Cheer up, Peridan,' Edmund said, giving him a nudge. Peridan turned to give him a thin smile and then returned to staring out at the landscape from the train window.

After a long pause, Peridan finally said, 'I wanted to help her. I wanted her to come back to us.'

'We all wanted that,' said Peter heavily. He rubbed his face.

'She may yet,' Lucy said, laying her hand on Peter's arm.

'Even a traitor may mend. I have known one who did,' Edmund said, echoing his own words after the victory at Anvard. When he heard this, Peridan turned properly to join the conversation.

'Edmund is right,' Lucy said. 'All we can do is wait, and hope, and live by example. If we never waver, it will be harder for Susan to deny the truth.'

'Would that I would be here to see that day,' Peridan murmured, so softly Edmund could only just hear him. The words made his heart stop.

The train pulled into Oxford and they clambered off. Peridan yawned broadly and Peter announced that they all needed rest after a night of air raids and misadventures.

Polly and the Professor both exclaimed over their return and fussed over Peridan. Polly did not seem particularly bothered about Susan, and as she was making ready to leave Edmund heard her murmur to the Professor, 'I've not time for such high minded silliness. I never have. If you ask me, she was dragged into Narnia not on her own merit but because she filled that fourth throne.'

Edmund opened his mouth to step forward and say something but a hand on his shoulder stayed him. He turned and saw Peter, who frowned and shook his head. Edmund gestured to Polly, but Peter shook his head again.

'We can't go fighting the battle of changing people's hearts and minds. That's an unwinnable war,' Peter murmured. 'As Lucy says, we can only live by example.'

'But she's dead wrong,' Edmund hissed back. 'You know it even better than I. We needed Susan. Narnia needed her.'

'Yes. But we can't bully Polly into realising that. We risk undoing all of Peridan's work,' Peter returned. He moved past Edmund and announced, 'Come on, Lu. Miss Plummer, let me have the honour of escorting you home.' And he offered his arm to her gallantly.

The next day, Edmund went with Lucy and Peter and Peridan to greet Eustace and Jill at the train station. Lucy ran to give Eustace a hug and then introduced herself to Jill with her usual warmth and grace. Eustace turned to Edmund.

'Hullo, Eustace,' Edmund said. 'Still a bit of an ass?'

'Hullo, Edmund,' Eustace answered. 'Still a bit of a prig?'

And they both laugh and wrung hands.

'You must tell me all about your return to Narnia,' Edmund said. 'I have so many questions.'

'I will,' Eustace promised. 'But first, there's something I must do.' He stuck out his chin as though he was screwing up his courage and strode up to Peter. 'I say, Peter—I mean, your Majesty. I'm sorry. I haven't had the chance to say it before now, but I am. I didn't believe what was right in front of my own eyes. Caspian was a great king, but he says you were even greater and I can't help but believe him.'

Peter stared at Eustace for quite a long time, his expression a mixture of kingliness and boyish surprise. Then he smiled and clapped Eustace on the back. 'That's all right, Eustace.'

Eustace smiled with relief and took notice of Peridan for the first time. He did a double take. 'You're Narnian, you are,' he pronounced.

'I'm Peridan, Lord of Lionshaim,' he said, extending his hand.

Eustace didn't seem to notice this. Instead he was squinting at Peridan very hard. He then blurted, 'I know where I know you from! There was a statue of you in Lord Bern's house—and a bigger one in Narrowhaven.'

Peridan stared, and then burst out laughing. 'There's a statue of me in the Lone Islands?'

'Two,' Eustace reminded him.

'Oh, yes—I forgot to tell you about that,' Edmund said. 'There was also a tapestry of you in the hall with the paintings of King Gale's adventures.'

Peridan laughed even harder. 'The Lone Islanders never change, do they? They take the parts of their history that suits them. Convenient that they forgot how much they hated me while I was still alive.'

'Not all of them,' Edmund reminded him. 'The people always loved you even if the nobles didn't.'

'The statues said you were a great hero and knight,' Eustace said.

'Oh, he may have saved my life once or twice,' Edmund said with a wink at Peridan.

'Wait—your life? You mean when you were king?' Eustace said. 'A thousand years ago by Narnian time. But four years ago by ours. But you're a kid like us!'

'You're thinking about it far too hard,' Edmund advised. 'You'll do yourself an injury.'

'I mean, I knew it was possible because Caspian came back with us, like I wrote you, but I never thought...'

Lucy wisely chose this moment to bring Jill over.

'Peter,' said Lucy, 'Let me make Jill known to you. She rescued Caspian's son from his enchantment. Jill, this is my brother Peter the HIgh King.'

Jill blushed and sank into a curtsey. When Peter raised her up, she could hardly stammer out a greeting.

Peridan nudged Edmund. 'I think Jill is quite taken with your brother.'

