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✩.･*:｡≻───── ⋆♡⋆ ─────.•*:｡✩💕Blooming Affection💕✩.･*:｡≻───── ⋆♡⋆ ─────.•*:｡✩

Charlotte was certain that a week flew by with a blink of an eye since she started training with Edmund. In a week, they had accomplished so much, far beyond the adventure she anticipated initially. She had learnt to ride a horse and a gryphon, disarming and attacking techniques, and how to use a crossbow, with the weapons they raided from the Telmarines, as Edmund had promised.

With every training session, she found it increasingly challenging to cast aside a blossoming affection for him. They constantly teased each other on the training fields. He would blame his losses on going easy on her, and she would blame hers on him not being a qualified teacher. But in every moment they shared, she found a piece of her heart stolen.

"Your attacks are getting sloppy," Edmund commented, as he shielded himself from her blade.

"We can't possibly be in the same league," Charlotte replied dryly, "I've only had five days of training, while you've had fifteen years."

"Actually, even with fifteen years of training, I rose to become a better expert than Peter in weeks," he corrected her proudly with a smirk.

"Then you should be qualified to teach me," she suggested, "unless, you're not."

"You're learning well," he complimented, "considering you've had to learn a lot this week. I'm impressed."

"Would you say I'm better than you, taking our different circumstances into account?" She teased, locking their swords together.

"It's hard to say," he withheld his judgment, smirking at her as he countered the technique she had just applied, "I'll let you decide."

"I think I might just be better than you, give it a few more days," she said confidently, swinging her blade and knocking his out of his hands.

"I let you win," he denied, grinning, "but well done."

Seeing that attractive grin on his face did something to her. She smiled in response, very subtly mesmerised by its beauty.

Day by day, his features captivated her and his personality inspired her. Visuals of his beaming smile, sounds of his melodious laugh, and the gentle ways he treated her often lingered in the back of her mind. Whenever she laid at night trying to fall into a slumber, he somehow always snaked his way into her mind. She often looked back at their journey and replayed moments of their small interactions in her mind.

On her third day of training, she prepared herself to learn horseback riding. He waited for her outside the How with two horses.

"I've never ridden a horse before," she nervously reminded him, "what if I get hurt?"

"What's the worst that could happen?" He chuckled, "You can't possibly miss the horse."

"Have you ever missed the horse?" She questioned.

"Let's get right to it," he answered, a little too quickly to her amusement, gesturing her to position herself beside her horse.

She let out a giggle, following his instructions. He demonstrated mounting a horse, proving to her that it was manageable since they were almost the same height. It made her feel a bit at ease, and more keen to try it out. She attempted to mimic his demonstration, successfully mounting the horse.

At first, she understood his directions in guiding the horse. Unfortunately, it was short-lived. Soon, she found herself screaming as she clung to the galloping horse, completely out of control. It annoyed her how Edmund was amused and simply snorting with laughter at her suffering.

"Make it stop, make it STOP!" She screeched, "EDMUND!!!"

Still howling with laughter, Edmund instructed his horse to give chase.

From a distance, they appeared like two horseracing champions galloping across the enormous field in a friendly competition. But that was not the case at all with Charlotte's screams echoing across the field.

"Whoa!" Edmund guided his horse to stop Charlotte's, attempting to calm it down.

"Easy, easy!" He called out.

Charlotte's horse raised its hooves high in the air, letting out a huge neigh. The poor girl fell backward with another shriek.

Thud!

"Charlotte!" Edmund called out in concern, immediately jumping off his horse and rushing to her side.

"Are you alright?" He asked, examining her elbows for possible dislocations.

"I'm fine," she insisted, lifting herself off the ground.

Still somewhat traumatised by the encounter, she gave way to her trembling legs, landing right into his arms.

"Whoa, I got you," he assured her as he caught her, chuckling lightly, "do you need some rest?"

"Y-yeah," she nodded, lightly pushing his arms away and steadying herself on her two legs, before plopping her bottom down to the ground.

"I'd like that very much," she sighed, extremely exhausted.

