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Chapter Ten: Temper Tantrums and Talks:

 

//We're only human, baby
we walk on broken ground//

 

By the time they had the How at long last in their line of sight, the group’s communal mourning had become irritation and dissatisfaction, with everyone’s tempers going beyond the fraying point. Old enemies in the midst of the Narnians had begun to criticize at one another again. The chief offenders of this were their supposed two leaders, Peter and Caspian, who after being courteous – or at least avoiding each other for an hour or two – had started to attack the dignity one another yet again.

Buffy had long since had enough of both of them and was genuinely taking into consideration beating them up in an effort to stop them from ever speaking to each other again, when she saw a diminutive figure running towards them. By the time they had just about reached the entry point to the How, Lucy had joined them, in her hand she held her extraordinary bottle of cordial and she looked ready and willing to give aid to the wounded among them.

Observing the friction within the group, the small numbers of returning warriors and the scowls her brother and the Prince were giving each other, she asked the dreaded question. “What happened?”

She asked it so innocently, but it still managed to short out the temper restraints of the two elder male monarchs. Peter gestured rudely at Caspian before speaking, “Ask him!”

“Me? You could have called it off. There was still time,” Caspian responded in kind.

“Caspian…” Susan began in an unproductive attempt to curb the Prince’s antagonism.

“Peter!” Buffy yelled at the same time as Susan spoke and for the exact same reason – if not a different male – but it was no use.

Both girls were instantaneously ignored as the egos and hormones of the two young men swelled and surged. “No there wasn’t, thanks to you. If you had kept to the plan, those soldiers might be alive right now.”

“And if you had just stayed here like I suggested, they definitely would be.”

Buffy massaged both of her temples with her hands attempting to alleviate the strain and anxiety that the two bickering males were causing within her brain. It was no use and she snapped, “And if you had *both* listened to me and Lucy, all of this might have been avoided.”

“No, it wouldn’t,” Peter challenged hotly. “Because Caspian in spite of everything would have screwed it up.”

“Maybe… but only after you had gotten everyone killed.”

“You called us… remember?”

Caspian met Peter’s glare, deep brown eyes staring into cool blue, “My first mistake.”

Neither one of them heard Susan’s aggrieved gasp at the statement or noticed that she took of in the direction of the woods. This infuriated Buffy yet again, she was more than exceptionally sick – and she was convinced that the others felt the same way – of the two of them persistently bickering.

“No, your first mistake was thinking *you* could lead these people.”

Caspian continued to glare, “I am not the one who abandoned Narnia.”

“You invaded Narnia. You have no more right to it than Miraz does! You… him… your father… Narnia is better off without the lot of you!”

The next instant, the two of them were drawing swords on each other. However it was Edmund who took charge and managed to get them to take notice when he yelled, “Stop it,” at them. They stopped and simply stood there glaring at one another, ignoring the world around them, until Peter – followed by Edmund – walked away and went into the How.

The second it was over Lucy rushed over to her injured DLF and Caspian went to walk away, so Buffy was forced to grab his arm to make him halt his progress. “Where do you think you are going?”

“I am not going to apologise to *him*. I was going for a walk – or do I need your permission to do so?”

“I am not about to make either one of you say sorry. I just thought you might be going after, Su…”

“Susan? Did she not go into the How?”

“No, she ran off into the woods after you first put your foot in your mouth.”

“What?”

Buffy shook her head at him, “When you screamed that it was a mistake to bring us to Narnia…”

“Oh, I guess – uh – I should go and find her?”

“That would be my tactical suggestion,” Buffy told him. “And this one… I don’t recommend that you ignore.”

 

 

As an alternative to following the others into the How, Buffy chose to meander off by herself instead. She was far from powerless and more than competent to defend herself if anything should attack. After walking for a while, she found herself down by the stream that ran past the edge of the woods.

