Yay, a new chapter already! There was a lot more I planned to put in this chapter but it got long pretty fast so I decided to save it for the next one. This one might seem like filler, but it's actually pretty important in regards to Izzy and Caspian's relationship. I want you all to really feel it. :)

This chapter my thanks go out to SPDVengence, Sky-Pirate325, ReinetteNarbonne, britishbabe21, Queen O' Randomness, and of course waveofbabies (who is actually my bestest buddy Haylee under an assumed name that pays homage to Teen Girl Squad) who supports me in all my literary endeavors, no matter how strange. I love you guys! Well, let's keep on truckin'!

Chapter Five: All Fun and Games

"Argh! That hurts!"

"You're holding the hilt too tightly. Loosen your grip and the impact vibrations won't feel as strong."

"I can barely hold the thing as it is!"

"You will get used to it," Caspian replied evenly.

I pressed my lips together but did as I was told, easing my grip on the hilt of the borrowed sword. I had to hold it up with both hands and my arms were straining from the effort. The blade was a lot heavier than it had looked when Caspian effortlessly pulled it out. He was currently holding one of the centaur's swords because they were bigger than his own and I wouldn't have been able to lift it. Caspian waited until I'd rearranged my feet back into the solid stance he'd shown me.

"Remember to tuck your elbows in," he advised. "Otherwise you leave your body open to attack."

"Elbows in. Right." I adjusted accordingly.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

Caspian maneuvered the blade skillfully while I parried his attacks with all the clumsiness of a beginner. We were moving in circles over the grassy field in front of the caves of Aslan's How. Trufflehunter had told me the legacy of Aslan; how he was the highest ruler of this world and that he had always come from the east across the sea to save Narnia from many a danger. The How was a sacred temple built around the Stone Table. Caspian told me the story of the great leader's sacrifice of giving his own life right on that very table to save that of an accidental traitor who was later named King Edmund the Just. He also told me about Aslan's great return and defeat of the evil White Witch, who had kept Narnia locked in a frigid winter for hundreds of years.

After the great meeting at Dancing Lawn, I got into the habit of making Caspian tell me all the old stories his professor had told him. He didn't seem to mind. In fact, he seemed to greatly enjoy relaying the tales in great detail and with excited gestures. Personally, I just loved listening to the lilt of his voice as he spoke and watching his hands weave prose through the air in the flickering glow of the fire when we sat up late into the night.

In total, it had been two days and three nights since we'd arrived at Dancing Lawn. The meeting had been pretty stressful. For one, it started out terribly with the Narnians accusing Caspian of stealing Queen Susan's horn, among other things ("Our homes! Our freedom! Our lives!"), and Nikabrik was his usual nasty self, saying that Caspian was both accountable and punishable for the crimes of his ancestors. Thank God the prince was such a good speaker, because it seemed like the rest of the Narnians were agreeing with Nikabrik until Caspian gave a speech about how, if they joined together, he could help bring peace back to Narnia and freedom back to its people. The head centaur, that I learned was the one called Glenstorm, was the first to pledge his sword to Caspian's leadership, followed shortly by Reepicheep and then the rest of the Narnians.

I was feeling kind of proud of the young prince. What he lacked in age he made up for in maturity. You could tell he'd seen a lot in his short life, and that he had been brought up to be a strong leader. I could easily picture him as king. My inward celebration was short lived, though, when one of the cheetahs suddenly picked me out of the crowd and forced me into the center by prowling around me.

"What of this one?" she said. "You are neither Narnian nor Telmarine. From whence do you hail, small one, and what business have you in Narnia?"

I swallowed hard and opened my mouth to reply, but Caspian spoke for me. "She is a companion of mine," he said, "and anyone who does not like it may leave my army."

The cheetah turned to him. "That does not answer my question."

"She comes from the same world as the Kings and Queens of Old," Trufflehunter interjected. There was a great deal of muttering throughout the crowd.

"Then she is meant to help us? Just as they did?" a voice called from the back.

"That is my belief, yes."

The cheetah continued her circling. "But what does the small one believe?"

"Well…" I paused to gather my thoughts. "I believe that nothing happens without a purpose. It was hardly a day ago that I was tucked away safe in my bed but now I'm here and somehow something brought me here so there must be a good reason." I looked at Caspian, who was watching me, and then turned to address the whole crowd. "You might think that you can't trust me because I can't offer you an explanation for why I am here, and I don't blame you, but I think that if you give me a chance I can prove that I am not here to do you any harm." I slowly pivoted so I was facing another section of the group as I spoke. My hands were sweaty and I wiped them on my pants between arm gestures. I noticed they were shaking when I held them out beseechingly, but I tried to ignore my own nervousness.

