Letters To Edmund |book 1|

Chapter 4. Garden Secrets

"Have you told anyone?" She asked, sitting down beside him. 

"No. You are the only one who knows so far," Edmund looked into the distance as if he was still hiding something and was debating whether he should tell her or not. 

"Please don't tell anyone. I don't want them to make a big deal out of me. I don't want to disappoint anyone when I fail." She put her chin in the palms of her hand. 

"You won't fail anyone, I know that." Edmund smiled at her, he could relate to her none existent confidence. He knew who she was and even more, he didn't want her to know him. He was a dangerous man and there was something stopping him from any sort of feelings except for acceptance and respect towards someone. If the book was right, he couldn't stop the wave that was about to approach both of them. He would destroy both of them, but if the book of Narnia was right, it was inevitable. Yet, he sympathized with her, she was a little bit like him.

Out of nowhere, Caspian appeared with a young lady at his arm. He was talking and laughing with her. A maiden behind her followed them. Her hair was red and her eyes were green. She herself was focused on a book in her hands, giving Edmund glances at times. Next to the young lady, Peter was walking and admiring the gardens. They did not talk, but it was clear that they knew each other.

When Caspian noticed Edmund and Angelina sitting on the bench, he walked up to them with the two ladies. "Edmund, you remember Corrine, and of course here is Johanna?" He pointed to the woman behind him and the one at his arm. Corrine and Johanna both bowed in front of the young king.

"Of course," Edmund looked down at the ground when his eyes met Johanna's. 

Caspian walked up closer to them, "Corrine, this is Angelina. This young lady appeared out of nowhere. If it were not for Edmund, she would have been eaten by trolls." Caspian pointed to Angelina and Johanna's eyes went wide with shock when Caspian had said that Edmund saved her. Angelina had briefly met Caspian during breakfast, he was one of the gentlemen who were talking all the time, but apparently he knew more about her than she knew about him.

"Pleased to meet you," Corrine extended her hand for Angelina to shake. Then Corrine walked up to Edmund, who kissed her hand. Johanna did the same, smiling to Angelina and keeping her hand in front of Edmund for longer. She kept her eyes on Angelina in a strange way, as if marking her territory. It was evident that the young man did not wish to kiss her tan hands, but had to as an act of courtesy. 

"Let us all go inside, it is getting cold," Caspian said to all of them and led Corrine inside, taking her by the arm.

Angelina didn't really know who Caspian was, or how he knew of her. News spreads fast around the castle, but he was wearing a crown just like Peter, so she figured he was also one of their siblings, although he looked nothing like them. Then again, Edmund was pretty different from Peter.

Johanna quickly wrapped her hands around Edmund's arm and started walking with him since she was closer to him, following Caspian. Edmund gave Angelina an apologetic look and continued walking. Angelina was left standing alone until someone tapped her shoulder.

"May I accompany you back to the castle?" Peter smiled at her, extending his arm. 

"It would be a pleasure." Angelina smiled and accepted his offer. Peter started to grow on her, he wasn't half as bad as she thought him to be. She realized that he was the older brother and he had to act tougher at times. However, Peter was very pleasant to be around.

The entire walk there, Peter told her about how he was from the 1940s and how he himself appeared in Narnia and understood her shock. He too went through a hard time adjusting to this place, he was a high king, and that was a lot of pressure on a young man. He seemed more real to her than ever. And hearing that he went through WW2 and Narnian wars and still managed to keep his spirits up shocked her. She herself was born in relatively calmer times, but he had experienced so much and seemed happier than her.

"How did you get used to it?" Angelina asked, hoping to get advice from him. 

"I'm still not," he laughed, "it takes a while to get used to the fact that you are in a different realm. Everything you know and is used to fades. You have to take on a role that is greater than you. It's hard, but not impossible. I think the adjustment was harder on my sister Susan than me." 

Angelina hung her head, "you think I will be able to adjust?" 

"My dear, you already have," Peter smiled, his encouraging words lifted her spirits.

"Thank you, that makes me feel better. So what is up with Edmund?" She asked. 

"What is-up with him?" Peter did not understand her modern language slang. 

"I mean what is wrong with him, he seems distant and odd," she rephrased her previous question. 

"Well, Edmund has gone through a lot. I think he is going through much more than he did before. He was always a stubborn child, but that is his story to tell. We all have demons inside our head, his might scream louder," Peter avoided any further questions. Peter was definitely easier to talk to than Edmund.

"Does he have many friends here?" Angelina asked the question that was on her mind throughout the entire walk. Even she surprised herself with the curiosity about the strange young Pevensie boy.

"That is a question I do not know a good answer to. Edmund is always stuck in a book, he doesn't go out much unless it is riding his horse and doing something dangerous. As the king of Justice, he has to take care of most of the court cases that happen in Cair Paravel, I do not think he has time for anything else. As a child, he was also quite a pariah." His brother explained to her. 

"He seems so distant from everyone, even you don't know him, and you are his brother. Maybe if I become his friend he'll open up more, I do have a certain effect on people, some say." Angelina held onto Peter tighter as the wind blew into her face. 

"I chose to not know him, he wants to stay away and I respect his wishes. His life is his, not public, and so are his choices. Don't expect much interaction from Edmund, he needs time to get used to someone." Peter explained how he feels towards his brother. 

Caspian stopped and admired some flowers with Corrine. Johanna did the same, gathering a couple of flowers from the ground and showing them to Edmund. He was not really interested as he kept exchanging glances with Caspian. Peter started explaining something about a huge tree that grew in the middle of the garden. "You see the garden is like a maze, there are a lot of mysterious places here. I think only my brother knows about a lot of them, he should the garden was a gift from Aslan to him." Peter started laughing. 

"Why, Edmund, won't you show me some of the mysteries of this garden?" Johanna asked, hearing what Peter said. 

Edmund looked at Peter uncomfortable as if he wasn't pleased with the information his brother just gave out. "Perhaps when I am not busy." 

"You are always busy Ed! Show the girl the garden." Caspian commented. "Me, Peter, Corrine, and Angelina shall go inside while you two stay and explore." He offered. 

"I need to go," Edmund started walking, but Johanna pulled on his hand and stopped him.

She started to lead him deeper into the garden, and he stopped protesting, "you're not getting out of this one that easily, your majesty."

"Well, that was odd," Peter looked down at the ground. "Let's all go inside."  To Angelina, it was not odd at all after what she had heard. Edmund was the owner of these gardens, Aslan gave it to him to find an escape from times when it got hard and everyone was pushing on him. He didn't want to reveal the secrets of the garden to anyone.

Johanna was asking him about all sorts of walls and gates in the garden, he told her he didn't know the story behind all of them, but he did. His mind kept wandering off to the blue skies, it represented the freedom he had but was stuck on the ground chained to her arm. Slyly, the thought of Angelina infested his mind, she was different from girls everywhere, he wanted to get to know her more, become her friend. She had a passion for adventures, and so did he. Besides, she was from the future.

Edited (4/1/2020)