“Pete, you look terrible,” the Just King commented as he stared towards his brother.

The High King looked over to his younger brother almost with a glare as he brought a goblet down from his lips. “Thanks Ed,” Peter retorted, face twisted with an almost threatening smile instead of a frown.

Edmund merely coughed a laugh at this before he leaned in towards the table. “No really, I’m serious,” he continued. At this he looked over his brother’s form skeptically, brow wrinkled as he looked him up and down. “You don’t look well.”

Peter shook his hand, waving him off with his hand briefly. When it looked as though Edmund might continue, he was interrupted.

“Actually,” came a voice from the other end of the table. The two brothers paused to look over to their friend. The Telmarine-born king was sitting between the two, with Peter at the head of the table. “I agree with King Edmund.”

The three kings of Narnia were eating their afternoon meal, sitting in the dinning hall to be exact. From its massive size it was obvious that it had been made for a few hundred people, but only three were there that day. And although there were only three people present, the table had originally been set for five; two seats remained empty. But the main concern at that moment wasn’t about who was absent, but one who was there.

Caspian looked openly concerned, unlike the youngest king who wasn’t exactly straightforward with his own. He tried to smile although there was obviously another emotion than happiness on his face.

“You appear...” He paused, brow wrinkling, almost as if trying to think of the proper way to describe his friend. “...ill.”

Both Edmund and Caspian had been referring to the high king’s somewhat ‘ruffled’ appearance. Peter appeared like his normal self, but there was something off, something abnormal about his presence.

Normally the high king’s eyes were bright and alert, but at that moment they were dulled with dark circles encasing them. His normally kept and trimmed dirty blond hair was a bit rumpled, at least not as kept as a king should be. And although he wore velvets and silks, his clothes were disheveled, almost as if they’d been slept in. His movements and actions were shaky; they were slow and careful, almost as if he didn’t want to make any mistakes. He looked as though he was trembling as well; as he took a drink, his hand shook.

On the other hand, both of his companions were dressed semi-formally like always, clothes straight and kept. Besides the fact that they obviously weren’t trembling, both of them seemed as alert as usual. They were much more alert than the high king at that moment.

Peter only took in a deep sigh as he shook his head. “I’m fine,” he promised, looking his brother in the eye. Edmund replied by giving his brother a disbelieving look. “Honestly, Ed,” Peter shrugged as he looked down to his fork, “I’ve just been working hard, that’s all.”

His two companions exchanged a knowing glance, obviously not believing him in the least. Restoring Narnia wasn’t an easy task but that didn’t mean that Peter had to put all of his energy into it; he had four others to help him. And at that moment it was extremely obvious that the High King was ill, seeing as he could barely keep his eyes open even while eating.

From his seat, Caspian raised an eyebrow. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself. With Peter, he still had difficulty determining when it was his place to speak. Only when Edmund gave him an assuring nod, he tried again.

“Have you ... been sleeping well?” He only asked what they were both thinking.

“Have you been sleeping at all?” Edmund added, being his usual cynical self.

Peter seemingly rolled his eyes at both of these questions as though they were obvious. “Of course. I’ve just been staying up a little bit later to go through some documents,” he replied, eating as though there was really nothing to his condition. “We have the court assembly tomorrow, and I don’t want any problems to arise.”

Edmund chuckled. “That’s impossible to avoid,” he remarked, leaning his elbow on the table. “We’re putting two groups of people together in the same room who’ve been fighting for over thirteen hundred years.

“Not to mention,” Caspian added almost grimly, looking to his plate. “We’re changing the government almost completely. I can only imagine who will disagree with it.”

“Excellent point. That’s why I want to be prepared,” Peter stressed a little bit more harshly than intended. “Who knows what kind of misfortunes may and probably will occur?”

Edmund’s brow wrinkled. “That’s something we all have our minds on, Pete, but it’s nothing to lose sleep over.” He put his hands down to rest on the table top, but still held utensils. “Maybe you should take it easy until tomorrow.”

“I am sure we can handle things without you for a few hours,” Caspian assured. Although he didn’t like disagreeing with Peter all the time, since it was bad for Narnia, this was something he couldn’t look by.

He inhaled deeply as he looked around. “Where are Su and Lucy anyway?” He looked over to the empty places at the table.

