Hi there, and welcome back. I'm so glad you've decided to continue our voyage together. This story will be told from various points of view. I will give a line break each time the POV changes, and so far I only have the context clues to cue you in on who's POV it is. Please let me know if you would rather I just tell you at the beginning of the POV change who's "speaking"

As far as character depictions, for the Pevensies (and Mr. Tumnus) I am going with the movie versions. i.e. William, Anna, Skandar, Georgie, and James McAvoy for Mr. Tumnus. The only exception to these looks is Georgie's hair. For this story I'm imagining it with more of a golden blond hue, as though it grew lighter in color rather than darker. And for our female protagonist, Aaralynn, I have Hayley Westenra portraying her in the banner; she also serves as the inspiration behind Aaralynn's voice.

In case you missed it at the end of the last chapter, Edmund is 19 and Lucy is 17. For the purpose of this story I have their birth months as January and April, respectively. This story begins early to mid-May.

The Water is Wide

Chapter 2

Debris

I stood on the forecastle at the prow. My hair, once a light brown but after years under the Narnian sun it now held a golden hue, flowed gently in the wind. The wind was blowing neither too light nor too rough, and we moved at a steady pace. I breathed in deep the clean and refreshing air. There was nothing quite like the air after a storm. I found that the stronger the storm the sweeter the air afterwards, and what a storm we had just faced. I had never seen one like it before. It came on suddenly and it was fierce. I'm not too ashamed to admit that I was a bit frightened, but I never worried about our outcome; I knew Aslan would take care of us. He never gives us anything we cannot handle. I opened my eyes as I felt a presence move beside me.

"Good morning, my sister."

"Morning, Ed? I would say it is closer to high noon than morning," I replied.

"I think we all deserved a good rest after that beast a week ago."

"Edmund, it has only been three days since the storm."

"That is true, Lucy, but I was referring to our beast of a visit to Tashbaan."

I laughed softly. "Oh? The first daughter of the Tarkaan seemed sweet enough, and she was pretty…I suppose."

Edmund simply gave me a look that said he disagreed. "She was sweet, Sister, too sweet, if you understand my meaning."

Unfortunately I did. "She did seem to be trying awfully hard to please you. Perhaps you will find the fair maidens of the Redhaven court to be more suitable to your liking."

It was Edmund's turn to laugh. "I believe, Sister, that I will have better fortune to find a maiden in the middle of this vast sea than in any royal court."

"Then perhaps I should try speaking to one of the Narnian Mermaids on your behalf," I teased.

"I do love to hear them sing."

Edmund went on to explain why he would never fancy any woman of the court. It all had to do with him never finding them to be real women, something about them never having to lift a finger in chore, or something like that. I don't know. I'd heard it all before, but I never really paid that much attention to it anymore, and I wasn't paying attention to him now. Rather, there was something adrift at sea that held my attention. It looked to be rather large, though I couldn't make out what it was. It bobbed steadily over the waves.

"Lucy? Lucy, are you even listening to me? Lucy?"

"What?" I asked, not looking at Edmund.

"Did you hear anything I just said?" he asked.

I finally turned my puzzled eyes to him. "No," I replied honestly. "Edmund, what is that?" I asked directing his attention to the thing adrift.

Edmund sighed but followed my line of vision. "A piece of debris."

"Well thank you, Your Royal Highness, for that astute observation. What sort of debris? Do you not have your spyglass on you?"

"Yes, dear sister," Edmund replied before pulling out his spyglass from his breast pocket. He opened it and directed it in the direction of the debris before studying it more carefully. "Yes. It is just as I suspected. It is a piece of wooden debris, probably from some unfortunate vessel who…" He stopped suddenly.

"What? What is it, Edmund?" I asked, but he didn't respond; he just continued to look through his spyglass before closing it suddenly and turning to face the crew.

"Captain! Two clicks to starboard and furl the sails! Make ready the long boat and make way for a visitor!" Edmund ordered. Our captain and crew immediately began carrying out his orders, but my focus remained on my brother.

"Edmund, what is it? What's going on?"

"It's not just a piece of debris, Sister. There is someone on it."

