Right here with you, I'm fine with only this... ~ Owaranai Uta (An Endless Song), Hikasa Youko
xxxxxx
Things were proceeding greatly with the preparations for the war with the Telmarines. At least, Amy was thinking that way. But for the past few days, there was something that she was quite sure won't go the way she wanted it to.
Dealing with Peter's temper. She did notice that the High King seemed to have lost his cool at some point that arguing or even debating with him would be pointless. She couldn't quite place it, but something bad would happen if this would keep up.
Then again, it wasn't like she had any right to point out something like that to the High King himself when his siblings couldn't even reason with him. Especially Lucy who truly believed that they had to find Aslan in order for the Narnians to end the war and save that world before the battle could even start. But even if both of them were considered part of the royalty and had the same standing within the royal court, Amy could feel that reasoning out with a confused and frustrated King Peter would only lead to an argument that she'd rather not face.
At the moment, she was thinking if she would even participate in any of Peter's plans to attack the enemy grounds. If the plan did proceed and ready to be executed, she was certain she'd rather stay behind and guard Aslan's How.
"I thought you're already sleeping."
The familiar voice did distract her from thinking any more. But she didn't turn to or spare a glance at the person who said that.
"I can't sleep, and I don't know if I'd be able to," Amy said truthfully. And then she took a deep breath. "Did I disappoint you today?"
"What do you mean?"
She turned to face Edmund who stood beside her before she knew it. "I wasn't talking or giving my opinions with regards to the plans of conducting a surprise attack at the castle. I should've participated on that and yet ―"
"I know what you mean and I can understand that. But Peter does have a point ― at least in trying to do something to end this war. But each monarch has their own opinion on the matter. And right now, my brother thinks it's been so long and we've waited long enough. Any more waiting and we could be defeated before we know it."
"But conducting a surprise attack is recklessness! No matter where you put it. And you can't guarantee victory on this. I can't seem to tell the reason why, but I don't think the odds are in our favor about this attack."
To a frustrated Amy, blurting out like that to someone like Edmund was something she never thought she could ever do. But for the past few days that he stayed by her side and truly gave them the chance to get to know each other, doing so became somewhat natural on her part.
Edmund sighed not long after, cutting off the tensed silence between them and snapping Amy out of her frustrated thoughts.
"But you know that I can't leave my brother. I have to help him. Or at least, I have to make sure he doesn't act reckless anymore than this."
With a sigh, Amy faced the Just King who looked like he had made his own resolve on the matter. "You have to know that I'm not going with you. I have to stay here and guard the other Narnians who will have to wait for your safe return."
"Well, I'm not asking you to. Knowing you, I'm sure you have to think of other plans if this one... don't go well as Peter would hope it will."
Amy was worried about the whole thing, and she couldn't deny that. She was sure Edmund noticed that, as well. But at the moment, she couldn't even work her mind to think of a way out of this. Even with the desire to defy Peter, she didn't know how to actually do so. Well, not talking to him was one of them. But it seemed as if it wasn't enough.
"You can leave me here now. I'll go to sleep after doing some more thinking," she said as she faced Edmund. He appeared to be still worried for her. And whether she would admit it or not, her heart fluttered at the thought.
Then again, she shouldn't be feeling that way, right?
Edmund didn't say anything, however. He was just looking at her ― quite intently, in her opinion. Her heart ― even if she tried to stop it ― beat crazily at the sight of that. Why was he looking at her that way?
"I-is there something wrong?"
Once again, no words came out of the young king. Instead, he slowly approached her and placed his right arm on the top of her head. Regardless of the way her heart beat at the moment, she started to become annoyed and just exhaled in exasperation.
"You're seriously doing this again, huh?"
Edmund grinned and looked at her, still. "You really don't like me doing this, huh?"
"I know you're tall and I'm short, but you don't have to prove your point all the time." And with the slight irritation that Amy felt, she swatted his arm still placed on the top of her head.
He laughed this time, which only made her narrow her eyes and pout, as well.
These past days since finally meeting the Just King and got to talk to him like this, things around them seemed to have become so comfortable that others would think that they had known each other all their lives. If only it was truly like that, then perhaps Amy wouldn't have felt as if a big part of her was missing all this time.
Is it really like that? Could it be that I'm actually looking for him all along?
It was her turn to look at him with a smile, his arm still placed on her head. He stared at her intently once again, perhaps unable to comprehend what was going on all of a sudden for her to do such a thing.
"Thank you..."
Amy didn't know why she uttered those words. But one thing she knew ― it came from her heart. She might not know at the time as to why she was thanking him for. In the end, she just wanted to say those words to him.
As for Edmund, it seemed as if he didn't expect her to say those words. Not long after, he smiled gently and finally removed his arm on her head ― without looking away from her.
"No need to thank me. Just know that... I'm happy to do it... for you..."
xxxxxx
Edmund definitely had a lot to think about that day ― or should he say, that night. One of them would be his brother Peter who seemed to have decided to continue being hardheaded and stubborn. Another was his sister Lucy who still insisted that they find or wait for Aslan instead of heading to an uncertain battle that could put everything and everyone at an even greater danger than they already were.
And now... he had to add Amy on the list. Well, at least it wasn't something negative. He was grateful for that. But the way she said "thank you" when they were talking earlier had left him speechless and caught him off-guard, for some reason. Not only that, her smile...
Why did he think at the moment that her smile was something he'd like to see for a long time? Yes, it was a crazy thought and he was willing to admit that. But he also couldn't help thinking that it was wonderful, as well.
Wait... How come that thought didn't feel as strange as I was expecting it to be? Or was he really expecting it to feel strange?
Honestly speaking, those questions only gave him more things to think about. And he had a feeling that it would be a little hard for him to get some sleep because of that.
With a sigh, Edmund decided to retire for the night since he would need the energy for the raid, as well. Even if he was still worried about Amy ― and yes, at this point, he was admitting that ― not getting enough sleep again, he knew he had to rest.
His thoughts got cut off at the sound of his right foot hitting something all of a sudden. At first, he thought it might be a rock. But rocks weren't supposed to feel that soft. Or at least, he felt it to be a little softer than any rock. Upon looking down, he saw a leather bound notebook that he'd never seen before. He picked it up with a frown and scanned it. When he couldn't see any writings on the leather cover of the notebook, he decided to open it. In his mind, he had to do it in order to figure out who the owner of that notebook was.
But he froze at the sight of Amy's name placed in capital letters on the first page of the notebook.
"So this is Amy's... But how come it's lying here on the ground?" She might have dropped it, he thought. Only he still had to figure out when it happened, though.
He would've closed it already, upon knowing that it belonged to Amy. But for some strange reason, a part of his mind wanted him to open it to a certain page. He still doesn't know what page, but he had this feeling he needed to open it somewhere along those pages. But before he was able to do so, he did a quick flipping of the pages to see up until where was written.
Edmund realized that at least half of the notebook were filled up with Amy's writings. Now the question was: What could she have written there? With a sigh, he started flipping the pages one by one as fast as he could. Even with that, he couldn't help smiling at all that Amy had written there. His rather moderately fast turning and flipping of that notebook's pages had enabled him to at least read the words written there and realize that Amy had, in fact, written her Narnian adventure there in a form of a story.
However, a sketch of a flute made him stop flipping the pages and focus his attention to it. He started reading for any possible information written there with regards to the said item.
"How come Amy didn't mention this to me?" Edmund could only ask himself as he continued staring at the flute sketched on that notebook.
"Didn't mention what to you?"
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