A/N Ok, so this chapter gets a little bit more in depth of how Nyra is going to fit into the Narnian time line. Now that fall is almost done and winter's almost here, I'll have a lot more time to write, so hopefully I'll be able to update this story (and my other ones if you happen to be reading them) more often. I hope you guys are enjoying yourselves and are excited for Turkeyday, I know I am lol Thank you so much to everyone who's read, commented, favorited, or alerted my story! I'll send you all your complimentary member's backpack via my flying hawk ;)

Enjoy!

Chapter 4

Ambivalence

On the south side of Cair Paravel's greenhouse was an unused section that had become overrun by foliage and vines. No one really knows why the gardeners never used it, but it never mattered much to those who used the area. It was peaceful, the glass panels having fallen out to allow constant sunlight, and part of the wall broke away sometime before the start of the Golden Ages to give view of the gates that all visitors and residents of the castle used. Not far from the breach in the wall was a stone bench. Technically, it was just a flat boulder, but it worked wonderfully as a pew in any case. About a month after the Pevensies had their coronation the newly named King Edmund the Just was exploring the castle, as any young boy would do, when he'd stumbled upon the greenhouse. The Dryads and Nymphs were the ones who cared for and raised the plants that provided Cair Paravel with food, but on the day Edmund had discovered the chamber of life, the plants' caregivers were absent. Surprisingly, the greenhouse was hidden through a series of intricate hallways and past the always bustling kitchen. When King Edmund had found the abandoned section on the sunny day in April, he laid on the warm boulder and stared at the clouds as they floated by in the clouds. It was the only room the king was able to think clearly without feeling as though someone were listening to him, and so it became his own.

Four years later, King Edmund opened up the room- and with it, himself- to someone. Nyra was only two weeks old when the king carried her, vulnerable and wriggling, to the greenhouse. He sat on the ground, legs spread apart, and placed the tiny wolf on a patch of soft grass that was growing in the sunlight between his limbs. The wolf pup's eyes had opened the day before within the warmth of Edmund's chambers, and the boy king had long before decided to bring her to his safe haven. At such a young age, Nyra was not yet able to speak, so Edmund silently introduced her to the world.

It was in the greenhouse the wolf guard found King Edmund, unceremoniously perched against the stone boulder, one leg laying straight out and the other bent so his elbow rested upon his knee. Nyra lowered her head and mutely padded around the bench, settling herself beside the King, who hadn't acknowledged her presence yet. A light wind blew through the hole in the wall, rustling the vines that ran along the ground like lines on a map. Edmund leaned his head back against the boulder, staring up at the red and violet sky.

"May I ask?"

Edmund turned his head slightly as Nyra spoke, his eyes doing a swift scan to make sure no one else was in the warehouse.

"Go ahead." Edmund said quietly, looking back through the nonexistent roof.

Nyra sat up taller and wrapped her tail around her large paws, "Why did you not allow me to finish my report to your siblings?" Edmund was still, deliberating his answer.

"It is not the first time I've done it." The king finally said, "How is it that you've only noticed now?" The wolf's ear twitched, irritated that the king had turned her question around to return to her.

"I am merely curious." Nyra prompted, staring past the broken wall to where the sentinels were positioned next to the entrance of the castle. Edmund sighed and placed both of his hands on the grass beneath where they were sitting.

"They didn't need to know one of the many reasons the dwarves attacked us."

"You believe that they shouldn't know about me attacking first." Edmund clenched his jaw and shifted his position.

"It wasn't your fault." He said stubbornly. The wolf flicked her tail in annoyance.

"My lord-

"Nyra, we're alone." The king gently teased, a small smile finding its way to the corners of his lips. Nyra let out an exasperated sigh and collapsed her body onto the soft ground, turning her large head to stare at the human.

"Edmund," She corrected herself, "I was the first to make a hostile move. When a war comes, I am the one to be held accountable." The wolf didn't miss the sharp ripple of anger that passed under King Edmund's skin.

"No, Nyra, you were not the first one to attack." Edmund's voice dropped low and he turned to look at the wolf, "I forbid you to ever think that again. The black dwarves have been attacking innocent Narnians for months- remember Mylai?" Nyra let out a deep growl as he mentioned the innocent Satyr trading post that had been raided and burned only weeks ago. "Whether my brother knows that you punished them for what they did matters not."

