As the Pevensies followed Aslan further up and further in, not all were one hundred percent content. The great lion came to Edmund's side and said in his gentle voice, "My son, I do not want you to fear for young Bethany. Relax and enjoy your friends and family in paradise. My work is not done; I shall create a new land in Narnia's image. Bethany shall come to love it as you loved Narnia, and in those adventures, you will see each other again."

This lifted Edmund's spirits and he rejoiced with his family in Aslan's home for he knew that time passed differently here than were she was. Indeed, it seemed no time at all that Aslan came to his side again to speak personally to him.

"It is time."

"I get to see Beth again?" Edmund asked happily. Lucy and Peter's jaws dropped, for this was the first time they were remembering the girl he left behind. Lucy was the first to frown, though it was not a frown as we know it--there are no frowns in that place--but her face changed to one of concern. "Oh dear, she's died already? My, time goes by quickly down there!"

"Will she be older than we remember her?" Peter wanted to know. Aslan chuckled. "No, dear hearts, she is not coming here. Edmund will go to the place she is."

"Is it possible to go back?" Peter asked with wide eyes. He was thinking of Lazarus. Aslan knew this and chuckled again. "She is in Ainra: the world in another room. She has fired a magic arrow from a golden bow into a dying sun to summon the famous warrior king of their legends."

"Is that Edmund?" Lucy asked happily.

"You shall appear," Aslan told Edmund, "and help them see that the power and strength to win this battle is already among them. Go in my name."

Edmund knelt before the lion and said thank you. Aslan breathed on him and before Peter and Lucy's eyes, he seemed to blow away like smoke.

*

When Edmund arrived in Ainra, it caused quite a stir. The arrow seemed to split the air like a curtain and Sir Edmund came striding through the shimmering fabric with a big grin on his face. He looked so kingly Beth nearly didn't recognize him for it.

There wasn't anything particularly interesting on his end. He felt Aslan's breath and then he saw Beth waiting at the end of a tunnel, so he walked to her. "Hullo, Beth." He said somewhat awkwardly after reaching her and receiving not even a smile.

"Edmund?" she asked softly in disbelief. And why not? She'd seen him buried and accepted his death, yet here he was, an answer to her most desperate wish, after she'd stopped wishing for it. He nodded and reached up to stroke a single finger down her cheek.

His touch was a jolt of electricity that brought a deadened part of her back to life. In three sharp flashes, she felt the pain of loosing him, the doubly sharp pain of still loving him, then relief that broke her heart with its magnitude. Tears spilled down her cheeks and she began shaking. "Ed?"

"It's me, Beth." He promised. His arms were around her, holding her up, because her feet couldn't. She reached up and felt of his face, still disbelieving. It was a trick, a dream. She couldn't recall waking up this morning. But his face was warm and soft, and real. He closed his eyes at her touch and Beth's heart fell back into place, full and beating regularly once more. She threw her arms around him and he hugged her back tightly.

"I am so sorry I left you!" He whispered fiercely.

"It's okay." Beth said into his ear. "I forgive you."

"How long has it been?"

"I forget."

He took her face in his hands and stroked her hair. The steward and the magician were tactfully keeping a respectable distance, allowing privacy but deeply intrigued by the whispered conversation and displays of emotion. After a few kisses and another long hug, the pair seemed to recall they weren't the only ones on the cliff. Edmund straightened up and introduced himself. The situation was described to him thusly:

The evil witch was discovered plotting to take over with a massive underground army that was bigger than the King's, and the magician wasn't strong enough to fight the witch alone.

Edmund took the news well and confidently tossed some ideas off the top of his head about what to do. By sun down, they had a plan, whereas that morning they had been lost. The company returned to the castle before the sun sank below the horizon, and Susan (who had stayed behind with the queen to handle affairs in case the arrow didn't work) fainted when Edmund walked in for dinner. They roused her with smelling salts and then Susan hugged her brother, and cried and asked after the others. Over dinner, Edmund told the story of Narnia's final battle, and how he had come to realize that he had died. It removed a burden from both girls to know that the Pevensies were in a better place.

"I don't understand something." Susan said with a creased brow. "Why were you allowed to come back?"

Edmund dabbed his napkin across his mouth in thought. Then he looked lovingly at Beth and took her hand. Susan's eyes softened at their affection.

"Aslan sent me here to help you win this war, and then . . ."

Beth jerked her hand back. "You have to leave again?"

Edmund blinked. "I think so. Aslan wasn't specific about how long it would take—"

Beth excused herself from the table and ran out of the room. Susan sat looking down at her plate, no longer eating. Edmund sat lost. "I can't help it, Su! I would stay if I could, you know I would!"

