A/N: As always, some of the characters are owned by C.S. Lewis and Disney. Now onward and upward…

CHAPTER 5

The next morning, I wake up from the best sleep that I've had in a while. A lot happened yesterday, but I'm certain that I don't regret any of it. And I know that things will get better and easier with each passing day. I sit up on the uncomfortable cot and stretch since my neck is a little sore. I happen to catch a glimpse of my right hand. My ring finger is a little swollen and so is my palm, where a dark purple bruise is also beginning to show under my skin. It hurts to move my hand too much, but I know it will heal eventually. Some injuries are worth the pain. I look up when I hear Caspian's voice on the other side of the tent.

"Anna, are you awake?"

"Yes, come in!"

He opens the flap and comes inside, then sits on my cot.

"How are you today?" He asks sweetly.

"I'm great, except for…" then I hold up my hand, showing him the state of it.

He looks stunned. "Anna! What happened? I didn't know you were hurt!" He holds out his hand and he takes and cradles it, my palm facing up. He very gently takes his other hand and rubs his fingers so lightly over the skin that I can barely feel it. But I still get pleasant chills from his touch.

"Well, you know how I said that Stephen said some things that I wouldn't repeat? I kinda slapped him as hard as I could across his face in return."

He looks surprised but proud, and he looks back down at my hand. "That's my girl."

"I like the sound of that," I say.

He gets a huge smile on his face then brings up my hand, placing a tender kiss right on my palm.

"Oh, and thanks for letting me borrow Destrier by the way."

He smiles. "I know you like him the best. Since you ended up having to come here, I'm glad that I left him for you." He says, and then he gets up and starts towards the entrance of the tent.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"To get a wrap for you hand. I'll be right back. Don't miss me too much," he says, shooting me a radiant smile.

As promised, he returns in a few short minutes. I get out from under the covers and move to one end of the cot. He comes and sits right next to me, and we face each other, legs slightly touching. I rest my hand, palm up on his lap as I watch him unravel the wrap. I've never seen him do anything like this before, so I hope he knows what he's doing.

"Can you hold it up a little?" He asks. I hold up my arm in response. The beginning is a little tricky, as the fabric is really long and he has to wrap it starting at my wrist. I hold the edge down as he begins winding it around. After the first spin, I can let go, so I just lean back on my free arm and watch him. I watch his face, which is always adorable when he's concentrating.

"Ooooh! A doctor and a Prince! Very impressive…" I say, teasing him. He momentarily stops wrapping my hand and looks up at me with a face that makes my heart melt. He doesn't say anything and just goes back to focusing on my hand. He expertly wraps my wrist, hand and finger and secures it so it won't come undone.

I take back my hand and inspect his work, happy with the result. "Where did you learn how to do that? You did a really good job."

He smiles, "Thanks. I've seen my fair share of injuries on the training field. I've seen enough to pick it up along the way."

"Mmm. Well, you're pretty talented."

"You have no idea," he says and pulls me into a hug. My breath starts to quicken a little when he turns his head towards my neck and I can feel his lips brush along the sensitive skin. My right hand comes up on pure instinct and I caress the back of his neck, fingers playing with the hair on the bottom of his neckline. He pulls back too soon and I internally pout. Physically, I know that both of us want to take the next step, but he respects my wish to take things slow and heal emotionally from my relationship with Stephen.

"You want to get some breakfast? Then I can show you where we are going to rebuild the castle if you want."

I jump up, and he's taken aback from my sudden burst of energy. I grab his hand with my uninjured one and pull him outside, "Let's go!"

We quickly eat breakfast, and then start our walk to the cliffs. We walk in stride, hand in hand, with our conversation flowing freely as always. The closer we get, the trees start to thin out, and we start seeing faded, dilapidated pieces of stone laying aimlessly here and there amongst the greenery. We walk to the end, where it's safe to stand, although it is still a little scary to be fairly close to the edge. I run my hand along the cracks in the stone which now have green weeds sprouting up in them and I look out over the land in front of me. I've seen many beautiful places in Narnia, so natural and pure, completely wild and untouched. But here, even where there are remnants of a man-made castle that is in a state of decay, I know that this is without a doubt the most beautiful place that I have ever seen in our land. I take in the smell of the ocean breeze, drifting up from the white sands below. I look around and see nothing but the forest growing on the wild cliffs and the deep azure waters that glisten in the sun. Caspian drops my hand and sits on one of the large square chunks of stone in front of us, facing me. I have to close my jaw, which I hadn't even realized had dropped in awe of the raw beauty of this place.

"So, you like it?"

"That's an understatement. This is the most perfect place that I've ever seen!"

He smiles, looking over his shoulder at the water and cliffs below. "Me too. It makes the view from the Telmarine Castle seem repulsive." We sit in silence for several minutes, continuing to enjoy the breathtaking view. I sit down next to him, facing the other direction towards the water. Caspian finally breaks the silence. "I've decided. I'm going to have Cair Paravel rebuilt. It'll be tough to have it done in a year, but I know the Narnians will be excited enough to help us get it done. It'll be worth it."

