Caspian walked through the Armoury and unlocked the Weapons Chamber with his keys. As he placed the Dirk back in its case, he let the keys slip through his fingers and felt each familiar groove in the metal.

Lord Scythley had always remonstrated him for taking the Dirk out and about with him but he had liked to have it with him. It gave him a little sense of security to have it on him since he knew then that it would never fall into his uncle's possession.

As he shut the display case, his mind turned to Isadora. There were many things he had never told her about her father and he probably would never tell her. She had an idea of Miraz in her head and, however much it differed from how the man truly had been, Caspian did not want to spoil that for her.

He turned away from the Dirk's display case and smiled as he saw Aslan. The Great Lion had appeared in the room as silently as a whisper and was now lying down across the centre of the room.

"This room is haunted by ghosts," He noted. "The Weapons cry out for their missing brothers."

"That may be so but some are long gone," Caspian said, walking the few steps between himself and the Lion. "The Seven Swords have no doubt vanished beneath the ocean's waves."

"There are more cases empty than a mere seven," Aslan pointed out, His amber eyes shifting to the three that had always been empty.

Caspian paused in front of them. Now, if only Isadora was here since she would have been able to rattle them off at breakneck speed.

"Yes," he said slowly. "The Pikes of the Scholars and Merchants, and the Axe of the Desert Dunes… but they have always been lost, as far as I am aware. I am pretty certain I remember Dr Cornelius telling us in lessons that they were lost even before we left Telmar."

"They exist still, my son, and they should be found and brought here to sleep with their brothers," Aslan said to him.

Caspian paused. "Why, Lord?" he asked. "Surely these are symbols of the old Telmarine world and not the new one we seek to create?"

"Yes they are, but they offer the perfect opportunity to bring the Narnians into the Telmarine world as much as the Telmarines are being brought into the Narnian," He explained. "You will not be able to bring them together unless they understand each other."

The new King considered this. "You are right, of course. As soon as peace is established in Narnia, I will find the other Weapons and I will find the Seven Missing Lords," he promised.


Caspian opened his eyes. He was still in his sitting room, curled up on the sofa beside a sleeping Isadora. They must have both fallen asleep in here after she came in last night.

His muscles ached from the night spent in the uncomfortable position so he carefully stood and stretched. As he wandered across to a jug of water to pour himself a cup, his mind turned to the dream he had just had.

That conversation had indeed taken place; the morning after his coronation and before the Kings and Queens of Old had departed. Except that particular conversation had been more focused on his coming reign. The Missing Lords had been mentioned but not the Weapons. Aslan had merely advised that their knowledge and experience would be beneficial to them and he had made a promise to seek them out.

He wondered why his dream revisitation of that memory now put emphasis on the Weapons.

Isadora stirred behind him and he turned with a smile. She looked up at him groggily and stretched her back and arms.

"Damn," she muttered. "I didn't mean to fall asleep up here."

She stood and stretched again.

"Don't feel like you have to leave. I can call for some breakfast," he said to her.

She sighed and dragged a hand across her eyes.

"I'd love to, but I have to go and meet my new maid," she said. "She's probably here already; she's very... enthusiastic."

She made a small face and trailed out of the room.

Hywel appeared with Caspian's breakfast and set it out on a small table as the King slipped into his bedchamber to change his clothes.

"Good morning, your Majesty," the faun said as he re-entered the room. "Breakfast today is scrambled egg on toast and a selection of fresh fruits."

"Thank you, Hywel, please pass on my thanks to the kitchen staff," he said as he sat down. "Any luck on finding me a valet and a page? I would rather not occupy your time with jobs that aren't yours to do in the first place."

The faun gave a little bobbing bow. "I have found a number of suitable young gentleman," he said. "I will be conducting interviews shortly. And it is a pleasure to serve, your Majesty. I take great pride in my work."

"Good to know. I appreciate it," Caspian said.

Hywel bowed again, a small smile on his face.

"Anything else, sire?"

"Yes, actually," Caspian said as he shook out his napkin. "Can you please pass on a message for me? I'd like to speak to Glenstorm, Trumpkin, and Reepicheep as soon as possible."

"Certainly, sire."


The chosen three were soon gathered in the Great Hall.

"Good morning, gents," Caspian said as he ducked through one of the side doors.

"You coulda picked a better meeting place," Trumpkin noted, staring round at the Lords' seats. Caspian winced, remembering the dwarf recounting how he had been humiliated by Miraz in front of the old Council.

"Apologies, I should have thought," he said. "We can go somewhere else if you would prefer."

Trumpkin grinned. "No, lad. If I'm here for any length of time then I need to get used to being in here. What's passed has passed."

"Indeed," Caspian said, crossing over to them, "and I am here to try to rectify some of what has passed. The three of you served me well during my bid to claim my throne and, in gratitude, I wish to offer the three of you seats upon the Council and the right to bear one of the Telmarine Weapons of Old."

They all looked at each other in surprise and then Reepicheep laughed airily.

