❛ IF IT TAKES FIGHTING A WAR FOR US TO MEET,
IT WILL HAVE BEEN WORTH IT. ❜
in which the world turns to the kings and queens of old,
but the kings and queens turn to a lonely knight.
𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙋𝙇𝙀𝙏𝙀𝘿
...
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REAL LIFE ❛ WHO LIVES ❜
There, upon the cobbled stones of the courtyard, and with a luminescent beam stretched across her lips, Athena sat peacefully at a chess table with her brother-in-law, and undoubtedly her best friend, Edmund. To her dismay, the Just King was apparently winning (as he so self-proclaimed) and she was losing very, very terribly. If anyone knew the rules of chess - which Athena herself knew quite little about - it described that when a King is in danger the game is likely lost. Athena's King was in a dire situation and, therefore, placed her in losing position against her opponent. She wasn't really enjoying that.
She could have blamed the noise on her slow demise to defeat. Princess Juno, who had found herself practically living in Cair Paravel since the wedding, had taken it upon herself to chase the two young royals around the table at which their father and aunt were playing chess. The children's combined squeals of joy could be heard from a mile away, especially as Juno had switched into threatening them with tickles if they didn't run any faster. The smile on the Archen Princess' face only caused laughter to escape Athena's at the sight of her blissfully running around with Prince Arthur and Princess Tavi. Her happiness was commendable; she had managed to avoid every marriage prospect her brother, Lune, sent her way. Her adamant quest for true love was inspiring, to say the least.
Behind her quietly sat Juliet, Susan, and a rather tired looking Mr Tumnus drinking a variety of teas underneath the apple tree, the canopy encasing much of the courtyards view of the sky. The three had matured since Athena's first meeting of them. Susan's deeply shaded hair flowed down to her waist, the aura of reality and responsibility dropping from her stance and her manner creating a wave of prosperity to infiltrate all who saw her. Tumnus, now greying and restraining his ages hunch in the presence of two Queens, sipped upon the tea he held in his hands. There was nothing much he could do in his old age but keep those he surrounded himself with happy and entertained; he henceforth poured some more tea. Juliet, however, was the anomaly in the group - her smile still as youthful as her appearance. She gazed upon her children playing with the foreign Princess diligently, still wildly protective but enjoying their fun as if she herself was running around among them. Her head eventually switched it's attention to the chess game before her, observing how her husband managed to easily defeat her friend and laughed silently to herself.
Athena's concentration had wondered elsewhere and somehow drastically failed to notice Edmund's hand lift a golden knight and capture the silver King he had set out to defeat. Mischievous chuckling echoed from the opposite end of the table as a bell tolled and Athena's attention snapped back to the Just King with a scowl. He had beaten her yet again; was she ever to win that wretched game? Her luck had really run out that day.
"Still unable to defeat the master?" Edmund joked, leaning back in his chair with a smirk and folding his arms in front of his chest. The High Queen scoffed and raised her eyebrow. She felt like kicking his foot under the table in reaction to his poor attitude to winning the game, but the giggling face of Juliet behind them called her to sense. Typical Edmund being his usual self. She couldn't help but admit that his victory may have been eminent from the beginning. "Admit it, after fifteen years you still cannot beat me. . . Maybe next time, eh? There's always hope."
