"Have you had enough to eat?" Susan asked. "There's no need to be shy around us. If my brother's and my sister know anything, it is how to eat."

Lena looked down at her less-than-half-eaten-plate of food and smiled faintly. Her old Nurse would have certainly admonished her for her utter lack of decorum, but Edmund would have smiled in his easy way and finished what she could not. Lena was never a heavy eater, none of the girls of La Bugia were. Then, back in the other place, her world, her real world, Lena learned to survive off the war rations. Eating light was a habit that stuck with her, even when it was unnecessary.

"Yes. I'm fine. Thank you, Susan." Lena pushed some of the food around on her plate. "It was quite...delicious." She frowned as she removed what appeared to be a feather from her stewed veggies. She quelled the disgust rising in her and reached for her glass of ale; it, at least, was free of beastly sheddings.

Sara's laughter rang through the air, and for a moment Lena was distracted as she watched her daughters play. They, like their Babbo would have, ate quickly and then asked to go play. Currently, Sara was dancing around with a few younger versions of the goat-like creatures they saw in the forest; Lena tried to remember what they were called but couldn't. Meri tapped out the beat nearby.

"Were you in the forest long before Peter found you?" Susan asked, drawing Lena's attention back to her.

"Oh, I... No. Not very. I don't think so at least. I was never good at tracking time like that. Ed tried to teach me, but I never had the mind for it. Meri does, however; she'd be the one to ask."

"And how did you come to be in the forest?" Peter asked.

"I...I don't know. I woke up there, but I... I can't remember falling asleep." Lena tried to put herself back to a time before the forest but everything was gray and dim in her mind, like a foggy haze. The harder she tried to remember the more her head hurt until a blinding light flashed before her eyes.

"Mamma?" Merri seemed to have a sixth sense for when Lena was feeling ill, especially as of late.

"*Sto bene," Lena replied, waving off her daughter's concerns as she forced the headache aside.

"We can send for Willa again if needed," Susan offered.

"No, please. Thank you, but no." Lena sighed. "I have seen more healers, physicians, and doctors than I ever cared to see." In the last year alone, Lena had begun to feel that her life was nothing more than a revolving door of healers and physicians, and none of them had the answers she and her family hoped for.

"Perhaps...Perhaps we could simply move elsewhere? I think this heat is beginning to affect me," she asked.

"Certainly. We could make our way to the east wing parlor. Peter?"

"That seems reasonable enough," Peter agreed.

"Meri, vieni."

Meri looked at her mother and quickly came when she was called. Sara remained laughing with the young Narnians.

"We're moving inside," Lena told her in Italian. "Stay with your sister, keep an eye on her and on them. Be careful."

"Mamma, they're fine. They're young Fauns, like Mr. Tumnus." Meri also spoke in Italian.

"I don't know a Mr. Tumnus."

"He's from Babbo's tales. He's the first Narnian Aunt Lulu met and one of her greatest friends. Really, Mamma, if you had listened to any of Babbo's tales you—" Meri stopped short at the look she received from Lena. She knew better than to cross that look. "Yes, Mamma. Sorry, Mamma. Of course I'll look after Sara. Don't worry about us; we'll be fine. I promise."

Lena was reluctant to leave, but she knew she had to speak with Peter and Susan; she knew where the conversation would lead and she didn't want to cause any undue distress for Meri and Sara. Lena combed her fingers through the hair Meri had slung over her shoulder in an attempt to stall her departure. With a sad pang, Lena realized it had been some time since she had last been able to do such a small gesture.

Meri smiled faintly before taking her mother's hands in her own. She squeezed them lightly. "Go, Mamma." She turned her attention to Peter and Susan and curtsied. "King Peter. Queen Suzie." She grimaced. "Sorry. I mean, Queen Susan."

Susan smiled and nodded her head before Merri went back to play with her sister. "Don't fret, Lady Ileana. Your daughters will be safe. Lady Bea is watching over them."

"Lady Bea, you say? Where is she?" Lena followed the direction of Susan's hand and saw a tan and white dog sitting pristinely on its hind legs with ears erect; it looked more like a statue than a live animal. "Oh...of course. She is a..."

"A Greyhound," Susan finished for her. "One of the finest in the pack. She's had two litters of her own, the most recent about six months ago, and she is very gentle with pups."

"My daughters aren't pups."

