I don't own Narnia or the Pevensies. This chapter is a little short, but I'm winding down here. I'm 18 today (yesterday, considering it's rather late now) and it's weird to think I started this when I was just 16...
Danya did dig them up "something or another" – there was so much food left over from the wedding preparations that it had even been enough to feed the unexpected Narnian army, with just a little supplement from the larders. The Pevensies were joined at dinner by King Vareth, who had at last settled affairs to a degree that he could break for a meal, and they repeated a rather shortened version of their story to him, covering only the most essential points to save time.
It was only after the meal, as the sun set and tinged the castle with warm pink light, that they found themselves lingering by one of the picture windows in the Great Hall, and Susan finally brought up the real question:
"So…when are we going home?"
Her voice was quiet, contained, but Lucy caught the subtle longing in it and looked over at her. A moment of silence passed.
"Pretty soon, I'd expect," Peter replied finally, staring out the window at the grounds, at the people happily milling about in a scattered mix of noble and maid, soldier and smith.
That was ambiguous enough, but no one pursued the matter any further. Somehow, all of them felt the inexplicable desire to linger a little here, to celebrate their success with he people who understood its full scope, but that was balanced if not overwhelmed by their desire to return home, where the people they loved, who loved them back, all were.
"What are we going to do about all the Old Narnians?" asked Edmund suddenly.
"Well we certainly won't leave them here if they don't want to be left," Lucy said, thinking it out. "I suppose we'll take them back with us? To Narnia?"
"Things may have changed a little in the time they've been gone," Susan pondered. Peter chuckled.
"Doubtless they have," he agreed. "But Lucy's right. They'll come back with us. We'll have to arrange it so that the rings take us all, somehow. Everyone will have to hold hands."
"I'm sure they can manage it. Not everyone considers that a personal affront," said Susan with a meaningful look at Edmund, who stuck out his tongue and grinned to complement his sister's notion of his immaturity.
"After that, we'll have to try and settle them," Peter said, still thinking, stroking his chin; he needed to shave, or else grow a beard; his sisters always complained when it was in the in-between stage. Then again, he'd had a bit of a busy week. They all had. "Narnia's large enough to hold a few hundred more, I suppose. I just wonder how they'll mix with the new sort."
"Not everyone will be different, you know," Lucy pointed out. "Many of the dryads and the nymphs and things are more than a hundred years old. They may have been around the whole while."
"Good point," Peter conceded. He sighed. "In any case, let's do it in the morning. It'll be too much of a hassle to get everyone organized and leave tonight."
"Besides," said Lucy. "We have so many goodbyes."
And at this, the youngest queen was rather sadder than she supposed ought to have been. She had only known these people a few days, but something about facing a common enemy unites people much more rapidly than sunnier skies. She realized that once she returned to Narnia, she might not ever see her new friends again – Danya, Roche, Vareth, even the other maids with whom she'd worked before; they occupied another world. Once she returned to Narnia, they would fade into one another's memories for good.
"Hey," Susan said to her softly, and Lucy knew she understood. She slipped her arm around her younger sister's shoulders, letting Lucy rest her head against her shoulder.
"I think we're all tired," Peter said at last, straightening up from where he'd been leaning against the windowsill. "We ought to be getting to bed. Tomorrow we can work out the details of getting home."
"Home," Susan repeated, as if tasting the word. She smiled, then turned from the sill to follow her older brother, Edmund and Lucy behind her.
The four of them slept that night in a guest chamber, the girls in one bed and the boys in the other, for with the sudden arrival of several hundred new bodies, sleeping arrangements were a little tight.
In the morning, after speaking to a few of Vareth's new advisors and eventually Vareth himself, they began to establish a plan: Vareth's official re-coronation was to take place that afternoon, followed by a celebration with open castle gates, during which they would be recognized along with the other heroes of the hour. That night, as a closing of the celebration, they would assemble all of the Old Narnians and all their possessions, then use the rings to travel back through the Wood Between the Worlds and into Narnia itself. They could only hope they didn't pop up in Susan's room, from whence they had left – there was no way the whole army would fit.
They spent the rest of the morning preparing for the celebration; Roche's master the tailor fitted them out with appropriately ceremonious garb (though in Lucy's mind, the clothes were nowhere so nice and comfortable as Narnian dress clothes) and they managed to assemble all their gifts into one place; Susan wore her horn on her belt, as Lucy did with both her cordial and her dagger. Peter's shield and Susan's bow and quiver they left in their chambers, where they could collect them later before it was time to return.
It was hard for Lucy to think of going home after all that had happened. After such a long journey, their adventure was coming to a close; in just a few hours she would be leaving this country and returning to her real life, to her throne, her friends, her Narnia. The thought made her smile in excitement – no matter the adventure, home was always best.