Lady by the Sea

The Princess, the Pevensies, and the Prince

Elsie had never even been through this part of the forest; she was less familiar with the mainland than she was with her island, but Trumpkin seemed to know his way around. Despite knowing this, King Peter liked to pretend he knew better. Until they inevitably came upon a path that looked unfamiliar to the Pevensies. They'd ruled the land for fifteen golden years, and this was the land they knew the best, but now that was ancient history. Something you'd find in a book or inscribed on a wall.

"I don't remember this way at all," Susan piped up. Peter was visibly smug about this.

"That's the problem with you girls," Peter began, and Elsie's eyes narrowed instantly, looking from Peter to Susan. He wouldn't meet her eyes, but they were daring him to speak again. "You can't carry a map in your heads," he said. Elsie gave Susan and Lucy a look that said you have to live with this man?

"That's because our heads have something in them," Lucy said, which made Elsie laugh. Peter looked slightly offended, but Elsie offered her hand to Lucy to high five, and she did, quite pleased. It was a good jab, and it was well deserved.

"You could just, I don't know," Elsie said coyly, holding her skirt up as she walked, "listen to Trumpkin, the man who's lived here in your absence," Elsie suggested to Peter. He stopped walking under a rock passage and turned towards them. He had frustration painted all over his face.

"I'm not lost," he insisted.

"No, you're just going the wrong way," Trumpkin said. Peter didn't look happy with this. He breathed out heavily.

"You said you last saw Caspian at the Shuddering Wood. The quickest way there is to cross at the river rush," he informed Trumpkin, sounding all too confident.

"But, unless I'm mistaken, there's no crossing at the river rush," Trumpkin argued.

"That explains it then," Peter said. "You're mistaken."

Trumpkin looked at Elsie with an is he serious? expression, and Elsie exchanged it. Nevertheless, they all begrudgingly followed the king, though Trumpkin knew he wasn't wrong. Elsie followed behind Peter, closer to Susan, though Lucy tried to keep up with them as well. Edmund trailed at the rear, keeping an eye out as best he could for potential threats. Eventually, they came to the river... that now sat at the bottom of a gorge. All six pairs of eyes gazed over the edge of the cliff and at the river. Peter was not doing well at hiding his frustration about being wrong.

"Well," Susan began, "over hundreds of years water will erode the earth's soil-"

"Oh, shut up," Peter muttered. With admitted defeat, he looked at Trumpkin."Is there a way down?" he asked.

"Yeah, falling," Trumkin said, which made Elsie giggle under her breath, in turn making Peter look at her. His look made her heart stop briefly. It was startling. She stopped laughing, looking down. Peter then regretted it, he hadn't meant to make her feel bad. "There's a ford at Beruna, if you don't mind swimming," Trumpkin added.

"Anything's better than walking," Susan said. So the group collectively turned on its heels, heading back towards Beruna, adding unnecessary time to their journey. They all began walking a little further, before Lucy stopped, still gazing over the river.

"Aslan?" she whispered, and Elsie turned, as did Edmund. "It's Aslan! Over there!" Lucy called, looking at her brothers and sister, trying to get their attention. "Don't you see? He's right-" Lucy turned back, and her smile faltered. "There..."

Trumpkin gave her a confused look, most of them matched it. "Do you see him now?" he questioned.

"I'm not crazy, he was there," Lucy insisted. Everyone still gave her puzzled looks. "He wanted us to follow him." Some sorry looks were exchanged by the older members of the group before Peter spoke.