The Just and the Wise

Chapter 13

Knock! Knock!

We wake the next morning to a polite knock on the door to our cabin. Edmund sits up quickly at the sound and moves the sheets, making sure to cover me completely.

"Who is it?" He calls toward the door.

"It's just me," Lucy's voice rings from the other side of the door, "Caspian wants everybody up. He asked me to wake you two and Eustace."

"Alright, we'll be out in a minute," Edmund says with a stretch, "thanks Lu!"

"See you up there!" She says cheerfully as her footsteps grow distant as she makes her way on deck.

Edmund falls back onto the mattress and runs his hands over his face.

"I guess we should get up then," he says, turning his head to look at me.

I look back at him and smile. He smiles back at me sweetly.

"I love you," Edmund says, his brown eyes dilated as they look over my face.

"And I love you," I whisper back to him, "can I ask you something?"

"Anything," Edmund says, pulling my hand onto his stomach and playing with my fingers.

"Why did you tell me you want to marry me?" I say, looking up at the ceiling.

"Because I do," he says matter of factly, "I've known that. I felt like you deserve to know it too."

I keep my eyes on the ceiling above me and play with the sheets with my free hand.

"When?" I ask.

Edmund gets up and begins getting dressed.

"Why are you asking me these questions?" He says looking at me with furrowed brows. "Do you not want to get married?"

"No, I do," I pause, sitting up and holding the sheets over my chest.

"But?" He says, hearing the pause in my voice.

"No 'but,'" I shake my head, "I do want to get married, I just didn't know you thought about that kind of thing."

Edmund turns around and looks at me before walking over to me and putting a hand on each side of where I'm sitting, leaning close to my face.

"How could I not think about that when I have you?" He kisses me sweetly, and he pulls away and we smile at each other.

"Good point," I smile up at Ed and scrunch my nose at him, "I like that you think about that."

"Me too," he says, kissing me on the forehead before going back to getting dressed.

—————

Edmund's POV

That evening, the Dawn Treader sails from the ocean into a strait. Beautiful mountains rise from the water around us, and the sun floats above the ocean water. Golden light bounces off the water as Caspian, Drinian and I gather by the wheel of the ship.

"It looks uninhabited," Caspian says, viewing the island in the distance through a telescope, "but if the lords followed the mist East, they'd have stopped here."

"Could be a trap," Drinian nods.

"Or it could hold some answers," I counter, "Caspian?"

"We'll spend the night on shore," Caspian decides, closing the telescope, "scour the island in the morning."

"Aye, your majesty," Drinian replies, and we sail into a small cove on the island and lay anchor.

That night, we set up camp on shore. The crew, Caspian, Drinian, Y/n, Lucy, Eustace, and I all make pallets for ourselves on the sand. The air is just warm enough to not require more than a light blanket to sleep with, if that.

Most of us fall asleep quickly, Y/n included, but I toss and turn, falling in and out of sleep. At one point, I've drifted off once again when I'm startled awake by a loud thump. I sit up, my hand moving to my sword at my side. I look around in the moonlight, searching for the source of the noise. I don't see anything, but I continue to hear rustling.

"Love, what's wrong?" Y/n rolls over, her eyes still closed and her voice groggy.

"I thought I heard something," I whisper, my eyes still darting around the area.

"It's probably Eustace's snoring," Y/n searches for my arm with her hand, her eyes still closed, "lie back down, Ed, I'm cold."

I grab her hand that's still reaching for my arm and look around one last time before lying down with Y/n. I end up falling asleep eventually, but I don't sleep soundly. I know I heard something, and I don't like that I couldn't figure out what.

We sleep through the night, but I dream of the possibilities of what could have caused the noise I heard. The sun rises slowly, and I wake up to Caspian shaking me.

"Ed-Ed wake up!"

"Huh?" I grunt as he pulls me over.

I look at Y/n sleeping soundly next to me.

"Wake up, look!"

Caspian stands next to...giant footprints. I follow the direction of the prints and realize something.

"Where's Lucy? Lucy!?"

"Everybody up!" Drinian shouts, having woken at mine and Caspian's voices. "Get up I said!"

Y/n wakes and puts on her vest and grabs a crossbow lying next to her. I run over and grab my armor and sword, and the crew grabs their gear as well. We all take off in the direction of the tracks in search of my missing sister.