Yesterday, all my trouble seemed so far away (Edmund Pevensie)

A good Ending of the day

"Where have you been for so long?" A voice hissed in Eowyn's ear and she turned around, startled. Her mother was standing in front of her. "I was with King Edmund on one of the balconies. I was in desperate need of fresh air." Madriane looked at her with a murderous look. "And what took you two so long? I'm sure you were outside for longer than a dance." Then she noticed her daughter's rosy cheeks and thought wrongly. "Outrageous!" She gasped angrily and a few heads turned in her direction. "Nothing happened, mother. I'm fine." "You're fine? You're fine?! What can the poor king be doing with you on the balcony?" Eowyn tried to soothe her mother. "Mother, nothing really happened. The corset you tied me so tightly made me faint from lack of oxygen, and Edmun- King Edmund helped me lace the corset more loosely. But you don't have to worry anymore, Mother. I'm fine." Eowyn's last words were half hissed, for now she understood how her parents and even her siblings were really treating her now. She straightened up again. "I must say, King Edmund is a very good dancer. What a pity it is that he did not want to dance with you or one of my sisters. Perhaps next time." She paused for a moment, during which her mother gasped angrily. "Or maybe never. At least not unless he's forced to." With those words, Eowyn turned and stalked away, chin held high. She was about to turn her back and say that Saana deserved a dance with Edmund after all, but her mother wouldn't have cared.
All at once all the mean and hateful comments, things and deeds her family had said and done to her came flooding into Eowyn's mind and she wondered how she could have been so blind. Tears burned in her eyes and she wasn't sure if anger, sadness or shame was the reason. She quickly lowered her head and hurried toward the open double doors. A few times she heard men's voices asking if she wanted to dance with them, but she just hurried on. Her long dress blew dramatically around her and not only did the brown watchful eyes of King Edmund follow her steps, but so did the soft eyes of Queen Lucy. Lucy turned her head to her brother and he nodded to her to indicate that she should follow behind. Briefly he was tempted to go himself and escape the boring party, but he was not ready to dry the tears of an acquaintance who was only fresh. Besides, he didn't know how to deal with crying people. So he preferred to leave the task to his sister, who has always been good with all living beings. Unlike him in any case. "Princess Eowyn! Please stop!" Queen Lucy called as soon as she reached the royal gardens. Eowyn heard her new friend calling and stopped, but did not turn around. Hot tears streamed down her soft face and she tried to wipe it dry. To no avail, as more salty tears instantly made their way out into the open. "Please Queen Lucy. Don't let me spoil your ball, I'm fine. Go back, your siblings are probably waiting for you and are worried." She said, still with her back to the youngest queen.
Lucy put her hand on her shoulder and gently turned her around. "Edmund knows, I have time. But tell me Eowyn, what is troubling you?" Eowyn tried to explain, but due to the violent trembling and heavy sobbing, hardly any real words came out of her mouth. Lucy now also put her other hand on Eowyn's shoulder and pushed her lightly onto one of the benches that stood in the garden and sat down next to her. "Shhh. Easy Eowyn. You don't have to tell me either if you don't want to. I'll just sit here. Okay?" She took Eowyn's hand in both of hers and watched as Eowyn let her head fall back slightly, tears now streaming down her cheeks. A hiccup interrupted the comfortable silence now and then, as did a few quiet sobs and sniffles. A few birds chirped and the trees and bushes rustled softly in the wind. After some time, Eowyn opened her eyes again, sighed and wiped her face with her hands once more. "I'm terribly sorry you had to see that, Lucy. A princess doesn't cry, I know. But I-I couldn't keep it to myself anymore. I'm sorry." She apologized and turned with reddish eyes to her friend, who looked at her with an almost sad smile. "It doesn't matter, Eowyn. Of course you are allowed to cry. Everyone is allowed to cry. It is a sign of uncontrollable emotions and everyone has that once. It doesn't make you a weak person right away. I've cried many times, too." Lucy replied, patting Eowyn's back lightly. Eowyn smiled back slightly and sniffled once more. "Thank you." She whispered softly after a while. Lucy