"What if she is lying?" another voice called.

"I have no reason to lie to you!" I said desperately. "You said yourself I'm not Telmarine, so I can't be a spy, and neither am I Narnian so I can't possibly know enough about you to turn traitor even if I wanted to- which I don't! I think that you all have every right to go to war with your oppressor, and I know that with Caspian leading you there isn't anything you can't do." I met his eyes for a moment and then looked away. "I know because I can see the power in him and in all of you. But even if I couldn't see it I would believe it anyway, just like I believe in light even when I'm trapped in darkness and I believe in love even when I can't feel it." For some reason my eyes found Caspian's again as I finished my rant. I let my arms fall to my sides and forced myself to look again at the Narnians. "If you want me to go I will, but I hope that you will let me stay and do what I can to help."

There was a long and anxious silence following my speech before Reepicheep stepped forward to break it. "My lady, your passionate words have filled my heart with hope. I will make it known that, should the decision be made to send you away, my people and I will follow." He bowed.

"No, Reepicheep." I shook my head. "You are needed here."

"It doesn't matter," Caspian spoke up. "You are not going anywhere." There were murmurs of agreement from the crowd and I smiled.

"Thank you."

"But we must hurry now to find soldiers and weapons," he continued. "I am sure they are already on their way." As we started to move out, Caspian leaned over to quietly speak into my ear as he passed. His breath was warm but I shivered just the same. "Do you still think that no one else can see it?" I watched as he continued on to walk beside Glenstorm so he could begin to discuss the battle that was sure to come. We walked all night, and slowly but surely the army was growing larger as more and more creatures joined us. The subject came up sometime in the early morning of where we should base our army. Trufflehunter was the one who presented the idea of using Aslan's How, and the rest of the morning was spent hiking there.

I fell asleep as soon as we got there. It didn't matter that I was lying on hard stone- I was so exhausted from all the hiking and craziness that as soon as I sat down I had to lie down and as soon as I lay down I fell asleep. When I woke up that evening I found that someone had slipped my messenger back under my head while I slept as a makeshift pillow. I didn't know who it was, but I had a hunch.

The following day had consisted of mostly setting up camp. A large cavern inside the How was converted into a forge and everyone seemed to have something to do except me. Thus, I designated myself the water-getter and started hiking back and forth between a small stream and the How, carrying buckets back to a large stone basin built into the ground of the forge. By nightfall, everything seemed to be in place, so we indulged in a bit of dancing around a fire out in the field. The fauns all pulled out fifes and skipped around to their own music. I laughed and clapped along but remained seated despite the Narnians' repeated protests. Being someone who can't walk across a flat, stable surface without falling on her face, I was well aware that dancing and I obviously didn't work well together.

But Caspian wouldn't take no for an answer. He didn't even ask, really, but just grabbed my hands, hauled me to my feet, and spun me away into the flurry of dancing creatures. For a while I forgot all about where I was and that I had two left feet. The impromptu celebration was so carefree and relaxed that my awkward movements suddenly turned into graceful leaps and twirls. I moved from partner to partner, spun by a faun, then lifted into the air by a minotaur. I couldn't help but enjoy myself. The music lifted my spirits as if by magic and as we all danced I caught myself laughing and singing in nonsense vowels and syllables that somehow made perfect sense in all the chaos.

Soon we were all singing and I found myself once again in Caspian's arms without really knowing how I got there. He held on to me longer than the others did, and spun with me through the swirling figures bathed in the fire's orange glow. His right hand rested on the small of my back and the fingers of his left were laced through mine. While we danced, my mind became a swirling mixture of music and color and pinprick stars in the velvet sky. Caspian was smiling and laughing and looking just as ridiculous as the rest of us. Just before he sent me off into the madness once again, he lifted me right off my feet spun. My feet had barely touched the ground before I was swept away again.

