It's hardly a month after her coronation that High Queen Hazel finds herself sitting in the war room once more. Even in times of peace, she cannot help but call the room such. Not when memories of her brothers sitting around the table making battle plans are so clear in her mind.
The grace with which the young woman conducts herself reveals her high station. Hazel cannot help but think that perhaps Susan would be proud of the queen she has become in the last year and a half since she left. Since she went missing . Hazel is firm in the belief that her elder siblings would never willingly leave her.
"Your Majesty, our friends to the north have sent a petition." Emeth, a dryad, slides a scroll of parchment across the table. The High Queen takes the scroll in hand, unrolling it so as to examine the contents. The dryad continues. "After their threat of war in the spring, they have offered a compromise of peace."
The tense silence stretches over several moments as the group of advisors stare at their sovereign, in wait for her reaction to the offer.
"A political marriage." The High Queen's tone is dry, giving no insight to her true feelings.
"It would prove beneficials for both parties, Your Majesty." Zarius speaks up from his spot down the table. "A union with Prince Leopold would allow for new trade routes to be accessed and an ally in our tenuous relationship with the land to the west."
"Needless to say, it would show our people that you are planting roots in Narnia that may not take you away-" Drothon, a squirrel, cuts himself off with a sharp look from Flamecrest. It has been made clear that the disappearance of Narnia's monarchs is a sore subject for the High Queen.
Hazel keeps her face carefully blank as she reads through the scroll once more. A marriage. If she had never come to Narnia she would probably be married by now anyway. Wouldn't she? Her mother (for surely she had had a mother in the Land Before), hadn't she been married young? It's hard for her to remember the Other Place now. Spare Oom. It had been difficult when she still had her siblings around to remind her, it was even more so now. She had been so small when they found Narnia. Had she really only been six when she was crowned Queen?
Susan had entertained a marriage a few years ago. An earl from a neighboring kingdom had courted her for several months. Their courtship had ended suddenly and without explanation. Susan merely said that they weren't meant to be.
Lucy swore off marriage the moment she came of age. She claimed that all she needed was herself, a cool breeze, and splashing waves to be happy. Hazel hopes that Lucy is near the sea, wherever she is.
Hazel had never thought much about marriage, not until this moment. It always seemed like a distant concept. Something to ponder in the library on rainy days with a romance novel. Not something she would ever be faced with herself.
"While Drothon lacks tact, he is not necessarily wrong, my lady." Flamecrest's voice tears Hazel from her thoughts. "A marriage would further stabilize the citizens of Narnia. It would show that while you have not given up on the lost Kings and Queens, you are still moving forward with your life. It would set an example for others."
The group lapses into silence once more as the High Queen mulls over the words. Even in her vague thoughts of marriage, she never thought she would be the first sibling to marry. That should have been Peter. He would have paved the way for the rest of them.
"Grunic." A naiad straightens in her seat at Hazel's call. "Draft an acceptance to King Devon's offer. Prince Leopold and I will marry in the Autumn. He will come here to meet me in three week's time."
Chair legs scrape, hooves clop, and feathers ruffle as the High Queen stands, each advisor hurrying to bow as Hazel takes her leave.
Yet another title will be bestowed upon her.
Wife.
-
Sitting on her throne, Hazel feels the first emotion other than fear and grief in over a year. Butterfly wings flap against the lining of her stomach. She finds herself somewhere between nervous and excited.
Prince Leopold will be announced to her any moment. His ship docked half an hour ago. It usually takes visitors precisely thirty-seven minutes to reach the throne room once they dock in the harbor. She clasps her hands in her lap, willing them not to tremble.
She's not sure when her indifference turned to interest concerning her upcoming nuptials. She supposes that the voice in her head that sounds the most likely Lucy changed her mind some time in the last few weeks. "You're beginning a new adventure! Alone now or not, you'll soon have a new friend."
The youngest of her older siblings has always been the most optimistic. Lucy always looks for the bright side in any situation.
The sound of trumpets break up her thoughts. She unfolds her hands just before the doors open, resting them on the armrests of the throne.
"You are now in the presence of Her Majesty, High Queen Hazel the Wise of Narnia, to the Incandescent Axis of Worlds, Empress of the Lone Islands, Lady of Cair Paravel, Duchess of the Lantern Waste, Countess of the Western Marsh, Queen of the Seasons, Voice of Song, Daughter of Eve." Sonen, one of her knights, takes a breath before turning to her with a bow. Hazel rises to her feet, head held high. "Your Majesty, may I present Prince Leopold of the Draven Isles, Earl of the Whispering Pines."
Hazel's eyes track the man as he walks forward before dropping into a deep bow. He's older than her, taller too. His hair is tousled, as if he recently ran his fingers through it, and dark, almost black compared to her strawberry blond. As he straightens, forest green eyes meet her own sky blue ones. Her breath catches at the bright smile on his lips. Trimmed facial hair covers his chin. He's much more handsome than she ever imagined.
"Your Majesty, it's an honor to make your acquaintance." Hazel extends her hand as Leopold speaks, his eyes never leaving her own. He bows once more, this time over her hand before pressing soft lips to her knuckles.
"The pleasure is mine, Prince Leopold." Her voice is strong, holding the elegance of a queen while still having the resolve of a lone monarch.
"Just Leopold, please. If we are to be married, it'll be quite the mouthful for you to constantly refer to me by a title." Even after standing straight once more, he has yet to release her hand. A smile tugs the corners of his lips upward.
"Very well. The pleasure is mine, Leopold." Hazel offers her own smile this time, but does not yet extend the same courtesy of dropping titles.
His thumb traces over the knuckles of the hand he still holds as he looks at her. "I offer my most sincere condolences for your loss, Your Majesty."
The High Queen's smile turns brittle as her expression shutters, falling into blank indifference. Slowly, she carefully extracts her hand from his hold, bringing it back to her side. Spine straight, Hazel resists the urge to grind her teeth. "Thank you for your sentiments, Prince Leopold. My siblings' absence is felt dearly. Though, I would thank you to remember that my fellow Kings and Queens are merely missing, they have not passed on."
The Prince seems taken aback for a moment. The High Queen speaks again before he is able to cut in. "I will see you in a few hours for dinner. Please make yourself at home, Prince Leopold."
Without another word, she sweeps from the room, head held high. As she exits, she can just barely hear the whispered conversation between the Prince and one of his own knights.
"I've seemed to have misstepped already."
"The loss of her brothers and sisters is most likely a sensitive subject, my lord."
"Let's hope that I don't make a similar mistake at supper."
For a moment, Hazel feels a slight twinge of regret for snapping at the Prince. Then a voice that sounds almost like Edmund intrudes upon her thoughts.
"Who's he to decide how you feel?"
Hm. Too right. Besides, her siblings aren't dead. She's suffered no real loss. They are just temporarily separated from her.
They're just lost.