"It matters to me." Edmund scowled and turned away from the wolf.

"Fine then, go tell him!" He deadpanned, "I don't care."

They were both still for a moment, measuring the extent of each other's words. Nyra's ears were pressed against her head and she pushed her torso up to sit, and then stand. Edmund didn't mean what he said, he usually didn't, and the wolf knew that. Wordlessly, Nyra turned her leith body and began to walk around the boulder to the opposite side of the greenhouse where the door was. She walked slow, her giant paws leaving slight imprints on the dirt below. Edmund pressed his back against the boulder, clenching his fists in waiting. It was a test of will, who would break first. Nyra's amber eyes flickered back to the stone bench, and Edmund's towards the path the wolf was taking. It was a game they were all too familiar with.

Just as Edmund bunched his muscles to turn, Nyra swung around and bounded towards the stone bench, jumping up and balancing on the slab's flat surface. Her tail whipped to the side and Edmund let loose a sly smirk, looking up at the wolf who towered over him from this angle.

"Yes you do." Nyra said lightly, nudging the King's head with her wet nose.

"What makes you think that?" Edmund chuckled, turning away from the wolf again to face the hole in the wall. Nyra rolled her eyes and bent her head down to wrap her powerful jaws around Edmund's sword that he had laid against the boulder.

"Prat." The wolf taunted, before snatching the metal and leaping off the bench.

It took Edmund a good two seconds before he realized what happened, and, when he did, the King scrambled to his feet and took off running after the wolf. Nyra lashed her tail and easily bounded ahead of Edmund, keeping her distance from the human. The sword bounced awkwardly in her jaws, the sheathed blade scraped the ground as the wolf attempted to lift her head higher to keep it from getting dirty rather unsuccessfully. For the first time in months, King Edmund's body relaxed and allowed itself to escape from the harsh decisions of the real world as he chased after the wolf guard. Only when Edmund tripped over a brick in the darkness did the hunt cease.

Edmund huffed and rolled over onto his back in the grass, breathing deeply and smiling as Nyra darted over and promptly dropped his sword on his stomach, hilt first. The King grunted and grabbed the blade before Nyra had the chance to change her mind about releasing his weapon. With a small yawn, the wolf flopped down beside Edmund and laid her head on his chest, just above where she had placed his sword. Edmund smirked and repositioned one of his hands to rest between Nyra's ears, the tip of his pinky grazing the puppy-soft fur that covered the back of her ears. The two laid there, breathing together as the night dragged itself closer. It was the type of peaceful you would find only in the company of the one who you could trust with your heart and soul, one who you could confide in, one who you could count on to always be there right beside you in your darkest hour- and surprisingly, the most common type of peace there is.

"Come on then," The wolf finally stretched her legs and stood, pushing the king with her snout, "even Kings need their rest." Edmund smirked and pushed off of the ground, one hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword.

"I'm going! I'm going!" The wolf let out an amused growl and playfully nipped at the heels of his shoes as the human made his way to the exit of the greenhouse.

As they walked through the darkness together, a torch lighting the way every once in a while in the dim castle, Edmund strapped his sword back around his holster. It still came as a surprise to the Just King that the older he got, the less time he had to himself, and it wasn't exactly something he enjoyed. Nyra grunted as they reached the steps and took them two at a time. Edmund hated taking the stairs one step at a time, it was something that she had learnt at a young age. Always leaping, never shuffling.

"I expect you to get some sleep as well, Nyra." Edmund said as they neared the hallway that led to his room. The wolf snorted and loosely nodded her head in a distracted manor. To their left, the silhouette of one of the many guards stationed around the castle fell upon the stone floor. The King rested his right palm on the door, turning to look back at his friend. "I mean it." Nyra merely stared back up at the adolescent.

"Goodnight, Ed." She said quietly, sitting down and staring up at him. Edmund narrowed his eyes and studied Nyra for a moment, before opening his door and slipping into the dark room. Sometimes, he really never knew what that wolf did at night, and it bothered him to no ends.

