The High Queen of the Zephyrs descended from the cerulean, emerald bough trimmed skies. The sound of her striking the ground caused Caspian to gulp. Out of the corner of his eye, he turned to Peter and desperately wished that the High King would step up and help him deal with this diplomatic incident. Oh, she was fearsome.

Eagles's wings flew from her back, their tips gilded and stiff with the precious metal. Her eyes were blood red, and her features were frigid with a deathlike chill. Her dress was the silver blue of the rich winter skies, woven out of feathery metal scales all equally delicate and resourceful in rebuffing a blade. By her side, a double-edged sword hung and her hand rested there constantly, her features a guarded aquiline.

Behind her, three other Zephyrs descended while the rest flew in rotation above the clouds. Edmund lifted his black brows to look at them and an unconscious laugh slipped from him. He could only imagine what frights the superstitious Telmarines were being subjected to.

The Aerial looked imposingly and expectantly at Caspian. She seemed to await some measure that was due to her.

But one look at Caspian's face gave evidence that he was so overwhelmed by her masterful presence that he could say nothing.

Elain cocked one silver eyebrow and then spoke frigidly, " Are you going to welcome me at all? Do you not realize that I am a queen and deserving of the observance of some customs despite the ruggedness of this court?"

Caspian gave a sound like a beaching whale and then gasped, " Welcome, your majesty-oh I can't do this!" And he started shaking and just decided that it was best to bow as soon as he could.

One of the younger Zephyrs behind Elain laughed and then quickly covered her face. Golden hair and ice blue eyes rimmed with scarlet were her most distinguishing features. Besides this she shared the chillness of her kin and their glacial appearance.

Elain's exterior cracked and she allowed an a kindly smile to decorate her features. " Thank you for your greeting. I hope that I did not frighten you, my lord. Who are you?"

" I am Caspian, King of Narnia," he replied still not daring to rise from his deep bow.

Elain's eyes turned bright red and then she moved forward menacingly. " Caspian is a Telmarine name. I hope that I am sure in assuming that you are half-Telmarine? Perhaps your mother or your father is Narnian?"

Caspian gulped painfully and caught Peter's gaze out of the corner of his eye. Peter's fixed and concerned look did nothing to ease the discomfort that was welling up within him. " No, I am completely Telmarine."

Elain's temper flashed forward and she leaned down towards Caspian's feature, one slim finger lifting his head so that black eyes stared fearfully into icy blood. " No Telmarine can be King of the Narnians. No Narnian would dare accept such a treacherous whelp." And then she yanked him up so that she held him as though she was parading a sideshow.

Peter moved forward, his golden brown hair billowing in the winds stirred up by the descending Zephyrs who had heard the fierce words of their queen. " He has been accepted and chosen by the Narnians. And his kingship has been become by us and our consorts. Caspian the TenthisKing of Narnia." His inflection was commanding and he met the terrible eyes of the queen before him. Though his heart was sick with her potential reply, Peter did not dare allow Caspian to suffer by her prejudice.

Elain released Caspian and her eyes pinioned upon Peter's. With reptilian swiftness, they scanned both Peter and Edmund before flickering to her guards behind her. " High King Peter the Magnificent. Edmund." She bowed slightly to the younger before her snake-like eyes once again moved to the King. " I see that you have finally returned from War Drobe. I am surprised. I thought, perhaps, the wonders of Spare Oom more than made up for the confinements of your throne."

Peter winced under her evident rebuke at his leaving, but stayed steady. He extended a hand to Caspian who still was shaking under the frozen influence of the Zephyr and then returned to his place.

Elain gave an heavy sigh and then turned to her warriors. " Lyra," she gave a slight command.

" Yes, your Majesty," the young Zephyr spoke as she came to her queen's side.

" Lieutenant, pitch a perimeter about the How. Then send reconnaissance flights over the Telmarine camp. I want to know every movement that you record. More than that, make sure that Miraz is aware of our presence. But let it appear that we are flying in by twos and threes and not all have arrived. It will encourage him even while it frightens him." Elain told her soldier.

Lyra bowed, her wings sweeping back behind her in a gilded cloak of feathery down. As she raised herself, her blue eyes latched upon Peter's. She gave him a small smile, approving and encouraging. Peter was careful not to draw attention to it, but he returned it. He knew that she was aware of the piquancy of the Aerial; that she encouraged him to hold steady to his course.

Elain's wings folded behind her, and her features flashed as she gazed at the handsome King of Narnia. Her mouth folded together into disgust; her stance was one of distaste and distrust. Behind her, ranging about, their eyes peeled and determined, were her two soldiers. Her lieutenant, Lyra, and another soldier who was Lyra's second-in-command.

Elain finally spoke, gravel stoning her words. " So you are King of Narnia, are you, Telmarine? Tell me how did you come to even consider them real? Not just the ghosts and fairytales that virgin mothers tell their Telmarine children."

Caspian gasped sharply at the vitriol in her words and then, gulping, he quickly spoke. " My professor told me about the Narnians. As did my nursemaid. It was they who first trained me in what a king is expected to be."

Elain scoffed at him, her eyes swiveling between her lieutenant and Peter as though she wanted him to watch her decimate the youthful king. " Oh, what a king is supposed to be? Did you not learn that from your treacherous ancestors? From the first Caspian? Or was Miraz's example of murdering his brother unbearable even for your kind?"