"I suppose." Susan said delicately. She looked up at him with burning eyes full of empathy for her friend. "You didn't see how she was when you died . . . She's just got over it and started acting like a sensible person again and then here you are." That stung Edmund to hear Beth had moved on. Susan continued gravely. "I don't think she would survive it again."

Her words were so sure they sent an ominous chill down Edmund's spine. He never wanted to cause that much grief to anyone. Ever. "What do I do?" he begged. His older sister sighed helplessly and put her chin in her hand. Then she said something the old Susan would never have said. "This time that you have together is a gift from Aslan, a second chance that not many of us get. Make the most of it."

Edmund ran after Beth and found her weeping on the stairs. She moved away from his touch at first. He sat beside her. She turned her face away, sniffing. He grabbed her hand and kissed the ring she still wore. A shiver went up her arm from his touch and she sobbed.

"I can't do this." She mouthed, to distraught to find her voice.

He shushed her and dried her face. "You can do anything, Beth Candley, because you are strong and beautiful and I—" she looked up at him then with big watering eyes and his voice caught. He kissed her. Feeling her last reserve break, Beth crushed her lips against his in return. Love stronger than anything she had felt so far washed over her in waves. She was drowning in all the new sensations. Edmund's lips and hands were the only things in the world, and all she wanted. But it wasn't enough. This limited connection wasn't enough to channel her love.

"I love you." Edmund said. Their lips touched as he spoke, and Beth opened her eyes to see that his face was wet. She didn't know if it was from his tears for hers.

"I know I hurt you once," he was saying "and I will do anything to keep that from happening, but Aslan sent me back to you. I can't leave you again without marrying you. Become my wife, Beth? Tonight? If this is all the time we have together, please. I want to make you mine."

A thrill went through her body at his words. She had planned on marrying him in England, but the wedding had been a while off yet; she'd only begun to plan. To imagine marrying Edmund this night, to become his wife, to share his bed, sent a blush to her cheeks and made her a little afraid, but to say no never crossed her mind. She was born to marry him, that much she knew.

"I will." She said. Edmund didn't think he heard right. "You will?"

She nodded and then he blushed. "I don't mean to rush you or pressure you—"

"Ed!" She said with a smile, putting her fingers on his lips. "Do you want to begin our life together or not?"

He closed his eyes for a second. His Adam's Apple bobbed. "I don't want to make it harder for you when I have to leave." He whispered.

"Then give me everything I ask for, and leave behind as much as you can. Last time it was so sudden, so soon. We'd barely had time together to remember."

"We need a priest then." Edmund said happily, pulling her to her feet. "And Susan can witness."

This time when Edmund told his older sister that he was getting married, she agreed with the idea and wished them the best. She was Beth's maid-of-honor and held the bouquet when Edmund slid the ring onto Beth's finger in front of the priest.

"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."

The audience cheered. Then the King declared a feast and the celebrations went on into the night.

*

Beth undressed down to her shift behind the changing screen. The rustling across the room had stopped. Edmund had finished situating himself in the bed and was now waiting silently. Beth was shaking; she didn't know what to do. How was she supposed to go about this? What was going to happen? She had a general idea of the act of course, but all of the details were muddled. Just the thought of him waiting across the room made her feel funny, nervous. What if he didn't like what he saw? Did he know anymore of what was to happen than she did? It would make one of them. Feeling slightly sick, but in the good way that meant something amazing was going to happen, Beth stepped from behind the screen.

The room was dark. Edmund had blown out the candles, but the fire was burning and lighting the right side of the bed with a heavy, warm orange glow. It flickered over the silky blankets and Ed's bare chest. He was under the covers, and had them folded across his lap. His fingers tapped out nervous rhythms on his knees. His face was blank of all emotions, until he saw her.

Beth stepped out of the shadows into the firelight. Her hair was down, hanging past her shoulders. Her feet were bare. She was holding herself rigidly, trying to stop trembles. When Edmund lifted his eyes to her, he stopped breathing. Love and desire washed over his face like watercolors.

Neither of them spoke; they didn't know what to say. Beth crossed to the right side of the bed and sat on its edge. The soft mattress sank under her weight without a sound. The fire popped. Edmund shifted closer to her, bringing up a knee to rest his elbow. She was looking at her lap, too nervous to even look at him. He rested a hand softly on her right shoulder. His thumb smoothed a circle in the thin material of the shift.

Her breathing slowed. He kissed her nearest shoulder, lingering until the warmth of his lips and breath melted through the fabric. Tingles radiated to her heart and sped it up. She looked at him and their eyes met. His Adam's Apple bobbed. Her lips parted. He pulled her into a kiss and the night began.

AN: I really hope I didn't offend anyone there...I was iffy what rating to give this story b/c of this scene...but hey! They are married! lol