Tranquility (Chronicles of Narnia fan fiction)

Chapter 13

It was a dreadfully quiet morning, two days later, after the delegates had thanked their hosts and went back home. Neither Caspian nor Lucy could do anything to break the tension between Edmund and Natalie. While Natalie looked beside herself, more depressed than they had ever seen her, Edmund looked down right furious and refused to speak to anyone. "He doesn't take rejection well..." Lucy had told Caspian the previous night, at the second evening's ball. Natalie had been nowhere to be seen and Edmund had glowered so much he kept all the noble ladies from getting twenty feet in front of him.

After breakfast that morning, Edmund stormed out without a word, heading toward the practice range to most likely find someone foolish enough to spar with him, and Natalie headed into the direction of the library. "This is bad..." Caspian mentioned, frowning sadly, one boot-covered foot propped up on a vacant chair.

"Agreed," Lucy sighed. She twirled a strand of hair between her fingers, her chin resting on her palm with her elbow on the table in an improper manner, gazing at the centerpiece on the table without actually seeing it. Oh how she hated when people fought, any kind of fight, be it a brawl, a war, words, it didn't matter, it always made her feel horrible. Seeing her friends fight like this was just heartbreaking to her, and she wished Aslan would come and roar in their faces! Wake them up! Get them to admit...

"They have feelings for each other, don't they?" Caspian muttered grimly, as if reading Lucy's thoughts.

"I think so," Lucy nodded. "I have never seen Edmund more interested in anyone before. You know how private he is, he keeps his thoughts and feelings to himself, I mean, I know you haven't known us for exactly that long a time, but even during the revolution, you noticed how reclusive he was, right?"

"I believe so, my mind was more tuned to the coming revolution though," Caspian smiled.

"Granted, but anyway, ever since we stumbled upon Natalie, he's been positively absorbed in her, not letting her out of his sights for too long," Lucy went on. "But Natalie... she's a bit harder to read, or she was anyway, she's starting to let go of some of her insecurities, have you noticed?"

"That I did," Caspian nodded. It might have only been over two weeks, but since the first day, he had been noticing a steady change in Natalie. She was no longer so shy and soft spoken, so afraid of being around people. She was now much more playful, care-free, and a generally fun person, though obviously still a bit reserved at times. She still had some insecurities, but they were slowly being chipped away. For her to suddenly have a reversal like this, something must have happened to alert her defenses, or perhaps, they were finally starting to break and she was just too scared to confront her true feelings.

"I'm sure Natalie feels the same way, but both of them are much too stubborn to do anything about it," Lucy sighed.

"You're really wise, you know that? Not even eighteen yet and you say the most intelligent and wisest things I've ever heard," Caspian chuckled.

"Th-Thanks..." Lucy blushed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear bashfully. "Um, anyway, I think I'm going to go find Natalie and try to talk some sense into her," she declared, standing from her seat. "Could you check on my brother?"

"Done," Caspian nodded. He felt that maybe he could also smack some sense into the younger man as well.

Lucy predictably found Natalie in the library, her face buried in a thick book. The young Queen walked over to her and sat on an adjacent chair at the table. "Hey, Lu..." Natalie muttered softly.

"You really like books, don't you?" Lucy mentioned offhandedly. The title of the book Natalie held was 'The Dragon and the Enchanted Treasure'. Lucy snorted softly, the title reminded her of a certain someone, some years ago.