Chimerical [Edmund Pevensie]

one

THE PEVENSIES' first few years as the Kings and Queens of Narnia felt lonely and awkward.

    Of course, they were the only humans (wait, no, Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve) there and the rest were creatures of other kinds, which led to situations wherein their subjects or those who waited on them didn't understand. The four didn't exactly mind, though, they were after all living the dream, and they were always free to ask for some insight from subjects on topics they were not fully educated in in order to help. Besides, it was better than going to a boarding school across the country back in England.

Now, one would think that there weren't any other humans back then, that those four were the only sons and daughters of Adam and Eve in Narnia. The Pevensies thought so too, except for . . . well, King Edmund.

It felt strange for him. He thought of "what if"s. Like, what if there were another humans? What if they had been found first before them? What if the other human had siblings like he did?

King Edmund had himself interrupted from these thoughts by the smell of roasted pork served on a silver platter at the table. It was after all, the after party of their coronation.

As he ate, he saw Lucy and Mr Tumnus stood by a balcony. They were having a heavy talk while they watched Aslan walk on the beach. They stayed there for quite some time and Edmund didn't really care. That was, until he was asked to bring Lucy back inside by Susan. At first he refused and said to his elder sister that he was busy eating his sweets.

Come on, Ed, that's not how a King should act!

He gave her a glare (how would she know how a king acted, anyway?) and decided to go after his younger sister anyway. He carried his plate with him as he stepped on the balcony. He had one piece of Turkish Delight on his hand and another smeared by the sides of his mouth. He called Lucy and at first, she resisted, Mr Tumnus urged her to go so she asked Edmund:

Oh, fine. Is there pudding inside as well?

Edmund really tried to stop the urge to roll his eyes, he instead thought of the fact he wouldn't have been there in the first place if it weren't for her. He nodded and she went inside, leaving him alone on the balcony with Mr Tumnus.

They stared down below the balcony on the empty beach, where Aslan had been walking. Edmund asked the fawn if it was possible for Narnia to have another human . . . it just made him curious, really. Would it have changed the prophecy?

I don't know, King Edmund, probably wouldn't—perhaps thete will be in a few centuries.

Edmund nodded and decided to let the subject go. The two continued to stare at the now empty beach, lost in their own thoughts. Mr Tumnus with the new projects he hoped the nobles will pursue, and Edmund with what a human Narnian would look like. She probably had red hair, like every other unusual feature a Narnian could have. (It'd be very cool to have natural, very vibrant red hair.) She also probably had a strange eye colour, or perhaps one that changed every day or depending on her mood. No, that sounded too magical and unlike any possible human he'd ever encountered.

Then perhaps it would be her attitude or personality that differed her from those he had known in England. Supposed she was unpredictable in everything she says without knowing it, like mastering only one weapon but failing to learn even the basics of another quite similar to it. Supposed she preferred small company and that's why nobody's ever seen her before.

Supposedly, she didn't even exist and Edmund was wasting his time fantasising when he could just go back to the party, or, he didn't know, apologised to Lucy or Mr. Tumnus once more even if they told him they'd forgiven him.

As Edmund looked at other areas on the beach, he saw just as he was thinking.

A human with red hair, she was lying on the sand, just by the shore with her eyes closed as the waves splashed up to her shins. Edmund couldn't help but stare. She was just his age. Immediately, he looked beside him to tell Mr Tumnus but the fawn was gone.

For the next few minutes, King Edmund contemplated whether or not he should go down and talk to her.

He was too shy—he didn't even know why, he was the King!

A little bit later, he saw her sit up suddenly and look around. He saw just about a couple of meters behind her was a family of squirrels. It seemed to have made her panic and so she stood up and ran away before she was seen.

For the next few decades, King Edmund only saw glimpses of her. He shouldn't even have thought of it this much since the amount of humans in Narnia had increased. And yet, it still mattered so much. Whenever he saw a shade of red hair, he'd immediately try to make his way towards it, knowing it'd be her. He would only get stopped by either one of his siblings, one of his friends, or one of the servants.

When he was about a couple of feet near her—the closest he had ever been in, he was stopped by Susan. She told him rather excitedly that there was a white stag in the forest and that they needed to catch it. He told her to wait a minute, that he was going to see something first, but when he looked, she was gone. Edmund then followed his sister downheartedly to the palace so that they could prepare to catch the rare stag.

They never really did catch it. What they did though, was go back to England. Unfortunately.

Edmund stopped thinking about the certain red-headed Narnian for the next year, the idea of joining the war replaced it. That was until he and his siblings were transported back to Narnia, all because of a certain Telmarine Prince who blew Susan's horn. At one point, they were in a train station off to school, and the next, they were at the beach.

Everything felt like old times, except for maybe the fact Cair Paravel was in ruins, and also the fact he saw her again.

Another thing he noticed was that she didn't age—it was like she aged the same way he had on England, and so he decided to finally walk up to her, and speak.

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A/N: i have decided to dedicate the chapters to people with Edmund fics that I like, or comments on here that I love. For this part, it's dedicated to @Cherriesandmustard, who wrote Edmund's Queen.