Ful chapter title: Little Hands, Shoeless Feet, Lonely Eyes Looking Back At Me.
"Rilian! Annalís! Come join me for a picnic!"
"Mum, I promised Ruavanna we would go horseback riding through Dancing Lawn."
"Fine then, Rilian will join me. Won't you, Rilian?"
"I guess I have no choice, Mum."
In the woods surrounding Cair Paravel, there lay an old enemy, blending in with the grass. She held a grudge against the Narnian royal family. But they were her family.
"Pick what you want to bring with us, Rilian."
"Fresh tomato slices, Mum. And I am guessing you made marmalade roll?"
"I did, it's a staple for us."
"Will Da be joining us?"
"I don't think so. But maybe your grandparents will be."
"Where will be picnicking?"
"By the apple trees. I will tell Caspian where we'll be if he needs us."
King Caspian X was practically locked up in his study, and the sound of his wife's voice was a Godsend for him in that moment.
"Rilian said he was joning you and Annalís for a picnic."
"Well, it looks like it will be just Rilian and I. Unless you would like to join us."
"I wish I could, my dear. But unfortunately, I am absolutely swamped with all of these petitions. With Peter and Adila in Gondor, Edmund and Lilliandil in Rivendell, and Lucy and Fíli in Erebor, there is no one here to help me. Unless Rilian doesn't want to go on a picnic."
"Caspian, let him join me. I don't like picnicing by myself."
"You win, my love. I will simply suffer through petitions and the smell of parchment. And the cramping of my hand for handling the quill too much."
"I will relieve your pain once our picnic is over. I promise you."
"The clouds are sightly grey, Susan. I hope it doesn't rain for you."
Rilian carried the picnic basket and blankets so that his mother did not have to all of the work. He sat everything down underneath the apple trees.
"There you are, Your Majesty."
"You are definitely your father's child, Rilian. You will spoil your wife as much as Caspian spoils me."
"Is a son not allowed to dote on his mother?"
"Just please don't overdue it."
Their plates were set and Rilian said a prayer before they ate. Susan walked down the grove of apple trees to the trees with the greenest and tartest apples there were. She made sure to bring back penty to make a pie.
"Mum, some of the lords were talking about looking for a bride for me."
"If your father and I can marry for love, so can you, Rilian. We have never really been a family to marry for alliances. It was more like alliances were also created in the marriages for love."
"That would be you and Da, Uncle Peter and Aunt Adila, Aunt Lucy and Uncle Fíli, and Aunt Kayla and Uncle Ivar."
"And many more before that. You can marry a peasant girl or a princess. As long as she is someone who the people cherish, and of course that she cherishes the people."
"That is all I ask for."
As they ate, Annalís and Ruavanna came riding through and Rilian ran to catch them.
"You can't run that fast, Rilian!"
"Watch me!"
"Don't hurt your brother, Annalís!"
"I don't have a reason to, Mother!"
"But I do!"
"Rua!"
"As complex as Edmund, I'll say."
"That's who I got it from, Aunt Susan."
Susan laid down on the picnic blanket and closed her eyes for a nap while the children played around. She thought back to when she had her first picnic with Caspian after Cair Paravel was rebuilt. It was under thoe very same apple trees.
The old enemy was watching the family, hidden in the grass, her colour iving her camofluge.
"Ta mee cheet, ta mee cheet dy veagh. Ta mee cheet, dy chur lhiat ty chree."
The enemy slowly made her way to Queen Susan, who the only surrounding soul she was aware of were her children and her niece.
And then, the enemy struck.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Rilian, Annalís, and Ruavanna came running to her. But by the time they got her, the enemy was slithering away and Rilian could not catch it. He jumped on his sister's horse, carrying his other in front of him while the girls rode back to the castle on Ruavanna's horse. The picnic items coud wait. Annalís ran to her father' study as fast as she could and bangd hard on the door. Hard enough to knock it down. Ruavanna fetched all of the healers and physicians in the castle, and dug around in Queen Lucy's room forher healing cordial.
"It's Mum, Father! She's been hurt, very badly!"
On Queen Susan's hand were two marks. Bite marks. Fang marks. Everyone new what had struck their beloved Queen.
Ruavanna had been trained in te haling arts as well, so she worked to hep draw the poison out od her Aunt's hand before it reached her heart. But there was no remedy. No antivenom worked. Caspian had held her hand all the way through it, and Rilian andAnnalís never left her side.
"I am so very sorry, Your Majesty. I wish there was more I could do. But I have nothing that is working."
All of the physicians and healers left the bedroom, while the family stayed by Susan's side. Ruavanna comforted a hystericAnnalís, while Rilian let Caspian cry into his shoulder. He still had notet go of his wife's hand.
The sky was grey that day. And it got darker as everyone grieved, and the news run through the whole of Narnia. The news of course reched Terebinthia, Ettinsmoor and the Wild Lands of the North, Archenland, Calormen, and the surrounding world, bringing home the rest of the family.
The first royal family to arrive was that of Kayla and Ivar.
"Aunt Kayla! Thank Aslan you're here!"
"We came as soon as we heard, Rua."
"Uncle Caspian is down in the treasure room. He won't leave Aunt Susan's statue."
Kayla found Annalís on the beach, while Ivar went to console his brother.
"Aunt Kayla. Did Mum have the power to move the waters?"
"Not as much as me, but yes. But she wasn't a fish like Lucy and I."
"Mama, you're needed in the coucil room."
"I'm coming, Iarfhlaith."
"Come on, Annalís. It might rain again. We don't want you to get sick."
Annalís reluctantly let her cousin walk her to her chambers. When Kayla arrived at the council room, she was met extreme hostility from some of the Narnian lords.
"Queen Susan was bitten by a snake, and Queen Kayla is also Queen of the Snakes. What does that tell you?!"
"I think it tells you that you are quick to assume things, my lord. Queen Susan is my family. My niece and my cousin by blood and my sister in bond. We have known each other for almost our whole lives. I have never killed anyone that wasn't asking for it, and Queen Susan the Gentle was not on that list."
"My lord Balvenos, unless King Caspian or any other member of the royal family is making this accusation, and I know for a fact that none of them are, I suggest you keep your mouth shut! We are here on behalf of Terebinthia, Ettinsmoor, and most importantly, ourselves! We are grieving, so leave us to our grief!"
"King Ivar is right, Lord Balvenos. I speak for my father and everyone here when I say, lords and ladies, unless you are family, please, go home for the day. Let my family be together in peace."
But there would not be any peace for the Pevensie family for a very long time.