Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia or any characters you may recognize from the books or the movies, I wish I did but I don't... I also don't own the Narnian Calendar. It belongs to Elecktrum who was kind enough to let me borrow it for my story. Her own stories are awesome and you should go read them too.

Summary: When memory is veiled, can the love forged between two hearts survive?

A/N: If you have not read the first seven stories in the A Light in the Darkness main story arc (Awakened, Shadowed, Revealed, Concealed, Rekindled, Refracted, and Reflected), I highly recommend you do so for the full experience. However, I have included a quick summary of the previous stories so if you want to give this one a whirl on its own, you can.

Chapter Twenty-One: Unexpected

5 Stormfall 1008

Peter scribbled down another page of notes. The report on the northern Giants was only slightly encouraging. Harfang was preoccupied with fighting with the other clans still as they had launched a counterattack on one of the nearer settlements. But, he knew it wouldn't be long before the Giants grew bold enough to turn their eyes to Narnia once more, to ravage her fair green lands and to murder and, worse, consume her inhabitants until they turned fair Narnia into the same wasteland as Ettinsmoor. He could only hope that they would have the time to resolve the crisis with Kat before that happened.

He jumped slightly as two slim hands touched his shoulders then relaxed. Thalia's nut-brown hair swung into his field of vision and then he felt her press a kiss against his temple. Her fingers kneaded his shoulders and he suddenly realized how tense those muscles were…and how good it felt when his wife massaged them. Thalia's breath tickled his ear. "You look worried. Can I help?"

Peter smiled even as he lowered his head with a sigh. "It is nothing, really. I'm just getting ahead of myself and worrying about how the Giants might or might now react. Once they've finished fighting amongst themselves, of course."

Thalia's hands ceased their soothing movements then he felt them move to his hair. The light press of her fingertips against his scalp was most distracting. He leaned back in his chair and Thalia came around to stand by his side, still running her fingers through his hair. "Perhaps it might be wise to get away for a little while. We could go on a picnic Seventhday as your sister suggested last night."

"Lucy put you up to this," Peter groaned. Still, he did not protest when Thalia shut the door then came back over to sit in his lap. He leaned his forehead against hers. "You know she wants Kat to join us."

"I know. But," she toyed with the neck of his tunic then whispered, "we need to let her back into our lives. You cannot deny that Aslan's presence has had a most calming effect on her."

"No, I can't and I don't." He wrapped his arms around her, clasping her close, as he toyed with her hair. "I just… I do not want to put Kat in an indefensible situation. And I don't want to risk you or the girls."

The light green eyes studying him were soft with love and a glimmer of understanding. No condemnation or scolding resided in their depths. Thalia captured his mouth in a passionate kiss then nuzzled his cheek. "Peter… Peter, you are trying to protect us, I know. But, you are also doing her a disfavor now. Trust in Aslan, my love. Trust in the one who has been sister, mother, aunt, and friend to you and your siblings. Her battle shock was triggered when she attempted to protect your sister. I do not think she will attack those her heart tells her are hers to protect even if she does not know why she must do so."

"You truly want to have this picnic, Flower?"

"I think it will be beneficial for all of us. And it will be good practice for Ursula." Thalia smiled at him then she leaned in and whispered against his mouth, "And you and I might enjoy a private picnic of our own Sixthday. Perhaps a private supper in the bower?"

He was even worse at refusing Thalia than he was at denying Lucy something she wanted. Still, the offer to revisit the bower, the same one where they had spent their wedding night, was not one any sane man would refuse. He kissed her softly at first then with a growing passion until a pretty blush had swept up her neck and coated her cheeks. "Very well. We shall have the picnic." Peter winked at her then trailed kisses along the neckline of her dress. "Both picnics."

ӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁ

7 Stormfall 1008

"It is a simple request." Why Alithia always had to be so stubborn about these things, Oreius never knew. He crossed his arms and frowned at the obstinate mare. "There is no reason you and Ardon cannot do this."

Alithia tossed her hair and stamped one delicate hoof. "There is no reason you cannot do it. You should do it."

"I cannot."

"Why?"

Oreius frowned and cast a dark look at Ardon. His friend merely shrugged, leaving him to fend off Alithia's question on his own. With a sigh, Oreius once again attempted to explain. "It is a very simple request, Alithia, for you and Ardon to explain to Alambiel how she came to be a knight. She is still very uncomfortable around me and-"

"And who is responsible for that?" Grey eyes flashing, Alithia stepped closer to him. "You have been going out of your way to avoid her. She joins Ardon and me for dinner at least once a week, sometimes even thrice a week. And you have had a convenient excuse in place every time we ask you to join us on those nights, but you're more than willing to hear reports on how she is doing. What are you thinking, Oreius?"

