Somewhere caught in between sleep and awake Alessandra could almost swear that nothing had changed, that when she woke she'd go and check her schedule and carry out her duties for the day without trouble. That was dashed by a rapid pounding at the door to the room she and Stephanie shared, the other woman none too happy about being woken up.

"What the fu-" Steph muttered as she tossed her thin sheet off and stomped to the door.

Alessandra barely had time to rub the sleep from her eyes before her friend threw the door open and a whirlwind of a woman that neither of them recognized rushed into the room.

"Hey, what, you can't-" Steph tried to protest but she went wholly ignored.

The woman made her way to Alessandra's cot grumbling the entire way, "In all my years. I can't believe I had to trudge all the way to these dungeons to fetch a little sheep," A stern faced woman stomped over to Alessandra's bed, " Are you her?"

"Am I who?"

"The King's intended?"

"Yes?"

"Good, get up." she snapped and turned on her heel expecting Alessandra to follow, which she did after a brief moment of hesitation.

"What are you doing?" Stephanie hissed.

Alessandra only shrugged before hurrying out behind the other woman, she ascended the stairs far faster than Alessandra could have thought she was capable.

"Who are you?" Alessandra asked.

"I'm Odette, your Governess," the woman responded without breaking stride, "You are the King's intended, that means you are no longer a maid you're a Lady. It's my duty to make you look and sound like one," She led her to one of the empty bedchambers in the castle.

Well it was abandoned, now the windows had been opened and dusted, fresh linens on the bed and a fire roaring in the fireplace, "This is your room, I should not expect to have to go down into the dungeons to find you again. You need to be here every morning when I fetch you until you're married. Any questions?"

"No?"

"Good," Odette hummed, grabbing a robe off the end of the bed, "Your bath is through that door, strip and get into it. Your ladies in waiting will join you shortly."

"My ladies?"

"Quickly," Odette literally snapped and Alessandra rushed into the bathroom, she paused at the sight of the bathtub waiting for her. Steam rising and curling through the air, she couldn't recall the last time she'd had a hot bath. Even prior to being run out of the castle and having to wash up in the nearby stream, her baths had been shared in the communal bathhouse where the water was lukewarm at best.

She peeled off her dress and slipped into the water resisting the urge to groan in pleasure when the heat of the water hit her and quickly settled into her bones and muscles. She looked at the bottles of oils and perfumes on the side table and was about to reach for one when the door opened again, Odette stomped in with two other ladies following her.

Any of Alessandra's protests went unheard as they descended on the bathtub, Odette grabbed a purple looking bottle and tipped it into the water before she took up a brush and starting scrubbing at her back, she sputtered when water splashed over her head her hair obscuring her vision momentarily before hands were in her hair, a third pair of hands grabbed hers from beneath the water and started scrubbing her nails.

"I can clean myself-"

"Hush," Odette snapped yet again, Alessandra was starting to wonder if she had any other responses or if she was conditioned to be so snippy. The women weren't harsh with her, in contrast everything was quite gentle, it was just something she wasn't used to in the slightest, she would have almost preferred them to be rough with her. As if reading her mind, water splashed over her head again as she took a breath and promptly choked, she groaned as she could her breath, only to gasp as she lost it again when they tugged her to stand from the bath.

"Out, out," Odette rushed, but once again contradicted herself as she actually helped Alessandra out of the bath, only to throw a linen over her head and began drying her, Odette tutted when she saw the scar on her shoulder and Alessandra could have sworn she saw a slight crease in her brow before she evened it out. A robe that was softer than anything she'd ever felt in her was thrown over her shoulders and tied around her waist.

Odette had stepped behind her and pulled her hair out of her face pining it behind her head, "There, now we can finally see what we're working with," She came back around to the front of her and one of the other girls pulled out a long string of twine, "Arms," the girl held the string down the length of Alessandra's arm, after she took the measurements of one arm then the other she wrote them down, "Waist," she did it again, apologizing to Alessandra under her breath when she wrapped her arms around her waist to measure the width, "Legs." Once that was done the girl scurried off.

"Teeth," Odette said and Alessandra looked at her in confusion.

"I'm sorry?"

"Teeth," the older woman said, barring her own teeth as if in example and that's when Alessandra understood, only feeling slightly foolish when she bared her own teeth in return, "Not bad. Hands," Alessandra raised both her hands and Odette looked them over, turning them this way and that, "How'd you get that?"

"Kitchen knife."

She hummed, turning her hands back over and scanning the rest of her arms, a few burns and knicks here and there but nothing too serious. Her eyes scanned up her arms towards her shoulder, hidden beneath the robe, Alessandra could see the question building in her eyes but thankfully she didn't voice it.