Susan smiled stiffly. "Of course not. I only meant to say that both you and Lady Bea are of similar ilk. She will guard your daughters as well as any mother would guard her own."

"If you say so." Lena looked over her shoulder at the watchdog again. She was sure the dog could hear everything they were saying, but she gave no indication that she had.

Susan and her guard, a large Lynx, led the way as they set off into the castle. Peter and Sir Jagar brought up the rear.

"And," Lena continued. "It is not as though Edmund did not train Merri well in many manners of defense should the need arise. And I suspect he has already begun to train Sara, what with her latest fascination with pirates and sword play, but I would expect nothing less from the self-proclaimed Greatest Swordsman of Narnia."

Peter laughed. "Self-proclaimed indeed. Edmund has never bested me in a duel."

"Really? He beats you all the time in the other world until the end when he pulls his strikes."

"Now I know we are speaking of different people. Our Edmund would never pull his strikes."

Susan sighed. "She is right, Peter."

"Right about what?"

"Edmund pulls his strikes when he's dueling you."

"He does not."

"He does, brother."

"No. Why would he do that?"

"Because you're the High King."

"I'm not sure I believe you."

"Sir Jagar?" Susan called as she looked back at the Cheetah.

"Her Majesty speaks truthfully, Sire."

"Well then, I shall have to take this matter up with him when he returns," Peter replied.

When he returns. That explained it then. Lena had neither heard nor seen Edmund since she arrived at the castle, and she was both longing for and dreading the moment when she would. She wanted to see his eyes. She wanted to hear his voice again. She wanted to feel his embrace as he held her close, but she feared she'd see disbelief. She feared she'd only hear doubt. She feared he'd keep his distance.

"And where...where is your brother?" Lena had the sudden dreadful image of Edmund rolling in bed with a faceless cortesana.

Susan led them into a small parlor. There were a few plush chairs spaced around a table. The furniture was more spaced than what Lena considered normal and as the great Cats followed them in, she realized it was to allow their sort more ease in movement. Lena tried to push down the bile that was rising within her. Her efforts were made easier by the fresh air and the sound of Sara's laughter drifting in through the open window.

Lena closed her eyes and let the sound rush over her and fill the emptiness inside her. As she did, the image in her head was replaced with one of Sara, Meri, and Edmund playing pirates on the beach.

*"Vieni, Mamma! Giochiamo!" Meri called.

Lena looked up from her book and down the beach to where Meri and Sara were playing at the water's edge with Edmund. They were all flagging her down.

"Jo'camo! Jo'camo!" Sara shouted.

"Mi Amore! Vieni!" Edmund called.

He shouted a few more love-sick phrases and something about needing to rescue a pirate princess from the sea serpent. Really, the boy didn't know the meaning of quit. Lena slid her bookmark into place and made her way to them.

"So, what am I? The princess or the sea serpent?" she asked.

"Mamma! We the princesses!" Sara giggled, pointing to herself and Merri.

Edmund looked at Lena and shrugged. "If it's any consolation, you're a very pretty sea serpent."

"Oh, I'm the prettiest," Lena replied with a sly grin.

They played for quite some time, splashing in the water and skipping lunch. Their adventure ended not with the death of the sea serpent, but with her transformation into a beautiful princess who fell in love with the Pirate King, played by Edmund (of course). After which, the girls ran up to their blanket for their sandwiches. Edmund kept Lena at the water's edge, his arms wrapped around her waist.

*"Ti amo, luce mia," he said.

*"E ti amo, cuore."

They shared a brief moment together before Lena pulled away to join the girls; he was insatiably relentless sometimes. Lena looked over her shoulder at him as she walked; she could never quite get enough of his smile. His love, his hope, and his joy fading into fear were the last things she saw before the world spun around her and she fell into darkness.

Lena was pulled from the memory at the sound of Peter's voice.

"Our Brother and Sister were called to Anvard to handle a bit of business," he said.

"Anvard? That... that's in," Lena searched her memory for the answer and hated how easily it came to her. "Archenland, correct?"

"It is."

Lena nodded. And now the image of Edmund rolling in bed returned, only this time the faceless cortesana was a busty blonde. The image made Lena cringe and she had to remind herself that if her theory was correct then technically Edmund wasn't her husband yet and could therefore roll in bed with whomever he pleased. After all, it's not as though she had remained untouched until their wedding night.