Edmund snickered and Eustace stared. 'I say!' Eustace exclaimed. 'Do you really think so?' And Edmund and Peridan could only shake their heads at each other.

There were more introductions when they reached the Professor's house and he and Polly met Eustace and Jill for the first time. Even as they exchanged generic pleasantries, the air around them seemed to spark with magic. Edmund breathed in deeply, and the air seemed almost Narnian. He turned to Peridan.

'This is your doing,' he said. 'You've brought us together.'

'I merely gave you a nudge in the right direction,' Peridan demurred.

That night they had the merriest supper they could muster. Digory and Polly had been hoarding ration tickets since half term. On top of this, Polly had eggs from her own chickens and she had used these not only in the cooking but to barter for cream and butter, and fine farm butter it was too, rich and golden. She had baked bread to go with a stew, but to the others the bread and real butter instead of margarine was feast enough. When they poured real, rich custard over the spotted dick it seemed a feast worthy of the High King's table. Digory had an old and very fine bottle of French wine, and this they opened. Eustace and Jill only had sips and declared they didn't much care for it, but the others enjoyed it greatly and got into a discussion about the merits of Archen wine versus French wine.

They chatted casually about Narnia while they ate. Lucy wanted to know more details about Rilian, and she listened intently as Eustace and Jill told of Caspian's death and his visit to Experiment House, forgetting her pudding almost entirely. Eustace chuckled as he added, 'Oh! You know what the first thing he said to me was? "What about my second best sword?" Of all the cheek. I was trying to save everyone on board the Dawn Treader!'

'Yes, in the least efficient way possible,' Edmund said.

'I thought you said it was the effort that counted,' Eustace retorted. Edmund smiled—he liked Eustace considerably better since his experience as a dragon, but he couldn't help winding him up sometimes.

'I would have liked to see Caspian again,' Lucy said thoughtfully.

Eustace turned to Lucy. 'Caspian did ask about you though. He said, "Remember me to Lucy, for she is often in my thoughts and always in my heart." He sounded better when he said that, obviously. I can't do courtly speech as well.'

Lucy lowered her gaze and pushed the puddle of custard round her plate with her spoon. After a moment she raised her eyes and gazed at Peridan.

'If you see him,' Lucy said to him, 'tell him I remember. Tell him I remember everything.'

Peridan nodded, and a pang of melancholy washed over the table. Edmund wondered what it must be like for her, to have fallen in love twice and lost them both. He couldn't decide if she was lucky or unlucky.

She tossed her hair back and looked round at everyone. 'It is good to have these things. And even better to have friends who understand.' Then, to everyone's surprise, she started chuckling. They all stared at her until she finally squeaked 'For example, you know what's so funny if I say imagine if Aslan sent Reepicheep!'

Peter and Edmund and Eustace burst into laughter. But of course Jill, Polly, Digory, and Peridan had never met Reepicheep and so they started swapping stories about the valiant mouse. The very idea of him charmed Peridan, who said he wished he could meet him.

Edmund rolled his eyes affectionately. 'Oh, he would absolutely love you—you're from as far East as people can be from, you have perfect manners, and you're a valiant warrior. That's everything Reepicheep held dear.'

When talk of Reepicheep waned, Jill said, 'I always meant to ask, but never got the chance. When we were escaping Underland, Prince Rilian—King Rilian, I suppose now—kept singing a song about Corin Thunder-fist. I asked Scrubb about it, but he didn't know any more than I did.'

'There is never a song about Corin!' Peter cried.

'Why isn't there a song about me?' Peridan wondered with a sly grin. 'I was in Tashbaan and at Anvard.'

'Yes, but you're not ridiculous enough to have a song about you,' said Edmund. 'I bet there's a whole verse about how he almost drove me to madness when we were riding to defend Anvard.'

'Don't forget when he got himself lost in Tashbaan,' added Peridan.

'There was something about a bear,' Eustace said, trying to remember.

'The Lapsed Bear of Stormness!' Cried Peter and Lucy and Edmund and Peridan all together.

'Corin was mad enough to box a Talking Bear that had gone back to its wild ways,' Peter explained. 'I would hardly believe it except I saw him do it.'

'I'd think simply meeting Corin would be enough for anyone to believe he'd box a bear,' Edmund said.

'He was ready to box half of Calormen for Susan's honour,' Peridan observed.

Lucy shook her head. 'I still can't quite believe that he's been gone from Narnia for over a thousand years.'

'It is all a bit mad, isn't it,' Eustace observed. 'Sometimes I wonder if I might have dreamt it all, except that I feel I'm a different person now.'

'Yes,' Digory agreed. 'Which is why I thought we should convene together.' And here he nodded at Peter, who rose. They seemed to have coordinated something and Edmund wondered when they had the time to do it. He glanced at Peridan, who shrugged.