She glanced at the boy who snorted. Then, he burst hysterically into laughter.

"Having fun?" She asked dryly.

He continued laughing, unable to say anything coherently.

Though she was extremely mortified being humiliated in front of him, she found herself attracted to his laugh, which she actually felt grateful to be able to hear it. She had never noticed it before, but he had an adorable laugh, and he appeared gorgeous doing so. It was music to her ears.

"We'll take a break," he said in between giggles as he sat next to her, "I need one myself."

When he finally calmed down, they met eyes. He broke into a smile, which blew her away immediately.

She never noticed the chocolate colour in his eyes up close. They were so bright, especially when basking in the sun's glow and accompanied by his dashing smile. What an exquisite sight indeed. With every passing second, she felt herself melting into them.

"Charlotte?" He began, bringing her back to her senses.

"Yeah?" She asked casually, masking her emotions behind a warm and friendly smile.

"Would you like to try riding a gryphon now?" He asked, wildly amused with grunts of laughter.

She even shivered with mortification whenever she remembered making a huge deal out of him pulling her so close to him when they were hiding from the Telmarines before crossing the river. He must have been so confused. Poor Edmund. Of course, she had not exactly warmed up to him, and she felt uncomfortable with such close contact back then. She had to constantly remind herself that they had put it behind them. Who knew she would grow so fond of this particular person who just entered her life?

Nonetheless, she appreciated him for apologising anyway. At least she knew he was mature and understanding. At this point in their friendship, she would not even mind being close to him. She quite enjoyed his company, and the minor touches between them lately.

She could sense them both growing comfortable with each other. He got bolder each passing day. It was all in the way he lightly brushed his shoulders against hers when passing by each other, and the way he often flirted with her verbally.

Still, there were moments when he would cautiously clarify if she was comfortable being touched, such as letting him hold her waist when they were riding together on the same griffin. Oh, how she would never forget that moment.

"You seem to get on well with griffins," Edmund remarked, "I wonder why it was different on the horse."

Charlotte shrugged at his commentary, climbing on the gryphon's back. So far, she successfully mounted the creature on her own after watching him demonstrate.

"Would you like to try riding it alone?" He suggested, his right hand gesturing towards the creature.

"That seems rather ridiculous," she answered honestly, "what if I fall?"

"If I ride with you, would you be comfortable?" He questioned, "I'd have to hold your waist, you know?"

The silence grew louder between them. Then, she involuntarily broke into a grin, catching him off by surprise.

"I-I mean," she glanced up at the sky, avoiding his gaze.

What a gentleman, she thought to herself, fighting her heart on fire.

She glanced back at him, with control over her relaxed features, "Sure, I need your guidance, after all."

It clearly contributed to her blooming affection for him because she would be overthinking his actions for the whole day and all through the night.

"So how's it going with Edmund?" The sound of Peter's voice snapped Charlotte out of Edmund-land.

"Pardon?" She asked, blinking at Peter who peered down at her eating bread.

Except, she had not taken a single bite out of it.

"How's er... How's what going?" She asked, staring blankly at him.

"Training, with Edmund," Peter clarified, raising his eyebrows, "how is it so far?"

"Oh, right," Charlotte grinned sheepishly, "it's alright. It's going great. I've learnt a great deal from him."

Peter stared back at her with a confused frown on his face, lightly baffled by her odd behaviour.

Susan shook her head with a dull knowing look, bringing a cup to her lips to take a sip. Lucy giggled softly, shaking her head as well.

"She's daydreaming, Pete," Susan explained, "she's been looking like that for a few days now."

"No I haven't," Charlotte denied with a frown, which was then immediately replaced by a look of fear.

"Have I, really?" Her voice was soft, almost like a whisper.

"We've seen you," Susan replied dryly, "it's questionable, really."

"I really don't get how this works," Lucy complained.

"Why don't you tell him?" Susan suggested, sipping on her drink.

"There's nothing to tell," Charlotte denied quickly, taking another bite off her bread.

Susan shook her head with a teasing smirk, tut-tutting at her.