Edmund frowned; leave it to Peter to change the subject when the topic was about his own well-being. “You were the one who sent off Luce to go look for Susan, remember?” he reminded his brother. But then he shrugged as he looked to his plate. “I really don’t see why she can’t be left by herself. I mean, Susan’s a big girl, isn’t she?”

“It’s just that—”

“Her majesty could—”

Both of the young men shared a glance as Edmund cracked a smile at their antics. They really had to stop answering at the same time as one another. It wasn’t deliberate, but it had become a habit the two of them developed. Well, it came with them both being king, after all.

Peter gave a long sigh. It seemed that sighing was all he did do. “It’s not that I don’t think Su can’t be by herself, but I’m not exactly certain that it’s entirely safe,” he responded in his ‘high king’ mode. “For her to be away from the castle.”

Caspian cleared his throat. “After all, we did just end a war and we still have hostile people in Narnia,” he mentioned in agreement. “Her highness by herself would be an easy target.”

“Exactly,” the high king agreed.

Although Edmund had known it before, the fact that his brother agreed with Caspian so easily confirmed his illness. The younger king then gave his brother a look, one that was weary and skeptical at the same time.

“Well, what exactly do you plan to do? Keep her locked up in the castle all day?” he asked sarcastically. “May I remind you of what happened the last time we tried that? She’ll shoot you if you’re not careful,” he established bluntly.

At this, Caspian seemed to be taken aback as his eyes widened accordingly, although doubtful. Peter rolled his eyes again this time with a huff. “He’s kidding,” he assured the Telmarine king.

Caspian smiled almost in embarrassment, but then took a sip of his wine to cover it up. He knew that the queen could be fierce when she wanted to be, but he’d been certain she wouldn’t shoot her brother. He was actually quite glad to confirm that, seeing as that he didn’t want to be shot for anything he might to in the future.

There was another thing that was bothering the Telmarine king, but he didn’t think that he should have mentioned it at that moment. After all, the two brothers were speaking of their sister’s safety, and here he’d just let Susan go off all by herself that morning. He decided it was best to keep silent about that for the time being.

“You can’t keep her from going outside,” the youngest king continued, not seeing Caspian’s discomfort. “That’s like trying to get Lucy to stay away from Aslan.”

“Point taken,” Peter noted dully. “What would you like me to do? She doesn’t like guards – last time we assigned her those she snuck past them while they weren’t looking.”

For a moment, there was silence between the two brothers as they stared off into space. Edmund was more or less picking at his food and Peter wasn’t eating at all. Actually, none of them were eating anymore. It seemed the conversation spoiled their appetites.

It was then that a thought struck the Telmarine king. The idea was so simple that he wondered why no one had thought of it before.

“If I may,” Caspian then interrupted tentatively. His two companions looked up to him curiously, even if Peter’s gaze lingered slightly. “You wish that her majesty remains safe, correct? But you don’t want to limit her movement. And then of course you want to keep an eye on her at all times.”

“Pretty much,” the Just King answered, as blunt as ever. He looked over to his brother who nodded in agreement before looking back to Caspian.

“Then if it is that, may I make a suggestion?”

The tree’s branches moaned in complaint as its leaves shuttered in the wind. The beautiful pink blossoms were of were of no use to their aggressors and gave into the breeze. As the petals danced, others soon joined them and swirled around in circles. In the midday sun, giggles and laughter could be heard amongst the apple trees, and coming their visitor.

As Susan sat amongst the grass, she sat against one of the very trees that were dancing around. Although its companions were moving about and enjoying the sunny spring day, it let its queen rest against its trunk. With her eyes closed, she smiled softly as she faced the gentle rays of the sun. She was content with just sitting there in the grass, as though she hadn’t another care in the world.

One of the things she truly loved about Narnia was one of its most simple things. She loved the quiet, the stillness, and the all around peace that one felt while laying with the trees. There was no other time in her life that she truly felt like there was nothing wrong. The trees she was visiting were unfamiliar to her, but she accepted them like she had numerous ones before. Besides, there wasn’t another place where she could come to think.

She inhaled deeply, taking in the perfumes and fresh air all around her. It seemed as though ages had past since the last time she was able to enjoy such simplicities. All around her, the essence of peace was in the air to ease her mind. Her chest rose and fell as she let herself lie down in the tall grass. The blades brushed up delicately against her cheeks and ears as she turned on her side. It too smelled as indulgent as the trees, all of whom she knew were watching her protectively.