Peter looked over the table, and when he spoke, the kingly ring returned to his voice. 'Friends, we are gathered here at the behest of Lord Digory. We drink to Narnia, and to our loves and our memories. We pay homage to Aslan, Son of Emperor-Over-Sea.' Here everyone bowed their heads and let the name of Aslan echo in the air.

'But we assemble also to remember what Narnia has made us. Lord Peridan has come, and from the first he stated his mission from Aslan was to help us find our way back. Though the door to Narnia may be shut for some of us and open for others, I do not think it is Narnia we were meant to find. We need to seek ourselves. We here are bold adventurers who have sought the ends of the world. We have saved and rebuilt nations. We have ruled with just and valiant hearts. Our small lives here matter not, for we know who we are. I am Peter, High King of Narnia.'

Everyone around the table said their Narnian names. 'I am Edmund the Just, King of Narnia.' 'I am Eustace, who sailed to the end of the world with Caspian the Navigator and freed King Rilian from his enchantment.' 'I am Lord Digory, who was there at the making of Narnia, who plucked the apple from Aslan's garden in the Western Wild. I brought danger and protection to Narnia on the same day.' At first they felt shy to proclaim themselves so boldly, but by the end everyone was sitting up taller and straighter, a Narnian light in their eyes as though Aslan had just breathed on them.

'The hour is dangerous,' said Peridan. 'Already one of you is lost. My days here are coming to a close. But I have not completed my mission. You are here, but Susan is not with you. Do not forget her—for her sake and for mine. She will only come back if she chooses to hear the call, but also someone must always be calling. Remind her of who she is just as you remind yourselves.

'Something more—Narnia herself will have need of all of you before long. Keep your memories and yourselves alive so that when you hear the call, you will be ready for it. For Aslan's grace has given Narnia you, its best help and bravest heroes, and every Narnian from the dawn of time to the end of its days is and will be grateful to you.'

They all looked round at each other, bright resolution in their faces. 'So we are the Seven Friends of Narnia,' said Peter, 'And here we will convene to tell our tales, ready ourselves for the next adventure, and try to find ways to call my royal sister Susan back to us.'

They all bowed their heads, except Peridan, who gave a sharp gasp. Edmund looked up quickly and he saw in Peridan's face that Peridan's days were not just coming to a close. They had ended.

'Aslan is calling me back,' Peridan whispered.

'I know,' Edmund replied.

Edmund and Peridan did not sleep that night. When everyone had gone to sleep, they slipped into the garden and sat underneath the moon. At times they talked, trying to say years of words in an evening, and at other times they were silent because they were in a place beyond words. Edmund took joy in the warmth and solidity of Peridan.

When dawn started to tinge the sky, Edmund said, 'How will you get back?'

'I go into the forest. There Aslan will open the way, I think.' The air had a morning chill. He moved a bit closer to Edmund's warmth and Edmund dared to put his arm around him. Peridan put his arm around Edmund's shoulders in return.

'I am glad to have seen your world,' Peridan said. 'But gladder to have the chance to see you again.'

'And me,' said Edmund. He paused, watching the morning star gleam in the sky. In Narnia, he knew this to be Aravir, the Dawn Star, but here he wasn't quite sure if it was Venus, or maybe Jupiter. He turned to Peridan. His profile was silhouetted against the soft blue sky. 'How did you do it? After we left. How did you go on?'

Peridan sighed deeply and sat back a bit, wrapping his arms around his knees. 'A bit of hope. A bit of grit. Sometimes a bit of a faith. I was lucky to have so much to do. I threw myself into all of it because I couldn't bear the silence of my thoughts. And then, after that first blackness passed, I lived every day as though I were going to make an account to you of it. In fact, I wrote a journal to you every day.'

'You did?' Edmund squinted at Peridan.

'It made me feel closer to you, to tell you all the things I wanted to. Even if I knew you wouldn't really hear them.' He paused, then turned his face to Edmund, resting his cheek on his knee. 'How did you go on?'

'We hoped. That was mainly what got all of us through that first year, waiting and hoping. We'd speculate about whether we'd go back to our Narnian ages again, or if we'd stay kids, and how on earth we'd greet you when we were the same age as the children. Sometimes we made ourselves laugh with ideas of how we would surprise you on our return. When we did go back and found so much time had passed...' he rubbed his hair at the back, making it stand on end. 'Well. We were lucky there was so much to do to help Caspian. As you say, it's good to keep busy. It was a blow, though, to have to keep our childs' bodies. I had grown so used to myself as a man. I rather liked myself with tiny bits of grey in my hair but still strength in my body. I was ready to grow old. I was not ready to be a spotty kid again.'

'I think though, that this time it will be easier because you know everything you can become,' Peridan said. 'You worked for Narnia so that Narnia could work its magic on you. I see now, very clearly, that it was always meant to be a symbiotic relationship.' He nudged Edmund's shoulder with his own. 'So go and remake yourself.'

