Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia or any characters you may recognize from the books or the movies, I wish I did but I don't... I also don't own the Narnian Calendar. It belongs to Elecktrum who was kind enough to let me borrow it for my story. Her own stories are awesome and you should go read them too.

Summary: Peter's simple swim turned into a lesson in the hazards of Leopards.

A/N: A pure fluff oneshot requested by WillowDryad. Hope you like it. This is part of my A Light in the Darkness universe. But, you can read it as a standalone if you so choose. Enjoy!

The Hazards of Leopards

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"I swear, Pete, Oreius is trying to kill us again."

Peter swiped the sweat off his brow then glanced at Edmund who'd just dragged his armor off. "At least, he's only confining our training to the early morn. We could be training in the full heat of the day."

Edmund glowered at him, "Not everyone enjoys getting up before the sun, Peter. Now come on."

"Aren't we going up to the castle?"

Edmund shook his head, "Nope, I have a better idea. Let's go swimming."

Peter grinned, "Well, that would get us cleaned up. All right, let's go before Oreius gets the guard to follow us."

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Peter laughed as he and Edmund raced to the river. It was wonderful to be completely free of the guards and to just be Peter Pevensie instead of the High King. "Come on, Ed!"

Edmund grinned, "You're not going swimming in your clothes, are you?"

He hesitated, "What if someone finds our clothes and carries them off while we're swimming?"

"Who would do that? To us? Come on, Peter." Edmund pulled off his tunic, "Unless you want to go swim in your clothes and boots. And, then be all soggy on the way back to the Cair."

Peter chuckled, "Good point." They didn't waste any more time before stripping down to their underthings then charging into the river, whooping and laughing like little boys. Splashing each other and wrestling, nearly drowning each other since neither could stop laughing long enough to hold their breath. Peter dunked Edmund one last time then merrily shouted, "Last one back to the shore has to explain to Oreius why we left the guard!"

"Come back here, you great lummox!"

Peter chortled as he swam for the shore. He was almost there. He gasped when Edmund grabbed his ankle and pulled him under. He came up sputtering then lunged for Edmund, putting him in a headlock and rubbing his knuckles against his brother's wet hair. Edmund squirmed then he froze and pointed at the shore, "They're taking our clothes!"

"What?!" Peter abruptly released his hold on Edmund, causing his brother to land face first in the water. His jaw dropped as he saw the four little Leopards dragging articles of clothing away. "Hey! Stop that! Edmund, come on! They're getting away!"

Peter splashed on to the shore, shouting, but the little Leopards just giggled and split up. Peter snatched up his tunic before Davu could take it. Yanking it over his head, he heard Edmund shouting behind him, "Oi! Come back here! Khufu! Keket! Davu! Bring those back, you little buggers!"

He pulled his tunic down just in time to see Edmund run past him, wearing only his pants and a single boot, as he chased after Khufu who was carrying off his other boot at the same time Keket and Davu were running off with his tunic. Peter couldn't help smirking, but then his grin vanished when he heard a little half-growl, half-purr and spun around in time to see Shesheta running into the woods, proudly dragging her prize. "My pants! Shesheta! Shesheta, come back here! Those aren't yours! Shesheta, wait!"

Not even taking the time to pull on his boots, Peter tore through the woods after the little black cub. He stubbed his toe and went down hard, scraping his hands and gashing his knee on a sharp rock. He spotted a torn piece of fabric going through a little hole in a thistle grove. Scrambling back to his feet, Peter raced around the thistles and jumped over a log. "Shesheta! Come back!"

He spotted her darting for a break in the trees, still dragging his pants. Lengthening his stride, Peter rushed up behind her and lunged. He just missed snagging his pants and landed on the other side of the bushes. He scrambled to his feet once more and took a step toward Shesheta then froze as he heard a squeak of surprise, "Peter?"

Peter gulped. This can't be happening. He could feel his cheeks blazing as he realized Shesheta had led him right to where Susan and Lucy and practically all the ladies of the court were having their picnic outing. He dropped his mortified gaze and tried to surreptitiously tug his tunic down a little more, desperately wishing it was even longer though it was already halfway to his knees, and saw Shesheta proudly drag his pants to her mother and dropped them in front of Sherket. He started forward and immediately snagged his foot on a tree root and landed face first in an apple pie that had been resting on the edge of a blanket.