As the night wore on the laughter died out and the music faded to a single fife playing a slow, relaxed tune. Everyone collapsed around the fire, and I was stretched out in the thick grass staring up at the waning moon when Caspian took a seat beside me. That was when I asked him to tell me the story of the White Witch. He lounged beside me and began the tale, and I watched and listened in silent admiration. In truth I was completely mesmerized by the sound of his voice and the movement of his hands. I don't know what it was about that night- maybe it was the firelight dancing across his face or the flickering shadows accenting his cheeks- but I was suddenly very aware of how dazzled I was. The weirdest part was that I was perfectly content to simply bask in his glow. And he really did glow. Not that eerie green radioactive kind of glowing- no way. Caspian's glow was more like the feeling of the sun on your face on a warm summer day. His enthusiasm and childlike adoration of the wonderful figures in his stories made him radiate a warmth that was irresistible.

He also seemed rather pleased to have my attention, and I couldn't help feeling pleased that Caspian was pleased. The story didn't wind down until most of the Narnians around us had already drifted into a peaceful slumber. When he did finish, he lay next to me and pointed out different constellations and planets and explained what they meant to someone who watched the stars for signs of what was to come. I found that I was quite happy that the initial awkwardness between us had subsided. Caspian was turning out to be every bit as fascinating as I had predicted. That night, I fell asleep to the lullaby of his voice.

And that brings us to this morning. As soon as I had woken, Trufflehunter offered me a bit of bread and cheese, which I accepted gratefully. I wandered around in the trees while I ate and wondered at how glorious I felt despite having a minimal amount of sleep. My mind replayed the events of the night before and I smiled. It had been like a dream within a dream, but I knew I had lived it. The clash of metal on metal interrupted my pondering, and I rushed out of the trees thinking that something was wrong only to find Caspian sparring with one of Glenstorm's sons. I sat and watched them for a while, noting the powerful muscles at work beneath the fur of the centaur's flank. If it came down to it, I knew that one kick from those rear legs would kill a man, helmet or no.

Inevitably, my eyes fell on Caspian. At first I was simply contemplating our unlikely friendship and wondering what it was that seemed to draw me to his side. Like this morning, for example. I was wandering aimlessly and somehow still found myself in his presence once again. In the midst of my thoughts I started noticing other things, like the way his eyebrows drew together in concentration and he scrunched up his nose when he parried an attack. I also noticed that his shirt was significantly dampened with perspiration and was clinging to his torso so that the shape of his lean but muscled chest was clearly visible. I saw the grace in his movements; the way he wielded his sword and dodged certain attacks looked more like dancing than fighting. I saw the thrill in his eyes and the determination in his gritted teeth. There was a distinct flush to his cheeks that I was certain had as much to do with excitement as it did with physical exertion. My eyes followed a bead of sweat as it trailed across the dark caramel plane of his cheek, over his jaw and down the curve of his neck and disappeared beneath the collar of his shirt.

While I was noticing these things, I started to feel…weird. A sensation I didn't recognize coiled in the pit of my stomach and moved in calculated doses to the tips of my fingers and toes. I swallowed hard and tried to think about Nathan. The little reminder of my almost-boyfriend eased the strangeness coursing through my veins a little and replaced it with trace amounts of guilt. I shouldn't be reacting this way to Caspian. Nathan is the one I should be thinking about. He is the one I should be missing. Truthfully, I hadn't thought about him once since the walk to Dancing Lawn, and I wasn't really proud of it. There had to be something wrong with me. I mean, I love Nathan, right? I should miss him, right?

A round of cheering among the watching centaurs drew me out of my miserable inner conflict and I realized that Caspian had lost the sparring match. His sword stood, still quivering, stuck in the ground a few feet away from me. Caspian was good-humored, though, and they clapped each other on the shoulder.

"All right, you have won this time," he said after a short laugh. "Through luck and luck alone!" Caspian was teasing his opponent in a friendly manner, and the centaur laughed and responded accordingly with the expected "You wish it was luck!"

After a few more playful jibes, Caspian walked over and collapsed in the grass next to me, snatching a water gourd off of the ground as he came. After he took a long drink, he drew the back of his hand across his forehead and gave me a warm smile that brought the weirdness back full force. "Yet again you witness my defeat," he said. "You will never feel safe with me at this rate."

"Well there's always Reepicheep," I chided. He raised his eyebrows and laughed. I liked his laugh a little too much.

"Yes, I suppose there is always him." Caspian took another drink of water and stretched out in the grass with his hands behind his head and his eyes closed. "I still wish it could be me."

"You're better than you give yourself credit for," I said. He opened one eye so I could see him roll it and then closed it again. "No, really!"

