Tranquility (Chronicles of Narnia fan fiction)

Chapter 7

It had been several days since she got injured and each day was better than the next. Even professor Marcus had visited her! He had sat down with her and read to her from his books, giving her some lessons and smiling when he managed to distract her from her pain. Natalie greatly appreciated his visits. Natalie had come to realize that she truly enjoy her time there, with her new friends.

She had found herself laughing more, smiling more, and even teasing them, which the three royals were thrilled about. Even so, a tiny niggle in the back of her mind, warned her not to get too close, not to risk losing yet more friends, but at the moment, she tried to ignore that and let her friends dote on her. As she laid there in bed that morning, she smiled to herself, reminiscing in the events of the past days since her injury. The first day of her sentence to being stuck in her bed, Caspian had shone himself after being scarce most of the day.

"Hello!" Caspian brandished his flower bundle as his head poked through the doorway. "May I come in?" his expression was so guilty she had to give him a smile, though it wasn't much of one.

"Of course, come in," Natalie said, watching him awkwardly squirm a little.

"Did I mention to you already how sorry I was? I mean, I'm really sorry I pressured you, you didn't even want to and I-"

"Caspian! Please stop! You're forgiven," Natalie smiled. "Is that for me?" she asked, glancing at the flowers still in his hand.

"Oh! Yes! Um, I hope you like flowers?" He walked over and gave her the flowers.

"Thank you, they're really nice," she smiled, taking in the sweet smelling scent of the petals.

"Ah, I believe your flowers need a vase! I'll be right back!"

"Ca- you don't have to-" But he was already gone. "Ah, oh well," Natalie shook her head and looked down at the beautiful blue flowers with white rims about the petals. She had never seen such a flower back "home".

The second day, Edmund had sat by her bed-side, clearly missing the awkward expression on Natalie's face. It soon vanished as he began telling her some of his many adventures as King and what he had to go through when his older brother wasn't there to protect him.

"Come in," Natalie said at the knock on her door.

Edmund smiled as he walked over. "Hey, Natalie, how are you feeling?" he asked her.

"Like I fell off a horse," Natalie shot back, relaxing when Edmund laughed at her joke.

"Looks like falling off a horse gave you a sense of humor!" He grinned.

"Hey, I always had a sense of humor, I just wasn't using it..." Natalie retorted with a mock scowl, before his laughter forced a smile out of her once more. She discovered that she very much enjoyed the sound of his laughter.

"Mind if I sit down?" Edmund gestured to the chair near her bed and snapping her out of her dangerous thoughts. Natalie bit her lip, unsure, but nodded in the end. Edmund sat next to her and began to open up to her, to her surprise, he told her some of his adventures, including a battle he was in when he was still very young."So there I was, my back against the wall and three dwarfs with axes!" Edmund drew his arms wide to illustrate how large the axes were. Natalie smiled a little easier as he launched into his dramatic story. At that rate, she would be laughing out loud in no time!

The third day was a little easier for Natalie to feel relaxed around them. She listened with much amusement as Caspian told his Dawn Treader story.