Caspian shook at the memory of his uncle's treachery, but he was able to answer her. " No. I learned what was expected from my ancestors, it is true, but I learned the most from the Narnians. They told me that only a Son of Adam could sit on the throne; that only a Son of Aslan could rule. They accepted me, bound up my wounds, and despite every reason they had for killing me, they put me on the throne of Narnia. It was their trust and dignity that truly taught me what a king is supposed to be. That-" here he turned to the High King, " and I have studied the traditions and legends of my forebears!"

Lyra grimaced and then turned to face her own queen. The white face had become blotched with fury, and wrath was intimate on every lineament of those features. It did not take long for the bubbling anger to overflow the too-short walls of her heart-pot.

" Son of Adam! You dare speak to me of Sons of Adam! You who are spawned from treacherous dogs who have given up e'en the title of human! Ha, you are no Son of Adam! To even associate it with a cur such as you is a miserable curse." Elain spat. Her wings released themselves and the gilding turned red in the lantern fire. Her very spirit seemed to be alight with wrath; her eyes boiled red lava forth and transmitted themselves to Caspian.

" Your Majesty, don't!" Lyra interjected. " Do not-"

Elain turned across and gazed at her. " Lyra!" Quiet and still, the warning was equally deadly.

But then she returned to Caspian. She was not finished with him. She had released some ancient wrath and had no intention of quelling it just yet. And facing him, she found another argument which she could throw into the trembling King's face.

Peter and Edmund were kept from interjecting only by their respect for Caspian and their love for Elain. Peter knew that she spoke from a betrayed and tormented heart. A heart that he had abandoned, however, unmeaningly, thirteen hundred years ago. Edmund restrained his own quick and just temper, for he respected the lady before him. She had taught him many things about justice and excellent rule. And it had been her encouragement which had led him to become known as the "Just" for his litigations.

Elain's eyes snapped and Caspian knew another attack was coming. " You tell me of the teachers that you had in your youth, Son of Adam. Those who inspired you with such a great love for the Narnians. Those who led the way for your own acceptance by Narnia as King. Well, who were they?"

Caspian did not respond. He was sure that it was not his place and that she would not listen even if she thought he was right.

" Look at your Professor. Is that who you will take your counsel from? Is that who will teach you the right of rule? Better the White Witch had been raised up!" Elain was trilling within herself. Vivid red anger was displayed on her entire body.

" Professor Cornelius is respected by all the Narnians. King Peter himself has given him his commendation. He is half-Narnia-"

Elain shouted, " You call him Narnian? It would have been better to me if you had a hag as your tutor. At least she would have been a complete Narnian! But that half-dwarfen, illegitimate Telmarine? He is Narnian?! No, he is even as you are. A whelp spawned of a treacherous, ignominious, ignoble, disgraceful son-of-a-!" Here she caught herself, aided by the gasp of disgrace and disgust from Lyra and Peter's look of shame and sorrow.

Edmund pushed himself forward quickly and focused upon the lady. " Elain, you once told me that one who can find only one word to express their indignation is one whose mind has been clouded by wrath. Such a person cannot be understood nor respected." He gave her a wry look of happy sorrow. " I merely wanted to remind you."

Elain turned to Lyra and saw the red blush of shame decorating her subordinate's features. And then, she gasped draftily, releasing her anger.

Caspian turned his features to Peter and saw that he too released a sigh. A sigh of relief, of happy restraint. " My lady, I am so sorry that my very presence is a figure of disdain and hate to you. I had hoped that with your arrival, the blessing of Aslan had finally descended upon our burgeoning rebellion."

Elain's wings drooped and then their bearer sighed wearily. " Nay, Caspian, as my lieutenant will tell you, for one who is so bold for the purity of faith in Aslan, I truly need his own refining influence. I do try, but sometimes, my hate of evil and their workers become the ruling passion of my spirit."

Caspian bowed to her and then gave her a bright smile. " Elain, High Queen of the Zephyrs, you are most welcome. The Narnians have missed you. They have longed for their High Queen."

Elain's features faltered, and the ice woven mask fell down and shattered into a thousand watery shards. Her eyes quivered, and the fire was extinguished almost instantly. " I have missed the Narnians no more than they have missed me." And then suddenly tears of bold and vibrant quality descended down her face. They dropped to the floor and reflected gold in the warm glow of the lanterns.

Peter caught one look of her face before she crumpled to the ground, or rather just above it because her wings would have been in discomfort had she laid upon the stone. And then a single, wailing sob echoed from the Aerial. Elain was crying; crying because she had been deeply in the wrong, because she had indeed missed the Narnians; or because of some other deep feeling that she had sowed and planted in her soul. But whatever it was, the Aerial was crying.

Well, I finally finished this chapter. I had wanted it to be a lot different, but I decided that I'd just let the inspiration flow.

I hope that you enjoy the story and the characters are coming alive. Elain is a tempestuous person. She lets emotion rule her a lot. But I think that she's really a cool and lovely person.

Enjoy the story, vote, comment, or follow the story. Thank you so much for reading,

Living for Christ,

Jetta Lee