The Narnian remained perched next to the King's door for nearly five minutes, staring into the darkness of the corridor to make sure everything was till, while swiveling her ears to make sure that Edmund was getting his royal behind into bed like he was supposed to. Once the air was still, Nyra carefully unfolded her tail from around her paws and started back down the hall where they had come from. Her day wasn't even close to finished yet. Traveling down the stairs, the wolf turned and padded past the dead kitchen towards the library. The only sound in the castle came from her sharp nails tapping against the polished floor. Not many souls wandered Cair Paravel at this time of the night, and those who did, ended up in the library... or the kitchen.

The Royal Study was situated in the western corner of the hall of books, strategically placed within a maze of shelves. It was a place that often wasn't found by one seeking it out, but by one who was aimlessly roaming and would accidentally stumble upon the lavish room. There was only ever one person in the castle who used the room. As Nyra approached the hidden door, her amber eyes latched onto the faint glow that squeezed its way under the wood. The door was always left partially open, a silent promise of welcome to any who managed to find there way to the room. Nyra shoved her muzzle in the space between the door and the wall and used her head to wiggle the door farther open.

"May I come in, my lord?"

High King Peter's head snapped up from the parchment he was studying, and he brushed a stray blonde hair out of his eyes.

"Of course, Nyra, you're always welcome." He said with a small smile. The wolf nodded and squeezed her way into the room, gliding over to the king.

"Are you not weary?" It was a question she asked him almost every night that she found him cooped up in the room, hunched over one paper after another.

"I find that I cannot sleep, I'm afraid." Peter sighed, sitting back in his seat to make eye contact with the wolf as she sat by his side, head tilting over the desk to see what he was working on.

"Can not or will not?" Nyra asked quietly, bringing her tail close to her body. Peter smirked and repositioned his quill on the desk.

"A bit of both actually." He said with the faintest traces of sadness. Nyra nodded her head and leaned against his chair, at ease.

"It is a very funny thing that the sleepier you are, the longer you take about getting to bed."

Peter pulled his hands back and rested them in his lap, staring at his fingers and allowing his body to collapse. The single candle on the bureau flickered slightly as a light wind blew in through the open window. The High King turned his gaze to look into the wild amber that floated in the wolf's eyes, attempting to sort out why she ever came in to sit with him. The truth was, Nyra didn't know why either. It was something that had started such a long time ago that neither of them had ever come to question it out loud.

"Everyone needs to rest, my lord." Nyra said, twisting her body to fall on the maroon rug and tuck her limbs into her body comfortably. "Even if they convince themselves that they aren't tired." Peter nodded slightly and leaned his head back on his chair slightly to stare up at the ceiling.

"They're..." Peter hesitated for a moment, contemplating on voicing his thoughts. "They're getting worse, the dreams." Nyra let out a small growl and shuffled closer to the king as though she was trying to comfort him. "It's always him. He's always there, just... sitting there and watching. He chooses to do nothing while I drown."

"Do you believe that it means something?"

"No... Yes... I'm not sure."

"Perhaps it really is him, but he wants you to fight your own battles." Nyra said softly, dropping her head down to lay on her paws.

"But I don't know how." The king winced when his voice cracked, quickly swallowing his fear.

"Do you have faith in him?"

"Of course!"

"Then you have nothing to worry about." Peter stared down at his hands again, picking at the sides of his fingers.

"He's left before, what if he never returns?" Nyra whipped her tail out and promptly smacked the High King's leg.

"There is never 'what if', there is only 'what is'." She growled, "Aslan does things for a reason, and he wouldn't have left Narnia in you and your siblings' care if he didn't have complete trust in you." Peter nodded again, ceasing his erratic hand movements. The wolf sighed and stretched her body, nose touching the cool wall and tail bunching up beside the desk.

"May I ask for your forgiveness, Nyra, for my earlier behavior?" His voice was stronger now, backed up by new assurance. The beast snorted and turned her head to look at the king.

"Of course, all is forgiven."

Peter smiled and finally turned back to his work, dipping his quill in the ink as Nyra closed her eyes. There was work to be done, and now it would be done without a heavy heart to weigh it down.

If anyone wants to, there's an amazing song by Duncan Sheik called "Half-Life" that I thing describes Peter really well and you can look it up. Within the next few chapters, I'm going to try to work in more Susan and Lucy (for any of you who's ever written a Narnia fic, Susan is probably the hardest to grasp personality wise). Anyways, go enjoy some food and go outside if it's nice!

Any questions, comments, or life threatening concerns don't hesitate to pm me!

~*~ Charli ~*~