Author's note: I still don't own anything about Narnia, no matter how much I wish I did. I'm going to apologize ahead of time and just say I'm sorry for ending the chapters in such weird places. It's hard to keep things interesting during filler chapters, but I also want to maintain a decent length, instead of having a close to 6,000 or 7,000 word chapter. So if it seems the chapter is cut off at a weird place I'm sorry about that, it will be fixed soon. Anyways, onto the chapter!

"Rise, Kings and Queens of Narnia."

I took a deep breath and stayed down as I watched Susan, Edmund, and Peter get to their feet.

"All of you," his deep, wonderful voice stated.

I looked up just a tad to peek at Caspian. He had remained kneeling and was now looking at Alsan with both fear and reluctance and confusion and so many more emotions. "I do not think I am ready," he confessed, looking down again.

"It is for that very reason that I know you are."

Slowly, Caspian stood, acceptance slowly dawning on his face. He was going to be a king. Aslan turned his eyes on me, and I quickly looked down again, so as not to disrespect him.

"My dear Christina," the deep rumble said.

I glanced up to see everyone looking at me.

"You have a question for me." It was a statement, not a question.

I nodded, waiting for his approval to ask. He looked at me for a moment, which I took as the go ahead signal.

"Why am I here?"

"That you must answer in your own time," he told me.

I sighed, somehow knowing that something cryptic would be the answer.

"You have more questions for me?" this was a question.

Again, I nodded. "We will discuss things at another time," he stated as what sounded like a funeral song met my ears. I opened my eyes and stood up, watching as a small group of mice carried Reepicheep on what looked to be a mini stretcher forward and laid him at Aslan's feet.

Worry overcame me as I looked at my small mouse friend. He appeared to be dead.

Please don't be dead.

Lucy knelt down beside the mouse and let a small drop from her little vial fall into his mouth. A few seconds later the mouse coughed and gasped, but his eyes opened nonetheless. A small smile stretched onto my lips.

He sat up slowly, still very disoriented. "Oh, thank you….your majesty," he gasped.

Another mouse helped him stand up. I could have almost laughed when I saw the look on Reepicheep's face when he first saw Aslan. "Oh hail Aslan!" he gasped, "It is a great honor to be-" he went to bow forward, but he fell, looking as though he were drunk.

Then I noticed it, at the same time he did. Poor Reepicheep was missing his tail!

He quickly covered up the tiny little stub that was left and backed away from Aslan, looking extremely embarrassed. "I am completely out of countenance. I must crave your indulgence for appearing in this unseemly fashion."

He leaned toward lucy, looking up at her hopefully. "Perhaps a drop more?"

She looked sad as she answered "I don't think it does that." He didn't seem too phased by that. "You can have a go." They way he said that made him sound almost drunk, it made me want to giggle. Of course I didn't though.

Apparently, Aslan was having the same thoughts as I was, because he chuckled just a bit.

"It becomes you well, small one."

"All the same, Great King. I regret that I must withdraw" at this he unsheathed his sword and offered it up to Aslan. "For a tail is the honor and glory of a mouse."

"Perhaps you think too much of your honor, friend."

I smiled. He was completely right. Everyone knew this. Reepicheep stumbled, searching for something to say next. "well- i-it's not just the honor. It's also great for balance! And climbing, and grabbing things."

"may it please your high majesty," another mouse spoke, "We will not bear the shame of wearing an honor denied to our chief." He unsheathed his sword and held it against his tail, prepared to cut it off. The other mice did the same.

"Not for the sake of your dignity, but for the love of your people."

My eyes widened and I had to blink several times to make sure I wasn't seeing things. But it was there! Reepicheep had grown a new tail. "OH! Look! Thank you. Thank you, my liege. I will treasure it always! From this day forward it will serve as a great reminder of my huge militant!"

At this I could not help but giggle quietly.

"Now, where is this dear little friend you've told me so much about?"

I followed Lucy's line of vision to where trumpkin was standing by the water, monitoring Telmarines. When he heard the words Dear Little Friend he looked up at the great lion frightfully. Then he slowly walked forward and kneeled in front of Aslan.

Aslan let out a loud and intimidating roar that made both me and Trumpkin jump.

"Do you see him now?" lucy asked with a large smile on her face.

Trumpkin blushed and rolled his eyes, nodding his head.

"Come, children, we must leave soon. We have a coronation to plan."

"You look beautiful!" Susan and Lucy both cheered.

I looked down at the dress they had given me. Sure, it was very pretty, and it fit very nicely, but it just felt so wrong. I didn't wear dresses….ever. Especially not such beautiful, fancy dresses such as the one Susan had just forced me to put on.

"Why can't I just borrow another shirt and some pants from Edmund?" I questioned as they began to brush my hair. Today was the day we would arrive back in Telmar, and the girls knew there would be a parade waiting for us when we returned, so they thought I would need to look my best.

"Because, you got blood on the other clothes he gave you. Besides, even Edmund's dressing up for this. You have to do so as well," Lucy answered, braiding two pieces of my hair and pinning them back behind my head.

