New chapter is up (obviously). Sorry it took so long. Anyway I hope you like. By the way I do not own Chronicles of Narnia. But you already knew that you smart bunch of kids, you! Lol. Sorry. Onward!

"So what is all this talk about about a tournament, Susan? Everyone around the castle is throwing a fit trying to get ready for it." I questioned the Gentle Queen as we lay on a blanket spread out on the beach below the castle. She held her hand out on her forehead to block the sun from her eyes as she turned to look at me.

"Oh, well it is a grand tournament that Narnia has held every three years for... well since Narnia was created actually. Knights, Princes, and a bunch of others come to the castle and they participate in the various games and contests. The winner of each contest can truly call themselves the best because only the best of the best come to participate here." She informed me as if she had committed the overview of the tournament to her memory. I smiled and looked out over the water. I felt Susan's eyes still on me so I turned back to her. She had a grin on her face that I had learned over the past week meant that she was up to something and that something usually led to me having to wear a fancy dress.

"What?" I questioned my new friend.

"You should enter." She told me giddily. I wrinkled my forehead at her.

"Enter what exactly?"

"The tournament, of course!" I stared at her for a moment, waiting to the punch line of her joke but none ever came. Once I realized she was serious I had to laugh.

"Susan! I am horrible! In what, might I ask, would I enter?"

"Archery, Lina! Oh, it would be so much fun to do it together!" She laughed out.

Once again I just stared at her like she should be medicated. "What's the point of entering when you are in the contest, Susan? Everyone already knows you are going to win." I told her. The queen just smiled and shook her head before lunging for my hand.

"It will be so much fun, Lina! And your archery skills have improved so much in the last couple of days! You are a natural. Please? Won't you do it?" She begged of me. I sighed and just nodded my head. At least this request wouldn't involve a ball gown. Susan smiled again and wrapped me in a hug. Now, like I had said before I had always kept a bubble around me but with the Pevensie girls had some how managed to get past that little force surrounding me and that characteristic changed dramatically. I received hugs every time Lucy saw me pass her in the hall or at meal times and sometimes she even just liked to hold my hand when we were sitting together in Susan's study so I literally had no choice when it came to the small girl. Plus the eldest Pevensie girl had a tendency to give hugs when she found something I did to be 'marvelous' or 'hilarious' which according to her I did quite often. So my fear of human to human contact was slowly decreasing with my stay at the castle.

Susan released me from her grasp and we looked back out onto the bright blue ocean water. The sight in front of me was still hard to register in my mind. Never before had something so simple as an ocean been so breath taking to me. I smiled and let the warm salty breeze blow past my face. Soon after that Susan rose up from our blanket and said that she, along with her siblings, had a meeting with their advisors about the arrival of the royals and knights for the tournament that was to happen the following morning. "You may come along if you like. Or perhaps you'd like me to have Eve come down to keep you company?" She inquired.

"Oh, no Susan. I am fine, thank you. It's actually a little strange to rarely be alone anymore. I think I'd enjoy the quiet." I told her truthfully. She nodded her head.

"Very well, I'll see you at dinner. Enjoy your quiet time." She waved to me before departing and leaving me alone on the deserted beach. I smiled, laid down on the black and closed my eyes. The sounds of the wind and water lulled me into a slumber better than I had in years.

-----------------------------------

"Lina! What in Aslan's name are you doing down here still!?" My eyes shot open to the sound of my name being screamed by... Edmund? I wiped the sleep from my eyes and tilted my head back to see the younger of the kinds walking down to my spot on the beach. It wasn't until that moment that I realized it was dark outside. Had I been out there all day? Oops.

I sat up when Edmund reached me and gave me a glare so cross I was sure he practiced it before finding me. I winced at his stinging glare and stood up. "Um, sorry?" I said, a little unsure if that was the choice of words he was looking to pry from my lips with his eyes.

The king let out a sigh. "You have caused quite a stir up at the castle, my lady. It seems to me that my three siblings are about to send out a search party to look for you due to the worry you are causing them." I raised my eye brows at him.

"And you weren't worried for my safety along with them, King Edmund?" I asked with a smirk on my face.

The dark haired boy's face drained of it's anger and he now held a look of regret on his features. "No, that's not what I meant, Lina. It's just that-"

I cut him off with a wave of my hand and a chuckle. He narrowed his eyes at me in response. "Are you mocking me?" He asked. I chuckled a little more at him. I took Edmund to be a comical person at one time in his life but that part of him was hidden under his cavalier attitude now.

"Just a bit. Honestly, Edmund. If you don't mind me saying I think you need to calm down just a tad." He furrowed his eyebrows at me and my comment.

"Calm down?" He questioned. I nodded.

"Yeah, just let loose and have a little fun, you know? You're too serious for a sixteen year old boy."

Apparently he didn't like what I had told him. His face went back to being hard and agitated in an instant. Without a word, he turned around and headed back to the castle, leaving me on the beach alone once again. Without thinking, I grabbed my things and chased after him. We were half way up the path along the cliff that led to Cair Peravel when he stopped mid step and spun around to face me. I was following closely behind him and wasn't exactly paying attention so I rammed right into his chest. Hard. The contact startled me and I jumped back, lost my balance and began to fall. Thankfully, Edmund caught me before I could make contact with the ground.

"Lina, is it completely impossible for you to walk without causing bodily harm to you or someone else? Honestly!" The king snapped at me. I stared at him with wide eyes for a moment, still confused about why he was so angry with me.