Lena turned from the window with purpose. "When will he return? Or do you know? With any luck, my daughters and I can be out of here before that day arrives."

Susan and Peter did not respond, but Lena caught the subtle glance between them.

"You are bewildered," Lena continued. "Wouldn't a wife wish to see her husband, you think? And I do. I do wish to see him, but I wish to see him as I know him. I wish to see him as the man he is, not as the king he once was."

"You speak as though the man and the king are two separate entities. Are they not one and the same?" Peter asked.

"Are the wife and the cortesana the same?" Lena asked in return. "We both have a past that we do not hold against the other. And tell me, High King Peter, why would I wish to see the king who, if your own eyes are any indication, would look at me and see only a stranger? Your brother king does not know the years between us nor the daughters we raised. Would it not then be simpler to return my daughters and I to our own world as quick as can be?"

"I'm afraid it doesn't work like that," Susan said.

"And why ever not?"

"For starters, we didn't call you here and therefore we can not return you to your world."

"Furthermore," Peter began. "This other world you speak of, how do we even know it exists? I have traveled the greatest depths of Narnia and have found no trace of other worlds."

"Surely you must remember something of the other world. I know you were but children when you arrived, but the other world is your home," Lena insisted.

"When we arrived? You are mistaken, my Lady. Narnia is our home. We have always been Narnian."

Lena dropped into one of the seats feeling deflated. She had never imagined that the four Pevensies would not recall their life before Narnia at all; there were days when she was still haunted by her life before England. If they knew nothing of the other world, then how could they possibly find a way to return her to her home?

"Peter," Susan said with a heavy sigh. "Ba'ja, Jagar you are reminded to keep Our council."

"Yes, My Queen," the two Cats replied. Lena had almost forgotten they were there. Almost.

"Sister?" Peter looked at Susan in question.

"Lady Ileana speaks true, Brother. We came to Narnia as mere children from another world. I have known this from the beginning, and when I find myself on the verge of forgetting, I have Mr. Tumnus remind me of it. Please try to remember. Mother and Father in Finchley. The house in the country. The spare room with the..."

"...Wardrobe." Peter's voice was merely a whisper.

Susan nodded. "We were called here, same as she, by Aslan. And it is only Aslan who can send you home, Ileana."

"Then I urge you to call him here swiftly," Lena said. "And let us be done with this." There. Progress. If the King and Queen could not help her, then perhaps this magician Aslan could.

Peter laughed and Susan smiled. "We do not call Him anywhere."

"Aslan comes and goes as He pleases," Susan added.

"Then it should please him to come swiftly."

The Cats growled and the amusement left Peter and Susan's face. "I don't believe you understand," Susan said gently. "Aslan is no mere subject of ours; We are His subjects. You see, Aslan created this, all of this from the stones in this castle, to every noble Narnian who tends to it. Every blade of grass or grain of sand was crafted by Him. We live to serve Him; it is not the other way around."

"And does this Aslan make a habit of dragging people from their world against their wish?"

"Aslan could only have brought you here for a purpose. Ours was to bring peace. You will find yours too."

"And in the meantime I am left to rot with the beasts of nightmares."

There was a rumbling growl from the back of the room and Peter breathed in deeply. "I have tried to be patient with you, Lady Ileana, but I must insist that you show a little more respect for the Narnians. There is only so much We can tolerate."

Lena stood and turned her back on King Peter and Queen Susan. She did not want them to see how deeply Peter's words cut through her, and in her current state of weariness she didn't trust herself to keep an impassive face. If they had known her at all, then they would know that this world was hell for her. When she finally found the courage to run all those years ago she knew it was to her death but she didn't care. Death would have been better than the life she was living. And yet, somehow, she had not died; she found another world, another life, and eventually a place to call home.

Of course, King Peter and Queen Susan didn't know any of that. How could they? They didn't know her. And so, though she swore to herself she'd never so much as mutter a single word in that foulest of languages again and though every word she said made her wish for sickness for even that bile was more palatable, she spoke to King Peter and Queen Susan in the language of her birth.

Sto bene: I'm fine

Vieni, Mamma! Giochiamo: Come, Mom. Let's play

Ti amo, luce mia: I love you, my light (light of mine)

E ti amo, cuore: And I love you (my) heart