raised an eyebrow in surprise. "For what?" "For trying to build me up. No one has ever done that to me before." "Well, it's about time. If you want to talk, you can just send me a letter. We're friends now. And friends do things like that." Eowyn's smile widened and she wrapped both arms around her friend, hugging her tightly. A hug. Eowyn had seen it many times, but she couldn't remember a single time where she'd hugged someone. A hug was nice. Warm and comfortable. It made her feel safe. More so than in her room in bed, because the bed was bad at listening and responding to her, but Lucy could. When they broke away from each other, Eowyn had a dreamy smile on her face. ,,Wow. A hug feels really good." Lucy laughed. ,,Of course it does. Come on, let's chow down before Edmund does it in front of us out of boredom." Laughing, she pulled Eowyn behind her back to the castle and not a trace of sadness was visible anymore. Only her slightly reddening eyes, but that was hard to see in the pleasant golden light in the ballroom. And that's exactly what they did, chow down. The two of them ran from table to table laughing, eating something from each plate and dancing together on the dance floor in between. Not like they danced traditionally, but like they danced when they were having fun. The guests all watched in amusement, except for Madriane and her children, laughing at the joy of the two girls in their midst and clapping in time to the new faster song that Eowyn and Lucy were dancing to in the middle. Most of all, Edward, Queen Susan, High King Peter and Edmund had smiles on their faces. Soon the two young women were not the only ones laughing as they danced in the middle and twirled in circles. The younger, more agile guests had their sweethearts by the hand and were happily jumping in the air as they twirled with their partners. Edward took his wife by the hand, who tried to get out of his grip, but he was already dancing around her laughing and spinning her in circles, so she had no chance at all to escape him. High King Peter took his sister Queen Susan by the hand and joined the other laughing people. Edmund still had a smile on his face and soon Lucy and Eowyn were spinning around so many times they were dizzy. Laughing, the female guests were passed from hand to hand and then taken to the next person with a pirouette-like spin. Edmund almost dropped the person as she spun into his arms, but was able to catch her at the last moment and held her tightly. It was Azrail, one of the twins. She looked at the king in surprise at first, but then grinned a wry smile and clawed her hand into his suit, not really intending to let go anytime soon. Trying hard not to look disgusted, Edmund straightened Azrail and spun her around. With a light tap at her back, she turned to the next man. This time he was ready when the next person approached and paused with her in an ending position, as the orchestra played the last joyful notes of the song and received the applause with a bow. Then they began a slow waltz, to which the older guests now also lined up and slowly began to turn in circles together. Edmund and the young lady were still in the same bent position in which they had remained. Then Edmund pulled his current dance partner upright again and put his hands on her back. With slightly rosy cheeks and out of breath, his partner positioned her hands on his shoulders. ,,Just now when I saw you dancing so extensively and carelessly with my sister, I was shocked at how quickly women can change their emotions, but perhaps that is normal with you." Smirked the young king, turning the woman in a midnight blue dress a bit to the right to form a circle. Eowyn smiled and looked up at him. "I am rather relieved that we can do this. Sometimes it's funny when you go from overjoyed to melancholy, but the other way around, it's a pleasant surprise to be pulled out of your sadness. Lucy is very good with people, I must say." Edmund nodded in agreement. "You're right about that. She's the most cheerful and upbeat of the lot. She can be like a light in the darkness." Eowyn raised a brow. "I didn't realize His Highness could be so poetic." His eyes looked down at her. "I have many different sides." He smiled charmingly now and Eowyn rolled her eyes with a grin on her face. Little lines formed at the corners of her mouth, making her smile look even wider and more beautiful, if that was even possible. Edmund caught himself looking at every single detail on her face and after a short while noticed that she was doing the same, but didn't interrupt what he was doing.
