Another world must be unfurled,
Another language known,
Ere tongue or sound can publish round
Her charms of flesh and bone.
-

"Rainsford! Out! To the Headmistress's office with you! Immediately!"

Sanya Rainsford rolled her eyes, before pushing back her chair and getting to her feet.
She dusted the pencil shavings off her skirt as she moved to the door- but just before leaving the classroom, she turned and tilted her head.
"Ei, Hughes, do you remember if she has chocolate biscuits today, or shortbread? If it's chocolate, I think I'll just go tomorrow-"

The class burst into laughter, even though there was nothing but ill feeling between the majority of them and Sanya.

"ENOUGH." Pauline Hughes, the history teacher for the lower fourth form, looked like some child had haphazardly painted her face red. Sanya had not known, in her thousands of years of living, that someone with pale skin could become that red. "So help me, you heathen child, I will drag you there, and I will pray that Headmistress Graybow allows someone to beat you bloody-"

Sanya pulled the classroom door shut behind her with a loud snap, and then she had the satisfaction of hearing her classmates' titters yet again, and Ms. Hughes's very irritated, "Quiet, girls!"

She walked through the hallways at St. Finbar's, looking at the paintings on the walls with the same wonder as when she had seen them for the first time, over a year ago. It wasn't necessarily that the paintings were very well-done- most of them were done by the past students of the school- it was more what the paintings contained.
Girls wearing short frocks and round hats, and boys wearing button-shirts and suspenders- long, sleek cars- gleaming trains, with steam coming out of the front- aeroplanes, flying amidst clouds- all things that had Sanya had never seen until last September.

Edmund had had to go into the nearby town and get picture books, usually bought for children, so she could learn about this strange, magic-less new world.

The girls in her dormitory had laughed, when they'd seen her reading them.

"Well, Clarissa, May, Jessie, and Priscilla can go to hell." She muttered- she had said the same to her dorm-mates, out loud, last month, and had been suspended from classes and activities for two weeks.
She hadn't minded that. She didn't care about classes, and the only activity she had missed was swimming- it may have been the beginning of November, and most students avoided the swimming pool due to the harsh winter, but Sanya went almost every day.

Her House-mistress- Ms. Bea Terrapin, whom she didn't have any feelings towards, negative or positive- had been flabbergasted when she'd found that the girl was swimming even in the winter term, and had told her that she wasn't allowed to. However, a quick look at the rule-book, courtesy of Susan Pevensie, showed that there were no rules against swimming in winter. Most likely, whoever had compiled the rules, had assumed that all the girls would have the common sense to not go swimming in such cold weather.

In the midst of her musing, she had reached the office she had been sent to- and Sanya knocked on the door, waiting to be called in.

Hearing the Headmistress's calm voice ring out with, "Come in", she walked in, her hands clasped behind her back. She didn't want her to see the multitude of ink splotches all over her hands. She didn't even know how they happened! Downright mysteries, they were- like when she would use a pen of black ink, and then a few hours later, she'd seen that her palms were lined with blue ink.

"Hey, Graybow." Sanya greeted, seating herself on the chair in front of the desk, behind which the older woman sat, surveying her.

The Headmistress wasn't wearing her glasses- which made sense, those were only for reading, unlike Sanya's glasses. She had square glasses here- not round, full-moon-like glasses she had had in Rihaaya- and they were supposed to be worn all the time. Though she rarely followed that, back then and even now.

"Are you busy? I can come back-"

Headmistress Imelda Graybow sighed, cutting her off.
"The first time I met you, you said you were quiet and far too lazy to do anything untoward. And you spoke not more than three sentences. But, you have become the student who has been sent to my office the most number of times, in the span of just fourteen months. The student that held the record before you needed all six years."

"It's not my fault the teachers hate me." Sanya replied sulkily, leaning back in the chair. "And I spent the formative years of my life in- in India."

She'd remembered! Sometimes, she forgot and said Rihaaya, which confused whoever she was talking to.
Edmund had casually mentioned, just the day after she had come to England, that there was a country in this world that was similar to her homeland.

After much researching- mostly done by him- she had noted that Edmund was right. In this world, India- a country in a continent called Asia, she had read- was the most similar to Rihaaya, and so she had decided that that would be her native country in Spare Oom.

The decision about her country that had been further supported, when she had met her 'grandmother' during the Christmas break last year.

Apparently, as Maude Gregoria Rainsford said, she had been adopted at the young age of sixteen months from Calcutta when Maude's daughter and her husband had been to India for a long holiday. After their deaths in a motor accident when she was seven, she had been sent back to India, to live with her natural aunt, and she'd returned to England at thirteen, when Maude decided that she did not care about her origin or the colour of her skin, Sanya was her granddaughter and she thus belonged in England.

