In the months after Narnia, Hazel finds herself having to learn how to live again.
It has been twenty years since she lived among her siblings and even more since she was a child. It's much easier to get to know her brothers and sisters again than it is in getting to know herself.
The Pevensies spend two and a half months in the country manor with Professor Kirke and the Macready. Their days are mostly filled with reading books, reminiscing, and exploring the surrounding woods.
The Professor gives them pitying looks, especially when their story is finally pried out of them. The Macready watches them warily, as if unnerved by the changes in their behavior.
Susan urges them to be more subtle, to act the age they appear to be. Peter agrees, then immediately borrows a sword from one of the Professor's suits of armor to practice blade wielding on the grounds. Edmund sometimes joins him, but is often found playing both sides of a chess board. Lucy sings to flowers and dances on the branches of trees, reminding Hazel of the nymphs and dryads they left behind. Susan is not much better, reading law books and walking with the air of a woman twice her age.
Hazel may be the worst. She has very little memories of this land, this life. The six years she spent in the land of Spare Oom are almost lost to her. It's as if she is starting from the very beginning. Her siblings are similarly lost, though the vaguest of recollections seem to return to them all. She learns that this manor is not their home, but a temporary refuge. They used to live in a smaller house in Finchley with their mother and father, which is the oddest thing to think of. Her parents. The only people close to parents that Hazel has ever had are Peter and Susan. Though, now, she finds that she doesn't answer to their authority anymore either. She has spent too long as an adult, as a queen, as a wife, and as a mother herself.
It's as they depart their train to stand on a platform that Hazel realizes she won't recognize the woman waiting for them. She has no memory of Helen Pevensie. Helen will be waiting for her beloved children that she sent away for their safety. Instead, she will receive monarchs still grieving the loss of their kingdom.
"Peter!" Her eldest brother startles at the shout of his name, hand reaching for the nonexistent sword at his hip.
There's a part in the crowd, allowing them to see the woman waving at them, relief obvious on her face. For a moment, they are all frozen in place. Finally, Susan makes the first move, leading the group to their awaiting mother.
The woman pulls Susan and then Peter into a tight hug. The elder children return the embrace, though shift uncomfortably. Edmund is next, giving their mother a rather stiff hug and a tight smile that doesn't reach his eyes. Then, there's Lucy, who still seems to float when she walks. She lets the woman wrap her in warm arms and returns the gesture, though Hazel is certain she isn't the only one to catch her sister's hesitancy. Finally, it's her turn.
Hazel stares at the woman for a moment. Helen Pevensie. Her once mother. Her mother now, again. She thinks of her own children, her sweet Elaine, boisterous Alexander, studious Beatrice, and affectionate Henry. What she wouldn't give to wrap her children in her arms again. She steps forward and lets her mother cling to her. She finds herself clinging just as tightly. This woman has been missing her children for months, just as Hazel has. She will not let herself be the cause of pain to a mother that just wants to hug her children. Helen may be expecting the naive six year old she sent away, Hazel hopes she will settle for the far wiser forty year old that has taken her place.
"Oh, darling, how I've missed you." Helen squeezes her tight for a moment before letting go. Hazel blinks tears from her eyes, offering the woman, her mother, a small smile.
"I've missed you too, mummy. Terribly so." She's unable to stop the lone tear that escapes her, not when she's imagining her little Henry saying the exact same words.
Helen stares down at her for a moment more before smiling and wiping away Hazel's errant tear. She looks at her gathered children. "Let's go home, shall we?"
Hazel can't help but take the woman's hand as Peter answers for the group. "Yes, mum. Lead the way?"
The Pevensie family leaves the station, heading for their small Finchley home. All five of the children feel as if a large part of them was left behind, hiding away in an old wardrobe in a mansion far off in the countryside.