On a wide, wide sea [Edmund Pevensie]

Chapter 3

The next few days following Zale and her fathers argument were calmer than expected. The girl spent some time with her mother whilst her brothers were away doing who knows what. When they had returned however, the four boys would do nothing less than torment her. Then, the five of them would go down to the beach where they'd continue to train and fight each other. When they had all returned home, battered and bruised (some more than others), they'd find their father seated by the table and their mother laying the dinner down.

Dinner was usually a time where the family would talk about their activities, but since Zale and Drinnian's argument the dinner table was abnormally quiet. The awkward silence would drag on and the only sound that was heard was the cutlery clashing against each other. Eventually the awkwardness would reach its climax and one of the boys would end up sparking a small conversation. Nothing interesting would come up though, just conversations about the weather and new recipes. After dinner, the table was cleared and the kitchen was cleaned leaving the family to go to their respective rooms and settle in for the night. This happened every day for almost two weeks.

Eventually, the father-daughter duo did clear things up but things weren't exactly like they were before. Obviously they spoke like they normally would as the girl couldn't just not talk to her father, especially when she was still living under his roof. But aside from that, Zale still felt as if she wasn't prepared enough. Even after all of her training and her siblings telling her not to worry, she still felt as if she needed to push herself more. All the girl wanted to do was to prove herself to her father. The perfect opportunity needed to come to light.

And that it did.

A few days later, Zale found herself helping her mother prepare dinner for that night. As the girl chopped the vegetables she'd been tasked with, a knock on the door was heard.
"Oh sweetheart, could you get the door." Her mother said as she slightly shoved her daughter away from the chopping block. "I'll finish up here. Go on, don't leave the poor person out there waiting." Obeying her mother's words, Zale headed towards the foyer of the house and opened the door. Out there stood one of the kings guards. He gives a quick bow before sticking his hand out towards her. The girl eyed him curiously with a look of shock plastered on her face as she accepted the rolled up parchment that was in his outstretched hand. She bid the guard good day and watched him saunter off before closing the door. Zale glanced down at the parchment and stalked off towards her mother in the kitchen.
"Who was at the door?"
The chocolate-eyed girl remained quiet, still staring down at the rolled parchment. Her mother notices the silence and turns towards her. Spotting the letter, she nips it out of Zale's grasp, knocking the girl out of her trance.

"Who delivered it?"

"Erm, one of the royal guards"
The girl's mother continued to glance at the unopened letter before shaking her head and leaving it on the dining table.

"It's probably for your father. I'll just leave it here until he comes back." Doing exactly that, the pair went back to working on that night's dinner.

࿊࿊࿊

A few hours later found the family seated at the dinner table.
A comfortable silence had fallen upon them as they enjoyed and finished their dinner. However, instead of everyone clearing the table and heading off to their respective rooms, the family of seven decided to chat amongst themselves for a while.

"You should have seen them!" Alistair wheezed. "Lucas started walking away after winning the fight and I think Felix was still quite angry about that; so he runs and jumps on Lucas' back!" The table, except for the two boys mentioned, erupted with laughter.

"That's not even the best part!" Theodore held his stomach as he tried to continue. "As Lucas was trying to get Felix off his back," a deep breath was taken before the second eldest spoke once more "he started walking towards the shore and tripped over a rock! So the two of them ended up in the the water looking like a pair of grumpy puppies after a shower!" Once again, the table laughed. They were sure to have a number of complaints from neighbors with all the ruckus they were making. But that was the last thing on the family's mind as they laughed on.

Wiping a tear from the corner of her eye, the children's mother rose from her seat and started clearing the table. Zale followed suite, carrying half of the dirty dishes off into the kitchen to have them cleaned. As she set the down beside the sink, the rolled piece of parchment caught her eye. She picked it up and quickly made her way back to where the boys sat.

"Father," he turned at the sound of her voice, "This came for you today." She handed the scroll to him. "Who's it from?" He asked as he slowly opened it. "Erm, one the royal guards came by and dropped it off." Lord Drinnian flinched slightly at this before unrolling it further and reading the letter. It seemed like forever until he stood from his chair and headed towards his study. Silence hung in the air as the siblings looked from the door of their father's study to each other.

"What was that about?" Felix asked, not as grumpy as he was before. Theodore slapped the back of his youngest brother's head before speaking. "You never were really the brightest we're you Felix?"
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean-"
"There's only one person who can make father leave with great urgency like that." Theo explained.

The siblings looked at one another before realization hit. Zale's eyes widened and her lips gently fell apart before muttering.

"Caspian."

•*•*•

Quick author's note:

Hi, it's been a while. Um, so a lot of stuff happened in my life recently. A lot of life changing events for better and for worse. Not to mention I'm still a high school student (ew) and I'm applying for Uni soon so that's terrifying. I've also been working on a lot of other books lately so that's pretty exciting!
Aside from that, sorry that I haven't updated and I truly do hope you enjoy this chapter!

Xoxo -Asy_101