--Chapter 6: Fio--

King Lune received the news about his son remarkably well. Of course, I realized afterward, this must have been because Corin did things like breaking his arm all the time so it was no significant incident, an idea that made me pity the good King of Archenland. Something else that surprised me was that Lune refused to allow Lucy to give Corin a drop of her cordial to heal his arm. (It was a clean break, and the cordial would very likely have worked.) He said something or other about it 'not being that grievous a wound' and that if Corin kept getting into scrapes, he would have to suffer the full consequences.

The next day I was strangely restless. Peter said I was too snappy to handle our guests, and to my dismay, both my sisters agreed with him. A peaceful nap under the apple trees held no allure for me this morning, though. It was just another way in which Corin had caused trouble for me. Even though he was ill, I was rather annoyed with him.

Perhaps a bit worried too, but more annoyed.

I needn't have been. After about an hour of restlessly pacing the length of the Apple Orchard, I heard shouts from the East Balcony, the one that looks over the sea. Fearing the worst, I took off in that direction, wondering anxiously if Corin could still box and defeat boys his own age—with a broken arm. But when I reached the balcony, I realized, to my ultimate relief, that the sounds were not shouts and cries of pain, but laughter; merry laughter.

Corin stood on the East side of the balcony, so close the sea he could have jumped into its briny depths. He was laughing at a person who was standing just a bit closer inland, a person who had one foot on a barrel, whose back was turned toward me, and who seemed to be saying something to Corin.

As I approached, the lad's bright merry eyes strayed away from the figure. When he saw who I was, his face lit up with a cheery grin not unlike Lucy's, and he rushed forward, nearly tackling me with a warm embrace.

"It's you!" he said, pulling back and allowing me the chance to look him over. "I've been wondering where you were."

He was dressed in the same tunic he had been wearing the day before, or at least a similar one. His arm was still wrapped up tightly with the splint and hung from a sling made of white cloth by his right side. He had a slight bruise on his cheek, most likely from the fight.

I gave the boy a dry smile and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Where have I been? I've been worrying about you all morning in that dreary apple orchard. How long have you been conscious and up?"

"Since this morning, of course," Corin retorted with a glint of mischief. "What's the fun of lying around in bed all day?"

"Your father knows that you're up?"

Corin gave me a curious look, and then looked away.

"I felt better this morning, and he said I was probably all right."

I watched him in silence for a moment. Was he telling the truth? His reluctance to meet my gaze told me not. Before I could remark on this, however, Corin turned back to face the other person.

"Come on. There's someone you need to meet. Her name's Fio, she's a gypsy, and she can juggle; she has three balls and she says she's going to teach me and I can already juggle two at the same time and I only learned this morning."

"Should you really be juggling with a broken arm?" I asked skeptically.

Corin grinned impishly, and I knew that whether he should or shouldn't, it didn't matter because he already had.

A dark shape moved slowly out of the shadows of the balcony. The figure was dressed in mostly dark colors; a dark leather vest on top of a purple blouse completed her top, and, to my surprise, long dark trousers stretched down to meet floppy old boots that must've seen better days. The trousers surprised me because most of the women and girls in Narnia and Archenland—and even Calormen—chose to wear skirts and dresses.

Her hair was pleated in two glossy, dark braids that fell past her shoulders. Covering the rest of her hair was a dark red scarf. A small, circular earring dangled from her right ear.

The girl stepped forward with one hand extended.

"King Edmund, I presume," she said, her voice as rich and enchanting as her dark, dark eyes. "You are a friend of Prince Corin's?"

I glanced over her strange garb again and then took her hand and kissed it politely, bowing slightly in greeting.

"I am. Or rather Corin is a friend of mine."

The girl smiled so that all her white teeth showed. Her face was sun tanned, though not as dark as a Calormene. Her features were delicate, if rather sharp, but mainly it was her eyes that made you look twice. Large, dark eyes that seemed to be shadows themselves, though if you looked hard enough, you could see mischief sparkling in them that was very similar to Corin's.

"My name is Fiona, but everyone calls me 'Fio'," the girl explained, glancing at Corin quickly. "My Uncle's caravan is visiting from Terabinthia. He is of a noble house and brought letters of introduction from the Duke to your High King."

I nodded, my qualms soothed for the moment. She was Terabinthian, not Calormene. Dark or tanned skin ran in the blood of both races, though Terabinthians were usually lighter of skin and sharper of feature, as proved true on Fiona.

"Welcome to Cair Paravel, my lady," I remarked, stifling a sigh at how familiar that phrase was becoming. "I hope you are enjoying your stay at present?"

The girl watched me with an amused look, as if she could read how annoyed I was at having so many visitors, and then glanced off at the sea.

"Tis truly a magnificent place, but," she cast a sly look at me, "have you any idea how dreary it can be here when one is alone, King Edmund?"

I raised an eyebrow and opened my mouth to reply that I didn't know what in Narnia she meant, but then happened to glance down at Corin. I remembered the morning's restless pacing, and suddenly changed my mind.

"It can be a bit boring without someone to liven things up," I replied, tousling the prince's fair hair and leaning back against the banister. "How did you arrive from Terabinthia, milady?"

Fio gave me strange look.