Only her timeless pleasure was interrupted by the familiar sound of a voice, that of which she knew all too well.

“Susan!”

Again she inhaled, but this time for the purpose of sighing deeply. In the distance she heard the pattering of galloping hooves, knowing exactly what it was that was making it. Opening her eyes, she slowly rose to a sit while still leaning on her arms and looked around. Not too far away was the figure of her sister, becoming closer as she bounced along on her own white steed. The trees seemed to bow to her as she rode past, knowing full well she was their queen.

Susan smiled in amusement as Lucy’s horse came to a halt a little bit away from where she lay. She didn’t have to look at her younger sister to know what was coming next.

“There you are!” the younger queen exclaimed, looking a little concerned. “I’ve been looking all over for you. Have you been here all day? I know I saw you off this morning but that was hours ago Su...” the youngest queen moaned out in a whine. “Peter will have our heads if he knew you were out here all alone for that long.”

The gentle queen remained silent she pushed herself off the ground, slowly rising to her feet. She brushed off her skirts carefully, not at all hurrying. Lucy’s brow wrinkled with concern as she looked upon her sister. Instead of spending her days in the court the last week with their brothers, she was cavorting about the countryside.

The fact that Susan pretended like there weren’t matters to take care of worried Lucy. Her sister was never one to avoid problems. In fact, she was the one that made her siblings face them. As Susan straightened her appearance, she didn’t look at her sister at all.

“I don’t know why you insist on going out alone. Now I have both Pete and Ed mad at me for letting you go,” Lucy mentioned, her tone never wavering.

Susan began to search around the ground as if looking for something. Never once did she bother to look up at her sister. Actually, it was as if she hadn’t even heard her. With annoyance, Lucy frowned at being ignored.

“Su-san!” she groaned demandingly.

Her older sister chuckled as she picked up her quiver and its matching bow. She turned around to face her sister with a mischievous smile. “Well, that didn’t take much to get you going,” she laughed. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d gone all serious on me.”

Lucy pouted childishly as she crossed her arms. “That wasn’t funny,” she pointed out, a smile trying to come to her lips. Her sister only continued to chuckle as she shook her head. “It was awfully hard to find you, you know. I had to search all over the place. I didn’t even know you were still out riding until Caspian told me. Honestly, do you have to spend all day out here? Aren’t you at least hungry? I’m missing lunch for this.”

Susan suddenly looked up to her sister with a wrinkled brow, pushing her hair from her face that had gotten caught in a draft of wind. “Caspian told you where I was?” she asked, completely ignoring her sister’s questions.

At first Lucy just raised an eyebrow, but then answered slowly. “Not really...” she said suspiciously. “I was asking around and he told me he saw you in the stables this morning. You were the one who told me about the apple orchard this morning, remember?”

She briefly recalled bringing up the orchard when Lucy visited the other morning and helped her to dress. But she was almost certain she hadn’t seen Caspian that morning at all. “How did he know I was still out here?” she asked as she slung her quiver over her head.

Lucy just shrugged. “I don’t know; I’m not him. All he said your horse wasn’t back in the stables yet,” she answered casually as she nodded over her shoulder, in the direction from which she came.

Susan didn’t have to turn to know she was gesturing to Alora; her newly acquired horse. She’d tied her to a tree at the edge of the woods so she wouldn’t wander off. And speaking of the horse, the gentle queen had noticed she’d been saddled every day after the morning Caspian had given the mare to her. Part of her wanted to know why he did it, but another part of her already knew. And that was why she didn’t ask.

“Caspian also said you come out here every morning,” Lucy noted. A devious grin came onto her face that made Susan turn away and begin to walk towards her own horse. “Isn’t that funny how he knows that?”

“Hilarious,” the older girl muttered sarcastically. She heard Lucy nudge her horse forward as she followed her sister. “Did he say anything else?”

Her sister giggled. It made Susan shiver, but she didn’t dare let her sister know. “Only he saddled that horse for you this morning,” she replied as she leaned forward on the horse. Her smile was almost frightening. “Again.”

