"RAAHH!"

The man grunted from his seat at the table. The Narnians around them cheered for her, some of them patting her back. Zola cackled from her place opposite him. She'd completely finished him in an armwrestling match after he'd been flexing his biceps. His non–existing biceps. Despite being a girl, and a full head shorter than him, she'd beaten him easily.

"Face it, Atticus, I'm just better than you." Zola laughed at the man.

"No." Atticus shook his head. "Tomorrow will be my day."

She playfully rolled her eyes. "You've been saying that for a month. I beat you every day."

"We're starting to get cocky now, Princess? Just because you're famous now for a stupid book, doesn't make you—" He teased.

Zola stood up from her seat. A smile painted her lips, her white teeth seeming to shine in the bright sunlight. "If you don't watch your mouth, I'll have your tongue cut out. I'll even do it myself if need be."

She saw Atticus gulp. But then the crowd of Narnians erupted into loud laughter, along with Zola herself. Atticus gave a nervous chuckle, but laughed with the crowd just to not appear cowardice.

Despite the loud noises of the crowd, Zola heard the clanging of the door. Caspian walked out of the berthing space, pulling the top strands of his hair back. He'd grown his hair out by maybe an inch, so he could do that. He'd also grown his facial hair. Zola thought it horrible at first, but over time she'd come to realise it actually quite suited him.

"Are you not embarrassed by now, Atticus?" Caspian laughed at him. He and Zola often laughed at the whole situation when it was just the two of them.

Atticus, afraid to let down his king, bowed his head. "Of course, Your Majesty. It's just— She's a girl!"

"Who has managed to beat you every single day." Caspian finished for him. That silenced Atticus. Caspian walked to the end of the boat, looking out onto the water. Zola saw his gaze on something in the water before his eyebrows knitted together. "Zola, get the towels. Get the towels, now!"

Before Zola had even made it to the cabin, she heard a couple of plunges that had to be people diving into the water. Zola opened a casket attached to the wall, quickly taking out a couple of brown towels. She walked out again, not really looking at the deck, instead focusing on the pile of towels in her hands.

"Cas, I got the towels, where do you want me to—" She looked up and saw something she had never been able to imagine on her own. Edmund and Lucy stood on the deck, soaking, both shaking of the cold. Zola's eyes instantly found Edmund's. "Hi." Was all she could muster.

"Hi," He replied, equally stunned. "You're wearing a dress."

Zola looked down at her clothing, the green of her long dress coming back to her. "Yeah, I do that. Most of the time." She chuckled.

Caspian waited a moment before stating. "Fran. The towels."

"Right. Sorry." Zola instantly walked forward, giving each of them their own towel.

Caspian put his arm around Lucy, who still looked like she was freezing. "How in the world did you end up here?" He asked her.

Tearing her eyes away from Edmund, Zola followed the couple to the front of the deck. "I have no idea." Lucy answered Caspian with a laugh.

"Well, it's good to see you," Again, Zola's eyes found Edmund's. She couldn't seem to keep them off him. Nor he off her. "Both of you."

His face had matured. Of course it had, it'd been two years since they had last seen each other. The freckles that she'd commemorated so well had faded from his cheeks, but if you looked close enough, they were still present.

"Didn't you call for us?" Lucy asked as she came to a stop in a less crowded place. The deck was still completely full with the crowd that had just watched the brutal armwrestling match.

Caspian shook his head. "No. Not this time."

"Well, whatever the case, I'm just glad to be here." Edmund shared.

It appeared he wanted to say something else as well, but the high pitch of someone screaming sounded from the other side of the deck. Zola turned around to find a boy squirming on the ground. Reepicheep sat on top of him. "Don't touch me! Get that thing off me!" He swung his arm, making Reepicheep fly to the front of the deck.

He had not yet seen Lucy nor Edmund. "Reepicheep!"

Reepicheep turned at Lucy's voice. His jaw dropped. "Oh. Your Majesties." He bowed.

"Hello, Reep," Edmund greeted. "What a pleasure."

Reep adjusted the feathery hat on his head until it sat right again. "The pleasure is all mine, sir."

Zola nodded her head toward the boy who was still scrambling on the floor. "Who's the bumbling maggot?"

The boy in question turned his head to point at Reep. He yelled at the top of his lungs. "That giant rat thing just tried to claw my face off!"