"How else than by ship, your highness. And, if you please, call me Fio; not 'milady'. I detest formality."

I grinned at her, and then inclined my head to one side.

"Then I am Edmund, and not 'your highness'."

The girl nodded in agreement with a rather roguish grin, and Corin gave both of us an impatient smile.

"Now that we're through with introductions, will you juggle again, Fio?"

The gypsy girl nodded. She cast a quick look at her hands, and then carefully tossed a bright red juggling ball into the air. The first ball was followed by two more, until Fio was expertly juggling the three balls that seemed to leap from hand to hand. I watched with interest; this was one skill I had not even tried to learn, as I was not terribly clever with my hands. Unfortunately, Corin noticed the look on my face, and gave the gypsy girl an excited smile.

"Do you think you can teach Edmund how to juggle?"

The girl's eyes sparkled impishly, and she turned toward me, catching all the balls slowly and holding them out.

"Um…no thanks," I murmured, backing away slowly. "I'd really rather not—"

"Oh come on, Ed," Corin said, stepping behind me and pushing me forward. "Just try it!"

I gave the red balls another look, and then shook my head warily.

"Corin, I'd really rather not!"

Corin stood on his tip toes and gazed up at me with that blasted incorrigible grin of his and said:

"You're not afraid to try, are you?"

My eyes narrowed out of habit, and I gave the boy a glare, though inwardly I was sighing wearily. Of course he had to use that line in front of a girl. A girl who now watched with dark eyes glinting with the same mischief that was in Corin's blue ones.

I sighed and threw up my hands. How could I refuse?

"Give me the little buggers," I ordered, reaching for the juggling balls. "I'll have you know that I have juggled before, Corin. Actually, Su can juggle better than any of us. She's tried to teach us on occasion."

"Queen Susan?"

The look of disbelief in the lad's face made me want to laugh. He obviously couldn't imagine my majestic, stately sister doing such a playful thing as juggling. But I could. And I had purposefully neglected to tell the prince that whenever Susan had tried to teach us to juggle, she always quit out of exasperation when it reached my turn. Because when I threw the balls up into the air, they usually came down and landed everywhere except in my hands.

Fio handed me two red orbs, but withheld the third.

"You should begin with two," she told me, expression a bit sterner now that she was teaching me something. "Are you right handed?"

"Left."

"Then put the first ball in your left hand and the second in your right. Now, throw the ball up with your left hand, and switch your right hand ball under to your left hand."

I performed the action rather clumsily, but fairly well considering I had never even gotten that far before. Fio watched me approvingly.

"Right. Now do it again, and keep going if you can."

In fifteen minutes, I was able to slowly juggle two balls from hand to hand. Then Corin decided that it was too easy for me.

"Make him do it with three balls," he begged, hopping up and down as he watched me squirm.

"Hey…" I caught the two balls that had been in the air and turned to him angrily. "Look, your highness. I've done what you wanted—I juggled. Now isn't that enough?"

Corin gave me a pleading look, and then smiled slowly.

"But you were having fun, weren't you?"

It was true. I thought about it for a moment. I was having fun. Fio was a good teacher, and I had learned more easily from her than I had from Susan. Perhaps it was because Fio wasn't a bossy older sister. Corin's eyes sparkled merrily, and he added:

"Besides…I want to see you make a mistake for once."

Fio shrugged, tossing me the third ball.

"It's only fair. Corin messed up quite a bit when he was learning."

"Well Corin isn't the King of Narnia, is he?"

The words were out before I could stop them. A moment later, a dark expression crossed Fio's face, and her eyes lost some of their luster.

"My apologies, your Majesty," she remarked, putting an emphasis on my title. "I didn't realize that royal persons weren't allowed to make mistakes. I suppose that's just another way you're better than the rest of us."

She grabbed for the juggling balls, but I managed to keep hold of them, stumbling back in astonishment.

"Wait. I didn't mean it, Fio; I'm sorry."

As I heard the plea, I realized that I sounded like a child again. So much for being a 'great King of Narnia' who doesn't make mistakes.

"It's not that we don't make mistakes…" I dodged a grab at the balls and spun away, tossing two of them to Corin.

He promptly handed them to Fio.

Traitor.

I gave him a quick glare, but then focused my attention on the angry gypsy girl who was rapidly approaching. Somehow, something told me that keeping her ball from her wasn't helping. I held it out to her reluctantly. Instantly she pounced forward and snatched it away, stowing it in her pocket with her other juggling balls.

"Please don't, go, milady," I pleaded, stepping forward and putting a hand on her arm. "I didn't mean to say it. And I didn't mean it either. I just…"

To my relief, Fio stopped and was watching me with sharp eyes. At last, she raised an eyebrow, and then nodded slowly.

"I'll stay…as long as you try to juggle with three balls."

I groaned and nodded wearily. Who did I think I was, trying to go up against masterminds like Fio and Corin? I grabbed the juggling balls, and tossed all three of them in the air at once. As expected, they all fell down at once, missing my hands completely. One of them hit Corin in the head.

"There. I told you I was no good with three."

There was silence for a moment. Then Corin burst out laughing, and I began to grin. Fio soon joined our laugher, and the tension was past—gone like it had never existed.

TBC....