Obviously, Sanya had absolutely no recollection of this, because it had never happened. It was all a false reality to excuse her existence in this world- it was just an alibi, but on a much greater scale.
She wondered if the credit was due to Aslan or Poseidon.

She was glad she was 'from' Calcutta. She'd read that it had once been the capital of India- just like she'd once been the High Queen of Rihaaya.

"These are still your formative years." Patiently, the Headmistress spoke. "And you've been at St. Finbar's for over a year now, Ms. Rainsford. We have been accommodating to you as much as possible-"

Yes, because her 'grandmother' was quite rich, and regularly donated to the school. It was the only reason Sanya had not been expelled yet.

"But, really, our tolerance is wearing thin. Drawing inappropriate things in class-"

She had been drawing two girls, one in a green gown and the other in armour.

"trying to bring in stray animals into the school-"

They were so cute! And the first-years had loved that wildcat kitten she had found- and the baby boar had been so adorably small.

"wearing henna on your hands- where even did you get henna, I've no idea-"

The patterns had been uneven and very ugly, since she had drawn them on her hands herself- but the mehendi had been for cultural purposes. That had been the point she had argued with, quite passionately, which was why they had had to let her off without any punishment for the 'offence'.

"Setting the horses free from that excursion to the stables-"

Had she seen the condition of the stables? Pigsties in the most backward villages in Rihaaya were cleaner!

"Taunting the teachers and your classmates- even fighting-"

Because they taunted her first! As though she didn't understand that a paynim was a derogatory word- and one of her classmates had called her a chakla!
She knew she had promised Edmund to not fight- but that hadn't been a fight, not really.
Besides, had she been supposed to not punch her, after being called a prostitute?

"And, of course, regularly running away from school and to Hendon House."
There were several other offences, but the Headmistress had an appointment starting in half an hour, so she felt that keeping things succinct was the best way forward.

Sanya stared back coolly, "Do you have a point to that list, ma'am?"

She sighed again- she did that too often, especially with this particular student. She was in her fifties, but in all her interactions with Sanya, she felt and looked older. Baffling, the effects a fourteen-year-old nuisance could have on you.
"My point is- why make things so hard for yourself? I know things must be tough, and that you are unused to such strict routine-"

Of course she was unused to it! Sanya was a Princess, a Queen- and now she was being made to wake up at six in the morning and make up her bed before going down to mandatory breakfast!

She went on, "I just think that, things would be easier if you kept your head down and were less- aggressive. You might make some friends- even enjoy your time here."

"I don't need friends." She said shortly.
They were to have a break between classes soon- she could probably make it to Hendon and back, and catch Edmund before his- did he have physics or civics? What day was it?
She stood up, though she had not been told to.
"Thank you, ma'am." She was already walking to the door, and the Headmistress did not even attempt to stop her. "I promise I'll try to limit my visits to your office in the future."

Of course, that promise was broken less than a week later, on the sixth of December, when the music teacher, Mr. Kavanagh, found Sanya trying to sneak out of school, by way of the usually-unlocked back entrance, and promptly decided to take her to the Headmistress.

"Honestly, Sienna, it's all so foggy- and it's sure to rain heavily." He tutted to the student who trudged beside him, her face dark with anger. "And don't the fourth and higher forms have extra classes all day today? Where were you even trying to sneak off to?"

But she didn't answer his question, choosing only to say, her teeth gritted, "My name is Sanya."
And she didn't mind the grey weather outside. It was her favourite type of weather- though, granted, the lack of sun in England could be exhausting sometimes, especially when she had grown up in a bright and tropical country. Still, it rained often, and that made up for it.

Mr. Kavanagh nodded, "Yes, that's what I said, Sienna. Now, are you the Sienna who plays the flute, or the Sienna who won the French poetry competition, or-"

The music lessons were the only time she would revert back to her old self, and try to hide and stay invisible- which was why the music teacher had no recollection of her. She was glad- her voice was not for singing.
"I'm the Sanya-" Again, she emphasised her name, though she doubted he would realise his mistake, "who got more demerits in one term than any other student has in all six years' here- ever."

"Ah." Recognition sparked in his eyes. "I think I remember you now- I've heard several teachers complain about you incessantly in the staff room."

"Yes, I'm-" a pain in their arses, but Sanya could not say that, unless she wanted to be confined to the school for a month, "the bane of their existence. And Graybow's. And most everyone here, really."
She was trying to control herself- but she felt so, so angry! For a simple visit out of school, she was being taken to the Headmistress- again! She had never even wanted to come to school, this horrible place with malicious dorm-mates and hateful teachers and ungodly wake-up times- and now things were even worse!