On the bridge of her nose were many small light brown, slightly reddish freckles, which then spread all over her face, becoming paler and less to the sides. The same brownish spots she had on her arms up to her wrists and on her shoulders, up to her chest. Her skin was of a tanned skin color, what seemed to look like bronze and had a slight golden glow. Edmund caught himself stroking one of her shoulder blades with his thumb and tried to hide his amazement when her skin felt silky soft. A small smirk formed on Eowyn's face and the king let his hand wander back to her back with a blush on his face, taking in her face again. A few of her brown hairs, which had been braided into a wishful loose braid, now hung in her face and curled slightly. Thus they framed her face and made her look even more beautiful than she had actually already been. Now Edmund understood the rumors he had heard about her. That she was the most beautiful creature in the world and that everyone was captivated by her charms unconsciously but intentionally. He is sure that if she had asked him for something now, anything, he would have done it for her. Not only Eowyn noticed him staring at her with admiration, but also his sister Lucy, who had been engrossed in conversation with her siblings, looking for her brother, not having thought to find him on the dance floor with such a song. But now he was dancing there, close to a young beautiful woman, staring at her with admiration. Staring is not a good description for such a gentle look, but he just couldn't tear his gaze away from her, which Lucy now also noticed and giggled behind her hand. Queen Susan, irritated by the interruption of their conversation, looked with a questioning glance at her sister and raised a brow. The latter, still laughing softly and as quietly as possible, pointed to her brother. At first Queen Susan and also High King Peter had difficulties to make out what or whom her little sister was pointing at, but then they found her brother, still smiling, on the dance floor. Not only standing, no, with a woman of his age and this he looked at with fascination. Not with fascination, with which one admired an extraordinarily successful piece of architecture, no, but like one looks at the most beautiful girl in the world. His cheeks were rosy, whether it was from the heat or from the excitement he felt when he thought about the fact that he was the one who was allowed to dance with this beautiful woman at that moment. Now Queen Susan and her brother King Peter were also laughing at the expression on Edmund's face. Eowyn caught sight of the siblings and, nearby, the twins Azrail and Azula, who pierced the dancing couple with death glances. She quickly looked back at the Pevensie siblings and waved slightly. "You know, I think your siblings are making fun of the look on your face." She whispered to Edmund as she reached up to his ear and almost touched it with her rosy lips. Edmund's gaze immediately searched the crowd for his siblings and found them after a moment. All of them had let their eyebrows wander so far up that it seemed as if they could disappear under the top of their heads, they would wander another millimeter higher. The dark-haired king just rolled his eyes, hiding his shame at being caught staring like that. "You don't make fun of a king." He said playfully serious and straightened up, sticking his chest out. Eowyn poked him in the shoulder with her index finger laughing and asked with a teasing undertone: "Will you be locked in the dungeons of your oh-so-great dungeon then?" Edmund lowered his shoulders again and laughed with her. Then his hands went to her hips and he said: "No, but we tie them to stakes and tickle them until they die with a laugh on their face." He replied and tickled her lightly. She immediately giggled and clawed her hands into his shoulders to keep from falling to the floor. A few people who were near them turned their heads toward them, but soon resumed where they had left off, dancing. Eowyn gave Edmund's shoulder a light pat to make him stop tormenting her and he let his hands go back to her back. "A very dressed up king and a very horrible way to die, don't you think?" She asked with feigned shock and Edmund shrugged his shoulders as indifferently as possible. "It depends on who you tickle." Now he grinned again and together they danced the last steps of the song and then bowed to each other. Eowyn caught a glimpse of her father Edward, stepfather rather, but he was more of a father than her mother was her mother, smiling at her and then with a nod toward the double doors let her know it was time to leave. She nodded to him and turned back to Edmund. "So, Your Highness, my father has just informed me that it is time for me to board one of the royal carriages to begin my journey home before the sun begins to cast its warm rays upon your lands." She told him in an overly formal manner, giving Edmund one last smile for this ball. "In that case, Princess Eowyn, I wish you another pleasant journey to your kingdom." He also said artificially and then smiled warmly at her again. "No, really. This ball was different from the others." "Good different?" Eowyn asked and Edmund smiled. "Yes, well different. Thanks again for that. I enjoyed this evening." "I'm glad. I hope we can have as much fun next time. Goodbye Edmund." She curtsied to him. "Goodbye Eowyn." He took her hand, placed a careful kiss on the back