From Sea To Shining Sea (Edmund Pevensie)

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

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"Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect." -Margaret Mitchell

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I woke up with a pounding headache, dizziness, and I was in a state of confusion about the events that occurred the previous night. My first hangover, and it was not worth it. I sat up in bed trying to remember exactly what had happened, and it didn't take long to remember. I had kissed Edmund.

"Shit!" I grumbled to myself. I had a little hope that there was a chance that maybe Edmund was more hungover than I, and had no recollection of anything that had happened. I slowly stood up out of my bed, and carefully walked to my door. I pressed my ear to the wood, and listened for footsteps. When I didn't hear any, I cautiously opened my door and crept to where the morning rations were kept.

"Good morning, Ophelia!" Reep greeted from atop one of the poles holding the lower deck up.

I jumped at the sound of his voice. "Oh! Reep, you scared me! Is everyone else sleeping?"

"I do believe so. Nearly everyone fell right asleep. Well, everyone except Caspian and Edmund."

"Why them?" I tried not to sound too curious.

"Well, once everyone was beginning to fall asleep, Caspian and Edmund went into Caspian's room for a meeting. I think I might have been part of it for a while, but that part of the night is a little fuzzy."

I laughed. "I take it I got the most sleep of everyone."

"After you disappeared, Eustace went completely mad! Edmund and Lucy tried to get him to get off the edge of the ship before he fell off, and he smacked Edmund in the side of the face with his wooden board. It should have been easy to block, but Edmund seemed distracted."

"Oh. Well, I'd better be off. See you later, Reep!" I grabbed an apple, and walked towards the hatch that lead to the deck. I opened it, and nearly fell down when the light hit my face. I moved my hand to block it from my eyes as a sickening feeling took over my stomach. I saw the world around me begin to shake, and quickly shut my eyes to make it stop. Once it did, I walked to the front of the ship and looked out over the vast ocean. Suddenly, I heard footsteps from behind me. I whirled around to see Lucy walking towards me with wobbly steps.

"Hey Ophie!" Lucy greeted. "How are you feeling?"

"I've been better," I shrugged.

"You know, Edmund tells me everything." She gave me a smile. "Exactly how drunk were you?"

"I wasn't that drunk. Not nearly as bad as Eustace, at least."

"Oh, don't even get me started! He was pretending to be a pirate, and hit Edmund with that bloody board so hard that he's got a black eye!"

I tried to hold back my laughter. "Is he alright?"

"Yeah, he is now. Eustace made a huge apology scene. It was great."

"I can only imagine," I sighed.

"He wants to talk to you, you know."

"Eustace? He'll probably yell at me for giving him that first drink and say all of the embarrassment was my fault."

"What?"

"What?" I countered.

Lucy shook her head. "Anyways, Edmund wants to talk to you. Not Eustace."

"I think I've done enough on that path for awhile," I scoffed. "Don't ya think?"

"I think that you should follow your heart."

I laughed. "I've done that before, and it didn't end well. So, I think I'll be steering away from that."

"So you do admit you have feelings for my brother?"

I felt heat rise in my cheeks. "Do you swear not to say anything to him?"

She held up her right hand. "Completely."

I sighed. "I tried to stop myself, but I couldn't. Something in my brain wouldn't let me. And, I mean, it's not like I love him or anything," I babbled, and stopped myself. I buried my face in my hands. "Is it obvious?"

She patted my back. "Well, it wasn't. Until most of the people on board saw you kiss him, and the ones who didn't see it, heard about it from the other crew members. I think it might be the first bit of gossip many of them have heard in a long time."

"That's fantastic," I sighed sarcastically. "Absolutely fantastic!"

"If it makes you feel any better, most the men think that you were drunk."

"Hopefully Edmund thinks the same thing. I just don't think I could face him at the moment." We were silent for a moment. "Do you have any idea about what time it might be?"

"I'd say fairly close to midday given the position of the sun." I looked up to the sky to see nothing but clouds.

"It's hard to see the sun with all of these clouds." I looked around the dark grey sky and saw a light spot almost directly above me, and knew it was the sun. I heard a soft clap of thunder to the west.

"We'd better get inside," Lucy warned.

"I think you're right," I agreed, and followed her back into the ship.

Before I knew it, the loud droning of rain surrounded me. I took a deep breath as I read The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, trying to refresh my memory of World War II. I knew that it was based in France, but it was all that I had on hand. Three soft knocks came at my door, and my heart jumped with surprise.

"Who is it?" I called.

"It's Drinian. May I enter?"

"I guess." My door opened directly after, and Drinian took a step into my room looking as composed as ever. "What's up, Drin?"

He gave me a confused look. "I do believe the rain is coming from the clouds which are above us."

"That's not what I meant. You see, the phrase 'what's up?" means 'what's going on?' or 'what are you doing?'. It's not meant to be taken literally."

"Ah. I see. Well, His Majesty would like to see you in his chambers immediately."

"Which one?"

"King Caspian, My Lady."

"Ugh! Fine." I walked out of my room, and walked to Caspian's room. I opened the door, and walked in.

"Ah. Ophelia," Caspian greeted. "Lovely to see you."

"You act as though it's been more than a few hours since I've seen you."

"Well, you can't blame me for trying to be kind. As soon as Drinian returns with Edmund we can start the meeting."

"What meeting?"