narnia au;

[illuminescent]

how did you get here? through a wardrobe, or through death, or maybe a portal gone terribly astray. a ring. the roar of a lion. in the bottom of a cup. because you were looking for something, or missing something. no matter how you got there, this is where you belong.

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[illuminescent]

Oh?

[She giggles and kisses him again.]

My lord, my love.

[curlytop]

[George's instincts are difficult to turn off, so he returns the kiss for only a moment before pulling back.]

Would you care to take a stroll on the beach, my lady wife?

[illuminescent]

Only if you promise to put your feet in the water with me.

[Like they did the first time they met. Only no one will cross the beach to stop them today, to yell at George, to make them feel bad for it.]

[curlytop]

[He remembers that day, how close he'd felt to the boy he used to be, how much he'd wished they could just be a boy and a girl, playing in the water.]

There's nothing I'd like more.

[He smiles as he stands, offering his hand to help her up. And also to kiss hers.]

[illuminescent]

[She accepts it, gratefully, and stands.]

Do you wish for a guard to accompany us?

[curlytop]

[He tucks her hand into the crook of his elbow, and it feels strange. He's happy to be able to do it, but it's such a foreign gesture, something the nobles do, something he shouldn't.

He doesn't stop, though.]

Are you feeling under-protected, mo chridhe?

[illuminescent]

Not of late, no.

Have you not heard? The Queen married the head of her guard.

[curlytop]

Did she, now?

[He smiles, almost laughing.]

Sounds like a right royal scandal.

[illuminescent]

[People smile when they see them; they are sweet and cute and everyone is happy to see Lucy so happy.]

Well I think it came from her being over-protected.

[curlytop]

[George is still protective, but he can't help feeling a little like all of Narnia is watching out for Lucy when they're here.]

If only all queens were so over-protected.

[illuminescent]

Certainly my royal sister would be married, then.

[And not to someone terrible.]

Perhaps we should all marry thus.

[curlytop]

You could do.

[He smiles, a little crooked.]

But your brothers'd have to change up their guards or get creative with the line of succession.

[illuminescent]

[She laughs.]

Well perhaps you ought to find more ladies who can protect my brothers!

[curlytop]

Aye, I could do, only they'd be minotaurs or centaurs or giants. We've got a leopardess...

[Human women are a bit thin on the ground in Narnia.]

[illuminescent]

I suppose we are stuck trying to get Peter to go to parties, then.

[She giggles a little at the idea. Peter famously is very bad at parties.]

[curlytop]

[George laughs as well.]

Or we could leave it to the high king to find his own way forward.

[illuminescent]

We will never have a high queen.

[They're almost out, now; and she shrugs a little.]

I suppose that will have to do. We will have to have children for all of them.

[curlytop]

You don't think Susan will find someone?

[Edmund seems happy enough on his own, but Susan seems the kind to have a boyfriend. Or several.]

Not that I'm opposed to children, mind.

[He thinks of the scare that brought them here in the first place. He'd like to have children with Lucy.]

[illuminescent]

I think Susan will find the most handsome man in the world, and then we will all be rather doomed.

[She leans on his arm.]

I know that.

I know you were a little sad, when I was not with child.

[curlytop]

Doomed to beautiful children?

[He smiles as he guides her down to the beach.]

I was, but there's no rush, is there? If you'd been pregnant, we'd have been fine, but you're not so...more time to prepare.

[illuminescent]

Oh yes. We will not be able to say no to anything they ask.

[She laughs a little.]

You do not wish our children to be raised by nannies, do you?

[She suspects, and it doesn't bother her.]

[curlytop]

[George has only ever been on the other side of that sort of manipulation. He has no idea what he's in for.]

No, of course not! I mean...probably we'll have to have one sometimes, but I'd want to be there for them.

[illuminescent]

[They're down almost to the sand, and Lucy tugs her skirt up, to tie it up out of the way and slip her shoes off before they get sand in them. She walks out onto the beach, and she waits for George.]

Tutors and teachers and the entire kingdom, and we will still take care of them ourselves.

I do not remember my mother, you know.

[curlytop]

[George pulls off his boots, and it feels good to leave them in the sand, knowing no one will find them there and punish him for it. He rolls up the legs of his breeches and follows her out onto the sand.]

School's one thing. I can't imagine letting someone else...

[He frowns slightly, the downward tug his lips take when he's thinking of his other life.]

Did she die when you were young?

[illuminescent]

I imagine she did.

[She reaches for his hand again, because now that they don't have to hide it, she doesn't want to ever stop touching him.]

I do not remember my father, either. I was so little, when I became queen. I have very little in the way of memories of my childhood.