'And keep an account of it to you,' Edmund said.

'You should. One day we'll find we have the time to tell each other all the stories. In Aslan's country. I am expecting good ones.'

Once everyone had risen they had a quiet breakfast, then rose to bid farewell. Edmund offered Peridan his Narnian clothes, but Peridan shook his head and pressed them back to Edmund.

'I'll have to show them all my new English clothes,' he laughed, looking down at himself. Edmund hugged the tunic to his chest.

Peridan led the way through the woods, to a place where there was a little copse of trees growing close together. He didn't need to say anything—they all felt this was the place. Edmund felt his throat tighten and he blinked hard as he watched Peridan say goodbye to everyone in turn. He came to Edmund last of all, and Edmund embraced him. Peridan returned the embrace just as tightly. He didn't draw away fully but rested his forehead against Edmund's.

'I will wait for you to arrive in Aslan's country,' Peridan said.

Edmund closed his eyes. 'Every day I'll try to get a little closer.'

'Don't forget you promised to write,' Peridan said.

'I won't. I won't forget anything,' Edmund answered.

'Good. Because I will be thinking of you. Just remember that, if you are feeling lost or lonely.' Edmund nodded, and they embraced once more. Peridan stepped away and bowed to them. He had always been good at making graceful bows. Edmund fixed this image of Peridan, still looking strange in English clothing, in his memory. Peridan went to the small opening in the close growth of trees and bushes, and a light seemed to glow from within. Edmund longed to follow Peridan through, and he knew all the others felt the same, but each of them knew now was not their hour. They still had more to do. Before he went through, Peridan paused and looked over his shoulder. He gave them a little smile and then ducked into the green. The light glowed stronger, and then it faded altogether.

Edmund couldn't move. He kept staring into the trees, hoping somehow it didn't work and Peridan would come back through, smiling with bewilderment and saying he supposed he had to stay awhile longer. He knew this wouldn't happen, but he couldn't help watching.

Eventually Peter laid his hand on his brother's shoulder and led him away.

Back at the Professor's, Edmund went into the bedroom and lay down. He didn't want to see anyone. There wasn't any more to say. He thought of a thousand things to say to Peridan, but then he remembered that he couldn't talk to him anymore. So he curled up on his side facing the wall.

He had been there for some time when he felt a weight at the foot of the bed. He glanced up to see Lucy. 'We got another roll of film developed,' she said. 'I thought you might like to have this.' She held out a photo.

Edmund pushed himself up onto his elbow and took it from her. He saw that it was a photo of him and Peridan, sitting together deep in conversation. They were looking at each other and not at the camera.

'I snapped it to use up the roll,' Lucy explained, 'but it turned out to be the best picture of the lot. It captures so much of you both.'

Edmund touched Peridan's paper cheek and nodded. He couldn't quite speak.

Lucy moved next to him, tucking her legs underneath her and bending to gaze at the photograph as well. 'What we have seen and done is great, it is miraculous, it is full of awe and wonder. But no one ever said it wasn't hard. We left lives behind. You were torn away just at the start of the adventure. But in the end it is better that way, to have loved someone or something so much it hurts sometimes.' She didn't wait for him to reply. She leaned over and gave him a swift kiss on the cheek and went into the front where everyone was gathered.

Edmund sat on the edge of the bed, hunched over the picture that he held with both hands. His eyes slid from Peridan to himself. He usually looked awkward in photographs, because posing felt so unnatural. But here his face was alight, and his eyes sparked with wit. He looked truly happy. He thought back to that day and remembered that he was. He fretted his lips together. After a moment more he looked up from the photo, snapping it against his fingers. He rose and tucked it into his shirt pocket, then went out into the front room.

He drew up a footstool, for in that cramped space all the chairs were occupied, and he said, 'Did I tell you about Peridan's deeds in Tashbaan? They were rather song worthy, even if he couldn't corral Corin. I hadn't even thought of taking him in the delegation until he came to me and volunteered because he could speak Calormene...'

A/N: So here we are at the end! I hope it was as rewarding to read as it was to write and post, and I definitely learned something about how good it feels to actually see something through to the end. Thank you once again to everyone who read, and especially to everyone who took the time to review. Your words were kind and inspiring.

The question is, where after this? I actually have a much bigger story that is going through a second draft right now. The last line of this one gives a bit of a preview of a scene from that story, which is Peridan's adventures during the Golden Age. It's a story I've started a couple of times, one being The Artist's Tale, which I decided to completely take down when I started this one from scratch (trust me, it's for the best). I need a bit of time to finish the edits, but I think I may allow myself to post the prologue on Thursday. I flatter myself to think it's like a trailer for the whole story. (Feel free to roll your eyes at this.)