"Guys I really don't like this. I would much rather have pants on." I whined.

"Your majesties, it's time to go," Mel popped her head into the tent, smiling, then left.

Lucy clapped her hands together and took my hand. "You go ahead Susan, we'll be there in a moment," she told her older sister, who left the tent.

Then Lucy turned to me, smiling mischievously and leaning in to whisper something in my ear, like she was about to tell me some huge scandal that only she knew about. Knowing Lucy, that may very well be the case.

"Caspian will love you in this dress," she whispered to me, smiling.

"What?"

She laughed and put her hands on her hips, looking at me as if I were being so silly. "Christina, I'm not that stupid. I see the way you look at him. And I also see the way he looks at you," she told me, matter of factly.

"Lucy, Caspian likes Susan, not me."

"I wouldn't be so sure!" she called, skipping out the door.

Sighing, I exited the tent, trying to look as graceful as I could in such a long skirt. I was so focused on my feet that after only a few seconds of walking I bumped into someone. Looking up, a blush heated up my cheeks as I met the deep brown eyes of Caspian.

My blush got darker as I realized how close we were, and that if his hands hadn't grabbed me I probably would have fallen.

After a moment of staring I blushed yet again and stepped away, smoothing out my dress.

"So, Queen Susan is making you dress up?" he asked, smiling just a bit.

A small smile found its way to my lips as well as I glanced up at him then back down to my feet.

I fiddled with part of my sleeve. "Um, yeah." I didn't want to look up and see what he thought of my dress. He was probably holding in his laughter as we spoke. "Well, you look very nice," he complimented.

My head snapped up.

He smiled at me once more before walking off to where Peter and Edmund stood. He spoke with them for a few seconds, and then Edmund parted from the group and walked toward me with a smile on his face.

"You look beautiful," he whispered in my ear, hugging me gingerly.

"You clean up pretty well yourself," I teased, motioning to his clothes. "So you ready to meet the Telmarines?" I shook my head and bit my lip, something I had been doing quite often recently. "If they're anything like the ones we saw two days ago, then no thank you. I'd much rather stay here."

He chuckled. "They won't be, I promise."

Soon, Peter called for everyone to get into a procession behind him and the other Royals. Edmund helped me onto Mel's back, and both of them told me I had to ride side saddle, which was twenty times harder than normal horse riding (which I still hadn't mastered) and twenty zillion times harder with no saddle.

We walked for what seemed like hours before arriving at a beautiful castle that towered over the trees.

The gates opened and I could hear cheering. My heart pounded. There were going to be so many people looking at me! I didn't want people to look at me!

We got nearer and nearer to the crowd until we were actually walking through the people to get to the inside of the castle. Everyone else in the party was smiling and waving, even Mel. So I just flashed a fake smile and lifted up my hand in a stiff greeting every now and then.

Finally we arrived in the castle, and Mel, as well as many of the other narnians were led off by some servants and tended too. But no, I wasn't allowed to go to a room, wash up and have some much needed sleep. Oh no, I'm not that lucky.

Instead, as soon as we entered the grand hall of the castle, Caspian grabbed hold of my arm and led me through many corridors until we stopped at some room. Caspian knocked once before the door was opened to reveal a middle aged tan woman.

"Prince Caspian, how good it is that you've come back!" she cried, hugging him.

He chuckled and hugged her back for a moment before pulling away and looking at me.

"This girl was injured during battle, and we need to make sure that she is going to heal properly," he told her. She nodded, taking my hand and leading me inside this room, which now looked to be like the infirmary.

"Where is your injury, my dear?"

I pointed to my stomach, glancing at Caspian out of the corner of my eye.

"Well, I'll need to see it…" she trailed off and both of us looked at the one male in the room.

"Oh, right!" he jumped up, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Well, I guess I will wait outside." He looked at me for a few more seconds, and then quickly exited the room. I watched him leave, wishing that he wouldn't leave me alone with this stranger, but also not wanting to lift my dress up or even take it off in front of him.

"Alright, dear, let's have a look at that injury."

She had me lie down on a small cot and lift up my dress. Then she unwrapped the bandages to see how bad it was. "Oh my," she muttered, staring at it for a few seconds. I was too afraid to look at it. What if it had gotten worse since the last time I saw it?

"That is a large wound, Miss…" she trailed off, looking at me.

"Christina."

"Well, Miss Christina, I am amazed that you are in no pain at the moment. That cut is very deep and very wide." Then she turned and began shuffling around in the room for a minute, and when she turned around she had a huge needle and what looked to be some string.

"It's going to need stitches."

My eyes widened and I sat up quickly, flinching at the pain that appeared in my gut at the sudden movement. My breath became short and my heart rate picked up. No, I was definitely not going to get stitches. Never.

"No," I shook my head and stood up, pulling my dress back down.

"Miss Christina, you need them," she argued, taking a step toward me. I shook my head again, feeling tears prick at my eyes once more and I quickly moved to the door, flinging it open and running into a flustered Caspian.