I awoke to a light shining in my eyes. It was morning. At first I was startled, not knowing where in the world I was. Then, the events from the previous day slapped me in the face.

"Good morning." A raspy voice greeted me somewhere off to my right. I turned my head and was greeted with a charming pair of brown eyes. The eyes and voice belonged to a boy a little older than myself, or so he looked. He had dark, messy hair, and really full lips. On these lips there was a very defined frown, as if he hadn't smiled in a long time. A permanent scowl rested on his brow and I could have sworn I had done something to offend him. He was very tall, with lean muscle evident in his stature. My eyes drifted to his hands, as I usually did when first meeting a person, and I was pleased to notice that his hands were rough, probably from hard work over the years. I have always thought you can tell a lot about a person from their hands. My theory has yet to fail me.

I stared at the stranger for a few seconds before responding with, "Good morning," as well.

"Do you know who I am?" He whispered, leaning in closer to me, a hopeful look overcoming his face. I moved away from him uncomfortably. "I don't think so."

"You don't recognize me at all?" He replied shortly.

"Should I?" I replied shortly back.

He looked like he wanted to say yes, but leaned back in his chair instead. He stared at me a little longer, mostly looking over my eyes, hair, and face, before turning away and looking out the window to his left. An angry look came over his face before he spoke.

"My sister Lucy demanded that I watch over you during the night, although I don't see why one of the servants couldn't do it just as well." At this he scoffed, glanced at me, and looked away again with a slight blush. I narrowed my eyes in annoyance at his rudeness and was about to respond when he beat me to speaking.

"As it is, I did stay up all night watching you sleep, because clearly I have nothing better to do. I was informed by Peter to inform you of your situation." He paused, looking back at me as though seeking a "go ahead."

"By all means, waste more of your time telling me what the fuck is going on." I retorted, glaring at him hard. He seemed taken aback by my language, but quickly recovered with an equally hostile glare.

"I suppose I have no choice. You were found mortally injured in the field outside of Cair Paravel. You were brought into the castle by Oreius, Narnia's army general. Lucy brought her cordial and gave you three drops of the Fire Flower nectar and all of your wounds were healed. You are the first human to enter Narnia since my siblings and I and so we have doubts of your being a true stranger to Narnia." At this he paused, looking at me with something keen to hope. I gave him an odd look and his hopefulness was replaced with irritation. "You are more than likely some maiden from Archenland who wandered way too far into our lands and was attacked by a rogue group of vagabonds." He looked at me as thought he dared me to contradict what he was saying. So I did.

"Excuse me, Douche Bag, but half of what you just said made zero sense to me and its not because you or your little friends think I'm stupid. Whatever the hell you think this place is, or whoever the hell you think you are, I'm not buying it. Attacked by a group of vagabonds? Really? This isn't the fucking Middle Ages, though judging by the decor in here one would think you all thought so. I wasn't attacked by a gang, Asshole. Thanks for giving me that fucking potion to fix me. It did a hell of a job. I feel great. Now tell me how to get the fuck out of here and I will gladly leave."

His face fell from it's hardened gaze and into one of shock. He obviously wasn't used to a girl cursing, or anyone contradicting him for that matter.

"Where exactly are you from?" He asked, as though he hadn't just verbally attacked me, and I hadn't just verbally attacked him back.

"I'm from Orlando, Florida." His gaze was blank, as though he didn't know what I was talking about. "United States." A flicker of recognition arose in his eyes, but he still said nothing. "Earth." His eyes widened greatly at that.

"I'm glad you recognized that one." I said sarcastically.

"Well, you aren't in any of those places anymore."

"Obviously...wait. What? I hate to break it to you, but we are on Earth, Buddy."

"No. We are in Narnia. This is not Earth. You left Earth and came here."

"You can't leave Earth. There is no other planet in the solar system that can support life. At least, not one that has been found yet. Wait, am I in the future? No, that's impossible. Surely people in the future have better fashion sense than you people must have."

He seemed to take no offense to my jab and ignored my rant. "As it is, I am King of Narnia and as king I must report to my older brother and inform him of your waking." He stood up and looked down at me, deep in thought..

"Shouldn't your older brother be king? I mean, isn't a monarchy hierarchical?"

"Yes. And he is High King."

I gave him a confused look and he waved off my curiosity. "I refuse to get into a discussion of politics with you."

I rolled my eyes and looked away, silently dismissing him. When I realized he still hadn't left, I looked back up at him and saw that he was still watching me. He had a blank look on his face and I could have sworn that, had he not shown his anger earlier, he was incapable of emotion just by that blank stare on his face.

"What is your name?" He asked quietly. I watched him a few more seconds before turning my gaze back to the wall ahead of me.

"Ashlynn. Ashlynn Peterson." I replied. A sharp intake of breath made me turn to him quickly.

His eyes were wide and his face pale.

"What's wrong?" I asked, hoping he wasn't about to pass out. He calmed down and looked away blushing.

"Nothing. I'm Edmund Pevensie. King Edmund to you. Hylonome will be by later today to check on you and give you leave to go. Some seamstresses will be by before that time to fit you for some clothes. We can't have you walking around in nothing but your peculiar knickers."

A memory from the night before reacquainted me with my fears.

"Edmund," I whispered quietly. His eyes shot to mine in an instant, searching for something other than what I was calling him for. He looked away when he couldn't find what he needed and mumbled, "King Edmund."

I ignored him. "Did they say if I was..." I couldn't say the word, but he seemed to know what I was talking about because he cast a soft look in my direction before allowing rage to cover his face.

"I left before I could hear anything." He answered between his teeth. He stormed out of the infirmary, slamming the door behind him.

I was left alone in the lightly illuminated room, crying because, though he didn't give me a direct verbal answer, his body language told me my fears were to be confirmed; and that hurt worse than all the other pains I had already experienced.

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