Please enjoy! This is set in the first year of the Golden Age, but I upped Lucy's age to thirteen.

Orieus's Point of View

When Queen Lucy came up to me, and, not so gently, dragged me into a closet, I thought that she had gone insane. But when the first words out of her mouth were,

"Don't tell Peter that I asked you this... but..."

I knew that I was in trouble. This would somehow end in High King Peter getting mad, and I knew that that was never a good thing. That didn't mean that I didn't want to know what Queen Lucy was wondering, so I asked,

"What exactly is is that you don't want me telling your brother, Your Majesty?"

She shuffled her feet nervously, her long red skirts swishing on the floor.

"?" she blurted out.

I cocked my head to the side. "I'm sorry Your Majesty, I'm not quite sure I caught all of that."

She took a deep breath and slowly said, "I was wondering if you would teach me how to fight."

I stared at her, stunned. Innocent, short, thirteen year old, Queen LUCY, wanted to learn how to fight? Where in Aslan's name had this come from? I raised an eyebrow at the youngest monarchy, and she looked at me pleadingly with big, brown eyes. And yes, even the great General Orious is a sucker for a puppy dog look.

The next morning I paced back and forth with Queen Lucy waiting patiently in front of me. When I finally stopped, I turned to face her, and asked,

"Why do you want to learn how to fight Queen Lucy?" She shrugged.

I chuckled. "My Queen, you must give me a legitimate reason for going behind your brother's back."

She sighed, "I just don't want to be helpless. I mean, what if I got kidnapped, or was stuck in the woods, or a war came along that I had to be involved in? I don't want to wait off on the sidelines while my brothers do all of the dirty work. That's Susan's choice, not mine."

I laughed inside. There really was more to the youngest monarch than she had let on. I nodded, "Then, Valiant Queen, are you prepared to be very sore, very bruised, and very sneaky?" Lucy nodded eagerly.

"Then let's begin."

The first day of training we worked with wooden swords, in full battle armor. When I asked the dwarfs for a set of armor that would fit a girl, they looked at each other like, We all knew he was going to lose it someday. It took Lucy nearly an hour to get on all the armor, and when she stepped back outside, I could see how awkward she was in the outfit. Just the same, she gave me her famous smile, and immediately set to work. Now, I have trained many a royal. But never, in my very long lifetime, have I taught someone quite like Queen Lucy of the Eastern Sea. I had never had a student that was quite as determined, or quite as bad, as she was on her first day of training. She was clumsy, couldn t hold a sword the right way to save her life, and had no clue in the world how to fight. But none of these things made her unique. What really made her special was her ability to smile through it all.

Three weeks later

"Good, my Queen! Now try that disarming technique that I taught you!"

Lucy's two daggers moved flawlessly, and within seconds my sword was on the ground, we were both out of breath, and for the first time since we started our training, a large smile slowly spread across my face. Lucy smiled nervously, looking stunned at my reaction. I don't think that I have ever smiled in front of one of my students before, and I was sure that it came as quite the shock for the queen.

"Congratulations, my queen."

I walked forward and placed my hands on her tiny shoulders. By this time she was beaming. She sheathed her daggers, and what she did next surprised me so much that I nearly had a heart attack. Lucy was hugging me. She let go, smiled, said thanks, and ran off to the Cair. I loved her Majesty just as much as the next Narnian, but she was, without a doubt, the strangest human I had ever met.

I was sparring with one of Queen Susan's suitors when I heard a desperate cry of,

"Peter! Please don't do this! I'm begging you! Please!"

I quickly disarmed my opponent and turned towards the sounds of arguing. Queen Lucy was running behind High King Peter in a distressed flurry of blue and gold fabric. Tears were streaking down her face as she desperately tried to match the High King's pace, whose expression made me feel like I was turning to stone all over again. The suitor bowed low, said "Your Majesties" , and realized that it was time for him to clear out. I bowed, but the High King started speaking even before I had lowered my head.

"How could you?" shouted Peter.

I felt my eyebrows draw together as I answered, "My King?"

Peter shook his head in disgust, "How dare you go behind my back and teach my youngest sister, your QUEEN, something that you knew I disapproved of?"

My tail flicked as I tried to come up with an explanation.

Before I could open my mouth to speak, however, Lucy beat me to the punch. "It's my fault Peter! I asked Orieus to teach me swordsmanship, and he said that he would. But I never meant for my training to go this far without telling you! I swear!"

King Peter rounded on his sister, "Lucy, how does that make the situation any better? You two both went behind my back, and, whether directly or indirectly, you disobeyed my orders!" The High King turned towards me and, with fire in his eyes, declared, "I trusted you Orieus. I trusted you with my family. I trusted you with my life. How can I trust you if, the second I turn my back, you disobey my orders?" He looked at Lucy and me. I'm very disappointed with both of you." And with his final words still ringing painfully in my ears, the High King Peter walked away.

I had no idea how to react when the Queen sat down at the edge of the fighting arena, and cried. No, not cried. Sobbed. I trotted over and awkwardly patted Lucy on the head.

"It's going to be... okay?" I said hesitantly.

I think that's what humans said to each other when their emotions went haywire. With centaurs we simply told each other to suck it up and move on with your life. Since I obviously couldn't tell Lucy that, I just kept on patting her head. It seemed to calm her down because she took a deep breath, wiped her tears away on her velvet sleeves, and looked up at me with slightly red eyes.

"How can things be alright when Peter is furious at the both of us? I didn't even tell him about you training me, he guessed when he discovered that I had been stealing breeches from his room. I d-didn't mean for this to h-happen. I'm so s-s-sorry!"

With that very wet statement, my Queen went back to crying into her hands, and I went back to patting her head.

Lucy had been planning to join the sword tournament in Galma to show off her new skills. Instead, I saw her sitting next to Queen Susan, with her back arched, head held high, and jealousy raging on her features. She watched her brothers compete with tight lips, and barely applauded when they got first in nearly every event that they had signed up for. At the end of the tournament she stood up, applauded politely, and barely nodded her head when she saw me. From what I had heard around the castle, High King Peter had grounded her. I had no idea what this meant, but it was obvious that we wouldn't be continuing our lessons anytime soon. Maybe we never would.