Here it is-short but sweet.

Chapter Six-Never Again

"Damien, would you pass the butter?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Caspian mumbled under his breath. Though it had been three weeks since Araminta had made Caspian and Lucy 'hate' each other, things were still completely awkward.

"What was that?" Lucy asked, glaring at him.

"Nothing. Araminta, you have some potato on your face." Araminta hid her head in embarrassment as she cleaned off her pretty face, and Lucy muttered,

"Why don't you lick it off for her?"

"What was that?" he snapped. She gave him a sickly sweet smile.

"Nothing." An awkward silence washed over the table for a few moments, until Rhince brought up the only non-awkward topic.

"So uh, Peter, tell us again about what you found at the fauns' home?" Peter sighed as this subject had been brought up over and over again.

"Well Serkar's family wasn't the only family killed," Peter explained for what must have been the millionth time. "There was a family of foxes, a few rabbits, and a couple of owls. There was only one witness, Pattertwig, and he saw the owls murdered. He said that there were five men, but they were hard to see because it was night, their clothing was dark and so was their skin." Araminta's head snapped up; she hadn't heard any of this yet. The Narnians were trying not to mention it around her because Peter and Edmund suspected the men to be of Calormen.

The others must have realized this because no one asked about theories of who the men were, and silence washed over them again. Edmund sighed and looked over at Lucy and Caspian; both of them looked angry, but they also looked miserable at the same time. Because he and Peter had arrived a week after Drinian came home, they believed what their sister and friend had heard was false, and so they were still friends with Caspian. The two brothers had tried everything but snooping around Araminta's room to find evidence that she was lying, but so far none was found. The opportunity for snooping around her room hadn't come yet, but that was soon to change.

"Araminta, would you care to join me outside?" Caspian asked after everyone had finished their food.

"Of course, Caspian." She took his arm, and they walked out of the dining hall. Lucy looked positively livid. Not only did Caspian hate her, but Araminta was constantly talking to her about him. She knew the woman still had it in for her, but because she had to act indifferent, Lucy couldn't tell her to go away.

"I'm going to er…the library," Edmund lied, and sped off for Araminta's room.

"I'll join you," Shaina said, and Peter jumped up.

"No!" Shaina looked at him oddly. "Remember, you and Lucy promised Carina to help with wedding plans after breakfast."

"Oh that's right. Carina, where would you like to go?" Peter breathed a sigh of relief; he knew Shaina well enough to know she would not approve of him and Edmund trespassing in Araminta's room.

"Is my room alright? I have everything we need in there already."

"Then that would make the most sense," Lucy said, and the three girls left the dining hall, leaving Peter free to run after Edmund.

"Have you-"

"No, not yet," Edmund said, frowning. "You know, she isn't very neat."

"Oh thank Aslan, I was hoping you didn't make this mess."

"Of course not," Edmund laughed. "What the…look at this!"

"What is it?"

"It's a doll."

"Of her father?"

"Apparently the Tisroc has toys made that look like him…modest, isn't he?"

"Oh definitely, but she has one?" Edmund snorted as he had found the doll on her bed.

"I guess she likes to sleep with her dad."

"Ed!" Peter tried reprimanding him, but they could only laugh.

"Alright, I'm done," Edmund said, breathing out a little bit to stop laughing. "Maybe she has a diary or something we could read."

"Ed, we're horrible people."

"Why?"

"Did you hear what you just said?"

"Look, it's for the good of our best friend and our little sister."

"I know, but this isn't something we should be doing."

"Forget for once that you're High King Peter. Just think of yourself as Lucy's older brother, and trust me, you'll want to do this."

"Yes, you're right." They pawed around for a few minutes, and Peter found small book with Araminta's hand writing in it. "I found something!"

"Open it, what does it say?" Peter did as instructed and rolled his eyes.

"It's nothing important, apparently she likes to keep a log of all the dresses she owns."

"Does she really?" Edmund asked, peering over Peter's shoulder. "Wow. Can you believe we liked her at some point in our lives?"

"No, not exactly." They searched around for a few more minutes, when Edmund saw something on Araminta's desk that caught his eye.

"Jackpot," he grinned.

0123456789012345678901234567890

"So I'm thinking maybe instead of the lilies, we should have daisies instead."

"No, stick with the lilies. The daisies would be too simple for everything else," Lucy said, and there was a knock on the door. "Drinian!"

"Hello ladies. Am I interrupting?"

"Not at all, it's your wedding too," Shaina laughed. "What would you rather wear, black or dark blue?"

"Dark blue."

"Good, that helps the color theme."

"Carina, you're sure you don't want me to help with any of this?"

"You can if you'd like, but I figured you'd have enough to do around the castle."

"Not at the moment."

"Then you're welcome to join us."

"Excellent!" He smiled and lifted Carina up, sat down on her chair and sat her down on his lap. "So who are you're bridesmaids going to be?"

"Well Shaina, and Lucy, a my cousin and my sisters."

"Oh good, you got them to come?"

"Yes, my whole family is coming. What about your groomsmen?"

"Caspian, Peter, Edmund, Damien, Glenstorm and Rhince."

"We were thinking Peepiceek could be the ring bearer," Lucy grinned, and Drinian laughed.

"I couldn't have chosen a better candidate." There was another knock on the door, and Peter and Edmund burst in, panting.

"Drinian, you have to come with us."

"What's the matter?"

"We need to find Caspian." Drinian got up and followed the boys out into the hall.

"What is all this about?"

"Look what we found." Peter handed him two pieces of parchment; one was a letter to Valdis from Araminta, and the other was a letter from Valdis to Araminta.