She'd just wanted to meet Edmund! It was not Headmistress-office-worthy.

"Oh, I doubt you are that much of a nuisance-"

"Shut up." Sanya said, as they reached the Headmistress's office. She glanced at the music teacher, saw that he was too appalled to speak, and then knocked on the door.

"Come in- oh, no, Rainsford." The Headmistress got to her feet as Sanya walked in, and exasperation was written all over her face. "It hasn't even been a week since- it is Sunday- you know what, I cannot deal with you today. Mr. Kavanagh- Mr. Kavanagh?"

The music teacher had been so shocked at being told to shut up, he didn't register the Headmistress's calls for a moment.
"Oh-" He blinked quickly, "yes, Headmistress?"

"Whatever you caught her doing, I do not want to know today. If it was something truly awful, come to me in the morning tomorrow. For now- Rainsford?"

Sanya looked expectantly at her, her fists clenched. She would not punch her, but she could not help when her fists would spring into formation for a fight. She assumed she would probably be forced to clean something, as punishment.
"Yes?"

"Just- just leave the school premises for the day. Go to the town, go back to India, I'm past caring. I'll punish you tomorrow. Mondays are meant for annoyances like this." Graybow sat back down again, running a hand through her dark-auburn, shot through with grey, hair. "I don't want to see your face today, and I am sure your teachers don't want to either."

Sanya was surprised- she had been sure she'd be made into a female Hercules and made to clean the stables, but being let out of school? Absolutely perfect, considering why she had been trying to sneak out in the first place.

"Alright." She shrugged, feeling the anger beginning to wane, and then walked back out.

She acted normally enough as she walked through the hallways, passing other students and teachers once she had turned the first corner from the Headmistress's hallway- and she ignored them, not even glancing at them, looking at the floor instead- but as soon as she had walked out of the main gate, she began to run.

Yes. Sanya Reza- Pevensie- Rainsford was running.

She attributed the fact that she didn't almost die after running these days because of her staggering weight loss during her time in Neráida as well as to the inexpert healing of a certain Sun God. She was still very, very far from athletic- if she walked more than two flights of stairs, she had to sit down and drink an entire goblet- um, half a bottle of water before she could continue.
But running the short distance between St. Finbar's and Hendon House, the ends of her grey-brown skirt and scarlet blazer flying and the cold wind whipping in her face and through her ponytailed hair, was absolutely possible.

There was a road leading from the front gate of one to the front gate of the other- but the quarter of a kilometre or so between the two boarding schools was mostly just bare field. On some days, Sanya would see some errant deer peek out from the wood that stood behind the field and the schools, but today was too gloomy a day for any animals to scurry out of their dwellings.

The wood was nice. She'd gone exploring in it, the first dawn she had spent in the school- she had not been able to sleep, and she had slipped out of school. She'd been sure she would not be able to go through with the exploration, that it would remind her too much of the Forest of the Gods.

But she'd managed to, and she had loved it. It was open, and freeing, and the mass of trees was comforting. She could breathe there.
Out of the places she had been to in this world, the forest was the place that felt the most Narnian.

And, of course, she had had to take Edmund along there, too, because she knew how much he missed the land.

He'd been very wary, at first. He'd said, probably quite rightly, that there were wolves and feral cats and dangerous creatures there, and that neither he nor Sanya had swords to protect themselves in this world.

Eventually, she had managed to persuade him to try it out- and he had loved it, too. He'd even soon found the perfect little spot for them, not too deep in- it was a clearing ringed by flowering trees and several bushes, with small yellow buds growing out of the grass in spring.

"Good morning." Sanya said after catching her breath, as the doorman- or, guard?- at the front gate at Hendon- why did they even have a doorman?- peered at her. "I've, I," she could speak, she needed to speak! "I've been sent by Headmistress-"

The guard rolled his eyes, "Yes, I know the procedure by now, little Miss Finbar. Golly, does Graybow have no other students to send on errands? It's always you."

"I'm effective." She replied- and, of course, because she was lying. The Headmistress never sent her on any errands, but she knew she would never be able to get into Ed's school otherwise.

The doorman grunted, and pushed open the door, and Sanya quickly went in.
She climbed up the stairs to the first floor that had classrooms- the ground floor had the breakfast hall, music room, etc., but the actual classrooms began from the first, just like at St. Finbar's.
Ed was in Sapphire House- like hers was West Tower- but it wasn't even noon yet, he must be in one of the classrooms.

