...and after a few steps, they found themselves at the edge of the wood, looking down on a sandy beach. A few yards away a very calm sea was falling on the sand with such tiny ripples that it made hardly any sound...the sea was a dazzling blue - Prince Caspian.

"Peter...?"

The High King glances at his sister and chuckles.

She stops walking and looks at him. "What is so funny?"

"Su, we've been walking this beach for ten minutes now and you've said nothing. I was wondering when you were going to break the silence." He grins, and they start to walk again.

"Well, sometimes silence is a good thing," she says. "It gives you time to collect your thoughts before you speak, unlike some people who just shout whatever enters their mind."

"Now, you wouldn't be talking about me, would you?" Peter teases, and she smiles.

"Of course not."

After a few more moments of silence, Peter looks at her, waiting.

Susan stops walking again. "What?"

Peter laughs, "Well, what are you going to say?"

Susan doesn't laugh with him. Instead she stares out at the sparkling sea. She is beautiful, wearing a gown of royal blue with gold trim. Her hair is woven into a braid, gold sequins holding it in place. Her crown is atop her head, and she looks all the more glorious because of it. But her eyes are filled with a sadness that her beauty cannot hide from him.

"Susan?" he says softly, and she can not only hear, but feel the concern in his voice.

"Peter," she says, facing him, her face reflecting the sunlight, "I don't want to leave Narnia."

"What are you talking about, Susan? You'll never leave." He looks incredulous as to why she would think such a thing.

She smiles at him wryly. "Won't I?"

"Why would you?"

"Oh, Peter, please. Every day a new suitor comes, begging me to be his wife. Every day I turn them down, but they don't stop coming. I fear it will never end."

"Susan," he says calmly, "you don't have to be anyone's wife."

"But what about Narnia? My marriage to another King would only help our relations..."

Susan tries to ignore the smirk on Peter's face as he tells her that Narnia all ready has good relations with everyone.

"Well, we won't for much longer if I keep refusing these men!" Susan says haughtily.

Peter raises an eyebrow. "Thinking quite highly of yourself, are you?"

Susan purses her lips. "Peter, the man I turned down yesterday started crying, then got down on his knees and started to beg."

"Really?" says Peter, and Susan is slightly annoyed by the amused expression on his face.

"He cursed your name as he left the castle," she says, trying to make her point, as that irritating lopsided grin comes back to her brother's face.

"Well, then you should be glad you turned him down," says Peter. "We don't want someone that sensitive around Cair Paravel. We'd run out of handkerchiefs."

"Peter, I do wish you would take this seriously," snaps Susan.

"Susan," he says as he lowers his voice, and the mocking tone is gone, "if you do not wish to leave Narnia, you won't leave."

"You would have it so I didn't have to marry anyone?"

Peter responds seriously, "Sister, I am here. If you wish to stay in Narnia, you shall."

"What exactly are you saying, Peter?"

"I'm saying that..." he pauses, trying to find the right words. "I'll always be here. To protect you. To chase off suitors. To rescue you from wolves." He smiles, a bit shyly. "I'll never leave you, Susan."

"Is that a promise, High King?" Susan whispers, taken aback by the intensity of his gaze.

"Yes."

She lifts her hand and he kisses it.

And they begin to walk along the beach once more.

Many years pass and Susan no longer believes in Narnia.

She is too old to believe in such childish things.

She is a grown up now.

No longer can she feel the royal dresses against her skin, nor the crown on her head.

No longer can she see the beautiful beaches, or herself walking along them.

She doesn't remember, because she chose to forget.

Susan is staring at herself in the mirror when she hears a knock at the door.

She answers it, smiling.

She is handed a telegram and she squeals in delight. What is it for? A party? A letter from her family, perhaps?

Then she is frozen.

They are gone. All of them.

Mother. Father.

Lucy. Edmund.

Peter.

Oh, God, Peter.

Images of her brother rush through her brain, and suddenly - just like that - Susan remembers.

The Queen sinks to the floor.

Her breath catches in her throat as she chokes on her tears.

Her King has left her, and now she is alone.

And all she can hear is the sound of waves.