"I am protecting her."

"From what?" Alithia stamped her hoof again. "From who? You have all but removed yourself from her life. It is as though you are intentionally diminishing the chance that she will remember you and your courtship. Is that what you want?"

Oreius looked away from the accusing gaze. It was almost as difficult to bear as the bewildered and cautious looks Alambiel gave him every time she saw him. "You do not understand. Alambiel is still dealing with this memory loss and my presence never seems to do aught but exacerbate the unpleasant flashbacks. Ardon, tell her what happened during training last eve!"

The image of Alambiel's fear-filled gaze rose in his mind. She had been doing so well, was so controlled…

His eyes followed Alambiel's fluid movements as she dodged under Caia's outstretched blade to bring her own sword up rest for a moment against the Centauress' breastplate. Good, that was very good. Alambiel was already flitting away from her 'dead' opponent to face Ardon.

Oreius nodded to himself. She was no longer hesitating, no longer second-guessing herself as she settled into the warrior's center. Blades clashed, but she slipped away before Ardon could bear down on her. She darted in then leapt back and up over the claymore. She dropped to one knee then sprang forward, slapping her hand against Ardon's vulnerable middle just before he could bring his claymore to rest against her neck.

Unsheathing a one-handed sword, Oreius quickly took Ardon's place. Alambiel didn't so much as glance at his face, all her focus was on blocking his strike. They danced back and forth, blades clashing and just missing their marks. An air of determination cloaked itself around Alambiel, he could sense it in the way she fought.

And he almost allowed himself a smile before he recalled Ardon and Caia were watching. Alambiel glanced up and faltered. She missed a step. He knew she could recover and so pressed his advantage. Alambiel and his colts knew just how to counter such a move. He twisted his blade around hers, grounding her attack to a halt. And then-

Oreius missed a step when terror-filled eyes met his. He quickly disengaged their swords but it was too late. Alambiel collapsed, her sword clattering to the stones. "Alambiel." She gave no answer save for a gasp as she bowed her head, trembling like a windblown leaf, and clutched at her right wrist. "Alambiel." She still did not respond. His gaze fell to his still-drawn sword and he tensed at the small red line marring the silver blade.

"Alambiel, let me see if you need the healers." Sheathing his sword, he carefully cupped her right hand. Her fingers clenched so he must not have sliced any tendons. Worry for her waged a war with guilt as she gasped the same ragged way that always signaled when his fierce Alambiel had reached her breaking point. He had done this to her. He managed to pull her fingers away from the gash along the side of the heel of her palm and her wrist.

Noticing that Caia and Ardon had both closed in on them in their concern, Oreius quickly waved them back. He turned back to Alambiel and met her wide blue eyes. The fear and barely contained panic filling them broke his heart even more than how she cringed away from him. She pulled free of his loosened grasp and scrambled backwards, not even managing enough control to rise to her feet, until she bumped into the wall.

"Alambiel. Listen to me. It's not real, what you are seeing is not the truth of things." He kept his distance even as he tried to coax her away from whatever memory or…or hallucination had her in its savage grip. Alambiel didn't respond to him save with fear-laden gasps as she cowered against the wall. She was cowering… That was not his Alambiel.

He turned to Caia. "Find Aslan." The Centauress gave a little nod then galloped out of the training yard. Oreius turned back to Alambiel but he knew there was naught he could do to help. Indeed, all he seemed to do was hurt and hinder, no matter his intent. Alambiel did not respond to him or to Ardon. When she seemed aware of their presence, it was almost worse since she was obviously seeing something wicked and terrifying. She did not calm until Aslan padded into the training yard. Oreius and the other two Centaurs left once he saw her collapse against Aslan's side, clutching at His mane and still trembling.

"Oreius?" Alithia's soft voice pulled him away from the troubling memory. "You do not know that she is reacting to you. Maybe-"

It took all of his self-control to keep the emotion from his voice. Not even his friends needed to know how tight his throat was at the memory of her fear of him. "There is no maybe, Alithia. She only reacts this way when I am present. Sometimes it takes longer for her to react but eventually she does and it is never a good thing."

"So you remove yourself from her life? You weren't even this disengaged from Alambiel when she first returned to Narnia!"

Oreius shook his head. "I am still sworn to be her shield and I will protect her…even from myself."

Alithia stared at him and then her eyes widened. "You mean never to tell her? You mean not to attempt to court her again?"

He hadn't thought that far ahead. Hadn't allowed himself to see the inevitable end. His heart constricted but he kept his features impassive as he gave a curt nod. "I- I need to let her go…for her own good."

"Why? I never saw you as happy as you were with Alambiel. You have been content and pleased, but never happy, not like you were whenever Alambiel was near. Why would you sacrifice all of that?"

