Caspian let the cool morning breeze wash over him. The sky was gray and an eerie silence hung over the How. He was sitting on an upper level, a balcony of broken stone. Roots and small plants and trees were growing around him through the stone. Even through something has unforgiving and permanent as stone, their roots still found a way to grow.
On the vast field below, Lily was walking. She was dressed in her Telmarine armor again and she was walking towards the forest. He wanted to follow her, to grab her and make her look him in the eyes, to apologize. To see her face…
He sighed and watched her figure grow smaller as she began to run to the tree line. He felt as if he had lost something, something dear to him.
"Why did you never tell me about my father," he asked, his dark eyes tired.
He saw Lily disappear behind the trees.
The professor sat next to him, sighing as he crossed his fingers over his belly.
"My mother," he said carefully, "was a Black Dwarf from the Northern Mountains."
Caspian stared at the forest, listening
"I risked my life all these years so that one day…" Doctor Cornelius looked to the young man's face, his brows furrowed.
"You might be a better king than those before you. Everything I told you, everything I didn't, it was only because I believe in you. You have a chance to become the most noble contradiction in history."
Caspian looked at his teacher, question in his eyes.
"The Telmarine who saved Narnia."
….
How could you, Peter. You put all of our lives in danger. You know this.
Susan's words echoed in Peter's memory, giving him a headache. His sister hadn't said much to him but the words she did say were not easy to hear. She was right, of course. It was his fault, everything was. He had put everyone in danger. And Caspian…
Peter sighed, looking up at the great stone Lion that was staring down at him as he sat on the floor, leaning against the stone table.
Caspian was only trying to fix things, to do whatever he could to save Narnia. He was desperate like him. As Peter thought about his own actions, he saw that he had been wrong. He is a strong leader and king but it is no longer his role…
As Peter looked into the Lion's stone lifeless eyes, he still felt shame.
Lucy peered around the table, seeing her brother on the ground. She smiled at him when he saw her and she sat next to him. She was always so kind and understanding, not like Susan…
Peter stared at his fingers, his hazel eyes flickering in the flames of the torches.
"You're lucky, you know."
Lucy questioned him, "what do you mean?"
Peter raised his eyes to the Lion, "to have seen him. When we got here." He shook his head, frustrated. His soft English accent was heartfelt as he spoke to the statue, searching for any answer. "I wish he'd just given me some sort of proof."
Lucy's eyebrows rose, her eyes sparkling with wisdom beyond her years.
"Maybe we're the ones who need to prove ourselves to him."