Chapter Text
“Ed, are you sure you don’t want to come with us?”
“Yes, Lu, I’m certain. I’ve said I was certain at least five times at this point, and that’s only this conversation.” Edmund sighed, a small smile on his face as he shook his head. He was trying to sketch the view of the sea as he could see it from his rooms, but the picture lay only partially-completed on his desk, forgotten as his siblings (namely Peter and Lucy) tried to drag him along on their hunting trip.
Looking at the two of them, he could see how much they wanted him to come. They were both already dressed for the occasion, since they were set to go in less than an hour. They had been begging him to go (especially Lucy) for weeks now, and this was a last-ditch attempt to drag him along.
But he had responsibilities , he had a kingdom to run, in fact, they all did, and while Edmund understood their reasons for going, he just didn’t see the need in all four of them leaving the castle. What if something happened? What if they don’t even find the stag and it’s all for naught? He had to stay to hold the fort. Narnia needed a king, and he wasn’t about to abandon that position unless something drastic happened.
Besides, he didn’t have a good feeling about the trip. Something was going to happen, he could tell. And it wasn’t necessarily going to be good.
Susan poked her head around the doorframe, apparently having just finished getting ready. “Are you two done yet? I can hear you pestering him from the kitchens.”
“You can not!” Peter scoffed, immediately shrinking back at the look Susan gave him.
“Besides,” said Lucy, “We’re not pestering him. We’re politely asking him to come with us. Pestering is for children.”
“And I have been politely declining your offer. For weeks.” Edmund shot one last smile at Lucy before turning back to his desk and pretending to examine the scenery outside. “Besides,” he continued, “I think you’d still count as a ‘child’.”
“I’m nineteen, Edmund!”
“Oh really? Your height suggests ten.”
In the doorway, Susan snorted in laughter, immediately covering her mouth when Lucy spun around to glare at her.
Peter, on the other hand, gave Edmund a disapproving look. “C’mon, Ed, that was uncalled for.”
“Anything to get you lot to leave. I’ve got work to do, you know.”
“And what work is that, hmm?” Peter walked over and peered over his brother’s shoulder, catching a glimpse of the paper as Edmund scrambled to cover it up.
“Edmund.”
The young man in question had finally found a (only somewhat) natural pose that managed to cover up the paper he was drawing on. He looked up at Peter. “Yes?”
“You’re drawing .”
Ed paused, looking aside as if trying to find a good answer. After a few seconds, he smacked his lips and answered, “Maybe so.”
“It’s not even good , Ed, how is this ‘ important work’ ?”
“I think his art is good!” Lucy exclaimed from behind them.
“See, Lucy thinks my art is good, Pete, why can’t you support me as a follow my true passion of… uhh…” Edmund glanced under his arm at the piece he was working on. “Sketching… the sea?”
Peter rolled his eyes, ignoring everything Edmund had just said. “You know what actually is important? Providing for Narnia. For our kingdom.” He pointed his hand out the window, driving his point home. “And if we catch this stag-”
Edmund cut him off, finishing the speech with as much sarcasm as he could muster. “It’ll give us, no, give Narnia the prosperity it deserves and the economic stability it needs. It’ll provide this palace with a long line of heirs that will continue the golden age for thousands of years, ones who will be just as magnificent as we are today. And You! Ed! You can help us achieve this!”
“I- uh- Yes! Exactly that.”
“You’ve only said those exact words to me eleven times since Wednesday .”
“That’s not his point, Ed,” Susan sighed, walking further into the room.
Edmund turned to her to respond. “Eleven times seems a bit much for a speech that’s not even your main point, though, I must say. I should know, I’m a diplomat.”
Lucy walked over to the desk and hopped onto it, forcing Edmund to move his arm from over the drawing. “What Pete’s point is, what our point has been, is that we’re going to miss you, Ed. We usually split up into pairs, we’re not used to having you gone from the group again. It’s a month-long trip, of course we want you along.”
Edmund sighed, finally giving a heartfelt smile to his siblings. “I get it, I really do. And trust me, I’ll miss you a lot, too. Don’t think that that’s one-sided, I’m not staying here because I hate you, quite the opposite, really. It’s just…” he paused, thinking about what to say next, then continued, “Hunting isn't really my thing? And, of course, I’d feel better if someone was here, at Cair Paravel, watching over everything.”
