When she had put on the uniform and was satisfied that it was suitable to her shape, she left the building and found her brothers waiting in an alleyway to the right of the cleaners'. They had retrieved her armor and her other things, a few of which she now took back – her cordial, which she tucked into her apron pocket, her dagger, which was discretely tucked into her stocking, beneath the billowy folds of the elaborate uniform, and at her brothers' insistence, the two rings. She did not want them, nor did she intend to use them in any case – returning to Narnia with none of her siblings would seem almost more terrible than never returning at all – but she knew neither of her brothers would have used them, either, and so it was only to sate their overprotective tendencies that she took them.
"Now Lu, I know you're very brave, but don't try to be a little hero just yet," Peter told her sternly, looking very much like he disapproved of the whole operation but didn't know what to do about it. "Just try to snoop around and find out where Su is, and if you can, where her gifts are. Can you manage that?"
She nodded earnestly, a little excited that she would get to be the one to adventure this time.
"What will you be doing?" she asked him curiously.
"Well, obviously Ed and I have no way in yet, so we haven't got many options," said Peter. "But if we find a way in, then we might come in after you to help. At the end of the day, we don't want to have to stay in this place overnight, and I would hope we could be gone by then, so if it's getting late, we'll regroup again right here. By late, I mean nightfall. So if the sun starts to set and we still haven't got Su, leave the castle and come back here. If any of us isn't here by the time the sun has fully set, we'll assume they've been found out and act accordingly. Then…"
"What does 'act accordingly' mean?" Edmund interrupted, frowning suspiciously. Peter blinked at him.
"Well, for example, if you didn't come back, then I would send Lu back to the tavern and…"
"Bloody king," grumbled Edmund, rolling his eyes.
"…and I'd come after you," Peter finished, undeterred.
"What he means is that we'll play it by ear," said Lucy to Edmund, though of course it was not what their brother had meant, just what they would force him to mean if the need arose. Satisfied, Edmund nodded, and when Peter shrugged hopelessly, the three of them set off towards the castle gate, keeping to the back streets so as to avoid attention – a castle maid talking to two strange men might be considered odd, and they didn't want to imperil Lucy's quest.
"Now I need to ask you two to take me seriously on this next bit," Peter said with a heavy sigh as they progressed. His siblings nodded, knowing that when he meant it, he meant it.
"What is it, Peter?" prompted Lucy.
"Please only reveal yourself if it looks as if the very worst is to happen," Peter said quietly. "Whatever danger you think someone else is in…unless it is the very worst kind of danger, don't acknowledge that you even recognize him or her. I understand that we all want to protect each other, but the best way we can do that is to work together and not put ourselves in danger. Can you stick to that?"
Edmund nodded and touched his right hand to his left shoulder in a Narnian soldier's gesture of promise. Lucy, not a soldier herself, only nodded gravely, and knew it would be enough.
"All right, then, Lu," Peter said as they reached the end of the back streets. He pulled his sister to him in a brief hug, kissed her cheek and sent her off into the street. "Good luck!"
"We'll see you soon," Edmund called after her after grabbing a hug of his own. She smiled, gave a wave, and then they had disappeared behind her into the crowd.
Though she hadn't ever done anything really official, Lucy had always loved make-believe, a love which had grown up into a love of the theatrical arts. When the Narnian court actors had regrouped, they had once put on a little show for their new monarchs, and no one had been more delighted and enchanted than Lucy, who had sat on the edge of her seat the whole time and gasped and clapped and been completely overwhelmed with admiration. She herself was no paltry actress, and now, it seemed, her skills were to be put to the test. She had done well as the haughty lady of the court – could she now make a convincing enough maid to be allowed inside?
She approached the guard at the side gate and made a small curtsy, as she'd seen the other servants do upon entry and exit.
"What's yer business?" asked the outside guard confusedly. "I don't remember seein' yuh before."
"Laundry maid, sir," she said respectfully, keeping as wide-eyed and innocent as possible. She was barely sixteen, and knew that the old puppy eyes still worked just as well as when she'd been eight – especially on her oldest brother.
"Where's your laundry?" asked the other guard, whose accent was less pronounced. He was on the inside of the gate, but had taken an interest in the new development. "Bit strange to have a laundry maid without her laundry, eh?"
"I dropped it off at the cleaner's, sir, I'm on my way back in," she said with another curtsy.
