CHAPTER 20
POSTED 7/12/19
With the battle between the Telmarines and Narnians having just ended not too long ago, Mary had never really thought much about Telmar's history. But now, as Caspian led the Narnians to his kingdom for refuge and a celebration of their reconciliation, he gave them a brief history of his home country (mostly Mary since the Pevensies already knew more or less about it).
Telmar was actually located to the far west of the Kingdom of Narnia and most of its inhabitants were turned into unintelligent beasts because of their undesirable behavior. Later on, pirates from earth's South Sea arrived in Telmar and integrated with those who did not change into beasts, thus continuing the race of intelligent human beings. And so began the kingdom form of government. Years later, these Telmarines invaded Narnia and attempted to bring about their extinction because they were seen as beasts similar to what their people had turned into.
Now, with Caspian ready to take his rightful place at the throne, he was willing to move on from the two nations' bad blood with one another. He was serious about giving the Narnians back their kingdom and sought to make the Telmarines a more peaceful nation as well. Aslan also informed them that he was willing to give the Telmarines a second chance by sending them elsewhere if they wanted to; he didn't specify where, but if it benefited both them and those who stayed, then it would be for the best.
When they arrived at the Telmarine castle, Caspian gave the Pevensies and Mary each their own bedroom in the main tower and allowed a select group of Narnians to stay in spare guest rooms and quarters. Mary knew that the castle was huge, but she didn't realize exactly how massive it was until everyone had been accommodated comfortably, leaving none behind. With Caspian already beginning to restore the peace, Mary vowed that she too would help in rebuilding Narnia's kingdom once things were settled.
A physician was instructed to examine them all before they could do anything else. Most of them only had scratches and bruises, but Peter's arm was still sore from its dislocation during his single combat with Miraz and Mary had sustained the worst injuries, to word it simply. She had the stab wound and long scratch across her stomach as well as the bruises and scratches to her face and arms. It seemed that Lucy's cordial generally healed whoever drank a drop of it, but it didn't magically remove injuries like Mary actually thought. She cringed when she sat in front of the mirror as the physician checked her over, seeing how bad she looked. When the physician instructed her to removed her shirt and armor, she saw the large stab wound that still looked fresh, the skin barely touching to close it. It would still take time for it to heal normally, but she was beyond grateful for just being alive.
She gently got off the examining table when she had finished, wincing slightly at the movement. The physician had prescribed her herbs and other treatments for her that she could request from the staff every meal. After thanking him, she exited the room, wanting to go to her own temporary bedroom to take a nice shower and change into comfortable clothes.
Mary was surprised to find Edmund waiting outside even if he had already finished with his own medical examination.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Admiring the door." Mary glared at him and scoffed before he continued. "I was waiting for you, of course."
Mary fought the blush on her cheeks and nodded.
"Oh, thanks. You didn't have to do that."
"Would you rather I leave, then?"
"I didn't say that." Edmund smiled gently and fell into step beside her, purposely walking at a slow pace for her sake.
"What did the doctor say?"
"The stab wound's obviously going to take some time to heal, so he gave me herbs to take every meal."
"Yeah, well, it doesn't just heal overnight," Edmund said with a sigh, remembering his own experience. "Who stabbed you, anyway?"
"I didn't see him, but Caspian said Glozelle threw the knife. I don't know who the other men were."
"And where are they now?"
"The others were probably drowned by the river god. Glozelle's temporarily arrested until Caspian decides what to do with him and the other Telmarines."
"He should stay imprisoned," Edmund said firmly. "That's attempted murder."
"We did the same to them, too," Mary reminded him. She wasn't happy with what Glozelle did; who in the world would be happy with the person who tried to kill you? Yet at the same time, she felt that it was wrong of her to want him to stay in jail whereas she had fatally injured people during the battle as well.
"You're too nice," Edmund grumbled.
"You of all people know I'm not exactly 'nice'," Mary laughed.
"Then you should agree with me that he should stay imprisoned."
"It's not that I was disagreeing with you. I was simply... trying to be fair. Besides, aren't you King Edmund the Just?" she said teasingly. Edmund knew she had a point; the general was probably only doing his job, but it didn't stop him from being angry at him. "Aslan's giving the Telmarines an option to leave Narnia anyway, too. Perhaps he'd want to redeem himself there."
"But he almost killed you. You almost died."
Mary stopped walking when she took note of how serious his voice sounded. She looked up to see him with a deep frown and hummed softly, stepping in front of him to get his attention.
"But I didn't," she pointed out, causing Edmund to raise his eyebrows, clearly unimpressed with her all too obvious answer. "I know it must have been scary, but I'm fine now. You all got to me in time and Lucy gave me a drop of her cordial. I survived, just like you wanted me to, right?"
Edmund sighed and put his arms around her. Mary noticed that he had been doing that a lot lately, but she didn't mind. That is, until he pressed onto her wound a bit too much and she twitched in pain but didn't want to show it. However, Edmund noticed it and immediately stepped back.