"I can't wait to live here. It'll almost be too good to be true."

Caspian gets up, and holds his hand out to me. "Come on, I want to show you something else," he says, delight apparent in his eyes.

I clutch his hand and he leads me through the ruins to a rather steep area of the cliffs. I look down, seeing a very narrow pathway on the side of the cliff, and he sees the fear forming slowly on my face. "Ok, so it's a little dangerous, and we have to be careful. Just trust me. We'll go really slowly." I'm reluctant, but we carefully meander our way down the path, ending on the soft white sand on the beach. I've never felt sand this soft under my toes, so extremely fine and smooth. I follow him along the beach for a few minutes, and then we have to turn a corner along the narrowing edge where the side of the cliff meets the sand. My jaw drops again when I see what he brought me down here for. There is a gigantic hollowed out cove. It has to be at least a few hundred feet both tall and wide, and it's completely open to the beach on two sides. I've never seen anything like it. We look at each other, and then at the exact same time, we start sprinting towards it. It's about halfway filled with water, so I run close to him through the water, effectively splashing him. We laugh and play for a while, continuing to splash and chase each other. We don't go swimming, but we may as well have because we are practically soaked by the time we get tired. We finally sit side by side in the warm sand. I try to rub off some of the sand that's covering my arms and lower legs, but I'm so sticky that it doesn't really work.

"We have to do that every day when we live here," I say, giving up on the clinging sand. It's a hopeless cause.

"We're going to be in very good shape!"

We both laugh. "Oh, so I've been meaning to ask you…what's in that letter that you left for me on your desk?"

"Did you open it?" He asks, looking a little nervous.

"Of course not! I wanted to, but I didn't. I brought it with me though."

"In case something happened to me?"

"Yah. But let's not even talk about that. So can you tell me what you wrote?"

He turns to look at me. "I want to, but it's not the right time. I promise that I'll tell you in time though, ok?"

I wish he would tell me, but it's really up to him to decide the right time I suppose. "Ok. I might have to give the letter back to you. I'll probably open it if I don't."

He laughs at me.

"Hey! At least I'm honest. And now, I'm getting hungry. Can we head back to camp?"

"Of course," he says, helping me up. We go back to the water to rinse off as much sand as we can, then make our way back up the narrow pathway to the top of the cliffs. We make our way back to the camp and spend the rest of the day with each other and the soldiers.

The next morning, we wake at dawn to make our way back to the Telmarine castle. Like my travels on the way to Cair Paravel, it was a smooth trip. Only this time, I'm not scared, nervous, or apprehensive about anything. We make good time and end up back at the Telmarine castle by mid-morning on the fifth day. Caspian and I get to the stables first, since we were riding in front of the pack. We dismount at the same time and my foot gets caught in the stirrup. I lean back a little, trying to retain my balance, accidentally but not begrudgingly nudging Caspian with my back. He turns around, and then sees my predicament.

"Ha! Whoa there girl. Is this your first time riding a horse?"

"Hey! Be nice to a woman in distress!" He smiles, then comes right behind me and wraps his right arm around my waist to make sure I don't fall over. I know that he's trying to help, but all of my concentration just goes to his hand resting on my right hip.

"Do you want to stay there all day?"

"What?" I ask, confused. Then I see that he's trying to hold back a hook on the stirrup so I can maneuver my foot through. "Oh! Sorry!" I quickly remove my foot. "You know, you're quite a good rescuer," I say as I hand Destrier's reigns to one of the ranch hands.

"You know, if you keep this up, I'm going to think that you're doing it on purpose."

I laugh, "You know, Stephen said that to me once…" I stop talking the second I realize what I had just said. I smile sheepishly. "Sorry. That just kinda came out."

Caspian smiles reassuringly. "I told you, it's ok. He was a big part of your life."

We start to walk inside when we run into Molly.

"Anna! Caspian! Thank Aslan you're both alright!" She quickly hugs us both then turns to me. "So what happened out there? Stephen came back yesterday. He barely spoke at all, except that he told one of the servants that he was leaving and he won't be coming back. He must have meant it because we haven't seen him since."

Relief floods over me when I hear that he respected my request. I link my arm into hers, and then explain everything to her while we three walk to the Professor's study. Caspian and I both want to find out the whole story behind our trip. Molly leaves us by the Professor's door, satisfied with my explanation of events. We say goodbye then head into the room. The Professor is at his desk, right where we usually find him.

"Dr. Cornelius, we have returned!" Caspian says cheerfully.

"Hello dear ones. I am overjoyed that you have returned safely."

Caspian grabs chairs for us and sets them across from the Professor's desk.

"I feel like we're back in school," I say.