And as she saw that boys were crowded in the hallways and common spaces, she deduced that, unlike the fourth to sixth forms at St. Finbar's, Hendon House did not have any extra classes for the day.

Lucky lok.

Which meant he was somewhere in the throng of sweaty teenage males that Sanya could see every which way that she looked.

She could shout. Her voice was loud enough, and he would hear her, if he was on this floor.

But- for all her bravado while being thrown out of class or attacking her classmates- she was shy. Even the thought of so many people looking at her, looking at her, judging her- it made her stomach turn and she would feel like something was clawing at her brain.

They'd look at her anyway, at least the ones attracted to girls- even though she was an ugly girl, because there were no other girls in this school, apart from the Matron and some of the teachers- she wouldn't even need to scream.

She eyed the nearest hallway, next to the stairwell that she was hiding in- and took a deep breath.

And then she walked in.

She did not say anything as she passed the boys, but she kept her hands in fists if they tried anything- she looked at them, behind them, squeezed her way through groups more tightly knitted than a sweater- and then she went through another hallway, past another row of empty classrooms, but Edmund wasn't there. She couldn't see his soft mop of dark hair, or the freckles that adorned his pale skin, or his beautiful brown eyes.

Oh, of all the times for her brain to wax poetic about-

"Peter?" She stopped short just outside of another empty classroom, recognising the tall blond boy that sat inside it, flipping through some sort of thick book. Wait- an encyclopaedia.
Peter and an encyclopaedia?

Her brother-in-law looked up, startled at hearing a non-male voice call him, and then his surprise was replaced by crossness.
"Honestly, Sanya!" He stalked to the door, the encyclopaedia clasped in his arms. "Are you not sick of my brother yet?"

She stuck her tongue out at him.
"No." Never. "And since when do you read?" She asked, looking pointedly at the book he held. "I wasn't aware you could read."

"Hardy-har-har." Peter Pevensie retorted with a scowl. "And I read ever since this is my last year of school, and I decided I'd be applying to Cambridge to study there. Why else do you think I'm studying on a Sunday?"

"Oh." Her eyes widened- from what she had read and heard, Cambridge and Oxford were the top universities in England. T'were very hard to get in to, she was sure. "Understandable, and I wish you all the best. I'm very well-versed in reading, so if you need pointers-"

"I'll go to the librarian." Peter ended bluntly, and the two shared a grin. "Since you'll probably turn the school upside down if you don't find Ed, I might as well tell you that he isn't in here, he's in the rugby field behind. Games master gave the team captain the responsibility to figure out whether to put him on the team or keep him as reserve."

"But he's the best player on the team!" Sanya said indignantly. If Edmund had any sort of inclination for a career in sports- which he didn't, he'd taken up rugby as a sort-of substitute for sword-fighting- he would absolutely make it. "Why-"

"Because he's only a fourth-former- and not even upper fourth. Even if he is among the oldest in his year, the only players who're properly on the current team so far are fifth formers or higher." Peter shrugged, thinking of how unfair that was. Age should not be a hurdle when it came to certain things- he himself had become High King at fifteen! "Believe me, Ed's lot better a player than half the sixth-form tossers that I call classmates-" he was eighteen and in upper sixth, just a few months from the end of his school-life, "better than upper and lower- but that's the way things- oh, you're gone."
There was no one but him in the classroom anymore- Sanya must have run off while he had talking, because of course she had- and he smiled a little to himself. These empty classrooms were the only places he could study- and be- in peace.

Sanya had been to the field a few times, during the last winter term, when Edmund had been the first reserve for the Hendon rugby team, and even a couple more times during this winter term, because he was yet again first reserve.

She wasn't even biased when she said it- Edmund was the best player on the team, and he wasn't even technically on the team! She knew next to nothing about rugby, apart from the fact that the ball they used didn't even look like a ball, but she knew enough to judge whether someone was good at the sport or not.

As her feet crunched down the frosty grass, her myopic eyes surveyed the rugby field. She could see a group of figures there, standing close and apparently talking. Most of them were wearing what one wore in games class, but one of them wore the school uniform, with a vest and the sleeves rolled up to the forearms.

Sanya fought a wave of nausea- she hoped that Edmund would not be pissed off that she was here. He never was- he was always delighted- but, well, could happen.

"Hus-" No, fuck, no. She couldn't call him that. Unless they were somewhere that was only the two of them, or just them and his siblings. "Ed! Edmund!"

Edmund Pevensie heard someone call his name, and his attention went away from what the rugby team captain- Oscar Waddingham, of the lower sixth form- was saying.
And then his face split into a wide smile, as he recognised from whom the call had come.

"Oh, look." John Patterson, one of the other reserves, said quietly, elbowing the two players closest to him. "Juliet's here for her Romeo."

