window and staring outside. Edmund was forcibly reminded of another King of Narnia he had seen sitting in the exact same way, probably remembering the exact same things.
He coughed to make his presence known and Caspian turned to glance at Edmund before returning his attention to the window.
"Hello Edmund"
"Hey, you're still awake?" Edmund questioned, clearly knowing the answer and not quite sure of why he felt the need to ask such a stupid question.
"Yeah. So are you." Caspian replied. Apparently he, too, liked pointing out the obvious. Edmund moved closer and pulled up a chair next to the windowsill. Many moments passed in silence before Caspian spoke and broke the quiet in the air.
"It's all my fault, this Telmarine rebellion and stuff."
"How do you figure that? I am more compelled to blame it on the rebels."
"I've been a horrible leader. I've been far too caught up in my own trivial problems, spent too much time thinking about him and too little time taking care of the country."
"He is bound to be on your mind, Caspian, you cannot blame yourself for that."
"Yes but it is interfering with my ability to do anything."
"He misses you too. A lot. He refused to eat anything at all for the first week we were back and even now it is a fight just to get him to eat a sandwich or sleep. He just sits there, staring off and drawing." Caspian instantly snapped out of his own self-pity mode.
"Peter isn't eating? Is he okay? He needs to eat. Do you make him eat? How little does he sleep? He needs to sleep. It's important."
"You know, I'm almost positive he would say the exact same thing about you. Want to try to get some sleep? Believe me, it is a lot easier to run a country when one is not sleep deprived." Caspian agreed and the two made their way out of the study and towards the sleeping area of the castle. They walked in a comfortable silence until it was time to go separate ways.
"Thank you" Caspian said, looking straight at Edmund.
"Anytime. See you in the morning, sleep well."
"You too."
As Caspian was walking back alone to his room he thought on everything Edmund had told him about Peter's inability to eat and sleep and thought about how it was entirely his fault and wondered if he would ever sleep well again.
I can't promise the next one will be up by the end of this work week, but I will try.