I managed to pull together a mumbled 'sorry' before retracting my eyes and looking down at the ground as if he was a parent and I was the child with their hand caught in a cookie jar. Edmund sighed and ran his hands roughly through his hair a couple of times.

"Sorry, I-I I don't want to scold you but you... you have to think about things before you say them, Lina. You have no clue what I have gone through that made me the way I am. I don't just go around assuming you have trouble letting people in or are so timid because you just don't feel like being around everyone in Narnia and I'm not going to ask why you act this way because it would be rude of me." He paused. "Just think about stuff." He breathed out before once again walking away from me.

His comment infuriated me beyond belief. How dare he say that I have trouble letting people it? "Hey!" I yelled at his retreating back. Edmund stopped but did not turn around to face me. I ran up to him, took hold of his shoulder, and spun him around so he looked me in the eye. "I won't assume things about your life if you would offer me the same courtesy. I do not have trouble letting people in and I am not timid."

"Oh really?" He shot back.

I nodded my head. "Yeah. Really." I snapped.

The king's face held a ginger look now to match the one on my face. He sized me up before taking a step towards me so his face was six inches away from touching mine. "Then why do you answer everyone's questions-besides Peter, Susan, and Lucy's questions, that is- with the minimal amount of words possible? And you jump away from my sister's hugs as fast as you can without hurting their feelings. Don't think I haven't noticed the way you look pained every time someone touches you because I have, Lina." The young king told me. I narrowed my eyes into narrow slits. I scoffed at him and his ignorance.

"I don't elaborate on anything because I don't like to talk, not because I'm shy." I informed his majesty. One side of his mouth pulled up in an emotionless smile. I made a disgusted face at him and only felt more anger come to me and heat up my already flushed face. "Oh, so you think you have me all figured out do you? Well, how about I give you a shot?"

Edmund shrugged his shoulders and put on an indifferent facial expression. "Alright, well, hmm... let's see? Where to begin with the serious Kind Edmund the Just? Well obviously you are a survivor. You wear it so well on your face that it is practically written on your forehead. But the question is what did you survive that left you as a boring old man? Hmm... I'm going to guess it was a girl."

I paused to set him with a look. "Am I right?" I questioned the young king.

A growl rumbled deep in his chest but he still nodded. "You have no clue." He snarled at me.

If possible, I narrowed my eyes even more. "Nor do you." I said slowly and as intimidatingly as I could.

"Fine!" He yelled at me.

"Fine!" I yelled back. With that last word I pushed past him and hiked the last stretch of the path that lead up to the castle.

"I swear, that girl is the most impossible person I have ever met." I heard Edmund mumble under his breath as we walked with me leading and him following my steps. I rolled my eyes and and speed walked into the Great Hall of the castle. It wasn't until I made it onto the marble that I realized I no longer heard smashing footsteps following behind me. I turned to see that the most infuriating and stubborn of the royals had disappeared into the night. That was the first fight I had ever had with someone in my life and I can tell you this right now: I wasn't a fan of them.

--------------------------------------------

Edmund and I avoiding each other like the plague that night and the following morning, which really wasn't that hard considering this castle had about a zillion rooms in which one could hide from numerous amounts of people. After I had time to cool off I felt horrible about the things I said to Edmund. I don't know how or why but the younger of the two kings had a way of getting under my skin and irritating me to the point of actually getting ,e to become mad which in it's self was a huge task to accomplish not to mention he was able to make me act on those emotions and blow up on him. That boy had a true gift of getting on my nerves and not many possessed that.

I took a deep breath as I walked with Susan down to the entrance hall of Cair Paravel to greet the guests who were due to arrive any minute. She gave me a curious look as if she knew something was wrong. "Are you alright?" She said as she scanned my face for a hint of the problem that making me act strangely.

I shrugged my shoulders and let out a large, over exaggerated yawn to allow me time to think of a good excuse for my being flustered. "I'm just tired, I guess."

She gave me a skeptical look but dropped the subject with my pathetic explanation. I was pretty sure she didn't buy it but was letting it slide for now because we were running late to greet the guests. We arrived at the entrance and Susan went to stand on the topmost step while I went off to the side to stand with Mr Tumnus. I took a look over the four royals. My eyes stopped their scan when I saw Peter flashing me a smile from his position next to Susan. I smiled back at him. He looked handsome today wearing a rich, red tunic and brown pants. His crown sparked atop his hand and shone along with his blond hair. The smile that had grown across my face quickly faltered when I saw Peter's younger brother also looking in my direction.

My gaze drifted down for a second so I could tell myself to suck it up and look at him before returning my eyes upward to meet his. I gave me a small closed mouth smile, surprisingly he did the same in return. The next moment his head snapped forward as a group of men on horses came riding into the court yard. A young man led the group of horsemen on a giant dark brown horse. He had been there for thirty seconds and I could already sense that he held an air of confidence about him that almost exuded a slight arrogant tone. Even with the sun in my eyes I could tell that he was a gorgeous man who was around the same age as Peter, maybe a little older with dark hair and tanned skin to match. He called his steed to a halt and jumped down. He walked straight up to the Pevensies and bowed deeply and respectfully. I leaned over to Mr Tumnus and asked who that man was.

The faun smirked a little before answering. "That is Prince Rabadash, Lady Lina and he is no one to be trifled with."

Now the ball is a rollin'. Please leave me a review! Thank you for reading!