Finally another chapter. This one's from Rose's POV, hope you enjoy.

Please review!

Chapter Twenty-Three

~Rose~

It didn't take me long to find Eustace and the girl, Jill. They stood a little apart from the crowd, wearing their school clothes from England and talking to an Owl. They looked discomfited, Jill glance around looking lost and bewildered and Eustace looking extremely irritated, throwing glances all around him.

It hurt to see Eustace only a bit older than the last time I had seen him, all those years ago. I desperately wanted to talk to him, to ask him about Edmund and the others. But all I could do was move closer and listen.

After they talked with Trumpkin, who had grown old and deaf, and were taken to the castle, I chose to follow Jill to her rooms. I needed to know more about her.

She bathed and dressed and sat by the fire and gazed out her window, which was very dull to me. I had plenty of time to study her, however. She had long, straight dark hair and was pale from the gloomy days at Experiment House, which I remembered as the name of the school Eustace attended. She was thin and her figure was like a boy's, as she had not yet hit that point in her teenage years when her body would mature and become more feminine. However, she had a fairly pretty face, though it wasn't nearly as striking as Susan's or even Lucy's.

Finally Eustace came in, and I listened closely to what he said about seeing Caspian. I learned about the signs Aslan had given them, and then they got into an argument before the dinner bell was rung.

I went with them to supper, and continued to dwell on what Eustace had said about seeing Caspian as an old man. It was nearly as much of a shock as me seeing Eustace so young. And I wondered if he remembered me.

XXX

I went back and forth between their rooms after they went back up for bed, and then followed them to the Owl's parliament building. They discussed their purpose for meeting, and then an old Owl told the story of how my son was lost, and the tale of my death.

Hearing it caused the ache to come back again, and I longed for things to be what they had once been, so long ago, back in the Golden Age. For the hundredth time, I wished it could have stayed like that forever. But, just like the times before, I brushed it away, knowing longing wouldn't change a thing.

I waited to see how Eustace reacted to hearing it, but it didn't seem to affect him. I was perplexed that he didn't seem to care as much as I'd expected him to, and a little shocked that he seemed more interested in going back to bed.

But then with surprise I remembered that Eustace didn't know. How could he have known I'd become pregnant and married Caspian and had his cousin's child? How could he have known that I'd been the queen of the story, killed by a serpent or perhaps a witch?

I felt so frustrated then, wishing I could tell him everything. But they just went on discussing how to help Rilian and how to get to the city of the giants. Jill had fallen asleep during the conversation, and Eustace kept yawning and rubbing the back of his head. I silently urged them to say my name, so that Eustace could know.

At last! "What was the name of Caspian's queen again?" Eustace asked as an afterthought as the Owls tried to rouse Jill.

I pricked up my ears, watching Eustace's face.

"Why, Lady Rosaline, or Rose as she liked to be called. And a fine queen she was, bold and wise and kind, and with that fiery hair. I can even remember her engagement announcement..." said the old Owl.

And then it hit him. His face grew pale and his eyes rounder. His breath hitched a bit and he leaned back against the wall, staring past the Owl, perhaps lost in memory. Had I the ability to cry, I would have, at the look on his face.

XXX

The Owls flew them, on their backs, northward to the Great Marsh. These vast marshlands stretched from about fifteen leagues northeast from Cair Paravel all the way to just south of the River Shribble. They were inhabited primarily by the strange Marsh-Wiggles, whom I had only met with on a few occasions.

Jill was rather silent on the flight, but Eustace and his Owl talked continuously about the voyage of the Dawn Treader and what had happened since they'd gone back to England, and more about me and Caspian and Rilian.

After some time, the Owls landed in the marsh and called out, "Wake up, Puddleglum. Wake up. It is on the Lion's business."

A lantern light appeared some minutes later, and grew steadily closer through the misty air. A voice answered, "Owls? What is it? Is the King dead? Has an enemy invaded Narnia? Is it a flood, or dragons?"

I would have chuckled at the owner of the voice's assuming of the worst. I was very curious to see this person.

At last he reached us, and I studied him through the lantern light as he talked the situation over with Glimfeather. He was very tall, with grayish green skin and hair. He had a morose face, with sunken cheeks and gray eyes and a tight mouth. But what was most striking about him were his hands and feet, which had long digits and webbing in between, like those of a frog's.

The Marsh-wiggle, Puddleglum he was called, bid the Owls goodbye and took Jill and Eustace to his house. It was less of a house than a small, conical structure made of woven reeds and grasses and plastered with mud to keep out the wind. Puddleglum called it a wigwam.

Jill and Eustace fell asleep quickly, exhausted by the long, chilly flight.