The Call To The Old - An Edmund Pevensie fanfiction

Chapter thirty-four

"Leave me for last, huh?" Edmund smirked. His deep brown was still tussled from all of the fighting, he still bore splatters of blood upon his face and hands. Cuts and scrapes decorated his arms and cheeks.

Talia softly returned a smile, stepping closer towards him, "Your horse," she spoke, changing the subject, "I left him tied to a tree."

"Oh, how humane of you." Edmund joked.

The girl responded with a roll of her eyes, "Do you want me to show you where he is or not?" she returned turning on her heels to where she had left the horse, hearing the boy's footsteps following behind her.

The horse stood calmly against the sea of trees it was surrounded by. It truly was a beautiful animal: muscular in it's figure, with soft brown hair, and darling eyes. Talia ran her hands over him, admiring the animal.

"I never asked, what's his name?" she questioned the boy.

"Llamrei." Edmund replied, and after a short pause he continued, "It was the name of King Arthur's horse."

"King Arthur?" the girl furrowed her brows.

"Sorry, I forget, he was an old King from where I am from."

"Are you a King there too? Like you are here?" she asked.

The boy smiled, "No, not there. I'm just a boy."

"Just a boy?"

"Just a boy." he repeated.

"I'm not sure how one could ever refer to you as simply just a boy." she stated, moving her gaze from the floor to the boy in front of her.

"Well," Edmund spoke, "What would you refer to me as?" with a cocky smile.

"Hmmmm," she paused to think, with a grin on her face, "I'd describe you as... a boy who sold his family out for sweets." she laughed.

Edmund huffed, a large smile breaking out on his face, "I thought we'd have let that go by now!" he shouted chasing after the girl who had run away from him, filling the forest with laughter.

He caught up with her quickly, wrapping her in his arms, from behind. The pair were still laughing but she spoke turning around to face him, while his hand still decorated her shoulders. She spoke softly now, "I'd describe you as a great swordsman, better than many in the kingdom. And as an incredibly just person, who provides the most beautiful of advice. I'd say that you are loyal to your family, friends and kingdom. That although you may have made shitty decisions once upon a time, it doesn't carry across as your defining characteristic. No one sees you as that scared and manipulated young boy anymore- they see you as a King, and a great one too." she brought her hand to his face, to wipe off some of the dried blood from his cheek, who blushed slightly under her touch, "and perhaps I'd even go as far to say that you are by far one of the most handsome boys in the Kingdom." she whispered softly.

The boy broke out into a kind smile upon hearing her words, and used his gentle fingers, to move Talia's hair behind her ears, "What a pair we'd make then." he spoke quietly, gazing at the girl before him. He stared at her beautiful deep brown eyes, complimented by her skin blessed with touch from the sun. She reminded him of home, he could relax into her, he could fall into her and never return. But she also reminded him of something so far from home, she was different from anyone that he had ever met, and complicated too. She had bushy eyebrows, with each hair falling in a perfectly dishevelled position. Her lips were plump and generous with the words they let free. Her talents radiated off of her, in a beautiful combination of confidence, power and bravery- but in saying that he still saw fear deep down within her, and it was something he would always want to protect her from, to help her battle and overcome.

Her gaze too, was brought down to his lips, as she traced her fingers gently across them, "A pair? You and I?" she softly laughed, placing her forehead on his.

"Why not?" he returned, his smile falling- pulling his face away to look at her directly.

"We are from different worlds, what happens when you leave again?" she spoke slowly.

Edmund grabbed her hand tightly, "You could come with me." he proposed.

Talia pulled her hand out of his grip and stepped away from the boy, "How could you ask that of me?" the girl frowned, "Ed, we barely even know each other. We cannot change our lives for one another." she paused, "Why that would be crazy." she laughed.

"Yes of course. I am sorry for even suggesting such a thing." the boy said sternly, his heart breaking slightly. Edmund took a sharp breath before storming past the girl, to collect his horse and return to his family, leaving Talia to stand alone in and amongst the trees.

The young girl sighed, allowed her eyes to well with tears. She could simply not allow herself to fall for someone who could leave her at any minute and leave to a world so far away she would never be able to visit him. And to leave with him to this faraway land would be to leave everything that she had ever known behind; her friends, her magic, her home- and she simply could not give that all up for one person, despite how strongly she may have felt. She cared for the boy, yes, but in a somewhat selfish way she cared for herself more, and concerned herself more with her own happiness, whereby she wasn't solely dependant on one person for it. She couldn't allow her whole life to be changed for some foolish teenage love. But that was not to say that it didn't hurt when he walked away from her, that it didn't hurt to see that her words had caused another so much pain, that it didn't hurt to not fully succumb to his touch and melt into him. It hurt all too much, but she knew that the pain of falling for him and then having him ripped away from her, would be much, much worse. So, she denied herself the easy route, or was her way of hiding from the pain the easy route? And she allowed tears to fall for the boy she cared so deeply for.