Flushing even more, Peter raised his head and blinked through the dripping apples. Kat stood beside his sisters and she met his gaze for a painful moment then she threw her head back and laughed, which set off all the other ladies, including Susan and Lucy. He sat up in the midst of the laughter, not looking at the laughing women, and straightened his tunic, making sure it was no longer slipping off his left shoulder. Of course, the front was still gaping open and exposing the upper half of his torso as he had forgotten to tie the laces. A soft voice spoke up shyly as two napkins were handed to him, "Here, my Lord."

He quickly wiped his face clean of the remnants of the apple pie. "Thank you, Lady…" He turned as she offered a damp handkerchief and trailed off, blushing even more as he recognized Thalia. He quickly lowered his gaze to stare dumbly at her still proffered handkerchief.

She shyly pressed it into his hand, "For your knee, my Lord."

He glanced at his knee, which really was a sight as it was covered in dirt and blood, then glanced up in time to see Thalia look hastily away from his bare legs, blushing. He gulped and stared at his knee, ignoring the sting as he ruthlessly cleaned off the dirt and blood. He'd been wanting to talk to Thalia for the last two weeks and now this! Oh, he didn't know how he'd ever be able to speak to her, much less look her in the eyes after this little walk of mortification. He cleared his throat and balled the soiled handkerchief in his fist as he quickly stood. "I'll, um, I'll make sure this gets laundered and returned to you. Thank you, Lady Thalia."

The young Nymph blushed brighter and ducked her head, but didn't answer. He cleared his throat again. "Might someone hand me my pants?"

More laughter greeted him as Thalia slipped to the back of the group. But, they seemed to take pity on him…finally. Kat tossed him his pants. He held them up, only to groan as he realized the entire seat of his pants was gone. Shesheta must have torn them when she went through the thistles. Why me?

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Forty minutes later, Peter walked into Cair Paravel with as much dignity as he could muster, wearing his boots and clutching a picnic blanket around his waist. He was immediately confronted with the sight of Edmund and Oreius. He frowned as he noticed Edmund had managed to retrieve and was wearing all of his clothes. Well, it just figured. He scowled at Edmund as his brother immediately started chortling (the little rat) and even Oreius couldn't quite hide the amused twitch of his lips. "Shut up, Edmund. This is all your fault since it was all your idea." Then he stalked into the palace and promptly locked himself in his quarters with plans to gladly allow himself to die of embarrassment…after he made sure Thalia's handkerchief was laundered and returned to her.

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The next day Peter reluctantly emerged from his quarters to attend a quick meeting with his siblings, a number of officers, and several advisors. Oreius, Kat, Sherket, and Sefu were all there as was Peridan (whose family mercifully had not witnessed his mortification the previous day). Peter barely kept himself from slumping in sheer relief that they made it through the meeting without a single mention of the day before. Oreius looked around the table, "Is there anything else we might need to discuss or at least be aware of before we proceed with our duties?"

Kat set down her notes and nodded, looking very serious. "Yes, the queens and I thought the High King would wish to know the results of our survey." Peter furrowed his brow but Kat still looked grave as she turned to him, "High King, according to our survey, the ladies of the Cair are in agreement that your legs are quite comely for being so long and lean. Oh, and you tanned quite nicely."

Peter's cheeks burned as Kat finally burst into laughter, which set his siblings off. He scowled at her and tossed an unused cushion at her. "Kat!"

She caught the cushion and hugged it as she kept laughing, "I'm- I'm sorry, Peter, but it was just so…so funny. You were so red and then you fell in the apple pie and… I'm sorry. But, it was Lucy's idea. And, I just- I couldn't help myself." She rolled in her chair as her laughter bubbled up even louder, which made his sisters laugh louder. Their mirth was catching and soon everyone except Peridan (who merely looked torn between being puzzled or scandalized by their utter lack of decorum) was laughing. Peter groaned and covered his red face. Sliding down in his chair, he wondered if he would ever hear the end of this particular episode.

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A/N: Please Read and Review! I hope you had as much fun reading this one as I had writing it. :)