"And yer basket?" the first guard asked suspiciously.
"I didn't have a basket, sir, I was carrying a coat only, a wedding guest's," she replied, using the identity of the earlier maid to her advantage. "It had a wine stain on it. You must remember. It was a big white coat, fluffy. You must remember."
"Ah, I think I do remember her," said the second guard to the first. "Remember? Lady Cashlyn's coat, it was."
"If y'say so," said the first guard, and the second began to undo the latches. Giving a silent, undetectable sigh, Lucy curtsied one more time and slipped through into the courtyard.
There was something odd about the gardens, probably as a result of all the silly magic that had been put on them. Lucy didn't know how magic worked here – in Narnia, it was all from natural sources; it could only be controlled to the degree that the tree or river or sunbeam wanted to be controlled, and you couldn't use it without its consent – but here, it could work entirely different. But however it did work, Lucy couldn't help but keep away from the grass, which though it appeared healthy, was too vivid a green to be natural and seemed rather strained somehow, like it was being asked to be more than it wanted to be. The trees groaned under a crop of fruit not intended for the season or the quantity, and the water in the fountains to her right moved far too quickly from basin to basin, as if it were running away from something. The place had a rather frenzied, unhappy feel to it.
But whatever Lucy noticed, the lords and ladies didn't seem to mind it at all. As she hurried towards the inner doors, intent on finding Susan's gifts and hopefully Susan herself, she was passed gradually by a group of fancily-dressed ladies, giggling like schoolgirls though they looked past their forties.
"And did you hear?" one was exclaiming to her companions in rapid-fire. " He told Lady Rhoda that he'd heard from the Baronness that Lord Filton was actually intending to marry the Duke's daughter Agna! That hag!"
They all burst into shrieking laughter, clutching one another for support, and Lucy cringed and hurried by. She was almost past them when one reached out and grabbed her arm rather roughly, the woman's long, painted nails digging into her shoulder. She bit her lip to keep from saying anything out of character.
"Yes, m'am?" she answered politely, dipping another curtsy. She remembered now why they'd asked their own servants at the Cair to stop doing it – it looked silly and hurt your knees after a while.
"Tell me something, dearie," she said, turning Lucy to face the gate, where a dark-haired lord was gaining admittance into the place with his invitation. "How old do you suppose that young thing over there is?"
Realizing the lady was referring to the lord, Lucy stopped to look carefully. Abruptly, she had to bite her tongue quite hard to keep from smiling as Edmund was finally admitted. He cut quite a dashing figure in the fine clothes he'd acquired, and looked rather older than seventeen.
"Perhaps twenty, milady," said Lucy politely. "Though I'm a poor judge myself."
"And his name?" asked the lady, who was still holding onto her; it was quite uncomfortable in many ways, and Lucy could feel the clutched arm going numb, one them being the lady's apparent interest in her brother.
"I'm not sure, milady," she said. "I've only just come in for the wedding, see. I've not had a chance to learn such things."
"Well, be a dear and give him this for me," said the lady, pressing an embroidered handkerchief into Lucy's hand. Her voice dropped low and honeyed. "And tell him he'd be welcome in my chambers at any time."
Revolted, Lucy quickly curtsied and made a beeline for her brother. Behind her, she sensed the lady patting her graying hair and heard her giggle yet again, this time with her companions as well.
"My lord," she said to Edmund as she stepped into his path, and went through the usual formality. He regarded her coldly, a true master of espionage – Peter was too honest to be good at such things. "The lady yonder bade me give you this." She handed him the perfume-soaked handkerchief and he let his gaze wander deliberately to the gossiping ladies before turning his attention back to her.
"I should have to say I'm flattered, and yet at the same time, completely repulsed," he said in a cold, emotionless tone, as if he were rebuking her, though his brown eyes twinkled gaily in contrast to his voice. "You may return it with my apologies, for I must quickly go and find other garb before the man to whom this belongs alerts the guards that he lost his wedding invitation and his clothes gambling with strangers. I should not wish to be around when it happens."
"Point taken, sir," said Lucy, curtsying and taking the kerchief back. Another person was now passing within earshot, so instead of saying what she was thinking, she said formally, "May your stay at the castle bring you what you wish."
With a nod, her brother was gone, and Lucy turned in a hurry to complete her chore and get on with her search.