"Family Reunion"
"King Peter! Queen Susan! King Edmund! It is so wonderful to see you all here again. And you must be..."
"This is Prince Corin from Archenland," Susan introduced a young boy with very bright hair, but nicely tanned on the face and grinning happily at them, looking around with amazement. He was about twelve years old and seemed like having the best time in his life.
"You must be Mr Tumnus! I have never seen a faun before!" He stepped out unceremoniously.
"Corin, this is not polite!" Susan wanted to hold him by the shoulder, but he already jumped forward to shake Mr Tumnus' hand. The faun didn't feel offended though, as in Corin's eyes was nothing else but honesty and innocent excitement of the child. He shook his hand the way he used to shake the hand of little Queen Lucy when they first met. The adult queen Lucy, standing next to them, also grinned seeing this. It was very happy moment for them all. After a few weeks of absence, all rulers of Narnia returned to Cair Paravel and couldn't wait to tell the stories of their adventures.
"Corin will stay with us for a few months. King Lune asked me for this personally, saying, his son needs to get to know the world outside of the little Archenland. But honestly, I just think he wanted some peace," Susan explained Lucy on the side, as everybody spread to their rooms, getting ready for the royal supper. Lucy giggled. She didn't need long to notice that Corin was not the easiest child to raise. Always curious, he immediately wanted to get know every corner of the castle, talked to every Narnian he met and it seemed impossible for him to sit in one place for longer than a few minutes.
"In a way he is like me," Lucy laughed, feeling she liked the boy already.
"Come on! I will show you our archery training field. It will be another hour before they serve the food."
"That's great!" Corin replied cheerfully and not asking Susan for permission, he ran out behind Lucy. Susan watched it somewhat relieved (the travel with the little prince truly tired her out) and headed towards the dining room for the long awaited tea.
"Lucy has bloomed like a flower during our absence. Or maybe the long time not seeing each other makes us feel that she looks brighter and simply glowing of joy, even more than ever?" Peter joined her. Susan nodded and smiled at him.
"Indeed, our little sister is all glowing. So full of energy and as enthusiastic about the archery as Corin."
Lucy indeed was enthusiastic about the archery and happy to have someone to share this with. She very much wanted to train much more intensely than she used to with Susan. Her sister could be wonderful in it, but lately she was occupied by so many other things. As for Lucy, she didn't forget the plan she had already on the North and now decided to start working on creating the army of archers. But first of all, she had to master it herself.
"If we are going to practice every day, we need more arrows." She said to Corin, who gazed at her with wide open eyes, as she turned to aim much better than him. To have more freedom in movement, Lucy also put a male shirt and trousers on her, instead of everyday queen's dress and after discovering how wonderfully comfortable that was, she swore to herself always put it on for trainings.
"You are completely different than your sister! She is sometimes so boring!" Corin said on the way back to the castle.
"Oh, really?" She laughed, agreeing with him deep in the heart, but such a direct honesty was disarming.
"I just mean, you shoot so well. And I can talk to you like..." The prince gazed at her almost seriously. "Like to a boy. Or a friend. Can't I?"
"I definitely hope, we are friends" Lucy smiled. "But you better don't tell queen Susan about her being boring, alright?" They both giggled and entered the hall.
"I just knew it, you both look all dirty." As if confirming their previous conversation, Susan shook her head and quite patronizingly ordered them both to go upstairs to wash themselves and change. Peter and Edmund, who were also already at the table, exchanged amused looks. 'It's so good to be home', they seemed to tell without words.
In her bedroom Lucy took off her clothes and quickly stepped in the bathtube filled with water. The water was almost cold as it had obviously been prepared earlier and she felt how much she missed another bathtube in another room, brighter than hers. Her body thrilled and she jumped out and quickly dried herself. She stood before the mirror and partly looked at herself, partly imagined the mirror's glass turning into an ice. It was her favourite spot to practice her secret "ability", as she thought of it. She knew that wandering back and forth to the mountains or to Jadis' castle would sooner or later draw somebody's attention, so the best way to visit the Sanctuary again safely was to learn creating the portal in the one very place where nobody could see her. In her own bedroom. Lucy practiced every evening, so far without success. She wasn't unhappy though, because she also noticed some visible progress. The mirror was so far unpenetrable and didn't reveal anything, but her own reflection. But sometimes it got definitely colder. So cold that the temperature in the entire room dropped and Lucy felt the ice under her fingertips, leaving drops of water on her skin. Perhaps her own stubborness, or the familiar, pretty silhouette, dressed in white, smiling at her in her dreams, reassured her it was only the matter of time and patience to eventually get through.