"I think I am going to have to decline, sire," he said. "I may be chief of our little mouse clan but I have never seen myself as a lord amongst men."

"I certainly can," Trumpkin said drily. Glenstorm merely smiled.

"Is there another way I can repay you?" Caspian asked the Mouse.

"Yesterday, I did happen to hear dear Hywel saying that there was a need for a new Captain of the Guards," he replied. "I think both myself and my people would be well-suited to the task of keeping your castle safe."

"An excellent idea," Caspian agreed. "We shall make the arrangements as soon as possible."

He looked at Glenstorm, worried that he too would refuse. In both the War of Deliverance and the War with the Giants, the young kin had come to rely on the quiet, stoic advice of the centaur. All the Narnians listened to him and even the Telmarines were beginning to fall silent when he moved to speak. Although Narnia was no longer at war, Caspian was secretly terrified that the general was going to return to the centaur herds.

However, the centaur graciously bowed his head. "Thank you, sire. I am honoured to be chosen," he said.

"Excellent," Caspian said with a sigh of relief. "I'll inform Dr Cornelius immediately and you can take your oaths of lordship as soon as possible."

"Lord Trumpkin," the dwarf sniggered on his way out of the hall. "Lord Trumpkin. How do you do, Njáll? I am Lord Trumpkin."

Caspian grinned and set off to find Dr Cornelius. He already had a mind to which of the holds he wanted to give Trumpkin and Glenstorm; Highpeak and Rosecliff respectively. From what he had learned of the Narnians in the past few months, Highpeak was the closest village to the secret city of the dwarves and Rosecliff lay near one of the centaurs' main grazing grounds.. Both seemed appropriate and both were in need of new lords.

He passed into the corridor of the lords' offices. Cornelius' lay a few floors above but this was the quickest way to reach it. He paused for a moment by the room now occupied by Isadora.

His cousin was sitting on the floor between an almanac and a map of Meadowholt and Langthwaite, making little marks on the parchment. She looked up as he stepped in and rubbed her eyes.

"Be glad that Beaversdam is a city," she said. "I cannot make heads not tails of these bloody crop rotations."

"Hmm, well I'm sure there is someone you can ask," he said.

"Yes, and he went to the Old Country with my mother," she sighed. "And speaking of Meadowholt and all things related; I want to change my surname."

He hesitated and then lent against the doorframe, folding his arms. "Why?" he asked.

She shared the same surname as he did, obviously; that of the Royal House of Orellana. Their family had held that name for generations, maybe even all the way back to when they first came to Telmar. If there was such a thing as absolute power then Orellana represented that. That one family had always held on to their throne, all throughout history.

"I don't want to change it completely," Isadora assured Caspian now. "I just want to add Scythley on to the end. So, I'd be Isadora Orellana-Scythley. I'm the Lady of the Bow now – I don't want to just completely abandon the legacy of my grandfather's family. Besides, I feel like I am going to have a little more authority in Meadowholt if I have the weight of Grandfather's name behind me in addition to the royal name."

"I don't think you are going to have any problems," he said.

"No woman has held a lordship for generations," she argued back. "Not to mention that I am named after the most powerful woman in our history. I feel like everyone is looking at me to fail."

"No-one is, Dor," he said. "If you want to change your name then I won't stop you."

She smiled up at him.

"Lunch, my lady!" a breezy voice called. Isadora's smile froze onto her face and one of her eyes twitched slightly.

A lithe figure dressed in green skipped past Caspian into the room and laid a tray down on Isadora's desk.

"Tomato soup!" the girl announced happily. "And I've moved all your clothes to your new rooms and organised them by cut and colour! You do like red, don't you?"

She turned around and stopped dead when she saw Caspian. Her mouth fell open and a light pink blush appeared across her cheeks.

"Cloe, I believe you recognise my royal cousin, His Majesty Caspian X," Isadora said from her position on the floor. "Cas, this is my new handmaiden, Cloe. She's a half-dryad."

"How do you do?" Caspian said to the girl. She blinked prettily and then fled in a trail of flowers.

"Was it something I said?" the confused king asked Isadora. She stared up at him with delight shining in her eyes.

"By the Eagle, you made her quiet," she said in a rapturous voice. "Don't get me wrong, she's lovely, but she never shuts up!"

He laughed and moved forward into the room to help her. Even crop rotations seemed like an interesting distraction from other things. Everything was slowly beginning to straighten out and the future seemed good, for now.


Emphasis on the "for now", mwahaha.

This chapter marks the beginning of a small but significant change. Ashes was predominantly centred around Isadora but now the story has a chance to fully unfold and expand. Not everything that will be going on will involve Dor so those chapters will either barely feature her, as here, or won't feature her at all.

Thank you to TortoisetheStoryteller, Wildhorses1492, GurlNextDoor447, and the guest! And to the guest, Flames will definitely feature the Voyage of the Dawn Treader at some point, which means the return of Edmund and Lucy! :D

As always, leave me a review and I will see you next chapter.