The Golden Age - Narnia fanfiction (Edmund x oc)

9. Family reunion

Diana had been at Cair Paravel for a few months now and had gotten pretty close to the Narnians. She had almost forgotten why she was there in the first place, just enjoying finally having friends that she could laugh with, and not having to be scared or contain her emotions so much.

One day she was sitting on her balcony sketching as she so often did. The queens had been very generous and had gotten her some new pencils and a brand new sketchbook. She could sit there for hours just drawing things that she could see. She also often went into the garden to draw and had even drawn a few things in the castle like the chandelier in the ballroom that she had thought was absolutely stunning when the light hit it from the enormous windows that gave the room a wonderful brightness to it.

This time Ava was sitting model for the princess, and they were making light conversation as she was drawing. Diana had come to enjoy the leopard's company, and Ava would even sleep at the end of her bed sometimes when the princess wasn't feeling well.

Edmund came out on his balcony and saw the princess that he had grown to like more and more over the past couple of weeks, even though he wouldn't say that he was in love with her, he did care for her a lot, and wanted her to be happy.

He cleared his throat and she turned to him with a smile. "Morning Ed." She said, he noticed that something in her voice changed when she was talking to him compared to the way she had just been talking to Ava. The leopard stood and excused herself leaving the two to talk alone.

Edmund was suddenly nervous, he didn't know what to say to the princess. Why had he even come out here? "Uhm... lovely weather don't you think?" He said putting his hand behind his neck nervously. She smiled brightly and his heart stopped for a second. "Yes it is, I was hoping to take a stroll in the garden later, would you care to join?" She said, making his heart skip a beat again and before he could think twice he had agreed to go with her.

"Alright let me just put my hair up, and I will be right with you." She said quickly walking inside with a skip in her step. Edmund did the same and celebrated silently knowing that she would have heard him if he had shouted. He ran a nervous hand through his hair, slightly tilting the crown on his head.

He collected himself and stood waiting for Diana in front of her door, offering his arm to her when she opened the door. She accepted the offer and they were on their way.

They walked through the beautiful gardens and Diana was enticed by the beauty of the flowers that were in full bloom around them. They barely talked, because both of them were nervous.

"Your majesty, and your highness, we have guests." The two were interrupted just as they had started a conversation that actually kept going.

They walked into the castle following Mr. Tumnus, who had been the messenger, into the lounge where their guests were waiting for them. The two queens and King Peter had already arrived.

Diana tensed up and tightened her hold around King Edmund's arm when she saw who the guests were. They rose to greet them when they entered. Diana held her eyes to the ground and curtsied stiffly.

Edmund felt her grip tighten around his arm when they had entered the room. Her whole body had actually tensed up, just as she had done when she first got to Narnia. She had finally started to be relaxed, but now she was tense again. He was worried about her, and put his free hand on her hand that was holding on tightly to his arm and gave her a comforting smile when she looked at him. Diana just gave Edmund a half smile and quickly looked back down again.

He furrowed his brow, and then led her to a sofa and made sure she was sitting next to Susan, and then sat next to her. Susan instantly knew that something was wrong and grabbed Diana's hand to reassure her. She received a tight smile from the princess before she continued to look down.

"Welcome to Narnia." Edmund said, through a clenched jaw. He had a hard time concealing his irritation at the guests that were causing distress to Diana. Luckily it didn't seem like they noticed. "Thank you, it is such a lovely country." The eldest man of the company spoke. The rest of them seemed to either fear him or respect him. Whichever one it was he seemed to be the one in charge.

"I am King Azaan of the Isles. I am princess Diana's father." He introduced himself. Edmund was confused. Was Diana really that scared of her own father? "Wonderful to meet you, I assume my siblings have already introduced themselves. I am King Edmund the just." He said fighting the urge to hit the man in front of him.

"It's lovely to see you again dear, we've missed you so terribly, you haven't written a single letter since you left, I was worried about you." The King spoke to Diana, and she seemed to tense even more, if it was even possible.

Liar!

Diana thought to herself "Oh I'm terribly sorry father, but nothing of much interest to you has happened since I have arrived, so I thought you wouldn't care for my letters." She said with the most fake smile Edmund had ever seen.

The King didn't seem quite pleased with the answer, but it looked like he restrained himself from lashing out at her, probably to maintain his image in front of the kings and queens of Narnia. "No worries my dear, I would love to receive your letters in the future." He said with a smile matching Diana's.

"We brought someone with us, who I am sure you will be pleased to see, we thought you might even want to keep her here when we leave." The king said changing the subject. He gestured to one of the servants he had brought and she stepped closer. Only then did Diana notice her old friend Carissa.

Diana had no idea how to react, seeing her old friend made her want to leap into her arms and hug her, but at the same time, she did not want to act like that in front of her family. She settled for a smile and a polite greeting welcoming her to Narnia.