The Golden Years

Year 1000, day five

The rest of the week went along the same tone for the Rivers siblings. They rose early in the morning and had a light breakfast before heading off to training with Oreius. They would then spend most of the day working with a large variety of weapons and doing exercises that would strengthen their bodies. Every couple of hours they were given small ten-minute breaks to recover. After a couple hours past noon, they would be released for the rest of their day how they wanted. Usually, it was spent in their room resting before dinner where they would have a small meal and socialize with their friends before going to bed. Because they had been working hard, Oreius had given them the weekend off to recuperate. The Rivers siblings were very appreciative of this opportunity and used it to catch up on sleep.

Georgie spent a lot of the morning of the first day sleeping but managed to leave his room around noon. He didn't do anything too strenuous, though. Just hung out with Edmund. They walked around the castle for a while before the young protector's legs began to hurt so they moved to Georgie's room and continued to hand out there until dinner.

Lily was different and spent most of the first day locked in her room, asleep. She only left because for meals which she kept very short. Because of this, however, when night finally came around, she had reached the point where she could no longer stay in bed. She felt the need to walk around, to do something. Throwing back the covers, she hopped out of bed, pulled on a dressing gown, and headed out of her room.

The hallways were quiet as she slowly walked around. It had been a busy week and she hadn't had a chance to look around and really take in everything that was her new home. Potted plants, statues, and other Narnian artifacts lined the hallways while beautiful red rugs ran down the middle walkway. Every twenty feet or so, a large window stood framed by red curtains with gold trim. It was all so beautiful that Lily found it hard to believe that it was all real. Every once and a while she would close her eyes and try to wake herself up only to open her eyes to see that it wasn't a dream.

After a while, her legs began to hurt from all the walking around and decided that she was just going to sit down in front of a window and take in the views that surrounded her home. Sitting with her legs crossed, she looked out and took in the wonderful view of the ocean she had. It was so close that she could faintly see the small shapes of small animals making their ways across the sand. It was so calming.

Then, out of nowhere, a hand rested itself on her shoulder. Frightened, she jumped and turned to face the new High King of Narnia.

"Don't do that, Peter, you scared me!" Lily ordered, her hand resting on her fast beating heart.

"Sorry," Peter apologized, "I thought you had heard me."

Lily shook her head. "No, I hadn't." Slowly she raised her head to look at the blonde boy who was looking down at her sheepishly. "Care to join me?" she asked. She didn't want to be rude and tell him to go away if he wanted to leave that he was at liberty too. If he wanted to stay then she wasn't going to complain.

"Sure," Peter said before bending down to sit next to the brunette. "What are you doing up at this late hour?" Peter asked once he was comfortable.

It was a while before Lily answered. She had turned her attention towards the window once more and had gotten distracted by the view. She might not have answered at all if it wasn't for Peter clearing his throat, unable to think of any other way to grab the attention of the girl next to him.

Lily turned to him, remembering that she had been asked a question. "Sorry," she said softly before answering. "I slept a large majority of the day so I wasn't able to sleep anymore. I didn't want to just sit in my room until morning so I decided to go for a walk." She watched as Peter nodded his head at her explanation. "What about yourself, Mr. King. Why is it that you are out and about?"

When the question was turned back on him, Peter let out a low sigh before answering. "To be honest, I haven't really been sleeping well this past week."

This statement confused Lily. "What's wrong?"

Peter raised his left hand and rubbed the back of his neck with it, looking away from her and the window and down the hall. "Umm…"

"Come on, you can tell me."

Peter let out a puff of breath at the girls persistence. "I've just been having trouble believing that this is all real," he admitted. "I mean, a week ago we were just a bunch of kids who were evacuated because of a war and now my siblings and I are Kings and Queens and you and your brother are in training to be protectors."

At the young king's words, Lily nodded her head in understanding. She felt the exact same way. Reaching out slowly, she grabbed his hand and gave it a small squeeze. "I feel the same way. But all we need is some time to adjust."

The two then slipped into a comfortable silence, both looking out the window. They watched the moons reflection on the water and how the waves danced on shore. It was a couple minutes before they started talking once again.

"So the tutors arrive in two days. Are you ready?"

At this Peter let out a small chuckle. "To be honest. No. I'm not sure what to expect."

It was true. Tutors had been sent for the day after the coronation. The fact was that the new rulers knew nothing of Narnia, neither their customs nor country. If they were going to rule properly they first needed to be educated on all things Narnia. The good this was that because the White Witch was gone, there was little going on. Everyone was at peace for the time being.

"Me neither. I wonder what sort of things they will be teaching us?" Lily wondered aloud.

"I doubt that it will be anything interesting. Just a lot or lectures about history and such."

"I hope not," Lily said with a shake of her head. "If so then we shall hear nothing but complaints from Georgie. He detests lectures."

"He and Susan will not get along then. She loves lectures. I don't know if you have noticed, but she is very scholarly," Peter said, a smile forming on his face.

Lily started to smile as well. She had noticed that Susan was a scholarly person, always wanting to read when they had nothing to do at the professor's house. She had even made a few smart comments during their journey through Narnia.

Before she could respond saying that she had noticed, a large yawn overcame her. Within seconds, Peter let out a huge yawn as well. From the window, they could see that the sky was slowly getting lighter. Morning would come in only a few hours.

"Perhaps we should get to bed," Lily suggested, looking from the window to Peter who nodded in return.

Peter pushed himself up before helping Lily. Together they both started towards their rooms. It was a good ten-minutes walk before they came to the hallway where Lily's room was located. Because the castle was so large, each of the six had a hallway all to themselves.

"Goodnight, I guess," Lily said from where she stood in front of her bedroom door.

"Goodnight." Peter continued to stand there and after a moment's hesitation leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on Lily's cheek. "See you at breakfast," he added before turning to walk down the hallway as a faint blush started to appear.

"Night," Lily whispered as she watched the blonde go, a faint smile and blush on her face as well. She waited until he had rounded the corner to open her door and step inside her room to get a few more hours sleep.

Authors Note: Thanks for the reviews you two, Scout out and Kato07. I'm glad you found it funny and you could certainly look at these being chapters. They aren't always going to be in the correct order and there are going to be a few with large gaps between chapters, but they would easily be filled in later. Thanks again for your reviews!