Alliance

Chapter 35- Amare

Amare

Latin

Love

-

oh oh, I'd let you in

I'd let you win my heart again

oh oh, I'd let you in

I'd let you win my heart again

-

Sanya looked at herself in the full-length mirror, scrutinising herself.

She'd grown taller, she felt, since she had first come to Cair. Even graceful, if that was possible- and not just while swimming or sword fighting- she didn't trip on air any longer or knock into things, and she didn't walk like a soldier being sent off to war, either (that's what her mother always said- and followed it up with 'if you weren't the Princess, you'd be in the Royal Guard based on posture alone'). All in all, she moved like the Queen she was- at least somewhat, but definitely more than she had done before.

Slimmer, too, than her adolescent moping and insecurities would have allowed herself to imagine- which now emphasised her curves, the only part of herself she hadn't hated. Despite the pregnancy and the weight she'd gained because of it, Narnian meals- although not being as delicious as the meals she'd had in Azraq- were conducive to her losing weight too. And the constant swimming and training helped her tone her body. She would never be thin, she decided grimly as she touched the curves of her side and looked at her plump thighs, but she felt healthier and better than ever.

Her face had finally turned less childishly-round and more heart-shaped, and her forehead and cheekbones were no longer dotted with pimples. She would probably always have crows' feet under her eyes and her nose (the bane of her existence) would always look big and terrible, but one couldn't have everything.

And her hair- her HAIR! It was till her waist! She didn't even know her hair could grow that long- it never used to go past her shoulder blades when she used to live in Rihaaya, no matter how long it had been uncut, and not to mention- to her mother's despair- her hair had thinned and it fell out as she grew older, too. But now, in Narnia? It was as thick as the leaves of willow trees and dark as the wood of maple. Perhaps there was something in the water- she mentally bristled at that, ALL water should have helped her, not just Narnian water- Susan's hair almost fell to her feet, and Lucy's was always tied up, but was almost till her knees....

"Huh." She spoke aloud, wondering if she could find out about this.

Edmund looked up from the chessboard, Jem dozing beside him with his head on top of the gold surface. They had been playing a game- the Just had to restrain himself incredibly to not win in one move- until the boy Prince had decided that sleep was a better choice.

Sanya was quite proud of him.

"What is it?"

"My hair." She frowned at the mirror, tugging down the stolen maroon sleepshirt so that it covered her thighs fully. It hid her stretch-marks, too- which she had had since she was fourteen- but she did not truly mind them anymore, not much. "It's longer than I thought it ever could be. It's weird."

"If you cut it, my love, I'm not marrying you tomorrow."

She looked away from the mirror and towards her husband, an unimpressed look on her face.
"Did I say I would cut it, darling? I've always wanted long hair," and it looked especially pretty, cascading by her mehendi-covered arms, "so of course I'm not going to."