Dear Sister,

As I told you I would, I have let ten Calormens stay behind-call on them if you need anything. I trust you will be able to handle things on your own, however, so I have instructed them to find as many 'animal families' as possible. When you expressed your concern about talking animals in your last letter, I couldn't stop thinking about it. We can't have you ruling a barbarian country. Afterall, back when you, Jacinda and I thought talking animals were a myth, we'd constantly talk about how horrible and vile it would be if it were true. So as a result, I have asked them to kill any talking beast they find. I'm sure you will be pleased with what I have asked our men to do. I sincerely hope you have managed to break Lucy and Caspian apart by now, you said in your last letter you were close. That was good news indeed; it would take much to break the two of them apart, and if you're as close as you say you are, I underestimated you dear sister. Please write me soon, I wish to know all that is happening. Give my regards to our Narnian puppets.

Your brother,

Prince Valdis the Second of Calormen

Drinian looked up and stared at the other two.

"You're kidding."

"No, we aren't. Read Araminta's." Drinian looked down again and read,

Dear brother,

Thankyou ever so much for trying to get rid of the disgusting animals. Everytime I look at one I want to scream; they're vile indeed. How Narnians are friends with them, I have no idea. Luckily I have heard them talking, and most of the Narnians believe the attackers of their beloved mammals are rebelling Telmarines. I don't think they suspect Calormen at all. Things couldn't be better with the situation with Caspian, Lucy and I. I have managed to break them apart further than I could have hoped-they hate each other now. I've been eavesdropping a lot, like you have asked me to do, and I was able to find out that Lucy and Caspian were courting secretly. They hadn't told anyone, so how did I find out, you might ask? The day before I ripped them apart, Caspian and I went for a horse ride. (Luckily these horses were normal and didn't utter a word.) When I was entering the stables, I heard them talking so I didn't go in right away. I then heard Caspian clearly say, "You should go before Araminta comes. We don't want her figuring us out." It was from that moment I started planning what to do, and because I was certain Caspian and Lucy couldn't dream of me finding out on my own what they were doing, I used it to make them believe me. I told Lucy Caspian had kissed me, that he couldn't stop thinking about me, and that he was only in a courtship with her because he wanted to try and get over his feelings for me. I could tell she didn't believe it until I mentioned the courtship, so I decided to use that on Caspian as well. I told him Lucy was in love with Damien, and that she told me she was only in a courtship with him so she could try and get over her feelings for Damien. It took him a minute to believe it as well, seeing as neither of them would ever dream of doing what I told the two of them the other did, but they both ended up believing me in the end. I fully expect Caspian to begin courting me anytime now, and you will be the first to know. I hope everything is going well with Jacinda, and I hope that she goes to Archenland before I return. You know how terribly the two of us get along. Send my regards to father.

Your sister,

Princess Araminta Xenia the Third of Calormen

"Aslan's mane," Drinian whispered. "What a little…I cannot believe this."

"Not only do we know Araminta was lying to Caspian and Lucy, but we know who's responsible for the murders," Peter said. "How will we break this to the Calormens without letting them know we went looking through Araminta's belongings?"

"I'll think of a way."

"Thankyou, Ed. I was hoping you'd say that."

"Well you've always been hopeless at this sort of situation."

"So why didn't you show this to Lucy yet?" Drinian asked.

"Because we thought Caspian should be the one to give her the letter."

"Er…why?"

"Because she'll cry, and not only do we hate seeing her cry, but that will give them a chance to become friends again," Peter said.

"I see."

"Caspian!" The dark haired King spun around and smiled.

"Hello everyone. Woah, what's the matter? You all look…"

"Just read these." Caspian took the pages from Edmund's hands and scanned them. He looked up, and stared at them.

"Oh Aslan…" he finally said, and ran up the steps to Carina's room. He burst through the door, grabbed Lucy's hand and pulled her into an empty room before she could say anything.

"What are you doing?" she asked, glaring at him.

"I came to apologize."

"To what?"

"You heard me. Lucy, I am so sorry…I thought you loved Damien and you were just using me."

"Why would you think that? It's you that was using me."

"You're wrong. Neither of us was using each other. Read this." Lucy's eyes scanned the page just as Caspian's had done, and she looked up, her eyes a bit wet.

"How could we be so stupid?" she finally managed to say.

"I don't know…we should never have believed her. Lu, I am so, so sorry, I was just so bitter because I thought…"

"Don't apologize, I did the exact same thing and it wasn't our fault .We were tricked, and…oh Caspian, I've missed you," Lucy choked, and threw her arms around his neck. He wrapped his own arms around her waist, and there they sat until Edmund found them.

"So what are we going to do about Araminta?" Caspian asked as they walked.

"I have no idea…I'm trying to come up with a reason of why we need to send her home without letting it slip that Peter and I went through her things. If we do that, then Calormen would use it against us and we can't let that happen."

"That makes sense. But I think we shouldn't worry about Araminta for now, I think we need to worry about our country," Lucy said.

"Alande, Blane and the cheetahs, Aurelio, Lon, Stanton, Boyd, Milan, Glenstorm, Peepiceek and his mice, Duane, Vicente, Desmond, Lamont and his tigers are all going to find these men," Edmund said. "Then we will be able to use the evidence against Calormen, which might be able to allow us to send Araminta home. Peter is writing to Archenland right now, and telling them what we've read so that they know not to believe Jacinda when she goes."

"Jacinda is Araminta's sister?" Lucy double-checked, and Edmund nodded. "There isn't much else we can do at the moment except wait for the party we sent out to get back." He looked at Caspian and Lucy and asked, "So are you two alright now?"

"I think so," Caspian smiled, and put his arm around Lucy's waist.

RRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVVVVVIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. Please.