“We’ve been away on trips before. All four of us,” said Peter. “Mr. Tumnus and the Beavers have always kept everything running smoothly.”
“Yes, but not for a full month . Besides, the Telmarines have been seeming… restless lately, if nothing else.”
“The Telmarines?” Susan asked. “I visited them recently, nothing seemed amiss to me.”
Edmund’s face scrunched up. “You haven’t noticed? The last few diplomatic meetings I’ve had with them have been incredibly tense. Too tense to just be speaking nerves. They’re up to something, I can tell. I want to keep an eye on them, and I can’t do that if I’m off hunting.”
Peter opened his mouth to speak, but Susan stepped forward and pulled him back before he could do anything. He jerked out of her grasp as she spoke. “We understand, Ed, we really do. And even if some of us don’t ,” she paused to glare at Peter (who stuck his tongue out at her in response), “we’ve got to get down to the stables now. Everything's ready and packed, and I’m sure the horses have been waiting for us for ages by this point. C’mon, Lu, let’s go.”
Lucy hopped down from the desk, then turned and gave Edmund a hug. “I love you”
“Love you too, Lu. You’ll be great out there, I just know it.”
“So will you, you know.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Being a king tends to be enough, most of the time.” She pulled away with a smile, walking back to the other two, nudging Susan forward with her foot when neither of them moved to say goodbye.
Susan hugged him, too, short and sweet. “Don’t be stupid here.”
“I’ve been a king for the past eleven years and a major diplomat for the past nine. I have beaten a centaur in chess. I doubt I can be stupid at this point.”
“You never know what might happen! Stupid happens to the best of us, sometimes.”
Edmund chuckled, hugging her her again. “Love you, Su.”
“I love you, too.” She pulled away again, gave him one last smile, ruffled his hair, and walked back to Peter and Lucy.
As Edmund tried desperately to fix his hair (he learned to not protest at the action at this point, seeing as the last time he tried to do so (“I am twenty-one years old! I’m too old for this kind of treatment!”) she just messed it up even worse (“As long as you’re younger than me, you’re young enough for ‘this kind of treatment’, you ass!” “ You’re the ass- No- stop!”)) Peter awkwardly took a step forward. By the time Ed had finished Peter was right in front of him, making Edmund start back a bit. They both smiled, until Peter rushed forward and pulled Ed into the tightest hug he had ever given.
“I will miss you, you know.” Peter muttered.
“Even though I’m a, to quote you on a regular basis, ‘pain in the ass’?”
“I’m gonna miss you because of that, to be quite honest.”
They both laughed at that, as Edmund pulled away. Peter, unlike the others after their hug, stayed for a second, looking at something over Ed’s shoulder with a concentrated look on his face. Eventually, he looked back at his brother, whose brow was also furrowed, but with more confusion than anything.
“It’s actually a pretty good sketch, I’ll give you that.”
“Huh?”
“Your sketch? Of the ocean, you silly.”
“Oh. Uhh, thanks?
“The perspetive’s off, though.”
“There’s the Pete I know and love!”
Peter laughed again as Edmund just smiled. After a second, Ed reached behind him and picked up the sketch in question, folding the paper up and wordlessly handing it to Peter. The other almost didn’t take it, trying to push it back down onto the desk, until Edmund forcibly shoved it into his hands.
“I hate to break up this truly heartwarming sibling bonding moment, but we’ve really got to go Pete, Ed,” Susan called. “This isn’t goodbye forever, you know, you’ll see each other in a month.”
“And I’m sure you’ll be back to hating each other within the week,” added Lucy.
“Exactly! Lu here gets it.”
Peter stayed where he was for a second, before giving a quick one-armed hug to Edmund as he shoved the sketch into the pocket of his own tunic. He walked over to the others, then past them, then out the door. “Well? What are we waiting for? We’ve got a white stag to hunt!”
Susan was the next out, waving quickly as she left. “See you next month, Ed!”
Then, finally, Lucy. She ran forward and gave him one last quick hug, as if he hadn’t gotten enough within the last couple minutes to last throughout the season. As she ran out, she grabbed all the stuff she needed for the trip that she had dropped in the room as she was arguing with him earlier. She also turned back to wave, and Edmund could see the excitement she had for the month to come written all over her face.
“See you in a month Lu. Have fun out there.”
“Will do!” He saw one last flash of her smile before she disappeared out the door.
And with that, Edmund was left alone.