I stood by the starboard rail watching as my brother led the longboat towards the floating debris. We were much closer to it now and I could see clearly that it was indeed from a ship and that a girl lay on top of it; she appeared to be sleeping. At least, I prayed she was only sleeping. As the longboat neared the debris, Edmund stood gently and removed his coat, his sword, and his boots; another sailor, Aiden, did the same, then Edmund and Aiden jumped into the water. After some time, they managed to move the still sleeping girl into the longboat, and the longboat began its return.

The water was crisp and cool, the sort of water that was refreshing at first but then grew cold the longer you stayed in. I wasted no time in swimming to the floating ship debris and heaving myself up as well as I could without throwing the girl into the water; Aiden swam to the other side of the debris and held it down as I did. The first thing I noticed was how young the girl was. When I had first spotted her floating on the debris, I couldn't even be sure it was a she, but now I knew she couldn't be much older than Lucy and certainly not as old as Peter or Susan.

I quickly placed my fingers to the side of her throat and applied a gentle pressure checking for a pulse. I felt nothing. I moved my hand to her wrist and did the same, but again I didn't feel anything. Oh, please Aslan, don't let her be dead. I prayed silently. I kept one hand on her wrist and moved the other to just under her nose. There! The faintest bit of breath touched the back of my hand.

"She's alive, but just," I said to Aiden. "Help me get her into the longboat."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Together we managed to carefully maneuver her into the longboat. She never stirred in the slightest as we rowed back to the ship. Looking down at her as she lay on the bench, I felt my pulse begin to race. Her face was shrunken and pale, albeit a bit tinted in red from the bright sun. Her lips were cracked and her eyelids dark. There was a gash along her right temple caked in dried blood; I could only assume it was her own. I prayed silently to Aslan as we rowed that she would come through this, that somehow she would wake. I could not believe that Aslan would have us find her only to have her die while in our care.

When we reached the ship it became clear that we would not be able to climb the ladder and carry her. Instead I had them fasten a plank of wood to two ropes, one at either end, and lower it to the longboat. I sat on the plank and held the girl in my arms as the crew pulled us up. Once on deck, Lucy directed us to her cabin and I lay the girl gently down on the bed. A young Faun by the name of Salinus, who was adept in various healing methods, quickly began attending to her. Lucy stood by me, nervous and anxious.

"Oh, if only I had my cordial with me," she whispered softly. "If Peter weren't so stubborn and didn't insist that I not carry it causally…"

"Do not be harsh, Sister. If Peter weren't so stubborn, he would not be our Brother."

"Do you think she'll be all right, Edmund?" Lucy asked with wide, teary eyes.

"We must believe it, Lu. Why would Aslan send us to her otherwise?"

Lucy nodded her head. "You're right. Of course, you are right."

At last Salinus stood and faced us. "She is alive, Your Majesties. And I believe she will live, but I cannot say when she will wake. She was dealt a great blow to the head, and she has sustained many injuries. It is likely her ship was damaged during the storm, but this could be the result of something else entirely. Without her account of what happened, I cannot fully assess her."

"Thank you Salinus," I said.

"We should search for her ship," Lucy said adamantly.

"Indeed we should, Sister. But without knowing where she was going or from whence she came, the search will be difficult."

"We must try."

I nodded in agreement and turned to the Captain. "Hold our position and send out some scouts. Have them begin the search in a circular radius from our current position."

"Yes, King Edmund. Should we also inform the Redhaven court of our delay?"

I thought about that for a moment before replying. "Not just yet. We do not yet know how long we may hold this position."

The Captain bowed before making his exit.

"Thank you, Edmund," Lucy replied.

"I would have done it regardless, Lucy."

"I know. You are a just man, Edmund." I smiled at her small quip; I never tired in hearing it from her. "I will stay with her," she continued. "You should go and change into something dry; we do not need you falling ill too."

"I will see what else I can do for a search. Will you inform me the moment she does wake?" I asked.

"Of course, Edmund."

I took one last look at the girl before walking out.

Thanks again! And as always, feel free to let me know what you think.