The High King and Queen's Suite - Thursday Late Afternoon

[once_a_king]

Willow was sleeping in their bedroom, but Peter still wasn't keen on going too far away from her.  He would be worried that she was sleeping too much and maybe something was wrong, but after a strongly worded lecture from Mrs. Beaver, Peter had wisely decided to let Willow sleep and not to worry or try to bring in another healer.

He'd had the

Comments

[once_a_traitor]

Edmund was still dressed in what he'd worn to classes (jeans and a shirt - definitely not Narnian garb). He didn't want to disturb mother or child, so he sent one of the servants in to test the waters.

"Your Majesty," the deer said quietly, bowing. "King Edmund is here to see you."

Ed heard his name mentioned and poked his head around the door.

[once_a_king]

"Edmund!" Peter said, beaming as he jumped to his feet then froze, looking down at Alex to make sure he hadn't startled the baby too badly. "Come in, meet your nephew."

[once_a_traitor]

"Thank you, Winn," he said to the deer, who retreated from the suite. Edmund broke into a grin as he approached. "Look at him. He's small." Way to state the obvious, Ed.

[once_a_king]

"Tiny, isn't he," Peter said, perfectly happy to repeat that particular fact. "Alexander William Rosenberg Pevensie, meet your uncle Edmund. King Edmund, rather but he'll likely forgive you the title."

[once_a_traitor]

"I'll be content if he can pronounce my name some day," Ed replied, looking down at Alex in what was very close to awe. "Hello Alex. Welcome to the family. Look what you did, Peter. I'm gone for a year and you make a new person."

[once_a_king]

"Thanks for implying my son will have a speech impediment," Peter snorted, but he was grinning far too largely to really care. "I did very little of the work. It was all Willow on this one."

[once_a_traitor]

"How is Willow?" he asked, still fascinated by the baby.

[once_a_king]

"Sleeping," he said, completely flattered by Ed's fascination. "She's been sleeping a lot, but it's apparently normal." Peter looked up at Ed. "Would you like to hold him?"

[once_a_traitor]

That made Edmund look up quickly. "Should I?" The standard questions ran through his head - what if I drop him? What if I break him?

[once_a_king]

"Of course," Peter said. "You'll have to eventually, you know." He jerked his head towards the couch. "Sit down and then you can't drop him too far. After all. I seem to be managing. You can certainly do it."

[once_a_traitor]

Ed considered talking his way out of it, but instead he shut his mouth and took a seat on the couch. "You're going to have to tell me how to do this."

[once_a_king]

"Twenty-four hour expert," Peter said wryly, sitting next to Ed. "It's like when we first ruled here."

"Support his head mostly, and just let him get a comfortable spot in your arms. It's like when Lu was born, remember?"

[once_a_traitor]

"I remember being very grouchy that entire week," Edmund admitted, "and very little else." Still, Ed held his arms out like he was supposed to, looking very serious about the task at hand.

[once_a_king]

Peter snorted and leaned carefully, very, very worried about fumbling the transfer. "There you are," he said, managing it well enough. Except for the slight jerk at the end.

[once_a_traitor]

Alex settled into Edmund's arms surprisingly well considering Ed was very tense. "Prince Alex," he murmured, head down to look at the baby. "He'll probably be a knight one day. Doesn't look the part."

[once_a_king]

"Bet you didn't look like much when you were a day old," Peter pointed out on Alex's behalf. "Think of how he'll good be if he starts learning when he's younger than we were."