Susan inhaled. She knew this was coming. Leave it to Lucy to be the brilliant one and figure things out. Of course she hadn’t been exactly advertising her interaction with Caspian, but her sister could find a needle in a haystack. This was Lucy after all, the girl who could see the things others couldn’t. People underestimated the girl because of her small stature, forgetting that she was really much older mentally. Sometimes Susan had to admit that she still thought of Lucy as her baby sister, which only hindered herself. And it didn’t help on Susan’s part that she had been a little flirtatious toward him in Lucy’s presence, back when he’d sent them both off on Destrier on the day of battle.

Susan made it across the orchard and over towards Alora. She began to untie her reins from the tree branch when Lucy said spoke up again from her position on her own horse. “Why would he do that, Su?”

Although her tone was innocent enough, Susan could feel a slight playful deviousness in it. Really now, did Lucy know everything?

The older girl merely shrugged her shoulders. “I haven’t the faintest idea why,” she retorted promptly, never once looking at her sister.

But even then she heard her sister let out a long sigh, probably rolling her eyes through the entire thing. Both of them knew that the other wasn’t serious, but that didn’t stop Lucy from pushing it a little further. A part of Susan knew that Lucy was well aware of what was going on, but the other part didn’t want to admit it just yet. Besides, what was else was there to say? Lucy already knew all the things that had happened between her sister and Caspian. Nothing else had happened, so what more could she say?

There was a bit of silence as Susan grabbed a hold of the saddle and hoisted herself up onto the horse. She didn’t look at her sister as she settled herself down and took a hold of the reins, although she could feel Lucy staring at her.

When she finally did look at Lucy, she gave her an innocent look. “What?” she demanded harshly, almost annoyed.

The valiant queen’s face contorted into a pout, her lips curling to the one side as she eyed her sister up and down skeptically. Her eyes were narrowed sharply as she leaned over a little, almost as if trying to look at something very small on her sister’s face. Then her face returned to normal and she sat up straight again, looking as though nothing was wrong.

“Oh, nothing,” she replied cheerfully, pushing her horse off to go forward. “Whatever you say.”

Susan raised an eyebrow as she nudged Alora, taking off as Lucy had just done. She came up beside the younger girl, although Lucy merely looked forward and didn’t bother turning her head to look at her sister.

“Lucy,” Susan warned, a command in her voice. “I’m serious, alright? Don’t go getting ideas into that head of yours. Caspian was just being nice.”

“That’s why he gave us these horses right?” Lucy giggled as she looked at her sister out of the corner of her eye.

Susan almost gasped as she looked at her sister with wide eyes. “How did you know that he gave me Alora?” she asked, demanding even though her voice was calm. “And what do you mean us?”

Laughing, Lucy rolled her eyes. “How do you think? Caspian told me he gave her to you,” she replied, chuckling the entire time. She ruffled her own mare’s mane before she spoke again. “And he gave me this one this morning. Her name’s Adara, and she’s the little sister of yours. He said both of us should have pretty white horses, since we’re queens and all.”

Susan couldn’t help but grin at this. That sounded like something Caspian would do. “Anything else?” she asked, but really didn’t want to know. It seemed that Lucy had been quite chatty with Caspian this morning. She was just saying it to humor her.

“Nope,” her sister replied quickly. “After all, he was just being nice.”

For a moment Susan honestly didn’t know whether or not Lucy was being serious. When she determined that she was, she thought again and ran her sister’s words and tone through her head and they sounded different. Oh, this girl she called a little sister was getting too wise for her own good. After thinking about it much longer than she needed to, Susan shook her head as though to clear it and let out a long breath through her nose.

“Like I said before,” she agreed in a mumble. Her sister merely grinned at her out of the corner of her eye.

Great, absolutely wonderful. Now she didn’t just have Caspian to deal with, but now there was Lucy with her all knowing smile and ever open ears and eyes. Susan had to hide her groan, both audibly and physically. She thought she was in trouble before? As if she didn’t have enough people to avoid.

But then she grinned much like Lucy had done a few minutes before and leaned forward to she her sister’s face. “All that aside, what’s this about Peter having our heads, hm?”

One of the best things about being a mouse was being able to fit through tight spaces. One could easily slip through spaces that no bigger creature could even imagine. That was why it was so easy to scurry around a castle made for humans. Most of the time movement was virtually undetectable. And for the brigade of a mouse by the name of Reepicheep it was all the same.