Still musing, she startled hearing a loud knock on the door.
"Lucy, are you coming?"
"Just a moment!" She thanked herself for locking her room, as Corin already grabbed the handle and tried to open it. Later she will have to have a talk with him about not entering ladies bedrooms, even (or especially!) if it was her bedroom. She reached her only white dress she had in the wardrobe. The dress was the fanciest of her outfits and probably that's why she wore it so rarely (for some reason the white clothes seemed to get dirty moments after Lucy put them on). But this time she simply felt like it. She also brushed her hair and put it up with the silver pin, letting a few of them partly cover her shoulders, and opened the door.
"You look amazing!" Commented Corin.
It was a truly royal feast that evening. The four queens and kings, prince Corin, Mr Tumnus with his family, the Beavers' family, and also many of their closest guards and friends, sat together at the huge table and admired artisticly decorated delicious meals, having been prepared by the royal cooks since the previous day for that occasion.
"Queen Lucy! You are stunning tonight!"
Definitely, Lucy in the white dress, golden haired and simply shining out of joy, made everybody hold the breath in awe. She heard more compliments than ever and even Peter, who would rather tease and laugh at Susan putting so much effort to look always perfect, couldn't deny that this Lucy was somehow different. 'Our little sister has grown up, when did that happen?' He thought with a hint of anxiety. He hoped Lucy wouldn't turn similar to the older sister and he and Edmund wouldn't have to protect them both from the crowd of calormenian admirers.
To bring the attention to other subjects, Lucy asked about Peter's mission on the North.
"The villages were doing great after you left. They are rebuilding houses and it seems they will have some peace again. But the giants are not to be trusted. We have sent letters to Ettinsmoor but haven't got any reply. I fear they are up to something. But how to find out what without crossing the borders?" He frowned.
'I would have an idea, but unfortunately cannot share it with you...,' Lucy mused, thinking she needs to learn to open the portal quickly.
"But you left them guarded, didn't you?"
"Of course, how could I not to? Ettinsmoor is now well watched and our border protected. I don't think we need to worry.
"But the narnian army cannot station there forever!" Protested Edmund, who, as usual, regretted he didn't go to the North himself instead of being bored with Susan and Corin in Archenland.
"Agreed." Lucy interrupted. "As I have already said, we don't have enough guards. We need troops on every border so if they have to stay on the North, I myself will create more here, on the South. You have already said yes," she quickly reminded Peter as he opened his mouth to protest.
"We need archers! Like you!" Corin, who apparently was silent so long only because he really got curious about Peter's news, shouted now loudly, not worrying that he was not supposed to interrupt.
"Corin! This is not your business," started Susan, but Lucy didn't let her finish, occupied with the new idea.
"Susan, the tourney is a perfect occasion to choose the best shooters. And prepare more weapons. Just in case." She added quickly, afraid they will interrupt her.
But they didn't, Peter even silently admitted Lucy had a point, and scolded himself for being a careless king. But how came that it was Lucy who thought about Narnia's defense so thoroughly? Again, his little sister was surprising him. His constant absence seemed to make him more distant from everyday life of his siblings and he felt he didn't want it.
"Little Lucy is a true queen tonight, isn't she?" Edmund whispered to Mr Tumnus sitting on his left. The faun nodded. He felt he didn't like Lucy's white outfit and he couldn't explain, why. She looked more beautiful than ever, yet, he preferred her in her usual, light brown, or blue, or green clothes, in which the queen was his little Lucy again. This whiteness, the golden hair and the crown on her head, it all together made her somehow different. Mr Tumnus was very silent that evening and watched her closely.