"Too skinny," Odette concluded at last, "We'll have to put some meat on your bones and fast, you have good hips excellent for bearing children. But not at this weight."

"I'm sorry?" she gasped.

"You are to be marrying a king girl, your job? To provide him with heirs," Odette said casually as if that sentence didn't cause Alessandra's knees to shake beneath her robe, "We'll need at least four dresses to start, find out what colour the king is wearing to his coronation," one of the girls, the one who didn't take the measurements nodded then left.

"This is Iris," Odette introduced the young lady that remained, "She's your handmaiden, I suggest you get used to her quickly. You'll be spending a lot of time together."

"My Lady," Iris greeted politely with a slight curtsey, Alessandra didn't know what to do other than nod dumbly in response.

Before Odette could say anything else there was a noise that came from beyond the door that had them all turning their heads, Alessandra could just barely make out the sound of a familiar voice snapping something and a rushed voice saying something along the lines of 'You can't go in there', before the door opened and the girl who had measured Alessandra was all but tumbling into the room just before a near-raging Anastacia did, followed by Stephanie who immediately came to her side.

"I didn't know what else to do," She hurriedly whispered as she took Alessandra's hand.

Anastacia charged in and continued in that snappy tone that she and Steph knew very well, "And how dare you!" She pointed sharply at Odette who didn't even spare a glance at the finger in her face, "Come into my quarters and take one of my girls without saying a word to me."

"I was sent to fetch the new Queen, she needs to be trained, quickly."

"Oh please, and you think you're the right person for that. I've known that girl since she was a child."

"You are not fit to train the future Queen of Narnia, you're too soft."

Alessandra and Stephanie shared a wide-eyed look, Anastacia? Soft? Those two words should never be in the same sentence.

"Be that as it may, you have no right. She has duties to fulfil."

"A Queen has one duty, and that is to her King."

"She's not Queen yet."

"She will be," Odette said with a tone of finality, Alessandra was shocked, not only a both of these women going at one another like dogs. But the fact that there was someone that existed that could take on Anastacia and win, the very notion had always seemed so farfetched, yet here it was happening right in front of her. Over her. "And if she's going to be a good one, she needs me," Odette's voice had dropped, something softer curling around the edges

To her surprise Anastacia nodded like she was pleased, like this was a test that Odette had to pass, "Yes she will," Odette then stood aside and Anastacia approached Alessandra, that was when she took note of the fabric draped over her arms, "Since you left in such a hurry, I didn't have the chance to give you this," she said unfolding the wad of fabric to reveal. A dress? Almost a dress?

"What is it?" Alessandra asked softly, to her it looked like the lining of a dress.

"It's a muslin," Odette answered, taking the dress, muslin, from Anastacia's hands, a tone of relief in her voice.

"It's a dress likeness, from it you can make dozens of dresses. I figured you would need it, if you ever made it back."

"You knew?"

"I always know when one of my girl's have fallen in love," the older woman said looking back and forth between both Steph and Alessandra, "I didn't know it was to that Prince until, well," she shrugged letting the sentence hang in the air, but everyone knew what she meant, Anastacia sniffed and sharply straightened up, "I do expect your replacement by the end of the week."

"I'll pick her out myself," Alessandra teased, that almost made Anastacia smile, her expression turned pensive as she looked her over.

"You're a good girl," she said firmly with a nod, as if it were a fact, "You're going to do just fine."

Alessandra was exhausted, in much a different way than she'd ever been from working the castle, even throughout the nights at the How. After Anastacia and Stephanie had left, Odette threw Anastacia's muslin over Alessandra's head and to no one's surprise it fit perfectly, she didn't dwell too long over how Anastacia knew her measurements or that she'd need the muslin. The woman had a particular knack for knowing things, things that she knew better than to question.

Once the muslin was in place they'd brought fabrics to test out, more beads and silk and lace than Alessandra had ever seen. They hadn't received any word on what colour Caspian would be wearing but Odette was certain that it was going to be gold, and so a light gold fabric was picked for her own coronation gown.

Coronation gown, the words still didn't seem real to her, for her. Even though Caspian had made it clear several times over that this was in her near future, the whirlwind that was today's events she was wholly unprepared for. Alas night had fallen and she was finally left alone after being spun around, and poked and prodded all day. Yet she couldn't sleep, the bed was far too soft, her cot down in the maids quarters weren't anything close to comfortable but she'd spent most of her life sleeping on them, Caspian's bed was worn in. There was a dip in the mattress that he used to sleep in but had moved to the other side of the bed when she started joining him, she like to curl up in that dip of the rare nights where she fell asleep without him and almost always woke with both of them curled around each other in the middle of the bed.