Oreius looked away. "Because I love her."

ӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁ

An outsider would think they were all enjoying themselves, the two young men and four young women (even if the two strands of white did demark the blonde to a more ambiguous age range) seated on a blanket. Peter, though he smiled and listened with half an ear to his sisters chattering with Thalia about plans for the Yule festivities, could not be called relaxed. He felt a slight guilt about always making sure to keep one eye on Kat and not being able to let his guard down but then he studied the sweet, trusting faces of his sisters and felt Thalia lean back against his arm as she settled into a more comfortable position…he simply couldn't chance it.

Kat had been mostly quiet during the picnic but so far she hadn't tensed up or given any sign of paying too close attention to the guards' positions. Oreius might not have been present (and they had escaped too large an escort because of it) but between their personal guards and several Birds, there was no reason to assume they would not be alerted to an outside threat. They were still close to the Cair, after all. Kat raised her head, looking at him and Thalia. No, she was looking past them. "The Bear's too nervous."

They all froze. Edmund glanced at him then turned back to Kat. "What do you mean?"

"The Bear guarding Thalia. She's too nervous and now she's given herself completely away."

Peter glanced over his shoulder and saw Ursula. The Black Bear was standing too far out from the woods and she kept stamping the ground. Bast emerged from the woods, doing her best to be casual, even if her tail was lashing in a sign of clear irritation, as she approached the Bear. Kat murmured, "And now she's exposed another guard. That's a liability waiting to happen."

He glanced at Kat but she was already looking away from the Bear and Tigress. Her gaze focused on the horses and, a moment later, she rose. Her lace dark blue cloak trailed behind her and the wide sleeves fell to her elbows as she pulled the hood up to cover her hair while walking over to the horse she had taken from the stables. None of them had dared mentioned that she had picked a horse other than Pepin. The gelding had been out to pasture, after all, when they went down to the stables.

Lucy smiled a little too brightly. "Well, that's a good sign. She's making notes on the guards' performance."

Over the top of Thalia's head, Peter exchanged a long look with Edmund. Ursula had been the one guard Kat hadn't made any notes on when they were examining the file she had actually kept for royal personal guards. It seemed the lack of notes was not because the Bruin had passed her test as they had assumed, but because she hadn't had a chance to even do her initial evaluation yet. He frowned, now wishing he had listened to Oreius' slight reservation about starting the process with Ursula and not with the Jaguar whom Kat had noted as having potential. But no, he had simply hoped Ursula would be better suited to protecting Thalia by virtue of being a Bear and larger than a Jaguar. And Thalia wasn't meshing well with Ursula either.

He glanced again at where Kat was standing by her horse, seemingly preoccupied with feeding the mare some sort of snack. Sugar cubes if the interest of the other horses, including Philip, was any indication. Sweet Lucy saw a possible positive, but Peter suddenly worried that perhaps Kat making such an observation was not something to be celebrated. If she could still instinctively analyze the weaknesses of the guards, what of Cair Paravel? He wrapped his arm around Thalia's shoulders and pressed a kiss to her hair then whispered in her ear, "We'll try a different guard for you tomorrow, Flower."

Thalia glanced at him and smiled. She was gracious enough not to even mention his mistake in choosing this guard. Though Ursula was certainly of great value on the battlefield and as a perimeter guard, she was also certainly not of the right temperament to be a royal guard. It was a pity that Kat hadn't written down how she actually judged the potential guards. Even Oreius didn't know. Kat merely gave him her opinion and then he would take it into consideration when choosing or recommending guards to the Four of them.

The next hour seemed to crawl by even when Kat rejoined them at the blanket. Peter kept wanting to put his hand to his belt, ensure that Rhindon yet hung there, waiting to be drawn in defense of his family. But, he could not do that. It would alarm Thalia and his sisters unnecessarily. And he didn't want to risk what possible reaction it might invoke in Kat. Still…still, he had a bad feeling about the picnic. It was almost the sense that they had lingered overlong and things were no longer as safe as they were earlier. But, none of the guards reacted to it. All right, he wasn't entirely certain Edmund's Wolves were nearby anymore since they usually crawled over to have their bellies rubbed by Lucy as soon as the main meal was finished, but his Tigers and the Queens' Guard would have signaled him and Edmund if there was an approaching threat.

Peter surged to his feet. His face felt warm against the cool, northern breeze as everyone, including Kat looked up at him. He quickly smiled and held his hand out to Thalia. "Though I regret saying so, I fear our picnic has run its course. If you ladies intend to plan such marvelous festivities for Yule, the other ladies of the Cair should be informed promptly, don't you think?"

Lucy pouted playfully. "Oh, Peter! It's not even dark yet."

