The Golden Age - Narnia fanfiction (Edmund x oc)

5. Dina

Although Diana already treasured the Pevensies it was very hard for her to show her appreciation for them, she had never had anyone to cherish other than Carissa and she hadn't been allowed to spend much time with her, so the few stolen moments that they had together were not enough experience for Diana.

She went to every meal they had together, which she was not used to, but she felt that she couldn't refuse the royals. She almost spent every waking hour in the company of at least one of the Kings or Queens, although it was mostly the Queens.

After a few days of constantly spending time with the royals, Diana was exhausted. She was used to spending most of her time alone, but she did not want to offend her new friends and so she did not say anything.

Diana was barely listening to the queens who were talking about the ball that was coming up next month. They were sitting in the garden at a glass table, sipping some tea on a lovely sunny day and Diana's thoughts were drifting off as she was taking in her surroundings and soaking up the sunshine and the beautiful bird chatter.

"Are you even listening?" Susan asked laughing at the princess as she jumped. "Sorry, I was distracted, the weather is beautiful today." She said her voice dreamy. "Well you are right about that, but this is important, we need to figure out what we will be wearing at the ball, obviously we can't wear clashing colors, so we have to find a color that suits all of us, but we could also..." Susan carried on her rant as Diana got lost in her thoughts again.

"Diana!" Susan looked offended. Diana's heart sank. "I'm so sorry your majesty, I will listen." She said adjusting her seat so that she was sitting upright and turned her full attention to the Queen. Susan looked surprised. "I've told you Su is fine, none of that formality." Diana's hears sank again. She had messed up twice in a row now, she really did not want to mess up more. "Right yeah sorry Su." She said her eyes glued to her hands.

Lucy noticed that Diana was uncomfortable, and put a reassuring hand on the princess' hands, and giving her a sympathetic smile. "What's wrong Dina?" The queens had insisted on using their nicknames, so they had also given Diana a nickname. It gave Diana immense joy to hear her nickname every time the royals called her.

"I'm just a little tired." Diana admitted feeling reassured by the young queen. "Have you not been sleeping well?" Susan looked concerned. "I have been sleeping very well thank you, better than ever actually... But I'm just not used to spending so much time with people. I used to spend a lot of time alone in my room back home." Diana answered truthfully, knowing that the queens would figure it out if she lied to them.

"Oh we have been so inconsiderate of you, we were just so excited to have you around so we didn't want you to feel unwelcome or anything so we wanted to spend as much time with you as possible, but you never refused us so we just assumed that you wanted to be with us as well." Lucy explained scolding herself for not having noticed the condition of the princess.

"I'm so sorry Dina, we had no idea you felt like that. You know you can tell us anytime you want to spend some time alone." Susan said with a worried look on her face. "Oh no please don't apologize it's my own fault really, and I do honestly want to spend time with you guys, I enjoy your company very much. It's just that I sometimes need to be alone for a bit to sort of recharge." Diana said, trying to lift her friends' spirits. "Of course, we understand. Please take all the time you need."

Diana thanked the two queens for their understanding and left them to discuss among themselves. She was on her way back to her room when she bumped into the two kings who were looking for the girls. "There you are Dina, where are the others?" Peter asked cheerfully looking behind her expecting the two queens to be there. "Your sisters are in the garden drinking tea while discussing the upcoming ball." Diana answered putting her facade up to appear cheerful.

"So why are you heading in the opposite direction?" Edmund asked suspiciously. "I was going to retire to my room for a while, I was not feeling too well." She said blankly. "Are you sick?" Peter asked concerned, putting the back of his hand on her forehead. Diana blushed at the contact and quickly retreated. "No, don't worry I'm just a little tired." She said clearly flustered. She bid the kings a good day and maneuvered herself around them heading to her room.

Edmund's heart stung a little. She hadn't even looked at him, but she had spoken cheerfully to Peter and even blushed when he had touched her forehead. He thought that was a clear sign that she really did hate him. But he couldn't really blame her. He had been awful to her when she had arrived, and she had been ripped away from her family because she was to marry him. He thought that if he was in her place he would also have hated himself.

A few days later Edmund had noticed that the princess was spending a lot more time alone in her room than she had done before, but he also noticed that she did not cry herself to sleep anymore as he had heard her do the first couple of weeks when she arrived. Edmund was quite confused by the behavior of the princess. Did she really hate them that much, that she was happier when she wasn't around them?

For this reason he tried to avoid her as much as possible, so that he wouldn't upset her, but he couldn't help but watch her from a distance when he found her sitting somewhere by herself sketching, and talking to the flowers in the garden which he had thought rather strange at first but he started to think that it was actually quite cute. She also spent a lot of time with Ava, and he enjoyed watching them taking walks in the garden.

He even saw her laughing once when she was with his sisters. She had such a beautiful laugh, Edmund found himself wishing that she would laugh for him too. But whenever he tried to speak to her she just tensed up.