𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐀𝐍 || 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚 [ I ]

Chapter 11

The walk back to Aslan's How was peaceful.

Caspian was walking in front with Peter, discussing battle strategies. Meanwhile, Susan, Edmund and Lucy were walking amongst the rest of the Narnians.

Muriel, who would deny it if anyone asked, was keeping a watchful eye on Peter and Caspian. The tension had dropped, fortunately, and Muriel was glad, but she could still see that Caspian was struggling to keep up with the battle strategies that Peter was throwing at him.

The conversation had caught her attention almost immediately, but at a certain point, even the princess of Archenland got bored listening to plans on attacking the enemy and discussions about soldiers. She started listening to the other conversations going on around her.

She could hear both dwarves, Trumpkin and Nikabrik, talking to each other. When they lowered their voices Muriel felt a grin grace her lips.  She could vaguely make out their words, something about Trumpkin liking the Pevensie siblings.

Muriel still hadn't had a decent conversation with not even one of the siblings for she'd been walking alone for a while, but she was sure that if Trumpkin liked them, she would like them as well.

And Muriel was quite right. It hadn't taken Queen Susan very long to catch up with the graceful steps of the Princess of Archenland. Susan had wondered about Muriel as well, during the many years she'd spend in Narnia she'd met quite a few women her age and she had even befriended some of them. So it was not hard for her to walk up to the Princess and start a conversation.

For Muriel, however, it was quite a different story. Muriel never had -what her brothers would call- 'female friends.' She had preferred Killian's company above anyone else's and there weren't any girls that wanted to play with her anyway, because all she did was play with swords instead of dolls.

So Muriel had no idea what she could say to the Queen next to her, but luckily she didn't have to say anything for Susan was very good at making small talk.

"You look a bit lonely, would you care for some company?" The Queen asked, she looked towards the two men in front of her and smiled. "It seems like Peter has taken your prince."

Muriel's red cheeks became a shade darker and she could feel her ears burning in embarrassment. "H-he's not my prince..." She noticed the teasing grin on Susan's lip and tried to correct herself. "I-I mean, I don't mind your company at all, your majesty."

Susan, who smiled at Muriel after seeing her red cheeks and ears, kindly shook her head and let her soft hand rest on the princess' arm. "Please call me Susan, or Sue, it's much easier than calling me your majesty all the time."

Muriel found Susan's kind smile contagious and met her with one of her own. "Are you certain that I should call you that?"

"definitely."

"Then I insist you call me Muriel."

It was quiet for a while and even though Muriel felt a little bit awkward, it was a peaceful kind of quiet. She felt a bit silly, walking next to a Queen of old, the one she had read about in books, the one she knew everything about, it felt surreal.

"Queen Susan..." She met her brown eyes and let out a breathy laugh when Susan raised her eyebrow mockingly at the title. "I mean Susan. Would you mind answering a silly question of mine?"

"Depends on what the question is."

"Of course." Muriel met her eyes with a shy look and started fidgeting with her hands, a nervous habit she'd picked up when she was younger. "It's about... Well, the past." Susan nodded and Muriel continued, "You see, I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about the time when you, and your brothers and sister, defeated the White Witch. I read about it in books, but I gathered it would be more interesting if the Queen of Old actually told me herself..." Susan was mildly surprised at the sudden words that came tumbling out Muriel's mouth like a waterfall. She hadn't expected the girl next to her to suddenly speak like that for she seemed rather shy.