"No, but it will be within the hour, Lu." He smiled again as he helped Thalia to her feet then pressed a kiss to her hand. "And I plan to retire early tonight."

His Flower blushed delightfully while Edmund rolled his eyes. "We didn't need to know that, Pete. Come on, Lu, I bet I can beat you and Su back to the Cair."

Lucy's eyes lit up at the challenge. "Come on, Susan!" She took off in a flurry of skirts after Edmund. For a moment Susan didn't look as though she would answer the challenge, but then a smile curved her pink lips and she caught her skirts up to just above her ankles as she chased after their younger siblings.

Peter shook his head in wonderment as Susan beat Lucy to the horses and then laughed as she turned her mare toward Cair Paravel before Edmund had even swung up into the saddle. Kat hadn't even moved toward the horses yet. She was collecting the picnic basket and blanket. Peter kept Thalia by his side until Kat had passed them on her way to the horses. He feared when Kat glanced over her shoulder at them that she realized he didn't want her at their backs, but she gave no indication of it.

Kat directed her horse into an easy canter. The feeling that something was off continued to plague Peter. But, he still couldn't explain it. And then Kat's horse abruptly slowed to a walk before halting as she favored a hoof. Peter reined his horse in. "What's wrong?"

"She may have picked up a stone." Kat slid to the ground as Thalia reined her own horse in. Peter didn't disguise his frown as the mare flinched when Kat's questing fingers slid over her leg. Kat murmured soothingly to the animal as she examine the hoof as well. "Picked up a stone. I can't ride her until I get this out and maybe not even then if she's taken lame."

He almost voiced a protest. But… Kat had only fed the snack to her mare. Could that be tied to her horse's sudden lameness in some odd way? He also didn't want Thalia to be vulnerable. He could hear Edmund's Wolves howling in the distance, maybe the girls had just overtaken him and Philip. "Will you be all right?"

Kat glanced around then nodded. "Ptah is with me. This shouldn't take long."

He wasn't sure if he was making the right decision, but Peter nodded. Ptah emerged from the woods as he did so. Riding ahead with Thalia, Peter could only pray that he would not come to regret this moment.

ӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁ

Oreius folded his arms across his chest as he looked out over the sea. The waves splashed against the edge of the lower pavilion, not quite making it over and onto the tiled floor. The weather had finally cooled over the last sennight but it was still warm and dry for Stormfall. Another storm was brewing on the horizon, perhaps this time it would reach Narnia.

He didn't allow himself to reflect on the conversation with Alithia. He had left her and Ardon's quarters as quickly as he could. His heart still constricted at the thought of what he must do, what he had been denying until that afternoon. A Presence joined him, patient and waiting until he lowered his gaze. "I need to let her go."

"Are you prepared for what that might mean, My son?" Aslan's voice held no condemnation as He continued, "If Alambiel should not recover her memories, what might happen due to your decision?"

Oreius shifted his hooves. Throat tight, he could barely get the words out. "She will find love again."

"And if she does? If your beloved Alambiel gives her heart to another, unaware that she originally gave it to you, and she looks with favor on a man or another Centaur. What will you do? Will you trust Me still?"

"Yes, I will trust You still." He glanced down to meet the Great Lion's golden gaze then glanced back out over the sea. "If Alambiel chooses another, if someone earns her love, I will not gainsay it. She deserves… Alambiel has always deserved to be happy and to be loved. I won't stand in the way if she finds love again."

"And yourself?"

Oreius flinched. His heart rebelled at the mere thought of loving any save Alambiel. He shook his head. "No."

"No?" His Lord let out a low rumble. "No, you do not deserve love as well? No, you doubt you could allow yourself to love someone other than Alambiel if that is to be your story?"

"I…" Oreius fixed his eyes on a lonely albatross bobbing in the wind above the waves. The questions posed were ones he did not want to think of. Was it not enough that he had realized he must let Alambiel go? "She opened my heart. I cannot think of another who could possibly take her place in my life. Even if I am alone, I do not think I could love another."

"Could you not?"

He slowly turned to face Aslan. He had the same look about Him as when He had first appointed him General. As though He knew something very important that he had not yet learned. "Aslan?"

"Could you not love another? You once considered another lady before Alambiel leapt into your life and heart."

Oreius froze. Surely He could not mean…

ӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁ

Ptah flattened his ears. Something was wrong. He glanced around but the forest did not give up any signs of what it was he sensed. The only thing wrong was… The Princess Royal was gone. He bounded back through the trees. His whiskers stiffened as he caught the scent of death. Growling low in his throat, Ptah crept through the underbrush. His lady's horse was lying in the middle of the road, foam and blood dripping from the dumb beast's mouth. But of the Princess Royal, there was no sign.

ӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁӁ

A/N: Please Read and Review! O.o