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I HADELEVENDAYS to know Edmund Pevensie.
I never thought our time together would be so fleeting — a flare of light and magnificent colour before the sun falls beneath the horizon. If I had known, perhaps I would have remembered more. I might have spared an extra moment each time he smiled or held me to remember how his arms felt and how the left side of his mouth lifted just a little more than the right. How vividly the gold in his eyes came to life under the sun.
I held onto Edmund as best I could over the years, but still the memories slipped away. I'd forgotten so much and only now that he's real and standing before me again does that realization dawn.
As he and Lucy recount their time in England, I begin to recognize all the mannerisms and habits that were once so familiar to me. Like how restlessly he shifts his weight, constantly changing positions in his chair despite being hyper-fixated on every word spoken by me or Caspian.
All through lunch and dinner, the four of us chat in the stateroom, telling stories of our adventures and catching up on lost time, alternating between England and Narnia.
Edmund insists nothing at all exciting has happened, while Lucy seems able to talk endlessly about stories from boarding school and their father, newly returned from the war just a few months ago. By his distant attitude whenever she mentions him, I can tell Ed still holds a grudge against his father.
"What about Susan?" I ask them. "How is she?"
At that, Caspian straightens and falls silent, waiting to hear about his gentle queen. For as much as I miss Susan and her soothing presence and the exceptional advice she'd always give, I'm reminded almost every day that he misses her far more.
"Oh, she's wonderful!" Lucy exclaims. "We just received a letter from her today! She gets to visit all these universities with mum and dad in America and go to parties — they're nothing like the ones here, but quite fun, she says." Her eyes shimmer as they move between me and Cas. "She misses you both; I know that."
Her words fill Caspian with so much hope and life I think he might burst. "She does?"
Lucy grins. "Well, we all do," she adds, "but yes, before her and Peter left for the summer, we were all talking about Narnia and the last time we were here and she said sometimes she sneaks around Saint Finbar's opening closet doors, just in case one might lead back here. Oh! And once..." she starts laughing before she can finish the sentence, snickering into her hand. "Once...she opened a closet and caught some girls snogging. And she flung the door closed but one of them got hit right in the forehead!" Lucy makes a circle with her fingers the size of a walnut. "She had a massive egg for a week!"
I lift my hand over my mouth, trying to show some pity for the poor girl who got hit with the door but finding it hilarious nonetheless. Susan the Gentle... It's impossible to contain myself any longer and I join Lucy in laughing over her sister's unfortunate incident.
