Chapter 4:
Those first few months a Cair Paravel passed like cool breeze on a summer's day. Peter and Susan, as the oldest, had spent their time traveling to the different countries near Narnia trying desperately to reestablish the treaties and pacts held before the White Witch's rule. Most recently the pair had made a trip to the Lone Island, and were working to reclaim it as Narnian land. This left Edmund, Molly, and Lucy at home dealing with the domestic side of rebuilding.
A council of Narnian citizens had be created so that all subjects of Narnia had a say in their government. Luckily for the Pevensies, Mr. Tumnus and Mr. Beaver were on the council so it made dealing with an elected body a little easier. . Yet, as soon as the Council had been appointed they tried to control the royals. Molly put her foot down immediately. Aslan had put Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy on the throne for a reason and the 'Council' had no right to rule.
The Council's first act of business had been to question Molly's status as a knight of the realm. The head of the council, a particularly overzealous centaur claimed that it showed favoritism toward humans in a land where all things were equal. Edmund had come to Molly's defense at this particular meeting citing her unusual display of valor and loyalty at the Battle of Beruna. The council also seemed hesitant to accept her as a member of the royal court and confidant of the royal family. This time Susan of all people came to her defense.
"Sir Molly Fitzroy, has no right to hold such a privileged position in the Narnian Court," this centaur (whos name has since been lost). Susan stood up from her place to the right of Peter, who sat at the head of the table.
"Molly has more right than any of us. The surname Fitzroy dates back millennia in world all of us come from. It is the surname given to the illegitimate children of Kings." Susan argued back. Molly sat in awe of Susan's knowledge. Of course she knew that her distant (try 10 or so greats) had been the son of a British king, but she would never have used that as a reason to keep herself around. Susan continued her thought more vehemently, "if anything, Molly has the ability to govern in her blood and she has already proven herself loyal to Narnia. How dare this council abuse its power! Am I mistake? Did Aslan crown someone other than Peter High King?" She sat down thoroughly out of breath. Molly silently thanked the girl for standing up for her. Especially since, they were the two who knew each other the least.
That little incident had set the tone for the general relationship between the council and the royal family. The council tried to make life at Cair incredibly hard for Molly, going as far as to suggest she control the treasury, since she was not a Queen herself. Molly took on the challenge of controlling a nation's finances. She struggled at first, because when someone like Susan realized they were rich, it was hard to keep them from spending everything the country had on clothes and jewels. Luckily Edmund came to Molly's rescue, and tried to help her run the treasury along with his own duties. But with the addition of daily tutoring any duties became a hardship. Once Peter and Susan left on this trip: First sailing to Archland, then to Calmorene, and finally the Lone Island, the three remaining humans fell into a daily routine.
Each morning the trio were up at daybreak. Lucy then spent the time between waking up and breakfast working on her archery. Molly and Edmund would head to the practice area and spar. Then a quite breakfast before lessons. Lucy had the heaviest load of lessons with writing, math, etiquette, dancing, sewing, and politics. Edmund had a slightly lesser load with the same minus writing and sewing, while Molly had math etiquette, dancing, and sewing. These lessons took place between breakfast and the light lunch brought to the trio's lessons at one. Then each attended to their own duties the remainder of the day. After a few weeks it wasn't unusal to find either Edmund or Molly in the library around midday. Normally Molly was looking for something in particular, while Edmund browsed the volumes looking for something to pass the time. As a member of the royal house Edmund helped with the forgien diplomats, of who none had actually visited Narnia yet, and worked with the military. Whilst Molly worked on taxes, tax law, and money control. All of which no normal 14 year old needed to worry about.
However, the real surprise came a month before Peter and Susan were due back from their extended trip abroad. That morning Molly awoke with a bad feeling in her stomach about the day. She attended her sparring session with Edmund and headed off to breakfast like every other day. At breakfast, however Mr. Tumnus appeared at the table telling Edmund and Molly that their lessons for the day had been cancled. Instead, they would be attending an important council meeting.
As usual when the pair arrived, the council was already seated. Edmund took his usual seat at one of the two chairs at the head of the table. Molly remained standing behind Ed's chair nervously.
"Sir Molly, please be seated," the head centaur said. Molly looked at the centaur like he had grown three heads. That chair belonged to Peter, not her. `She had no right to sit in it. "I'd rather not," she said.
The centaur sighed as if disappointed she hadn't taken his bait. "Why are we here?" Edmund asked disgruntled with this surprise meeting. The centaur indulged his king with an answer. "It is the opinion of this council that the two of you should arrange for a party, a gala of sorts, in honor of King Peter and Queen Susan's return to Narnia."
Molly looked about ready to kill somebody. "I'm sure neither of us has planned so much as a make believe tea party," she said. Edmund stifled a laugh at the thought of Molly in a pink frilly dress having a tea party with her Teddies.
"The council is sure the pair of you will manage." The centaur said. Edmund dismissed the council rather harshly before storming out. Molly walked quickly to catch up with Edmund.
"Cheer up Ed, at least this means that we won't have classes for a while," Molly said once Edmund slowed down enough for her to catch up. He looked up at her like she was nuts. "I know party-planning isn't exactly a guy's cup of tea," Molly said softly, "but, I'm sure you can just help with food and drink choices." Edmund seemed to perk up at the idea of picking what his somewhat controlling siblings were going to eat, and thus a plan was hatched.