"Where is he anyway?" Charlotte turned to Peter, ignoring Susan's remark, "He wanted to teach me dual wielding this morning."

"That quick?" Peter asked, astonished, "it's incredibly hard to master."

"He's a really good teacher," Charlotte shared.

"I know," Peter pursed his lips together, "it's why I partnered you both. I'm just impressed that you're a fast learner. Good work."

"Thanks, Peter," Charlotte beamed, "it means a lot to hear you say that."

"I-I see," Peter said, scratching the back of his head, "I guess I owe you an apology for, you know..."

"When we first arrived in Narnia, and you knew nothing about combat then," he explained.

"It's alright," Charlotte assured him, "let bygones be bygones."

"Morning, everyone," Edmund greeted, strolling into the room with his bright and shiny armour on.

Charlotte's heart fluttered just seeing him dressed like her knight in shining armour, and how he ran his fingers through his hair. She quickly looked away and stuffed the last piece of bread in her mouth, attempting to appear normal.

Edmund was too slow to notice her reaction, but he glanced over when Lucy snickered at Charlotte's actions, involuntarily spitting her water back into her cup.

"Ew," he commented, repulsed, "that's disgusting, Lu."

"I honestly have never seen Edmund welcome the sunrise without looking so grumpy lately, it must be Charlotte's presence doing the trick," Peter scoffed.

"It's not," Edmund insisted while adjusting his armour uncomfortably, "just... Happy to be here in Narnia."

A knowing smirk tugged on Peter's lips, "well, I'm off to check on the weapons we've gathered last night."

"I'm off too," Susan excused herself, picking her bow, "practising with Caspian."

"With Caspian?" Lucy repeated suspiciously, raising an eyebrow at her.

"He claims he can do with a bow," she shared, "I'm just going to see if that's true."

"And she wants to have a go at me," Charlotte made a face at Lucy, who still appeared perplexed.

"Oh, shut up," Susan told them off, walking away.

"Well?" Edmund prompted, tilting his head towards the exit, "let's go, Princess."

"Don't you need to eat? Poor Lucy would be alone," Charlotte frowned at him.

"Eh, she'll be fine," Edmund shrugged, "right, Lu?"

"Yeah," Lucy said plainly, eagerly awaiting their absence.

Edmund raised his eyebrows at Charlotte, contented with being able to prove his point.

"Have some water," she insisted, pouring him a cup of water.

Edmund grumbled lightly and trudged forward. Without warning, while she was still pouring, he picked up her cup of water and brought it hastily to his lips, gulping down its contents.

"H-hey! That's mine!" She protested, shooting daggers at him.

A smirk tugged on his lips, right after he gulped it down his throat, "Too late, do you want it back?"

"Ew," Charlotte scrunched her nose, "that's your worst attempt yet."

Left without a choice, she drank the contents from the newly poured cup.

Edmund frowned at her, letting out a hmph before he turned on his heel to leave the room. She giggled in response, turning her attention to Lucy.

"You two go on ahead and have fun," Lucy raised her eyebrows at them both, sipping on her drink.

"Hush, Lu," Edmund snapped, walking out.

"I have absolutely no idea what's going on," Lucy thought aloud, unbothered by the concept of flirting.

*******A/N: Yes, this chapter was mainly about her daydreaming. PFFFT. Goddamnit Charlotte. It was initially merged with the next chapter as one chapter but I realised I could expand on this aspect as a separate chapter to show the development of their friendship over time. So you might see aspects of this chapter's theme in the next one too.

Fun fact: Charlotte asking Edmund if he's ever missed the horse and him blatantly ignoring her question was a reference to Edmund's actor Skandar Keynes missing the horse when filming the final battle 💀

ANYWAY!

My semester has officially started, and I have a paper due on Sunday which I should be writing. But today is Monday, and this chapter just felt ready to be published. Stay tuned for the next chapter!

Feel free to vote and comment if you enjoy it! It would mean so much to me 🥺💖And if you've got any feedback, feel free to let me know!! Stay safe yalls!