The room itself was too quiet, too secluded from the rest of the castle. She wandered over to the window pushing it open hoping to let some of the sounds of nature waft in, but even that was futile.

She sighed sitting herself on the edge of the window gazing up at the stars trying to recall their names, perhaps focusing her mind on something else would help. That lasted only a few seconds before a peculiar sound reached her ears, it sounded like a door being unlocked, but a glance at the door showed that it was still barred from the inside. She had done it on the chance that her new Governess tried to pay her visit in the middle of the night, she didn't doubt that the woman had a key but it gave her some peace of mind.

That left only one other option, she looked at the wardrobe at the side of the room that she hadn't paid much attention to throughout the day. She knew that Odette had stored her old dresses in there but beyond that it was relatively empty. The door was pushed open from the inside and a familiar head peeked out curiously, Caspian's brow furrowed at the sight of her empty bed but his expression smoothed when he cast a glance about the room and found her. He unfolded his long body from inside the wardrobe and shut its door behind him, she stood to meet him as he made his way over to her.

"My light," he groaned in delight when he hugged her squeezing her tight to his chest as he did, she relished in his embrace, feeling the strain of the day all but melt away in his arms, his chest expanded beneath her as he drew in a deep breath before letting it out almost with a groan, "How are you?" he asked sliding a hand behind her head to tilt her face up to him.

"Tired," she muttered, leaning her head back on to his slightly exposed chest, he was in one of his looser tops, must have been getting ready for bed. She wondered if he was still in his old room or if he'd been jostled around half as much as she had today.

"Then why aren't you in bed?"

"Not tired enough," she teased even as exhaustion crept into her voice, like just being in his presence was enough to loosen the tension that had steadily built up throughout the day, she felt the quiet laugh that shook him before he responded.

"I know the feeling," she heard the smile in his voice as he hand in her hair slowly tugged her from the refuge she found in his chest, he met her brown eyes with his and stared for a moment. He must have found what he was looking for and he nodded to himself leaning down enough to catch his lips with hers, she sighed the moment he did winding her arms around his waist, "I missed you today," he whispered into the space between them when he pulled back just slightly.

"I missed you too."

"Please tell me you have something of a Governess too?" he huffed a quiet bark of laughter.

"They told me you were getting Odette," he said, turning his body to sit in the edge of the window where she was previously perched, tugging her to lean against him.

"You know her?"

"Only by reputation," he said, but his mischievous smile says otherwise, "Her bark is much worse than her bite, I assure you."

"I don't know, her bite seems pretty bad."

"Trust me, if she's hard on you, it's because she cares. Or wants to care."

"Some warning would have been nice."

He winced, "I know, I didn't get a chance. Almost as soon as I told her who you were she left to find you and I was stuck in meetings all day," he kissed her shoulder through the fabric of her night dress, "I did manage to speak with Lucy, she said she'd come by tomorrow. Hopefully she'll be able to help you manage Odette."

"If there was such a thing," she groaned, eyelids finally starting to become heavy with the weight of the day settling behind them. Caspian's deep voice only helped to lull her as she barely registered most of what he said.

She felt his grin as he kissed her shoulder again, "Let's get you to bed," He said, nudging her to stand, she followed his silent command and led them both to the bed by taking his hand.

She paused before climbing in turning to face him, sudden trepidation in her gaze, "Will you stay?"

"Always," he said reassuringly, kissing her cheek before folding back the sheets gesturing for her to climb in. He sat on the edge of the bed to remove his boots then fell into the bed with her moments later. The bed still didn't conform quite the way she wanted it or was used to, but Caspian was with her now. She'd sleep on a bed of nails as long as it was besides him. He tucked his arm under her shoulders pulling her into his chest once again, she threw her leg over his hip and settled her head into that curve where his neck and shoulder met.

Like that, it only took a few moments for her to drift off.

When she woke the next morning Caspian was gone, the side of the bed where he slept was still warm though so he couldn't have been gone for very long. Even still it was best that he wasn't there when Odette no doubt came to fetch her for the morning, she'd said something yesterday about teaching her table manners. Starting with breakfast.

Alessandra sighed, rolling over to Caspian's emptied spot hoping to soak up what was left of his warmth before her day officially began. Her nose twitched when something on his pillow rolled onto her face. When she began her slide over, she opened her eyes only enough to catch sight of the flower that was there before closing them with a small smile, blindly reaching up and taking it into her hands. Tucking it close to her chest before dozing off for a few more moments of rest.