the girl from archenland | narnia

Chapter Three

"Nenya?"

Nenya opened her eyes. She was laying in her own bed back at Cair Paravel. She turned her head, looking to her left.

"Peter? The battle, what happened?" she asked, looking at the blond haired boy. 

Peter sighed, he was tense, as though he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. "We won.."

"But?" Nenya sat up leaning back against her pillows, looking Peter in the eye.

"But nothing. I was just worried, that's all. You were really hurt. I should have gone after their leader myself, I shouldn't have left you to do it."

"Peter." Nenya shook her head. "This wasn't your fault. You gave me the job to do because you had other things to do. You had to lead. It's my own fault I got hurt, I was stupid. I took to many risks." she reached for Peter's hand. "You have enough things to worry about. Don't make me one of them."

Peter became even tenser as her hand touched his, then he relaxed slowly. "Just be careful. Okay?" his voice caught. "You came really close to dying you know. Really close." before the silence could get awkward he quickly added. "And if you died Susan could kill me."

Nenya rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I think Susan is the only one who really wants me here. Not that I blame the rest of you."

"Nenya, If you mean Ed you just need to give him a bit of space. He does like you... He just, he doesn't make friends easily. "

Nenya took her hand back, crossing her arms over her chest. "Whatever Edmund wants is fine. If he doesn't want to be friends then I won't force him. I'll just stick with Susan."

"What about me?" Peter reached for her hand again.

Nenya shook her head. "No. You're right. I don't want you to have to worry about me, and that means I can't be close to you. The better friends we are the more you'll care, and the more I'll care. I guess Edmund's the smart one."

"But-"

Nenya cut Peter off. "No." she bit her lip. "We can't be friends Peter Pevensie. I should have figured that out right away, instead, I hurt us both."

Peter stood up, the tenseness back. Nodded, and left the room.

"I can't lose you Peter Pevensie," Nenya whispered after he left. "Even though you aren't mine to begin."

The two boys were both attractive as far as those things went. The darker haired one, Edmund, seemed quieter, but just as brave as his brother. Peter seemed bolder, but she could sense they both had things they were hiding. She had barely met them and already she didn't want to think about parting.

When they brought her back to their castle it just made things worse, she quickly made friends with both their sisters, but especially the eldest, Susan. It didn't matter how the boys looked, or how kind they were, not even that they had saved her life. She couldn't let herself get close to them. For one, she could never be good friends with one without hurting the other. and for two, things like that always ended in disaster. She would know.

Nenya laid her head back on her pillow, forcing the tears to stay in her eyes and refusing to cry. She needed sleep, that was all, sleep would make everything better.