"Very funny, John- or it would be, if you didn't use the same analogy every time." Edmund, despite his joy, was very much up to snark. "Perhaps read some more books, yeah? Maybe then you'd stop failing constantly to get a date."
Blimey, he did dislike that play. He appreciated the beautiful quotes and passages that it had, but that was about all. He had not enjoyed the characters, the plot, even the tragedy had felt flat- it was easily his least favourite Shakespeare work.

The other boys sniggered, but Billy Halston snorted, "What in the world do books have to do with girls?"

"A lot, if you like the bookworm type of girl. Like my Sanya is." Edmund said, nodding towards his wife, who was trudging towards them. "And, even if the object of your affection isn't fond of books, they'll definitely love to hear you quote romantic passages."

Oscar studied Edmund for a moment, noting the younger boy's quiet, assured confidence. It was baffling, but he liked baffling things.
"Yeah, you're on the team." He said, clapping him on the back, just as his girlfriend reached them. "If not to play, then to give that sorry lot tips to get fit birds."

"What are you going to do with fit birds?" Sanya asked, confused, as she pushed her way to stand next to Edmund, who promptly slung his arm around her shoulder. "Enter them in a race or something?"

The boys roared with laughter, confusing her more, and John pretended to wipe tears from his cheeks.
"Oh, your girl's a riot, Pevensie." He said, still laughing. "Are all Indian girls so funny?"

"Not nearly as much as she is." Edmund replied easily, before leaning in to kiss Sanya's cheek. "Do you want to stay here and unwittingly make this bunch of raggedy lads laugh, or do you want to go on a walk?"

"Hm. Depends." His wife answered, playing along.
She glanced at the team, who was looking at the two of them expectantly, and almost hungrily.
That was a strange expression. What did they expect, that they would lunge at each other, overcome with love and lust, and have sex then and there on the rugby field?
"Does the group of raggedy lads come along on the walk?"

"I'll beat them with a stick if they do." Edmund promised- half the team raised very ungentlemanly fingers at him- and he began to walk out of the field, steering Sanya out gently.

"Congratulations, by the way." Sanya said, as they left the field and began to head to the back of the school- the forest began just a few feet behind the back-boundary of both schools. "I heard one of the boys say you're on the team. You deserve it, darling."

"Thanks, my love." Edmund smiled, affectionately bumping his arm against hers, and he dropped his arm from her shoulders to around her waist. "Are you feeling well?"

He asked her that a lot. She lied, usually.
"Yes." She had to think of some sort of reason, apart from the date it was. "I think it'll rain later today. I'll stare at it through the window in my dorm."

"Today's a good day in more ways than one, then." He laughed. "Sunday- no classes- you."

"All the best things." Sanya smiled back- deciding to not mention the fact that she had had classes.
They walked out of the school- in doing so, they had to go through the back-gate, which the students who smoked frequented. But there was no smell of smoke, just the smell of the world just before rain- and her anger was no longer there, not in this moment.
"Happy First Wedding Anniversary, husband."

Her husband smiled wider, and his hold around her waist became tighter, "Happy First Wedding Anniversary, Moonshine."

-
-✧･: °*✧*°:･✧-
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Robert Pattinson as Oscar Waddingham

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Fiona Shaw as Headmistress Mary Graybow

-
George McKay as John Patterson

-
Jack Whitehall as Mr. Stephen Kavanagh

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Famke Janssen as Ms. Pauline Hughes

-

WELCOME BACK!

And buckle up, Wildcats! It's going to be a hell of a ride 😌 I cannot wait for you all to read it.
I promise I'll stop saying this in very chapter- BUT IT'S THE END. This chapter is literally the beginning of the end.
Some of the characters that are introduced in this chapter never show up again- Ms. Hughes, Mr. Kavanagh- while others, like the Headmistress and John, have recurring minor appearances. Oscar Waddingham has a larger part towards the middle of the story.
Alright, I'll shut up before I end up spoiling something.

Enjoy happy, soft, nothing-matters-but-us Edmanya. It- does not last long. Splinters and cracks, kiddos. Splinters and cracks...and the earthquakes they lead to.

I'll probably be posting chapters twice or thrice a week- depends on my mood. I have not yet finished the book- currently, I am writing Chapter 40- but it's not going to interfere with the posting schedule. Hopefully. Hopefully. I'm sort of afraid that I won't be able to make myself finish the book, because I don't want to let go of this series. :")

ENOUGH DEPRESSION.

I've posted the second chapter, too, so on you go!

And, as always- I humbly and unashamedly ask you to vote on the chapters, and perhaps comment, too :)