"You can only say that because you know nothing about sword fighting," he replied.

"Then why don't you teach me?" I suggested. Caspian's eyes opened and he pushed himself up so he was leaning on his forearms.

"You want me to teach you how to handle a sword?" He sounded uncertain.

"Why not? I can't think of anyone better. You're the closest one to my size."

"I'm still bigger than you," he pointed out. "And I am not the best swordsman here."

"Oh woe is you," I said sarcastically. "You may be bigger than me but I imagine if I tried to learn from Glenstorm the result would probably be far more disastrous. And think of it this way, if you can teach me to use a sword then you'll have proved that you're not as bad as you seem to think I think you are, and if I lose a hand or something I will let you wallow in self pity all you want and I'll even insult you properly if you'd like."

Caspian pressed his lips together thoughtfully and stared out into the field. After a beat, he sat up completely. "All right."

And that is how I found myself bobbing and weaving to avoid getting my arm sliced off. Of course, I knew that would never happen. Caspian was skilled, and knew just how far he could go without hurting me, just how far he could push before he had to back down. "Parry. Good! Block and step. No, you want to step as the blades connect to avoid a rebound swipe. Try again. Great!" That, and metal on metal, were the only sounds coming from us as we moved about the field. It was incredibly difficult to concentrate on my movements and listen to Caspian's directions at the same time. I was clumsy with the sword, even holding it with two hands. Sometimes I dropped it, or stumbled, but Caspian would wait patiently until I had righted myself before continuing his onslaught of careful attacks. At one point our blades connected right at the hilt and he smiled at me through the "v" they made. "You are getting better."

"I guess…that means…I win," I replied between heavy breaths.

"Not everything is a competition, Isabella," Caspian replied, and then disarmed me with one easy twirl of his wrist. I fell backwards and landed hard on my butt and stared up at him in bewilderment. He took one look at me and doubled over with laughter, dropping the sword at his side.

"Hey! Don't laugh at me!" I grabbed a handful of grass and threw it at him.

"I am sorry," Caspian said, calming his laughter to a silent shaking of his shoulders. "It was just…the look on your face." He started laughing again. I was suddenly reminded of the way my brother always tortured me when I was little. Did I forget to mention him too? That's probably because he's 28 and moved out years ago and is currently working for a computer company that has him traveling a lot for some reason. Anyway, the familiarity of the situation caused a familiar reaction. I hooked my feet around Caspian's ankles and pulled his own feet right out from under him- literally. He came down harder than I did, but that's what he gets for laughing at me!

I jumped on him instinctively, straddling his hips and pinning his arms down the way I would have trapped my brother. Of course, I never actually trapped him since I was much younger and smaller, but he pretended to humor me. Returning to the events at hand, I found myself smirking down at Caspian's shocked expression. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen!" I teased. His face rearranged to show playful annoyance.

"That was not very fair," he said. "You attacked an unarmed man while he was distracted. Both are dishonorable and neither are chivalrous, Isabella."

"Yeah, well, you did that swirly sword thingy while I was distracted," I replied. "Eye for an eye. You had it coming. Besides, I never said I was honorable or chivalrous."

Caspian rolled his eyes. "Fine. Will you get off of me now?"

I pretended to consider it. "Hm…nope! I don't think I will."

"Why not?" he asked in alarm.

"'Coz I'm enjoying the power far too much!" I replied in a tone that said it should have been obvious. "Hey, are you ticklish?"

"No!"

"That means you are!" I let go of his wrists and attacked his sides instead, which was equally disarming.

Caspian laughed and grabbed at my hands. "S-stop!"

"Cry mercy!"

"What!?

"Say it!"

"No!"

"Then I will continue to punish you in this incredibly demeaning way until all of your troops notice and you get nicknamed something patronizing that will follow you out onto the battlefield where your opponents will hear it and then they'll-" I didn't get to finish my threat, because Caspian grabbed my shoulders while I was distracted with my rant and rolled us over with unexpected ease. The tables had suddenly turned and I found myself pinned between him and the ground. He didn't put his full weight on me. He was actually more leaning over me than lying on top of me, and he pinned my wrists on either side of my head like I'd done to him and supported most of his weight on his knees.

But he was still close enough to make that little snake in my stomach send a shot of venom through my system.

I couldn't do anything but stare up at him. He was breathing heavily from laughing, and the warmth of it curled across my lips and jaw. His hair had fallen over his shoulders, and a few strands of it moved with his breath. I noticed his scent- a distinct medley of fire, sweat, and earth that sent my senses spiraling out of control.

