Disclaimer: The Chronicles of Narnia belong to C.S. Lewis, not me or am I making any profit with this story. I only own Alexandra and her friends/family or any other character you don't recognize.

Alexandra loved the narnian weather, it was pretty much always sunny, as if it was summer all the time. Sure there was rain from time to time, the rivers and lakes needed it to survive and the farmers were grateful for it. Unlike the depressing city of London, where it was always either rainy or gloomy.

Some people found that weather fantastic, Alex wasn't one of them. That's how she knew there was something definitely wrong when they walked out of the tent and the sun wasn't visible anymore, but thick, dark clouds loomed over them.

"What's happened?" King Edmund inquired to the knight.

"We are not sure yet sir. It was a beautiful day until a few moments ago, it's almost as if the clouds swallowed all the light in the sky." He said in a concerned voice.

Ninarika and Alexandra just looked at each other knowingly. Edmund obviously noticed.

"Of course this would happen with us not being back even a whole day." Alexandra thought and her guardian just smiled grimly.

"Are you really that surprised?" The tigress asked her mistress.

She truly wasn't. When she found herself once again in Narnia, she knew that at some point she would get to see not only the part of her family that she had grown to love so deeply, but the part that didn't quite love her that much anymore.

"Why do I have the feeling that you know what this is all about?" Edmund stood beside her, also watching the sky with his brow furrowed.

"Maybe because I'm so wise, have an answer for almost everything, and you are fully aware of that?" She tried to joke but he only shook his head with a small smile, one that faded once he realized how upset he was with her.

"I'm being serious. Do you know what's happening?"

"Since when do you rely on others to find out the things that you want to know?" She asked, trying to avoid telling him her theory of what might had been happening.

Even though she was an official part of the Pevensie family now (or at least she hoped she was), when it came to dealing with her own family, she much rather do it on her own than having many people concerned with their problems. This applied even when it came to Edmund himself. Alexandra was protective of her family, all of it.

"I'm bound to find out either way, whether you tell me or not. The clouds are getting thicker and darker, so I'm guessing that whatever is going to happen, it'll happen soon." He tried to reason with her. Still, Alex wasn't too sure of how he'd take it, but after receiving a small nudge on her leg from her best friend, she knew it was time to tell him, even though she was praying for it not to be true.

"I think it's Nathan." She blurted out in a whisper, looking up again in concern; the sky was almost black.

"That's impossible." He said almost automatically after the words were registered in his brain. "We haven't seen him after you left. It's as if he vanished into thin air."

"No." Alexandra finally understood. "He stopped showing up because he couldn't feel my presence anymore."

"What?" Edmund said confused.

Alexandra finally looked at him in the eyes.

"Our last meeting wasn't very pleasant, you know that much, right?" She asked. He nodded. "Well, every time he returned to visit me after he left the palace was to try to convince me of the same thing. And every single time, I turned him down. Made my own offer and was likewise refused. The last time we saw each other he got pissed because I said no again, I had more reasons than ever to refuse. The point is, that now that I'm back, he knows it. And I think he's coming to see me." She finished her explanation.

A grey mist started to spread around the clearing quickly, making it difficult to see for a few moments, and just like that, when only a few blinks had happened, he was finally there, and the mist surrounding the two monarchs and the knight and protector was dissipated, while all the other man and creatures grunted as they were blind and defenseless.

"Well well well, look who has made a fantastic return. Nice dress by the way." Nathan Hayward said theatrically, making Alexandra roll her eyes.

"Wouldn't you know?" She retorted while crossing her arms.

Nathan laughed.

"Oh sissy, you know me well." He said. "How'd you like your trip back?"

"Why don't you ask her?" She hissed.

Ninarika growled at him, her teeth showing fully.

"Kris please, I even brought you back in style!" He seemed even offended at their attitude, which only made Alexandra's wishes to smack him even stronger.

"Seriously Nate, what do you want from me? Why did you bring me back?" She said annoyed, she was tired and not very patient after the talk with Edmund.

"You know exactly why Alexandra. Don't play dumb with me. Maybe you can fool that husband of yours, I mean, you managed pretty well last time, but not me." He snickered and the queen's temper was flaring, her hands already in fists. "Plus, you know that five years ago was the moment when the world stopped revolving around you darling. You know very well that this isn't about you at all."

She stopped an involuntary gasp to fall from her lips just in time.

"Piss off Nathan." Alexandra warned, quite nervous about him talking so freely about her most well-kept secret.

"I will leave my sister, as now is not the time to discuss all the affairs we ought to…Just wanted to say a quick hello and let you know that I'm glad you're back home, where you belong." He smirked at her deviously one last time and vanished.

'This day couldn't get any longer' Alex thought to herself as all the mist and clouds quickly went away and the sun reappeared, although lower in the sky. She could bet that it wasn't even six o'clock in the afternoon and she already felt like shutting off for the rest of the day.

"Sir," Knight Rossendal, whose presence alongside everyone else's Alex had totally forgotten, called out for Edmund's attention. "I think it would be best if we leave for the palace as soon as possible."

The Just King just stared at Alexandra seriously, and she didn't dare to look back at him because he had always had the talent to read her like an open book, and if she allowed him to do that after she was left so vulnerable after the conversation that had just taken place, it would all blow up in her face.

"Well met Benjamin, get horses ready for me and Queen Alexandra, get the rest of the camp cleared out and let's go." He turned around and without another word walked inside his tent, leaving both, Alex and Nina surprised at his behavior.

"Do you think that he changed while we were gone? I mean, he would have at least yelled a little by now, but he said absolutely nothing" Ninarika thought out to her friend.

Alexandra sighed.

"Absolutely not. He's just organizing his thoughts, he's Edmund for Pete's sake! I'd rather have him yell at me now. When he's silent it means he's thinking…And he's a fast and brilliant thinker, it's more than clear that he can be deadly."

And it was true, Edmund had so much to decipher yet, he couldn't allow himself to get distracted bickering with Alexandra. The question she had asked him had really gotten to him, because it was true. He never had to depend on someone else to get the answers he wanted, or in this case, needed.

If Alex didn't want to talk right now, fine. He would gather all the facts that he could and then he would start putting together the huge puzzle that was the disappearance of his wife by himself.

And the first set of clues fell on the encounter he had just witnessed.