of her hand as he bowed to her, and then waved as she headed for the large double doors. Other guests had also already left and had already wished the other highnesses a good night. Before King Edmund went to bed that night, he smiled once more at the memory of the beautiful day he had experienced. Eowyn, meanwhile, was in the carriage, sitting next to her father. Her mother had fallen asleep across from her on Saana's shoulder, and Saana had laid her head on her mother's head and had her eyes closed. Whether she was asleep, Eowyn didn't know, but snoring sounds were definitely coming from her mother's mouth. Eowyn put her head on her father's shoulder and he took her small hands and his. "You know, Eowyn, I was very happy to see you so cheerful today. I don't remember ever seeing you so happy. Did you enjoy the evening as much as it showed?" He asked her in a low whisper and Eowyn thought. "No. I liked it even more. I've never had an evening quite like this one, Father. The kings of Narnia are very nice, and I have never met anyone like them. High King Peter I have only seen, but he certainly has a lot to do and discuss. Queen Susan has been very friendly to me and chatted with me for a while. Queen Lucy is a very social person and smiled almost all the time and made me laugh a lot. I also really enjoyed dancing with her, that was almost the most fun if I'm honest." A soft laugh came from Edward's mouth. "I could see it in your face. Both of you. Queen Lucy is indeed standing's friendly, even towards me. But tell me, what did you enjoy about the most that night?" Eowyn pondered. "I think it was King Edmund." Again Edward made. "I must admit he looks very rakish and is very mature for his age, at least in my presence. He has always shown respect to me, too." Eowyn rolled her eyes. "Oh, father, I didn't mean it that way." "Then tell me, daughter, what did you mean? I did notice that you danced with King Edmund, but I didn't think it would be any different with your looks. Yes, perhaps I thought that the High King himself would try to dance with you, but after all, you were in the clutches of his brother most of the time." "Oh, stop talking like that, father. The High King is not interested in women at all. He must be talking about political matters all the time. And he was talking to you half the time, too." Edward put an arm around the shoulder of his stepdaughter, whom he loved as if it were his own, and gave her a hug. "King Edmund doesn't like to dance, you know. I'm sure he would much rather have swung his sword against someone else's, but his sister Queen Susan won't let him challenge anyone to a duel. He is the best swordsman of our time, I'm afraid to admit." "Do you think I can watch him train once?" Eowyn asked with wide eyes and Edward grinned shaking his head. "I'm sure something can be arranged there. So; were you just playing on your charm or looks or how did you manage to get him to dance with you. Because, if I'm honest, King Edmund never looks very cheerful when he dances with a lady. Maybe that's because they literally throw themselves at him, because the High King would rather be talkative than dance, so the ladies, young and old, would rather take King Edmund. And how did you do it that he still looked so cheerful doing it. Your mother told me that the two of you were on one of the balconies for some time, but I don't even want to think what you could have done." "Father!" Eowyn hissed laughing and hid her flaming red cheeks by lightly slapping Edward's arm and he held his arm playfully hurt. ,,I swear to you by our kingdom that we did nothing!" She then said solemnly with her hands raised. Her father raised a brow. "Swearing by our kingdom is a bit excessive, don't you think? Unless maybe you and King Edmund have already planned your wedding and you plan to join Narnia and overthrow Archenland, which I'm not exactly hoping for." She rolled her eyes. "Of course we don't plan to do that. So 'nothing' we haven't done either,-" Her father looked at her critically and quickly she continued: "-But we didn't do anything intimate! Why do you think so twisted father. King Edmund only helped me with one..... thing and we talked for a while. And then we went back inside. I just needed some air." "There was air in the hall, too, if I remember correctly." "I was having trouble with my corset. Mother had tightened it a little too much and I felt dizzy. Outside on the balcony I fell over and King Edmund helped me to get my breath back." "Oh, Aslan, he didn't-" "Father, he only untied my corset and-" "He what?!" "He just untied my corset and then tied it more loosely later, father!" "And nothing, absolutely nothing, happened in between?" ,,No father, what should have happened?" She smiled innocently at her father and he sighed with relief. ,,Well, I'm relieved, because I'm not ready to be a grandfather yet." Eowyn widened her eyes in fright and slapped her father's arm. "Father! You can't say something like that, I'm not even twenty yet!" He shrugged. "My mother was fifteen when she had me. Normally sixteen is the perfect age to get married and then have children a year later, but please don't do this to me or I'll feel so incredibly old." "Oh father, I think you look very young for your age." Eowyn replied and smiled at her father. He took his daughter in his arms and in her father's arms, with the slight jerk of the carriage, Eowyn was sent to the land of dreams.