For a moment, Caspian looked just as disconcerted as I felt, but he regained his composure faster than I could. "Cry mercy," he demanded huskily.

I blinked. "If I say it, will you get off of me?"

"Yes."

"Then no." The words were out of my mouth before I could think and I immediately wished I could grab them, stuff them back in, and swallow them. Caspian's expression went through three different emotions in quick succession. The first was surprise, the second was one that I didn't recognize, and the third was something resembling… resolve? He released my wrists and rolled off of me. I slowly sat up and saw that he was sitting with one arm resting on his bent knee while he pinched the bridge of his nose between the thumb and forefinger of his other hand. I flushed at my own audacity. "I'm sorry." I looked down at my hands awkwardly. The atmosphere had gone from relaxed and playful to tense and awkward in barely a minute.

"Don't be," Caspian said. He rubbed his face with both hands before looking at me. "I got carried away."

"I think if anyone got carried away, it was me."

He shook his head. "You have no idea." His voice was cryptic, and another awkward silence followed. Finally, he got to his feet and held out a hand to help me up. "Come. There are plans to be made and we will be expected at the meeting."

I took the offered hand and spoke as he pulled me up. "Meeting?"

Caspian nodded towards something that was behind me, and when I turned around I saw that some of the Narnians were making their way down into the How. "We have to discuss how we will procure more weapons."

"Can't we make some?" I asked as I turned back around.

"We do not have the necessary supplies," Caspian replied. He stooped down to retrieve his sword and slid it into its sheath. He then grabbed the other sword and we started walking towards the How. "We have some scrap metal, but only enough to make a dozen swords at the most. There would be none left over for armor or shields. We will have to find them elsewhere."

"So you mean we have to commandeer said weapons?"

"Commandeer?"

"It's a nautical term. Fancy way of saying "steal.""

Caspian smiled. "Then yes, we will need to "commandeer" said weapons. Luckily, there is an encampment only a few miles east of here on the banks of the Great River." We came to the stone path leading down into the How, and Caspian turned to walk alongside the centaur whose sword he carried so that he could return it. He then fell back into step with me. "If we leave at sunset we can make it there by midnight and, if everything goes according to plan, we will be in and out in an hour or two and on our way without anyone noticing. I am hopeful that we will be well on our way back at dawn the latest."

"Well it seems like you've got it all down to a science," I commented.

"I suppose so." We came to the forge, where the heads of each Narnian race had already gathered. I took a seat off to the side next to my bag so I could quietly observe. I took out my notebook and a pencil with the intention of doodling a rather unflattering caricature of my least favorite dwarf, but found myself instead trying to accurately portray the slope of Caspian's nose and the shadows cast beneath his cheekbones. He was explaining his plan to the group, and was therefore completely oblivious to my concentrated stare. I was so intent on drawing that the meeting passed by and I never even heard what the outcome was. Actually, I didn't realize it was over until I looked up to study the lock of hair that kept falling in Caspian's face and he wasn't there.

"Isabella?" I jumped at the sound of his voice above me and shut my notebook hastily.

"Yeah?" I looked up at him with the most innocent expression I could manage.

He was holding his hand out to me. "We are leaving at sunset. I need you to help make sure that every soldier that is coming has a full water pouch for the journey there and back. I doubt there will be a safe place to refill at the river."

I took his hand and was once again hauled to my feet. "Okay." He immediately started walking towards the exit.

"Then I need you to eat something substantial. Not just bread and cheese. Have Trufflehunter warm up some of that soup from the other night."

"Why?"

Caspian paused and looked over his shoulder. "It's a long walk to Beruna and back."

"You mean I get to come? Like, without an argument?" I let myself get a little excited. It would be a lie if I said I wasn't doing Snoopy dances inside my head.

"Trufflehunter told me about how you convinced him to let you come along." He turned to face me full on. "You should know that I am not so easily fooled." Hah, we'll see about that Mr. Smooth. With a small smile, he continued on his way out, speaking into the tunnel so it echoed back to me. "Anyway, I want you to get it out of your system before we have to do something really dangerous."

I know, I know, a little fluffy but I couldn't help myself. I hope you liked it anyway. Please do take a moment to review! I live off of reviews! I eat them at every meal so I may starve if you don't let me know what you think! Hehe.

Love,

Hoshiko!