"Sorry, sorry," he said profusely. "I keep forgetting."
Mary laughed and shook her head. "It's okay. Why don't I start it instead?"
Edmund grinned and allowed her to be the first to make a move. He felt serene as they stood in the middle of the hallway in each other's arms, the only sound heard being their breathing and the chirping of birds who flew by outside as if they knew that there was a reason to be happy.
Eventually, Mary let go and Edmund pouted.
"Why'd you let go already?" he whined like a kid. She blushed at his words but chose to shake her head as if he was overreacting.
"I want to go to my room and get changed," Mary said, motioning to her still bloody clothes.
"Can I at least get one more thing from you before you go?"
"What's that?"
Edmund leaned down to sneak a kiss, but she pushed his chest away.
"Hey, what gives?" he complained.
"Let me take a shower and get changed. I feel disgusting," she said, walking away from him. Edmund quickly caught up with her due to his longer strides and he huffed.
"But you agreed in the battle we could continue after we won."
"I never said that," Mary scoffed. "You kissed me without warning and you said we'd continue after we won."
Edmund smiled sheepishly, caught red-handed.
"Don't tell me you didn't like it, though," he tried. Mary only shrugged nonchalantly.
"You can try again after I freshen up, and then I'll give you an answer."
✧ ✧ ✧
Mary's room was on one end of the tower next to the other girls. It had a bed with a canopy, a small balcony, its own bathroom, and a wardrobe with a fresh set of clothes that ranged from dresses to shirts and slacks almost every morning.
A few days into their stay at the Telmarine castle, Caspian informed them that they would be holding a coronation and parade to celebrate the Narnians' reclaiming of their kingdom as well as the newfound peace and alliance between them and the Telmarines. He clearly went to work as king immediately but also made sure his newfound friends were comfortable in his kingdom. He treated them like the kings and queens they were, too. Mary felt odd to be treated like one. Being an only child meant she had grown up to be quite independent, yet here she was with servants at her beck and call. The castle and what it held was what she liked more, though, so she did appreciate the change from being a regular girl back in Finchley to being royal in Narnia.
Edmund and Mary had grown closer than they already were would during their stay. They were incredibly close as friends before everything happened and still kept that banter-filled dynamic between them, but now they knew just how much they truly cared about one another and displayed it considerably even more.
One morning after breakfast, all just seemed to be well. Peter and Lucy were speaking to Aslan about what had happened when they were all absent in Narnia as they walked through the halls. Caspian and Susan were engaged in an intelligent conversation over tea. In contrast to them, Edmund and Mary were walking in the gardens, fighting over the pettiest things: whether pork or chicken was better based on last night's supper, if Caspian was going to cut his hair before the coronation or leave it to grow, and which of them better remembered their most recent lesson in school.
In the end, no winner was ever declared as they were too stubborn to both admit any loss. However, with Mary still healing and not being recommended to strain herself too much, she had to return to her room. She hated feeling weak that way. Then again, she had never experienced an injury as serious as she did during the battle, but she wished she could be perfectly fine already. It was a bit tiring to have to take medicines everyday during every meal and quite frustrating for her not to move around as much as she normally would.
Edmund kept eyeing Mary's hand as they walked back to her room, contemplating on holding it or not. Sure, they had kissed in the battle, but casual things that people in relationships did such as holding hands still intimidated him. Eventually, he plucked up the courage and slid his hand into hers as it swung back and forth carelessly. Mary raised her eyebrows at the action and faced Edmund, only to find him looking down at the floor nervously. She grasped his hand as well but couldn't help but laugh at him.
"It's always so funny seeing you so shy," she smirked, nudging him.
Edmund grumbled and still didn't meet her eyes.
"Oh, shut up, Mary."
Mary grinned at his face and wanted to embarrass him more. She tip toed and boldly kissed his cheek, causing his eyes to widen.
"W-Why'd you do that?" he stuttered.
"Well, if you don't want, I won't do it again," she teased.
"No," Edmund stopped her all too quickly. "I was just asking."
Mary shrugged innocently in response.
"You're cute when you're embarrassed."
A/N: A little bit of Narnian history and background at the beginning, wow. To be honest, I only read three books out of the entire series and that was years ago so I had to get this from Narnia Wiki LMAO.
Also, sorry for the late update. I've been feeling pretty down the past few days because my favorite Disney actor, Cameron Boyce, passed away. I know I never knew him personally but it really struck me. I suppose it's because I've watched all his movies and shows since he started acting in 2008 and basically grew up the same time he did. It's honestly such a tragedy because he was so talented and his close friends revealed that aside from that, he did a lot of charity work behind the scenes, too. Sorry for rambling huhu it's just really sad.
Anyway, this chapter was a bit of a struggle to write because it doesn't follow the book or movie at all. I hope you all enjoyed it, though! Hopefully, the next few chapters will be more interesting haha :') I already wrote the following ones, but if you'd like to see anything in particular, I'm open to hearing your thoughts and ideas :> See you all in the next update!