Aniese stormed through Aslan's How with a hard glare to her eyes. She came up on the golden-haired Pevensie and grabbed his forearm, interrupting his conversation, "I'm sorry for the interruption, High King Peter, but have you seen my brother?"

"He's over there, with Lucy and Susan. And Queen Aniese, I truly don't mean to be -" He didn't get any further before Aniese cut him off again, "I'm so sorry, but I really need to speak to my brother. I'll speak with you right after, though." She didn't wait for his response before walking over to the group of kids. "Excuse me Queen Susan, Queen Lucy, I need a word with my brother."

The sisters were going to tell Aniese to just call them Susan and Lucy, but were silenced by James's yelp of pain as his sister grabbed him by his forearm and led him somewhere they could be as alone as possible. "Hey! What was that for?!" The young prince whined, rubbing the sore underside of his forearm where his sister was pinching.

"What in the world is wrong with you?!" She gritted through her teeth, pinching his arm again. James swatted at her attacking hands, "What did I do?" He queried, taking a step away from his sister. "Oh, that hurt, did it? Imagine getting pinched with a sword, James! Because that pain, you can not rub away."

Immediately, he knew she talked to Caspian before he had gotten to. Sighing heavily, James stepped back to his sister, "I know, Aniese, but I am a prince! If I don't fight for the respect that comes with that territory, the title means nothing other than I was born into the lucky family."

The conversation, though they tried to keep it hushed, gathered some quiet attention. Aniese shook her head, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "James, we have discussed this! There are only two of us, and I have more experience. When it comes to fighting, I go! What will Sartu do if I die, James? They will carry on, because they will have you, but what could they do if you died? Not much, because I would be useless. It is my job to protect you, and as queen and your elder sister, I say you can not go!"

Aniese was sounding hysterical now, so James pulled her into a close hug and buried his face into her puff of hair, "I don't know what it's like to be an older sibling, Aniese, and I know I never will, that was written into my fate, but there are other things I can experience! I don't want to be the only member of our family to not have songs sung about them, Anie. I don't want to be the prince that hid behind his sister all of his life."

When he said this, Aniese pushed away from her brother and held him at arms length, "There songs about you, and no one thinks that, James. No one will ever think that!"

"Why? Because you won't let them? I know you only do what you do to protect me, but I can't continue to live as the prince with nothing under his belt but a handsome smile and a fantastic sense of humor, and right now, that's what the songs call me." The words made Aniese tear up. She never knew her brother felt like he was nothing to be proud of, and she definitely never would have thought that her actions helped fuel that thought fire.

Sniffling, Aniese nodded, "Alright, you want to fight, you can join us in battle." James smiled widely, "No. You said it yourself, there are only two of us. You will get to stay here and worry while I go out and find a good story to tell you of the battle when I get back." James planted a big sloppy kiss on his sister's cheek before backpedaling, "You will play the role of the younger sibling this time around, Sister!" He laughed before turning around and running off. He was going to find Caspian and tell him of the news, Aniese was sure of it.

Before she could make her way out of the small room, Peter poked his head inside of the entrance, "Queen Aniese? Do you mind if I join you for a moment?" The queen looked up as she sat down, "Of course I don't mind, High King Peter. You are the High King, your word is law." Her words made Peter sigh as he walked into the room and sat down beside her, "You can just call me Peter. And I know it may be hard to believe, but I truly am trying to help. I don't mean to be a jerk, honestly."

Aniese looked at the King of Old and shook her head, "I'm sure you aren't Peter. And I know it may be hard to believe, but I don't hate you or what you're trying to do here." Peter chuckled, "You are quite right. I do find that hard to believe." This made the two laugh, Aniese knocked Peter's shoulder with her own, "Truly though, Peter. I appreciate you wanting to help. You even being here is a gift from Aslan if I've ever seen one, but Caspian is still so fresh to the Narnians as a leader. You're coming into this war as High King Peter the Magnificent, One of the great Kings and Queens of old, your word is legend, and you going against everything Caspian says doesn't look very good. Especially considering the fact that he will always be here, and at any point, you can be swept right back to Spare Oom to leave Caspian trying to repair whatever may come from your ideas.

"He's my oldest friend, and where I am right now, other than James, he's my only friend. Even with you being a legend, Peter, my loyalty is with Caspain." He nodded at this, his eyes growing sad, "Yours and Susan's." His concern, while very real, still made Aniese chuckle a bit, "Peter, don't let that discourage you. Caspian is very handsome, and Susan is at the age where having a handsome guy around other than her brothers is something you take advantage of. She isn't abandoning you, you never have to worry about that. Just... trust them. They're smart, Peter, they've spent time learning from you. You might be surprised at just how much."

Peter huffed, but didn't respond. The two sat in silence for a while before Aniese looked to the king, "You know, Peter, you aren't such a pompous jerk when you aren't talking about battle." She teased with a smile. Peter laughed and smiled back at the girl, "And you're a lot easier to talk to when you don't want to destroy me."

That was the last of the talking they engaged in as they sat in the room. No more needed to be said, but neither one of them quite wanted to face the rest of the world yet.