Keeping their kings and queens safe was top priority, especially ever since the end of the war. So with permission of their superiors, the rodents were allowed to roam the corridors of the castle (as long as they didn’t harm any of the cats who lived inside) being sure that the building was secure. This included making sure everyone else didn’t know of their presence at any point.

But that was just the thing; when no one knew anyone else was there, they had no idea they were being watched. With that in mind, the others in the room with the patrolling mice did as they pleased without a second thought.

That was why even with a mouse in the room, unsuspecting Narnians (both human and creature) would loosen their mouths to reveal the daily gossip.

Only when one mouse heard something in particular, he thought it best to inform his superior. After all, it was about their monarchs.

“Trufflehunter!”

At any other time, the sight of a mouse the size of Reepicheep would startle a human, or in the very least make them look up for a moment. But it seemed that all the human servants in the castle had temporarily gotten used to such animals scurrying all over the halls and corridors. Some of the older ladies were still a bit squeamish but they let it go.

The head mouse didn’t even bother walking upright on two paws, instead using all four in order to move faster. As he approached the his friend, the newly knighted badger stopped walking and turned around in the middle of the hallway.

They happened to be on the main level, where all the ceilings were higher. The animals tended to stray towards these quarters more because of their relation in size to the woods. But with its great size it made the two naturally small creatures seem even littler than usual.

The rodent padded up to his friend and stood up on his hind legs to look him in the eye, forgetting the fact that he was out of breath.

“Reepicheep? Whatever is the matter?” the badger asked with concern. In his arms he held a few scrolls, as he had been going somewhere before the interruption. “Nothing bad I hope.”

“Oh no, the castle is completely safe,” Reepicheep replied proudly as his whiskers twitched a little. “But one of my mice was in the kitchens, and he heard the most extraordinary piece of information.”

The badger blinked with a little bit of confusion, tilting his head to the side. “Information?”

For a moment the mouse contemplated his words, holding his two front paws together in front of him. “Well... how would I put it? There was no proof exactly and it was merely from observation.”

Trufflehunter then let out a chuckle. “Gossip?” he offered, as he turned to walk forward, but still looked at the mouse next to him. “What else is new? There’s plenty of that running around.”

Reepicheep followed by the badger’s side, although he had to take a couple steps more to match the pace. “Yes, I’m quite aware of that,” he continued with a sigh. “But this I’m afraid has something to do with their majesties.”

This caused his companion to pause for a moment but he continued on his way. “Like a plot against them?” he asked seriously.

The mouse shook his head. “No, not that,” he assured. “But it is something that could cause rumors to start spreading. I’m almost certain they already have.”

When he readied for a reply, he wasn’t expecting one from a much deeper voice. “What kind of rumors?” asked them from above, soon to be followed by the sound of hoofs.

The pair looked up towards the darker centaur as he continued. “If they should mention any ill tidings, then we should locate the source to eliminate them,” Glenstorm added. “The rumors.”

Reepicheep bowed and was forced to take a few steps back in order to look up properly to the newest member of the conversation. “Ah yes, good day General,” he addressed the centaur. Glenstorm nodded in reply. “No, I’m sorry, I don’t believe the rumors to be of anything bad,” he explained. “But I think that if they were to spread the reaction could be.”

Trufflehunter’s brow wrinkled as much as a badger’s could before he spoke again. “I’m afraid I’m lost. You say that what the rumor contains isn’t bad?”

“I’m afraid not, my good friend,” he replied, sounding a little cheerful. “If the rumor were true then it would be a very happy day indeed.”

“But you say that if it is not true and spreads than it is a bad thing?” Glenstorm confirmed.

“Indeed, sir,” Reepicheep answered, seemingly with uplifted spirits.

Still holding the scrolls with one hand, the badger used the other to scratch his head. “I think it’s best if you were a little more specific with what you were talking about, my old friend,” he stated curiously. “Is it about all their majesties?”

“Only two, actually,” the mouse established, holding up two of his mouse-paw fingers. “King Caspian and — ”

“Queen Susan.” Both of the smaller animals looked up to the centaur with surprise as he finished the mouse’s sentence. There was a moment of silence, before the general looked up from them and straight ahead.

“I too have heard a similar rumor,” he continued, answering their unspoken questions. “Please tell us what you have heard specifically, my mouse friend. We may need to take matters a little more seriously if this continues.”