Molly spent the next three weeks hammering out the details of Peter and Susan's welcome back Gala. The Throne Room and Great Rooms were to remain largely undecorated thus allowing the natural beauty of Cair Paravel to be on display for any nobles. The only real decoration would be a large banner in blue and green to welcome guests to the celebration. Invitations had been sent to parties all over the continent, and RSVPs had been received swiftly. She had taken the easy jobs of course: decoration and guest list.
Edmund had chosen to deal with the food and drink. So far the menu read like a Christmas feast in England. Edmund had chosen Beef Wellington and braised Turkey as the main courses, with mashed potatoes, vegetables, and fresh fruits. For the dessert spread, hundreds of pastries, pies, and cakes were being baked. As for drinks, Edmund had somewhat plundered Cair's extensive wine cellar for wine and spirits for the older guests. For those not so keen on consuming alcohol he settled on a compote of fresh berries, and sparkling apple cider from the wine cellar.
Overall this didn't seem like an over-the-top party, actually some of the council were displeased at the small scale of the celebration. Molly fought back against these idiots pointing out that it was a celebration of return, not a coronation or wedding, therefore the was no need to bankrupt Narnia over such a party. The most expensive things seemed to be entertainment. The orchestras and bands that played for Molly and Edmund seemed to be milking the pair for every gold coin they could, regardless of how good they actually were.
The days passed quickly once the arrangements had been made. It was the day before the celebration and Edmund was confused. He had woken up and made his way to the practice fields like every morning, but Molly never appeared. Normally she would be there long before Edmund stretching and working on her footwork, but not this morning. He gave up assuming she must have overslept because of the stress the party had added to her life and sparred with Orieus instead. Edmund started to worry about Molly when she wasn't at breakfast.
'Lucy, have you seen Molly this morning," Edmund asked sitting down in his usual chair. "I haven't Ed," Lucy said before taking a bite of apple, "have you checked her room?" Ed shook his head and resolved to check Molly's bedchamber after breakfast. Without Molly at the table breakfast was a quite affair, Lucy and Edmund were both too absorbed in their thoughts to talk without their favorite catalyst to start the conversations.
After breakfast, Ed made a beeline for Molly's chamber. He knocked lightly at her door and pressed his ear to door in an attempt to hear if there was any movement inside. Instead of a muffled cry of "GO AWAY!" echoed in his ears. "Molly?" Ed called jiggling the door handle and the door sprung open.
Edmund stepped carefully through the door worried it was bobby trapped with Aslan knew what. Once he closed the door he surveyed the room. It looked a lot like his own chamber next door. The walls were a calming blue with white trim. The walls were slowly filling with bookshelves and books. There was a desk pushed up against the far wall that was so covered with papers the top of the desk couldn't be seen. The floors also seemed covered with hundreds of scraps of papers. Each scraped had a few lines of writing on it. Ed picked up a scrap near his feet and attempted to read the chicken starch on it. When Ed finished he pondered the writing for a moment. It was the summary of a story.
"Ed, stop standing there and get out of my room," a voice said removing Edmund from his thoughts. "Molly," Ed said smiling. He went over to the bed pushed against the wall that separated his room from hers. He held in a laugh at the sight of Molly's red hair peeking out from among the covers. "Ed, please go away," her voice pleaded as her body tried to dig further into the covers.
"Are you alright," he asked. Molly didn't respond, so Edmund decided to pull the covers away. Once the first few layers of covers had been pulled back Ed's gaze returned to his friend. She lay in bed curled up tightly, her knees on level with her chest. "No Ed, I'm not. Please, leave me alone today," she pleaded trying to take back her covers. "Shall I get a healer to look at you?" Ed asked sitting on the edge of Molly's bed. "A healer isn't going to be able to do anything, unless Narnia has Advil," Molly said. Ed watched as she flinched obviously in a lot of pain. This was something new to Edmund, even after Beruna Molly never really showed pain. He had watched Molly hobble around on her bum ankle for almost a month without complaint.
Ed left the room and went to see a healer. The healer told Edmund that if what he described was correct; neither of them could do anything to take the pain away.
Edmund and Lucy spent the rest of the day sitting by Molly's beside giving her chocolate and crisps. "You both know you don't have to stay here with me," Molly said as she munched on her crips and wishing for a television and The Notebook. Edmund smiled at her, and Lucy tried to make her feel better. "We want to be here," Lucy said snatching a crisp from Molly's bowl, "besides it gets us out of our duties for the day." The trio laughed at the statement.
"Thank you," Molly said smiling at the pair and enjoying her time before the insanity of the party began tomorrow.
A/N: Wow, I'm really happy that this chapter is finally done. Beginnings are always hard to write. I know the beginging of the chapter is sort of lame, but I felt a need to make sure Molly has conflicts with somebody, especially with authority. However, I had an absolute blast writing that last segment where Molly isn't feeling so well. It just seemed like a great awkward moment, though it could have been way worse. Next time on Not Just the Help, Right? : Parties, Fights, and other fun things. Other than that, you'll know the drill.. Oh one more thing, if you want this last scene in its original version just send me a line.