            It was true the Talking Mice were much bigger than normal mice. Every Narnian animal was bigger than their "normal" counterpart. But there was still a big difference between a Talking Mouse and a rat.

"I was merely trying to expel the water from your lungs, sir." Reep answered.

Quickly, the hysterical boy got on his feet. Again, he pointed at the Talking Mouse. "It talked! Did you see— anyone just hear that? It— it just talked!"

"He always talks." Atticus, who had taken a place leaning against the side of the boat, said. Almost all the sailors formed a line now.

"Actually, it's getting him to shut up that's the trick." Caspian added with crossed arms.

Reepicheep was offended by the comment. But since Caspian was his king, he remained respectable. "The moment there is nothing to be said, Your Highness, I promise you, I will not say it."

"Hmm, you won't keep that promise." Zola teased.

"Look, I don't know what kind of prank this is, but I want to wake up right now!" Zola audibly sighed at the boy's exclamation. She could already tell what type of person he was, and she wasn't going to like him.

Reepicheep turned around to his royalty. "Perhaps we could throw him back."

He'd meant it as a joke, but Edmund and Zola looked at each other in thought. They were both thinking that it wasn't even too bad an idea. Lucy saw the interaction and slapped Edmund's arm. "Edmund! Zola!"

"But he's annoying!" Zola defended herself. "Look at him, he's already talking about his mother."

The boy tried to run off to the other side, half crying, where more sailors were standing. "I demand to know! Just where in the blazes am I?"

Tavros the Minotaur answered him. "You're on the Dawn Treader, the finest ship in Narnia's navy." Just by saying this, Tavros had the boy fainting. The whole ship laughed, Zola included.

Tavros appeared scary, because he was a minotaur, but he was one of the sweetest souls on the entire ship. When Caspian came to him, he asked him. "Was it something I said?"

Caspian said something to him Zola couldn't hear. Soon after he ran to climb a couple of the stairs on the left side of the ship. "Men," He called. They were all quiet in an instant. "Behold our castaways, Edmund the Just and Lucy the Valiant, High King and Queen of Narnia."

The entire ship went down on one knee. Even Zola made a quick bow to them from right beside them. "Let's get you cleaned up, okay?" She rubbed Lucy's shoulders. The towel felt wet from all the water it had absorbed.

            "I missed you," Lucy said. Caspian led Edmund in the opposite direction of them. Lucy followed them with a confused frown. "Where are they going?"

            Zola opened the door to her chambers. "This," She said. "Is my personal bedroom. And it is to be yours as long as you're here. Unless," Zola turned to look at Lucy. "Unless you want to sleep amongst men."

            Lucy's smile grew. She squealed as she let herself fall onto the queen sized bed. Zola pulled open her closet. It was so full, it was piling out. Caspian had often told Zola to get rid of some of her clothing, because she didn't need so much. But Zola liked to be prepared. She liked having so many different outfits to choose from.

            "Come here," Zola ushered Lucy over. Lucy let the towel fall on the bed and stood next to Zola. She was still drenched, wetting the floor beneath her. "What do you want? Dress? Trousers?"

            Before Lucy could even answer, Zola was pulling out pieces of clothing and holding them in front of Lucy to see if it would be a good match. Eventually she had settled on a pair of trousers, a white blouse and a brown corset.

            When Lucy came out of the dressing room all dressed in her new clothes, Zola smiled at her. "You look so good! Tell you what, you can keep them," She rubbed both of Lucy's arms in a fraternal manner. "You've gotten so tall."

            Lucy wasn't that much taller than Zola, perhaps two or three inches. But Zola was used to being half a foot taller than her. Naturally, Lucy had grown in the past two years.

            Lucy appreciated the fraternity. She'd missed Susan now that she was in America. Edmund was hard to communicate with for her sometimes. And Eustace . . . Well, Eustace was Eustace. He wasn't the type of person Lucy wanted to communicate with. Lucy had no further friends, so she was lonely most of the time without Susan.

            Having Zola to talk to was a good thing. Most of the time. But Lucy was gonna find out soon enough that even Zola was someone you sometimes did not want to be around.

Obviously people change in the span of two years, especially if you're trapped on a ship with men only. That would be my fucking nightmare, shitting you not.