The water looked so cool, translucent and blue – bringing an unbidden thought of a certain King’s eyes – and she felt so covered with sweat and enclosed in the blood of her friends and foes, that she made a split second decision. Pulling off her dress – over her head to avoid the inaccessible fastenings – and wearing nothing by her slip and panties, she waded out into the stream.

She washed and wrung out her dress, hanging it over a flowering shrub near the edge of the stream, before hurriedly doing the same with her slip and underwear. Glorying in being naked and clean for seemingly the first time since entering Narnia, she swam out to the deepest part of the water and just played, forgetting about everything, until she heard a sharp intake of breath and realised that she was not alone.

Looking over towards the bank she got a look at her uninvited visitor, “Peter?”

“I – uh – sorry,” he stuttered, but did not even attempt to look away. “Are you – uh – coming out? I wanted to talk to you…”

“I actually don’t think that is a good idea.”

“Why?”

“I’m not… sort of… wearing anything.”

“I know – I mean, really, I would not have guessed,” Peter stumbled over his words. “Your clothes?”

“Wet.”

“Like – uh – you?”

“Yes,” Buffy replied glad that the water was covering her essentials and he was standing far enough back not to be able to see anything clearly through the water.

Peter looked around before smiling and undoing the top ties of his simple white shirt, giving Buffy a momentary sense of panic. “Take this,” he told her throwing it on the bank close to the water.

Buffy stared at his uncovered combat -muscled upper body and all of a sudden wished she had just gone into the How and not put herself into this position. “Are you going to turn around?”

He unenthusiastically did as he was asked and once she was convinced that he was not about to sneak a quick look at her, she climbed like greased lightning from the water and threw on his shirt. It clung to her wet skin and fell only long enough to cover the bare essentials, so she sat down on the grass, cross-legged and endeavoured to pull it over her knees.

“You can look now.”

He turned around and stared, “Uh – uh…”

She pushed past the embarrassment, “Peter, why are you here?”

“I’m not sure,” he answered as he sat down across from her.

“Well… you sure know how to flatter a girl, don’t you?”

“Actually, I did want to – uh – say something to you.”

“What?” she asked looking into his eyes and seeing that thing she did not want to distinguish was back in there.

“I wanted to thank you… for before… at the castle.”

“It was my job.”

“Oh – that’s right - I’m your *job*,” fury was added to the unidentified one in his blue eyes.

“What is wrong with you now?”

“Nothing!”

“Just tell me…”

“Fine,” he spat out. “I’m nothing but a job to you. You lied to me. Played with my feelings…”

“I played with nothing of yours,” Buffy responded. “Besides, it’s not like you’re in love with me or anything…”

“You are *so* sure of that?”

“Two days ago it was, ‘I care about you’ and all of a sudden you’re in love?”

“Are you saying you can’t care about somebody you love?”

Buffy shook her head, tiny droplets of water flew through the air and landed all around. “You don’t know me…”

He cupped her face with his hands and forced her to look into his eyes, “You keep saying that to me, but I know you better than you think. I know that when you’re nervous you bite your bottom lip. That when you are trying to lie, that you might be facing that person, but your eyes can’t meet their own. You can fight better than most armies I have ever seen and that you don’t like to shed tears or appear weak in front of others. And I also know that the first moment my eyes met yours in the Underground –I could see my entire future in them – right down to the number of kids we would have…”

Buffy leaned over and kissed him, after seizing a minute to understand the shock, he responded enthusiastically. “No one has ever said anything like that to me, but I don’t know what you want me to say…”

“How about you love me too?"

“Peter… I…” she began, but faltered. “I really don’t know.”

He kissed her softly once more, “I can wait for the words - for now, anyway – I am not particularly patient. So want to discuss something else?”

“You’re staying?”

He nodded, “Well, unless you would like to be alone until your clothes are dry…”

She smiled and threw him a curve with her next question, “How many?”

“What?”

“Kids…”

“Six.”

“You’re kidding, right?” she asked horrified at the thought, while all he did was smile.

 

 

End Part

 

 

Lyrics:

Sara Evans – Saints & Angels

 

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