***Susan***

My sister Susan was her name. A lily. Not for nothing did Aslan call her Gentle. She was motherly, overprotective, and stronger than anyone knew. She was adored by our subjects for her kind smile, and knew all of their problems. She walked among them more often than anyone, even Lucy, and was the first among us to understand the culture and values of our very different subjects.

Susan was also logical and practical. She didn't bother with wild dreams, but focused on the present. In Narnia, that was a credit to her, for Edmund and I were warriors, battle planners. Our job was to dream big. And Lucy was a dreamer. She lived to think of ever crazier futures for the four of us.

Susan was the one to introduce me to the girl I love, still to this day. My love had been one of Susan's ladies maids, a willow dryad. Susan had seen I was smitten. She was like that, understanding everyone she met. She was always good at diplomacy, merely because she could see what people wanted and give it to them indirectly and without compromising herself or the rest of us.

England was hard on her, plain and simple. She may have said it wasn't that she could still fill her purpose, but I knew better. So did Edmund and Lucy, to an extent. Susan had been like the mother of our kingdom, and no decent mother wants to leave her children so abruptly. Lucy told me she cried at night, softly so Lucy wouldn't hear. Lucy heard though, and knew the extent of Susan's pain.

Susan needed Narnia more than the rest of us realized. It was where she grew up, fell in love, reigned gracefully, Gently. Her Gentleness was who she was, so when she tried to hide it behind the practicality and logic, it broke all of our hearts. Susan was meant to love and nurture, to shine like the Sun she was named to.

At her final forsaking of Narnia, I merely looked at her. The sister I was so close to, who understood me as well as I understood her, had abandoned our home, had lost hope like so many.

I miss my sister, who stood with me through so much, keeping me safe from all my enemies, even myself. Her seriousness was outdone by the love that radiated from her very being. Even as I miss her, I will never forget, for her sake, that I am High King Peter the Magnificent to the Clear Northern Sky.

OoOoOoOo

Susan was always there from my earliest memories. Her serious face, but love shining out of her eyes. Every time I scraped my knee, she was there even before Mother, wiping my tear-stained face with her handkerchief. She'd cluck her tongue at me, but give me a hug while I recovered from the shock of my injury. Since she was always there, Mother gave her a nickname, 'Little Mother'. She deserved it, every syllable.

Even through my 'difficult period', even as I spurned her love and affection, she'd still look at me with the serious look on her face, her eyes radiating love.

Our entrance into Narnia only fuelled her practicality and logical nature. But it also heightened her motherly love, and replaced her more serious tendencies with the Gentleness that had always been there. Now she could radiate, overpower, and be what she was meant to be.

Susan was beautiful, probably the most beautiful woman in that world or ours. It was not merely looks that made her as lovely as she was, but her spirit was beautiful as well. Her Gentleness only heightened everything about her.

Susan was fierce, but not in the way the the rest of us were, with our fighting gifts and the satisfaction we derived from it. No, Susan was more like a mother bear defending her cubs, but her weapons were not tooth and claw, but soft words and persuasion. She was too tender-hearted to kill. The one time she killed was in defense of me, as Ginarrbrik stood over me with his axe ready to slaughter. Still, that cost her dearly, and it was only through Aslan that she came to terms with it.

So when we returned to Narnia to find it destroyed, she was hurt so deeply that it was like poison, corroding at her Gentle nature, leaving behind naught but someone who could and did kill. But after that, she didn't heal. So to cope, she shut off herself, and in the process, Narnia and everything she and the rest of us had ever held dear.

As Lucy says, makeup in itself is not bad, but Susan used them as a mask, not as something to enhance the beautiful features that were already there. Susan's mask conformed to her face, leaving behind a cold individual, nothing like the beautiful, motherly, and Gentle sister I had once known.

I do not pen these words in judgment, merely regret that my dear elder sister has forgotten that I am King Edmund the Just to the Great Western Wood.

OoOoOoOo

Susan was always wonderful to me and the others, beautiful because of what she was, Gentle. She was like a beacon of hope to our people, for her smile had charmed them completely, and no one could resist her for all the love she put out.

I once had to meet one of her suitors before she did, for she was occupied with a matter involving a family of cats she had befriended. I found him to be an arrogant prig (Susan would be shocked if she knew what I just wrote) and a complete bore. When Susan arrived, I was more than relieved to fade into the background. Suitors always forgot me when Susan came into the room.

She took control of the entire situation, and I was amazed. How could she possibly find the man engaging? But then I really looked at her face. Her smile looked so genuine, no one but one of her siblings could tell the difference between that one and her real one. By the end of the their conversation, she had managed to convince that she was ardently in love without saying a thing. The man was so flattered that he would have agreed to anything. And he did.

Peter and Susan had a system; she would charm the suitors, Peter would use it to his advantage. But Susan never liked doing that. She was too kind.

People always assumed that Peter and I were alike, and that Edmund and Susan were alike, with their dark hair and air of 'mystery'. A dear friend once said that perhaps I should have worn the gold crown and Susan the silver. The friend didn't realize how golden Susan was. Gentleness was more than the desire not to hurt anyone. It was who she was. Susan was golden like the Sun she was named to, and I was more silver than anyone cared to believe.

Oh, beautiful, kind, wonderful, motherly Susan, I wish you had not abandoned us. I wish you were here with us, returned to your former glory and true beauty. Your mask needs to be removed, and your Gentleness freed from its prison. Peter may have understood you best, but I always took care of you in the way that only sisters can.

When we put Caspian on the throne, Susan killed many. I was the one who was supposed to understand what it was to kill, not her, my Gentle sister. I was the one who understood the darkness, but Susan could never blend the dark and the light like I could. That was how I could feel such joy and such faith, for I would not give in to the darkness that overwhelmed Susan.

For Susan, she could not see the joy in life that I could, could not escape from the darkness, so she gave into it, and lost herself.

But I do not doubt that one day, Susan will see the light of Aslan as I saw, and the Gentle shall be returned to us. Bravery and faith are what I am. After all, not for nothing am I called Queen Lucy the Valiant to the Glistening Eastern Sea.

A.N. So this chapter is up sooner than I expected. To everyone who reviewed, I thank you so much! Everything you said was positive, and it made my day. Don't know when Edmund will be up, as I need to update my other Narnia story. Aslan with you!

-Dryad Queen