Our Long Awaited Return Book #8

Chapter 25 Reepicheep and His Humility

Verity's pov
Lucy and I waited for the others to cross the river.
All six of them fall on their knees. I did the same to show gratitude to the lion, but Lucy stayed standing.
"Rise, Kings and Queens of Narnia," Aslan says.
The six of us stand up, except for Leona and Caspian.
"All of you," he beckons.
"But I'm not a queen," Leona answers nervously.
"And I don't think I'm ready," Caspian explains.
"It is for that very reason I know you are," Aslan tells him, he turns to Leona, "It doesn't matter if you're not a queen you're still royalty."
Leona and Caspian both got up.
I heard a bagpipe playing, we turned around and there were Reepicheep's troops, carrying the brave little warrior on a stretcher. He was wounded.
"Oh, poor Reep," Ruth whispers.
Lucy runs over to him and gives him a drop of her cordial.
The mouse coughs, but then is on his feet.
"Oh, Thank you, your majesty." The mouse thanks Lucy, "Oh, hail, Aslan. It is a great honour to be in..." But he looks behind his back. His tail was missing."Oh, but I am completely out of countenance. I must crave your indulgence for appearing in this unseemly fashion."
He looks up at Lucy, "Perhaps just one more drop?"
Lucy shakes her head, "I don't think it does that."
"You could have a go," insisted Reepicheep.
"It becomes you well, small one," Aslan says.
"All the same, great king, I regret I must withdraw for a tail is the honour and glory of a mouse." Reepicheep replies, holding up his sword.
"Perhaps you think too much of your honour," Aslan remarked.
"Well, it's not just the honour. It's also great for balance, climbing, and grabbing things," explains Reepicheep.
"May it please, your high majesty," Peepicheep says, the other mice hold up to their swords, "We will not bear an honour denied to our chief."
"Not for your honour, but for the love of your people," Aslan answers.
Reepicheep's tail grows back. He turns around and gasps, "Thank you my liege, I will treasure it always, from this day forward it will be a reminder of my huge humility."
We all share a laugh, but then Aslan looks at Lucy."Now where is this dear little friend you've told me so much about?"
We all turn around to where Trumpkin is pointing his sword at the Temarines, ordering them to drop their weapons.
Trumpkin walks over to us and gets on his knees.
Aslan gives a mighty roar. I'm sure it scared poor Trumpkin.
"Do you see him now?" Lucy asks.
Trumpkin can only nod in reply.
"Now," Aslan says, "we should head to Cair Paravel. We have a castle to rebuild and a king to crown."
The seven of us Pevensies linger as the others leave. For a moment we look at each other. But then Lucy breaks the silence, "We did it!"
"Of course we did it," I grin, "But we couldn't have done it without Aslan."
"No," Andrew shook his head.
"We all made it out alive," Edmund replies.
"Alive, but barely," Ruth mutters.
"Without a scratch," I look at Peter, "Thanks."
"For what?" He asks.
"If you hadn't been there at the moment Lord Raven was about to kill me..." I feel tears sting my eyes.
I throw my arms around his neck, "I wouldn't be with you now."
He pats my back gently, Lucy then joins the embrace and then Ruth and Edmund and Susan and Andrew.
It was so wonderful to be together again. When we pull away, Gwen comes toward Andrew.
"Andrew," she begins,"Can we talk alone?"
"Yes," he nods."All six of you don't you dare..."
"What?" Asks Edmund confused.
"You don't know," Ruth coughs.
"They're in love," I state, as the two walk away hand in hand.

After a few minutes, I got impatient,"That's it," I walk towards where Andrew and Gwen had gone.
"Verity," Peter protests,"They want some time alone."
"But we have been waiting long enough," I say,
"Susan already left."
"I imagine she had someone important to meet," Lucy replies,"Like Caspian,"
"Everybody smitten," I remark annoyed.
Peter, Edmund, and I go to get Andrew and Gwen.
We found them both in the woods.
"Oh, there you are, it's time..." but Peter covers my mouth. The two of them were kissing.
"Let's leave," Edmund had a disgusted look on his face, as the two pull away.
"We told you," Andrew says upset.
"We know," Peter grabs Edmund and me by the arm, "We'll go without you."

Leona's pov
We walk back to Cair Paravel, Caspian, Aslan, the Narnians, and I.
"I can't believe it!" I exclaim, "We won!"
"Did you think we'd lose?" Caspian asks in his teasing tone.
"No, but I didn't think we'd win either," I link arms with my brother.
"Where are the Kings and Queens," Caspian muses.
I looked behind us, they came following behind us.
"They're coming," I reply.
Susan catches up to us, "We did pretty well, didn't we?"
"Yes," Caspian smiles, he looks straight at her.
I take that as my signal to leave the two of them alone.
Verity walks up to me, "You think Susan and Caspian make a good match?"
"Well, I don't know," I answer.
"I feel the same way about Susan," Verity continues, trying to be understanding, "Besides this doesn't mean they're going to get married."
"Yeah, definitely not," I shake my head.
"What are you talking about?" Lucy asks curiously followed by Ruth.
"The two songbirds," I joke.
"It's lovebirds," Verity began.
"We call them songbirds in Narnia," I explained.
"Obviously," Ruth grins, "What else is there to talk about now. Except for Andrew and Gwen,"
"Oh," Lucy says, "Better not tell Peter, in our Golden Age, he barely allowed any suitors to come to see Susan. That's why the last one Prince Rabadash caused a big battle for Susan."
"Well, the battle began, because the Tisroc wanted to defeat Narnia," Ruth replies.
"Yes, In case you've forgotten, Lu, Susan didn't want to marry Prince Rabadash, but Peter was so protective that the Prince came to seek Susan's hand, while he was away fighting the great giants of the North."
So it didn't seem like I had to worry, I mean it's not like Caspian and Queen Susan would get married.