We all laugh. "Maybe you can start back again, try to get as smart as me," Caspian says. I scoff at him and ruffle his hair.

"I can see that nothing has changed," says the Professor, shaking his head. "So, I assume that you are here for some answers?" Caspian and I nod, waiting for him to continue. "Well, first let me start by explaining that everything will be fine with the Ethanites. When we first met with Acotas, I realized that several of the key leaders from their land were missing. That's highly unusual, especially to not have the Prince or even his steward in attendance. Now, I had also been hearing rumors over the past several months that there was unrest with the Ethanite leaders. I hadn't heard the exact details, but I knew that Acotas was somehow involved. Judging by the events that transpired right in front of us, it seems as though Acotas was intent on bargaining, sharing, or maybe even taking the land at Cair Paravel. The Prince of the Ethanites, who has been on good terms with the Telmarines, would never have wanted to sour our relationship. So, when we saw Acotas with so few men, I knew that he wasn't on official business. He only had his own concerns, and he did not come with the blessing of the Ethanites."

Caspian and I look at each other. "It does make sense," he says. I agree. "But why did you send for Anna? Why not just send for the extra troops?"

"That part of the plan came about from a conversation that I had in a vision from Aslan the night before we received word of the Ethanites at Cair Parvel. First, he told me how closely your two paths would cross," he says, pointing between the two of us. "Then he told me that something would happen, and you would need to be brought together, but he wouldn't tell me anything more specific than that. He told me that I would be able to help, and that I should trust my intuition. So when we received word about the Ethanites the very next day after I had the vision, I knew that was the significant event Aslan told me about. However, I didn't want to bring Anna until I knew a little more, as I wasn't sure what part she would play in all this. So Caspian, I brought you and of course Stephen, since he was ambassador. I then realized what I told you just now about Acotas and his plan. Thankfully, we were able to stall him until you came with more soldiers. Then the rest has fallen into place."

We sit for a moment, digesting the information. The professor speaks again, "Anna, do you know why Aslan wanted you there?"

"Well, I'm not sure, to be honest. I did break up with Stephen, though, because of what happened there. He hid behind me when a soldier came rushing at us. Then Caspian saved me."

The Professor's mouth curls into a wide grin and he looks back and forth between Caspian and I. "Interesting."

Caspian speaks next. "I understand what you explained, but she could have been hurt, or worse, and I would have never…"

The Professor cuts him off, "Ah, but you see, Aslan also made it clear to me that your lives would not end during these events. I trusted that He knows what is best. And here we all are."

I look over at Caspian, who seems satisfied with his answer. "Alright. Thank you Professor. Now, I need to go meet with the Council so I can get caught up with what I missed in my absence. Can you have them meet me in the throne room in about an hour?"

"Of course, my dear Prince."

We get up and say goodbye to the professor, then I walk with Caspian to the throne room. We have the room to ourselves for a little while until the council members arrive. I go straight to his throne, draping myself over it like he usually does, my feet hanging over one of the arm rests. He goes and sits in the council chair that I sat in last time we were talking in here. I think back over everything that's changed since then in only a few short weeks. More than anything, I'm glad to be where we are now. We have a certain freedom now, knowing how we feel about each other. And when I'm ready, we can take it slow. We may have felt vulnerable when first sharing our feelings, but we experienced those vulnerabilities together. It's just another thing for us to share.

"You're being awful quiet over there, Prince."

"Sorry. I'm just thinking."

"What do you think about what the Professor said? Pretty crazy, huh?"

"Yah. I just keep thinking about Aslan and what he said. Maybe we were meant to be together all along. All I can keep thinking about is how I've known you practically my whole life, and I'm just now realizing what you really mean to me. I'm a little mad at myself. I should have snatched you up before Stephen even came around."

"It certainly would have saved a lot of time and trouble. But really, don't be so hard on yourself. What happened was meant to happen. We can't change the past. I would sure like to focus on the future instead, especially with you as King. Now come here. You're so far away."

He smiles and comes over to the throne. It's so wide that it's almost enough to fit two people, but not quite. I move so that I'm sitting upright and lean my back against one of the armrests. He comes and sits on the opposite armrest with his feet resting next to me on the seat of the chair.

"Are you scared? About being King, I mean?"

"No, not really. A little apprehensive maybe, but not scared. I know that I'll be a better King than Miraz, and the rest will fall into place." He's always been fearless and confident. I wish I was like that.

"You'll probably be pretty busy now, huh?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I will have to watch over Cair Paravel for one. I will also speak to the council about the Ethanites. I'm not quite sure yet what we will need to do after what happened with Acotas."

Almost as if on cue, the first of the council members begin to arrive. We both stand up and I give him a kiss on the cheek. Then I whisper, "Just save some time for me."

"Always," he replies.

A/N: I hope you liked the chapter as things are finally starting to heat up between our two main characters! Just you wait until the next one that I'm working on now which should be up within the next few days...no more of this "just friends" business ;)